Life History of Brenda (Harris) Olszewski

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Dedicated To Main Page Life History Project

1. Tell about your favorite uncle.

My favorite Uncle was Uncle Milo Hyde. I remember him being very strong and I would swing from his arms. He always played with us kids. He had these big muscular arms that I thought were the strongest on earth! He always gave me hugs and kisses. I remember at Aunt Martha's funeral he saw me and hurried up to me and hugged me so tight I thought I was going to snap!. I felt great!

2. What changes have you seen in technology? (Indoor plumbing, water, telephones, computers, cars, etc.)

I can remember at Grandpa and Grandma Harris's house on the hill (Ridge Rd) they had no running water or bath room. We would go to the "Outhouse" to go the bathroom. We thought it was fun. (Winter was not FUN!) I also remember that we would help bring in water from the well too. I'm glad I went back home to running water and a warm bathroom!

I also remember the age of computer's. We did not have them in high school but everything is computers now! We e-mail instead of calling everyone. Also when my kids were in school in the 80's, Pagers were the new thing. Now they are just about obsolete and everyone has Cell Phones. At work when people go on breaks all you see are cell phones everywhere. What’s next?

3. Tell something you remember about one of your grandparents. (Were they funny, crazy, loving, mean, or special in a certain way.)

About: Marshall and Sarah (Miller) Harris

I will never forget the memories of Grandpa and Grandma Harris. The fondest memory I have is going to their house on Saturday’s to mow the lawn. They had a huge front yard that went down hill and a more level backyard. I would mow the whole lawn with a push mower. After I was done and did the trimming I would have lunch waiting for me and grandpa's favorite pinwheel marshmallow cookies. I felt special and looked forward to that time with them. To this day every time I smell new mowed grass I think of them.

4. Did you ever have an accident, illness or operation? Pick one and tell about it.

I have had a few illnesses and operations, but I think I'll tell of the time when we were out west in Idaho visiting the elderly couple that went to the Temple with us. We were staying at their house. They had a farm with pigs and chickens etc. the one animal I remembered most was the horses. There was one that I was allowed to ride. He was big and beautiful. I loved horses. (My cousin Johnny Stark would bring his to our fields and let them run and I would ride them bareback.) After I was given instruction I was set to ride as Dad and our friend set out for a ride in his pickup.

This was great! I thought nothing but me and this beautiful horse on a great day for riding. As we started out I had envisioned going all over the fields and dirt roads having a great time. Little did I know the horse had other plans. I think we got as far as the end of the drive way fine until the road split. I wanted to go one way and we ended up going another. I kept saying whoa-whoa to get him to slow down. He just went faster and faster. Well I started to slide along with the saddle right under the horse and fell off getting banged and bruised up. The only thing I was worried about was I thought the horse was lost. I started to cry walking down that dirt road to the farmhouse.

Then coming down the road was Dad, our friend and the horse trotting along side the truck they were in. I couldn't believe it! I thought the horse was gone. They asked me how I was and if I was ok. I asked how they found the horse and our friend said "Oh he always follows me and knows where I am." I guess that would have been useful information to me. Well anyway, I got right back on him this time and had a great ride!

5. Tell what your hobbies or interests are. (Do you sing, sew, write, hunt, build things, let us know more about you.)

When I was about 8 years old I can remember begging my parents to get a piano. Finally after seeing that I really had my mind set, that I wanted to play and had the desire (by the way, at age 3 my Mom said I would go to my Aunt Hattie's piano and pick out Mary had a little Lamb), my dad started looking for a used one. I remember there was an ad in the paper about a used old upright that either they wanted to sell or you could use as firewood. We checked it out. To me it was beautiful! Perfect! The only problem we could find with it was a few of the keys had the ivory missing. We had it tuned and I was ready to play.

I played non stop. Everything I heard I tried to pick out on the piano. Finally at age 10, I took lessons. Mrs. Sharland was my teacher. She played so beautifully, I wanted to play like her. Once I could finally read music I wanted to play everything I could. I remember Mom saying that for years she just let me have my time to play but it sometimes drove her crazy hearing the same songs(my favorites) all the time. I don't play as often as I used to, but I remember after my first year of lessons my teacher entered me into grade level lll of Competition. I did very well and got an AA+ rating. I was very proud of that. I played for Church and Senior Choir at school.

6. Tell about the changes in television. (Anything you want, earlier shows vs. today's shows, invention of VCR's & DVD's, the sky's the limit.)

I remember when I was little about 4 or 5 yrs old, and we got a new TV. We thought it was the greatest thing! Black and White! WOW! This was a floor model and I remember falling asleep every night in front of it. I have the picture to prove it. The next recollection was color!! And then I remember in my teen age yrs the news about Cable !!! Wow what will they think of next? Then on to bigger screens and TV's, then smaller TV's that do everything and wrist TV's and TV's in your car. who's got time to watch TV and drive? A bit dangerous huh? There's televised viewing on our Computers! So I guess you could say it's hard to not have access to anything visual now a days. The programming was better in the earlier years of television. Much more wholesome and enjoyable, don't get me wrong there are very good documentaries, movies and educational shows out there, but I feel we are bombarded by things that are not appropriate for us let alone our younger viewers. Some things just can't be screened ahead of time (ex, live). There is too much violence , nudity, for me. The fondest memories are the Sunday night Disney programs . I'll take Disney any day!

7. Lets be romantic! Tell us about your valentine, first love, first crush, or how you were proposed to, or how you proposed to your sweetheart.

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8. What types of jobs have you had and which did you prefer?

Jobs I've had are - waitress,keymaker and engraver, floral manager, cashier,specialty foods manager,general merchandise manager, front end assistant manager.
The jobs I've enjoyed are making floral arrangements,working with specialty foods-diiferent nationalities, and I like what I'm doing now ,working on the front end with the cashiers and customers.

9. Who was your best friend while growing up, or who is your best friend now? Let us know a little about the friends you have had in your life.

My best friend while growing up was Michelle Spellacy. We were great friends and always enjoyed each others company. We had fun singing and dancing. The thing I remember the most was we sang and danced to the Wayne Newton sang "Danka Shane" and we were going to contact Lawrence Welk and tell him we would like to be on his show! I think we were only about 11 or 12 then. We had the best times.

10. Tell us about your favorite Aunt

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