Chapter 2 - Childhood Years

Boyhood Years

My family lived at 1042 Lake Street at the time of my birth.                                                                                                                                   

                        

My brother Bob and sister Vera with their new brother at home on Lake Street.

 

When I was one year old the family moved to 1644 Harvard Avenue.  At that time our new home on Harvard was truly on the outskirts of the city.  Until I was in my teens there were few homes to the East or South of us.  When the family moved to Harvard Avenue there were blocks and blocks of open fields around us.

 

Wally at Harvard Ave.

 

I attended Uintah Elementary, Roosevelt Jr. High and East High Schools.  When I was little I used to spend a lot of time by myself.  I don’t recall spending any time with either of my siblings.   My mother said that I could entertain myself for hours.  As a youngster I would help my mother with the weekly cleaning of the house by dusting the legs of the table and buffet in the dining room (mother said I could reach under them easier than she could.) 

There being not many homes to the east to offer protection, and our property being about 2 feet lower than the lot to the east of us, the wind during the winter would fill our driveway with a snow drift.  Drifted snow is very compact and heavy, making it a strenuous task when digging it out!  Dad had a rock garden along the east side of the driveway which was nice-looking.  During the summer months I used to cut my lawn and a few neighbor's lawns.  I took pride in cutting lawns and enjoyed how good I could make them look. 

           

Uintah elementary school was on the north-east corner of 13th South & 15th East.  The old school was recently razed and a new building now stands east of where it used to be.  While attending first grade, I developed what they called, nephritis, but in looking it up it was probably hematuria.  In hematuria, your kidneys — or other parts of your urinary tract — allow blood cells to leak into urine.  I have no idea what caused it.   Today I believe they would have treated it differently, but the doctors didn't have treatment for ‘nephritis’ in those days so my doctor had me stay in bed for almost an entire year.  I am not sure why that didn't put me behind in school; perhaps mother helped me, I don't recall.  A year is a long time to have to remain in bed and Dad would occasionally bring home games or toys for me to play with.  I also remember mother making up games that we could play together.  One of the games was to pretend that we were small enough to fit in a thimble and could hide anywhere.  It was up to the other person to find where we were hiding.  One day, while I was in bed, I heard a sound like someone had thrown a big rock against the side of the house.  I later learned it had been an earthquake! 

 

By summer I was getting better and was allowed to go sit outside in the backyard.  Mother had given me some bread to feed to the birds.  A major part of my treatment had been to be on a salt‑free diet, and without salt most things have absolutely no taste.  Without thinking I ate a piece of that bread (which had salt in it) and I don't recall anything ever tasting so good! 

We were members of the Yale ward, located about 1400 East Gilmer Drive.  I attended Primary there.  One year I was chosen to give a brief talk at a Primary General Conference which was held in the Tabernacle on Temple Square.  They projected pictures of each of us, as we spoke, on a large screen that hung from the ceiling behind the pulpit.  In the picture they had taken of me, my hair was standing up, all wind‑blown.  As it was shown it brought quite a chuckle from the audience!    

 

When I was about twelve the Yale ward was divided and we then became members of the Yalecrest ward.  This chapel was built on the corner of 18th East and Yalecrest Avenue.  Little did I dream that my future wife would one day live in the house one door east of that new ward building! 

 

At that time the church had what was called, "Junior Seminary.”  It was for Junior High School age kids, and was held in the ward house rather than in a building near to school like the senior seminary.  The Junior Seminary class was one of the first meetings I remember attending in our new chapel.  My mother had been called as the president of the Junior Seminary.

The new Yalecrest Ward had a nice Scout Room, located in a large room under the stage.   I only advanced as far as being a Second Class scout because I didn’t know how to swim, and at that time swimming was a requirement for the First Class badge.           

 

