When I was your age...Marley, Vivienne & Mckinley!

 

Preschool Princesses:  Vivienne (top), Mckinley (middle)  Marley (bottom)

The Preschool Years!
The preschool years can be tough...I mean, who really can remember that far back?  Fortunately I do have some memories of my life as a small girl.  When I am older and cannot remember what I had for breakfast, I will probably be able to recall even more!

Little Shirley...

Here I am at McKinley's age.

Mike and Shirley

I am not sure how old I am here...3 or 4.

Mike was 18 months younger.

Our little family lived upstairs in this pretty house.

It is still there on 100 East in American Fork, Utah.

When I was 3 or 4, we moved from Alpine to American Fork.  We lived just a few houses north of Main Street on First East, the main road north to Alpine.  It was a very nice house and we rented the upstairs apartment.  I thought it was a scary house, though.  Every night I could hear the noises from the neighbors' television coming up through the floor.  It sounded shaky and the voices were grumbly.  One night I woke up to see an owl perched on the window sill...inside my room!

My Wheels...

I had a little tricycle similar to this one.  If my mom and dad knew how much trouble I could get into...maybe they would have had second thoughts about giving me one.  Oh, the freedom of the open road...a ticket to ride!  Once I figured out that there was a great big world just around the corner...I set off to explore it.   We lived near Main Street...so that's where I would go.

That's my corner...just past the Phillips 66 sign!

I never crossed the highway...There was a traffic light on that corner, but I couldn't remember if red was "Stop" or "Go" so I stayed on the north side of Main.

I visited Briggs Drugs and the Bakery.

One day...I was riding west on Main Street.  It was way past my naptime and I would get very cranky when I got tired.  I got off my little trike and took a nap on the sidewalk in front of the drugstore.  A very nice homeless man (Mom called him a dirty hobo) carried me into the store and somehow called my mother...he did ask for $5 ransom...but I don't recall if he got it or not.

At Harrington School, the nice secretary gave me a candy bar and called my mother.

I visited City Hall...I don't recall if I spoke to His Honor the Mayor.

I remember a nice policeman, though. =D

It was definitely a safer and simpler world back in the late 1950's.  I'm sure my mother didn't mean to get so caught up in her soap operas.  She would have gotten in a lot of trouble today for not watching me better.  I think that after the hobo incident I no longer had wheels and freedom!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Mickey Mouse Club!

Even though it was in black and white...my memories are in Technicolor!

I loved the opening music and the trumpet fanfare and especially the part where they tossed Mickey up in the air.  After the Mouseketeers came on...I lost interest.  Jimmy, the leader, was terrifying to look at.  He had too many teeth!  By the way...I was also scared of Liberace...and his teeth!

Miracle Whip...

...and Wonder Bread! 

My favorite snack was slices of bread spread with Miracle Whip.

I ate this while watching...

...The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

I didn't understand most of it...but I liked his friend Maynard...he later became Gilligan!

A Few More Memories...

I have a few more little memories of that time and that house...especially my mother telling me that I couldn't play in the irrigation water on the lawn of the Presbyterian Church next door.  She told me that I would catch "polio." She also wouldn't let me play in the snow on the lawn...because it was full of nuclear fall-out.  When I saw "yellow snow" I thought it was radioactive!  She didn't have to make up excuses...just say "NO!" 

I know you are pretty young right now...and maybe you won't understand all I've written today...but hopefully someday you will!  Have fun being little girls!  I sure did!

Love,

Grandma Shirley

When I was your age...Mailey and Alena!

Kindergarten Cousins...

Two sweet little girls in their Easter finery...Alena on the left, and Mailey on the right.   Kindergarten!  The word means "garden of children" in German.  And there couldn't be two prettier flowers.  I couldn't wait to turn five and go to school with the older kids on my street.  You are just starting out on an exciting adventure in the Great Big World.  There is so much to see and so much to learn.  What was kindergarten like when I was your age?  Let's find out.

Kindergarten!...

I couldn't find my kindergarten pictures, but I remember wearing a little red cardigan sweater on picture day.  The picture on the left was taken when I was five years old.  The little boy is my brother Mike, and the little girl is Patti.

