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Washington Sate
PASCO #1
I was
thirteen when we moved to Washington.
After our arduous trek across the country, working and living as migrant
workers, it was almost culture shock to find our selves in a home again. Mom
& Dad got us a place to live in a housing project in
Pasco,
WA,
called “The Navy Homes.” Our address was
306-A West Agate Street. It was a nice place too, and I was so amazed by the light
switches (they had little lights in them that glowed in the dark… very modern).
We had no furniture at first and had to make do with folding stools and boxes
& such. But eventually we got things straightened out with beds, chairs,
sofa and even a TV! I remember we were living there when the premier of “Kung
Fu” (with David Carradine) came on. I fell in love with that show immediately.
In fact, I just watched an episode of “Kung Fu, The Legend Continues” last
weekend and enjoyed it immensely (it was an episode I had never seen). Also
while we lived here we met our neighbors, the Bowens. I used to baby-sit for
Erin Bowens. Here children were Robin, Angel and Ian Bowens. Skip later became
good friends with Ian, thought I understand he became a real hoodlum and if he
is still alive, he is probably in jail. I had a crush on Robin and I used to go
to their Church with them for a while. This was where I took a course in
Dactylology (sign language) with Pastor Dobson (1973). I still use my sign
language today. In fact, just last Friday (2/22/02) I spent most of the evening with a deaf
acquaintance of mine at his family’s house (I was the only one who knew sign
language and he was happy to have someone he could talk with).
Strangely… I have no idea what
Daddy did for work at this time. My memory of that is quite vague. However, I
do remember that while we lived here, Darlene found a shoebox in the
dipsy-dumpster with some potting soil in it. She took it in to Mom who was
trying to grow some plants indoors. Mom added the potting soil to her plants
and a few days later she started to get little sprouts popping up in her
plants. She kept pulling them out (calling them “damn weeds”). Finally she
decided to save a few to see what they were. She had a big green vase made of
glass into which she put some soil and planted a bunch of the sprouts. They
grew quickly in the full light of the living room window. They were about 2 and
a half feet tall when we had an incident with the little girl next door name Shannon”
who broke the glass on our screen door (or stole our milk delivery… or
something like that). We called the police and an officer came over and took
the report. He kept looking at Mom’s “weeds” in the window, but never said
anything. Shortly after this, Daddy brought home a magazine from where ever it
was he worked and showed a picture of Cannabis Sativa … which looked just like
what Mom was growing in a vase in the living room window! It was Marijuana!
Oops!
They ended up taking the vase
with the pot plants in it down to the police station. I wish I could have been
there! According to Mom’s rendition of the event, there were standing in line
at the window and when it was there turn that cop at the window looked at them
and said “nice pot plants you got there!”
This was back in the mid-70’s … during the time that “Cheech &
Chong” were really big. Just barely past the days of the Hippies… it was a
major deal back then!
I also remember Mrs. Dillabaugh
and her (mentally challenged) daughter, Patty, with whom I rode to church with.
I remember Mrs. Dillabaugh always asking me when we came home, “Do you accept
Jesus Christ as your savior?” I, of
course, was intimidated and always assured her that I did, despite the fact
that my Mom’s side of the family had not quite given up our Cherokee and/or
Celtic "pagan" beliefs and I did NOT think of myself as a Christian.
It was during this time that I started to be slightly fearful of Christianity.
Considering the violent history of Christianity, this would eventually make a
good deal of sense to me. In time, I learned to not be intimidated and to be
proud of my “pagan” heritage. But this would be several decades in the future!
HATTON #1
Daddy finally
got a job on a farm and the job came with a house. So we moved to
Hatton,
WA. I was now 14 years old. This was one of the
biggest houses I ever lived in. I had my own room built in one corner of the
basement. We had a laundry shoot, a library, and a fireplace. There were
mansion-like columns in front of the house. The garage was a separate building
behind the house and we had a huge front and back yard with a nice garden in
back. Nana and Kenneth moved in with us while we lived here. I went to school
in a town called Lind. I was not in the 8th grade. This was where I
met Helen Lucille Sands, who later met and married Kenneth, becoming my
sister-in-law. I still keep in touch with Helen who lives with her husband
Scott in Blanchard, Idaho.
I chat with Scott on-line quite often in fact. While we lived in this house we
had a telephone. This was only the 3rd time in my life that we had a
phone. It was while we were living here
that I worked in the fields hoeing beets and potatoes and earned some money,
which I gave to Mom to keep for me. However, that money was later used to buy a
pony for Darlene which we named Paint. I still have a braid made from hair from
Paint’s tail.
