"Bomber Memories"
October 21, 22 & 23, 1998
October 21, 1998
Dick Epler & Madelyn
"Lynn" Hinson Epler (52)
From one of the Bomber guest books:
Lynn (Madelyn Hinson) and I both graduated from Col High in '52.
We've lived in a lot of different places over the years, but Richland remains one of our favorite places.
The last place we lived was in a "G" house at 1323 Kimball Avenue near Sacajawea which Lynn attended in the '40s. We watched it torn down in 1995 ... sad!
I attended Col High only two years, from '51 to 52, but have many fond memories. My favorite teachers were Charles Shank and Walter LePage. I, along with several other students, worked one summer at LePage's Pasco farm.
I think the Uptown area had just been built.
Marilyn Peddicord Whitley (53)
I know what used to be where the Albertson's store is on Lee Blvd. It was the end of the women's dorm complex. That very end corner had lots of trees and was somewhat vacant, but it belonged to the dorms. We used to walk past them every day on the way to the H.S. and also as I have said before, I had a paper route in the women's dorms for the Tri-City Herald for six or seven years.
Millie Finch Gregg (54)
To Don Fisher (50) - thanks for the history for those of us who came in 43/44 or later. Do you recall the name of the teams at the old high school? I have heard the Beavers????
To Larry Bowls (64) - Yes, I to remember the auto that rammed into my folks house. I wasn't home at the time, but they told me about it. That was pretty exciting stuff way back then!!
During the early 50's there were no houses past Van Giesen. It was all desolate and lead to North Richland Trailer Park and then the area. Then the city put in a Drive-In theater waaaaaaaaaaaay out on George Washington Way. It would be located today where the 7-11 store and the Washington apartments are now. Anyway, when you went to the 'PASSION PIT", you were way way out in the toolies. Anyone remember or am I the only one to remember this???
Millie Finch Gregg
John Northover (59)
'Does anyone remember the "strike" in 57 or 58 as we rebelled against the administration because they wouldn't let us wear Bermuda shorts. Serious stuff. Steve Carson (58)' That 'battle' was a lead in to the right to wear not only Bermuda shorts, but a simple T-shirt and shower shoes ... which the class of '59, at least the male half of the class continued. I believe the "Boy's Pep Club" [check out the picture under the ALL BOMBER ALUMNI LINKS, CLASS of 1959, '59 Columbian on Line, under CLUBS. - http://members.wbs.net/homepages/a/l/l/allbombers.html or http://homepages.infoseek.com/~dentover/index.htm was initiated, by some of the senior class [males] of the '59 Senior Class. The club was approved by the school powers-that-be and we were a 'positive' force in cheering the Bomber teams on ... Rotttaaaa...Roootttaaa.!!!!! Remember the great cheers that emanated from our section???
"SISSSSSSSS-BOooooom BBBEEEEeeeee! Kick them in the KNEEEEeeeeeee!
SISSsSsss-BoOOOO0omMMmm BBBAAAaassssssssSSS!!! Kick them in the .... OTHER KnNNNEEeeeee!!!"
-- We were a clever bunch ...
OR .. another great cheer, at the basket ball games ... it went something like this ...
Go BOoommmbers .... GOOOO!!!
DOown the flooooorrr and SSCCccoreeeee!!!
Go BOoommmbers .... GOOOOoooooo!!!
Go [other school ... Yakima, Pasco, Kennewick ... ]
GGGOOooo!!!
DOOooown the FLoooorrr and OUT the DOOOOooorrrr!!!!
Go [other school ... Yakima, Pasco, Kennewick ... ]
GGGOOooooooo!!!
It was a small club and as I understand only lasted for a couple more years
John Northover
Tom Hemphill (62)
To Jim Hunter (66): You mentioned that when we were kids in Richland, we had a lot of activities to keep us busy without TV and Video Games. We had parks, fishing ponds, the community center, baseball fields, basketball courts and we could walk to these areas without an adult. I also recall that we each had several Moms and Dads to keep an eye on us and help guide us. I am thankful for my other Moms and Dads, like Helen and Kenny Rucker, mother and father of Janis (55), Jack (59) and Roberta "Bobbie" Rucker (60) who lived on Duane (now Goethals). Helen still tells the story about me acting up at C.C. Andersons Store and my mom left us both behind for Helen to deal with. John and Ester Irwin, mother and father of Sonny (56), Jerry (58) and Bobby Irwin (62), always made us feel at home in their house. Everett and Rosana Card, Bobby Card's (62) mom and dad were always supportive and included us in many of their family activities. Yes, as kids we had many "safe" homes to go to, thanks to the moms and dads of Dick Plows (63), Pook Smith (63), Mike Taylor (62), Ronnie Cowgill (62) and many others. I recently had the opportunity to visit with George Pugh, David (62) and Diane's (59) father, and he is still to this day a wonderful mentor with a lot of great memories of our childhood in Richland.
