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.

3. How did your family come to live there?

Mama said that we moved 20 times  in the 19 years that she and daddy were married.  So I'm going to answer this questions based on my original take on it- "how did you come to live there" meaning the area- not the house!

My parents ,20 year old Jack Williams and 19 year old Emma Gilmore Williams ,  married January 1948 and I was born that  December. They were both born and raised in Ferry and Steven County.  My mother's father was born in Idaho in 1890, but the rest of the grandparent were born on the other side of the Rockies.  My dad's mother was born in Pike County, Kentucky. His father was born in Missouri. Mama's mother was born in Michigan.

My father's family -  mother (Rebecca Ramey Dobson Williams)  and father  (Arthur Justus Williams) had property on the Columbia River  just north of the falls (The Kettle Falls) (and near present day twin bridges.

 The south end of their  property was  adjacent to the salmon fishing grounds. Dad used to play with the Indian children who camped out with their families next to the river  during salmon season.  

His family lived in other places in the area, including Laurier- on the Canadian border- where his mom was post mistress. And  he also lived in Colville in a big house up on the hill behind town.  His dad was a logger. His grandfather, Fredrick  Williams was a carpenter and traveled out to Washington state from Kansas with his wife and children.  

My mom's mother  (Esther May Riley Gilmore) and father ( Arthur Francis Gilmore ) lived in a house that belonged to Esther May's father, Ed Riley.   My grandfather was 21 years older than grandma and for much of my childhood, he was an old man trapped in deafness and daydreams. He used to stand at the living room window- and peer through hanging begonias and ferns and palms, two parakeet cages and a couple of cages full of canaries and gaze at  a world outside the window where  more was going on than I could ever see.