On the 3x5 cards I found from Mom, she had written this story. I know nothing more about it than what was written.
*********************
There was a mother and three children in the mall. She was carrying one and two were following. Suddenly one disappeared, and she saw him outside the mall sniffing the bushes - first one and then the other. A gentleman was watching us and approached and said, "Have you ever sniffed bushes and found them to be aromatic?
You know he has a keen sense of smell, and he takes time to use his senses. I have a son just like him who is X and they develop other senses."
Enjoy him!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Dad's decline
I ran across these notes Mom had made about Dad’s decline. I wish I had recorded things as they were happening. I know it was hard, but I don’t think I fully comprehended what it would be like to lose your mate little bit by little bit.
I so wish I had her feelings written down. Bit and pieces are good, but to see it through her eyes would be so much better.
*********************
December 2002: Had difficulty putting up Christmas lights. A neighbor finally came over two times to help him.
Obsessive about genealogy and the history center. One track mind.
March 2003
Started forgetting things – names, events and people.
July (2003) – rode bike to university and locked it and couldn’t undo the combination and so he walked home and took a hack saw to it.
August: Went to the HC (history center) and rode his bike and forgot it and walked home. He said the bike was locked.
August: Went down to Wuthrich nursery and got lost.
Sept 2003 – Released from the History Center and from Home teaching. Put truck in Vicki’s garage as he was running down the battery by leaving the door open or lights on or the keys on.
Oct – Had a colonoscopy and we had a terrible time. Gallon of medicine in him. He lost control and we knew every step he took. Morning of operation, we put him in the tub and couldn’t get him out. Vicki got in the bathtub in back of him. She lifted and I pulled and we got him out. Needless to say that’s his last tub bath.
Oct: Told the oxygen man that he was going to kick my butt. He told him I had taken his truck and wouldn’t let him drive.
Took call from Connie and remembered the message of a new baby on the way and remember to tell us who called and the message content.
Coke in fridge. Freezer open.
He wants to put shoes on beat down the locked fruit room door. He wants to take his pebbles (pills).
Put on fleece coat overhead and nude from the waist down. So cold.
East toast with fork. Eat two slices of toast on top of each other.
Wore two watches – one expansion band turns hand numb, but he still wears it.
Sept: Lose keys, lose earphones, lose glasses.
I was shopping – getting caramels from lower case and stopped down to get a couple of pounds. When I stood up, Rex was gone. He thought I had gone off and left him.
Another baby – can’t talk Lee into it.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
More history (the last)
What is the worst thing that you remember a teacher doing to a student? Slapping a girl’s fingers with a wooden ruler. The student was Downs Syndrome girl.
How did you get to and from school? Rode a school bus for one hour each night and morning. Caught the bus at 7:30 a.m. each morning. Got home at 5 p.m.
Do you have a good piece of advice for me? Love your kids. Know “as a mother that I always loved you and that you were the most important thing in my life” - my family!!! I was always happy when you were happy.
Relate a story about a mouse in the house. I can remember killing many a mouse in grain barrels out in the granary shed. Dad had wheat in barrels and also oats for easy access to put in buckets to feed the horses and chickens. Mice would fall inside an almost empty barrel and couldn’t get out.
What is the farthest you ever ran or walked? When in Jr High we rode a bus 26 miles each morning and 26 miles each evening. The bus drive lived 8 miles away and had to back track to pick up the students. One morning the bus didn’t show up and so we started walking down the road picking up kids at each house. We thought we’d meet the bus coming up the canyon to get us. We walked all eight miles to the bus driver’s home as the bus wouldn’t start. Needless to say we missed school.
Did you ever pick apples? Green ones in my Grandpa Lasson’s back yard. He lived in Fairview. He didn’t like us to pick them green. We had to be quite sneaky.
If you had a watch, tell about it. One Christmas, while in high school, Santa gave me a watch and guess what? It kept good time.
Tell about your first date with my father. I wasn’t impressed with him at all. I was dating two other fellows at the time. He wasn’t my priority. Finally, he kept making dates until all my evenings were taken and the other two withdrew.
When and where were you married? In the Salt Lake Temple. I got a speeding ticket en route to SLC.
What did you wear? White wedding gown.
Tell about any other circumstance of your wedding day. We had a reception for another couple the day of our wedding. We had our reception the following day.
Tell about where you lived when first married. 421 Blvd Logan, Utah. We lived in two rooms of an old German lady’s home. We paid $16 a month and then took care of the outside and her laundry.
What was your job at the time. I was a secretary for Agronomy Dept. Dr. Wynne Thorne was dictating a book, and I was taking it down by shorthand. Then he would reword the words, and I’d retype several times.
What qualities in my dad did you try unsuccessfully to change? His stubbornness. His lack of interest in people. His love of things and books. His love for schooling.
Tell about the most serious problem or challenge you faced during your early years of marriage. Money. Rex was in school the first seven years of our marriage.
