I remember when Rose Marie was born. Our Dad and I were driving back from the hospital in Silver City, New Mexico. Dad was telling me about having a new sister. I didn’t understand that very much, but I do remember asking if “she was going to play with my toys!’ And that she did as she got older.
We moved shortly afterwards to Roswell, New Mexico where our Dad worked as a civilian for the Air Force during WWII. Those early years were interesting as we lived on the air base where we were housed in the same area as the pilots who flew the bomber airplanes. Some of the things I recall were: Rose Marie and I going over at night to where the military personnel lived to get small bags of flour and sugar that the pilots were able to get and we were not. Once a week we sat at the back of our house with our puppy dog and watched German prisoners dump our garbage cans into a truck. There was a guard with a rifle sitting on the top of the cab of the truck. Sometimes the prisoners were allowed to come over and hold our puppy. They seemed like nice guys. At that time I didn’t understand why there were German solders living in New Mexico. There were a lot of tumble weed bushes in New Mexico that had a seed shaped like a goat head. Those seeds were always punching our bicycle tires, so one day we decided to ride on the paved runways where the B-17s and B-29s landed and departed to avoid the seeds. Needless to say, we soon got into trouble. Luckily for everyone we did not cause any accidents. There was an area on the air base where we were to gather to receive important announcements or instructions when the sirens went off. I remember one time when everyone was all excited and jumping around. That was the day WWII ended. I wonder what happened to the German prisoners after that.
During our time in Roswell, we regularly attended church: Sunday morning and evening services, and, sometimes Wednesday evening services, as well as Bible study in the summer. We joined several Baptist Churches, including the Calvary and First Baptist. Every time we changed churches we had to be re-baptized! By the time we got to the Church of Christ we were fairly clean, but then they baptized us again!! Summers were spent camping as our father was a hunter and fisherman
After the war, our family started building a house on a lot that we had purchased in town. We dug a hole in the ground to get dirt that we mixed with straw and water to make adobe bricks. The mud was poured into wooden frames that were about 8 inches wide, 10 inches long and 4 inches thick. After this mixture had dried in the sun, we made a wall with places for doors and windows around the hole. The adobe bricks were held together with mud. Then a wood roof and floor was built. The hole in the ground had now become a basement where Rose Marie and I sometimes played. The thick adobe walls made the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Rose Marie and I were embarrassed to have friends over because we lived in a mud house and everyone else lived in a nice wooden house. I guess everyone was not held back from visiting Rose Marie because a few years later, on a trip back from college at Christmas, I met Jerry who was dating Rose Marie. I showed him many photos that I had taken in Utah and Idaho. That must have impressed him and Rose Marie because after their marriage they moved to Boise. Our mother and dad continued to live in the house until our father’s death. Then our mother sold the house and moved to Boise to be close to Rose Marie and Jerry. At that time I was living in Burns, Oregon.