"Bomber Memories"
October 9 & 10, 1998
October 9, 1998
Ralph Myrick (51)
Are there any Bombers old enough to recall the Pasco vs Richland basketball games? Especially the ones with Gene Conley of Richland and Dick Winship of Pasco. Talk about a bucket of blood in the old gym. Those were the days. Sunnyside had Don Sailor. Then there was the Bernie Hancock of Pasco era. This was the guy that would shoot hook shots from half court and make them.
On the sand blowing discussion, my sister Norma, reminded me how we would wake up in the morning and find an outline of our head on the pillow made by falling dust. I can still see my mother hanging on to the side of our prefab hose in hand trying to keep the grass seed from blowing away for the 10th time.
Did anyone ever have a run in with Curshaw the game warden? He caught Jim Thompson, his brother, and me hunting in the horse pasture. I had my dad's 30-30 and they each had 12 gauge shotguns. He took us to the police station, scared the h-e-double toothpicks out of us and then took us home. Remember, if any kid got into trouble with the law, his father was fired. Man, were we scared. He told my dad that we shouldn't be hunting without a licensed adult. Whew!!
Marguerite Groff Tompkins (54)
Norma Boswell: Your memories were so great to read. Your description of the termination winds was so easy to picture. The termination winds were not about to affect my dad. We were living in Spokane when he first got this job. He needed a job so badly that anything would have been acceptable, as long as it wasn't illegal. We lived in Sunnyside for about 18 months until we finally got a place in Richland. I remember my mom's complaints about the constant sand and grit - but no one ever mentioned leaving.
I also remember the terrible snow storm we had in the early spring of 1950(?). We were in school at Carmichael and they wouldn't let us leave until someone came to pick us up. My parents were both working and stuck where they were. My friend's dad came and got us and dropped me off at home. Then I wondered about my brothers that were at Spalding. As it turned out, Spalding dismissed school and all those little kids were left to fend for themselves. My youngest brother, Bill (61), said that the wind picked him right up and threw him against a car. He ended up with some frost bite. It took both of them quite a while to walk home - from Spalding to the corner of Cottonwood and Olympia. Our folks were extremely unhappy with Spalding - especially since even the Junior High wouldn't let us leave without a ride.
Millie Finch Gregg: I remember the stupid girls basketball rules. I was too short to be a forward so had to play guard. I hated it, because that meant that I'd never get a chance to get a basket because as a guard I couldn't pass the center line. It just wasn't fun; so I didn't play basketball except when I had to in PE. I was used to playing sports with all the kids in our neighborhood and we were all on the same footing, girls and boys alike. No one gave us any breaks just because we were girls and we had so much fun. Apparently the rule makers didn't think girls had enough stamina to run the whole floor.
Everything, good and/or bad, that happened when we were kids were part of what makes us who we are. The whole of growing up in Richland was in some ways unique to all of us and again, a lot of what we experienced was from the era we lived in - but so much was from living where we lived. All of it comes from our memories, as we felt back then. Our memories need to still be told in the "Alumni Sandstorm" - all of them as they come to us. I look back so fondly on my childhood.
Mary Winston Wymer (55)
I have really enjoyed reading all the entries from fellow Richlanders and would very much like to see some of my classmates participate in this on-going history lesson. It's interesting to learn what was important to each of you while growing up in Richland, as indicated by the documentation of so many different memories. I haven't seen anyone mention the salt tablet dispensers on the street corners (presumably so we wouldn't keel over from dehydration in the unrelenting heat of the early 40's before there was any protective vegetation) or standing in line at CC Anderson's with our ration books to claim our allotment of sugar, butter and whatever else was rationed during the War. How about green plastic tax tokens? And, of course, because gas was also rationed, no one traveled much or very far. My 9th grade class was the first to attend Chief Joseph which was a brief splitting up of friends and friendships until we all entered Col Hi. The principal at Chief Jo was Robert Chisholm.
