1957 Earliest Memory

I think my earliest memory was when I was 2-3. Standing behind my dad's right shoulder while he was driving an old 40's dark blue plymouth down a dirt road out in the middle of no where. I loved riding like that in that old plymouth. Don't remember other rides, just the feeling. I got to be in front and Ricky and Beegee had to sit in the back (Beegee was my sister's nickname, her name was Beverly Jean). It was always wonderful when you got something special that the other kids didn't get. Like riding in the front behind dad's shoulder so I did not fall over.

We were on our way to somewhere around Fowler where my grandfather was living on a ranch as a cow hand. He was old then and I don't think he punched cows anymore. Later I was told that he was really good with leather and earned his keep repairing/making bridles, saddles, whips and quirts. Lesee, he died in 1964ish and was 75, so that would have made him about 65 or so on this day. He had emphasema really bad and always had a flask of whiskey in his pocket. He coughed alot. He always wore a black suit, long underwear with the flap in the back, an old black felt cowboy hat, a bow tie around his neck and cowboy boots with real spurs. I have a picture of him sitting on a horse when he was maybe 40ish, but he was not wearing the suit. My dad told me always carried a sap in his pocket and would get drunk and get in fights. He would stomp a guys cheeks in with his heels given the chance. Guess he was always mean and nasty... which is how I remembered him most of the time. But not this day. This day, he was a magician in his kitchen...

My grandfather lived in a bunk house with a big ole wood stove with 4 holes in the top. He was cooking eggs and bacon and biscuits. He had a 20 pound bag of flour on the floor by the stove "to keep it dry" and he scooped out a hole in the top. He got a handfull of water and threw it in the top of the flour sack and ran it around until he had a ball of flour. He had to have added baking powder at some point, but I didn't know that. He made little biscuits about the size of a silver dollar and put them in a round pie pan and put on a lid. It sat on the back of the wood stove while he was cooking eggs and bacon. and every once in awhile he would life the lid, but he would not let me see. He would just wink at me and go on coughing and talking and cooking eggs and bacon. After forever, the pan magically had biscuits it in. WOW!! This made quite an impression on me obviously, as I remember it clearly.

Then later in the day we went out to ride horses and he grabbed me and lifted me up, screaming, and set me on top of this Empire State Building sized white horse, all by myself. My mom chewed him out and I ended up riding with my dad sitting behind me., terrified the whole time that we were going to fall off. I remember my sister and brother went first and sat by themselves and didn't mind it. They did not get to ride alone either as my brother was only 5 and my sister was 4. I remember thinking that I really hoped he did not put me up there. Funny how your fears start when you are too small to speak for yourself or get away. Been scared of horses ever since. Thanks grandpa... haha.

It was a hot sunny day in 1957 or there'bouts and it was warm and cozy in the bunk house and I don't remember much but the stove and the horse. Nice memory tho.

My mom told me that we had been living in Pueblo then, out on Goodnight, down by the river to the west of the city park. She showed me the house once, when my own daughter was 2, but I don't know if I could find it again. Might not even be there any longer as it was pretty run down the last time I saw it.

Mom said that that is when she frightened us all of spiders, while living in that house. She had found Black Widow egg sacks hanging from my crib and freaked. She scared us all so bad, that my retired 6 foot, Special Forces brother, has to get his 5 foot 3 wife to kill spiders for him. LOL Funny when you think about it. He told me one time that he got so startled by a spider that he practically killed himself getting out of a shed, when he was still in the army. Would have loved to have seen that one...

Don't know when we moved to Denver, but all the rest of my memories, at a really young age, were in the house on Xavier in Denver.