On the Street Where You Live…Part 8

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Our three years in Germany were up, and it was time to head back stateside.  Fred and I had a joke between us:  if we ask to go to Albuquerque (Kirtland AFB), do you think they’ll send us to Maine?” Well, they did just that.

We flew to the states, and Fred’s parents picked us up.  We spent several days with them, then flew to Albuquerque to visit with my Mother, Aunt Jessie, and Granny.  I have pictures of the four generations, which are precious to me.

1970 – Four Generations: Karen, Judy, Mom and Granny

From there we flew to Detroit to pick up the car we had ordered.  Fred’s middle sister and her husband and young son were living just outside Selfridge AFB, near Detroit.  We spent a few days with them before heading to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and a visit with Fred’s parents.

From there we drove to our new assignment, Loring AFB, Maine.  That’s located near Limestone, Maine, just three miles from the Canadian border.  At that time, the interstate was a two lane road, and four hours north of Bangor!  They put us up in temporary housing for about a week until our stuff arrived, that we had stored while in Germany.

We then moved into our “permanent” housing on base – it was a 16-unit row house.

1970 – front of the building with the new siding

We were kind of in the middle.  It was two-story, and our particular unit had been renovated and had an extra room and half-bath downstairs, off the kitchen. It also had a doorway to the outside from there.

The back of our unit

Most of the other units didn’t have that extra room or half-bath.  Our washer and dryer were in that extra room.  The kitchen, dining room and living room was essentially one large room. But at least it was nice and open – it felt like lots of room.

The back of the row houses before new siding

It was partially furnished – the dining room table and chairs belonged to the house.\

Karen meeting her new baby sister for the first time.  This shows the dining room furniture, and the bookcase that we used as a divider between dining room/living room

We purchased the bed for ourselves, but the dresser and other furniture were furnished.  There were also furnished beds in the other two bedrooms.  Only one bathroom upstairs, at the head of the stairs. That was a bit scary when Karen got up during the night to go to the bathroom!  I was afraid she would lose her balance and tumble down the stairs! She never did, however.

We purchased a long (110″) electric blue couch and matching swivel/rocker chair from a furniture store in town, as well as a large rug for the living room.

1970 – Karen in the new “electric blue” swivel/rocker

As for the parking garage – there was a “row house” for those, with a block heater for the engine of the car. Unfortunately, one of those units (not ours) caught fire while we were there – and the entire garage row was destroyed in five minutes!  We usually parked on the street, because the garage area was the last place the snow plows plowed in winter.

The garages

When we arrived, we were told they were “improving” the housing, by replacing the siding on the front and back of each row of houses.  Well, they did, but the company doing the work was from Canada and they were on Atlantic time and started about 6:00 in the morning!  It looked nicer, but no improvements were made on the inside of the units.  We were fortunate to only live there one year!

Judy on our doorstep.  Flowers after Janet’s birth

~~~~~~~~~~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.