To Bob DeGraw - the bomb was always a part of our Pep Rallies and was also present at my 35th reunion. School spirit was really at a high during my high school years and I remember the Snake Dances and big bonfires before our homecoming games. Going to the State Basketball Tournament in Seattle during my junior and senior years was such a big deal and we all thought we were so sophisticated! We practically had to sell our souls in order to get out of classes during that time, however, and all assignments had to be completed before we went - including reams and reams of shorthand. I remember Gary (?) from Elma who was so tall he had to take a hit of oxygen during his time outs. Not many people had TV's back then, but those who did shared theirs to cheer on the Bombers.
I recently came across my miniature cedar chest in a box of old memorabilia (along with some old Sandstorms, dance programs, scrap books and cheerleading letters - including a fine looking bomber.)
It's been fun walking down memory lane!
Mindy Robison Smith (61)
Oh, the memories that keep coming! I think I don't remember any more and then I read others contributions and..... Thanks to everyone for the input! What a heritage to pass on to our children of our growing up.
Hall Patrol and wood paddles are two memories from Carmichael. I remember being a monitor and felt pretty stupid doing it. What would I ever do if challenged by one of the rowdy 9th grade boys? And being next to the art room made it even worse since I avoided taking art like the plague.
Does anyone know what happened to Mr. Dunton, choral music teacher there? I remember going to choral competition and people there being so surprised at the size of our choir. He'd told us we couldn't drink milk a few hours before singing as it would clog up our throats. The things we remember that teachers say!
About Walt LePage - what I remember is not connected with school. My dad sold him DeKalb corn and chicks. It was from the midwest and Walt agreed to try it on his farm. Seems like it grew okay. Wonder if he is still growing it?
Bob DeGraw - Your memories triggered so many for me and I loved your humor! My experience was my dad coming home at different times from work depending on what shift he was on - day, swing, or graveyard. He was on the "B" shift rotation. Those shifts had quite an impact on Christmas especially when Daddy was working nights and I couldn't go downstairs (A house) until he got home, turned the tree lights on and put Christmas music on. That came such a long time after hearing the bus pull out from the Thayer stop at midnight on Christmas eve. It was then that I realized now is now and not any other time. Christmas morning, meaning gifts, would never come since we only live in the present. What a heavy realization to have. Thank goodness I fell asleep and Santa did come!
I only remember the green bomb being rolled out at basketball games. There was never a thought about the destruction it caused and the cloud was the neat symbol on our class rings.
We have migrating geese that go over our place. The first time I heard them I could "see" and "hear" those going over our house in Richland in the fall and telling my girls what it meant. A special connection to the past and passing seasons.
Yes, I thought those West Richland kids were a little weird too...until I married one!
Melinda (Mindy) Robison Smith
Connie Foster McLean (63)
Our government and our parents were truly pioneers, forging ahead with an entirely new technology. They did the very best with the information they had and made the conditions as safe as humanly possible. As I have certainly discovered in my 53 years, there are no guarantees in life, but it is much better when we make the best of what we have! Hats off to all of those positive memories and comments that make us smile and remember things otherwise long forgotten or stored in the depths of our memory bank!
Jim Hamilton (63)
TO: Don Panther (62): Good News. All of those Geese that you remember "darkening the sky", that aren't there any longer, have been found. They are all doing well and living at Juanita Beach and around Green Lake. No one is bothering them, 'cause "No one goes, where the goose goes".
I can only imagine how many there would have been had it not been for Ron Richards and the Chipmunks (Bob and Bill Hyatt) dealing out their own form of Frontier justice on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays if memory serves me correct.
Billy Chipmunk liked to get'em while they still had their heads under their wings. Gary Crow had a great hunting spot down along the Colubia by the "Y', that earned he and his Dad special attention from Mitch Kershaw. You could run up from the blind and get a burger at "Berts Diner". It was known as "The Poacher Special"
Frank Osgard used to road hunt for Ducks out in West Richland. None of the ducks he shot had webbed feet, but they all had white feathers. On closer examination they looked a lot like Leghorn Chickens. He claimed that was why "he didn't need no stinkin' license", and there was no limit. His Doves also looked a lot like someone's little sisters 4-H project. Someone at the reunion said Frank had been a cop in LA. Serve and Protect, those were the first two words I would have used to describe Frank.
