Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – X, Y & Z

X is for Xylophone

    X is another one of those hard to use letters. But xylophone does fit. I can remember that we had a little toy xylophone. I don't know if it was originally mine or my brother's, but we both would try playing it from time to time. It came with some instructions with music for simple songs. Since I was taking piano lessons I could read simple music. One time at a school assembly someone came who played the marimba, which is similar to a xylophone. I really enjoyed the music they played and wished I could play like that. However I had to be content with learning to play the piano.

Y is for Yellow Jacket

    Yellow jackets are not a favorite memory. Yellow jackets can sting and that hurts. I remember seeing honey bees and wasps and maybe even a few hornets. But the insects that caused me the most problem were yellow jackets. They liked to come to picnics, especially for hamburgers or fruit pie. If you went into the orchard area in the fall, when some of the fruit had fallen, you would see yellow jackets. Now I guess that I really didn't get stung too many times, since I was so wary of them. But I can remember a few times when my arm or leg or wherever would swell up, get red and hurt for a few days.

Z is for Zipper

    When I think of zippers in my childhood it was related to the sewing I was doing for my 4H project. When I made a dress for myself, it had a zipper on the side, since the waistline was fairly fitted. Because of the waistline the zipper was not exactly a straight line. Even with a straight line, I found zippers to be hard to sew, since they have bumps. My Mom had a "zipper foot" for her sewing machine, so that made it a little easier. Because my Mom wanted my sewing to be right, if my seams were crooked, I had to take them out and redo them. My memory may be clouded, but it seems like I was never able to get a zipper right the first time. So to me, zipper equals frustration.

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – V & W

 V is for Vegetables

Photo by Iñigo De la Maza on Unsplash

    Vegetables were always a part of our day's meals since I can remember. We did have a garden so usually there were peas, green beans, corn, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes. Depending on the size of the crop, some of these might be canned or frozen to eat later. However my memories of vegetables often go back to the ones that my parents bought at the store for us to eat. They would buy fresh carrots and celery and cabbage as they did not grow well in our garden. One year they bought a case of canned green beans. I think it was the Santiam brand, and I liked them. The canned food cupboard also usually included corn and tomatoes, occasionally peas and beets. My brother used to complain about beets, because they would make the potatoes on his plate turn red . The vegetables that I had a problem with were of the frozen variety. My Mom seemed to always buy a supply of frozen spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. Now I really liked spinach. However, I did not like the other three. But as an obedient child I ate them anyway. When we were old enough, my brother and I would divide our broccoli so he ate the heads and I ate the stalks, since those were the parts we liked better. It is interesting that today, of those vegetables I didn't like, only brussel sprouts is still in that category.

W is for War

    There were two major wars involving the United States during my childhood, World War II and the Korean War. I was young enough during World War II (age 2-6) that I didn't realize all that was going on. Some of the Sunday funnies in the newspaper did have stories involving the war. None of my immediate family were in the military. There were some neighbors who served. I can remember hearing about buying war bonds to help our country. I do have a memory of the end of the War, although I am not sure if it was VJ or VE day, when everyone was so happy on hearing the news on the radio. I was in grade school during the Korean War, so there were items in the newspaper that I could read as well as hear on the news on the radio. We didn't have a television yet. I don't remember that I knew anyone who was in the service at the time and fought in Korea. Maybe it was because of that, war did not seem very real to me.

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – U

U is for Uncles

    A few days ago I wrote about my memories of my aunts, now it is the uncles turn. My Dad did not have any brothers, so the uncles on that side of the family were married to my Aunts. Each of them had two husbands, but I really only remember their second husbands. Aunt Vida's husband was Uncle Fred. He was a plumber and also enjoyed taking pictures. He had good camera equipment and even won a prize for one of his photos. Aunt Buena's husband was Uncle Walt. I enjoyed being around both of these uncles at Christmas time.

