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On the Street Where You Live…Part 9

29 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Our daughter, Janet was born in the base hospital on Loring AFB in June of 1971.  Fred came to visit me in the hospital the day following her birth and asked, “You didn’t really want to stay here another year, did you?”  I nearly jumped out of the bed!!  “Where are we going?”  I screeched!  San Antonio, Texas, for Fred to be an instructor at the same OTS where he had trained as an officer.  

And so, in September, we headed out from Maine – with no regrets!

We took our time, traveling through parts of Canada and the northeast states of the U.S. 

1971 – Hotel Frontenac – Quebec, Canada

The Von Trapp Family Lodge – Stowe, Vermont

Boston – U.S.S. Constitution – Old Ironsides

 We stopped in Washington D.C. and Fred’s parents met us.

The Lincoln Memorial – Washington D.C.

We finally arrived in San Antonio later that month.  I had a great-aunt, Lillie, who lived in San Antonio, and we stayed with her while we went house-hunting.

We finally settled on a newly built house in a subdivision not too far from the Medina Base, where the OTS was quartered and schooled, as well as not far from Lackland AFB itself.  Ray Ellison was the builder.

1971 – Our first house – San Antonio, Texas

2017 – Our first house – renovated.  That tree really grew big!

I’ve looked up the house on Zillow.com and it says it has 1,724 square feet of living space.  It also says it has four bedrooms and two baths.  The new owners must have added on, because it only had three bedrooms when we lived there!  It also says there is a fireplace in the family room – that must have been in the add-on, because we didn’t have a fireplace anywhere in the house!

The entry way had a coat closet, and was separated from the living room by half-walls that had spindles up to the ceiling.

1974 – Fred and Janet in the living room.  Notice the spindles in the half-wall

The living room was rather long and narrow, and ended with the dining room against the end wall.  There was a mural on the wall.

1973 – Janet’s 2nd Birthday.  Janet and Karen enjoying birthday cupcakes  

There’s the mural on the wall of the dining room

The kitchen was off the dining room, with a pocket-door between.  The refrigerator and stove were on the right wall as you entered the kitchen, with a divider between the kitchen and family room that included cabinets, sink and dishwasher.  At the end of the kitchen was a nook large enough for an eat-in table and chairs. There was also a storage cabinet in that nook, which was convenient.

1972 – After church, Janet crawled up and got into the french fries.

That is the eat-in nook, table and chairs, and storage closet in the wall.

Also between the kitchen and family room was another half-wall – wood this time – that also had spindles to the ceiling.

1972 – Christmas with our little tree.  This shows the wooden spindles in the half-wall

The door to the backyard is behind the tree

Karen and Janet admiring our Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

We placed our piano in that room.  There was a door that led to the backyard in that room. The door to the garage was between the kitchen proper and the eat-in nook.

The master bedroom was at the far end of the hallway, with a bath attached – shower only – no tub.  The second bathroom was down the hall, across from the middle bedroom, and the third bedroom was at the end of that hallway, with long windows facing the street.

It was a comfortable house, and we enjoyed our three years there.

I’ve written about one incident that happened while we were there: The house next door to us caught fire in the middle of the night.  Please see my post of September 21, 2014 about that incident – My Husband…My Hero.

More next time…

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 8

22 Sep

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.

On the Street Where You Live…Part 7

15 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After a year living on the economy in Wiesbaden, West Germany, we were able to move into a furnished government apartment.  We were in the American housing called Auckum, and we lived on Westfalen Strasse.  We were in a six-apartment stairwell, and  there were two stairwells in our building, so 12 units.  We lived on the third floor, in the outer apartment, rather than the inner apartment.  We lived there the remaining two years of our commitment.

Our apartment building.  Our unit was the top left in this picture.

1970 – Springtime – Karen in the back yard playground.  Our apartment is top right

It was a two bedroom apartment, one bathroom.  The kitchen was nice and large with a doorway to the dining room.  The wall of the dining room was completely windows. A large picture window with two side windows that opened.  We opened them frequently during the spring, summer and fall.  They were tall windows, and had a marble ledge or window sill, with heaters underneath.  The window sill was near the floor enough that, when Karen was old enough, she would enjoy sitting on it and looking outside.

The living room was fairly large, as well.  We had a couch and a couple of chairs.

1969 – My mother came to visit.  See the couch provided

The brown chair was provided, while the rocking chair Fred purchased.

Fred had purchased a rocking chair for me to nurse Karen, when we lived on the economy, and that was one of our chairs in the living room.  We still have that chair.  There was a wooden cabinet in the living room that held our stereo equipment. We had no TV those years we were in Wiesbaden.  Didn’t really need it, either.

