Uncle Bob and Aunt Opal

Awww, I grew to love Bob and Opal so much in their later years.  They were the most loving couple I have ever met - doing things together - traveling so many places - and always seeming to be so kind and loving toward each other.  I'm sure there is another side - but this is my sweet memory of them. 

Bob always was a wonderful conservative counterpoint to Dad's liberalism.  Dad often would get frustrated talking with Bob, too.  I enjoyed Bob's practical view of life.  But when I was little, he sort of scared me.  Maybe because I was mischievous.

Gotta go now - but there's so much more to write about Bob and Opal.

Nanny

She occupies a very special place in my heart.  We were very close.  My strongest memories are when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, waking up early in the mornings about 6 a.m. (during summer) and peaking into Mom and Dad's bedroom, and asking if I could go over to Nanny's.  I would sit by the wood stove with her, as she had coffee and toasted knickerbrod with butter and B.E.  She had an aviary full of canaries right off her main room.  She had set up a bed in the main room I guess mainly because the back bedroom was so cold - and then did she convert that to an aviary ? Or the other way around?

For many years I would do chores for her in her garden like pulling weeds, transplanting rose bushes, cleaning the duck's pond, raking up pine needles. 

I played with her black Labrador, Ring.  I threw the ball or pine cones for him to chase and bring back.  Then later she got another black Lab, Kim, and I did the same with him.  He was terrific - tireless ... he would continue chasing the pine cones and bringing them back even after panting and foaming at the mouth for lack of water.   

However, I never forgave her for taking me to see an absolutely horrifying movie which caused nightmares for weeks.  She and one of the elder ladies in town (Pearl? Aunt Esther?) would go to the movies every Sunday afternoon.  One day when I was particularly bored, as she was getting ready to go, she asked if I would like to come along.  She said it was the type of movie I would enjoy.  Yeah, right - here I was seven years old!!! She took me to see the Attack of the Giant Praying Mantis!!! The thing that was soooo scary about that movie, and the lingering thing was the sound that the creature made when approaching a city it was going to devour.  It made this awful droning, humming sound that increased in volume as it neared the city.  Then of course its giant claws would sweep up several people at a time, and it would chew them up.  Agghhhh!!!  Thanks, Nanny.

But on the lighter side - she told me stories of her days growing up in Worcester, MA.  She told me how she played piano for the silent movies in Santa Maria when she first came out West.

And there is much more to tell ......

Harold and Carolyn Forgostein

Harold and Carolyn were close to our family, not just because they were "high up" in The Temple.  I think Dad and Harold worked side by side at odd jobs during the late 40s or early 50s.  (The dates need to be verified as to when Harold and Carolyn first came to Halcyon.)  Before they lived in the town of Halcyon they had a place over in Oceano.  They had us over for dinner there once that I can recall.  I also remember when the new Temple home was being built.  I helped dig dirt for the foundation - and I swept the bare wood subfloors in the afternoons so the workmen would have clean areas for their framing.  When I was five years old Harold made for me a small cement block with my name in it.  That was such a special thing for me.  He was working around the Temple one day and had a little bit of cement left over.  He poured some into a small can, and wrote my name and the year into that small piece of cement.  I kept that thing for a long time during childhood.  Harold was my Godfather.

"Old People" we knew in Halcyon

Back then, there were a lot of "old people" in town, it seems.  Who were they?  I'll bet back then they were younger than we are now.  Hmmmmm ....

Herman Volz will always be the first person who comes to mind.  Herman symbolized for me The Temple.  He was down to earth, alone, simple, and he read a lot of Theosophical stuff (although I did not know this until in my later years).  When I was little, I remember he delivered the US Mail.  He had a pick up truck with a canvas top over the back.  When Halcyonites went on picnics to the County Park (back toward Lopez Canyon) he would carry a bunch of kids in the back of his pick up.  I felt so privileged when I was finally big enough to ride in the back with the older kids.

I was absolutely thrilled whenever Cethil Mallory would play some classical piano pieces in the Temple on Sundays.  I remember Pat Mallory delivering gifts to everyone throughout town at Christmas.

Some names that come to mind, old and not-so-old: Ken and Martha Schussman, and their beautiful home up on that hillside; Olive and Russel Hoff, with their marvelous old fireplace and chimney; Joyce Hedin; the blind piano repairmen, Mr. Paulsen; Fred and Freida Wolff, and his amazing rock collection; the Varians and Sheila's Arabian horses; Gertrude and Thelma Tedford; Maryalice Mankins; Evelyn Carlberg (you know Carl - aka Colin - now lives up our way in Arcata); Roberta Shumway; who else .... ?

Worcester

What do you remember from visiting Worcester?  Again, this was during our trip east for Chris and Jan's wedding in late 90's.

It was fun to see the house where Mom and Uncle Bob grew up.  It had a nice, big back yard in a (what appears to be) a relatively nice, older residential neighborhood on a hillside. 

Lake Huntington

What do you remember from our visit to Lake Huntington?  We went back east in late 90's for Chris and Jan's wedding in Palmer, MA. 

I recall Dad telling the story of how he and a friend, in the middle of the night, un-tied all of the boats in the local marina from their moorings, tied them up together, then set them adrift out into the lake.  When I saw the lake and the marina, this story came more alive. 

Thanksgiving

I remember Thanksgivings with a table setup in the living room with the Stenquists. Opal commented, "I don't know how your mother does this!"

Home Sweet Home

Looking over that big hedge at our house - there are many memories about that hedge.  The side of the hedge bordering the bushes by Halcyon Rd must have been six feet across at the top!  Dad was so proud of how he was still out there trimming it in his later years.  I remember looking for plastic balls hit by Chelsea or Shawn when we were playing baseball on the lawn.   Dad would scream at us to not break the hedge. 

The driveway:  I recall when Patty's new boyfriend, Amos, taught me how to pass a football from center to a punter.  He played Center for the AG Eagles, didn't he?  So I became a Center, too, thanks to his coaching. 

What else about the front yard ......

Comment on Halcyon Store

Joyce Hedin sold the business to Sue and me in January, 1971.  We ran the business from then until about mid-1972, when Maggie Covington took over.  From there ........   

About the baseball story

That weekend the Arroyo Grande High School Eagles beat Atascadero but lost to Lompoc.  Nevertheless, the coach named me "Eagle of the Week" because I played well in both games.  That's me on the left.  Notice the photo at right:  Mike Rubcic on the left and John Rubcic on the right.  Mike is the one who taught me how to be a good catcher.  I remember having Sunday barbeques at the Amos Dana Sr. home in Pismo Beach.  Mike and Minerva would come over.  After the big meal Mike would go outside into the street with me and give me pointers about being a catcher.  Wonderful times!  What I liked most about Amos Sr. cooking were the sweetbreads.