"Bomber Memories"
September 4 & 5, 1998
September 4, 1998
Millie Finch Gregg (54)
What a wonderful time in our life - when life was good.
It is exciting to hear remembrances of By's Burgers (what a place to meet) and of course the Spudnut Shop!. How could anyone forget that place.
My family came to Richland in 42/43? and I remember we had to stay in the Desert Inn Hotel for 2 weeks while they completed our "A" house at 200 Cullum (corner of Benham and Cullum). Then in 44/45? my brother Bob contacted polio and the government moved our family into an "H" house on he corner of Davenport and Abert and my mom still lives there today!
I remember going to school at Lewis & Clark and there not being any streets or sidewalks (so to speak) it was really a barren area. I think my mom was convinced that my dad had brought us to the end of the world, coming from beautiful Denver, Colorado!
Does anyone remember Mrs. Puterbaugh and how she used a ruler to smack the back of your hand if you misbehaved? This was at Lewis/Clark.
Also our class (54) were the first ones to enjoy the beautiful new Carmichael Jr. High. I remember Mr. Dunton, music teacher and also Mr. Janz, algebra teacher. Who by the way I saw this past spring and he told me how wonderful we were!!
I can't remember the female PE teacher at Carmichael - anyone out there know??
Thanks!!!
Sandy Carpenter McDermott (61)
These recollections from the past sure bring back memories. Yes, I too, frequented the old Kaiser's Market; Mom used to send us for a quick loaf of bread or head of lettuce. My brother, Gary (Class of '64), and I always somehow found time for a stop at the soda fountain for a Green River or flavored coke. We lived at the corner of George Washington and Van Giesen, across from Jefferson School on Davison. Still have fond memories of wading in the irrigation ditch where, I think, the new Travel Lodge sits now, and fishing in that ditch from a tree. Gary made me stay up in the tree until a baited my own hook....yukky! In the winter we ice skated on that same irrigation ditch. And does anyone remember what a thrill it was to sled down the dike & try hard not to go into the Columbia River. It was great!!!
Cheers, Sandy
Denny Damschen (62)
I've seen reference to the drive-in at the Y. The official name was the Island View. I spent many a night there not watching the movie.
I can recall one outdated thing that no one has mentioned. I turned 21 in basic training and at the conclusion was allowed to come home for two weeks. I went to the liquor store on the Parkway to get my long-awaited Washington State Liquor control Board Card. They sent me next door to Payless Drugs, directly across from C. C. Anderson's, to get a mug shot. The cards are no longer needed and come to think of it I didn't need one growing up either. After all we had the V & J Market and Templeman's in Kennewick, Ray's Grocery at the Y, and Stan's Lucky 5 Tavern (Thursday night was Teen Night).
Ray Stein (64)
I loved reading Veronica Yates Jones's (64) reference to Bert Wells and his song. I remember it too! Tell me if I've got it right.
"Rabbit ears, rabbit ears,
All he's got is rabbit ears,
And I've got antennas to the sky.
He gets his picture bright and clear,
But all I get's an atmosphere
Of snow, sleet, hail and soggy pie!"
I should have spelled gets as gits, 'cause that's how he use to sing it.
Carol Converse Maurer '64
It really bothers me not the remember the streets' name that budded up with Campbell's Grocery Store. I clearly remember the store. Many times I would walk there when I lived on Douglas. I remember running across the payment bare footed. Boy, did that feel good in the hot, ha. Bev Kendall lived across the street from the store. I remember one time that I really wanted this little toy for my doll. My mother wouldn't buy it for me, so I put it in my coat pocket and took it home. Well, a day or so later she found out about it and did I ever get into trouble. I had to take it back and tell the clerk what I had done and tell them that I was sorry. I must have been in first or second grade then. I was so embarrassed and humiliated that I NEVER did anything like that again. I was thinking that the store was named Mayfair afterwards. The next time that I'm in Richland I'll have to go by there.