Pook and Monty Franklin were a couple of White Hunters, ala Frank Buck. It didn't have as much to do with shootin' ducks, as getting up early and smoking Pall Malls in Pook's 51 Chevy. The morning air smelled a lot like the inside of the Bowling Alley
Danny Raddatz (64)
The memories come slowly back.
Early childhood
Summer: Dodging at least 50 sprinklers on the hill below Col High. The ice cream man (Steamboat Staley?) Winter: Chinooks. I remember a foot of snow disappearing in 5 hours. I also remember a crust on the snow that would almost support me.
Spring: I got this little PT boat in a box of cereal. You were supposed to fill it with baking soda and let it go in the bath tub. I put an ant named Christopher Columbus inside and let him go down the gutter.
Fall: ?
My junior and senior years I lived on Putnam, across from Mark Browne. He or his brother John was the first person I heard sing "Whiskey and Blood on the Highway" and "Plastic Jesus". I also remember fragments of a poem Mark wrote (I don't think it was for a class) called "The Gollywobbles".
The riverbank is alive tonight
And hazy lumen of a moon so bright
Shines down upon an eerie sight.
The gollywobbles breed tonight.
Cheri Rector Wickizer (65)
I moved back to Richland from Kennewick just in time to start 7th grade at Chief Jo. I remember how big it seemed. Sandra Frost (my neighbor and friend) danced at lunch in the hall in front of the auditorium. I still love to dance. We bought bags of popcorn and peppermint patties in the school store for nickel.
When we started at "Columbia High" you walked unless you lived outside city limits. Because the school was under construction we had to bring a bag lunch (no cafeteria) and had 7 minute breaks between classes (instead of 5) in order to get around the construction and still had to run to make it to classes on time. The parking lots in the back of the school were gravel and you had to be careful where you were when "some" people took off or you were peppered with stones. On the way home we would stop at the drug store and get a coke and french fries for $.25.
I went to basketball games and cheered so loud I could barely speak the next morning. We took 3rd in state 8 years in a row if I remember right. When I left Richland I learned that football was the big sport -- not basketball. I played basketball and "softball" and enjoyed them, but have never been much of a football fan. I also remember the "old gym" before they tore it down would literally bounce when we did "The Stomp". The new gym wasn't quite the same for dances.
Ray Fisher, sent me an old Sandstorm. There were memories about the roller skating rink, the Passport Plunge, the Arctic Circle, Spudnut Shop and the movies.
I was the oldest of four children and we all spent most of our Saturday nights at the roller rink. I remember the guy that worked there and dressed in black as mentioned by someone else, but don't remember his name. He had a younger brother that was there most Saturdays too and was a friend of my brothers. I also remember some kids necking in the corners - however not ALL of us did that, some of us actually skated. I also remember the Plunge, we went there a few times each year and loved it. I talked to my dad recently (he's in Alaska) and he remembers going to the Arctic Circle to get hamburgers 5 for a $1 (eating out was a big treat back then). I don't remember getting into the movies with a register receipt, but I remember all four of us went every Saturday AM for years with a can of "green beans" or other food. Never knew what the food was collected for.
I also remember the drive-in movies, Dad would take us and spread a blanket next to the car for the four of us. And, of course, it was one of the places we all went when dating. Are they still there?
I remember mostly feeling safe - we played outside after dark, could walk anywhere day or night, left houses and cars unlocked. Most people knocked politely and then entered friends' homes. You could talk to "strangers" without fear and neighbors watched out for each other's homes and possessions. When new people moved in neighbors brought food, loaned tools and helped in any way they could. Most people knew their neighbors up and down the streets. It would be nice to feel that my grandchildren's world was as "safe" as ours was.
We used to go to Spokane to visit my Aunt and Uncle and stop somewhere (outside of Pasco, I think) and get fresh potato chips from a little factory out there. Sometimes they were still warm. They were always good.
Cheri Rector Wickizer
Micky Hemphill (66)
Bob Degraw(66): No wonder I was thinking of you... what a well written letter. I was trying to think of similar words, but was waiting for someone like you.
Denny Damschen(62): I believe I was the bat boy on your team and my brother's (Tom-62)... wasn't it "Nevin's Flying A" ?? Anyway, who knows! Darrel Reins (sorry about the spelling ) still owes me a dime from the 1958 Frontier Days, I bought him a coke.