There was a balcony off the living room, that we enjoyed quite a bit.  Karen loved to go out there and look around and play.

Karen on the balcony.

There was a divider between the living room and the dining room.  One side held three bookcase shelves, and the other side held storage for large dining equipment.

Karen is two years old here – in front of the divider.

There was also a sideboard in the dining room.  The dining room also held a large table with six chairs.

The kitchen was good sized, with all the necessary equipment.  Unfortunately, the government only gave us a non-frost-free refrigerator, and I had to defrost that thing quite often.  Not fun!  Lots of cabinet space, and a window over the sink.

The bathroom was long, with a fairly long, large tub (with shower), the requisite sink and toilet.  Karen enjoyed time in the tub while I cleaned the sink and toilet.  The floor was terrazzo – easy to clean.

We had Karen’s crib in the second bedroom.  There was also a bed in there.  As it happened, by that time I was playing the piano for the church, and needed a piano to practice on.  We rented a piano from a piano store in town, and they placed it in her bedroom.  I’m not exactly sure when I practiced, but she was such a sound sleeper, that I could have done it during her naps.

There was a fire in the attic of one of the buildings across the way from us while we were there.  I believe it was contained to the attic, but perhaps took some of the top floor apartments.

Karen on our balcony, with the results of the fire across the street.

In our bedroom was the bed (naturally), but also a dressing table, complete with mirror set in front of a window.  I would frequently take down the mirror and set my sewing machine up there to work. We had a full-length mirror behind the bedroom door, so that worked well.  We had wardrobes in the bedrooms for our clothing.

The washers and dryers were down in the basement.  That wasn’t too bad until I had to lug the diaper pail down four flights of stairs! 

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 6

8 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

About half-way through Fred’s school at San Jose State College, my Dad died.  

My Dad – his official photo

I was pregnant with our first child, and Daddy’s death hurt dreadfully.  We already had our orders to go to Wiesbaden, West Germany, so Daddy knew it before he died. Mother came to visit us in Germany, and I so wished Daddy had lived to accompany her.

We sold our car, and flew from San Jose by helicopter (my first and only helicopter ride) 

Credit Pixabay

to San Francisco, then flew to Albuquerque on a jet.  We visited with my Mother, Aunt Jessie and Granny.  As it turned out, Fred’s brother was graduating from the University of New Mexico at that same time, and Fred and Larry’s parents were in Albuquerque as well, so we were able to visit with them, too.

1967 – Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Fred’s parents and his brother; My mother, Granny and Aunt Jessie – and me

We then flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to stay the night with Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn.

1966 – June – Philadelphia.  Fred’s Aunt Anna and Uncle Lyn

The next day we went to the Pentagon to retrieve my Passport, which had not been finished before that.  We then flew to Frankfurt, West Germany.

There was no base housing available for us when we arrived, so we contracted with a “local” to live in another furnished apartment, on the economy (that’s military speak for off-base housing).  It was an upstairs apartment with two bedrooms and one bathroom.

1967 – Wiesbaden, Germany – Upstairs is our apartment – with the balcony

As an aside, the landlord and his wife were Herr Minor (pronounced meenor) and Frau Minor.  She stated that we would be the last Americans she would rent to.  Many years later, in 1982, we drove by that house. There was a gentleman outside, washing his car.  It had an American license plate.  I stopped to talk with him.  I told him what Frau Minor had told us 15 years earlier, and he said she told him the same thing!  Guess she liked the American money too much.

There was a fairly large room that was the living room and dining room combined.  There was a balcony off the living room.  The bathroom was next to the larger bedroom, the kitchen on the other side of the bathroom. We had a geyser in both the bathroom and kitchen (above the sink) for hot water.  I didn’t understand how that could heat enough water for a tub bath (no shower), but it seemed to do the job nicely.  There was a pantry/store room off the kitchen.  The washer and dryer were in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, they gave us a brand new wringer washing machine!! It ruined so many snaps and buttons on our clothes that I was ready to pitch it out the window!

The view out our back kitchen window

The second bedroom was opposite the kitchen. Down the hall was the bathroom, bedroom, and living room/dining room.  Quite compact and open and airy.  The heat was radiator heat, which was controlled by the landlord.  After our Karen was born, they made sure we had enough heat in the winter to keep the house toasty and warm.

The house was just down the street from a beautiful park, and we would walk there and back quite often.  After Karen was born, we would take her in the buggy for our walk.  The German people – especially women – would stop us and ooh and aah over her.  It was delightful living there.

