Things
I remember or things I don’t, but do:
In June of
1932, I traveled up a mule trail inside a backpack on the back of some man? I
think it was uncle Norm, but it could have been grandpa Volz. Mother road a
mule. We spent the summer there in a lookout post. I was told that Dad tried to
keep me warm and put me in the oven of a wood stove. We must have spent the next
summer there also, as there are pictures that look that old. We had a dog, which
dad carried in his pocket; and, that is where she had a litter of puppies.
Pictures
have led me to believe that I was a blessed child. At the age of four I took
violin lessons and had rabbits. That was in Eugene where we moved some time
around that time. Dad went to work for the fire department.
One time
the department store in town burned and he brought in a washtub of gold fish. I
don’t remember how many were saved, who cared. One time dad when to a meeting
he came home and announced he had got a car, the first one I remember having. We
used it well.
We went to
the ocean one week and then to the mountains another week. Many things happened
during these trips. We went to Crater Lake and up the lava flows to see the
wonders.
I learned young that you never let people influence you to do something you know is wrong. One of dads closes friends at the fire house coxed me into calling dad by his firehouse name “Speed” even with everyone telling him it wasn’t my fault he said, “she knew better”. He asked that night, “before supper or after”. It was my choice. I chose before and got a licking. But, a lesson learned is a lesson not forgotten soon.
One of the
many things done at the firehouse was reconditioning toys for the needy on
Christmas. One of the two things I remember that came from this was a large
train. I mean one we could ride around on and it had tacks, a real gem.
The other was a doll (I never did play with it and I think I have it yet)
with some modifications made to accommodate a ventriloquist act.
The next big change that came was the war. Mom was working for the
railroad and we all picked beans and hops. That fall it was the patriotic thing
to do. It was soon after that Mom and Dad went to Seattle to become C.A.A
workers. That took about 6 months.
Grandma
Orr took care of her and us by word was poop-poop-a-doop. That is
something you don’t say either. She had the sharpest pointing finger I ever
ran into and she used it.
After the
folks finished school, we went to Anchorage. I don’t remember where we stayed
till we got a two-room house way out in the boonies. To their dismay it was
across the street from a house of ill repute. We had a well we drew water from,
a coal stove, and a path outback. We took our baths in a collapsible rubber
bathtub. We walked a great distance to catch the bus for school. We lived there
one winter and part of the next year.
Then, we
got to move into government housing and it was at least modern. The houses were
around the edge of it must have been a two block area, and in the center they
froze an ice pond to form a rink for all of us to skate on. We all got fairly
good.
There
again we walked 10-15 blocks to school and we were not aloud to ware slacks.
It does get cold there with 3-4 feet of snow on the ground. The following
picture is my 7th grade class, such a scrounge bunch we were.
THE
END
