Monday Memoir Dec 20, 1958

 Back to my Sophomore year. Mostly I did not have a lot to say unless I got off on some tangent! So much of life was really quite routine. I was so far out of step with the usual 'teenage' stuff that it wasn't even funny! Right at this point I did not have a huge crush so that limited things to talk about!

Dec 20, 1958

Got up early. Did the chores. Vacation!! Ya hoo!!  Spent the morning stacking wood, working on corrals etc. Old Charley came by. He said he’d seen Charles Ortmann who said he sure wanted a picture of Tina. I’ll have to see if I can’t get him one. Mom got some groceries and mailed off the Burro story. We sawed quite a bit of wood. Did the chores. Perhaps we’ll ride over to Bryant’s tomorrow and perhaps go to Prescott on Monday. Guess I’ll say adios.

School was mostly b-o-r-i-n-g at this point and so vacations were eagerly anticipated even if mostly there was more work at home than 'fun' stuff. I was used to it by now and so far the cowboy girl routine was not too onerous. Getting to ride, especially on my mare who was now pretty well trained and rarely intimidated me although she was quite tall and very energetic, was always a great thing..

Charley Bryant was a local character and a close friend of our family. He was definitely a 'horse whisperer' and my main mentor in learning first how to ride and do things with a horse or mule and later to break and train them on my own . He did not drive a car so rode most places he went although his wife did drive and they had an old car that they used. He had many great stories of his younger days some of which certainly colored my later fiction.

Charles Ortmann was the man I had originally gotten Tina from as an eight month old filly early in 1956. At the time I got Tina, he was working for Duane Miller out on the DK Ranch to the east of the valley but by now was around Cottonwood working for various people we  knew. He was a peculiar cowboy having once been a concert violinist of some renown. Why he left that profession I never knew. He did not seem to have any injury that might preclude playing a violin  but had obviously changed careers. Well, classical music was not competing well with rock 'n roll! He did come by a time or two and I gave him a photo or even several but he never seemed pleased with them. I am not sure what he expected! And I am not sure if he still owned her mother or not. I do not recall mention of her in those days.

At this point Dad was sort of making a living as a writer, mostly stories of men's' outdoor magazines  like Field and Stream and Sports Afield. I dimly recall a tale that had burros in it but the specifics are long gone. I do not think it sold but I am not sure. By now we knew another sibling was on the way and it soon became essential to have a better source of income! Baby brother Alex was born May 17, 1959.

Photos: This was in summer 1957. Charley Bryant and me; I think we were going to the Sedona Rodeo. Next is Tina and me about the same time;she was in training and using a hackamore bridle instead of an iron bit in her mouth. Next is Charley again, on one of the houses he trained for a local wannabe cowboy. and finally Tina  as a mature mare, probably 8 or 9 and carrying her first colt. She was 16  hands(16 x 4 to get inches or 64" high at the withers). For reference I was 68" at that time or 5'8" . She weighed about 1000# in good shape and had a lovely red-bay coat.

Monday Memoir, Tues Dec 13, 1960

Some days are just b-o-r-i-n-g. A good part of that first semester back in high school was! A few other Dec 13th's I looked a were no better! But still a day in the life  of...with some names that take me back.

Dec 13, 1960 Tuesday

I guess I should have written more yesterday but it was late and I was tired. School was just ordinary today. Nothing much happened. I got one letter from a guy in the navy—A 6’3” hunk of a Texan who wrote a real nice letter. I did the chores early and we went out to the pasture where we did the chores and got a nice bunch of wood. Old Bill Nelson helped us. Dad went to a town council meeting which was something of a fiasco. I wrote a reply to my new beau and did two history reports. Sam Steiger has offered to sell us fifteen registered mares bred to his Appaloosa stud for $4500. My new guy’s nickname is Sonny. Well, if I live through tomorrow I’ll get a vacation on Thursday. I was going to go to Prescott but I will get to go to Flag. I reported on Anya Seton’s “The Winthrop Woman.” which is one of my favorite books. I’ll buy a copy of it someday. Adios, Gaye

This new pen pal was the one I have mentioned before, Alfred Rydell. He was nice looking and basically a nice guy but kinda dull, really. He left the Navy to work for the Quarter Horse legend Art Pollard. When he  only stayed there a couple of months and went back to the Navy, he lost any attraction for me. I was not going to be a Navy wife!! No way!!

