I was born May 15, 1935, at Bell Memorial Hospital in Kansas City, KS. My parents were living in an upstairs apartment in my paternal grandmother's home. My memories of that time are limited to my mother's stories. She tutored a high school age boy across the street and was so dismayed that he did not know about Shakespeare that she would read Shakespeare to me at the age of only a few months. Perhaps that is where my love of reading and literature started.
We later moved to Council Grove, KS, where my maternal grandfather owned a Rexall Drug Store. At a time when I could have all the free ice cream I wanted, I preferred eating just the cone--who knows why because ice cream certainly became a favorite before long. I still have memories of that store and the large barrel of horehound drops that was always there and from which I sneaked lots of candy. There was a large floor furnace at the back of the store and one day I fell across it burning my leg quite badly. My grandfather grabbed me up, slathered salve from a large container in his pharmacy all over it and ran with me to the hospital down the street. The burn healed before too long but up into my junior high years if I got very hot or very cold you could see faint traces of the grill work on my leg.
We lived in an old stone house that had once been a brewery near the Neosho River. I faintly remember a flood while we lived there. The house itself was about 6 feet above ground level and the water came to within one step of the first floor. Of course the basement was flooded along with many of my parents' treasures and photographs.
We also lived in another house that was next to a pasture where the neighbor's kept their pacer horses. Our collie, Cass, and I would sneak off to go see the horses and because the horses were so skittish everyone was afraid to come get us for fear they would spook the horses and I would get hurt. The horses never hurt me although Daddy was called from work several times because Mother was so worried.
When we returned to Kansas City about the time I was 4, I had another chance to be around horses. Daddy was in a cavalry unit with the National Guard. He would take me to the stables with him whenever he could always telling Mother that I didn't get near the horses. When the wife of a fellow Guard member showed Mother pictures they had taken of me on some of the horses, our story was out. We lived out in the country at the time and Daddy was going to work with one of the horses that was giving everyone trouble. Some of the other members of the Guard brought the horse out during the day while I was supposed to be taking a nap. However, I woke up, looked out the window, saw them unloading the horse, grabbed my favorite doll and ran out the backdoor and down the path directly behind the horse. Of course, he kicked and the head of my doll rolled across the yard. The young men who brought the horse almost fainted because they knew it was my head, not the doll's, that they saw rolling across the yard. I did learn very quickly not to run up behind a horse. But it didn't diminish my love of horses.
When I was 5 1/2, my brother was born--a year, a month and a day before Pearl Harbor. We lived in a house across the street from the school where I went to kindergarten. The thing I remember most about that house was Mother and I sitting in rocking chairs near the floor furnace eating snow ice cream. I also had measles while we lived there and I remember the red warning sign that the health people tacked by the door. Daddy's National Guard unit was mobilized at the beginning of the war but he soon had a medical discharge because of varicose veins. He went to work as a guard at North American Aviation where he worked for several years before joining the Kansas City police department.
We lived in several different houses in Kansas City--Ann Street (I was in 1st grade), 10th Street (2nd and 3rd grades) and finally 2607 Everett (4th-7th grades). We had a large extended family while in KC--my father had 3 brothers and 2 sisters who lived there and I had 6 cousins. We had many family get-togethers and I learned early to cope with the teasing of 3 uncles. Having such a family gives one a particular feeling of belonging I found.
In 1948 we found that we had to leave the Kansas City area to get to a warmer and drier climate. Daddy had had 2 different motorcycle accidents while with the police department which coupled with football injuries while in high school and college had caused spinal injuries requiring major surgery and had finally developed into spinal arthritis. During our last winter in KC he had great difficulty even getting out of bed and was in constant pain. The doctor's said that if he wanted to get any better we needed to get out of the KC climate. So we sold the house and much furniture, put some furniture in storage and, with 2 children and a car-sick prone cocker spaniel, Mother and Daddy set out from our home and family ties for the southwest. Seems to me that took a lot of courage on their part.
We made a stop after about a week's travel in Roswell, NM, to see some friends of friends and never got any further. After traveling the desolate NM countryside from Santa Fe to Roswell, the large trees and green grass was inviting and seemed like home. We bought a small short-order cafe and while Jim and I attended school, Mother and Daddy ran the restaurant. I had a choice of washing dishes or waiting tables after school and because of my shyness chose washing dishes. Got to be pretty good and pretty fast at it. The climate agreed with Daddy's back but the cement floors didn't help much so after a few years we sold the restaurant and Daddy went to work for Furr's grocery stores as a store detective traveling over west Texas and southeast New Mexico. I had fun going with him at times during the summers. He later worked for Glover Packing Company as a salesman across southern NM and even later went into politics and state jobs.
While in Roswell my best friend, Jane, lived on a cotton farm south of town. I spent a lot of time there riding her horse. Her family also liked hunting and fishing and we spent time at San Marcial on the central Rio Grande running trout lines for catfish. Caught some big ones and had some delicious fish fries.
After graduating from high school in 1953, I attended New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM. During that time I met Gene Whitlock and we were married in August, 1956, immediately after my graduation. We were both education majors and got jobs in Alamogordo, NM. Gene taught physical education and I was a school secretary for the first year there since there were no openings in my area of business and English. The next year I taught math, reading and science to 7th graders. Our first child, Kip Carson, was born July 29, 1958 and I went back to teaching (high school typing) in August. That was a hard fall but Gene's grandmother, Clair Harris, lived with us and took care of Kip for his first year. Then I drove a school bus and did substitute teaching for a couple of years. Wendy Erin was born March 14, 1960. The fall of `61 I went back to teaching and was librarian at Central Jr. High; later I taught typing and finally English there.
After 10 years in Alamogordo, Gene got a position with the State Department of Education in Santa Fe and we moved there in August, 1966. I got a position teaching remedial reading at Pojoaque and was there three years before becoming Title I Language Arts Coordinator with the Santa Fe Public Schools. This position was terminated the spring of 1972--the same time I was going through a divorce with Gene. It was a difficult time but the kids were very supportive and just before school started I did get a job again with Santa Fe schools--teaching typing at Leah Harvey Jr. High. From that I went to teaching reading there and later to Capshaw Jr. High.
In 1980, while square dancing, I met Don Nickell and we married in 1981 after learning that we got along very well while building a house. We had great times both dancing and building--and still do though those days are behind us.
I retired in 1992 after serving as assistant principal for two years at DeVargas Jr. High and six years at Santa Fe High. It was a busy time but filled with interesting activities. When it came to the time that I didn't look forward to going to work and helping kids, I decided it was time to retire and get on with other things. Those other things have included quilting and working with Don on our families' genealogy. It has been much fun.
Return to Home Page