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No one ever told me to keep money in the bank
I was named Mary Christina after my dad’s first mother-in-law and grew up in Greeley, CO. Because you didn’t stay in the same town to go to school, I attended Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, 33 miles from home, and drove a 1953 Plymouth. Tuition was $60.00 a semester. A $400.00 check covered all my expenses. I studied Home Economics and Secondary Education. I hated student teaching and decided there had to be an easier way to make a living. I didn’t apply but was selected to be an Aggie Angel and affiliated with the ROTC (Air Force Reserve …
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I didn’t like the city . . .
I was born in Ovid, Colorado on February 14, 1927 to Frank and Mayme Tate. I was the fifth child of seven kids. My father worked at the Sugar Beet Factory in Ovid. I remember playing with my sisters, brothers and cousins. I started to school when I was 5 years old. When I was in the first grade, I was doing summersaults on the iron bars at the school and fell and hit my head and cut it open on the cement walk. I got to go home and go to Julesburg with my mother, the first and only …
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Home Alone
March 25, 1952: I was 13, my younger brother was 12. Our parents needed to pick up our siblings from their schools in Missouri and Nebraska for Easter vacation, expecting to be gone for three days. A blizzard was forecasted, so they left a day early, Tuesday morning. That evening, it was lightly snowing when Steve went down to do chores at the five-acres, a mini-farm just outside the city limits of Akron, Colorado, about 3/4 of a mile from our house. I stayed behind to cook a meal for us. Both of us were capable of those respective duties, …
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Sharing a pair
I think most children are very self-conscious in their elementary years. I was; I wanted to fit in. In 4th grade, I was “the new girl” in Akron, Colorado. Getting ready for the school year meant the usual: a new tablet, new crayons, some #2 pencils, and a spiral notebook for spelling. Also needed was a pair of tennis shoes so we didn’t mark up the gym floor upstairs in Akron Grade School. Mom and Dad were very thrifty, always saving some money but there was none for the extras needed for their six children. We never went hungry but …
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Best Childhood Ever
I was born and raised in Akron (population 1,900) on the Colorado Plains. You could see for miles and miles. It was especially beautiful when the wheat was ripe and golden, waving in the wind. Flour Sack Ranchers and farmers from the county came to town on Saturday for supplies, and it was an exciting bustling time. The kids played in the park, and the families had picnics in the nice green park. After lunch, it was time for the Saturday matinee at the Variety Theater. You could find my sister, Jennifer, and I there almost every Saturday. The show was always …
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We followed the rules
Have you noticed in an elementary classroom the windows are always to the left of the students? That’s because most children are right-handed and having the daylight coming from the left creates fewer shadows for the children as they write at their desks…except for left-handed children. This was true in almost every single classroom wherein I was a student or where I was the teacher, starting when I was a child in the 1940s and continuing as a teacher into the ’70s. The desks on the east side of the building faced south and those on the west side faced …
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Horses have always been a part of my life
There is nothing better than growing up on a farm. We grew up on a farm, not a ranch. We milked cows for most of my growing up years and had horses. We always had horses. We did 4-H horse shows, competed in local rodeos, and rode with my dad to move cattle. We had fifteen to twenty horses all the time, and most Sundays, we would ride to my Grandma’s. My dad was a horse-trader. He would buy Shetland ponies and have us kids ride them, and then he would sell them. There was hardly a day we weren’t riding. …
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I would get in trouble for what my little sisters did
I’ve been in charge since the day I can remember. If something went wrong, it was my fault. Put in charge. I always had one two or three little sisters with me, and if someone was naughty, it was my fault. I got far more spankings for what they did instead of what I did. I enjoyed having sisters. I didn’t want to be an only child, but one day, my cousin Loraine said she wanted a sister, and I said, “Which one do you want?” We lived in a small town, and older people were special to me. A …
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It was normal in those days
I grew up on a farm thirty miles south of Akron, CO. I had one younger sister. I had an older brother who died when he was six months old. He had a little cold, and my mom put him down for a nap. When she went in to check on him, he was gone. Maybe it was what they call crib death today. My mom didn’t know how to drive until my sister and I married. I guess my dad taught her. I remember the story of my dad driving a tractor thirty miles to town to have it …
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I wouldn’t change a thing
I was born in 1925 out south of town at my Uncle Steve’s house. The government tried to move men from the east to come out west and farm. They helped him get land and build a house. After his wife died, Steve convince my dad to come from Grinnell, Iowa, to live in the house. Dad had to agree to let Steve live with us until he died. So, we lived out there, and Steve lived with us. I went to the one-room grade school until I started fifth grade in town. We had to move to town because …
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Musings of Grandma Goble
I remember many things about Grandma Goble. First of all, I thought she was mean, and I watched my behavior around her. She would speak gruff and scare me. She was kind too because she made all of her many grandkids popcorn balls for Christmas. She had Christmas dinners in a house packed with aunts, uncles, and cousins. The large living room with a table down the middle was always quiet, and it was left to me to make the room laugh, or so I thought. People gathering in silence still makes me uncomfortable. Grandma had long salt and pepper …
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Like mother, like daughter
As the third of three girls, I was supposed to be a boy. My dad lost a six-pack of beer on me. I heard about that for a long time, actually most of my life. I went to country school and had the same lady teacher for four years. We finally got a man teacher the last year the school was open. Our dad only took us to school on the first day. He would introduce himself and us three girls to the teacher. He would say, “If you have any problems with my daughters you have my permission to …
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My grandma was an immigrant: A Memoir
My Grandma Johnson, née Bertha Hafstad, born in 1876, immigrated to Canada from Norway in 1908. I often wonder how she felt, waving her last goodbyes to family and friends on shore. She was thirty-two and still single. A Spinster, Old Maid. Had there been love lost? No prospects? As was common at that time, she came to perform domestic duties for her younger brother, John. I suspect that the marriage prospects were promising in a land where many bachelors were forging new futures on free government granted homesteads. One such bachelor was John’s Norwegian friend, Emil Johnson. Bertha and …
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It helps to have a village
I was raised on a small farm/ranch one and one-half miles south of Kirk, CO. It is a very small town, and everybody was family. I joked I had to be careful not to marry my cousin. I had one older brother. Our farm had cattle and chickens. My brother helped dad with the milking, and my job was cleaning up the cream separator. We had chickens and mom would raise them for the family. When it came time to kill, clean, and dress the chickens, I had to help mom, and I hated that. It took six months to …
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Jesus wants us to be kind
Her name is Apryl. She and her husband own and operate a Bed and Breakfast. When we checked in, she wrapped her arms around me saying, “Come here, I’m a big hugger!” Within minutes I knew she was kind, friendly, a hard worker, and Mormon. We were the only guests, and breakfast was down a long narrow hallway and around the corner. Apryl and Tom were in the kitchen and had prepared a yummy spread. She asked if the coffee was okay, saying, “We haven’t got the coffee thing figured out yet.” Included with breakfast was an enjoyable all-inclusive conversation. …