The National little league team, in 1960, went to the state tourney at Port Orchard, WA. We took third place. What an experience, we stayed at a Nike Missile Base somewhere in the hills above Bremerton. We got about two hours sleep per night, and at 12 years old was not quite enough. Can't remember all the team members, but I do remember the songs of that day .... anyone remember; "Please Mr. Custer, I don't want to go"? How about ;"Flying Purple People Eater" ? or "The Ballad of 1812" ? MEMORIES !!
Micky Hemphill
Sandi Cherrington (66)
Comment on Bob DeGraw's (66) email of 10/8/98: I fully agree with you. My memories of Richland are all good too! Most of my friends in school (and Bob DeGraw was one of them) and all grew up in similar situations: fathers worked in the "Areas", families went to church, spent time together, and grew up together. And we grew up, knowing most of all the families in our own neighborhood, on a first name basis, never having to fear each other. Things sure have changed!
I remember going to my Grandmothers house in West Richland for dinner and getting to squeeze the color into the butter. When I was little, that was a high point in my visits to her house. I also remember crossing the main road (when I was in junior high), and walking up to the top of FlatTop with friends, carving our names in the cross at the top of the hill.
I don't think I've heard anyone mention Bateman Island. I remember going there to go swimming and to party. Or the parties at the Gravel Pits in Kennewick. There was also a place in North Richland, out along the river, where the old trailer park used to be... we used to go there and have keggers! Anyone remember these places?
Echoing Bob DeGraw's words: Richland will always be my home and I am a BOMBER! (and a Cougar)!
Sandi Cherrington
Pam Ehinger Nassen (67)
TO: Jack Hooper (53): I remember the $1 per ride too, and I grew up in the fifties and 60's. I remember going riding with Marsha Hopfinger (67) and Peggy Kestel (67) , and Penny Cornielus (sp) and there were many others too. So the 40's aren't the only ones that rode cheap!
TO: Bob DeGraw (66) My green boils are healing just fine, my kids quit glowing in the dark last week and my 3 grandsons are dooooing muuuuch beeeter now! I hung out with most of the W. Richland kids, Marti Sterns, Patty Shelton (67), Patti Moller (67), Rick Allen (67), Jim Howard (66), (I dumped my folks 59 Ford in the W. Richland ditch in front of his house. Ditch aka canal) So I guess I was or still am a bit weird!!
Nuke em until they Glow then shoot em in the dark!!!
Pam Ehinger Nassen
Dan Henry (68)
I was a patrol boy at Sacajawea. I lived right on the cut off for going to Marcus Whitman. I was really bummed at first, but that is where I met my first love. About all it amounted to was passing notes in class but I'll never forget her. Then just as I was going into Junior High, we moved and I had to go to Carmichael. Sometimes life just isn't fair but I fell in love again so I guess things work out. Ain't love grand!
William Porter (68)
I followed the Bombers before I became one. 6 years difference in age is not much these days but back then, it was enormous. I became a Bomber fan starting when we would go to see our neighbor, A.W. Harness, play football. I knew all the players names and numbers. I remember wanting to be a sports star like Jim House. All the "big kids" we either looked up to or feared. I don't think I ever met you, Jim, but thanks for providing a lot of entertainment to a grade schooler. I remember looking up the players pictures in my sister Judy's annual and I'd read every article in the paper about the Bombers. Being a Bomber fan improved my literacy, but not necessarily my spelling.
William L. Porter
Derek Ballinger (98)
I just graduated last year from Richland High. I really miss that town, since we moved a little over a year ago. It's not something I thought would happen, but now that I'm not in Richland, I really miss it. I'm glad there's other people who consider Richland home even if they've been away for several years. Some of my biggest memories are of the Sausage Fest. I was a CK kid, kindergarten through eighth grade, and we had to sell raffle tickets in our neighborhoods. Every single year, Matt Cash would sell the most and get the huge prize. Later on, I helped with the set-up of the Biergarten or the booths outside because my parents or my scout troop got involved with it. I loved seeing so many people I knew at Sausage Fest - it really made me feel I belonged there in that community.
