by Sonja J. Keith

Every October, a real treat is in store for visitors to Susie and Tommy Walker’s home in Conway.

As the leaves begin to reveal their fall colors, Susie sets about the task of decorating her home for Halloween, a holiday that conjures up wonderful childhood memories of growing up in Blytheville. Susie loves holiday decorating year round, and her beautiful home is a testament to her artful and fun style. 

One of her favorite items is a cardboard owl purchased from a yard sale that still bears the original tag from a TG&Y dime store. “Vintage Halloween is very expensive because most things get thrown out and not saved. EBay prices are very high, so I try to just find old decorations at yard sales or an antique/trash to treasure shops.”

Another Halloween favorite is the black cat that is perched on her staircase. She bought it during a “clean the attic” sale at Ye Olde Daisy Shoppe in Downtown Conway. “The black cat resides on my stairway with the cut-out mice. I love that papier-mache old cat,” she said. “That was one of my best finds.”

Some of her Halloween decorations have even led to special traditions observed at the Walker home. “Another fun thing is the photo canvas that hangs in the doorway. I ordered it from Pottery Barn and the kids come in and have their photo made.”

On the stairs nearby, there are playful mice and paper letters spell out Halloween. “I love mice at Halloween. I have them on the stairway and on pumpkins. It might creep some people out but I love them. I’m always looking for cute mice.”

Susie places a handmade banner on the mantel that she stamped with “BOO.” It also has one of her favorite poems from a Peasants’ Litany-Cornwall (c. 1500) – “From Ghoulies and Ghosties, Long Leggity Beasties, and things that go bump in the night…Good Lord deliver us.”

“I have lots of banners that I hang for different celebrations and holidays on that mantel,” said Susie.

With the effort she puts into decorating her home for holidays, it comes as no surprise that she and her children would pull out all the stops when it came to costumes. “When the boys were little, we would go ‘all out’ on homemade costumes. Bret, my middle son, wanted to be a hobo, so to make his unshaven look, I covered his cheeks in pancake syrup, then applied coffee grounds to his cheeks. It was a very effective look but I wouldn’t recommend it,” she said with a laugh.

Susie’s inspiration for holiday decorating comes from her mother and her childhood memories. “I love anything that reminds me of what my mom had,” she said. “I love remembering what she did and put out. I’m always looking for vintage holiday stuff everywhere I go.”

Susie’s mom would line the walkway to their house with papier-mache pumpkins filled with fat candles. “She probably had eight or 10 of them. I do not have any of those as they all got thrown away probably back in the 1960s,” she said. “Now they are very high dollar on EBay. I have managed to purchase a pretty good reproduction that I keep near the stairway.”

Her mother would also make homemade popcorn balls and caramel apples to hand out to her treaters.

Susie recalls one particular Halloween as a young girl when she went to her Aunt Willy’s house in Blytheville. “She really wasn’t an aunt but my grandmother’s eccentric sister. We actually bobbed for apples there. I remember it was hard, trying to get those apples. If you were lucky you might find one with a stem to grab. It’s just a special memory that I have never forgotten.

“I hope this house creates fun memories for my treaters.”