A Year at 1070 Lincoln Street

About the time I started 6th grade, we sold our house on Wyoming Street and started building a new house in East Mill Creek. While the new house was being built, we moved in with my maternal grandparents at 1070 Lincoln Street. I had spent so much time there while growing up, that I felt at home immediately.

1070 was the home of Nana and Pa (Madge and Elmer Gale). It had been their home since sometime in the 1930's. When I came along as the first grandchild, I named them Nana and Pa since it was too hard to say grandma and grandpa when I was learning to talk. And the names stuck through all of their grandchildren.

This was the family gathering place for all holidays, and the feasts there were wonderful. Nana and Pa had 6 children: Mom (Shirley), Jay, June, Val, John, and Pauline. Pa was in the produce business and had purchased a grocery store in 1938, so there was always an abundance of good food around.

I think Jay was the only one of my aunts and uncles who still lived at home when we were there. He had been severely ill after World War II, and was still recovering when we moved in. He had a brand new Mercury convertible that I thought was the best car ever. Pa had a new Kaiser. It was by far the most stylish car for its time, but the company went out of business a year later because of management problems.

A boy named Clary Cardwell lived across the street. He was about a year older than me. Art Nunn, who was about my age, lived in the house behind, across the alley. They were the only boys I knew when we moved in.

I got to sleep in the front upstairs bedroom during that year. Jay had the bedroom across the hall. There was no heat in the upstairs, so it was really cold in the winter. But there were lots of warm quilts to snuggle under, so it was fine with me. It was just hard getting out of bed in the mornings because the floor was sooo cold.

The closet in that bedroom had a box of old books that I really enjoyed. Some of them had been printed before 1900. I was really into reading that year, and I often would read under the covers at night with a flashlight. I don't remember all of the titles, but The Odyssey was one, Gulliver's Travels was another, and I think Robinson Crusoe was also there. The oldest book I remember reading was called Soldiers of Fortune. The summer of 1955 I missed most of the activities I had signed up for at the local playground, because I had stayed up so late reading and couldn't get up in the mornings.

Pa had built a large garage in the back for his produce truck. There was also an attic storeroom and a fruit room in that garage. It was a fascinating place for a young boy. Nana did lots of canning in the fall, and the fruit room was always full of wonderful things. They also had an old chest freezer out there. They'd had to put locks on the doors, because some homeless men had discovered the great stash of food that was always there. The garage opened onto an alley that went between the backs of the houses on Lincoln Street and the houses on 9th East.

The house was heated with coal. A boiler fed large steam radiators in the main floor rooms. The furnace had an automatic coal feeder that kept the fire going. It was accessed through a large trap door and stairway on the back porch. One of my chores while we lived there was to make sure there was plenty of coal in the feeder. Once a week the furnace had to be opened to remove the clinkers. Clinkers are hard chunks of minerals that are left behind when the coal burns. Another job I had was to fish the clinkers out of the furnace with some long tongs and put them in a large metal bucket. After they had cooled I had to carry the bucket out to the alley for the garbage men to pick up.

I attended Emerson Elementary School for 6th Grade. That was probably my best year in school. Lynn Burningham was the main teacher. We went to Mrs. Meservy for music. Both of them were excellent teachers.

In Mrs. Meservy's class I found my ear for music. I found I could hear the various parts, and I sang alto in some of the songs the class sang. We got into Negro spirituals, such as "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See", "Old Black Joe", and "When The Saints Go Marching In", and I loved them. That led me to a love of folk songs in later years.

One of the most exciting activities we were involved with was a series of field trips to one of the local television studios. The class made six total trips, but not all the class could go each time. Somehow I was chosen to go every time. We participated in a live broadcast of a typical classroom discussion each of the trips. We even got to write part of the script. On one of the trips Linda Booth slipped on the stage and landed on her tail bone. She seemed OK, but a couple of minutes later she fainted. We were just about to go on the air. She came to in time to participate, but it was scary there for a minute.

The boys and girls in that class were awesome. I usually hung around with Bruce Bradshaw, Mike Gannon and David Tame. But Sammy Fernley, Ricky Briggs, Bryant Schroeder, Ronny Hathaway, and Ralph Robbins were also good friends. As was Lane Rogers. Lane was the class bully. I noticed that boys who were willing to fight were not picked on. So one day Mike Gannon and I were messing around, and I challenged him to a fist fight after school. He accepted. He had apparently noticed the same thing. We passed the word around that there would be a fight after school. I got the second black eye of my life in that fight. I don’t know if I got in any good blows, but Mike and I went away from the fight as better friends than ever. And the school bullies left us both alone after that. Lane Rogers especially took a liking to me. I liked him and he knew it. Most of the boys did not like him. He confided in me about many of his troubles. His parents were divorced and he just had a difficult time coping. Basically, his attitude stunk. He did not do well in school, even though he seemed to be fairly smart.

