I have been in Bedford since 1934. My thoughts are not so much of an incident, or a single story but just how growing up in Bedford shaped the rest of my life.
 
The way of life we had was slower being in a small town. But it was peaceful, and it was safe. And we knew that. We had no problem running all over town day and night and feeling safe. I never knew not to feel that way. And that's a good way to be because it helped me feel that way in other situations as well.
 
We didn't have a great many commercial activities to do. We had a couple of movies. One closed during the war. We had to make our own entertainment and we did that and that gave us lasting friendships that I don't think we would have gotten anywhere else.  
 
The normal entertainment in the school year in high school was to go to the ballgame for whatever season it was. Then we'd end up at somebody's house, usually in their basement. And there would be a record player and some refreshments and that was the weekend. You don't lose those friendships they stay.
 
In summer, the main place was the Bedford County Lake. That was where everything happened - family picnics, church picnics, dating, everything. The thing was to get to the lake anyway you could get there - every day. And we tried and we went and that was our entertainment for the summer. It was really good entertainment.
 
During the war years, there was a closeness here that maybe a lot of people didn't feel in other places. But the effort here in Bedford was strong. We did everything to be patriotic; we saved tin cans, we even saved chewing gum wrappers. Some girls cut off their hair that was used to make parachutes. I never did go quite that far. But there was a strong effort to support the war. It was important to us to have that togetherness.
 
We learned to accept everybody because in the school, that's where everybody was. And regardless of where they lived, what their position in life was, they were just schoolmates. And we were accepting of them, and they were our friends.
 
My roots go deep in Bedford County. The first court forming the county was held in a grandfather's home, down in the New London area so I'm pretty well tied to the area.
 
I was gone for a short time and then came back and worked here until I retired. But it was good growing up here.  I think of Halloweens, how we did trick or treating. It wasn't so much that we'd go from house to house, but our teachers were the ones that set up parties. We’d go into the teachers’ homes, and they would have wonderful tables spread for us. And I think showed the closeness that there was within our schools and our community.
 
I don't think you get these sorts of memories in a bigger city. I may have missed some things from a big city. But I don't think I missed much.
 
 
Mary ‘Boo’ Bane was born and educated in Bedford. She attended Bedford Elementary and Bedford High School.  Hers was the first class to have the eighth grade in Bedford. She graduated from the College of William and Mary and eventually returned to Bedford and worked as a Social Worker in the Department of Social Services for thirty years.
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