Bill Nelson was a local guy, an old fellow who camped up in a corner of the Tavasci Dairy adjacent to our pasture out behind Tuzigoot for a bit. With winter coming on he needed a home.  Turned out he was a good western artist, not quite the Remington and Russell caliber but good. He was homeless and struggling and he hocked several paintings with us to secure a loan Dad made him to get back on his feet. I hated to see them go back but he paid it off faithfully. 

Sam Steiger had a place out near Granite Dells, east  of Prescott . He was a local character and semi-politician. He was a livestock dealer, a rodeo announcer and --well, you kinda had to watch him as he was a real wheeler-dealer! We did not buy those mares but got some from another man a few months later.

A "vacation" ' with a free day off from school was always cool and I liked to go to Prescott or Flagstaff, especially if I had a dollar or two to spend--which did not happen every time by any means. This close to Christmas, I might have though and looked forward to some gift buying. 

Anya Seton was always a favorite author. She did wonderful well researched historical novels and was very instrumental in firing my desire to become a writer myself.  She spent much time in New Mexico growing up around Taos--quite an artist colony in  those days--as the daughter of  Ernest  Thompson Seton, the eccentric naturalist, writer, and semi-founder of the Boy Scouts in the US. That was motivated by his friend William Baden Powell who started Scouting in England. Since my Dad did some of that as well--no scouts though--I felt a kinship to her. I think I read every one of her books and got a few in e-book form a couple of years ago to re-read.

No Pix. I don't have any very relevant and posted one of Al Rydell before.

Memoir Monday, Dec 6,1959

By this time, I had dropped out of high school for a year. In between many cowboy girl tasks there was a lot of other work. We used a wood stove to heat the house in cold weather--and it was colder then--and got a lot of fire wood plus fence posts and corral rails on Dad's mining claims up on Mingus. 

Dec 6, 1959 Sun

No vacation today, We spent the morning getting ready to go up to Mingus to get wood. I wanted Mom to go and let me stay but no deal. Well, at least RE didn’t come by while I was gone (not that I expected him to.) We left about eleven and spent a long and weary day getting both the trailer and the truck full of wood. I positively exhausted myself. We got a tremendous load and  got safely home with it. I am grateful for that.

It is funny how life files you down and how it will hurt you worse if you fight it. If you find your own little groove or slot that fits you, you slid along rather painlessly. I am inclined to fight tooth and toenail. Somehow I sort of feel I was “meant for better things” but I guess that is pure fallacy.

I just hope I’ll get another chance with RE, He does not exactly fit all my fancy plans but he does fit a lot of my specifications. There isn’t a day pass that I don’t think of him. I want him to be my friend and more than that. I can just hope for another chance. Au revoir, G

Work--that was the "subject" I studied for the short year away from normal school from about 1 Nov 1959 until 1 Sept  1960, that and guys LOL  We cut a lot of firewood and often got it in either the big  F700 Ford flatbed truck that was our hay and livestock hauler or in the pickup with either the open rack farm trailer or the horse trailer dragged behind. Dad wielded the chainsaw and Charlie Mike and I usually did the drag and pack mule work to get it to the vehicle(s) and loaded. Mom usually got to stay home and take care of Alex, then just May-Dec old. I didn't mind being the baby sitter but did not do that often. The Allen Spring Road which was the shortest route up there had frequent washouts after the Mingus fire in 1956 so getting around some sharp inside curves could be a bit iffy at times. A safe trip was thus a relief!

RE was  my current heart-throb--more or less. He worked for the project of putting in the gas lines for El Paso or was it Southwest Gas? Anyway natural gas came to the Verde that summer and fall and he drove a tractor for the digging and filling of the ditches. I had several nicknames for him as I did for most of  my fancies but his name was Richard Edwards and for awhile we did not quite date-I was not allowed--but kind of got a thing going.Oddly the folks never raised much Cain about my talking to him and even him coming by a time or two to 'visit' with me in the early evening--between chores and supper. However no happy ending to this tale--happened just a few days after this point. For a long time that seemed to be the story of my life...looking for love in all the wrong places as the old country song went. My darn "romance addiction" was slated to do me in!