It's interesting to talk with other people my age who grew up in other parts of the country, especially in large cities. We did have a very unique community.
Is it still the same in Richland? I sure hope so.
To Tom Hughes (56): We never learned how to "Ditch Geese," but we did fool a few of them when it was windy. I recall making my first trip to Goose Gap late on a very windy day. My hunting buddies, Jack Rucker (59) and Larry Moss (59) lead me out through the sage brush with no water or wheat fields within miles and convinced me that the geese would soon come. Well, I had to trust them because they were older and they were driving. Guess what... the geese did come, about 20 feet off of the ground and they stopped dead (no pun intended) at the crest of the hill as they tried to fly against the wind. We got our limit, no problem, but that strategy did not work every time. Now I drive by that area and see housing developments. They sure made a mess out of our old hunting grounds!
Jim Hunter (66) also mentioned jumping off of the railroad bridge at the mouth of the Yakima river. Perhaps you may want to ask Bobby Irwin (62) how (why) he and I ended up on the very top of the bridge which lead to the final decision that we should jump from there.
Well, enough memories for this day.
Tom Hemphill
Bob DeGraw (66)
Subject: carboats & bombs
The people who live across the street from my house (actually it's my folks' house, but it's where I grew up and it will always be MY house) had one of those boatcars. Their name is Lindburgh. We were down at the boat dock getting ready to go skiing and he drove up in that little contraption and just drove right into the water. My dad really flipped because he's really mechanically inclined and he wanted to know how it worked and all that. So he would go across the street and get all the details from Mr. Lindburgh.
During the Summers of my High School years I worked for the Jolly Green Giant in Waitsburg. I worked in the factory that processed peas. One night -- we weren't working -- myself, and I can't even remember who, were out roaming this huge metropolis for females. We went by a house and on the porch was a Bomb. Ya, a Bomb. We went up to the door and knocked to see why they had a bomb on the porch. No one answered. So we went back another night and still no one was there. So on the 3rd trip to the house, when no one answered, we did what any gold and green blooded bombermaniac would do. We stole it! I brought it back to Richland and gave it to someone at school. But I don't know if we used that one to put in the middle of the court or not. Yes, I was a juvenile delinquent!
PS. No one has yet responded as to when we actually became "Bombers". Can I assume that no one knows?
[Bob: http://members.wbs.net/homepages/r/h/s/rhs42.html is the site for class of '42 .. There's a picture of the first high school and also an article from the Tri City Herald about the RHS Beavers turned Bombers. Check it out! --Maren]
Cheryl Moran Fleming (66)
I was driving home from getting my hair ratted and sprayed for the Prom, when my car ran out of gas on the corner of Torbett and Goethals (sp?). Anyway, some guy I knew from school happened along and I got a ride home with him. Being in a hurry to get ready for the evening, I left the car at the corner till the following morning. When my dad and I returned to pick it up, it was gone. Turns out some "Busy body" thought it was stolen because I had hopped into another car so quickly. Anyway, she called the police and it was towed to the police station. We had to go and bail it out. My dad was very quiet during that ride to the police station, and somehow, I knew I was in trouble. I guess the police hadn't even bothered to look at the registration and called our house before towing it away!
October 22, 1998
Betty Johnson Bennett (46)
I wrote several days ago that I remembered the amphibious car and thought it was in the 50's. Seems that I was off target by about 20 years!! Guess it was more like the 70's.
I moved here with my family from Denver in 1944. My dad was a fireman at White Bluffs. We moved into a 3-bedroom prefab at 707 Sanford. I went to Col-Hi for my junior and senior years, graduating in June, 1946. When we first came here, there was a Naval Air Base at Pasco (out at the old airport there). The Army hadn't arrived here yet that I can remember. I ended up marrying a sailor the next month after I graduated!!
While the government still owned the houses (we bought ours in 1958), if you lost your job or retired, you had to move out of town. The housing was only for the government workers or people working in facilities that had houses allotted to them. Consequently, it was a very young town and lots of children. While the government still owned the houses, if you wanted to move into a larger house, you had to have a good reason and get approval to do so. Then if your request was approved, you got on a list. The list was displayed on a big board by the housing authority (think it board was where public health is located now). The favorite (and cheapest) entertainment was to put the kids in the car, get a popsicle or something, and go check the housing list to see if your name had maybe moved up a notch!!
