An article in a recent Eagle Observer about the bank robbery at Southwest City, Mo., made Jerry and me start to reminisce.

His brother Fay lived at Noel, Mo., for more than 50 years. He did some banking at Southwest City and he talked about the horror of the killing back when it happened.

A lot of interesting things happened at Noel. At one time it was quite a thriving tourist town. My step dad used to drive a speedboat along the Elk River, hauling tourists that visited Shadow Lake Resort.

The only place we teens from Decatur, Gentry and Gravette had to hang out on Saturday nights was across the line, at Noel. Some went to dance and drink. Shadow Lake was a happening place, set along the waterway with a dance floor and tables where tourists could eat and watch boats pass by. (The river was quite deep then - I don't know what happened to make it the shallow stream it is today.)

The train track ran right through the center of town. One of the exciting things to happen was the day the train blew up. Debris was blown for miles. Jerry tried to go check on his brother, but the roads were closed and he couldn't get through.

Heavy April showers one year caused water to run across the bridge going into Noel. Jerry said he saw boats rowed across it. I know it's hard to believe the water ever got that high when we see the small trickle that now runs under the bridge. We seemed to have gotten more rain in those spring times than we do now.

The only bowling alley around was in Noel. That's back when the pins had to be reset by hand. Many a schoolboy got a job setting up the pins. I think my step dad even worked there at one time.

Perhaps what the town was most renowned for were the caves. Bluff Dwellers sat south and Truitt’s Cave was in the town of Lanagan to the north. Another notable event was the Jesse James movie that was filmed around this area.

Even after I was married, when we raised chickens near Jane and Jerry worked at a feed store in Caverna, we would go to Noel on Saturday nights to buy groceries. After our kids were bigger, we would take them on picnics along the river.

Because of its name, it has been known as the Christmas City. Thousands still send their Christmas cards to be stamped with NOEL.

One year we went to watch the Christmas parade in this small town. Jerry had the privilege of driving a dignitary at the front of the parade in one of Rex’s (another brother) Model A cars.

At some point Jerry's dad moved in with Fay and took his dogs with him. One dog found its way back to Gravette from Noel.

Noel still exists, though it's a ghost of its former self. About the only time we travel there now is to visit Fay's grave.

Marie Putman is a former Gravette resident and regular contributor to the Westside Eagle Observer.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 05/08/2013