Earliest Memory - Dad

Dear Melissa

Thanks for the earliest memory challenge.

I was born in Heber, I think when mom and dad were living in the red sandstone house that was great grandmother McDonald’s next to Uncle Guy McDonald’s current house in June 1947.  Stanton was born when we lived there, too, in November 1948.  When dad went to Korea in the Air Force, and I don’t know the date exactly but I think it was late 1949 or 1950, mother moved us to Holliday, Utah, to be near her mom and dad because she was lonely. The first memory I have is of the couch in great grandma’s house and sitting on that couch with great grandma in a room that was quite dark. I remember going outside and seeing great grandma walking down some outside cement stairs to the cellar and saying “be careful grandma, don’t fall”.

What I remember from living in Holiday is mother crying a lot because she was lonely and missed my dad, and Stanton saying don’t cry, mommy. I remember my mother being upset with me because I didn’t want to eat what she thought I should eat. I guess I was a picky eater. I remember being outside with some other boys who took me to a vacant lot or field with tall grass in it that I wasn’t tall enough to see over. They took me into the back of that lot and tied me up and left me, figuring I would never be able to find my way out of the lot because of the grass. Well, I remember I did get out of the lot, and I remember thinking how mean those boys were to me cause I was littler than they were. I don’t really remember any other details.

The next memories I have were when we moved back to Heber and lived in the 1^st north 1^st west house. I remember my mother being pregnant with Michelle, and I was out playing or more likely watching the older boys playing marbles in the street. She called me to come in and I didn’t want to come in, so I ran away. She  chased me all around the block when she was totally pregnant with Michelle, mad as blazes the whole time. When dad got home from work, he spanked me with a hairbrush. That is the only spanking I remember.

So thanks for asking. I guess my memories of being sad and bad trumped the good memories.

Love,

Dad