I often went to Bruce Bradshaw’s house after school to study and to play board games. Sammy Fernley and I went to Liberty Park to play tennis on Saturdays. Neither one of us was any good. Older boys often chased us off the courts.

There were so many pretty girls in the class. I seemed to fall ‘in love’ with a new one every week. Patty and Nancy Denhalter were famous. They were very cute identical twins who had been in commercials for Campbell Soup. They had been known as the Campbell Soup Twins. I one time or another had crushes on Linda Booth, Kathleen Morris, Jeanne Thiessen, Vicky Rae Haycock, Virginia Viers, Patty Dobbs, and Marva Poelman. Marva was my favorite though. She is related to Elder Ronald E. Poelman, who is now an emeritus General Authority.

An interesting thing happened years later. I used to see Marva Poelman at the University of Utah. I was too shy to approach her then. She was always with another beautiful girl who often wore the uniform of the Army ROTC auxiliary. When Lyle and Marcia got married, they had their wedding reception in a large home in Connecticut. As I walked into the entry of that home, there above the circular staircase was a family portrait, and the wife was the same girl I used to see with Marva at the U.

We had weekly ballroom dancing lessons during P.E. I really enjoyed those classes because there were so many pretty girls to dance with. The girls were starting to blossom at that age, and I really enjoyed them. Too bad that a year later my teenage hormones started to kick in. After that being in the presence of a pretty girl really made me nervous.

Bryant Schroeder and I both moved after the school year and went to Evergreen Jr. High and Olympus High School together. David Tame and Bruce Bradshaw were in some of my classes at the University of Utah. Bruce and I had a diving class together. He ruptured an eardrum on one bad dive and had to drop out of the class. David was in some of my Institute classes.

All in all, this was probably my best year, both socially and academically through all my K-12 years.

Beacon Heights Elementary School

While I was in 4th grade at Dilworth, building began on Beacon Heights. I went to 5th grade there. Then in 6th grade we lived with Nana & Pa, my grandparents, for a year while our new house in East Mill Creek was being built.
Years later, in about 2001, I helped remodel a house across the street from Beacon Heights. While I was working on that house, Beacon Heights was torn down so it could be rebuilt.
I had Mr. Kearns for 5th grade. He loved to tease the girls. More than once he had a girl in tears from going too far with his teasing. I started to do very well scholastically at that time. But Mr. Kearns tried to give at least one poor grade to almost everyone. One report card he gave me a 'D' in spelling. It was my worst subject. I think I had maybe missed 2 words during that report period. Anyway, Dad got all over me for getting a 'D', and wouldn't believe that I didn't deserve it. I didn't misspell any more words that year, and for most of the rest of my life.
Mr. Kearns was not well liked by the parents. In addition to the teasing, he was erratic in his discipline. Many kids were punished severely for minor infractions. One boy was dismissed from school for being late to class one time. Mrs. Cosgrove, the principal, was not much better and even backed him up on some of his extreme discipline. A year after I left, the parents became very angry at his actions and demanded his termination. He was fired. Mom told me about that.
I ran into many of my friends from Beacon Heights years later at the University of Utah. I had a crush on Kathy Erickson. She later became a professional model for ZCMI while she was in high school. Linda Brown and Suzanne Frisby were in the women's auxiliary, Angel Flight, while I was in Air Force ROTC. Linda was one of the girls that Mr. Kearns liked to tease. I didn't pay much attention to Suzanne in 5th grade. When Mom saw the class pictures, she told me Suzanne would be the prettiest girl in the class when she grew up. I thought Suzanne was kind of plain. But Mom was right.
Many of the boys in the neighborhood liked to gather on the lawn at Beacon Heights to play football after school. That was my first experience at being really good at a sport. At least I was good on defense. I could get to the quarterback very quickly and whoever was playing that position would yell at his teammates to block me, but I still got through most of the time. However, I did not remember these experiences, and had no confidence in my abilities when I got to high school, so I didn't even try out for the football team there.
I do remember getting a severe black eye during a snowball fight that year. Someone threw a chunk of ice that hit me in the eye. The eyelid was cut through. The teachers banned snowball fights after that.

A few more Wyoming St. memories

When we moved to Wyoming Street I got a new puppy. A black labrador retriever again. I named her Jet 2. I didn't have her very long. About the time she was fully grown, she was stolen.

I learned to ride a bike there. The street had enough slope so that it was good for coasting downhill. There was very little traffic. Dad bought me a full sized bike. I couldn't reach the pedals. So Dad took off the seat, padded a board that he attached where the seat had been, and wired blocks to the pedals. Dad would put me on the bike, as it was too tall for me to climb onto, and start me down the hill. I'd ride for a short way, lose my balance and crash. That happened over and over. My knees and elbows were covered with scabs before I finally got the feel for it. Even then I often crashed because the bike was just too tall for me.