The park where we walked

The church down the street.  We always heard the bells ring

We lived on Albrecht Durer Strasse.  He is the artist who painted The Praying Hands you might know.  It’s come to mean a great deal to me, since we lived on the street named for him!

Credit Pixabay

We lived in that apartment for one year before we were able to get into a furnished government apartment.  More on that next time.

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 5

1 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

We left Texas behind us, visited in Albuquerque, then stopped in Colorado for the wedding of Fred’s youngest sister, on our way to San Jose.

1966 – Colorado Mountains

Fred’s sister and her to-be-husband

Since San Jose State College (now University) was a “city” college – located within the city itself, there was very little parking.

Credit Google Search and San Jose State University website

 Consequently, we rented an apartment near the campus.  We could just park the car in our space at the apartment complex, and Fred could walk to class, without having the hassle or time trying to find that unavailable parking spot.  Frequently, I would walk to the public library – gave me good exercise, and an excuse to sit and read.

This little apartment – again, furnished – had a small living room, a very small kitchen with an eat-in nook at the end with a table and four chairs, where Fred did his studying at night.  The living room had a couch and one chair, with some lamps for light.  The bedroom and bath had very little except the bed and small dresser.  The bathroom was standard with tub/shower, sink and toilet. Very efficient.

Our apartment complex Credit Google Search and Redfin

This apartment was in a fairly large complex, with lots of apartments and students.  We became fast friends with our very next-door neighbors, as the husband was also an Air Force person, studying right along with Fred to become meteorologists.  We have continued that friendship even to this day.

Credit Google Search and SJSU – Meteorology Department

We found a church to join, but later discovered it really wasn’t where God wanted us to be.  We learned a good lesson from that one.  You see, the pastor was an old friend of my Dad’s, and he and his wife practically begged us to join their church.  They could use Fred’s Seminary experience in their Sunday School program. They could use my experience with the piano or organ in the worship services.  And so, we joined.  We knew it would be only for one year, since Fred would be assigned somewhere else following his schooling at SJSC.  But what we learned is that, whenever we moved to a new place, and began searching for a new church home, we would only join a body of believers if we absolutely KNEW that was where God wanted us to be.  And we could tell people from churches who visited us that, no it wasn’t that we didn’t feel God present in their church…just that we didn’t feel that’s where God wanted us to be.

Consequently, we have been quite at home in all the churches we’ve been members of in all our moves.  God has planted us in places where, yes we could be used, but also right where He wanted us.  Sometimes it was for a specific reason that we didn’t realize at the time, but would find it later, frequently after we had left that location.  It’s always best to follow God’s leading.

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live-Part 4

25 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

After Fred graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was unable to find a position with a church or school in his field.  Consequently, his Draft Board informed him that he would be “next” for call-up for military service.  Since he had a college degree and two seminary degrees, he looked into becoming an officer in the Air Force.

The result of that inquiry was his enlistment in the Air Force.  He had to go to San Antonio, Texas for his training.

The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas

The River Walk, San Antonio, Texas

At that time, in 1966, wives were not encouraged to follow their husbands to the OTS training (Officer Training School). That was mainly because the men were billeted in barracks for six days, with only one day allowed off base.  But Fred and I were determined to be together as much as possible.  So we moved to San Antonio, and we rented a small apartment over the garage of the landlady.  At least this apartment had a separate bedroom!  

It was furnished, so had a table and four chairs in the kitchen, which was just one long room into the living room.  The bedroom and bathroom (which didn’t have a tub, just a small shower stall), were at the end of that room.  There was a sleeper sofa and a chair in the living room. Again, it wasn’t air conditioned, so our big window fan came in quite handy.  We actually sold it to the landlady when we left there.

We were only there three months, so I don’t really remember a lot about that apartment.  I do remember that the only entrance to that apartment was by the stairs outside the garage.  The kitchen had cabinets and a window over the sink and a stove and refrigerator.

I worked at Kelly AFB through Civil Service, and lived in that place all by myself except for Saturday nights.  I would pick Fred up from his OTS place on Lackland AFB and take him home.  I think his only good night’s sleep was that one night at the apartment with me.  I had to return him to the base on Sunday afternoons.

We did manage to join a small Baptist Church there, and became good friends with the pastor and his wife.  They were about our age, and were a fun couple.  His wife’s name was also Judy, so that was made a nice connection.

After graduation and commissioning as a 2ndLieutenant, Fred was to report to San Jose, California for schooling to become a Meteorologist at San Jose State College. 