With money I earned from hoeing,
I bought my first article of clothing that I ever purchased all by myself. It
was just a plain, maroon, short sleeve, dress shirt; but I was very proud of
this minor milestone marking the journey of my life. I still own that shirt,
but it no longer fits!
It was a wonderful house, but we
did not live there long. The boss’s daughter was getting married and they
wanted the house. As a result, Daddy lost his job (and of course the house).
Two significant acquaintances
that I had from living in Hatton were Bruce Martin and Leo Boggs.
HATTON #2
We ended
up just moving down the street into a rickety old drafty house, which had lots
of bugs. I don’t remember too much about living there, but I do remember mother
getting into Mom’s home made “Lemon Beer” and drinking so much that she got
drunk and walked off a cliff! Well… it was actually a very high embankment, and
she fell into a pile of soft dirt (fortunately). We had a little dog that Daddy
named “Wooly Booger” … we think someone poison him. I got a German Shepherd
while we lived in Hatton and named him Duke. We finally got a place back in
Pasco
and moved from this rickety old house.
I met Richard Smith while living
at this second house in Hatton. He lived (sort of) across the street from us.
His mother was Dixie Smith and she was also our bus driver (bus #25 of
Connell
High School). She was also a very impressive organ player!
I also remember that my friend
“Donald” who lived down the street was supposedly killed by a model airplane.
It was a remote control device which flew away from him and came at him from
behind, hitting him I the back of the head and killing him. I never knew if
this was true or not, but I never saw Donald again. I suspect that it really
did happen.
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PASCO #2
We
ended up moving right back to the Navy Homes in Pasco,
but this time our address was 306-B West Agate Street.
The apartments were set up in sets of four and each building was on a hill. On
the high side of the hill were 2 one-story apartments. On the low side were 2
two-story apartments. Apartment 306-A
was on the high side, and “B” was a two-story apartment
on the low side.
We still had my dog, Duke, when we moved in here. I got a new pet
while living here… one of my most favorite pets of all time; a pigeon
name “Love.” I found Love as a young
squab hanging from the mouth of our neighbor’s dog, Rufus. I rescued the young
squab and raised it indoors while we lived in this second home in Pasco. I also remember Marlene moved from Texas |
McLoughlin Civic Center. My brother attend McLoughlin
HS for 7th grade (1983) and I attended for 8th grade (1972). |
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McLoughlin High School, circa 2007
remodeled as a Civic Center. |
I was still only 14 years old…
all these moves happened in a short period of time. I was still in 8th
grade and attended McLoughlin Jr. High on 3rd
street in Pasco
(this was my 12th time to change schools). That was a tough school
for me and I remember getting in a lot of fights and having to walk to school with
a knife in my pocket. I think I completed the 8th grade in Pasco,
and during that summer we moved yet again. While living here, we knew a old man named “Mr. Zinc” who used to bring us “food” which
he found discarded behind grocery stores and so forth. I can remember him with
his boxes of “goodies” in the back of his old station wagon with all kinds of
things, which could have the mold trimmed away, or the rotten spots cut off. It
may seem gross, but we were so poor then and any short cuts were welcome! My
sister also tells me as I am writing this that Mr. Zinc’s brother had some
property on which we kept Darlene’s pony, Paint. |
I got my first (and only)
typewriter during this time. I got it from the Salvation Army in Pasco
for just $2.00. The staff put it in an
old satchel, and I dragged it slowly to the house. It was a long way and I was
just a teenager, so it was a very strenuous task. I learned to type on this
40-year old, cast iron, Underwood typewriter. I used a typing manual, which I
got from the Goodwill Store (also in Pasco).
That was the same Goodwill at
which I bought my Braille slate. I still have that Braille slate, but I rarely
practice writing Braille any longer.
This is Daddy in our front yard at "The Ranch" where we lived on
Fred Jones' property just outside of Eltopia, WA. To the left one can
see the old International pickup (pinkish) and beyond the "one-ton"
truck. These were two of the first vehicles I ever drove...
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ELTOPIA
We moved to “the ranch” on
“Windy Hill” just outside of
Eltopia in the summer
of 1973. For the 13th and last time, I changed schools and began
attending
Connell
High School.