How did you choose my name? Chose Craig as a Dr. Cragun was my pediatrician. Grandma Lasson named Cherri as she liked the name. Steven Paul was named after Grandpa Hurst.
Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. Having all the brother and sisters’ families at Grandma Lasson’s home. Kids slept everywhere.
Tell about the Thanksgiving traditions of your youth. What foods were on your Thanksgiving table? Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, creamy turkey gravy, dressing, fruit salad, hot homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, and homemade pies.
What is your favorite TV show? Quiz shows.
What is your favorite color? pink.
Did you ever have a bad experience with a haircut or a permanent? Several. I had my scalp burned several times when I was given a permanent.
Do you have any knowledge of how your first name was chosen? Mom looked for something ODD!
Did you hang a Christmas stocking? Yes. We didn’t have a fireplace, so we each hung our stocking on the back of the couch or chair.
Did your family go to a special church service at Christmas? Just a special Christmas program the Sunday before Christmas.
Share any other Christmas memory. Dad had a terrific sweet tooth, so at Christmas time he purchased pounds of boxed chocolates, pound of gum drops, pounds of fruit crèmes, and pounds of shelled mixed nuts. They kept them clocked up until Christmas Eve - when we ate all we wanted. What a luxury!
Do you remember celebrating any special wedding anniversaries of your parents or grandparents?
Mother and Dad never had a wedding reception nor had Dad every given Mom a diamond. So on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, they had a huge wedding celebration and had an open house with wedding cake, flowers, and diamond as well.
Did you ever make New Year’s resolutions? A few times, but they never lasted more than a few weeks.
How did you get to and from school? Rode a school bus for one hour each night and morning. Caught the bus at 7:30 a.m. each morning. Got home at 5 p.m.
Do you have a good piece of advice for me? Love your kids. Know “as a mother that I always loved you and that you were the most important thing in my life” - my family!!! I was always happy when you were happy.
Relate a story about a mouse in the house. I can remember killing many a mouse in grain barrels out in the granary shed. Dad had wheat in barrels and also oats for easy access to put in buckets to feed the horses and chickens. Mice would fall inside an almost empty barrel and couldn’t get out.
What is the farthest you ever ran or walked? When in Jr High we rode a bus 26 miles each morning and 26 miles each evening. The bus drive lived 8 miles away and had to back track to pick up the students. One morning the bus didn’t show up and so we started walking down the road picking up kids at each house. We thought we’d meet the bus coming up the canyon to get us. We walked all eight miles to the bus driver’s home as the bus wouldn’t start. Needless to say we missed school.
Did you ever pick apples? Green ones in my Grandpa Lasson’s back yard. He lived in Fairview. He didn’t like us to pick them green. We had to be quite sneaky.
If you had a watch, tell about it. One Christmas, while in high school, Santa gave me a watch and guess what? It kept good time.
Tell about your first date with my father. I wasn’t impressed with him at all. I was dating two other fellows at the time. He wasn’t my priority. Finally, he kept making dates until all my evenings were taken and the other two withdrew.
When and where were you married? In the Salt Lake Temple. I got a speeding ticket en route to SLC.
What did you wear? White wedding gown.
Tell about any other circumstance of your wedding day. We had a reception for another couple the day of our wedding. We had our reception the following day.
Tell about where you lived when first married. 421 Blvd Logan, Utah. We lived in two rooms of an old German lady’s home. We paid $16 a month and then took care of the outside and her laundry.
What was your job at the time. I was a secretary for Agronomy Dept. Dr. Wynne Thorne was dictating a book, and I was taking it down by shorthand. Then he would reword the words, and I’d retype several times.
What qualities in my dad did you try unsuccessfully to change? His stubbornness. His lack of interest in people. His love of things and books. His love for schooling.
Tell about the most serious problem or challenge you faced during your early years of marriage. Money. Rex was in school the first seven years of our marriage.
How did you choose my name? Chose Craig as a Dr. Cragun was my pediatrician. Grandma Lasson named Cherri as she liked the name. Steven Paul was named after Grandpa Hurst.
Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. Having all the brother and sisters’ families at Grandma Lasson’s home. Kids slept everywhere.
Tell about the Thanksgiving traditions of your youth. What foods were on your Thanksgiving table? Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, creamy turkey gravy, dressing, fruit salad, hot homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, and homemade pies.
What is your favorite TV show? Quiz shows.
What is your favorite color? pink.
Did you ever have a bad experience with a haircut or a permanent? Several. I had my scalp burned several times when I was given a permanent.
Do you have any knowledge of how your first name was chosen? Mom looked for something ODD!
Did you hang a Christmas stocking? Yes. We didn’t have a fireplace, so we each hung our stocking on the back of the couch or chair.
Did your family go to a special church service at Christmas? Just a special Christmas program the Sunday before Christmas.
Share any other Christmas memory. Dad had a terrific sweet tooth, so at Christmas time he purchased pounds of boxed chocolates, pound of gum drops, pounds of fruit crèmes, and pounds of shelled mixed nuts. They kept them clocked up until Christmas Eve - when we ate all we wanted. What a luxury!
