As I have mentioned, my mother's family was pretty close to each other. One couple mom and dad visited rather often was Mom's brother, Uncle Elton and Aunt Bernice Hartley. When I knew them they had a home on the Avenues, on the mountain side, in Salt Lake City. Mom and Dad lived in Provo, about 42 miles south of SLC. Back in those days folk didn't lock their doors and when they would go to visit, and not find them home, you could walk right in and leave a note. However it was not always a paper note, that Mom's family left.
Dad said he would find small pebble rocks in his pants pockets, or lumps of cole in his suit coat pockets. Mom and Dad had put Uncle Elton and Aunt Bernice's kitchen chairs, on top of their table. Or short sheet their beds. Dad said it was common for him to find his pant legs tied in knots, and penny's in his shoes. Or to come home and find their living room furniture had been rearranged.
Uncle Elton and Aunt Bernice's youngest daughter was named Lola. She was 6 months older than myself. Being the youngest in my family, and not having any sisters I really looked forward to the friendship of my cousin. (We still keep in contact with each other.) We often spent summer time together. We both played the accordion, but she played 10 times better than I, and would teach me new things that I hadn't yet learned. The song "What ever Lola wants" was written about her, by one of their family friends.
I loved their home on the Avenues. Lola's bedroom was upstairs. You could look over SLC from her bedroom window. You could see the "Walker Bank" neon sign, high up in the air on top of a tall 20 story building, called Walker Tower, built in 1911. It would change colors, Red or Blue, blinking or still, telling folk what the weather was going to be, depending on the color, and if the sign was blinking or not.
It was one of my favorite memories, to sit by the low open window at night,watching the Walker bank sign, feeling the cool breeze on my face, and talking with my best friend about girl things.
5 comments:
oh how funny... her parents did things that sound like what I would do! course, our class in High-school was found guilty several times of re-arranging our favorite teacher's classrooms. Once, we even totally switched two different classrooms (side by side) and had a good laugh, till we had to change it back. It was fun tho... i would totally do it to my friends if i could.
Wow...I am surprised !! I had no idea you had done that in high school. What did the teachers think?
This is so great, Wom -- it's like an online journal full of memories. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, what Paulette said is hilarious! I would love to have done that!
What a neat story! Childhood memories are so sweet, it's great when we're able to hang onto them.
Thank you for your encouraging comment!
I loved watching the Walker Bank sign. You could see it from everywhere in the valley and we all looked to it for the weather forecasts. Fun post... thanks for sharing.
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