oops just remembered an earlier time

I remember Daddy used to walk around the house with me standing on one of his boots and Donna standing on the other. We'd stand on a boot and hold on to his knee to stay on.

7.What is your earliest childhood memory?

      When we lived at Grandma Williams house in Colville (snow photo below) Donna and I were in bed with mama- supposedly taking a nap. Donna did something I didn't like and I whispered "God damn it" in a threatening tone. We were keeping our fighting quiet cause Mama was sleeping.   All of the sudden I heard Mama  say in a stern voice- "Jackie Lea , what did you say"?   I knew I'd get in trouble for taking the Lord's name in vain- so I blurted out "Mama, I just said , oooh shit".     Wrong answer.

      When we lived in that house, Donna got a Handy Andy Tool Kit for Christmas. It had a real hammer and a real saw in it. Daddy let us tear down the chicken house that spring and summer. It was hard work-and Donna would never let me use the saw. (I don't think I was allowed to touch it). However, I could use the hammer to pull out nails with her permission.  It seems like we put in 8 hours a day on that darn chicken house. When I got tired and begged to go inside- she kept me working with inspiring stories of the castle she would build us out of the the wood we salvaged from the chicken house.  I could see it in my mind. Tall spires, winding stair cases, a ballroom, a balcony.

      When it was time to move again- there were 4 main posts and one board left across the top. I knew if we could have stayed in that house a few more months - Donna would have built that castle and it would have been fabulous.

6.Were there any special items in the house that you remember?

The most interesting thing about Grandma's house was what was under the house. She had a  root cellar under her bedroom.  If you wanted a can of tuna- you moved the rug in her room, opened up the trap door, leaned it against the side of the wall and went down narrow steep stairs to the cellar below. That's where she kept eggs, margarine, home canned goods, potatoes, onions and  squash. The store bought canned goods were in a little cubby under the stairs.

 During the 60's Grandpa  built a bomb shelter under the other side of the house.  You got to it through double cellar doors that were outside of his room. He had a single bed,  and some more storage on that side. Then they dug a corridor through the solid packed clay to the root cellar- so you could get from one side of the house to the other side. We loved playing down there on hot days. Although I did  get in trouble for scratching a big valentine heart  with my initials plus my boyfriends into the  dirt wall.

Donna and Me at Grandma Williams house in Colville

5. What was the house (apartment, farm, etc.) like? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones?

We lived in an assortment of houses but Grandma Gilmore's house was the one constant when we were growing up. 

It was red and green with white trim and sat on a great big double lot on a corner. There were three cabins across the lawn from the house and a huge old barn that had been remodeled into another rental. There were fruit trees and two big garden plots on either side of the house. 

All the rooms in the house were painted in  combinations of red, blue and green. There was a  big kitchen and living room and five bedrooms.

When we were real little, Grandma had an outhouse that was a three seater with different size holes - a papa bear size, a mama bear size and a wee little baby bear size for me and Donna.

Grandpa built a bathroom on the house that was styled after the one at the tavern- since that was where he had most of his experience with inside bathrooms.  They had renters in the cabins around the house that didn't have bathrooms so- they built the bathroom to accommodate the boarders inside and the renters outside.

There was an outside entrance and also a door from the east side of the living room that went  into the bathroom.  Just inside was a sink and three cubicles made out of rough boards from the lumber mill. A stall for a shower, one with a wide low sink that served as a urinal and then a separate stall for the toilet.

Grandma handpainted signs with bright red nail polish that she posted all over the bathroom.  "No loitering allowed" "Not Responsible for lost items" and (my favorite) on inside of the toilet seat "flush toilet and close seat when finished".

Grandma had a telephone and we always had telephones at home too. I remember calling the operator and talking to her when I got lonesome.

4. Were there other family members in the area? Who?

When we were little, my dad's brother, Kermit Williams and his family lived across the street from us- but they soon moved to Spokane. Grandma Williams' sister, Grace Brittain and her husband Milo, lived in Marcus and would we go visit them on occassion. Dad's sister, JoAnn Kruger and her family lived in Davenport, WA and we spent every Thanksgiving with them for as long as I can remember.

But- Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore lived in Kettle Falls- and that's who we saw most of the time. Our grandma thought Donna and I were perfect and wonderful. We would sing songs and perform for Grandma and the gang (she had a boarding house) during dinner. I remember dancing with Grandma to old 78 records - she liked to "fox trot". Donna and I would always crawl under the table and tickle her feet, steal her shoes and hide them where she could never find them until we came back the next time. Grandma and  I  would snuggle up on the sofa and watch wrestling and "Gunsmoke" and "The Lawrence Welk Show". We drank red koolaid and ate graham cracker and peanut butter while we watched TV- our special treat.