Do you remember celebrating any special wedding anniversaries of your parents or grandparents?
Mother and Dad never had a wedding reception nor had Dad every given Mom a diamond. So on their fiftieth wedding anniversary, they had a huge wedding celebration and had an open house with wedding cake, flowers, and diamond as well.
Did you ever make New Year’s resolutions? A few times, but they never lasted more than a few weeks.
More history
What was your first job?
Helping my Aunt Callie bottle eight bushels of peaches. After I was dead tired, I had to scrub and wax her floor at midnight.
Tell about any other paying jobs you held as a youth. Helping my aunts clean house. Babysat cousin a few times.
If you were ever in a parade, tell about it. I was Molly Pitcher on a parade for Homecoming parade in Logan. [Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Since various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, many historians regard Molly Pitcher as folklore, rather than history, or suggest that Molly Pitcher may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women.]
Tell another memory about a parade. Many a parade I’ve watched because some or one of my kids was it in. One time Craig and a friend followed behind the horses with a wheel barrow and a scoop.
Share a childhood memory about a death that affected you. My Grandma Lasson died when I was eight to ten. She wasn’t very close to me and I didn’t know her well. Her body was put in her living room for viewing. She looked asleep.
Relate your happiest memory as a youth. I was always happy for school to start each year.
How did you learn to swim? I never learned to swim!
Where did you go swimming? One Sunday our church group went up the canyon to a park and had a testimony meeting and then a picnic afterwards. Some of us decided to walk across the large stream of water. It was fast because of spring run off. Everyone got across but me and I was dragged down stream for more than a mile. I’ve been frightened of water since.
Share a memory about going on a picnic. Went on a church picnic. After testimony meeting, some of us kids tried wading the river and I lost my footing and was swept downstream about three blocks. I couldn’t swim and I wasn’t able to catch onto a tree limb. Finally, my friend struck out a tree limb and pulled me in. I’ve never learned to swim since then.
Tell a favorite memory of your father. Dad had a very tender heart when it came to his kids. He’d come to school or church to watch us perform and tears would run down his cheeks. Maybe our talent made him cry.
Tell about some good advice your father gave you. At the time, I was dating three fellows and once all three turned up at the ranch the same time. Dad said I’d have a bad reputations if I continued to date so many.
Did your father ever make a special gift for you? He probably did, but I can’t recall what it was.
Did you have a special nature place where you went to explore? There was an old homestead two or three miles from home and we loved to ride horses or hike to drive down and explore. There was a creek where we’d catch minnows. Also a spring was there with good water cress and also a gooseberry patch we loved.
Did you ever go skinny dipping? Never. Never. Never
Did you ever make mud pies? Yes every spring down by the pollywog pond. We also operated on pollywogs, salted them, buried the, gave them funerals, and placed flowers at the grave.
Did you go barefoot in the summer? If so, relate an experience about stepping on something. I went barefoot all the time, and I lived on a ranch. Enough said as to what I stepped on.
Describe a few of the favorite hair styles of your youth. I had a hairdo that I just loved, but it took a lot of work to set and comb out. It was pin curls set all over your head. Brushed out and curls pulled back to the extreme back.
Tell about a bike you had. I never had a bike, but my older brother had one and I learned to ride when I was thirteen. We rode on a state highway with gravel on the sides. Many a time I wrecked and ground into the gravel.
As a youth, did you ever learn any sewing, stitching, or needlework?
I did some basic sewing and learned the fundamentals. The hardest article I made was a apron with bias tape stitched around all the edges. Many a stitch was missed.
Did you ever have or make a swing? I used to have an old swing that my dad made and hung from a high pole that stuck out of an old tool shop. It was a big swing but I loved it. I lived there until I was six.
Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful. When I was younger than six, during the summer we’d go to a cliff (large) that was full of birds’ nests. We’d go and peek at their new eggs. I think we even collected some of them and broke them.
What kind of fireworks did people have when you were a youth? We had firecrackers and sparklers. We also had guns (pot metal) that shot snaps that made a noise.
Tel about Independence Day traditions of your childhood. Usually Dad worked in the morning and took the family to town to see a movie and have hamburgers afterwards.
Did you ever go to carnivals or amusement parks? Where? Went to carnivals at County and/or state fairs. I liked them until seventeen years old, when I went on a date to a carnival in Provo. I got sick to my stomach and vomited all over. What a sour impression I made!
What kinds of rides and games were there? How much did they cost?
Merry-go-round 10 cents.
Ferris Wheel 25 cents
Train rides ten cens
bump cars
Tell about any State Fair of County Fair experiences. One year, my best friend’s mother made us each a dress in red/white/blue stripes with a full circular skirt. It was form fitting and we thought we were the “cat’s meow”. [In researching the origins of the phrase "It's the cat's meow", it seems that the Roaring '20's ushered in several new phrases related to cats that are still in use today. The "cat's meow" describes ideas that were truly "too cool for words"! The phrase "the cat's pajamas" means the same thing, only no one seems to know why. Another cat expression is "cool cat", who is someone who keeps up with all the fads and trends. So, I assume that a cool cat can say something that's really the cat's meow!