He wasn’t due for a few weeks, so we stayed in San Antonio a few days, then drove to Albuquerque to visit with my parents. 

Fred’s Dad came for his commissioning ceremony and we each pinned on Fred’s new bars.

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live…Part 3

18 Aug

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.

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On the Street Where You Live-Part 2

11 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Our little house in Albuquerque had three bedrooms and one bath. 

It had some neat features, too.  Such as the “corner” shelves in the hallway, right opposite my brother’s bedroom.  Mother had some knick-knacks there, as well as the telephone.  She kept a large basket there, where we placed the daily newspapers when we were finished with them. 

1959 – Judy on the phone – oh to be that thin again! Notice the dial telephone, and the newspaper basket on the floor

Back in those days (1950’s) we only had one telephone, and early on, it was a party-line!  I remember when we were given a phone number with letters and numbers, i.e. CHapel X-XXXX (no area code then).  You had to hunt for the CH on the number pad and dial that before the numbers. The powers-that-be finally realized that it was easier just to give the numbers, so the letters went away.

Another neat feature of that house was in the living room.  On the North wall was the fireplace.  The fireplace was bracketed on each side by a low glass-fronted bookcase, and a narrow window centered above each bookcase.

1952 – Judy in front of the fireplace with bookcases and windows. Must have been Christmas time with all those cards

1960 – A good picture of the fireplace, bookcase and window. We surprised Daddy in this picture. The mirror over the mantle now hangs above the mantle in our daughter’s house

The tops of the bookcases and the fireplace mantle provided space for some interesting things…such as my fish bowl – when I had guppies.  The mantle was the place for mom’s collection of cups and saucers.  What was funny about that was that our cat, Boots, would jump up there and walk among the cups and saucers – and not once did he knock over anything!  And he was a BIG cat!  With lots of fur!  Amazing.

1959 – Boots with Trixie, Aunt Jessie’s pug

I’ve mentioned in other posts that we had a door from the kitchen to the back yard that also led to the detached garage.  It had a screen door, and a doorbell.  When the doorbell was pushed, it gave a very different sound than the front doorbell.  So we always knew just which door we should answer.  

1948 – Daddy with Bill and me-The back door

There was storage space at the end of the bedroom hallway that held quite a bit of stuff.  There was a large door that opened to shelves.  Mother kept sheets and towels there, as I remember.  And under that door were drawers.  That was basically the storage for the entire house. But we didn’t have as much “stuff” then as we do now, so it was quite sufficient for us.

1952 – Judy and new doll in front of the storage cabinet and drawers

When approaching the house from the street, the doorbell was on the outside of the screen door.  And then you entered a screened-in porch before you approached the front door to the house.  In summer Bill or I would put up cots on the porch and sleep out there.  The windows in the living room looked to the East, so we were treated to the “purple mountains” every evening when the sun was setting.  I really miss that view.

This picture also shows the large East windows, where we could see the mountains.

The doorways from the living room led one way to the hallways that went to the bedrooms and bathroom.  Leading the other way entered into the dining room and the kitchen.  They were doorways, but open and curved at the top. See the curved-top doorway behind Bill.

1952 – The Lites Family

The dining room was a slender room.  The table and chairs were pushed up against one wall (the one with windows), and the buffet was pushed up against the opposite wall.  At the kitchen end of the room was matching tall sideboard.  Whenever we ate at that table, we had to pull it out from the wall, and squeeze by it to get anything from the kitchen.  I guess the word today would be “cozy.”

1956 – must be Thanksgiving dinner.

L-R: DiVoran, Bill, Judy, DiVoran’s brother David, Daddy ready to carve at the end, Granny, Dora DiVoran’s mother, Mom.

The kitchen was interesting – one wall was cabinets (which my mother painted pink at one time) and a window.  The sink and under cabinets were there, as well.  The stove was on one side, with the refrigerator on the other.  There was a table and four chairs in there where we usually ate our meals.  Daddy traveled a lot, so frequently it was just Mom, Bill and myself.  It was tight, but it worked.

1959 – Granny holding Trixie. Boots looking for a treat. Notice the pink cabinets, stove to the left.

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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On the Street Where You Live

4 Aug

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Now that’s a familiar tune, isn’t it?  One of my favorites from My Fair Lady.  Fred suggested that I write about the places we’ve lived, and I thought it to be a good idea,  since a lot of these “memories” I write about are for our descendants.  So here we go.