The Old Alpine School and Gymnasium

This was my school in Alpine, Utah.  Alpine was a very small town when I was a little girl...maybe 500 or so people.  But it was nestled against the mountains and was very pretty with lots of little farms and orchards. My daddy also went to this school.  He lived in Fort Canyon and when he started kindergarten he rode a horse to school!  No school bus for little Tad!

A Kindergarten Day...

The Pledge of Allegience

My teacher was Miss Greenwood.  She also taught first grade.  Our school had only four classrooms so they split the younger kids. Kindergarten came in the morning and first grade in the afternoon.  When the bell rang, we lined up in front of the flag pole and followed our teacher inside.  The first thing we did was say the prayer and recite the Pledge of Allegience.  Even then we were taught to respect our flag.

We learned to count and do our ABCs.  There wasn't any pre-school then, so most of us learned these things in kindergarten.  See the funny wooden shoe?  That was how we learned to tie our shoelaces.  Kindergarten was much simpler then.  After our lesson we played with toys...the playhouse in the corner was the most popular thing for both the girls and the boys.  After the toys were put away...

...we all gathered around our teacher sitting in a circle on the floor while she read us a story.  My favorite was Peter Pan.  At some point we could hear the clank of bottles.  One of the lunch ladies would come in bringing the milk for snack time.

Nice cold bottles of milk!

In those days, school milk came in little bottles with a straw.  I have always loved milk...in school, I could never seem to get enough of it...sometimes I would drink 3 containers with my lunch.  Our snack was usually graham crackers.  After snack time came...

...Nap Time!

We spread out our mats and lay down for a little rest.  This was the hardest part of the day for me.  I was a wiggly worm!  I don't know how long we were supposed to lay there, but it seemed like hours!  I just couldn't hold still that long.  Miss Greenwood would watch for the least wiggly child...and that child would be chosen to be the "Wake-up Fairy."  The wake-up fairy was given a magic wand and he or she would touch each child on the head with the wand and say "wake-up."  I dearly wanted to be the wake-up fairy...but since I was so wiggly I only got to do it once!

Recess!

Merry-go-round!

Out in the school yard we had a merry-go-round.  We held on tight and spun around and around until we were dizzy!  Our old school yard was paved in asphalt which was crumbly and full of gravel.  If I ever took a tumble off the merry-go-round I would spend some time in the school nurse's office having gravel picked out of my scraped knees.  Another fun...but dangerous...playground item was...

..."Tricky Bars"

Also known as a Jungle Gym...we spent many recesses hanging upside down on the highest bars.  We wore dresses to school in those days...so we had to hold onto our skirts with one hand or...be sure to wear clean underwear!  I had a pair of...

...culottes that I wore on "Tricky Bars" days.  No one was going to sing "I see London, I see France..." when I hung upside down.   There were swings....of course...and a weedy old tennis court, used mostly for rollerskating.  There was no padding under anything...you played at your own risk.

This was Kindergarten 1960...
When school was over, I would walk home with my friends or just dawdle along by myself.  Sometimes I would stop by Grandma Zetta's house to see if she had any cookies.  Sometimes she did, but most of the time she would shoo me out the door and tell me to "get on home!"  I was never in any hurry to "get on home."  There were too many things to explore on the way!  I hope you are having fun in your kindergarten classes.  I am so proud of my two smart girls...Alena and Mailey!

Love,

Grandma Shirley

My Favorite Little Golden Book

I learned to read from this book!

When I Was Your Age...McKenzie & Macy!

 





















Harrington Elementary...
The two little beauties above are, McKenzie, on the left, and Macy.  Kenzie is in the fifth grade and Macy is in third.

In third, fourth and fifth grades, I attended Harrington Elementary in American Fork, Utah.  "Old Hairy Legs" we called it.  I liked going to school there...the teachers and principal were nice.  Mr. Durrant, my fourth grade teacher, was the nicest man in the world.  We (the girls) cried on the last day of school, we loved him so much.

Fifth Grade...

This is me in fifth grade.  My favorite subject was writing and I loved to write stories.  Reading and vocabulary were also things I was very good at.  I once called a little girl who was teasing me "obnoxious and abhorrent."  I was sometimes bored when the work was too easy.  My teacher, probably to give me something to do, would have me read aloud to the class whatever book we were on, like "Where the Red Fern Grows."