Not many pix--a sketch I did of RE and the yard-swallowing woodpiles in one of Alex taken that winter. Most of the wood was supposed to be for fixing up "the ranch" down south of Bridgeport but eventually ended up in the wood stove to heat the house. Charlie Mike and I hand sawed and split a lot of it, carried it in, took out the ashes...  Yeah, we studied work. And the last, a couple of years earlier as it shows the Jeep pickup and not the Ford but on the same road and an example of the washouts. Somebody had lost a muffler--not us. Drag an 18' trailer behind a truck over that? Whoa! Too much fun. This was in the middle of a tight u-turn, too.

Memoir Monday: 29 Nov, 1958

 

Somehow 1958 seems so long ago. Was I ever that young and kind of giddy when I wasn't depressed and frustrated? LOL! 

 

Nov 29, 1958 -- Saturday?Got up early. Did the chores, Helped Charlie Mike with his toys nearly all morning. In the afternoon mailed the story. Went down to Janni’s to see if she could ride with me. After many interruptions we finally got away. We had a real nice time. Caught up on talking for the first time in ages. Guess who I saw today—“Moose”. He nearly crowded me off he road. Came home and did the chores. The Bryants came by and talked a bit. Tomorrow we’re going with Charley when he rides “Carry.” Something’s gonna give I am afeared. I figured a way to put up some of my pics in plastic. It works swell. Vickie Stratton said “You feel like running up and kissing him,” about Elvis. That’s how I feel about Kelo’s picture. Such a smile—you want to smile too. You feel as if you were sharing a secret. Well, I’ve got to say Adios, Gaye

Not sure what was going on with Charlie Mike's toys--well he was only just  seven at this time, so definitely still in a toy age. Lots of Tonka trucks and play tools and odds and ends like we'd both played with often--'making'  and making up things! The story would have been one of Dad's efforts; he did sell quite a few to outdoor adventure mags for several years; sending one off was a big event and might result in some income.

Janni was Janice Benatz, younger than me by about three years but we were good friends and she loved  the horses and mules. Mot of my girlfriends were younger and of course the guys in my life were mostly older...

Charley Bryant was the local horse whisperer and a family friend. He was a main mentor (mane mentor?) of mine as I worked into my cowboy girl days. He did not drive at all so his wife, Elvie, took him places in their old car when he was not wanting to ride there. He rode mostly though and always had a horse or mule. Carry was a mule he was training for Leo Greenough, another influential friend in the circle I lurked at the edge of, mostly my parents' friends who fascinated me.  This little pitcher had big ears and listened a lot; so much of what I heard popped up later in my fiction.

Vickie Stratton was another lower town younger semi-friend. Of course Elvis was such a big thing about then but  I was totally western/cowboy fan-girl  and right then Kelo Henderson who was in the TV show 26 Men was a huge fave of mine. My bedroom corner study/work place was usually decorated with either photos or later some of my own drawings of various "Handsome Heroes" I was crushing on.

Oh yes, "Moose". That was Marvin Kallsen, then a senior at Mingus--pre Mingus Union Mingus--and was more or less my first crush when we both went to school down at Willard in Bridgeport. I was over that but still kind of attentive to him. Those were the days, eh?

About the photos:  

The first is Charley Bryant with a mule. I do not think this was Carry but probably either Blackie or another mule he got from us in 1959-60.  The next is Kelo; I have a  close-up in a scrap book still but guess I have not scanned it into my files! That show was about the Arizona Rangers who were a  real group in the late 1800s and the episodes were filmed in the Phoenix area.  And last, Marvin when he graduated from 8th grade at Willard in 1955 (?) I think that was the year!! I thought he was cuter as a kid than nearing grown up in 1958! Sadly he is one missing from the MUHS Class of  1959 as he died about 2004. His wife was in the class of 1961,  Connie Nesbitt.

Memoir Monday Nov 22, 1963 The day Kennedy was shot

 For many of my generation, "the day Kennedy was shot" was like our Pearl Harbor day--a huge jolting turning point that we never forgot. For the younger folks, compare it to 9/11. So seeing it was 58 years ago, I had to go back and see how that day went  for me.  

Nov 22, 1963 Fri

I woke about the usual hour and got up to go feed. Last night I dreamed of Dr Joe Hudson—why, I don’t know. We all went out to do the pasture chores and Dad cut two cottonwood trees. I rode Tina down to them. She feels so big. We got the mail and then Mom and Dad helped lead up the animals. It was then we heard the news. President Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin in Dallas, TX about 12:30. It is, of course, a terrible and unbelievable thing. Poor Jackie was sitting at his side when the shot was fired. We of course had to listen to the news reports most of the afternoon. I did ride Prez for a little and led Chief. Then we drove out and did the evening pasture chores. While we were eating, Evelyn came down. We visited for awhile, talked of many things. She worked on my hair etc. This has been a long and terrible day that will be long remembered in history.