To start with myself, I was born in Dallas, Texas.  For some reason, I can remember the address of that house quite well – it just seems to resonate with my brain.  I’ve never been back to Dallas to see that house, although I’ve looked it up on Zillow.  Looks like it has been well taken care of by all those who have owned the house.  They even have a swimming pool in the back yard! Wow!  In that Texas heat, they probably need it.  I have some pictures of the house – front, back, and the bedrooms Bill and I had, but I have no memory of it.

Judy in front of our house

My brother, Bill

Backyard, Bill, Judy and Aunt Jessie

Now there’s a house I remember!  Daddy went to Albuquerque before we did (Mom, Bill and I) and purchased the house.

We lived in it the entire time I was growing up, and Mom lived in it after Daddy died, and until she and my step-dad moved into an apartment in their later years. It was a neat little house with three bedrooms and one bath.  Oh how we ALL wished for more than one bathroom!!  Daddy kept threatening to add another one as we were growing up!  But he never did.  

According to Zillow, it has 1,065 square feet of living space.  Considering the houses Fred and I have lived in, in the past 30 years, that is really small.  But it didn’t seem small to us – it was just right.  It was built in 1940, and we purchased it in 1945.  The lot size is 6,251 square feet.  The front yard was not huge, but the back yard was much larger. 

While a bit of a double exposure, it shows the size of the front yard. Mother talking with our neighbor, Leon, and granddaughter, Charlene

Our backyard.  Smokey, Bill & DiVoran’s dog

One addition they did make was a patio between the house and the detached garage. It had a roof over it, and because it was facing West and the sun was there in the evenings, they had a long roll-down shade on that West side.  We had many meals out on that patio.  It actually attached to the garage, which was nice.  Mom and Dad set up a picnic table with bench seats, for our meals.  A couple of lounge chairs and we were set.

A birthday meal on the patio – Mom, Aunt Lillie and Granny

On the patio – Judy with Boots, DiVoran with Smokey under her chair

Part of the patio – Our cat, Boots, liked to sleep in the flowerbed

The detached garage was neat.  It consisted of three rooms – a storage room, the laundry room with washer (never did get a dryer – we had clothes lines for that) with a small space heater, and later a large standing freezer, and the last room was for the car.  There was a full-width shelf above the car space that was always full of Mom and Dad’s “stuff.”  

~~~~~~~~~~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.

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Let’s Play a Game-Make Up a Name

21 Jul

Sunday Memories

Judy Wills

I have some quirky habits – well, I suppose most people do.  But for some reason, when we are stopped at a traffic light, I look at the cars around us – specifically their license tags – and try to make up words for them.

I think I started doing that with our own license tags, just so I could remember them if or when I would need to give that information to someone, such as the DMV or at a hotel where we stayed.

For instance, one of our tags in Virginia was QRI-727.  What would you make of that?  Well, my thought was:  query (or question)? Is that a 727 airplane?

We had one tag here in Florida that was UNH-935. Since we attended (and Fred graduated from) the University of New Mexico, thus UNM, that was fairly easy: University of New Hampshire-935.  Get the picture?  I just wish Fred had asked the clerk to pull one that had UNM on it! 

Okay, let’s do a test-run.  See what you can make out of the following (that I made up):

            Y25-JVP

and     Y75-KPD

For the first one, I would have said:  Year25-John Victor Patrick

And the second one:   Year75-Kissimmee Police Department

            (That one was easy, since I have two friends who work at the KPD)

Then there are the vanity plates.  I have a lot of fun with them.  There was a married couple we knew in Texas who had Mopsy on her car, and Popsy on his.

And then I saw one vanity plate with just one word on it:   ytteb   I had a difficult time figuring that one out – until I spelled it backwards.  I’m assuming the driver’s name is: Betty.

We had one Air Force license tag that said AGPOP.

Really easy to remember.  Unfortunately, Florida law says that military plates have to be changed out every 10 years.  I can’t imagine who made up that law.  All it does is create more paperwork for some government agency, that is totally unnecessary. But that’s the government for you.

Below are some sample license plates from Florida’s License plate designs

I guess the one that really inspired me to do this word search, was while we were living in Virginia.  I was stopped behind a car that the license plate had the words: I SOIF.  That one had me baffled.  Soif?  Soif? What in the world is soif?  Then, as I began looking at the back window decals – and the bumper stickers – of the car, I realized that I was looking at all kinds of surfboards!  Okay…now I get it – I SOIF means I SURF.  The guy in the car was a surfer.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

So….has this inspired you to take a new look at license plates and try to figure out words?  It’s a fun thing to do, and Fred gets quite tickled at some of the ones I come up with. Give it a try.  You just might like it – and it helps pass the time when traveling.

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.

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