Betty (Johnson) Bennett
Mary Kay Mitchell Coates (52)
I was saddened to hear the news of "Big John" Meyers (58) death. His sister, Barbara Meyers Granthan (52), and I were best friends all through High School, and Johnny, being a few years younger, was "the fly in the ointment" and seems we were always trying to ditch him. The suddenly, he grew to be a huge hunk of a football player and we then saw him a bit differently!
Thinking about John brought back some memories about the group of gals I palled around with. Barb Meyers, Nonajean Sterling, Vera Rodda, Bev Coates and I (all class of 52) were known as the "Amazons" during our last couple years of High School. We were all very TALL gals, and when we walked down the halls of Col-Hi together we presented a formidable front!! We formed a basketball team, and played in a city league. The Civil Air Patrol sponsored us. Les Kurz' (50) dad was our coach. We were pretty much greenhorns but had tons of spirit!! We were awarded the sportsmanship trophy at the end of the season. We were up against seasoned teams that had gals like Bev Clary (49) playing for them. I think Jane Rollison (52) was on that team also.
Kay Mitchell Coates
Mike Bradley(56)
Someone was trying to find out the name of a police officer that was assigned the job of monitoring most of the kids in those days. The one I recall on too much of an intimate basis was a fella with the last name of Linkus. Over the years I seem to recall meeting him much more than I wanted to. He an my father got to know each other on a first name basis, much to my dismay.
Arlo at one time attended Sacajawea grade school. We younger kids were always in awe of him since he was twice as big as we were. Kids assigned to detention from time to time used to get the job of assisting Arlo with his school work. I seem to recall being one who assisted him quite a lot. I do not recall seeing him after I left for Chief Joseph.
I can remember the drive inn movie theater with a great deal of fond memories. The group of guys that I ran around with managed to check out the dot patterns on the back of the Olympia Beer Bottles on a regular basis. Someone around town had spread the rumor that if you accumulated so many of the 4 dot labels they were worth a six-pack or a case of beer. We tried to accumulate as many labels as we could at both drive inns. We used to drive clear over to East Pasco as there was a store over there that we could patronize in our procurement of beer. There was also a house somewhere over there we would go to and the guy that lived there would go to the Liquor store and purchase some of that cheap bourbon or fortified wine. I had a special pair of Milkman type overalls and an old shirt that I would don to make me look older for those escapades. I had a 1942 Hudson that the hood opened up from the back and a lot of space between the radiator and the front grill that made an excellent place to stash all of our booze or beer. Trunks would get checked from time to time at the drive in but they never did look under the hood of my car.
There has been quite of bit of information about the Irrigation pipes that ran through out the area. I recall a bunch of one night raided a watermelon patch that had one of these pipes adjacent to this guy's property. We would harvest the watermelons and then throw them into the pipe and they would float down where we had parked our cars so we could make a clean get away. We had several watermelon parties on top of flat top in West Richland.
Flat top and somewhere out by the old riding academy seem to be the most popular hang outs that were frequented on weekend nights. There was also another place out towards the "Y" fairly close to I think Bob Butler's (56) house that was also a hangout contender.
Does anyone remember participating in the Richland Players theater organization? My dad got both my brother and I involved participating as actors,, set makers and what have you. Mike (56) and Terry (57) Van Wyck I know were involved. I was in "Life with Father" and "Mr. Roberts". I played Whitney in "Life with Father" and I can vividly recall Mrs. Van Wyck spraying my hair with Shellac to make the part in the center of my head obey. I have always claimed that is what caused me to loose most of my hair as I aged. The plays were first put on at Chief Joseph as I remember and then were moved to the Village theater downtown. There was also a Richland Light Opera Company who produced several performances. For a small town in Eastern Washington we had a lot of cultural activities, and organizations that were extremely talented and well run.
Mike Bradley
Connie Foster McLean (63)
Re: Maiders - Mary-65/Barb-59?60?
The grade school the Maider girls and we Foster girls attended was Jefferson. We were part of the neighborhood bunch with Betsy Fuller (63); Dave Warren (61): Dan Finch (62); Jack (61), Hallie (62), Anna (64), Janet (65) Glover; Larry Coryell (61); later on Jeannie Walsh (63) and Frank Stratton (64).
The other day, when you were talking about fond memories of Christmas with the Charettes, it also jogged my memories of them -- we lived across "the circle" from them. We marveled at their large family and that everything seemed to always go smoothly for them, despite their huge family. I especially remember the two older girls, one who was going to become a nun, but got married instead. Many fond memories as a small child of playing "hide and seek" and "kick the can" on those late summer evenings and marbles in the middle of the Hunt Point "circle".