There was a very poor family a few houses south of us who lived in what was just a shack. The sewer came down the street a couple of years after we moved in. Before that all the houses were on septic tanks. The poor family didn't hook up to the sewer, while everyone else did. I guess they couldn't afford it. They also poured things into their drains that they shouldn't. One night their septic tank blew up. So they had an open sewer hole in their back yard. After a few weeks, the house was condemned. The health department came to condemn the house on Halloween, and I found the Health Department notice on their front door when I went trick-or-treating. The family was gone.

The second house to the south of ours was where the Buckholz's lived. They had two sons just a little older than me. Their house looked like a converted barn. It looked like fun to me. I went there to play once just before Christmas, and we made construction paper chains with homemade glue for their Christmas tree. Mom didn't like me to go there much, because Mrs. Buckholz was infamous on the street for making her own wine, and for drinking a lot of it. She was usually inebriated.

Mr. Buckholz and his sons built a swimming pool in their side yard. They just dug a hole, lined it with cement and filled it with the garden hose. I'm sure the water never got very warm, and it had no circulation, filtration or chlorination. After it sat there stagnant for a few days, the water got pretty bad. They made no easy way to drain it. I think they just used a garden hose to siphon the water out into the back yard. It was a real redneck swimming pool.

Most of the houses on the street had window wells. We boys would get together and go on Black Widow spider hunts. They often made their homes in the window wells, and every couple of weeks in the summer we could take long sticks and visit the window wells, destroying the nests and the spiders. We all thought ourselves very brave. We also tried to scare each other with stories of how far the spiders could leap, and what would happen if we ever got bit.

Another stupid boy game was to catch honey bees from some of the flowering bushes. We did it with our bare hands. We'd try to see who could hold them the longest without getting stung. Of course, to win, you had to hold them long enough so they'd start to sting and then quickly brush them off. Sometimes we waited just a second too long. We were lucky that no one of us was allergic to bee venom.

Summer evenings were often the time to play kick-the-can. Usually we'd play in one of the Olsen's front yards. On hot summer days we often gathered in a cool basement to read comic books. Scott, who lived three doors north of me, had a great collection of Marvel Comics. All mine were Looney Tunes; not cool for a bunch of boys. We also liked to gather in John Wicks bedroom right across the street from me and play Monopoly for hours on hot afternoons. Sometimes we'd even carry games over for days.

David & Tawny

While we lived on Wyoming Street, I finally ceased being an only child. David came along in 1951, and Tawny was two years later.

The house only had two bedrooms when we moved in. David and I shared a bedroom. I was really glad I didn't have to sleep alone anymore. When he became old enough to get out of his crib, we got bunk beds. However, they were set up as twin beds at first.

David was kept in the bedroom much of the time by a gate with a little latch that you had to press with a thumb and finger to open. He didn't have the finger strength to open it by himself. One day I taught him to open it with his teeth. He did have enough jaw strength to do it. I really got in trouble about that one.

David used to get bloody noses a lot. One night he got one in the middle of the night. He climbed off his bed, and climbed onto me to awaken me to help him get it stopped. I was a very sound sleeper, and he couldn't wake me. Mom and Dad heard the springs squeaking on my bed and came in and helped him. When I awoke in the morning, I discovered that I had on different pajamas than when I went to bed. After taking care of David, she had cleaned me up and redressed me. I slept through the whole process, even though she used cold water to wash off the blood.

Another time I got in trouble was on a Christmas morning. I got up really early to see what Santa Claus had brought. I carried the toys that Santa brought for David to the bedroom and awakened him. That was before I taught him to open the gate. So Mom and Dad didn't get to see David discover his toys and stuff. They were quite upset with me.

While Mom was pregnant with Tawny, Jackie Gleason's orchestra released a recording entitled "Tawny". Dad then had a dream about a 'tawny' blond woman. That's where they got the idea for her name. She did turn out to be a blond, so the name fit.

About the time Tawny was born we got a piano and I started taking piano lessons. I had a hard time with learning to play. My teacher, Mrs. Catmull, lived in a house that I passed while walking to and from Dilworth Elementary. After I had been taking lessons for awhile, Mrs. Catmull told me she was retiring as a piano teacher and would no longer be able to teach me. That was a kind way of saying that she was giving up on me because I was making such poor progress. I did notice that other kids continued to go there for lessons and I heard them as I walked by. She just retired from teaching me.

After I stopped going to Mrs. Catmull, a recent Dutch immigrant stopped by the house looking for piano students and Mom signed me up. He was going door to door on a motorized bicycle. When he asked Mom about other kids in the neighborhood, she told him where every other child lived. He was amazed at the number of children and he exclaimed, "How fertile these women are!" A couple of years later, when we moved to East Mill Creek, he gave up on me, too. He said we were moving too far away for him to come all the way out to teach me. But after we had been there a few days, I saw him on his motor bike right in the same neighborhood. He was teaching someone else just two streets away. I was just a very slow learner and frustrated these two teachers. I think it was just poor finger dexterity. But I did learn to read music.