I don't recall a lot about my youth.  I was eleven and seven years, respectfully, younger than my sister, Vera, and my brother, Bob.   I only had one playmate my age on Harvard.  His name was Edward (Ted) Hilton.  Ted Hilton, sadly, died when he was in his early twenties from a brain tumor.  I recall going to his funeral sometime while after my marriage while we were living on First South.  The others on my block were all a year or two older or younger than I was. Ted had a younger sister, Rosemarie.  There was Harold (Hal) Swanner who lived next door east of our house.  He had four sisters, Virginia, Barbara, Marie, and I think, Jody.   Across the street and just west of my house was where the Dowells lived.  Robert (Bob) and Richard (Dick), twins -- but as different as night and day.  They had a younger brother Judson (Juddy) and a much younger sister, Catherine.  Juddy Dowell and I raised pigeons and chickens at his house; pigeons did well but we didn’t have much success with the baby chicks, which all died.  Bob Dowell didn’t quite fit in the normal pattern and got into drinking and smoking – don’t know if he ever made anything of himself; his brother Dick had a friend, Dick Warshaw, whose father owned a big grocery store.  Dick went to work for the Warshaw grocery stores and did pretty well for himself.  Ruth Hay who was 2 or 3 years younger than me lived north across my street, a couple of houses to the east.  After returning from the service, my cousin Leo dated Ruth Hay a few times.  She was a cute girl.  Ken Jensen, also a year older than me, lived on Princeton Ave. behind Ted Hilton’s house, and was a frequent visitor on our street.  The Foxes, Haslums and Reisers all had older boys living there, but they were more my brother Bob’s friends. 

           

A block east of our home lived Russell Andersen with whom I spent many interesting hours with while in high school.  We found a pattern in a Popular Science magazine for making a miniature submarine out of metal cans.  It looked quite authentic when all soldered together and it had provision for sealing a small can into the conning tower area which held a chemical which when wet would give off a gas and propel the engine attached to the screw (propeller) and the thing would actually go down under water, propel itself along and then return to the surface! We thought we had created quite an accomplishment – except no place to test in other than the bathtub.  What we needed was a swimming pool – to which we had no access.  

 

Early in my life I developed a love for flowers.  My family would go to the cemetery each year on Memorial Day and I recall digging up some small wild daisies, and bringing them home. I still see them growing in the cemetery lawn.  I planted them in the far back corner of my backyard.  It must have been at the time the movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.   I recall cutting out pictures of each of the Seven Dwarfs, mounting them on 3 inch plywood, then carefully cutting around pictures of them with a coping saw.  I then stuck these little stick figures, which I protected with a coat of varnish, into my small garden.  I must have been pleased with the results to remember them to this day!  Dad seemed to encourage my floral efforts (I later found out that he, too, used to plant flowers around his mother’s house.)   When I was older I was given permission to build a cold frame about 3 feet by 6 feet in size in the unplanted area behind our garage.  I made the frame of 1” x 6” boards and covered the lid with cheese cloth.  I put hinges on the lid so that it could be propped open during the day and closed it at night.  I remember growing many flowers from seeds there.  My memory concerning where I planted all of the flowers I grew is rather vague but I do remember planting some lovely cosmos along the back (south side) of our house. 

 

At different times during my youth we had two dogs.  Both dogs died agonizing deaths from distemper, and after the second one died, Mother said that was enough!  There were no distemper vaccines for dogs in those days as far as I know.  For me it was a very sad experience at their deaths, so I wasn't unhappy about not having another dog.

 

I was not much into sports.  As I look back on my life, I didn't have any role models that might have encouraged me in that area, other than the kids on the block who didn’t seem all too fired up about sports, either.  My brother never played with me.  I gues I was really just a klutz when it came to sports.  I was one of those who was always called up last when picking a teamL. In those days the only team games played were baseball and basketball.  I didn't excel (to put it mildly) in either one.  My brother played basketball on the Ward's M‑Men team and I remember watching him play one time at the old Deseret Gym, when they still had Church‑wide tournaments, but Bob didn’t ever play basketball around home, or with me.  Remember he was seven years older than I am.

 

My father worked long hours and he wasn’t home much.  Dad's work required him to travel a lot, mostly throughout Utah and Idaho.   He took me with him a few times, but I also recall that I used to get car sick when I went with him.  (Thank goodness I outgrew that!  Later, while in the Navy, I never got seasick once, nor have I since.)   Dad had to travel “East” a couple of times a year after he was promoted to a buyer – generally to New York and Chicago – to buy shoes; this was especially true after he had his own store.  Many Sundays he would have to meet with traveling salesmen to buy shoes for his store.  They would display their wares in a hotel room.  I went with him on a few occasions and recall how they always commented to me as to how much they enjoyed doing business with my father.  The salesmen would describe Dad as a real gentleman and an honest man and they enjoyed doing business with him.

                                             

                 

Pictures of me over the years – I don’t know my ages except for the last one – I was twelve.

