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Story and Photos by Jennifer Kettler, Rural Missouri Magazine July 2005, Volume 57, Number 7 Reprinted here with their permission. After nearly 75 years Letha Freer is reunited with a piece of her past. Letha, a Poplar Bluff native, once again rides a mule powered carousel swing similar to one that her father, Lee Collins, owned and operated with her uncle George in the 1920s. As Letha carefully sits on the old wooden seat, creaky pine beams screech and ropes tighten. The contraption’s arms slowly settle into familiar positions as the swing prepares for takeoff.
With a crack of the reins, Dale Gaebler’s mule, Rooster, takes off in a circular path around an 18-foot-tall center beam. Letha quickly grabs her seat and lets out a schoolgirl giggle.  Letha was 10 the last time she rode on her father’s swing. She recalls going so fast that the swing would lift up as it circled around and around. “It’s elating,” she says. “It was just like back then.” The family first determined to find the swing, also known as the Collins Swing, after seeing a fuzzy old picture of it in a Butler County history book. The picture sparked a conversation with Letha and her son, Ralph, as she shared her memories of the swing with him. Ralph, an Ozark Border Electric Cooperative member, became eager to research the family’s connection and the county’s affiliation with the swing. The most he hoped for was a clearer picture and perhaps more history. Last year, the swing made its way back to Butler County after persistent sleuthing by Bill Scheerer, a friend of the family. Bill located the swing at a nearby salvage yard. There he found the pile of wooden chairs and beams sitting under a tree, protected by a tarp. Once Ralph and his brother-in-law, Dale Hicks, saw the chairs, they knew they had to have the swing. They split the $200 price tag and brought it home.  As Ralph recalls, “It’s like an old friend coming back to town.” Ralph’s family never imagined they would see the swing make its way back to Butler County, let alone find it in working condition. With it came history of the area, as well as a part of the family’s heritage. “Seeing it put together and working, it all came full circle,” says Ralph. “Life is cyclical. It runs in cycles. Sometimes 32-foot-diameter cycles.” As Letha completes another circle, her family, gathered on the outside of the swing, laughs and hollers. Ralph quickly grabs his video camera to capture the historic moment on film. “What was really neat was to see his mom’s face, to see her expression and be able to make a connection between then and now,” says Ralph’s wife, Gaelle. Smiling faces and laughter fill the air as family members act like eager children waiting in line to take turns on the swing.  Ralph and his brother-in-law gently climb aboard for their turns. As Rooster gets ready for another spin, they load the eight-chair swing with six people. “I can see why kids like this thing,” says Ralph. “When Rooster would take a step you’d feel the swing go wooooo.” Locals believe Lee Collins, a blacksmith, woodworker and repairman, might have made the swing in the early 1920s. Ralph, a school guidance counselor and master wood-sculptor believes it is handmade. He still isn’t certain whether he’s found the original Collins Swing, but he is certain it’s a swing of the same generation. From the 1920s to the early 1940s, the swing traveled to nearby Hendrickson every year for the Fourth of July Picnic. Letha recalls taking it to the picnic every year. “It was looked forward to as much as Christmas,” she says. “It was a big thing. It always brought the community together.” In 1949, the swing appeared at the Butler County Centennial Jubilee where fair-goers paid a nickel for 20 rotations. The family guesses this was the last time a mule powered the swing. They feel the missing piece has been put into place as Rooster powers it now, nearly 50 years later. “What really makes it is the mule,” says Gaelle.  For the Freer family it’s more than just an entertaining toy – the swing is about family and community. “It’s almost like the swing in and of itself is alive because it brings us all together,” says Gaelle. Even assembling the swing is a communal event, as at least five people are needed to put it together. The process includes positioning men on each end of four ropes to pull and fasten the structure to nearby trees. With the help of one man on a tractor, the men slowly raise the 18-foot center pole. Once the center pole is in place, additional rigging is required to attach the eight arms and swing seats. “It takes about an hour to lay out all the pieces and tie the ropes to the center pole,” says Ralph. “Raising the center pole is the most difficult part of assembling the swing.” Even though Ralph doesn’t really know if it’s the Collins swing, he feels the mystery of it adds fascination to the swing’s journey.
All that matters to the family is that it’s back in the community reviving old memories and creating new ones. Although Ralph doesn’t plan on opening the swing to the public, he welcomes people to stop by, take pictures and share their stories. The family plans to set it up for a few more years and feature it at family reunions. Ralph sees it as a family heirloom, part of a legacy he hopes to pass on to his son and daughter someday. Plus, he says, “It’s a whole heck of a lot of fun.”
 
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