How Mom & Dad Met

How They Met

I remember Dad telling me how he first met Mom. He was visiting the Ford home with his acquaintance, Albert (Albert [Mom’s older brother] was a friend of Dads; and I believe they had been playing tennis together.) Dad had accompanied Albert to his bedroom which was somewhere near or on the back porch. Mom had apparently been sleeping in the afternoon on Albert's bed in his room. She was about 18! Albert appeared irritated at Mom’s unexpected intrusion and ordered Mom out of his room. Dad watched her scurry off Albert’s bed and out the door. Observing this, he thought to himself, “What a cute little girl!” Apparently, he learned later that she was much older than she appeared! 

Mom’s Health

Once during a time when my father and I were discussing the events of his life, he shared with me a rather intimate understanding I had never considered before. You see my mother had been quite ill around the age of 17. She had rheumatic fever, and it lasted a full year. (Medicine then was not as advanced as it is today.) It had a lasting effect on her being; and she was rather thin in her later teen years. It was about this time that my father came in contact with her and began to court her. She continued to have a residual effect on her health thereafter - throughout the early years of her life as a married woman. My father revealed in a quiet moment with me that he had considered her frailty and took it into account as he prepared to marry her. The thing that he revealed to me was that he could not be fully assured that she’d live a long time. Rather, he said he could not be assured that she'd lived past the age of 25 which was only four or five years after she married him. Pondering this thought I realized that my father must have really loved my mother, because he took the risk that she may not be next to him for very long. As it turned out, she lived into her early 80s and told me on multiple occasions that her health had improved as she carried her children to birth. I can only assume that being densely populated with life, she absorbed some of the ‘life giving’ substance that carrying these children brought her. In fact, we as twins may have contributed significantly to the life of my mother. This is a thought that I have carried with me for a long time! 

Uncle Hugh’s Ability

I'd arranged to take Mom and Dad to Idaho in their later years to accomplish some history of Dad's life. As we were approaching one of the houses where he had lived with his family, we passed a city pond that appeared to be in the midst of a local park. As we drove past the park, Dad exclaimed that his elder brother, Hugh was a very good swimmer and could swim the breadth of the pond we were observing. To me it appeared that the width of the pond was approximately half a mile. I expressed my being impressed at such swimming prowess. Dad acknowledged my recognition and reiterated that his older brother, Hugh was a very good swimmer, He said he had seen Hugh (my own older brother’s namesake) swim the breadth of the pond on numerous occasions. Knowing that his brother Hugh died at a relatively young age (about 11) speaks well of Hugh’s swimming ability and athleticism! 

Clearfield Residence

As I was traveling about with my parents as we recorded a bit of their histories, we happened to be in Clearfield Utah where we had lived for a while near Cherry Hill. And we happened to be traversing the path where we went to church near Wasatch Elementary. As we traversed the path to church and school my father pointed out (on a street along our path) a house where both Mom and Dad had lived for a short time prior to the birth of their children. This house happened to be at 134 S 350 East in Clearfield. I thought it interesting that we as children passed by this home hundreds of times on our way to and from school. I include a picture of it here in this memory.

Colonel’s Pilot

In the aging years of my father's life, I took the opportunity to discuss a matter I considered important. You see my father had been a pilot; in fact, a very good pilot during the war years and had flown the C47 troop transport. I learned from my mother that many considered my father to be a natural at being a pilot; and I thought that he must have realized he had a genuine talent for piloting the “Goony Bird” as it came to be called. Being a second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, he had proven himself rather well. In fact, as he was unsuspectingly dining one time, the Colonel that governed his flight questioned him regarding his skills. My father responded honestly; and the Colonel must have been impressed by his forthrightness. This resulted in my father being chosen (by this Colonel) to fly his personal plane about the European Theater as his personal pilot. As I considered these things, I realized that the early years of my father's adulthood has been punctuated my significant achievements as a pilot. Because of this; and, knowing that my father had intended to join the Air Force Reserve following his return from war; I wondered what it had been like for him to not have had the opportunity. You see my father had suffered from narcolepsy ever since returning from the war. Hence, his opportunities had been curtailed almost from the beginning of his life here in the states. I queried him one day, to ascertain if having been unable to continue his piloting (as he began his life as a father) had caused anxiety and remorse. To this he replied that he was glad that he had not been able to join the Air Force Reserve. Working at Hill Air Force Base as he did, he’d had the opportunity to watch as multiple pilots engaged in the long- distance transportation of goods and services across the Pacific Ocean. This was accomplished via the C 19 Flying Boxcars that we saw flying about the sky’s where we lived. Unbeknownst to me, many of the men who had flown these pan Pacific routes had gone down in the Pacific Ocean - never to be seen again. My father then explained that he was glad that he had not been tempted to perform such TDY exercises. Rather, he'd had the opportunity to raise his children and family to a ripe old age. As I listened to him reminisce about his life, I realized that my father loved his children and family very much. He was not very expressive about these feelings because they must have run deep in him! 

The Colonel's Plane that Dad piloted!