Here is the layout of our school as I remember it.

click image for a full-sized view

This is the external view of our school until 1970

click image for a full-sized view

Hi all! this is Heidi Smith, and I am endeavoring to write "Where buffalo roam" for Ron, a dear friend that I acquired from this very forum. This book is going to be the best for all who follow Ron's and Mike's interesting posts, I like you, were intrigued by the accounts of their life in this mystic sanitarium. I seek to find all attributes to the lives that were affected by the Traverse State Hospital, Mainly Ron...Courageous and mighty...as he he has been..There is much more to come...I am excited about this and encourage all to share any info or remarks that may contribute. Please contact me if you need anything..and I thank you for the support and interest that you share. As all of us do...This is a mission and a purpose, and thank goodness for all who contribute to the public's interest into the lives of people like Ron, who have a tale to tell....

Hi Heidi! I can't wait for the book to be done. I keep reading and re-reading all the posts here and each time I do I seem to learn more and more. I am so greatfull for people like Ron & Mike to be able to share their stories. Just went by TCHS today and again I look at it with a different perspective than before.

WELCOME Heidi.....

For those who are unaware, it was Heidi's Birthday just recently.

Again..Happy Belated Birthday Heidi
Mike

Happy Birthday H eidi!!

I could stand out front of tcsh and I have no doubt that most of my still hidden memories would fall into place.
All through the years there was one thing that instantly brought memories of tcsh back. That was the sound of a small propeller plane humming in the clouds. I mean everytime I heard one, even today.
I talked to Heidi Johnson about this.
She said that there was a small airport near tcsh and some pilots would fly low enough for tourists to see the place from the air and get arial shots of it.

Lately there's has been some older songs, or at least parts of them seem to place me back to tcsh. I can sit and think for hours, yet I just can't figure out why,
This one really stands out for some reason..
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=tra ... _pcode=cmt

mike

Wow. That song was definitely not something I would have associated with a place like TCSH in a million years. Just goes to show you the reality of living there must have been more ordinary in some ways than what most "outsiders" can imagine.

I don't mean to say that the whole of your experience was ordinary by any means, but that it's easy for someone like me to forget that there must have been a lot of everyday things in your life even in such an unusual situation. Like hearing that song on the radio or a record player.

Kirkbride wrote:Wow. That song was definitely not something I would have associated with a place like TCSH in a million years. Just goes to show you the reality of living there must have been more ordinary in some ways than what most "outsiders" can imagine.

I don't mean to say that the whole of your experience was ordinary by any means, but that it's easy for someone like me to forget that there must have been a lot of everyday things in your life even in such an unusual situation. Like hearing that song on the radio or a record player.

That's exactly what I don't understand, It's mainly the last part of the song, but I don't recall hearing that song there. What we usaully heard was, The Beatles, The Monkeys, or The Beach Boys. and afew others. Some had portable record player but they could only play them in there room.
I've wonder if it might be misleading.
Don't get me wrong. I love the song and I could listen to it over and over.
There's a unique feeling I get when thoughts of tcsh surface. It's not a bad feeling, it's just a feeling I've never experience from anything else in the whole 48 years i've been away. Usually when the feeling hits, a certain picture comes to mind placing somewhere like on the cage porch, on the grounds somewhere or in the hall. This can some times be confusing. But it doesn't effect what I may be doing at the time.

Thanks Heidi, This proves that I am not Imagining things again, like the buffalo, lol.
.
Mike did my school layout help you remember our school? I still cannot remember the Princibles name nor who taught kin-3rd grade.

Here is a new layout I made from memory of Hall-18 1970

click image for a full-sized view

Ron & Mike - After you left the SH were you helped in the transition? Sandi

by mkfarnam on Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:02 am

I could stand out front of tcsh and I have no doubt that most of my still hidden memories would fall into pla

ce.

Mike, Wish I could take you to TC so that you could stand out front and look inside. I will be there next weekend and will take as many pictures as I can of the place, the building you were in, and the land behind it. It should be beautiful outside and I am really looking forward to seeing all of the gorgious trees. More of my poetic photography. The weather says it will rain Friday and Saturday all day and night but I'll be there Friday to wander and take pics and video no matter what. Hope you like what I get and it helps trigger more of you past. You can't stop the memories. You've got to remember and deal with it to let it go.

once I left TCSH I had no help what so ever, I left on a Grayhound bus.

BTW I will be gone until sometime next week, sister-in-law passed away and I am leaving in the morning bound for Pensacola, Florida.

see ya all later
Ron

paigertime wrote:Ron & Mike - After you left the SH were you helped in the transition? Sandi

Sandi..
I've mentioned before that, after I was released, it was never brought up again. In fact, nether when I was admitted or after I got out I was never told why I was there. I had to figure that out as I got older.

About 2 years after I got out out Mother died.
Mike