Those Places Thursday - 7116 Townsend, Urbandale, Iowa

Those Places Thursday - 7116 Townsend, Urbandale, Iowa

We moved into this house in the Fall of 1970, as the first occupants. This photo was taken just a few years ago. We added the deck on the front - a new concept, at the time - by the time we left, in Summer 1983, there were 'front decks' all over town! The trees were not there when we lived there.

This is a copy of the photo Allison took this year, 2012, on her 4th of July, 30th Urbandale High School Class Reunion trip. Thanks, Allison! Both the house and the neighborhood seem to be showing some deterioration, sadly.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - 4404-71st Street, Urbandale, Iowa

Those Places Thursday - 4404-71st Street, Urbandale, Iowa

[This photo was taken a number of years after we lived there]

In the backyard, Arrion was growing up...

And, again...

And, here is the family inside the house, with my youngest brother, Paul

Oct 1969-Fall 1970

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - West Branch II

Those Places Thursday - West Branch II

This is the US Steel House that we built in West Branch - this photo was taken quite a number of years later - there were no tree or landscaping when we were there! We built the house with the idea that we would be there, in this really neat small Iowa town, for many year.

The school was a few blocks over the hill back over my left shoulder, as I took this photo. My office and 'downtown' were a few blocks over my right shoulder, likewise. It was a nice house. This was 1968-69.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - West Branch I

Those Places Thursday - West Branch I

This photo, that shows up on Easters, from time to time, is from April 1969. It is inside the little brown house we lived in for several months as our new house was being build - we'll see it next week. I have not found a photo of the outside of this little house, but nothing much lost.

We moved here from Schenectady, NY, to West Branch, IA, near Iowa City. West Branch, of course, is the birthplace of Herbert Hoover and site of his Presidential Library and Museum. The front of the museum, in the link, faces east. Walk perhaps six blocks east and a couple south, and you would be at our little house. It was on a side hill... I suspect you could see it, if you stood outside the house behind where Annette sits in the photo above. This is a classic photo of Allison, holding the egg. So neat! ;-)

Families are Forever! ;-)

Those Places - GE in Schenectady

Those Places -  GE in Schenectady

I'm going to need to move on from "my memories" from Schenectady. I wanted to do one more piece to finish my time on the GE Corporate Traveling Auditors staff, but I cannot find my "prop."

I have an 8x10 piece of paper that is full of small photos. It is the structure of the audit staff and head shots of all the men (no women, of course, in 1968) on it that quarter. It was updated, quarterly, at least. It was something like 10 rows wide and 14 rows high with the 4 highest ranking (longest there) in a top row (Larry Bossidy, as I mentioned earlier, was No. 1, at that time). When you first arrive, your face appears at the lower right. As your tenure grows, you move along the bottom row, then start at the right again on the second row from the bottom.

I was up to about the third or fourth row (from the bottom) when I decided to "move on." Guys were always "moving on" of course, for various reasons. My reason was, as mentioned a while back, I came to realize I could not see myself doing what the guys going "up and off" were going to do in terms of job and location, within the Company. Also, to get high enough to get really good jobs, meant continuing this traveling life for several years. I decided: "I was married to my wife and children, not to the company." That is my story, and I'm sticking to it!  ;-)

I loved GE. I loved what they stood for. I still do. During the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament last weekend, GE was a major sponsor. I always stopped and admired their commercials. I cannot help it. But, that life was not for me. So, we moved on.

Story to be continued.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Schenectady, New York home

Those Places Thursday - Schenectady, New York home

As mentioned in Shared Memories, last Sunday, our next stop was Schenectady, New York, at the time the headquarters of the GE Traveling Auditors of which I was becoming a part.

We were fortunate to find a nice split-level home that served us well through the coming, often difficult, year. Annette has many memories of walking to school and playing with friends in the neighborhood. Allison wanted to go everywhere, too, but we needed to be careful - she was still very young. I spent a lot of time on the road, of course. And, did I mention, Nancy was very pregnant… More on Sunday, in our next Sharing Memories.

Just remember how to find this one of my Mom, Eileen, in front of the house, Mar 1969:

The girls shared a big bed room over the garage!


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Louisville, KY - July/Aug 1964

Those Places Thursday - Louisville, KY - July/Aug 1964


I've already written some, here, here, and here, about our trip east in the summer of 1964 from St. George, Utah, where I was in the U.S. Air Force, to Louisville, KY, via visits to our families in Iowa.