 

One thing that I felt I did well was riding my bicycle.  I had a Pierce‑Arrow bike that had been my brother's.   Gears on bikes were unknown in those days, but this bike had a bigger than normal pedal sprocket, and that made the bike go faster than the normal bike (according to an older neighbor who asked to buy it.)  I could ride that bike anywhere without ever touching the handlebar!  It just seemed to be a part of me.  Coaster brakes were the norm at that time, too.  I don't recall hand brakes on bikes, than perhaps racing bikes, so it just had a brake that worked when you peddled backward – they really worked!   There is a gully that runs east past the current location of the Bonneville Ward (on 15th East, about 10th South) and which curves north connecting to 9th South, just below Military Drive (about 16th East.)  At that time it was just that ‑‑ a gully.  The only improvement in the whole gully was some tennis courts located where the chapel is today.  Anyway, there was a dirt path that ran along the south side of the gully along which I would often ride my bike.  One day I recall I was riding along that path (not holding the handle bar, remember) and the chain came off, putting me into free‑wheeling:  No brakes!  Like a dunce, as I headed west toward 15th East, instead of taking the path which would have taken me up to the road, I took a path that went down toward the creek bed.  What a mistaka to maka!  Fortunately there was a small hill of gravel at the bottom of the path, and as I approached the end ‑‑ and my possible demise ‑‑ I turned (with my hands, thank you) up the hill and stopped my death ride. Boy!  That was about as foolish a thing as I ever did.  I got back on that bike, put the chain on, and rode home.  No worse for the wear . . .  maybe my heart beating a little faster!

 

I had a fun life as a child.  During school summer vacations, I took wood shop and swimming lessons at the Deseret Gym which was then located where the Church Office Building is now.  My friends and I would take the trolley car, which we boarded about a block and a half south of my home, at Harvard Avenue and 15th East.  The trolley went north to 9th South, turned west four blocks and then proceeded north on 13th East (past East High) to First South, and then west to downtown.  I took swimming every summer for a number of years, but never learned to swimL.  I would always get a sinus infection and would have to quit.   We didn't have medication for infections at that time like we have today, so I had to visit my doctor, who was my uncle.  I remember I used to use Argyrol nose drops (a compound of protein and silver.)  Ugh!   I also picked up Athletes Foot a couple of time at the gym.  (I guess I was just a sickness waiting to happen in those days.)

 

                                               

                                         On crutches because of Athletes Foot.

 

 After swimming class, we got to play in the gym.  We would mostly play basketball or handball.  I particularly enjoyed handball.  In the afternoon we went to wood shop which I enjoyed very much.  East of the Gym was a large building that housed the woodworking shop.  I made different items each year; the only thing I which stayed around for long was a wooden stool which my mother kept in her garage for years.

 

I finally learned how to swim after I was married.   Jeanné and I took a swimming class together at the "U".   (I could swim on my back, so that came to my advantage when I had to pass the swimming test while in the Navy.)

 

All the neighborhood kids used to play games in the evening. A favorite was “Kick the Can”  -- where we would hide and see if we could be the last one found – and, if we could, run in and kick the can (which was in the middle of the street.)  Everyone else playing, who had been ‘found’, could then run and hide again.  Who ever was ‘it’ would have to be really good to find everyone!  To call me home at night, my mother would turn on the porch light.  She was too modest to shout or whistle, like some of the neighbors did.  But it worked fine.  Light on – I went home.

 

During the summer, I also took piano lessons.    One of the downtown piano companies (Beesley's, I think) had a store on 1st South between Main and State.  Their piano-teaching studio was under the store in the basement.  It was interesting.  They had two upright pianos in the studio, for the fairly large class; so the rest of us learned our fingering on cardboard "keyboards" that were laid on top of long tables!  Each person in the class would then be given the opportunity to go and use the real piano about once during the lesson.   I did have a piano at home to practice on during the week.  (Mother had been given a piano for her wedding present from her Grandfather Taggart who was a piano tuner and salesman.  When I was married, she gave me that piano which I loved.  We had it for many years and sold it only after Jeanné’s mother gave us her piano.) 

 

One of the things I remember about,, during that period of my life, was that mother let me go to the movies each week after my piano lesson. The price of a movie for those under 12 years of age was 10 cents.  I was tall for my age.  Mother would give me a dime and a note that said I was not yet 12.  And it worked!  My father’s shoe store was on the N.E. corner of Main St. and 3^rd South (Broadway) across the street from the Victory Theater (which is no longer there) where I used to see my movies,.