Longtime Friend
Rosalie Jackson, 70, of Parker recently came across a dear old friend when clearing out storage space in her basement.
“When they came to put the new furnace in, I had to take everything out,” she said. “And that's how I got my duck out again.”
Parker's duck ride-on toy has been with her since she received it for Christmas when she was 3 years old.
The toy duck has casters on the bottom and was low enough for her to sit on the duck's back and scoot across the floor, propelled by her feet.
“It's probably moved, let's see, maybe four times,” she estimates.
The toy came with her in 1963 when she moved out of her childhood to marry her husband Tom.
“Whenever I got married, everything that was in my bedroom I took with me and the duck was one of those things,” said Jackson, who also kept a metal Tom Thumb cash register.
Since the toy is in tiptop shape, Jackson guesses she was the only child to use it much.
Because she is several years older than her two sisters, they rarely shared the same playthings, she said.
“My niece probably sat on it a few times when she was small enough; after that, nobody,” she added.
Nevertheless, the toy got plenty of love from Jackson, who has a childhood photograph of herself and the toy.
Likely taken the summer after she got the duck, the picture shows Jackson on her parents' front porch in Callensburg, Clarion County.
Fast forward more than 60 years and the toy duck now rests on a tray table in the Jacksons' family room
“It's the first time out on display for a while,” said Jackson, considering whether to place it under the Christmas tree.
The toy is a nice reminder of her childhood, she said.
“Things of mine that I have, I take good care of and keep,” she said.
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