    My Mom had one brother that I knew. Uncle Jerry, his legal name was Gerald, was the baby in the family. He was 15 years younger than my mother and lived the longest of the siblings. My Mom had an older brother, Howard, who died as a baby, so he is usually forgotten. I did know some of the husbands of Mom's sisters. Aunt Lois was divorced before I can remember, so didn't know Uncle Ben other than his name. I'm afraid I didn't like him very much since he had taken my cousin away. Aunt Erma's husband was Uncle Adolph. He also was not a favorite of mine because one time at a family gathering, he yelled at my Dad. Aunt Violet had two husbands that I knew. They were both fun to be around: Uncle Art and Uncle Mel.

    Grandma Albertson had two brothers that lived in Oregon: Uncle Marvin and Uncle Spike (real name Lauren) Uncle Marvin had two sons that were just a few years older than me. Uncle Spike liked to tease and he had a daughter the same age as my brother. We did go to visit them a few times and they would often be at family gatherings. One of Grandma's brothers-in-law lived in Brownsville, Uncle Joe. He was funny and I thought it was really special that he could blow smoke rings. Another brother-in-law lived in Kansas, Uncle Roy. They did come to visit us in Oregon and he also was fun to be around. He had two daughters that were a little older than me.

    Grandpa Albertson had two brothers who lived in Oregon: Uncle Arthur and Uncle Ernest. Uncle Arthur lived out on a farm, within a couple of miles from where we lived. His wife had died before I was born. His grandson was in my class at school. Uncle Ernest had served in World War I and had problems from that service so he was mostly an invalid when I could remember. His wife died within a few days of my grandfather's death.

    I probably saw my Grandma Falk's brothers, Uncle Roy and Uncle Perry, at one of the Bond family reunions, but I don't remember them. However as I mentioned about Aunt Grace that Christmas package from Uncle Roy and Aunt Grace was a special treat.

    Grandpa Falk was the youngest of his family and all of his brothers had died before I could really remember them, although I might have seen one or two at the annual Falk Reunion.

                                                     U is for United States

    I can remember reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America each day at school. The words we used were:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I read about the pledge on Wikipedia and discovered that it had officially been recognized by Congress in 1942, which was just 3 years before I started school. I knew that later the words "under God" had been added, so found on Wikipedia that this phrase was added between one Nation and indivisible in 1954. This was a year after I had graduated from the 8th grade, so all during my grade school years I would have used the above pledge. When I started school in 1945 the flag had only 48 stars. It was not until after I graduated from high school that Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959 and the flag had 50 stars.

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – T

T is for Teachers

    For my grade school years, I remember best my teachers at Halsey Grade School which I attended for grades 3 through 8. My first two years were spent at Shedd Grade School. We never moved but lived halfway between Halsey and Shedd. During these six years at Halsey, I had four different teachers.

    My 3rd grade teacher was Mrs. Minnie Cross. Her sister-in-law was Mrs. Donna Cross, who was my piano teacher. I called each of them Mrs. Cross, so sometimes my folks didn't know which one I was talking about. My Dad would sometimes substitute the name, Mrs. X. I thought my school teacher Mrs. Cross was really an old woman when I started the 3rd grade in Halsey. Doing genealogical research I discovered that she was 55 years old and now that really doesn't seem that old. She taught for a number years at Halsey, so often had children of parents she had taught. She was a much loved teacher. However, I was rather shy. When I had been in the second grade at Shedd we printed our work. At Halsey they had learned cursive writing in the second grade, so it seemed everyone else knew how to do cursive writing in the third grade. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know how to do it, so taught myself cursive writing by looking at the letters on the wall above the chalk board. I guess I did all right because I received all 1s in penmanship on my report card. We studied about the Oregon Trail in her class and had a wagon train in the Achievement Day program near the end of the year.

  

     In the 4th grade, my teacher was my Dad's first cousin's wife, Mrs. Esther Albertson. Her son, Eldon, my 2nd cousin, was also in our class. It seemed a little funny to have a teacher with the same last name that I did. She also attended our church so I already knew her before I was in her class. One thing I can remember is that she read to us everyday from some storybook. One I really liked was Little House on the Prairie.