Derek Ballinger
October 10, 1998
Tom Hughes (56)
Someone mentioned the Bomber "Day's Pay". I believe it was in early 1945 everyone in Richland, or almost everyone, donated a day's pay to fund a B-29 or B-17. I remember seeing the picture of the airplane with "Day's Pay" painted proudly on the nose.
Tom Hughes
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Tom Hemphill (62)
Yes, growing up in Richland was very unique and many of my old Lewis and Clark elementary school mates are still friends to this day, even if we do not get together very often.
This is the season that I like to recall the days when we were too young to have cars, but old enough to go hunting ducks without an adult (age 14). Ronnie Cowgill (62), Bobby Irwin (62), Mike Taylor (62) and I enjoyed our independence by leaving the house at some ridiculous early hour on Saturday and Sunday mornings and riding our bikes to North Richland to catch the ferry across the river to the "Blocks" area to go hunting. I remember the very long hill on the other side that took us to the top where the fields were. We had a favorite field with a large haystack where we had taken some of the bales of hay from the center and stacked them around the edge to make a "fort." We had some great hunts from the top of that haystack.
We soon learned, however, that it was a lot better to bribe Jerry Irwin (58) to take us out there in his car. However, we never knew when or if Jerry was going to come and get us. I think that only lasted two seasons and then Bobby Irwin got his license so we could be more independent.
Lots of good memories of the "good old days" growing up in Richland. My brother Micky (66) and I have a lot of fun recalling some of the events of our childhood.
Earl Bennett (63)
Dan Day (62): Thanks for the update. The reference to his coordination was based on watching Ray Stein and Jim House take the ball away from him regularly (of course, they did that to everyone to some extent) - he must have been growing too fast to dribble effectively in his sophomore and junior years. Plus he didn't seem to score well more than 8-10 feet from the basket. Sounds like he really blossomed later!
Later. ecb3
Bob DeGraw (66)
First I would like to thank all of those who responded to my personal feelings about Richland and the Bombers. You (some of whom I have never met) as well as others I have not seen since I graduated will always be my best friends.
Now this little incident that I remember and relate is not intended to stir up any animosity between the class of 66' and the class of 65' (remember, I love you guys) but if I recall it might have ended the tradition of the bonfire. I was a junior in 65' and as I recall, a guy by the name of David Ford, (do you remember him Micky?) got a "committee" together for the sole purpose of burning the seniors bonfire prior to it's appointed time. Of course the seniors got wind of this (we suspected some punky sophomore girl who had the hots for Terry Davis) and went to plan A which was to beef up it's security force with all the tuff guys. We had several planning sessions in which we came up with all kinds of ways to sneak in and torch the huge pile of wood. I believe that the final plan went something like this. We would have a diversionary group of guys come and engage in some idle chit chat with the tuff guys and lure them to the street, which would be on the south side of the pile. For those of you not familiar with the setting. The pile of wood was in a field directly across from the police station. While they were thus engaged, the strike force would come down from the north and torch the wood. The strike force was divided into two groups. I think some of us had molotov cocktails and I think some of us just had torch's. So that was the plan. And to a degree it worked. At the appointed hour (it was most assuredly dark) the strike team parked over by the Arctic Circle and walked to that ditch that ran across the field. We huddled in the ditch and made ready our pyro devices. Then as some of our guys drove up and started talking to the tuff guys, we sprang from the ditch and on a dead run charged the pile. We threw our devices of destruction and then as the tuff guys detected our presence we ran much faster into the night. I ran as though I was on fuego! As I glanced over my shoulder I noticed that the pile was pretty well lit up and there was quite a bit of commotion going on. The police had appeared and a fire truck was pulling out of the station that was kitty corner to the field. I don't remember all of the details of the aftermath of our little adventure, but I do know that I ran back to the ditch and hid for a couple of minutes and then made it back to the car at the A.C. The fire truck did it's job and preserved the pile and as far as I know the Seniors had a great Bon Fire that year. But I don't remember our class having one. I could be wrong on that. If we did, I know it wasn't nearly as much fun as the year before.
Cheryl Moran Fleming (65)
Bob DeGraw: I think we had a math class together and you were always a source of entertainment! I remember going over to your house once and thinking how young and beautiful your mother was.
