On the Street Where You Live…Part 3

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I lived in that house in Albuquerque until Fred and I married in 1961, then he and I set out on our new adventure of married life.  We moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where Fred was to study at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

SWBTS – Rotunda Credit Google Search and SWBTS website

Since we were both unemployed, and dirt poor, we were able to rent a furnished apartment from the Seminary.

1962 – The Carlson Building – Our apartment complex

1963 – The Carlson Building the year we were snowed in – ours is in the left corner

It consisted of just three rooms: The “living” room, the kitchen, and the bathroom.  Some of the apartments in that complex had a sleeper sofa; ours didn’t have that – we had a bed taking up most of the space.  We also had one four-drawer chest of drawers, one love seat, one chair in that room.

1963 – In the “living” room

One wall, that “connected” us with the apartment next door, was nothing but closets.  It actually had two doors, and a “wall” that divided the closets into two.  That was nice, as Fred had his, and I had mine. It was especially nice since I worked in an office where people smoked, and Fred went to school – his closet was pristine, while mine smelled of cigarette smoke!

The kitchen was small, but had all we needed – a stove, a small refrigerator, cupboards, a sink and a table with four chairs. At one point, we painted that kitchen blue.

Since we were both accustomed to the dry climate of New Mexico, it came as a bit of a shock, to me especially, to find the humidity of Texas.  Whew! was it HOT!! 

Unfortunately, that little apartment was NOT air conditioned. Therefore, we made two purchases as soon as we moved into that apartment:  an ironing board, and a large window fan. 

Credit Google Search and Lasco

It had side panels that allowed the fan to fit completely in the window, and could be screwed into the window frame.  It actually extended into the room itself, so the window could be closed behind it in winter.  At night, we would turn the fan on “exhaust,” open the window in the front room, and let the fan draw the air through the room and across us in the bed. It wasn’t comfortable, but the best we could do.  We couldn’t afford to pay for a window air conditioner, as one of the other tenants did. We just lived with it for the four years we were there.

There was a small space heater in that room. There was the stove in the kitchen that warmed that room when I cooked.  And there was an in-wall electric heater in the bathroom. 

Credit Google Search

 Winters were much cozier than summers.

There was a small storage closet in the bathroom where we kept our cleaning utensils, as well as sheets, towels, toilet paper, etc. The fake tile in the bathroom was green, but easy to keep clean.

There were a total of six apartments in that small complex – four were like ours, and the two in the middle were just a little bigger, with a separate bedroom.  Again, being student poor, we couldn’t afford that luxury.

All that cost us $63.00 per month, but if we paid it by the first of each month, we got a 10% discount – all the way down to $56.70 per month!  We made sure we paid it by the first of each month!  The only other expenses we had were the telephone and food.  Our food budget was $10.00 per week, which included one night out.  We were able to live very cheaply, thank goodness.  Of course, those were the days where we ate at home nearly every meal, so that helped.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

Tags: Memories of our student life., Seminary days