21.Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?

When I was 14, my dad bought a Honda 50 Motorbike. I was learning how to ride it, shift gears etc (it shifted like a motorcycle). We lived out in the country- on the Kettle River, near Barstow, WA. There was an old road on the property that just went around in a circle and Dad told me to stay on that road.  I got bored doing that after awhile and took off down a dirt road that was next to the river bank  and headed south toward the neighbors property. When I got to the fence line,  I turned the bike around, not really knowing how tight you could turn, and made a wide turn that had me headed right toward the river bank. I got scared, pulled back on the hand throttle and dove over the side of the 40 foot river bank.   I came-to with my face in the water, I looked up the bank, saw my dad and passed out again. My red and white TV shirt was all red.  I had a skull fracture and a concussion.

 The Statesman Examiner (Colville paper)  came out and took a photo of me with my head wrapped up in a bandage, sitting on my motorbike in my PJ's, with mama standing in the background.

When I was 16, I was a Miss Kettle Falls Princess  and as "royalty"- we had our pictures in the paper.

 At 18 I had a photo in the "weddings section" of the paper.

20.What was your religion growing up? What church, if any, did you attend?

We were Christians- in the generic white person in America way. (as in "if you're a white person in America, you must be a Christian" era). We went to Sunday school when we lived in town. Mostly the Baptist Church in Kettle Falls.

My Grandma Williams belonged to a "holy roller" church.  When Donna and I were little, she took us to church  and had us up at the altar praying for our sinner  parents. This was the last time Mama let her take us to church in Colville. I do remember visiting her in Kent, WA when I was about ten.  On Sunday morning, she gave me a couple of hankies because it would be a "two-handkerchief" service. After the first hymn, the minister got up and started ranting and raving, jumping up and down- wrestling with the devil. I burst into giggles and stuffed the handkerchief in my mouth to stifle the laughter. Grandma thought I was in the throes of the holy spirit. It definitely was a "two-handkerchief" sermon for me!

More questions & answers!

17.Who were your childhood heroes?  Nancy Drew,  Superman and Wonder Woman.

18.What were your favorite songs and music?  "PineapplePrincess" by Annette Funicello, star of the original Mickey Mouse Show.   "Tan Shoes & Pink Shoelaces" by Dodie Stevens and "Ramblin' Rose" by Nat King Cole.  (maybe 10 or 11 at the time).

19.Did you have any pets?  If so, what kind and what were their names? When I was 10 I had a cat named "Elvis Sundae Fitzgerald Richard David Somersault Jr. The First.  It was during the 1960 presidential race. So it was Elvis for Elvis, Sundae because I liked 'em, Fitzgerald for  JFK, Richard for Nixon, David for my (first) boyfriend, and the rest just because it thought it added a certain flair.

Keri's Question 16- do you remember any fads from your youth? popular hair styles, clothes?

"The Rock 'n Roll". It was a dance published in a teen magazine with footsteps you cut out and put on the floor. Donna and I were sophisticated first and second graders who introduced the dance to our school. It was about the same time Elvis burst on the scene. My Grandmother, Esther May Riley Gilmore & I saw him on "The Ed Sullivan Show" . I remember my mama sighing.  

When I was little, movie stars and older girls wore sun dresses. spaghetti straps, tight tops, big full skirts that stood out with lots of slips under them. It was one of my favorite looks, but by the time I was old enough to wear them - those sundresses were out of style. I did wear 5 slips under my skirt to 5th grade though.

Baby doll pajamas, pettipants, thongs (now known as flip-flops), patterned hosiery, BIG hair. Black eyeliner. white or pale pink lipstick. Donna and I slept on huge pink brush rollers cushioned with folded up t.p.I remember dad having a fit about the bills for TP. I mean - how could anyone could use that much toilet paper in a week?

The bunny hop was still happening. When I was in high school, we'd bunny hop through all the taverns in town on Home Coming night. Long lines of kids hop hop - hop,hop,hopping past barstools crowed with smokers, women wearing too much perfume and creepy old guys. Hopping and singing the "Hop, Hop, Hop-hop-hop" at the top of our lungs.. out the back door and on down the street.

"Dragging main" in Kettle Falls. Kind of like in "Grease" but we just drove from the high school to railroad tracks and then back to the high school.