Tell any favorite summertime memory. Picnics with friends. Picnics with family. Boating on Yellowstone. Boating at Lake Powell.
Did you remember having a favorite candy? Salt Water Taffy. Mother made it.
Do you remember having a favorite snack that you made at home? Raisin-filled cookies. Cherry Pie.
What kinds of party games or party activities were popular? Spin the bottle (very popular), Post office. Charades. Card Games
What did you to do in the summer? Strip down to shorts. Wade in the creek. Play in the pond and kill pollywogs and then have funerals for them.
What was your favorite holiday of the year? Christmas. Family all got together. Presents. Good food and sweets.
Share a birthday part memory. Had a surprise 16th party. I had washed my hair after school and put my hair up in pin-curls all over my head. All my friends said they couldn’t sleep over, so I decided to wash my hair. When someone knocked on the door, I thought I would die. I hurried and took out the bobby pins and celebrated!
Tell about the neatest shoes you ever owned as a youth. White and brown saddle oxfords.
What memories do you have of lightning or thunder during your childhood? I was frightened of the lightning and held my ears waiting for the thunder.
Share a special memory about riding in a boat. I was 19 and Rex took me on Utah Lake in his Dad’s old, old fishing boat. We went clear to the other side to an island. As we started to come back, the engine conked out and I was hanging onto the side of the boat. the two fellows were trying to swim and paddle with one paddle. I was frightened of water. When it got dark, Rex’s Dad came looking.
Tell about a family vacation trip. We went to Southern Utah parks and camped out in tents.
Tell about board games and card games you played as a youth. Old Maid. Hearts.
Did your mom or dad have a favorite remedy for what ailed you? Mustard plasters on the chest for a cough. Honey candy for a sore throat.
What was your best talent? Dancing. Speaking. Poetry.
Tell about being stung by a bee or wasp. I stopped on a bee while walking outside on the lawn. It stung me and my foot swelled up.
Did you have any favorite family songs that you sang together? We lived up Spanish Fork canyon and drove a great deal. We sang while driving.
One more bottle of beer.
[99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.
98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall. …]
Bury the brown girl in my arms and the fair one at my feet.
Home on the Range.
Tell about your bedroom. As I grew up, I never had a bedroom by myself, nor have I since my maturity. I slept with two sisters in one double bed and a brother on a cot in the same room for several years.
Share your childhood experiences with roller skates. Never learned to skate as a child.
Did you ever experience home sickness? No!
Did you never make a purchase that you later regretted? We purchased a Ford Pinto and it was a lemon. You could feel every bump in the road through the floor of the car.
Describe how you used the phone to call a friend. Never had a phone when I was living at home.
Tell about an incident when you were very angry with you mom or dad? One time Electa and I were playing and Electa (who is usually innocent and sweet) was the wrong doer, but my mom gave me the spanking. Unfair!
Share a memory involving an outhouse. We had an outdoor toilet for all the time I was at home. It was many years later that the folds got an indoor bathroom. We used old Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs for toilet paper. Not very efficient. Learned to drive a car by coasting down to the toilet and t hen backed the car back.
Tell us about your worst report card. I always had good report cards. I guess I had the teacher’s fooled. I did get a C in the “Bible as Literature”.
Helping my Aunt Callie bottle eight bushels of peaches. After I was dead tired, I had to scrub and wax her floor at midnight.
Tell about any other paying jobs you held as a youth. Helping my aunts clean house. Babysat cousin a few times.
If you were ever in a parade, tell about it. I was Molly Pitcher on a parade for Homecoming parade in Logan. [Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Since various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, many historians regard Molly Pitcher as folklore, rather than history, or suggest that Molly Pitcher may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women.]
Tell another memory about a parade. Many a parade I’ve watched because some or one of my kids was it in. One time Craig and a friend followed behind the horses with a wheel barrow and a scoop.
Share a childhood memory about a death that affected you. My Grandma Lasson died when I was eight to ten. She wasn’t very close to me and I didn’t know her well. Her body was put in her living room for viewing. She looked asleep.
Relate your happiest memory as a youth. I was always happy for school to start each year.
How did you learn to swim? I never learned to swim!
Where did you go swimming? One Sunday our church group went up the canyon to a park and had a testimony meeting and then a picnic afterwards. Some of us decided to walk across the large stream of water. It was fast because of spring run off. Everyone got across but me and I was dragged down stream for more than a mile. I’ve been frightened of water since.
Share a memory about going on a picnic. Went on a church picnic. After testimony meeting, some of us kids tried wading the river and I lost my footing and was swept downstream about three blocks. I couldn’t swim and I wasn’t able to catch onto a tree limb. Finally, my friend struck out a tree limb and pulled me in. I’ve never learned to swim since then.