When Tawny came along, we needed an additional bedroom. So Dad built one in the basement for me. The walls of the bedroom were knotty pine tongue and groove boards. The ceiling was acoustic tiles, and the light for the room was a circular fluorescent fixture.

The bunk beds were moved to my new room and stacked. David and Tawny got new beds and shared the bedroom upstairs. I did not particularly like sleeping alone in that new room. I frequently let my imagination run away with me and scared myself silly. I often slept completely under the covers, so I could hide from the monsters and boogey men that I knew were out to get me. I especially avoided looking out the back window at night, because I was afraid that dinosaurs would be out there and would then break in and get me.

One night while I was trying to get to sleep, a dog was barking and snarling somewhere outside. I was under the covers, because I knew that dog was about to break through the window and come in and attack me. Then there was a loud crash. I knew that dog had come through the window and I started screaming. Dad and Mom came rushing downstairs to find out what I was screaming about. Turned out the crash was from one of the circular tubes on the fluorescent fixture which had fallen to the floor and shattered. I had nightmares about that dog for months after that.

Wyoming Street, Dilworth Elementary, Beacon 2nd Ward

On February 25, 1951, we moved to our new home at 1900 Wyoming St. It was a yellow brick (actually more dirty ochre than yellow) 2-bedroom house with a single car garage. Wyoming Street was a dead end street, so the entire street became a playground. The front yard was a single story, and the yard sloped so that the back of the house was two stories. The house faced east. We lived there until September 1955.

Wyoming Street is located between Texas Street and 2500 E. It runs downhill from the dead end to Parleys Way, crossing Redondo Ave and 2100 S. When we moved there, there were still a few undeveloped lots on the street. By the time we moved away, all the lots were filled with houses.

The first two winters there were severe. Lots of snow. To a six or seven year old it was deep enough to be over my head when piled on the sides of the sidewalk. When it melted, the houses on the east side of the neighborhood streets got flooded basements. We were on the west.

The heavy snows brought deer down into the neighborhood. They ate the newly planted pfitzers, tams and euonymus that Mom planted. The neighborhood dogs chased the deer up and down the street. The poor deer ran with terror in their eyes.

I had lots of friends in that neighborhood. Across the street were the Doyle and Byron Olsen families with lots of kids, Joe and Betty Wicks and the Hudsons. David Olsen and Barbie Hudson were my age. The Olsen cousins included Julie, Janice, Dianne, and several others. Johnny and Judy Wicks were younger, Donny Hudson was Barbie’s younger brother. Down the street were several others around the same age. It was a great neighborhood to grow up in. My first grade school crush was on a little girl with golden hair named Sally who lived on the NE corner of Wyoming St and 2100 S. She was in my 1st grade class. The Loveless's lived next door to the north. Judy Loveless was a couple of years younger than me.

The big thrill of that first year was being invited to Sally’s birthday party. I also went to David Ashton’s birthday party near the end of second grade. He was President David O. McKay’s grandson. His younger brother later founded Word Perfect. David’s mother took us to see “War of the Worlds”. It was pretty scary for a bunch of 7-year olds. Another friend, Tommy Anderegg, invited me to his birthday party in third grade. That was where I got another big crush on a girl named Kitty, who had the longest eyelashes I had ever seen.

My first grade teacher at Dilworth was Mrs Peterson. When Mom took me to school the first day, she told Mrs. Peterson that I was to be called Jimmy. But after Mom left, the teacher said they would call me James, because there were already two Jimmies in the class, Jimmy Pizza, and Jimmy Reynolds. Mom and Dad were not happy with Mrs. Peterson. James Pizza and I ended up graduating from Olympus High School together.

Being the new kid in class, I was assigned to share a desk (they were 2-person desks) with Kathy Webster. Apparently no one else wanted to sit by her. She had a bad speech impediment. She was not bad looking, and had a nice personality, so I didn’t mind being there. Except for the time she got sick and threw up lunch all over both sides of the desk.

One friend I walked home with often, was Michael Ruud. Looking back, I think he was very rude. He eventually became a famous ballet dancer with the big ballet company in New York City.

Bruce Vanderwerf was another friend who became somewhat famous. He trained as a chef in France and was named the best chef in Utah at one time. He also founded Eat-a-Burger drive-ins.

I had lots of good friends at Dilworth. John Lund was one of the best. He was tall for his age, and I was short. He tried to teach me to play basketball.

We tried to learn ballroom dancing there. I liked to dance with Barbara Hughes because she was tall and could take big steps to stay out of my way.