Mary Collins Burbage (63)
To Carol Converse Maurer: How I loved those cinnamon rolls. I have a recipe that comes close.
I was always told that the canoe was left there by Lewis and Clark and that is how the school got its name. In retrospect, I was always very gullible.
Teresa Cook Morgan (73)
To John Northover (59): Ah . . . such cheers are interesting, and perhaps indicative of the "innocence" or whatever of the time you went to Col-Hi. We had the "BBA" Bleacher Bums of America. All guys with deep, deep voices that filled the gym overpowering all sounds. My favorite cheer yelled with emphasis shown and haughty superiority:
Kennewick, Kennewick, if YOU'RE so GREAT. Why don't YOU ever go to STATE?
October 23, 1998
Tony Tellier (57)
To Paula Beardsley Glenn (62): I sure do remember Charlie. He lived up north across the street from Medwin Eastwood. Charlie had a fine Ford convert of the '46-'48 vintage. Bob Arnold also lived to the SW of you. What happened to Charlie?
TT
Bob DeGraw (66)
Different people have mentioned fruit raids of one type or other. Richland was an orchard. We had 4 Peach trees and a plum tree in our yard and the Berkleys who lived next door had a couple of Apple trees. There were also a lot of Cherry trees around. On more than one occasion, late in the peach season when the peaches were ripe and getting mushy, I can remember hucking them at various objects like dogs and cats and windows and the sides of houses. Who needed eggs!
Joy Stanfield (71)
I remember 'the boys' going off to Waitsburg to work in the peas. Still cannot eat Jolly Green Giant peas.
I remember a summer sorting cherries down at the "Y" with Barb and sister Rena. And at least one summer sorting potatoes in Pasco with another sister Caroline [66].
My friend Karla took me to see BB King in Walla Walla in the late 60's. What a treat.
Wasn't allowed to go to 'that sleazy' Roller Rink though -- boy that was a 'bummer.' I really wanted to be there. That was where the action was I thought. I remember the Water Follies and the Hydroplane races. Never forget walking down that river road in my early teens listening to my brother's band playing "Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procal Harem. That song is still my very favorite. Can't remember the name of the band my brother was in but they practiced in our basement and I loved it.
When I was around 16 my friend donned her Mother's wig and bought beer. I was impressed!!! I would not have been able to pull that off.
I remember the dress standards at Chief Joseph. Rolling my skirts up in the morning and rolling them down when I was called into the office. Kneeling down for the girl's counselor so she could be sure it wasn't more than 3 inches from the ground with a ruler. Having to go home and change if it happen to measure 4-heaven forbid-inches above the knee. Hey -- I still love mini skirts.
Miss Boatman's PE class in Junior High was the best. or some reason or another Steph, Paula and I were always 'doing laps'. I think we were just having too much fun.
When I was very young we would get in our pajamas Saturday evening and my parents would take us to the Drive-In movies. Can't recall one movie as I was sound asleep before they even started.
On Sunday my Dad would take us for a drive. He'd rive up to flat top getting as close to the edge as he could. We got so excited it made him laugh and laugh. I am sure he didn't get that close but we loved the thrill. We would go out to Horn Rapids and watch Indians netting salmon sometimes. After our outing we went home and made the best banana splits. Of course Bonanza was on at 9pm. Had to stay up for Little Joe Cartwright.
Sledding Carmichael Hill. And Christmas caroling. Trick or treat bags filled with 5 cent hershey bars etc.. I was in heaven for weeks after Halloween.
'Tooling' Zips and spending my lunch money on cigarettes. ( I was going to quit smoking when they went up to 50 cents a pack if I recall -- sure right -- I paid $3.75 for a pack in Seattle not too long ago)
Levee Landing and jumping from the cliffs. (Can't remember if I made the plunge or not. Probably not.) Floating the river. The Lagoon. Baitman Island. Sacajawea Park. Hat Rock. Never would swim the Yakima though.
Every summer we would go camping, either to the mountains or over to the coast.
I remember the sun rising over the Columbia and the most beautiful desert sunsets.
I remember 'The Field' between Jadwin and Geo Way by the Uptown. I lived on Johnston and loved walking across to the river. Remember swimming off the docks in summer. And going everywhere barefoot!!!
Life was good.
Joy Christine Stanfield
Lois Clayton Colton
(72)
There was a Beauty Shop by the old Mayfair grocery store. Dolly was my mother's and my beautician for years.
Lois Clayton Colton