Tell a favorite memory of your father. Dad had a very tender heart when it came to his kids. He’d come to school or church to watch us perform and tears would run down his cheeks. Maybe our talent made him cry.
Tell about some good advice your father gave you. At the time, I was dating three fellows and once all three turned up at the ranch the same time. Dad said I’d have a bad reputations if I continued to date so many.
Did your father ever make a special gift for you? He probably did, but I can’t recall what it was.
Did you have a special nature place where you went to explore? There was an old homestead two or three miles from home and we loved to ride horses or hike to drive down and explore. There was a creek where we’d catch minnows. Also a spring was there with good water cress and also a gooseberry patch we loved.
Did you ever go skinny dipping? Never. Never. Never
Did you ever make mud pies? Yes every spring down by the pollywog pond. We also operated on pollywogs, salted them, buried the, gave them funerals, and placed flowers at the grave.
Did you go barefoot in the summer? If so, relate an experience about stepping on something. I went barefoot all the time, and I lived on a ranch. Enough said as to what I stepped on.
Describe a few of the favorite hair styles of your youth. I had a hairdo that I just loved, but it took a lot of work to set and comb out. It was pin curls set all over your head. Brushed out and curls pulled back to the extreme back.
Tell about a bike you had. I never had a bike, but my older brother had one and I learned to ride when I was thirteen. We rode on a state highway with gravel on the sides. Many a time I wrecked and ground into the gravel.
As a youth, did you ever learn any sewing, stitching, or needlework?
I did some basic sewing and learned the fundamentals. The hardest article I made was a apron with bias tape stitched around all the edges. Many a stitch was missed.
Did you ever have or make a swing? I used to have an old swing that my dad made and hung from a high pole that stuck out of an old tool shop. It was a big swing but I loved it. I lived there until I was six.
Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful. When I was younger than six, during the summer we’d go to a cliff (large) that was full of birds’ nests. We’d go and peek at their new eggs. I think we even collected some of them and broke them.
What kind of fireworks did people have when you were a youth? We had firecrackers and sparklers. We also had guns (pot metal) that shot snaps that made a noise.
Tel about Independence Day traditions of your childhood. Usually Dad worked in the morning and took the family to town to see a movie and have hamburgers afterwards.
Did you ever go to carnivals or amusement parks? Where? Went to carnivals at County and/or state fairs. I liked them until seventeen years old, when I went on a date to a carnival in Provo. I got sick to my stomach and vomited all over. What a sour impression I made!
What kinds of rides and games were there? How much did they cost?
Merry-go-round 10 cents.
Ferris Wheel 25 cents
Train rides ten cens
bump cars
Tell about any State Fair of County Fair experiences. One year, my best friend’s mother made us each a dress in red/white/blue stripes with a full circular skirt. It was form fitting and we thought we were the “cat’s meow”. [In researching the origins of the phrase "It's the cat's meow", it seems that the Roaring '20's ushered in several new phrases related to cats that are still in use today. The "cat's meow" describes ideas that were truly "too cool for words"! The phrase "the cat's pajamas" means the same thing, only no one seems to know why. Another cat expression is "cool cat", who is someone who keeps up with all the fads and trends. So, I assume that a cool cat can say something that's really the cat's meow!
Tell any favorite summertime memory. Picnics with friends. Picnics with family. Boating on Yellowstone. Boating at Lake Powell.
Did you remember having a favorite candy? Salt Water Taffy. Mother made it.
Do you remember having a favorite snack that you made at home? Raisin-filled cookies. Cherry Pie.
What kinds of party games or party activities were popular? Spin the bottle (very popular), Post office. Charades. Card Games
What did you to do in the summer? Strip down to shorts. Wade in the creek. Play in the pond and kill pollywogs and then have funerals for them.
What was your favorite holiday of the year? Christmas. Family all got together. Presents. Good food and sweets.
Share a birthday part memory. Had a surprise 16th party. I had washed my hair after school and put my hair up in pin-curls all over my head. All my friends said they couldn’t sleep over, so I decided to wash my hair. When someone knocked on the door, I thought I would die. I hurried and took out the bobby pins and celebrated!
Tell about the neatest shoes you ever owned as a youth. White and brown saddle oxfords.
What memories do you have of lightning or thunder during your childhood? I was frightened of the lightning and held my ears waiting for the thunder.
Share a special memory about riding in a boat. I was 19 and Rex took me on Utah Lake in his Dad’s old, old fishing boat. We went clear to the other side to an island. As we started to come back, the engine conked out and I was hanging onto the side of the boat. the two fellows were trying to swim and paddle with one paddle. I was frightened of water. When it got dark, Rex’s Dad came looking.
Tell about a family vacation trip. We went to Southern Utah parks and camped out in tents.
Tell about board games and card games you played as a youth. Old Maid. Hearts.