The only boy in the neighborhood who had divorced parents lived behind us on Texas Street. His name was David Gartiez. His mother often brought treats to school for the whole class. I thought she was very nice. However, David always seemed to be in trouble. He never did anything really bad, but he liked to try things that didn't work out too well, like bringing snakes to school that he had caught on the way.

My second grade teacher was Miss Storey. She was young and pretty. But she got married the summer after school which spoiled it for a lot of little boys.

Mrs. Hampshire was our third grade teacher. She was very nice. In third grade I liked a girl named Kay. I don’t remember her last name. I chased her around the playground at school and finally caught her at the back door and kissed her. She didn’t like me in third grade. Then she decided in fourth grade that she did like me, but by then I liked somebody else.

Yo-yos were the big rage in those days. The cool boys were the ones with the fancy spinners. My folks wouldn’t buy me a fancy one. One day David Olsen and I decided to go to the corner drug store which was about a half block from the school. It was a popular place. K. Fisher Drug. We thought that in the crowd no one would see us pocketing some fancy yo-yos. But Mr. Fisher caught us and escorted us to the back room for a lecture. We decided that crime does not pay. Many years later, after he retired, Kimball Fisher moved into the Butler 11th Ward where we lived. I was able to thank him for saving me from a life of crime.

Another friend from Dilworth was Paul Gardner. He had red hair and was extremely competitive. He was the fastest in the class in 4th grade at multiplication tables. His father owned Dan’s Supermarket, which was then a single store on the NW corner of 21st S and 21st E.

The church we occasionally attended was across 21st East from Dilworth. The Beacon 2nd Ward. It was named for the air traffic warning beacon which sat atop the mountain to the east of our neighborhood. Bishop Garff was the bishop when we moved there. Robert McMullin became bishop soon after.

Six months after I turned eight years old, I was interviewed by Bishop McMullin to be baptized. I was badly scared about that interview, because I feared anyone in a position of authority. We were not very active in the church at that time. I was supposed to go across the street to Primary every week after school, but I frequently skipped it. We went to Sunday School sometimes. When I was interviewed for Baptism, Bishop McMullin asked if I obeyed the Word of Wisdom. I couldn’t remember ever hearing about that. But I figured that I was trying to be wise or smart, so I answered in the affirmative. The truth was that I frequently took sips of Dad’s beer when no one could see me. But I didn’t know that was against the Word of Wisdom.

I was baptized in the Salt Lake Tabernacle font on March 29, 1953 by a young Priest named Richard Hardy.

Bishop McMullin had a son named Bobby. We were pretty good friends. I kept running into him in later years and we had classes together at the University of Utah.

Since I was afraid of authority figures, the school principal scared me badly. I avoided him at all costs. One day Michael Ruud dared me to open a window in the boys restroom. When I tried to do it, the latch broke off the window. Michael said he was going to tell the principal. I ran to the far end of the playground to get away. Some older kids came and got me and dragged me to the principal’s office. I told the principal, Mr. Hales, that Michael told me to do it. That was the first time I heard the line, “If he told you to jump off a building, would you do it?”

While I was in 4th grade, they started to build Beacon Heights Elementary school at the upper end of Wyoming Street. That summer, the neighborhood kids set up a Kool-Aid stand in the Olsen’s driveway. Lots of the construction workers on the school would come down to buy our Kool-Aid. I never made any money at that stand, even though I helped sell. I didn’t understand anything about business; it was just fun to help.

Tag

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Chapter 4 - return to SLC

When we returned to Salt Lake it was fall/winter. I loved kicking through leaves up to my knees on my way to school in the morning.

We moved into a small apartment down an alley off of I Street on the Avenues in Salt Lake (64 I St, apt 5). Little did I know that there was a girl in kindergarten at that same school, Longfellow Elementary, whom I would marry about 15 years later.

The apartment was not very well maintained, and I hated using the bathroom there. To a 6-year-old it was really gross.

Valentines was the only event I clearly recall. I had developed some friendships in the neighborhood, so I was anxious to deliver Valentine Cards to all of them that night. I had not been out after dark before, and as I tried to find a couple of friends houses, I got disoriented. I dropped a valentine on a porch, which was actually across the street from where I thought I was. I rang the doorbell and ran, only to fall going down the steps and skinning my knee and both hands. That was the last card to deliver, so I headed for home. But I could not find it. I was lost. A kind neighbor lady out with her own kids making deliveries found me wandering down the street crying. I was only across the street from where I wanted to be, so it was easy for her to set me straight.

We were only there for 2 months, and then we moved to a house at 1900 Wyoming Street.

My Story - Chapter 3 - Boise

In 1948 Dad was transferred by GE X-ray to Boise, Idaho. We moved there in April. Our home was at 2404 Kootenai Street (pronounced koo' ten ee). It was in the far south east corner of the city at that time. We had a view of much of the city out our back door. I remember being able to see the tower on the railroad station. Railroad tracks ran right across our back fence, and a train went by at least twice a day.