Carol
Rhonda Miller Williams (78)
With people talking about Kaiser's market, it brought back this memory: My family lived near Kaiser's, on Horn Street, so we were frequently sent to the store, on foot or on our bikes. The time frame I'm talking about would be probably late 60's early 70's. At that time, the adjacent drugstore was Miller's Drug Store, owned by Don Miller. I remember he and some other men in town had a long-running tradition of playing pranks on one another. Does anyone remember when a bunch of them (my dad included) hoisted Don's car up onto the roof of the drugstore one night? It was in the paper, as I recall (in keeping with someone else's comment about how the TCH always put the local news ahead of the national....!). I remember my dad being pretty proud of being in on that one! It's now Malley's Pharmacy (right next to the Pizza Hut which stands where Kaiser's used to be).
Go Green & Gold!!
September 5, 1998
Bill Craddock (61)
I have a few thoughts to share:
I haven't heard anyone mention the "Social Club" out on Clearwater in Kennewick. They had some really dynamite dances there. I remember Fats Domino, Gene Vincent, the Fleetwoods, etc. and my personal favorites; The Wailers from Tacoma. I think the place burned down in the late 60s or 79s. What about Hi-Spot? That wasn't bad either. Used to be some pretty fair drag races in Columbia Park on Fri. or Sat. nites too - - till the Sheriff's boys would break them up. I remember we even had the start and finish lines painted across the road.
My folks moved to Richland in 43 or 44 and my sister Sue graduated in '47, Glenda in '54 and me in 61.
I think I'm rambling in my memories so I'll quit.
Denis Sullivan (62)
Someone mentioned Lewis & Clark and Mrs. Puterbaugh. I didn't have her as a teacher, but no Christmas pageant was complete without her rendition of "Joy To The World". Christmas pageants in public schools? Yep, we had 'em.
We lived at 309 Craighill so I went to Lewis & Clark and then Carmichael for two years. One of those years at Carmichael we had to attend classes in the hutments (on the other side of Lee Blvd., I think).
Remember Mr. LaFollette in eighth grade? Our goal for each class was to get him talking about something -- anything -- off the subject. He loved to talk about everything and if we could get him off the subject he was teaching, we had a successful class. For a time our class agreed to conduct ourselves as we imagined a class in Russia might be conducted -- raising one's hand and standing to respond, etc. For those who never attended a Catholic school this was a novelty. Our other eighth grade teacher was Mrs. Baudendistal. She did not hide her distaste for Mr. LaFollette's pedantic style. She didn't believe in grading on the curve and didn't suffer lame effort well. I came across a report card from her in a box in my garage the other day. "D's" in Social Studies. One of her comments was "wastes too much time." She had me nailed pretty good. Can't say I've progressed much since on that score.
I don't remember when they changed the official name from Columbia High to Richland High -- happened well after my time -- but I don't think it had anything to do with the mushroom cloud logo. I heard it had something to do with confusion -- there is another Columbia High school in Washington, I think. But who cares if they're confused? I think there was an attempt in the '70's to change the mushroom cloud logo, but it failed.
Denny Damschen (62)
RE: "A good place to raise a family..."
RE: "You can go somewhere and leave your doors unlocked..."
These are things I heard growing up and they were true. Richland was a pretty safe place to grow up in. One reason, as explained by my folks once, is that all the original families were either imported by the government or came here looking to work for the government. One of the first things to happen was a security check by the government. So you knew the guy next door had as good as or better clearance than your clearance. I think we Richlanders all came from pretty honest stock or we wouldn't be sharing all these memories.
Greg Boyd (63)
Regarding that anti-smoking encouragement film that Mr. Piippo hadus watch (Chief Jo - health class), I was one of those that left the room and passed out in the hall. Trust me, this was not a cool thing to do endeavoring to impress Leslie Dreher rather than just get her attention, sigh).
