Dad's History Part 12

8th Grade graduation  (Willis seated on far right)

The Eventful year at Spokane, Washington

                            
         I don’t remember what time of the year we arrived in Spokane, but it was in 1928 and probably in the late spring or early summer.  The school I attended in Spokane was the Jefferson Elementary located on South Grand Ave not very far from where we lived.  I was in the eighth grade, and remember that most of the girls in the class were at least six to eight inches taller than the boys.  I was one of the shorties.  For eighth grade graduation the girls all had dresses made from the same pattern, some were a pastel pink and some were blue. 

The most memorable part of my school year was my “wood-working” or shop class.  We had a very good “Manual Training” teacher from whom I learned a lot about how to properly use wood working tools.  During the year I made a very beautiful walnut stool.  The legs and sides had handmade mortise and tenon joints, and it is solid to this very day.

 School dances were held occasionally and this was about the only time in my life that I cared much about dancing.  I probably took and interest in dancing at this time because of a cute little blonde girl who sat across the aisle from me in school.  I don’t remember her name, but she was short (about the same height as I was), and she is the only one I remember dancing with. 

I went out for basketball, and baseball during my eighth grade year, but because of my small, immature stature spent most of the games as a bench warmer.  At this time of my life, my eyesight was still pretty good and I didn’t have to wear glasses, so I enjoyed sports and was an enthusiastic participant even though I didn’t set any records.

I continued with my scouting activities while living in Spokane, and was a member of Troop 53, which met, at our schoolhouse.  During the summer of 1929, I spent a week at scout camp on Diamond Lake.  It was there that I received my 1st Class badge.  This was one of the biggest thrills of my life up to that point.  I felt a great sense of accomplishment, because I had worked hard to pass all the tests leading to this goal. 

During our year in Spokane I had a paper route.  I delivered the afternoon paper, called the Spokane Press.  The route was in the neighborhood where we lived, and I had about thirty or forty customers.  It was a relatively small paper, so we folded all the papers into a little square so that we could throw them from the sidewalk to the front porch of our customers without getting off the bike. 

Spokane had a YMCA, which I joined.  This is where I first learned to play ping-pong, and shoot pool.  The “Y” had a good swimming pool and an instructor that taught swimming and lifesaving.  It was here that I started on my Jr. Red Cross Lifesaving program. 

 

Mom's Story Part 15

 

We had a little movie house, which was located in the same building as the Old Social Hall and in the same building as our present Theater.  There was a large stove in the southeast corner of the room, and during the winter months it was heated to red hot, those sitting too close were too hot and the rest of the room was too cold.  Every Saturday night there was a show, but I can hardly remember seeing one complete movie without having a break down in the projector or the lights going off.  When the lights went off the entire audience could cry, “Come on, Muder!”  Mr. Muder of Shumway operated the Grist Mill, which furnished the electricity for the area.  Two shows I loved were “Ben Hur” and “Sign of the Cross”. 

 I could imagine myself as the beautiful actress. The movie actors of the day were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.  Clark Gable was just becoming popular as was Jeannette McDonald and Nelson Eddy.  I dearly loved Jeannette McDonald and wanted to become a singer just like her. 

Clark Gable

Nelson Eddy and Jeannette McDonald

 

There are two amusing incidents connected with the Show House I’d like to tell.  The seats were folding chairs and of course, the kids all tried to get on the front row.  One night after returning home, Roscoe was not with us, so Mother sent us over to Brother Avery’s to get him to open the Show House.  After turning on the lights we checked every row, and along toward the front we found a little boy stretched out on the floor asleep.  But it was not Roscoe it was Leslie Ballard.  We continued on a few more rows toward the front and we found Roscoe stretched out on the floor asleep.  Two little sleepy boys headed for home in embarrassment.  

The other incident involved my sister Mayola.  She had come home from college with her hair a beautiful red color.  She explained to Mother, who was shocked, that it was just henna and would soon fade.  However, Mother was humiliated and insisted that she wear a hat all during the holidays.  At the Saturday night Show, Mayola took off her hat in the darkened room, but as usual the film broke down and the lights came on.  Someone in the back whispered loudly, “Look! Mayola has dyed her hair.”  Mother indignantly turned and said, “No, it isn’t dyed, it’s just henna-ed!”

This building was used for the movie theater

Snowflake Social Hall today

 

 

 

Dad's Story Part 11

The Eventful year at Spokane, Washington

            Another promotion for Dad in the Continental Oil Company took our family from Lewiston, Idaho to Spokane, Washington.  Dad was the assistant divisional manager.  The house we lived in was on 28th South and about three or four blocks west of Grand Ave.  It was near Manito Park, a large beautiful park of which I have many fond memories.  In the summer time we went there for picnics, and enjoyed the beautiful “Duncan garden" that had many varieties of roses and other flowers.  I also played on the tennis courts and the ball fields.  In the wintertime we ice-skated on a pond in the park.  It also had a steep hill for sledding.  I remember showing off on my sled by riding it down the hill facing backwards, which stunt ended in disaster by running into a pine tree.

            Spokane was a beautiful city with many varieties of trees.  The Ponderosa or Yellow Pine is native to the area.  Another beautiful tree that was there in abundance was the Mountain Ash, which has bright clusters of orange berries. 

            Besides Manito Park there are many other city parks in Spokane, most of which have public swimming pools.  When we lived there in Spokane, it had a population of about 100,000 people and was a very large city compared with Lewiston and Wieser. 

           Spokane, being a fairly large city, had probably two or three hundred members of the Church living there at that time.  It was like Lewiston, Idaho located in the Northwestern States Mission.  So it was not a ward but a branch.  The Spokane Branch had a nice brick chapel that was located downtown, right across the street west of the old Lewis and Clark High School.  The only meetings I remember much about were Sunday School and MIA.

            Our Sunday School class met on the stage of the cultural hall, and our teacher was Brother Benfell, who later became a member of the Spokane Stake High Council, when Dad was a member of the High Council.  He was a very good teacher, but had a tough bunch of kids to handle.  One of the things that made the MIA meetings memorable was that on Tuesday evenings after delivering papers, I would take the streetcar downtown and stop off to eat dinner at a little lunch counter near the Chapel.  My usual favorite was a toasted cheese sandwich and a strawberry malt. 

            In those days in the mission field, membership records were slow in catching up with the members, the Branch Presidents were not very much on the ball about getting acquainted with the members of their Branch, and our family was not among the most active members of the Branch.  So I missed being ordained a deacon when I should have been.