~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Life
by
Thelma Mikesell Winters
Written to her daughters in December 1987
I was born the 5th living child of Jeff and Florence Mikesell - In a little yellow house in Pocatello, Idaho in April of 1934.
My memories of Pocatello were what my mother told me, as we left there when I was 4 years old. She said Daddy had quite a time getting the doctor to come to the house as he was drunk, and I was delivered without his help.
Ernie (who was 12 years older than me) had to baby sit some as I got older and Mom said he would tie me to a tree and play Marbles with his friends. I was lucky to be born into a large family with older ones to help me - and I expect I was thoroughly spoiled for a while.
Della Ann was 2 1/2 years older and she played with me. We had lots of tea parties. Once she had gathered the yellow dandelion blooms and put them in a jar with some water. At some later date she gave me some of the juice for a tea party. (I was a good girl and ate everything she gave me, even the mud pies.) Well, this time it really backfired, as I became unconscious and my legs wouldn' t hold me up. They called the doctor and he said I had been drugged or was drunk. Finally Della Ann showed them where we had been playing, and the doctor discovered the dandelion wine! grandpa Andrew Jackson Mikesell with Thelma and Della Ann
I know now that life was pretty hard for Mom and Dad as I was born in the "big depression" and they already had a family to feed. Daddy had been laid off at the Railroad. (I remember him as a tall, handsome man with thick black curly hair and beautiful blue eyes, and a very deep voice!)
I didn't realize till I was older that Dad was crippled in his feet and back from the spinal-Meningitis that he had when he was a teen-ager. He told me he went to sleep one night in the late fall, and when he woke up, it was spring.
Mama was a vivacious red-head with a sparkle in her brown eyes. She said at one time her hair was long enough to sit on when braided, and she wore it wound around her head, but it gave her a headache. So one day she just cut the braid off. When Daddy came home that night he cried over her lost flaming tresses! But she never grew it long again. She was 13 years younger than Daddy and always ready for a good time! She lost her mother at the age of 15. Mama had taken care of her mother for 2 years before that. Grandma died of Brights disease, a kidney failure. She said the doctor would come and poke needles into her mother to release the fluids from her tissues.
Florence was the oldest of the family so was delegated to her mother's place at the age of 13 to raise her 6 younger brothers and sisters, cook the meals and care for the home. Her father went off to work and was away for long periods of time. He was also a Bishop in the Mormon Church and had many responsibilities there.
The year that they had the bad flu epidemic, that killed so many, Mama (as a young girl) went with her father to take care of the ill and mostly to bury the dead.
Mama had fun times too! She told of riding in the Rodeo with her brother Carlos. And of singing in public, also with Carlos. She loved to go to dances, and I imagine had many admirers. Her fiance was killed in World War I and she later married Jeff, who was from a neighboring family. The day they were married Mama said she ate 19 bananas on the trip home in the wagon. I guess it was the first bananas she had ever eaten.
She often talked of the wonderful time she lived in. She saw the first cars built and drove them, and lived long enough to see Man walk on the Moon.
When we left Pocatello, Daddy had been ill with walking pneumonia, but the boss said if he'd bump another man off the job at the railroad for 1 day, he could get a pass for the whole family to go to Washington, so that's what we did. I thought it was wonderful! We lived in a great big house on Mt. Kit Carson at the foot of Mt. Spokane. There were some very interesting people on the mountain and we walked many miles to visit each other. Daddy worked for $1.00 a day for the W.P.A. and we had no transportation of our own. Being 27 miles from Spokane we had to depend on a neighbor or relative to get groceries and supplies. We had a nice garden with a strawberry patch and a few chickens in a coop for eggs and fryers. In the early spring we ate a lot of dandelion greens and pig weed. Jimmy and our cousin Lynn did a lot of fishing and hunting and that really helped as they brought back lots of game to eat. My mother's brother Carlos, and my dad's sister Mary (Aunt May) and their families lived on the mountain also. I remember going into Spokane in the back of the pickup with Uncle Carlos and his family. Aunt Nelly took us to see a Gene Autry show (he was her favorite.) We got the groceries for both families and on the way home we were hit by a cloudburst. It rained so hard that kids and groceries almost floated out of the bed of the pickup. It was like sitting in a bath tub! I was 5 1/2 when Mama said she was going to Spokane to the hospital to get a new baby. I figured she didn't love me anymore, so I put some of my things in a shopping bag and took off for the nearest neighbors. Daddy didn' t come get me for 2 months. That's the last time I ever ran away from home! I realize now that Mama was very ill, spent 2 months in the hospital before she had Leslie (my younger sister). I never thought then that the sweet little baby Mama brought home would someday write our family history to pass down to my children. We were in the process of moving to Spokane to a small house on the east side. Mom, Ernie and Leslie were already living there and one Sunday (Dec. 7, 1941) Ernie walked all the way back up to our place on the mountain to tell Daddy and the rest of us that we were at war with Japan, as they had bombed Pearl Harbor. Ernie went into the Army, and later Jimmie went into the Merchant Marines and after that the Army. Mama and Betty worked at Galena making parachutes. Daddy planted a "Victory garden". Everything was "rationed", and times were hard but it was for a good cause because we loved our country and was proud of it. We bought saving bonds, and most homes had stars in the windows for their men in the service. We invited service men from the Army, and Navy bases to stay in our home when on leave. Betty and Della went down to the USO and danced with them. We went. on picnics to Natatorium park with many of them. Betty was a pin up girl. I collected aluminum and rolled it into a ball and helped with Daddy's garden. I remember being in the classroom at school and hearing over the radio that President Roosevelt had died. We all cried, because we loved him. He had been a good president. When the war was over Mama took us to town that night and there was dancing and hugging in the streets. I'll never forget the joy on the faces and I'm glad she let us be a part of it. As a child growing up, I was sort of a Tom Boy. I didn' t play with dolls but usually had a "Club" of some kind most of the time with me as President. Once, after I had my paper route and earned enough to buy myself a bike, I formed a detective club. Every time we heard a siren blow we would ride to the scene and take notes on all that happened, then report at the next meeting. I rode a lot of miles on that bike! cousins - Louise Dean and Thelma with her bike My folks had left the Mormon church and we were baptized into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, while we still lived up on Mt. Kit Carson. I'm really grateful for the church, as it was the center of my life during my growing years, and later when raising my own family. I met Wayne when I went to Harper, Oregon to live with Ernie and his wife Edith for my senior year of high school. He was a handsome cowboy and sang to me - and won my heart. And has become my best friend. Our life together has been great! We have 4 lovely daughters and 7 wonderful grandchildren. We have lived a varied, but exciting life together, and made many friends and memories along the way. The hard times tend to fade in our memory as we reflect back over our 35 years together. The last 7 years have gone quickly, as we travel in our Motor Home to where ever inclination takes us. Sometimes to be with family and friends and sometimes just to be by ourselves, way out on the desert gathering artifacts of a civilization that walked and camped in the same places over 10, 000 years ago. We don't have riches or property to leave to you girls and your families, but we are glad that through Leslie's efforts in putting this project together, we can at least leave you some knowledge of your background and heritage and we take pride in passing it on to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment