Procrastination is a terrible thing and that is just what has happened to this history. As you can see, it has been almost a year since I made entry. Now I must go back over the year and try to tell some of the things that have happened from memory, and my memory is the thing I forget with. On April the 20th all my family met at my brother Will’s place. The occasion was his birthday, or close by (his birthday is 23rd). All the family living was there except Dell. Tom Bingham brought my cousin’s Mable Howell and Lois Wilkinson with him. We had a very nice day together.
At April Conference of the church I attended the Saturday night Priesthood Conference.
On May 15th our son Kenneth Jr. Came home on leave from the Navy. Also I took my vacation. During that week I heard that the “Y” service station was for lease so I went out and talked to Mr. A. D. Baird about it and made arrangements to lease it. I went to Mr. Ashton and told him I wouldn’t be back to work. He didn’t like it very well after working for him years he figured I couldn’t quit. I am happy to get away from him (to put it frankly).
On May 29th in the afternoon, mother (should I call her mother in this record or Lona? I believe it would be a compliment to her to call her mother. Anyway I have no earthly mother living and she is the mother of my children, so it’s mother), Ken Jr, Burt and I left for Calif. Ken’s leave being about over we wanted to take him back. We arrived at Leo and Mae’s early in the morning. Rested that day and next day we took Ken Jr. to San Diego to the Naval Base. The next two or three days we had a very good visit with Leo and Mae. (By the way, Mae had a new baby on March 7th to everyone’s surprise they named him Larry).
June 3rd we arrived home from Calif. and took over the service station on June 4th from then on during the summer it was work day and night with very little time off. But did very well financially.
On July 4th the Durrant family met in a reunion at a park in Sugar House. We had a very lovely day. When we got home Bert and Donna and Kiddies from Kansas were there, they being on a leave from the Air Corp. Bert is making Military his life work and has been in about seven years now. We were very glad to see them.
On July 24th the Turner family met in reunion at Dean and Helen’s in Salt Lake. A good time was had by all. Chas and Iva were in from Calif.
August was a big month in the station, selling nearly 20,000 gallons of gas. Work was heavy. Almon H. Clegg worked for me. Also our son Burt.
Sept. 10th we were getting a little weary of working all the time so Jay came and took over for us for 3 days and Mother and I took off. We went out through Colo. and Rocky Mountain National Park. Stayed at Lyons Colo. that night after seeing some very beautiful scenery. The leaves were turning and it was very beautiful over the Continental Divide.
Sept 11th We drove to Denver on our way we drove over to Boulder and saw the College. We shopped around Denver most of the day and then went back to Colo. Springs and then over hiway #24 heading home. Night overtook us at Leadville, a mining town about 10,000 feet u pin the Rocky Mountains. Couldn’t get a cabin as there were only four in town and they were filled so we had to stay in an old hotel. Went to a show down the old boardwalk to pass away the evening. Next morning when we awoke there was 6 ins. of snow on the ground that had come during the night. We came home by way of Grand Jcts. and arrived home about 5 P.M. Sept. 12th.
I forgot to mention that the Wasatch Chamber of Commerce was organized in March 1952 and I was a charter member. Some good times were had sponsored by the Chamber, particularly the breakfast at Wolf Creek Camp and the Press breakfast at the power plant.
October was a pretty good month in the station, with hunting season and all. I can’t just remember the date but it was somewhere about here that mother and I drove to Delta to witness the opening of the last link of hiway #6, a new transcontinental hiway, longest in the country, extending from Cape Cod on the East to Long Beach on the West. It was quite a ceremony with all the dignitaries from Utah and Nevada.
About the 10th of November Bert and Donna and family came in from Kansas. He having his orders to go to Korea. Donna and the kiddies to live with us. During the remainder of the month Bert worked on Television for Storm McDonald. Television having reached Heber by virtue of large transmitting towers having been built on tops of mountains west of Salt Lake City. Bert put an antenna on our house and I bought a set for $255.00 One of the first sets installed in Heber. We have always been blessed and had everything modern and up to date. We have always paid a full tithing, which brings the blessings of the Lord.
