I went to junior college at an amusement park

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Well, not really, except it is true that Forest Park Community College was built on the site of the famous Forest Park Highlands.

A St. Louis landmark, the Highlands was open from 1896 until 1963. Long before Six Flags and Worlds of Fun, Forest Park Highlands was a magical place for young and old alike. There is a wonderful web site here: http://www.forestparkhighlands.com that has a lot interesting photographs, videos and history of the Highlands.

My older brother played baseball in the summer. Khoury League, American Legion, you name it, if it was baseball in the summertime in St. Louis, my brother, Bill was part of it in the years around 1960.

Dad helped out coaching and my mom would be right there in a lawn chair, watching all the action.

So I knew about the Forest Park Highlands even before I started grade school. (Many grade schools held their annual school picnics at the Highlands.) My brother played baseball on some of the baseball diamonds just across Highway 40 from the Highlands in Forest Park.

There was a huge roller coaster called the Comet. And the Comet had sounds. Even across Highway 40 and on a far baseball diamond, I could hear the sounds of the Comet. As the coaster's cars were pulled up to the first drop, there was a familiar clickity-clack-clack of the chain drive. And then a brief bit of silence when the cars were at the peak. And then dozens of screams of delight as the riders enjoyed the first drop

But at my first school picnic there, I was too short to ride the Comet (and probably too scared, too).. The following year I was still too short as well as the  year after that - but - I was getting taller. At the school picnic in 1963 I just knew I'd be tall enough the following year to ride the Comet - but that never happened because of the fire.

Forest Park Highlands was a wonderful place to spend a day in those summers of the early 60s in St. Louis. You'd be so wound up when you got home at night that it would be hard to fall asleep. But sleep came - and dreams of riding the Comet.

July 19, 1963, Forest Park Highlands almost completely burned. The Comet did not burn and rubber was later put over the tracks to discourage anyone from trying one last ride. But the park was destroyed and there would be no plans to rebuild it, so it just faded into memory. But aren't those some wonderful memories?

So it goes.