The summer of 1959 was charged with emotion and challenges. I came home for the from BYU engaged, Mother was away at Laramie finishing her batchelor's degree, Ann was busy keeping the peace, Dad was lonely and bought a TV, and Stephen contacted hepatitis. You can see from the photo how gaunt he was, and if this was in color, you could also see his yellow skin. He was one sick boy and our parents were deeply concerned. There was the trip to Dr. Colson's office for our gama globulin shots.
I remember asking Mom and Dad if I could go to Washington to meet Robert's parents (likely excuse), one night when Steve was particularly ill. What was I thinking?
Steve, how come you had to go to Viet Nam with this in your history?
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That wasn't fun at all! Was that the summer you did new curtains in the living room, as well as the paint? And, I think that is the summer that Pat was born, and Daddy sent me some oil paints that he had gotten with S&H green stamps. Judy? Remember all that stuff?
You were thinking that Bob is my future. It was a good idea. Here is the whole story. When I was very young, you know that age when you sat on the tractor and went "brrrrrrrrr" for sound effects and you already ploughed 40 forty acres and there were no more races to win, you look for your next adventure. Ah ha!! the red handled hatchet is right in your grasp. What would George do? No cherry trees to chop down lets go for a Chineese elm. Long before I could finish my task I was interuppted by father who didn't see the adventure in my adventure. This is the only time I can remember father spanking me.
Let us flash forward to the formative years. Father declared me lazy that summer and decided after his nap one afternoon that I would work with him. The job, let's cut a tree down, the tree? of course it was the same Chineese elm. If he had let me finish the job ten years earlier we wouldn't of had to do it.
He made the birds mouth with an ax, (of course) and then we went to work with the two man saw. As it happened I sat in a red ant pile unknowingly while I worked as I had no energy. Upon bein bitten a couple of times I had to run to the shop to discard my jeans and shake out the ants.
The next day I was really ill and there was talk that maybe I had been poisoned by the ant bites.Not so and the rest is history. Dr. Kattenhorn was actually the one that treated me.
I was too young or too stupid to be scared and the illiness turned into an adventure of an extremely positive nature. The two man saw hangs in my shop with honor.
First, Eliz, yes this was the summer of the green paint and the new white curtains with green ivy in living room. Trouble brewed.
Steve, you have become a master storyteller. And you have an incredible memory for detail. I remember the ant pile, but certainly not the rest. We are just happy that you recovered.
And then there were the bongo drums, or was it a guitar, or was it both? The only "positive nature" I can remember about your experience that summer is you got out of doing a lot of stuff.
In one of the letters Mother wrote from Laramie, she talked about if Steve is not feeling well, he should probably see the Dr. That was in early June. Steve was really sick, but in later letters that summer Dad talks about him helping to build the fence, I think Dad really struggled when we got sick - Mother was the one who took care of us when we were sick, and Dad seemed to be quite fearful if we were sick. Perhaps that is understandable, with his family history. People he loved got sick and died, and that wasn't something he was prepared to deal with any further. Just a thought.
I remember in the early stages sleeping for as long as 24 hours at a time. The hard thing was that I was not allowed visitors for a long time. Later I was able to spend my days painting and watching American Bandstand. I could hardly wait for Sundays when everyone went to church. I would jump in the pickup and head up yo the hills. Not having a watch or clock of any kind I had to be very careful of not going to far.
Steve? Took the pickup? Went for rides while we were at church? No......
Well, if anyone needs to have further proof of Steve and the pickup, there came a time when Mother and Dad were going to someone's wedding, house, or something. I was old enough to get my license and it was determined that I should get that taken care of so Steve and I wouldn't be "stranded" on the farm. Steve was quite disgruntled because he reallllllly wanted to get his license. Once he got used to the seniority rule, he decided I had better learn how to drive. So he would take me out on the Emblem bench, in the pickup (did Mother and Dad know we were doing this???) and teach me how to drive. He must have been a good teacher, because I passed my tests and got my license.
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