How many folks remember how hard Mr. Harding worked to teach eight graders math (oh no, not another Chief Joe story). Some interesting personal memories center on his carefully crafted "word problems." To this day, I still use his term nose doilies for handkerchiefs and have been known to create whole SPC (Statistical Process Control) problems around the same term.
On second thought, I sincerely hope that nobody but me remembers that particular term. If you do remember, that you too may be one sick puppy as well.
Many of us may also remember that Mr. Harding was also the assistant principal (?). This memory is based on the "lasting impression" he made on my butt and all the squirt guns and other treasures he confiscated in 7th grade alone. Oh well, once and outstanding student always and outstanding one (out in the hall of course).
Continuing the Sharon Tate Saga, a fun story. One of Sharon's friends, Carol Burt, lived next door. Er, well, hmmm, any way, Carol and Sharon would sun bathe in the back yard. Unfortunately, my dad (Jim Boyd) built our six foot fence entirely too good and there were no knot holes. However and thanks to technology and Tony Tellier who gave me his WWI trench periscope, I was able to practice voyeurism at a tender age. Unfortunately, the periscope tended to "expose" my position and more than once I barely escaped without bodily injury.
Does this count as part of a mis-spent youth? If you too (Bombers in general) may might want to contact Reed Galbreath (63) and borrow the periscope. (Reed throws nothing away and may still have it). Finally, I have found it rather interesting that all "Bombers," regardless of graduation date, have had a similar experience growing up in Richland. I think someone earlier had referred to Richland as a social experiment with a classless society. Sure could be... and the experiment continues.
Perhaps even more important, we as a group have been able to explore this experiment in common sameness. To that end, I have started to think as a Bomber first and Class of 63 second (perish the thought).
This type of thinking encouraged me to do silly things too, such as wear the Green and Gold reunion tee-shirt out in public. (These are the same tee-shirts that Jim Hamilton shamed most of into buying at the class reunion this summer.
Bomber Semperus (is anybody allowed to use this besides Jim Hamilton?)
Greg Boyd
Jim Hamilton (63)
Remember when we thought "Property of US Government" was a brand of pens. It was those ball point pens that our Dads liberated from the project, or we stole from the Post Office when we went to see if Stan Middleton had made the Most Wanted posers, yet. I had a blue lip and tongue for the first three months of fifth grade from sucking on a pen. I looked like that idiot Hulk Hogan and his stupid new beard. That coupled with my indiscretion on the Columbia Queen on Graduation Night, has pretty much kept me in the no-show column every five years or so. I spit blue til I worked in the spuds, then I spit mud.
I'll bet that's why Dewey never shows up, even though he moved away in junior high. He ate crayons and paste and why they put him in the front row for that class picture, I'll never know. I think that's why they made the boys at Christ the King wear those salt and pepper cords, so nobody would know when they peed their pants. Rusted zippers might have been a problem. Haven't talked to him for a couple of years. He pretty much squared himself away after he left Richland. He was very highly decorated as a Marine Corps pilot after considerable athletic success (maybe even All-American) in college and went on to become a Federal Judge. Hard if not impossible to believe considering he almost drowned in Welsian Lake trying to poach ducks with a fish net, a couple of pictures of some loaves of Donald Duck bread and a large ball of twine.
Recalling the first day of school reminds me of the drama at Carmichael. One must remember that this was before the terms "gifted" and "challenged" were chic. You would show up for the first day and find your name scotch taped to the door of some class room. You would find that you had been designated "7-5".
Now as I recall, 7-1 meant you were in the AM smart class. Three hours with Gary LeClair, Rosann Benedict and the like. 7-5 meant you were with MeDo Smith, Pinhead Stephens and girls in fuzzy sweaters (with great potential I might add). Nothing to build up the self esteem of a seventh grader in the early stages of being strung out on Clearasil than to be put under the tutalage of Miss Ruby, first name Luella if memory serves me correct. Actually self esteem was under the purview of Howard Chitty, need I say more?
