A Dash of History... from Claude and Prue

Those Were the Days, My Friends

From Philadelphia, in 1980
Claude and Prue headed west.
As Big Red fans, we needed to be
Near football's very best.

We quit our jobs and sold our home
Hoping to follow a dream:
To live in Nebraska, on the plains
With a new beginning and scheme.

To our delight we did find
A co-op on Randolph Street
It was charming, cozy, and cute,
And even somewhat "off-beat."

As co-op members from back east
OH was just what we needed.
We paid the fees, and got a card;
As working members, we succeeded.

Before too long, it seemed to us
Not ALL in Lincoln agreed
That Open Harvest was what WE saw
With warnings we better heed.

We heard it was a hippy-joint
Whose members and shoppers were odd
Some seemed skeptical of the place
While we chose to applaud.

Well, sure, OH's clientele
Was varied and so broad,
But what we saw everyday
Was a 'Labor of Love,' to laud.

As working members, we did lots
In the 'lovely' basement room.
We had some other names for it
Like, 'Pit', 'Dungeon', and 'Tomb'!

We packaged tons of raisins,
Peanut butter, tahini, and more.
But little did we know
The real challenge was in store

It was Margot leaving loads of notes
Do this-Do that-"Oh, PLEASE,"
The Taskmaster said, "You'd better know,
Don't mess up cutting the cheese!"

There was a time when cashiers
On week-ends, were working members.
We were 'them'-years ago-
What fun things one remembers.

Came a time when it did happen:
OH needed to grow;
We moved with an army of friends
'Twas a great move, now we know

For 19 years with Open Harvest
We've been there as volunteers
And we'll continue to support us
For many, many years.

Love, Claude and Prue
P.S. Margot, we do love you!!

Claude and Prue Coccodrilli are teachers with the Lincoln Public Schools.