Did your mom or dad have a favorite remedy for what ailed you? Mustard plasters on the chest for a cough. Honey candy for a sore throat.
What was your best talent? Dancing. Speaking. Poetry.
Tell about being stung by a bee or wasp. I stopped on a bee while walking outside on the lawn. It stung me and my foot swelled up.
Did you have any favorite family songs that you sang together? We lived up Spanish Fork canyon and drove a great deal. We sang while driving.
One more bottle of beer.
[99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.
98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall. …]
Bury the brown girl in my arms and the fair one at my feet.
Home on the Range.
Tell about your bedroom. As I grew up, I never had a bedroom by myself, nor have I since my maturity. I slept with two sisters in one double bed and a brother on a cot in the same room for several years.
Share your childhood experiences with roller skates. Never learned to skate as a child.
Did you ever experience home sickness? No!
Did you never make a purchase that you later regretted? We purchased a Ford Pinto and it was a lemon. You could feel every bump in the road through the floor of the car.
Describe how you used the phone to call a friend. Never had a phone when I was living at home.
Tell about an incident when you were very angry with you mom or dad? One time Electa and I were playing and Electa (who is usually innocent and sweet) was the wrong doer, but my mom gave me the spanking. Unfair!
Share a memory involving an outhouse. We had an outdoor toilet for all the time I was at home. It was many years later that the folds got an indoor bathroom. We used old Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs for toilet paper. Not very efficient. Learned to drive a car by coasting down to the toilet and t hen backed the car back.
Tell us about your worst report card. I always had good report cards. I guess I had the teacher’s fooled. I did get a C in the “Bible as Literature”.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
More history...
Did you ever feel a hatred for another person? Angry, but never hatred.
Have you ever hunted or tried to capture a wild animal? We captured some baby rabbits in the middle of the night. We were camping out with another family, and we were running after baby rabbits in our garments. What a sight!
Make up a limerick about me
If I could make the draw
I'd choose you for my third daughter-in-law.
I love you!
Relate a favorite spring memory
Watching for the early spring flowers. We picked dandelions, purple violets, red sagebrush, blue bells, and others.
Share a memory of going to church as you were growing up.
Our church group met in the school house on Sundays. We held our Sunday School classes in each corner of the building. Needless to say our church membership was under 100.
Share a memory about a church social activity. We used to have church dances and the whole family attended - even babies. They'd get the babies asleep and put them on a blanket in the back of the hall.
Tell about Easter traditions. We'd all cook and color our eggs and each of us could choose our own colors and decorations. The next day we'd search the house for eggs and candy.
Did you ever have a recurring dream as a child? Many times I'd dream I was in the bathroom and doing my thing - This dream led to many a mishap.
When you played make-believe, what did you pretend? I played as if I were an actress and dancer. I also gave orations from a pretend dias.
Did you ever write something that you were really proud of? Poem. I was ten years old and my brother Ward helped me. It was so good the teachers kept it.
What is the biggest physical problem you had to deal with?
Obesity
Poun Guesion (?)
Did you have any superstitions
Going under a ladder. Having a black cat cross in front of me. Friday, the 13th.
Tell about the first time you were ever behind the wheel of a car.
When I was about 14, I'd drive the car down to the outside toilet and then back it up, as you couldn't turn it around.
Did you ever take anything that wasn't yours? Some pins (ornamental) off of the dresses on the sales rack in J.C. Penney.
What did you do with it? Did you ever get caught? I wore them. I never got caught.
What childhood fear do you remember? Darkness. Being alone.
Did your mother ever make a special gift for you? Mother knew I loved her cherry pies She always baked cherry pie as something special for me. She had bottled the cherries the summer before - She made excellent pies.
What kind of dances did you do as a youth? Waltz, Foxtrot, Jitterbug, Cha cha
How many students were in your high school? In your graduating class? There were around 300 in my High School and when I graduated in 1943, there were 100 graduates. I loved high school and didn't want it to end. "I cried".
Did you have homework? I had very little in elementary but in high school I had a lot of shorthand as homework.
Tell us about Memorial Day traditions during your youth. We usually went to Payson and purchased fresh flowers for the many graves on my mother's family. We usually ate dinner with one of Mother's cousins.
Did you play a musical instrument? Only a horn that we all have that goes toot-toot.
Did you ever sleep under the stars? On my 16th birthday, three girls and four boys gave me a surprise party. This was in January and the boys slept outside on the haystacks. The girls wanted to go sleep in the haystacks too, but Mother wouldn't let us. We just couldn't understand why we couldn't join the boys. How dumb was I?
Did you ever go on a snipe hunt? Yes. When on a date and with a large group, several of us were invited to go on a snipe hunt and we searched for several minutes before the fellows burst out laughing and told us there were no snipes. We didn't find it so funny.
Share a horse-riding story. Once rode a horse around the yard. Mom had clothes line strung on one side of the yard. It was one long line with wooden supports. The horse got frightened and started to run across the yard. He ran under the line and it knocked me off. I wasn't hurt, but scared.