The ranch was located on highway 359 between Eltopia and Connell. We still had Paint and I still had Duke. We
also had a cat names “Stinker” who appeared to be a nearly full blood
Manx “tailless” cat. She had mated with
“Red” … a clubfoot cat owned by the Bowens’ back in Pasco
and had a “son” who we named Sasquatch Kaishek. While living here, we also
acquired “Perky” … a cute little Terrier mix that became an all-time
favourite family pet. We had lots of animal interaction in Eltopia. There
were the two dogs that lived on the ranch; they belonged to the owner, Fred
Jones. They’re names were Dottie and Blue. There was “Granny” … a 13-year-old
Holstein
who I had to milk everyday. Also were “Mister” and “Bluster.” Mister was the “head” Gander
among the geese while Bluster was the leader of the turkeys. There were many
chickens… one that I recall was named “Penny.” I also still had Love (the pigeon) who was
finally learning to fly in the outdoors. I also discovered something amazing
about him. One day he flew into the house for a drink (he was very civilized)
and flew into ‘lisa and Darlene’s room.
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He crawled up under their blankets
and was acting real weird. When he laid an egg I realized why! He
was a “she!” I was
flabbergasted… I thought Love was a male all this time. It wouldn’t be the
last time I made that mistake; and even though I am much wiser today, I won’t
be so surprised if I make that mistake again today! Love slowly learned to
fly properly and joined the other wild pigeons and disappeared into the wild.
I hope she had babies and that her descendants are still flying around
Eltopia Washington today, but I
don’t really know what happened to her. She was a wonderful bird though and I
loved her. Living in downtown St. Louis
as I do now, I see lots of pigeons. But in this environment people just think
of them as disease ridden “flying rats.”
I always feel sad about that when I remember how much personality Love
had and how much joy she brought the entire family and me. Even Daddy liked
her (despite himself).
I remember one
day when “Mr. Herman” (Herman Jones… brother to Fred Jones and Daddy’s
co-worker), was working out at the shop and Love was curious about what he was
doing. She landed on top of the roof of “The Shed” and kept trying to peer over
the edge to see what he was doing. (He was doing something like sharpening
blades on a grinder). Finally, she just flew down onto his cowboy hat and
continued to look over the edge of his hat to get a closer look. Mr. Herman was
very cool about it and just continued to work with my pigeon on his hat! Love
was a funny bird and kept us laughing all the time. Not what one would expect
from a “flying rat.”
During our
time living in Eltopia, I attended Connell High School, in Connell, Washington.
This was the first school that I started to become comfortable with and one for
which I have many pleasant memories. Two of my best friend during this era of my
life were Dales Jones (nephew to Fred and Herman Jones) and Earl Hart. I
attended Connell High longer than any school since leaving California in 1969
and some of the classes I took while there will stay with me forever. This
includes my Sci-Fi Class in 1973 in which I read several classics, including
Dune. (Note - Dale Jones and I became re-connected in
2006 during our 30-year class reunion. I did not attend, as I was living in
Illinois and not doing well financially, but we have been communicating daily
ever since. 1/11/2008)
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Dennis Pruitt
Connell HS
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I took
my first typing class at age 16 with Mr. ... hmm... well, I remember his name
was "Fred Nichols" In Mrs. Gottschalk's class I studied Gregg Shorthand. I
got my friend Earl to join me and we were the only males in the class, but I
think he was too uncomfortable with this and dropped out. I would go on to
take shorthand in college about ten years after this. My favorite class with my all-time favorite teacher of all was with Mr.
Dennis Pruitt for Biology and eventually Advanced Zoology. In the summer of
1975 (or may 1976?) our Zoology class to a trip to the San Juan Islands that
I will never forget. We sang songs on the bus and all the football players
were singing in falsetto voices that were hilarious. I had my tape recorder
and camera and will add pictures to this tale in time. If the tape has
survive and I can get the recordings into digital format, I will add them to
this page too! It should be very entertaining, especially to any of those who
were on this trip.
While we were living in Eltopia, in 1974 I believe, I had a job for a
while working at Spada’s cleaning up under the potato belts, and unloading
trucks. That was one of my first semi-decent paying jobs. It was with money
from working at Spada’s that I bought my very first electronic hand held
calculator. It was called a “Sears Electronic Slide-rule” and I paid $64.12
for it (including tax). That is another possession that I still have today (2004).
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Later, in the
summer of 1975, I stayed in town with the Bowens for a time while I worked for
ETI (the Education & Training Institute), an office funded by the State of
Washington.
This was my first real job where I worked in a professional capacity as the
Secretary to the General Manager of the Support Services Staff. Her name was
Dorothy. It was very strange to most people to walk into her office and see
her, a female, as the Director of the office and me, a male, as her secretary
taking shorthand and typing and such! This was 1975 and such things were not
the standard in those days.
It was while I lived in Eltopia
that I received the first letter from Debra Graham. My old girl friend from
Garwood. We continued to write back & forth to each other for a while.
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