All our family were together for Thanksgiving and we had a most enjoyable time together and a nice dinner, turkey with all the trimmings, and gave thanks to our Heavenly Father for his many blessings to us. There was only one note of sadness and that was the fact that Bert Fisher had to leave for Korea. But we prayed the Lord to bless and protect him, which I know he will. Thanksgiving was on the 27th of Nov. and that night at 6:30 after all the folds had gone home, Bert and donna and Lona and I and Burt left for California in Bert’s car. We had a lovely ride during the night and arrived at Mae and Leo’s in South Gate Calif about 8:30 next morning. We visited around there until the 1st of Dec. then we drove to Oakland. Bert had to report to Camp Stoneman on Dec 2. We had quite a time finding Chas and Iva’s as it was raining and I became confused in my directions. We were at Oakland 4 days during which time we went to San Francisco, over the famous Bay Bridge and took in the town. While eating dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf Bert looked at a salad that Iva had ordered and said “Iva, are you going to eat that salad or did you.” After that Iva didn’t know whether she was going to eat it or not. On our way home that night we got on a free way and a wreck occurred ahead of us and we were tied up for 1-1/2 hours.
While at Chas and Iva’s we got a telephone call from Mae in South Gate telling us that our son Ken Jr. had landed from a cruise to ________________(?) Island so the next day we said goodbye to all at Oakland, took Bert Fisher to Camp Stoneman and left him then drove to South Gate. It rained almost all the way. The next day we all (including Mae and Leo) drove to San Diego to see Ken Jr. Found him well. Had the privilege of going through the ship he was on (the Rendova a carrier) After we had dinner in beautiful Coronado we drove to Tijuana Mexico. Had quite an experience there trading with the Mexicans. We found that it is much better to be in the U.S.A. While things are cheaper and there is no tax there, neither do they have the conveniences of life that we have here. No lights in stores, no water, no good streets. When we tried to leave we were tied up in traffic for two hours because there wasn’t any officers to direct traffic. Finally made it back to San Diego about 8: o’clock and left Ken at the Y.M.C.A. and drove to South Gate. It was quite a large day.
The next day Donna, Burt D, Lona and I left for home, arriving late at night.
Christmas was next. We had a very nice Christmas with all the family coming home and we received many nice gifts. Ken Jr. Came in for an 8 day leave. His ship now in dry dock at Long Beach Calif.
Business has almost ceased at the station so we decided to close it up for the winter and go to Calif. We left on the 27th of Dec. taking Ken Jr. with us, leaving Donna and the Kiddies to live in our house. We took our T.V. with us as T.V. is very good in and around Los Angeles. A day or two after we arrived I started working with Leo and Gene doing carpenter work. We invested $5,000 with Leo in some building lots, one in South Gate and one in Lynnwood. Secured a building loan from First Federal of Long Beach and started building a duplex on lot in Lynwood about Feb. 20th. Up to this time we had been working on odd jobs. Quite a bit of the time during February we were out of work which made it a little rough on us, but we enjoyed the winter very much. Especially we have enjoyed the church, South Gate has a wonderful ward and everyone treated us just grand and made us feel at home. We went to everything, which was quite a change after being tied up in a service station all summer. I might say that we had quite a lot of trouble finding a place to live, finally found a one room apt. in the back of a garage at 8981 San Miguel. The people who owned it were members of our church, their names P.D. McArthur. The apt. was quite comfortable only a little dark. Had a good bed in one corner and a kitchen in another. A couch to make into a bed between the two. Had a toilet and shower in an offset. It also had a T.V. antenna on the roof. We paid $48.00 per month for the apt. and $5.00 per month for T.V. hookup.
During Jan. Ken Jr. was sent to school at Alameda which is close to Oakland. After that he would come in and stay with us about two days out of every three. He is able to come into church on Sunday most of the time. All in all we have had a very lovely winter to say the least. Leo wants us to sell out and come down and join with them in the building business. It is quite a temptation.
We came back to Heber on March 14th. Everything looked very drab and discouraging. Ken Jr. came home with us for a weekend stay. He hitch hiked back. Everyone seemed quite happy to see us back. Next day after we got back Lona and I talked in sacrament meeting and told of our experiences during the winter.
Since returning I have been tied up in the service station about 14 hours per day, Burt comes out and stays a little while in the evening. Business is not very good.
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