I was a champion jacks player...in my mind!

Two of the most popular games at Harrington were tether ball and foursquare.  I wasn't the best at any sport...but I held my own at recess!  Another reason why Mr. Johnson had to keep me busy was...

...Batman! 

I was totally crazy about him!

I spent a lot of my time doodling bat symbols on my papers.  It was such a cheesy show!  What was I thinking?  When I was wasn't drooling over Bruce Wayne, I was at my friend Carrie's house for 4-H and dancing to...

...The Beatles!

I wanted to be British so bad that I faked an English accent and pretended I was an exchange student.  This only annoyed my real...American...family!  Carrie had all their albums...and a real stereo console in her living room.  We hadn't had a working record player for some time.  One day, my friends and I performed a lip-sync to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" for our classmates.

Third Grade...

This is my fourth grade picture.  I couldn't find any of my third grade ones...even after a day spent digging through many dusty boxes of photos and keepsakes.  I hope they turn up some day.

We moved from Alpine to American Fork the year I started third grade.  After a long summer playing outside in the sun, my skin was as dark and pretty as yours, Macy.  On the first day of school..I had my hair in braids that day...a little girl asked me if I was an Indian. Since I do have some Native American blood...I told her I was.  I spent my first day at a new school being popular for the first time in my life...I enjoyed being so exotic and interesting.  Too bad it didn't last. =D 

Favorite Books...

All-time Favorites...Little House on the Prairie

I was always in the highest reading group and had been reading chapter books since second grade...where my favorite series was...

...The Boxcar Children

I loved the idea of children fending for themselves and living in a train car.  For the longest time I wanted a caboose for a playhouse.  In third grade I discovered...

...Classics Illustrated. 

These comic books made the great books of literature fun to read.  My favorites were "Oliver Twist" and "The Time Machine."  In third grade I got the brilliant idea to write a script for a third grade production of Oliver Twist...too bad Mrs. Mortensen wouldn't cooperate with my scheme.  I had it all written and cast too!

A Sad Day in November...

John F. Kennedy was President of the United States.  When I saw him on television, I thought he was the most handsome man.  I knew nothing about politics...but I liked him very much.

November 22, 1963 was a normal school day.  When we went for lunch, all was well.  After lunch, I entered the school room.  The cute boy, Jon, sat at his desk listening to his transistor radio surrounded by a bunch of kids.  The substitute teacher was writing on the board..."Lyndon Baines Johnson."  Something was very wrong.  The teacher then informed us that President Kennedy had been killed.  The news was everywhere.  It seemed like the whole world was turned upside down.

The sight of the pretty widow and her two little children was so sad it made me cry.

This was a little of my life when I was your age.  I had many more adventures...some real, some imaginary. When you are my age, Mckenzie and Macy, what stories will you tell?

I love you,

Grandma Shirley

Post Script:  Just a day or two after this was posted...the news came out that Davy Jones had died from a heart attack.  How sad to lose a childhood hero. 

When I Was Your Age...Madison!

To My Granddaughters...
I've watched you grow up...eight beautiful girls!  I think I know you pretty well...but perhaps not as well as I should.  But here is a question...How well do you know me?  Like you, I grew up with two loving grandmothers, but I really didn't know what they were like when they were young.  Where did they go to school?  What kind of music did they like?  What were their hobbies and other favorite things?  Who were their friends?  I sure wish I knew!

So...I got this great idea...I will tell each of you what I was like when I was your age.  Madison...you are the oldest, the first grandchild.  We were so excited to be grandparents!  I cannot believe you will be in high school this fall.  Yikes!

When I was Madison's Age...

I was born in 1955.  It was a VERY good year!  Disneyland opened for the very first time that long ago summer.  Now you know why I love Disneyland so very much...and why I will never get too old to have fun! 

Eighth and Ninth Grades...

This is a picture from my ninth grade yearbook.  Not my best hair day...lol!  When I was in the eighth and ninth grades I loved to write and enter speech and poetry contests...I was pretty good.  I learned to sew and made all my own school clothes.  In ninth grade I was on the yearbook staff and wrote for the school newspaper.