But I digress,
Nothing was below 7-5. 7-6 wasn't, it was the after lunch smart class. And so we had our first bite from the the reality sandwich. More so than we got in the lunch room. Lunches in the 7th grade were cho-cho ice cream bars and corn chips form the school store. You could get it all for two bits, leaving you a dime for a Nehi-Grape at the Rat Hole from the lunch money you got from your folks. I always imagined that at Chief Joe they had cucumber sandwiches and a desert menu, but the Hyatts clued me in later.
Your Friend,
Frank
SEMPER BOMBERUS
Marc Leach (63)
You are right about my folks having the 57 Chev. I brought it down to the MTA in Columbia Park a few times which resulted in my driving privileges being restricted for a time-didn't get all the butts out of the ash trays or the bottle caps off the floor. Butts reminds me of "Pitts" Armstrong. I was always astounded by his ability to blow smoke out of eyes/ears-always worth a ride home. Wonder if he still can...
You are also correct in recalling Redmond's Borgward. Very comfortable with front seats that dropped back to lay flat - a nicefeature altho the car was hopelessly underpowered, weighing a ton and half and had a little four banger. I doubt most people now have even heard of a Borgward.
On the other hand Buel Gammill's dad's Pontiac was capable of 120 which we achieved returning from a basketball game up the Valley one evening. He later became infamous in Seattle for setting fire to the trash chute in Haggett Hall at the U.W. while visiting me the weekend of the Kennedy assassination (it was homecoming). All events being canceled we amused ourselves by stuffing a room to the top with newspapers while the occupants were out, which upon returning they then stuffed down the trash chute. Buel was there with his trusty Zippo, claimed he didn't know it wasn't an incinerator. About four fire trucks came out and all residents had to stand outside in the cold in various states of undress for an hour or so. No one talked in spite of intensive interrogations and Buel snuck back to Wazzu. I hoped the FBI files are not still open on this one.
I can't seem to recall much about that World Fair trip you mentioned. I recall we did stay with my brother Bill and he had Calvin Gentle's pristine Plymouth. Had very few miles on it as I recall.
Keep those memories coming, those of you who still have memories that is.
Marc
Carol Converse Maurer ('64)
Someone mentioned the Fuller Brush Man. I remember the Fuller Brush Man coming to our house plenty of times. If you can find a Fuller Brush Man kit now a days, it's very pricey on the antique market. Where was the 5 & 10 cent store? I vaguely remember it. Was it up by the Uptown Theater? Nobody has mentioned the large gathering of people each year during Christmas at the square by the City Hall. Also across from the Federal Building. All the years growing up my folks and I would go there. They always had such neat decorations. Do they still have the Christmas lights contest between the cities? That was such fun driving around seeing all the lights and the ones that had won in the contest.
Carol
Harvey Irby (64)
When we lived at 1303 Haines ('52 to '60) David Rivers (65) and Vonnie Reed (I think she used to babysit me!) lived just a few houses up the street. Mary Ann Matthews (64) lived right behind us (I used to take her brother's paper route when they were out of town). The Hurt's (Hurt's Apparel in Uptown) lived across the street, as did Judy Shuey (64). Living across the street from the Uptown meant that I spent many Saturdays at the free movie and made many trips to the Spudnut Shop and Johnny's Delicatessen (especially fun on the way home from school). I had a Tri-City Herald route that included the apartments on Gilmore and Gribble and one of the last dormitories on Jadwin.
We moved to 2403 Torbett in '60.
Greetings to All,
Harvey Irby
Teresa DeVine Knirck (64)
Regarding the market -- Kaiser's -- I grew up in the Richland Village and spent lots of time at Kaiser's and Johnson's pharmacy too. Used to get a new comic book each Friday with my allowance. Juanita, Pete, and Al were all checkers we knew like family at Kaiser's. In fact, if Mom didn't send us with enough money to get the milk or bread or whatever, they let us "owe."