By this time I was a full time cowboy girl and the livestock work was my main occupation. I know I have mentioned all these animals before. My mare Tina was now about 2/3 through her first pregnancy so I was not working her much but did ride her bareback some. The mules would eat the green shoots and bark off a cottonwood tree and that gave them something to gnaw on and not chew corral rails, wooden feed troughs etc. Dr Joe was the head doctor at the Whipple VA Hospital where Dad had been a patient off and on. He was a family friend of sorts and a cool guy. Evelyn was of course my friend Evelyn Graves Morales.She was still in high school.

We'd been out to the pasture that morning and were back at home about ready to go in for lunch and turned on the radio. It was certainly appalling news and we  were caught up in it for the rest of that day and a few more. We did not have TV but saw things in magazines and certainly heard much on the radio. Ancient history now but still many clear memories. And it is still really a cold case crime. Did Oswald really do it? And why did Ruby then kill him? That the whole world witnessed, so no doubt there, but mysteries have always piled deep.

An odd bit of background: My late husband was a military police detective in the Marine Corps and stationed at Atsugi, Japan in the later mid-fifties. Strangely, Oswald was a Marine at that time and was also there. He got into trouble, I think with blackmarket stuff like sale of cigarettes etc from the commissary to the Japanese. Jim and his partner worked the case and busted him. Jim said Oswald was qualified with a rifle since all Marines had to be then but was far from a marksman of sniper caliber. He was also not the sharpest tool in the shed and took the fall for what others had conned him into doing. So Jim never believed Oswald had actually done the shooting. I honestly cannot even guess but suspect we will never know the real, whole story. 

A marginally relevant photo or two--Jim Walton--one as he would have looked there in 1957 as an E-4 or E-5 MP Sergeant (can't quite make out the stripe) and one when he was home from Boot Camp in late 1948. Ernest Gabrielson who also went to Bisbee High and graduated in 1948 ,was also in the Marines but they were never stationed together. Ernie got out after one enlistment or right after the Korean conflict and went to college and became an English teacher. Old history to us MUHS alums!

Memoir Monday,, Nov 15, 1960

Back at school after the "Mule Year." I was pulling out of my miniature 'teen rebellion' and  rumspringa  period thru midyear and into the fall. I still missed being outdoors and 'free' but for the most part school was tolerable and a kind of vacation!

Nov 15, 1960 Tuesday

I hated to spend a pretty day like this in school. It was cold but pretty, really pretty. I didn’t miss much yesterday. School was pretty dull today. I was a few minutes late getting home so I threw leather on Trix and took off. I mailed a bunch of letters, my snap order included and did the chores out at the pasture. Mom and CM had done everything here which was a relief. I just saw Gug’s truck once today. Gosh I want to see him so bad. I wish I knew what he really thinks about  me but I’d probably die if I did know. He’s a mean hombre. I wish I had seen my new hero today. I want to meet him. It’s positively a case of love a first sight. I’m going to write to several of the folks who had letters in the “Our Air Mail” column and I am sending them a letter too. I love to write letters and I want to make some more friends that way. I dreamed something about a guy with a real neat car the other night. I hope that is prophetic.  That's what I need to make me get over Gug. And that is one thing I’ve got to do. It’s late and I’m tired so I guess I’ll close for today. Maybe something real thrilling will happen soon. Adios, Filly

Was it really colder then? Climate change or not, it seems to me that the weather has gotten milder though perhaps a few more extremes. Mingus Union sat on a ridge tip out over the valley and it was almost always windy up there which made cold feel much worse--that old wind chill factor. I'd been out in all weather for a year should have been used to it, though.

You have met Trix(ie) before, a favorite little mule who looked like a stuffed toy in the winter--just as fluffy and fuzzy as she could be and coal black with a white nose and a dainty Arabian equine face--bet her mother was an Arab. And yes, it was a real boon when Charlie Mike and/or Mom had done the home chores for me. Did not always happen and for sure it was almost never Dad who did it.