Across the railroad tracks was a field that neighborhood boys used for playing baseball. I was too small to play, but I was over there watching them play one day when I was hit in the face by a foul ball. Of course I went running home in tears. But what I remember most was that the boys all came running after me because they were so concerned that I got hurt. After I felt a little better, I came out on the back porch and they were all gathered around. I shyly acknowledged their concern, although I hid behind Mom while I did.

Next door to the east lived a man named Alex Ogden. He was a painter by trade, and he had a great garden in the back yard. His favorite crop was turnips. He willingly shared them with me. He invited me to come over and pick one any time I wanted one. I loved them.

Less than 2 years later we started building a new house at 1300 Arcadia Street. The lot had a beautiful cherry tree right where the house was going to be built. One evening after Dad got home from work, we went over and he chopped down the cherry tree so the house could be built there. Mom spent most of the evening picking the ripe cherries off the fallen tree.

I was a big fan of cowboys. I received a Hopalong Cassidy Hat and cap gun and holster, which enabled me to play cowboys all day long.

The house had a front bedroom in the NW corner. That was my bedroom.

I got a whooping cough immunization, which turned into whooping cough for me. I was told later that I got an overdose. I coughed and whooped and could not breath. It was very frightening for me and Mom.

I had a new friend across the back yard who liked to play with my toys. I liked to watch him play with my toys. He didn't always play nice with them, and he didn't always return them. He hit me on the head with a new toy hammer I had received. Dad got after me for not standing up to him.

I got a pet turtle. One day I tried to open its shell to see what was inside. I don't know if it was alive before I opened him up, but it sure wasn't afterward.

First time I saw blood was when the lady across the back fence came over with her arm lacerated and bloody for my mom to help her. They had just painted their house, and a window was painted shut. In trying to push it open, she pushed her arm through the glass. Mom did first aid and helped get her to the hospital.

There was an old work shed in the back yard that I liked to play in. One day I was playing there when I had the sudden need to relieve my bowels. I didn't think I could make it to the house, so I used an old piece of sewer pipe that was standing on end on the floor. After that I didn't like to play in there any more because it stunk too bad.

We had flood irrigation in that lot and the irrigation gates were right in the front corner of the lot under a couple of locust trees.

Just north of our house was the back yard of our ward bishop. His house faced the street to the east, so he had a nice deep back yard with lots of room to play. One warm summer night as I played there I was amazed to discover that it was getting dark and there was a full moon overhead. I couldn't believe Mom had let me stay out so late.

Across the street to the west were the last houses in the city. Beyond that was just open land all the way to the mountains, both south and west. There was a corral across the street where cows were kept. The caretaker of the corral lived there in a small Airstream trailer. He was a real grizzled old cowboy. I was fascinated by him. The corral was surrounded by an electric fence, which I soon learned by experience to not touch.

Soon after we moved in on Arcadia St. I got my first dog. She was a beautiful black labrador retriever. I named her Jet. It was fun to throw things for her to retrieve.

I also had an imaginary pet tiger that I kept in the garage.

I had some friends across the street to the north who went to their grandpa's farm every Sunday. One Sunday afternoon they invited me to go along. I wanted to go so much. I went home to ask Mom if I could, but she was taking a nap. I asked really quietly, but got no response. I went out and told them I had permission. We went to the farm and I had a blast. We played hide and seek, and I dug a hole in the side of a haystack and hid in there. About that time the cows came home and one of them stuck her nose in my hole while she was eating. It scared me badly. When I got home I was afraid I would be punished for sneaking away. I may have been, but I don't remember the punishment. What I do remember was that Mom was crying, and I knew I had caused it. That was worse than any spanking I ever got.

My friends from the farm incident had a little maltese dog. One time when I was there, that dog bit me. Scared me to pieces. I ran home crying and got Jet and went back to get Jet to punish that little dog. Jet just wanted to play with it.

I started school there. Summer kindergarten and first grade. Whitney Elementary School was at the south end of Arcadia St. and across Overland Rd. Overland Rd. was a dirt and gravel road at the time. Now it's 4 to 6 lanes and one of the major east west routes through Boise.

The only things I remember at Whitney were about recess. One morning we had some organized races at recess. One of the boys was a little hyperactive kid who had some learning difficulties. The first race was all boys. Then the girls raced. This little kid ran again with the girls, but got bumped and fell and hit his head and was lying on the playground unconscious. The teacher quickly picked him up and headed for the office with him.