My husband, Bill Knirck (65) and I now own the pharmacy, which is Malley's (Miller's in the interim) and we just last month sold the land where Pizza Hut sits and Kaiser's used to be. We also own Densow's up in his old neighborhood and really enjoy seeing people he grew up with who are now his customers. We have put in a soda fountain of sorts, but nothing like the "old" one -- those are hard to find.
Greetings to all!
Teresa DeVine Knirck
David Rivers (65)
Burt Wells!!!!!!!!!!!! His theme song was the Big Rock Candy Mountain...remember?! How 'bout Lynn Bryson (sp)... his was "Straight Flush"... and the real Don Steele (sp)... in those days he played second fiddle to Linster the Spinster with stacks of wax and pounds of sounds before he moved on to Yakima, Portland, LA and finally into syndication! Then there was the revival of the Wailers' version of Louie Louie... resulting in the wanna be version from the Kingsmen (but a very good version by PR and the Raiders). And how about Sukiaki... all from the lil' ol' tri cities... not bad for "hicksville"!!!!!!!!!
David Rivers
Patti Snider Miller (65)
Anyone remember the dances in West Richland? They were in a building not to far after you go over the bridge and it was on the right. Can't remember the name of it. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", the stroll??? Those were fun times with the live bands...
Until next time.
Patti Snider Miller
Dianne Ingalls Frost (67)
Maren,
I'm learning a lot about the old home town that I didn't know before!
Another teacher no one has mentioned is Mr. Sawyer, the physics teacher with the red ties and great stories. Remember the one about the dead bear that wasn't really dead yet?
And what about Mrs. Craft, the first grade teacher at Jefferson? I remember seeing her at Kaisers grocery store while home on a vacation from WSU and she remembered me! and my sister! And yes, everyone's favorite checker at Kaisers was Juanita. I was there when that building burned down.
Thanks again for all your time....
Dianne Ingalls Frost
Mike Franco (70)
All this talk of Kaisers is bringing tears to my eyes. When the Franco clan lived at 1909 Davison I remember playing in the ditches dug to lay sewer lines on the street just east of Kaisers. We had a good gang in that area.... Pete Turping, Meekers, Roes, Dick Boston, Paul Felts, Cartmells, Bixlers.... Jim Van Wyke was the neighborhood hero. We even had Fran Rish around the corner. I remember going into Johnson's Pharmacy almost every day after school in my early Jefferson grades and going to the back to the fountain/lunch counter. I remember they actually had a lady who waited on us as we bought PENNY CANDY.... she actually served the candy to us individually!!!!! This must have been in the 1960 time frame. We would lean over the counter and loudly click and pound our pennies on the counter... I can still hear the horrible racket.... I am sure that lady who waited on us retired to Medical Lake !!! Anyone else remember that pastime ?
Lois Clayton Colton (72)
Aubrey Clayton, Science and Math teacher at Carmichael was asked about. He passed away Feb 4th of this year after a series of strokes.
Lois Clayton Colton, his daughter.
Marjo Vinther Burt (77)
I'd forgotten about the mosquito truck, the whole body counters in the school parking lots, hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes..... as one woman wrote, it's as though we all had the same childhood!
I attended Marcus Whitman and Carmichael. We grew up on Birch, and I was good friends with Helen Hedges (76) and Joe Hedges (77) who lived across the street from us - they went to Christ the King. I still live in Richland, and my daughter is a 7th grader at Carmichael - it was like going back in time when I walked into the school with her last year! The auditorium looks exactly the same! Old and dark! And there are still a handful of teachers that were there when I attended!
A couple other memories... Diettrich's grocery store on Dupertail and Wright, bomb raid drills in the school hallways (and the boys would always try to look up our skirts!), taking naps in kindergarten on top of throw rugs we'd brought from home (wish we could do that at work!), Densow's soda fountain, the Christmas decorations at the Uptown and Downtown, getting a jug of Root Beer at A&W's walk-up window with my Dad... lot's of happy times!
Thanks!
Marjo