    For the 5th and 6th grades, Mrs. DeArcy Evans was my teacher. Her sister was married to one of my Mom's cousins so was almost related. Mrs. Evans was thought by many of the students to be very strict. She was called "Old Lady Evans" by some behind her back. But since I tended to be obedient and cooperative I got along with her OK. Some of the things we did in her class were creative and interesting. Everyone learned to crochet a square, so that we made an afghan for someone in the Veteran's Hospital. We made some murals as a group, one year we did pictures representing countries in South America. I can remember my country was Ecuador. Then another mural was about transportation. I chose to draw a bus, like a Greyhouse. I thought that was easier since it had many straight lines. We also did puppet shows with homemade marionettes. One of the plays was about animals and I made a goose out of grey flannel. We put cardboard in the wings so the strings could make him look like he was flying. Another play was a melodrama and my character was the villain. My grades in her classes were mostly 1s, except for 2s in penmanship and drawing. For Achievement Day in the 6th grade, 4th, 5th & 6th were together in the program and did a Mexican style dance. One of the boys in our class was of Mexican descent.

 

    Mr. Clifford Gunderson was my teacher in the 7th and 8th grades. It was the first time I had a man for a teacher. In the 7th grade we had two grades in the same room, so there were over 30 students. I liked it better when we just had one grade in the room in the 8th grade. I thought Mr. Gunderson was a good teacher and I learned a lot. We would do some experiments for math and science classes. In the 8th grade a highlight was a trip to Salem to visit the State Capitol and also a visit to some other businesses (the Oregon Statesman newspaper, Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Cherry City Baking Co who baked Master bread). In the Achievement Day program when I was in the 8th grade, we had a Hawaiian theme. We made "grass skirts" out of burlap bags dyed green and all attempted to dance the hula.  

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – S

 S is for Sewing

    I began sewing in the 4th grade, when I became a member of the 4H Sewing Club. It was enjoyable to be with the other girls. Our local leader was Mrs. Adah Taylor. The projects for the first year were a felt needlecase, a pincushion, a scarf made from a flour sack and a bag made from monk's cloth. Basically most of this was done by hand and I wrote in my project record book that I had learned to use a thimble. Also I wrote that I was the president of the club. The 4H club had an exhibit at the Halsey Achievement Day and my items won a blue ribbon. I exhibited at the Linn County 4H Fair and won another blue ribbon. This gave me the opportunity to take my things to the Oregon State Fair in 1949 and I won a red ribbon there. These ribbons became part of my keepsakes. The next year our leader was Mrs. Ruth Chamberlain. I probably would not have remembered these things nearly as well if I hadn't saved my project books and ribbons from each year I was in 4H. This second year I was again president of the club (who knows why they chose to elect me.) We made a coin purse from felt, a dresser scarf, a laundry bag and a crocheted pot holder. For the laundry bag I used my Mother's electric Singer sewing machine. She coached me on its use and if I didn't sew a straight seam, I would have to take it out and do it again. Again I won blue ribbons at Achievement Day and the Linn County 4H Fair. This time I got a white ribbon at the State Fair. For the 4H Fair, another girl and I did a demonstration about sewing and received a red ribbon for that. By the 6th grade Mrs. Cecil Harris became our leader. That year I was the secretary for the club. We made a hand hemmed, tea towel, a print dress, pot holder and apron. Achievement Day brought me a blue ribbon and the Linn County 4H Fair brought me a red ribbon for my sewing project and a red ribbon for being in the Style Revue, wearing my new dress. The 7th grade was my last year for 4H club. Mrs. Phebe Falk was our leader. I made two dresses that year: a school dress and a sun dress. For ribbons I received a red one at Achievement Day, a purple one at the Linn County 4H Fair and a green exhibitor one at the Oregon State fair for my project. Then at the Linn County 4H Fair I won a red one for the stitching contest and a blue one for the Style Revue. I think I liked being in 4H just so I could win ribbons. Another special event was I got to attend 4H Summer School held at Oregon State College campus June 17-27, 1952. Learning how to sew was valuable later when I was able to save some money by making some of my own clothes.