She called out to us to just play on the playground until she called for us to come in. I was playing by myself on the bars, alone in my own world, when I realized that I was the only one on the playground. The teacher had called for us to come in, and I didn't hear her. I didn't know what to do. So I went home for lunch. I knew it was too early for lunch, so I hid in some bushes until I thought enough time had passed. My sense of time was really bad, and I still got home way too early. Mom wanted to know why I was home so early. I told her about the playground accident, but didn't tell her about missing the call to go in. I was really embarrassed when I had to explain to the teacher why I missed much of the morning class time.

I went home for lunch every day in first grade. I never got to eat school lunch because I lived so close. I always wanted to eat school lunch because I thought it smelled so good.

I misunderstood something the kids who were crossing guards said. Whenever I was late they told me the 'tardy bell' had already rung. I didn't know what 'tardy' meant, and I thought they said 'Party Bell'. I couldn't figure out why when they started school with a party I was always late and missed it.

We went on several fishing trips and other vacations while in Idaho. I remember a trip to Shore Lodge at Payette Lake. I got to ride in a motor boat. It was fun to watch the water skiers, especially the guy who could go over the jump ramp. The water was cold, but it was fun to paddle around in my little life vest. I also enjoyed sleeping in a bunk bed. My aunt Pauline went with us. She was a beautiful blond about 19 years old, and quickly had a couple of boyfriends following her around and taking her boating. We also visited Cascade Dam. I was in my cowboy outfit and started shooting my cap gun at the roaring water coming out of the dam. I embarrassed Mom by yelling, "I'm a good dam shooter, aren't I, Mom!"

I learned to love music and nursery rhymes while in Boise. My favorite popular song was "Bye, Bye, Blackbird". I had several 78 rpm records that I listened to over and over. One was Tubby the Tuba with Danny Kaye as the narrator. It was about a tuba that wanted to play the melody. The tune for the melody was Rhapsody in Blue. Another recording I remember was Little Black Sambo about a little jungle boy who turned a tiger into a big lump of butter which he then ate on a huge stack of pancakes. I listened to them so often I could recite them word for word with all the sound effects.

I also attended church, probably Junior Sunday School, I remember reciting some of my recordings there. Probably not church material now, but who knew? Mom had not been active and Dad was not a member.

Dad got transferred back to Salt Lake just a year after we got that house. And the worst part for me was leaving Jet behind. She stayed with the house.

My life - chapter 2

After the war was over, Dad returned home and went to work for General Electric X-ray. Mom and Dad bought a little house at 2666 Hartford St. in Salt Lake. I have a couple of memories of that house. It had a swinging door between the living room and kitchen. And I remember my first Halloween there. I had a bugs bunny mask, cut out of the back of a cereal box. I looked forward to wearing it for Halloween, but that night, when I saw the other kids coming to the door in their costumes, I got scared and would only look out the living room window with my mask on. I was afraid to go to the door.

I had one adventure while living there that I do not remember. I was told about it later. There was a grocery store around the corner from the house where Mom would walk with me to buy groceries. Most groceries in those days were bought at small corner stores that were in walking distance from most homes. Few people had more than one car, and dads went to work in those. So moms had to have a place they could walk, or do the shopping on Saturday when the car was available. Anyway, one day I decided to go grocery shopping on my own. I walked to the store, got one of the carts and started filling it with groceries. Somehow the proprietor of the store got word to Mom what I was doing, and she came to get me. I don't know what happened to the groceries. I had to have been 3 years old at the time, since I was only 3 1/2 when we moved from there.

My life, the beginning.

I've decided to do some writing on my blog. My story seems to be something I can share. So, I'll write about memories I have, as well as things I've been told about myself. This is one of the latter.

I was born October 6, 1944, at a hospital at Kearns Army Ordnance Depot. That makes me almost an Army brat. My parents were Lt. John A. Hippen and Shirley Gale. They had met at Camp Kearns. My dad's best friend in the army was John Hartman. Dad was from Detroit, and 'Jake' Hartman was from Long Island, New York. My mom and her sister June would go to the USO dances at Camp Kearns. Mom and June lived with their parents at 1070 Lincoln St. Salt Lake City, Utah. Dad and Jake started dating these two gorgeous sisters (I've seen pictures of Mom and June that were published in the Deseret News at the time of the wedding, and they were gorgeous.) and ended up marrying them in a double ceremony at the Garden Park Ward building on Yale Avenue in Salt Lake City, on August 4, 1943. (I may have to correct that date after further research.)

My earliest memory, and it may just have been a dream from a later date, is of lying on my back in a baby carriage and seeing Mom pushing that carriage. It was winter, the sky was gray, and I could see bare trees going past above us. Mom had on a dark winter coat and shoulder length dark hair.