I told you there would be something good
Steve has been giving me grief about all the stuff I kept from Mom's house. Finding this "Mom share your life with me" booklet that someone gave mom just shows I was right! (I love to say I told you so.)
It is all written in Mom's own handwriting, so it is unique.
Anyway, here goes
Tell about being in a school play or program.
Can recall trying out for a cheerleader. It was by popular vote. So Zola and Glen Bowen and I purchased sweaters alike, made up a new cheer, and practiced in a service station garage and tried out. We won!
After we won, the principal congratulated us, but said to use the old cheers and to not make up new yells. Was he trying to tell us something?
Did you ever pretend to be sick as an excuse to stay home from school?
I can't recall pretending illness - 'cause I loved school and hated Saturdays when we cleaned the house throughout.
Tell about how you spend your Saturdays during the school year.
Moping and waxing floors which were big. We had to dust everywhere and vacuum where carpets were on the floor.
Tell about how you spend your Sundays.
We got up and dressed in our Sunday best and went to church - 3 hours and we drove home and had a super-duper dinner with mashed potatoes, hot rolls, and cherry pie. Good memories.
When on car trips, did you play car games?
We played a game concerning car license plates. Also one finding the letters of the alphabet on sign boards. Dad sang songs to us. They told a story - very dramatic.
What was your favorite radio program? Loretta Young TV program. Inner Sanctum radio.
What was your favorite movie as a youth? Gone with the Wind.
Did the kids ever tease you? About what?
Yes, when I was very young. They used to call me "4 eyes" as I wore glasses from 9 years old on.
Tell of a difficult school essay or term paper assignment: I had to write a long poem about our country. As hard as I tried, I could only do three verses. Ward and Edith helped me and we had a two page poem. The teacher was impressed, but she kept the paper and I never saw it again.
Tell us about your first smoke. Zola and myself went upstairs to her bedroom when her folks were away. Her father smoked, and we went through his farm jacket pockets and found cigarette butts and closed all the doors and windows and started puffing and choking, then clearing out the smell.
If you went to college, tell which college you chose and why. I chose BYU but only stayed one semester as it was wartime and I didn't like an all girls' school. I quit and Zola and I went to San Jose, CA and worked at Moffett Air Field.
Tell your major and how you chose it. Secretarial science as I had been a good student in shorthand and typing and thought they'd be fun and easy to teach.
If you ever hitch-hiked explain. Yes, Rex and I had our car in the garage for repairs and so we got a ride most of the way to my home, but we hitch hiked (the last) thirteen miles. I was pregnant with Craig at the time.
Which do you remember as your favorite time of year? Why? Fall, Winter, Spring. Because I was in school and I loved school and I loved being in school with all the kids. Home on the ranch was rather lonely.
Describe some household chores you had as a child. Dusting, dishes, scrubbing and waxing floors.
Describe some outside chores. Carrying wood for the cook stove. Hauling in water from the well.
Which bones have you broken and how?
I've broken some ribs. I've broken my foot. I broke my achilles tendon twice and left me with one leg shorter than the other.
Did you ever need stitches? Yes. I had staff infection in my breast after Gary was born. They had to cut, drain, and stitch. Stitches on leg for achilles problem. Stitches after each baby delivery. Stitches after lung surgery.
Do you have any other good stories about being injured? I have a scar above my knee from riding a bike and brushing past a gunny sack full of empty cans and bottles and a jagged piece of glass cut my leg.
Tell about an experience at the doctor's or dentist's. Took Craig (3) to a dentist to have his teeth looked at. I hadn't prepared him for the visit and the stubborn son-of-a-gun wouldn't open his mouth. The Dr didn't want to force it open.
Name your best school chums: Zola Gull, Toni Wilde, Bernice Ostler, Ila McAllister
What were some crazy names or nicknames at your school? Red, Grafy
Tell about a practical joke or prank someone played on you?
My brother told me to look at the freight train out on railroad tracks and I did and he said, "I'm going to tell Mom that I saw you pee on a boxcar. I said I didn't and "sob sob". U.P. = Union Pacific.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An airline attendant.
It is all written in Mom's own handwriting, so it is unique.
Anyway, here goes
Tell about being in a school play or program.
Can recall trying out for a cheerleader. It was by popular vote. So Zola and Glen Bowen and I purchased sweaters alike, made up a new cheer, and practiced in a service station garage and tried out. We won!
After we won, the principal congratulated us, but said to use the old cheers and to not make up new yells. Was he trying to tell us something?
Did you ever pretend to be sick as an excuse to stay home from school?
I can't recall pretending illness - 'cause I loved school and hated Saturdays when we cleaned the house throughout.
Tell about how you spend your Saturdays during the school year.
Moping and waxing floors which were big. We had to dust everywhere and vacuum where carpets were on the floor.
Tell about how you spend your Sundays.