I wore my hair long and in a "flip" like Marlo Thomas in "That Girl,"a TV series that I liked a lot.  Sometimes the boys would tease me and call me "Marlo."  I didn't like being teased...but there are worse things in life than being compared to a pretty actress.  My big dream back then, was to go to BYU, major in Drama...and be a stage actress.

You know how much you love your ipod?  I loved my transistor radio.  I had an earbud...it wasn't stereo...and sometimes I would put it under my pillow and listen to my favorite station...KCPX...all night long. (They hadn't invented ipod pillows yet)  Sometimes in the middle of the night I would get a station playing the Wolfman Jack show...but that was only when the weather was clear.  My favorite group when I was in junior high was...

The Monkees!  Yay!

The Monkees were THE boy band of my day...before NSYNC or New Kids on the Block...or the Jonas Brothers.  I also listened to Sonny and Cher and The Rolling Stones...the Stones have been around since the Stone Age...pun not intended. =D

Beauty and Fashion...

Twiggy was the Super Model when I was your age.  She wore the cutest clothes, but was so skinny that she was controversial.  Here she is on the cover of Seventeen Magazine.  I adored Seventeen, but I couldn't afford it...so I went to the library to read it.  Sometimes for kicks and giggles I would go down to the basement of the library and read the back issues from the decade before and laugh at the outdated styles.

Our dresses were either very, very short or long "Granny Dresses."  If you were lucky, you could afford a pair of...Go Go Boots!  The coolest boots ever!  I wasn't lucky enough to own a pair, but I did get some fishnet stockings...which we held up with garter belts since panty hose hadn't been invented yet.  I wasn't "allowed" to wear makeup, but I was sneaky and bought some of this...

...with my babysitting money (25 cents per hour of torture).  When my mother caught me with it...I told her I needed the brush to get the tangles out of my eyelashes. I once had very long eyelashes like you and your sisters.  Later I bought...

...Great Lash Mascara...the best mascara in the world...and I still use it to this day.  But my eyelashes are no longer so long or full as they used to be.

You have blowdryers, curling irons and crimper/straighteners to style your hair.  I had this portable hair dryer with a bonnet to put on over my rollers...it took forever to dry.  Sometimes I would iron my hair like the hippie girls to make it stick straight.  But it was a losing battle.

An Exciting Era...

The late 60's was an exciting time to be alive.  Everything was progessing so swiftly...the modern age was upon us!  I was so intrigued by the thought of space travel.  I watched the rockets as they were launched into space...and I was glued to the radio in my parents' car on the day that Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.  I have always loved science fiction...I admit I am a bit of a nerd...and the most handsome man in the world to me at the time was...

Captain Kirk!

It tickles my funny bone to see how science today is gradually creating the scientific wonders found on Star Trek...especially communicators.  Cell phones!  Who would have thought it? One day...if you are very, very good...you will quit losing your Ipod Touch and may even have a cell phone of your own. 

The Impossible Dream...

In ninth grade I wrote a poem about the moon landing for Americanism Week and won first place!  It's pretty cheesy...but cut me some slack...I was only 14 when I wrote it.

The Impossible Dream

On alien soil lie the prints

Of strangers from a planet far.

A dream fulfilled since first mankind

Hitched his wagon to a star.

In silence tense, a world awaits,

And counts each second ticking by.

Rockets burst!  The glowing flame

Lights the early morning sky.

The missle gleaming in the sun,

Soon swallowed up among the clouds,

Leaves a wisp of smokey trail

For the watchful, earth-bound crowds.

The mighty "Eagle" landed

On a vast and barren sea.

Neil Armstrong took mankinds' first step

On the Base of Tranquility.

Gone now, but something left behind

Remains to tell the story.

Planted firm in lunar soil,

Stand proud and free "Old Glory."

Well, Madison...

That was me in a nutshell.  I could probably tell you more...and I would love to share stories with you sometime.  I wish you lived closer so we could spend more time together.  I love you and...

Love, Grandma Shirley

New Picture...American Fork Junior High

Added February 29, 2012