Driving down Elm Street over the Christmas Holidays was a yearly event for our family. One year someone had the Chipmunks displayed with them singing carols over a speaker. Wonder if the neighbors enjoyed that as much as we did!
I was always afraid of being reported by the patrol boys. I remember once riding my bike home from Jason Lee for lunch and the patrol boy yelling something to me and I just kept going! I was so upset, I could hardly eat and my mother had to return to school with me and talk to Mrs. Peterson. Although, when I was in 6th grade and could wear that blue hat and boss kids around in the halls, I thought it was great!
Also, a highlight was getting to ride the bus to Chief Jo at the end of 6th grade and getting a tour around the school to introduce us before we attended the next fall.
My dad told me once that the reason he started working in the area was the availability of housing. I guess housing was pretty scarce then. He said he looked at a basement apartment that was just dug out and had no sheet rock. The people just spray painted the dirt white!
Jim Hunter (66)
I moved from Richland to California in 1964. I was born and raised in Richland and went to school at Lewis and Clark, Carmichael, and Columbia Hi. I will always call Richland my home town.
Memories of growing up in Richland are great. Little league, Pony league. I often wonder what happened to our Thrifty Drug infield, of Mike Fowler, Ken Fortune, Mickey Hemphill ? We all played a lot of ball together.
I have often wondered about all my childhood friends. Leaving Richland in my junior year was tough.
My parents owned the A&W for several years, and those were the happy days.
JIM HUNTER
Teresa Cook Morgan (73)
Remember me, that shy bookish little girl that never spoke to even utter her name? That's me. Well, LOL, that's not true any longer. I knew that a lot of the families in Richland had been here since almost day one, but I didn't realize how great that percentage is. We moved here from southern California (Thousand Oaks) in 1967. I had no idea what junior high was. Well, I found out quick. Really quick, since we arrived here a week before school started. Remember those monkey suits we had to wear for p.e.? I remember walking the halls of Carmichael thinking everyone else in the school had to be at least six feet tall. I was short then. I'm short now. I tended to walk with my head down, peering at the floor a few feet in front of me. Usually, I'd end up walking right into some ninth grade boy who seemed seven feet tall.
I entered Carmichael in 67. Wow, what a change from grade school. Man was I lost. And Col-Hi was even bigger. Or so I thought. When I took my son to summer school last year, I walked around (defying all efforts to shoo me out) a little. It looks so much smaller.
My mom was aghast at the blowing sand when we first arrived. I well remember one of her earliest shrieks of panic half an hour after she'd hung an entire load of laundry out to dry, it'd been dirtied, soiled, ruined by a wind from the devil. My mom is at best a neat nick. Hates dirt, soil of any kind whether chocolate smears or just plain dust bunnies or good clean mud. She's a perfectionist. House keeping was her job. Still is. I still remember panicking myself at the sound of her screams to help her get the clothes inside before it was too late. It was too late anyway. She re-washed everything. Back then, when our parents raised an eyebrow or said boo, we jumped. She spent lots of time cleaning windowsills for those first months. And windows.
It's been nice to hear about how Richland was for those of you here before I was. I don't remember the DDT trucks. We bought a house in W. Richland because there was NOTHING to rent. I remember being relieved to avoid the customary dunking in the canal for newcomers. Snow was a new experience, too. We'd never seen it pile up before, let alone thaw and freeze and thaw and freeze. Question: when did Richland purchase snowplows? I don't ever remember seeing one when we were here before.
Has anyone mentioned Mrs. Wiley, our Col-Hi typing teacher? What a character. And those awful manual typewriters and all that carbon paper. My senior year there was a joke at one of the assemblies that someone had kidnapped the #007 parking sticker and it'd turned up on Mrs. Wiley's window. For first year shorthand it was Mr. Hepper. I heard he retired a while back. Second year, Mrs. Burns. I smile when I think now that I had to drop a business class to take home ec. so I could graduate. Now the kids are permitted to substitute the other direction, or were at one time and boys are welcome, too. Back then was the tail end of that school of thought that girls always stay home and cook the bacon.
Teresa Cook Morgan