We got up and dressed in our Sunday best and went to church - 3 hours and we drove home and had a super-duper dinner with mashed potatoes, hot rolls, and cherry pie. Good memories.
When on car trips, did you play car games?
We played a game concerning car license plates. Also one finding the letters of the alphabet on sign boards. Dad sang songs to us. They told a story - very dramatic.
What was your favorite radio program? Loretta Young TV program. Inner Sanctum radio.
What was your favorite movie as a youth? Gone with the Wind.
Did the kids ever tease you? About what?
Yes, when I was very young. They used to call me "4 eyes" as I wore glasses from 9 years old on.
Tell of a difficult school essay or term paper assignment: I had to write a long poem about our country. As hard as I tried, I could only do three verses. Ward and Edith helped me and we had a two page poem. The teacher was impressed, but she kept the paper and I never saw it again.
Tell us about your first smoke. Zola and myself went upstairs to her bedroom when her folks were away. Her father smoked, and we went through his farm jacket pockets and found cigarette butts and closed all the doors and windows and started puffing and choking, then clearing out the smell.
If you went to college, tell which college you chose and why. I chose BYU but only stayed one semester as it was wartime and I didn't like an all girls' school. I quit and Zola and I went to San Jose, CA and worked at Moffett Air Field.
Tell your major and how you chose it. Secretarial science as I had been a good student in shorthand and typing and thought they'd be fun and easy to teach.
If you ever hitch-hiked explain. Yes, Rex and I had our car in the garage for repairs and so we got a ride most of the way to my home, but we hitch hiked (the last) thirteen miles. I was pregnant with Craig at the time.
Which do you remember as your favorite time of year? Why? Fall, Winter, Spring. Because I was in school and I loved school and I loved being in school with all the kids. Home on the ranch was rather lonely.
Describe some household chores you had as a child. Dusting, dishes, scrubbing and waxing floors.
Describe some outside chores. Carrying wood for the cook stove. Hauling in water from the well.
Which bones have you broken and how?
I've broken some ribs. I've broken my foot. I broke my achilles tendon twice and left me with one leg shorter than the other.
Did you ever need stitches? Yes. I had staff infection in my breast after Gary was born. They had to cut, drain, and stitch. Stitches on leg for achilles problem. Stitches after each baby delivery. Stitches after lung surgery.
Do you have any other good stories about being injured? I have a scar above my knee from riding a bike and brushing past a gunny sack full of empty cans and bottles and a jagged piece of glass cut my leg.
Tell about an experience at the doctor's or dentist's. Took Craig (3) to a dentist to have his teeth looked at. I hadn't prepared him for the visit and the stubborn son-of-a-gun wouldn't open his mouth. The Dr didn't want to force it open.
Name your best school chums: Zola Gull, Toni Wilde, Bernice Ostler, Ila McAllister
What were some crazy names or nicknames at your school? Red, Grafy
Tell about a practical joke or prank someone played on you?
My brother told me to look at the freight train out on railroad tracks and I did and he said, "I'm going to tell Mom that I saw you pee on a boxcar. I said I didn't and "sob sob". U.P. = Union Pacific.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? An airline attendant.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
More history (New material, hand written)
Tell about the naughtiest thing you ever did. If you got caught, describe the consequences.
One day in elementary school, all the 5th and 6th graders decided to sluff school and go mountain climbing. I stayed home that day because I didn't want to get caught. Well, the next day, those that had sluffed had a huge math test for makeup. When she turned her back, I stuck out my tongue out at her. She caught me and I had to do the test also.
One day in elementary school, all the 5th and 6th graders decided to sluff school and go mountain climbing. I stayed home that day because I didn't want to get caught. Well, the next day, those that had sluffed had a huge math test for makeup. When she turned her back, I stuck out my tongue out at her. She caught me and I had to do the test also.
What did you use to go sledding down a hill in the snow: Sleigh. Sometimes half a wooden barrel.
What was your favorite meal as a child?
Southern fried chicken mashed potatoes chicken gravy hot rolls glazed carrots pie
Tell about the Valentines Day festivities in your school. I was Queen of a Valentines Dance while I was in high school. The student body voted for me, but I only knew I had won the day before the ball. Mom had to go to the department store and trade eggs for my special dress. She didn't have any money.
Describe a place you liked to go to be alone: When I was a teenager, I loved to climb the small hills to the North of our house and rest and sing all the songs I knew. I had to take to the hills as I couldn't carry a tune.
What is the biggest problem you remember having in Sr. High School? Being voted into school offices or committees and not having enough organizational skills to follow through from planning to the end of the occasion. It's good I had some great friends to head my committees and help pull me through. I loved senior high school.
Tell about the best pet you ever had. Best pet was a black dog. Steven and I drove to Mink Creek, Idaho and purchased her for $100. She was a Lapso Apso puppy and Dad was most upset when we brought her home.
We always had dogs and cats on the ranch all my growing up years.
My brother, Ward, had his own riding mare, but my sisters and I claimed she was part ours.
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