S is for Skating

    I can't remember exactly when I received my pair of the old time clamp-on roller skates. I do know that we did not have a really good place to skate at our home. We had a home made cement sidewalk which was about 10 to 12 feet long. That does not give you much room for skating, so we also used our playroom inside the house. After I learned how to skate well enough I took them to school with me and our school house in town had a number of sidewalks around it so it was fun to skate there. It was also fun when we had skating parties at some of the skating rinks that were within 20 miles of us.

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – R

R is for Radio

    When I was a child, our family did not have a television. But we did have a radio and we did listen to it. Sometimes the reception was not too good. Many of the shows now listed as "Old Time Radio" bring back memories. Some of the shows that I can remember listening to include: Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, the Aldrich Family, Gene Autry, the Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke and the Shadow. These included comedies, westerns and mysteries. Also we listened to quite a few sports: baseball, football and basketball. Baseball included the Portland Beavers and the Eugene Emeralds. Football and basketball were mostly for Oregon State College Beavers.

R is for Rodeo

                                   Photo by Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández on Unsplash

    I can remember attending at least three different rodeos. We went to the Crawfordsville Rodeo. Crawfordsville was about 15 miles from where we lived. I don't have a good memory of the rodeo itself except that my Dad took movies of it and I can remember looking at them and now have the DVD so I can watch a part of the rodeo. In my grade school scrapbook I found programs for 2 rodeos that we had attended in 1952. On the 4th of July we attended the Molalla Buckeroo. Molalla was about 70 miles from home. With the programs were our tickets which showed that our seats were in section A, Row 13, seats 5-8. I enjoyed reading the program which gave information about each one of the different events. For some of the timed events I kept track of the different times and wrote them in the program. We also attended the "World Championship Rodeo" held at the State Fair in Salem in 1952. Again I kept track of the times for some of the timed events and wrote them in the program.

Identity – Childhood Memories Alphabet – P & Q

P is for Paisley

    When I was fairly young my Mother bought a paisley skirt or dress for me to wear to school. I did not like it. I can't remember the style or the color, but only that it was paisley. Even if I didn't like it, I still had to wear it. We just weren't able to purchase that many clothes, so you wore what you had. What was interesting was, that after a while I changed my mind and I really did like that paisley outfit. So I guess it goes to show that we can't always trust our first impressions.

P is for Piano

    I began piano lessons when I was in the 3rd grade. Our school did not have any instrumental music lessons, so we were allowed to take time from school to attend a piano lesson. The piano teacher in town lived close enough to the school that we could walk there. If my parents would have had to drive to town each week for my piano lesson I am not sure I would have been able to take them. When I began lessons, my parents bought a new piano. It was spinet style and the brand name was Lester. I always thought that was neat since my father's first name was Lester. My father told me that he would be willing to pay for my piano lessons, but that he expected me to use this skill by playing at church. I have fulfilled his wishes. I took lessons for six years. It was fun to play for piano recitals, especially when we could do duets, trios and quartets. My skills were best at reading music, rather than memorizing. When I started high school I did not take lessons, but I did play for the choir so did continue improving my skills. Playing the piano is something that I still enjoy today.

Q is for Quiet

    Q is a difficult letter to use to find a memory. So I used the dictionary and looked at a number of Q words. Then I came up with quiet. Although it may be hard for people today to imagine it, I was rather quiet as a child. Maybe it was because there were not other children around for me to play with. I felt shy. I spent a lot of time reading. My Mother told me a story about my experience in the first grade. The teacher thought that I had been cheating and copying from someone else's work for my written work. So she moved me and I still did good written work, so I hadn't been copying, I just hardly ever would speak up in class. I have wondered since studying my family history that my grandfather's background as a Quaker may have influenced me to be more quiet.