Soon after I was born, Dad was sent to Germany in World War II. He and Mom drove from Salt Lake to Maryland where he was to report before being shipped over. It is amazing that she then drove by herself back across country. Her worst memory was of staying in a hotel in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The hotel had only one bathroom per floor, and there were drunk cowboys staggering up and down the hallways all night. The trip was really hard on her body, too soon after giving birth to me, and she started hemorrhaging while in that hotel, with only the sink in the room to contain the blood. She always said that physical trauma was why I was an only child for 6 1/2 years. She was just unable to sustain a pregnancy for a long time.

I stayed with my grandparents and aunts and uncles at 1070 Lincoln Street while Mom and Dad were gone.

Dad was in Army Intelligence in Germany. His job was to interrogate German prisoners. He was born in Germany, and German was the principle language in his home as a child. His family immigrated to the US in 1926 and landed in New York just a couple of days before his 7th birthday. Dad was with the US Army group that liberated Dachau toward the end of the war. He never talked about it. The only thing I knew while growing up was that he had books showing the emaciated bodies of the people interred there. He finally told my niece Shaye Hawkins about it when she interviewed him for a school assignment years later.

I am a flower

Just took the tests on Heidi's blog. I am a sunflower. As a Harry Potter character I am Ron Weasley.

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

Principles of the Gospel

The first principles of the Gospel are Faith, then Repentance. I believe the next principles are Love and Gratitude.

A Lesson Learned Today

It is vital to our spiritual health that we do two things every day. The first is study and ponder the scriptures. And the second is to pray.

We need the Holy Ghost with us each day to make proper decisions. Studying the scriptures and praying each day is how we stay in tune with the Spirit.

When we interact with people we need the Spirit, in order to bless them. We are commanded to feed each other spiritually. See John 21:15; D&C 88:76-77. In order to teach we must have within us something to teach. It must be a treasure within us, a fountain of living waters springing up to give life to the spiritually parched. D&C 11:21; D&C 84:85; D&C 42:14.

I heard today that when King David fell, he had likely quit praying. If we want to avoid sin, to have the strength to resist sin, we must be close to the Lord. We do that by praying.

I have been advised by my primary care doctor to spend some time meditating each day. It's supposed to help lower my blood pressure. It has been hard for me to meditate for any length of time. I feel that I'm not doing anything when I'm meditating. But perhaps, if I do it in connection with, as part of my prayer, I can relax and listen for the Spirit to guide me. And if I study a scripture or two during the same time, I can pray more effectively. I want to do this.

Mantra

A mantra for meditation:

To be directed toward any person you want to help:

I love you.
I am sorry (for everything I may have done to put you in this situation, I accept complete responsibility for your problem)
Please forgive me.
Thank you.

My Music

Waffles!

We made waffles for dinner last night. Serenity and Cadence (my granddaughters) helped by adding and stirring the ingredients and pouring the batter into the hot iron. We put blueberry pie filling and whipped cream on the waffles. They were yummy!!!.

Getting in shape

I've started a new exercise program, with walking as the main feature. I've walked for the last 2 days. I'm posting this on my blog so that you can all encourage me. I even ran some of the time yesterday. I hope to somehow add some type of pull-up exercise to build upper body strength. I have not figured out how to set up a pull up bar in the house.

Added on June 29: I injured my back the first week in May, and have had to put most of my exercising on hold until it gets better. I am doing some exercises assigned by the physical therapist my doctor sent me to. And I've done some walking.

7 Things you may not know about me

This is in response to Hanna's post on her blog:

1. I once flew a jet plane. As an ROTC cadet I had the opportunity to fly in a T-39 jet trainer with a pilot, a co-pilot and 3 other cadets. Each cadet had the opportunity to handle the controls and try to make the other cadets lose their cookies. None of us was successful at that, but we all had a lot of fun, and we were all very queasy when we got back on the ground.

2. I have visited most of the United States. I've missed only Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

3. I have driven a car over 100 mph. On a wide country road in Nebraska I got my 1964 Chrysler up to about 110 mph. The car would have gone faster, but at that speed the front end started to lift off the ground. With little steering control I decided to back off.

4. I was once told by a doctor that I would probably never be able to father children. It was because of a really bad case of mumps when I was 14. He was wrong.

5. I witnessed an attempted murder/suicide. Last year I was behind a little blue car that suddenly accelerated and then veered off the road and smashed square on into a power pole, breaking it off at the base. I later learned that the driver and his grandmother were having a heated argument just before the car took off. He survived, but his grandma died in the hospital the next day. I had to give statements to the police, the insurance company, and somebody's attorney. I don't think he was ever charged, because it could not be proved that he did it on purpose, and he could not remember anything after the crash.

6. I once had a case of whooping cough. My mother said I got too large a dose of an immunization and came down with the disease. I was about 3 years old. I still remember coughing, whooping, and not being able to breath. Very scary.

7. I love romantic movies; chick flicks. I loved Sleepless in Seattle, Sabrina, Casablanca, 10 Things I Hate About You, Stardust, You've Got Mail and many others of that genre.