Our tour guide is THIS GUY. My Dad. Here he is in the parking lot that used to be the hospital where he was born. He claims that his mother walked about four blocks to this hospital in order to give birth to him. Yes, it's four blocks away from the house in which he grew up. It's a great story - especially when he tells it. (That's my pesky little brother, Aaron, sucking up and laughing his head off during the story. Calm down, man. You're in the will.)This alleged (I'm just saying - it's been a parking lot for as long as I've been alive) former hospital is across the street from Del Monte Meat, which used to be a small grocery store. My Grandma Shirley would send Dad to the store for milk or bread, but by the time he got there he'd forget what he came for and buy a doughnut instead.
Dad grew up in the house that is now The Museum. It is next door to Great Grandma Bessie's, which was pink while she was living in it. (Awesome.) While we stood on the corner Dad could point to a bunch of houses where all his cousins lived. Fun, huh?
Grandpa Curtis and Grandma Shirley are the only ones left in the neighborhood that everyone used to live in.
This is the grade school my Dad went to. He and Grandma Shirley, his mother, had the same 2nd grade teacher!
Dad's Grandpa Milton (dibs on that name for a baby boy!) worked at the Gateway Printers a few blocks away from his house. Pictured above is the door to the business. I like photos of doors. Are you noticing a trend? Life was concentrated on about a three mile radius. Just down the street from the Gateway Printers was a car dealership where my Grandpa Lloyd stopped to look at a car one day. While he was looking, my Uncle Mark (my Mom's brother) was hit by a car. I always thought this most dramatic (and instructional) event happened closer to their house. One more reason to take a tour of Pocatello. (There are a lot of squirrels in Pocatello. This one actually turned to look at me when I asked him if I could take his picture.)
We let Bridget out of the car to hear the tales of Irving Jr. High (behind her). Grandpa Curtis taught math there for 100 years. Dad and his friends played baseball in the park across the street. One time he hit the ball so hard it sailed into the street. And landed in the back of a truck driving by. They just had the one ball.
We skipped ahead to Idaho State University (the door to the Administration Building where Grandpa Lloyd worked is pictured above) after Irving Jr. High. Dad is now the LDS Institute Director for ISU. All this tripping down Memory Lane made us hungry for Thanksgiving dinner.
8 comments:
i think i like it when you are the tour guide.
your door pictures are quite fetching. a few doorways caught my eye while on my travels. i wonder why they are so inviting?
bridget's room looks cute and sounds like an exciting adventure. paint on carpet.
Your dad is one cool guy and your mother rocks. He and your mother were guest speakers at an area Single Adult fireside recently and at the end he sang accompanied by your mother. They really wowed the audience. The next time I ran into him was at a grand-nephew's baptism where, once again, your dad sang accompanied by your mother. Best rendition of the Primary baptism song I've ever heard.
They can't leave Pocatello ever again. We've already fallen in love with them!
Thanks!
Roland Smith
Ahhh...Pocatello. I can actually hear what Dad is saying in that first picture (Kids! Kids!) and I can smell that building where Grandpa worked. Thanks for the education- I always thought that uncle Mark was hit right in front of their house. So...they were at a car dealership and he got away? That is a totally new story. And Milton is all yours.
P.S. I happened to call and talk to Mom while you all were on the tour and she was bustin' butt in the kitchen. I hope you guys brought something!
Awesome! This changes forever the way I'll look at Pocatello, which suggest that I ever look at Pocatello, which I don't.
The baseball landing in the back of a truck story is pretty good.
Wow, those pictures turned out great! I love them. That was so fun, and I saw how hard you were trying to get Bridget to look at you by the fire hydrant. You nailed it! I think my favorite is the shot of the school through the trees.
I love this! I want similar tours from my mom and dad ("This is the Dairy Queen Dad crashed the delivery truck into when he got his first job..." "This is the JB's Big Boy behind which Mom got her first kiss from a boy who claimed his dad was an international spy..."). I know their stories, but I haven't seen the famous places.
I grew up in UT, but my dad was an Idaho boy.... He still sings the state song every time he crosses the border (seriously, every.single.time -- and he can't carry a tune, lol). Do your parents do that? Right now I'm just down the road from Pokey ("where Idaho begins," if you believe the billboard just before the exit). :-)
The hospital where I was born is also now a parking lot. Sad. And now that you mention it, Pocatello DOES have a lot of squirrels. Maybe I just noticed it more because I spent so much time in that tree in Grandma's backyard.
This was so fun to read!! The part about the parking lot is the same story I hear when Dad takes us by there, too. He makes us put our hands over our hearts and requests a moment of silence for the memory of his birth. Then he'll make a comment like "can't you just feel the aw-inspiring spirit of this place??". I think your dad and mine were the ones who shouted the most for joy to come down here. wow. :)
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