Who was the new hero I spoke of? Haven't a clue but I suspect it was a CTI driver that I had not seen before who caught my eye and piqued my fancy. And this was the beginning of my long-term pen pal  project. In the end I probably got 250 letters from my entries in a couple of magazines and answered half or more at least once. That sifted out to maybe 4-5 long term gal pals and a ha;f dozen guys that ebbed and flowed as favorites over the course of some 4-5 years. Postage money--at 3-5 cents per letter  most of the time-- was not easy to come by but Charlie Mike and I did nab or scrounge hundreds of pop bottles which we could turn in for a few cents.

Not much photo stuff here: My "office" corner in my room which by this time did have a table Dad had built for me, a smaller edition of the big dining table we began to use about 1955. I used the boxes on top then as shelves, I still have both tables. Charlie and I use the big one for our dining table and my smaller one is currently in the garage and part of my jewelry shop set up. One thing Dad did well was build stuff. Charlie Mike inherited that skill and many of our large shelf units are his work. I am a rougher 'carpenter' but can whip up a feed box or other outdoor fixture when needed. And oddly, school buses have not changed much! Here is a recent 'Blue Bird" in our area! It looks very much like the one I rode up the hill!  I rode it the most and it was mostly driven by Mr. Pirtle. I just remembered that. Actually the CTI (Cement Transporters Inc) trucks have not changed a lot either; they are based in Marana, north west of Tucson along I-10 as they were then..

Memoir Monday, Nov 8. 1961

 The fall of my senior year.  I was half past eighteen now and for the most part pretty serious and practical. I still had my pen pals but otherwise social life was a flat zip. School was a respite of sorts most of the time and with Maureen Jewell for my school BFF at that time, it was mostly pleasant enough. No difficult classes and most of the guys I had been bullied by were gone.

Nov 8, 1961 Wed

I woke up early with the curse, worse luck. I took my pills though and went primly off to school trying not to show my misery. The day passed rather rapidly, thank God. ‘Reen and I ate in the gym and watched a wrestling match at noon. I even got a seat only four back in the bus; luck was with me. No mail. Charlie Mike and I did the chores here and then we drove out to the pasture. The witch tree is gone—not a trace of it left. ‘Reen of course was very sympathetic when she heard of my troubles. Tomorrow I mustn’t forget that I have a mare for sale. I played cards with Charlie Mike. He taught me how to play casino and then I wrote a letter to Shirley C. And so ends another day. I’m not in much misery actually now. Its raining and I should … I guess I’ll get another vacation on Friday to go hunting. Shall I be glad or sad?  I wrote a rather screwy letter to Wayne. I think I should try to get rid of him but I really don’t want to. How about HJ  (Jose Cazador) He promised me a long letter. Maybe I’ll remind him. The other day I concluded that I wanted to remain a "little girl" for a bit longer. Hasta!

I suffered from severe monthly cramps from my early teens on. I later found out I had very bad  endometriosis and a few other problems but at this stage I just knew I'd be miserable for about 24 hours every 26-28 days or so. I never wanted not to be female but it was a burden, especially when I needed to be active and busy every day regardless.  I hated to ride near the back of the school bus--the only time I would get semi-carsick as the big old vehicle wig-wagged  down the curvy road from Jerome to Clarkdale. Going up was not as bad.

The "witch tree" was a smaller mesquite that sat near the middle of one of the big pens at the pasture. We often had a jack burro chained to it. They had to be kept apart so as not to fight and also away from the mares or jennys in season. After  a second animal died there in tragic accidents, Dad took a chain saw to it and cut it off at the ground.  I had found one jack dead there the evening before; he got tangled in the chain and apparently had a hassle with a mustang gelding we had. Chili was one we all liked and kind of a favorite, and a  mule colt he had sired died there the past June. It was a cursed tree. 

I was rather cynical much of the time, and at least somber; not despondent but not often super happy. I'm not sure what triggered the "little girl" notion but I did have a slight Peter Pan complex off and on. Was "growing up" all it was cracked up to be?  Likely not... "It's raining and I should? " Not sure what thought I never finished there!  Maybe interrupted...

I really do not have good photos of Chili the burro or Sugarfoot the mule colt and I've featured Wayne and Jose in photos before. But did find one--this is Chili--he was a paint--and I was holding Tina. Lady II in the trailer was the one who had the mule colt he sired. She had lost colts before; just a bad luck mare. Not long afterwards, I sold her to Maureen who had her until she died, probably at about age 18-20.