While our new home, based on my civilian job at GE was being completed, we did live in a temporary apartment for a while. We were so busy adapting to our new environment we took few photos, and I certainly do not have any on hand right now.

We really liked our new three bedroom, two bath, brick home (with full unfinished basement) in the suburbs just south of GE Appliance Park. $14,000, by the way. My, how times have changed!  ;-)

Here is a photo of the house, actually taken in January 1972, when we stopped by to check it out, many years later.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - In Transit - Summer 1964

Those Places Thursday - In Transit - Summer 1964


When I finished my Air Force active duty tour in July 1964, we moved from St. George, Utah, to Louisville, Kentucky, with some "time-off" In Transit in Iowa.

Leaving St. George, we drove "cross-country" including across Highway 24 through what we now know as Wayne County and through the Capital Reef National Monument ( it didn't become a Park until a few years later). In May of 2011, we revisited that drive. [Annette and Larry now have their home just a few miles to the west! ] You will see three photos taken in 1964, when we first visited, along with the photos in the same locations, in 2011. FUN!

We then continued east, through Colorado, of course, Here is a photo taken in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where we stopped along the way to have lunch. You can see Annette out 'stretching her legs' - we were lucky she didn't run off down through the trees. ;-)

Yesterday [Wordless (nearly) Wednesday] I posted a couple of photos from our stay in Iowa, before heading for Louisville.


We didn't think about it as significant at the time, but during that trip, things were really 'heating up' over in Vietnam. By August 10, about the time we were getting to Louisville, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; generally considered the official beginning of "The Vietnam War."


The story continues on Sunday…

Families are Forever!  ;_)

Those Places Thursday - St. George, Utah (Fall 1963)

Those Places Thursday - St. George, Utah (Fall 1963)

In the fall of 1963 we moved from Winslow, Arizona, to St. George Utah. This move took us from south and east of the Grand Canyon to north and west of the Grand Canyon! The whole detachment, all the radars, all the trailers they were housed in, all moved from the mesa west of Winslow to another mesa on the west edge of St. George. Actually, in the photo, above, looking north and a little west, you can see the north end of the mesa to the far left. The St. George airport is also on the mesa; the detachment was to the south end of the mesa.

It appears this photo was taken at Christmas time; I can see the wreath and other decorations. We lived here until Summer 1964. Allison was born in March. Life marches on.  ;-)

Families are forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - RBS Express (62-63)

Those Places Thursday
RBS Express (62-63)


This is a very special Those Places because it occurred 'while' we were living it Winslow, Arizona, and St. George, Utah… It is the U.S. Air Force RBS Express, a train in several locations where I served during my 3 years in the service.

 The sun rising on the RBS Express parked in Hysham, Montana. It is a few miles west of Miles City, Montana. I had a temporary duty (TDY) assignment here, near Elko, Nevada, and in western Kansas.

This was The RBS Express #2 in full set-up - you can see the flag in the center, and the radar units on top, further back along the roof line.

 Here the airmen are operating the MSQ-39 radar monitoring bombing runs by B-47 and B-52 aircraft. Note that discussion at the wikipedia link talked about MSQ-35 equipment. Did you note that there 21 cars, 17 support and 4 radar… the description is very accurate!

Here was our dining car - we operated 3 shifts, so someone eating about all the time!

 The orderly room. I worked at one of the desks, when I was on shift.

This was the Pullman sleeper car where my compartment was. Very tiny. Each of the above photos was from Aug-Sep 62.

 This was the Nevada TDY assignment, the train is approaching Deeth, Nevada; note the nearby mountains… each terrain was carefully chosen, they told us. This was Mar 63. Once we were 'parked' on our siding, the engines would go on to other work, of course.

 This one is from Aug 63 - likely the western Kansas TDY trip - all the officers and noncoms assigned. I am third from the right, beside the taller commanding officer (a pilot).

A very memorable part of my Air Force experience.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - My Air Force Desk - Aug 1962

Those Places Thursday - My Air Force Desk - Aug 1962


Here I am, 2nd Lieutenant William L. Smith, United State Air Force, sitting at my military issue desk in a semi-trailer van, part of the Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron Detachment (SAC), on a mesa, west of Winslow, Arizona, in August 1962. How about that two-toned green color scheme? 

This would have been at the beginning of my second year (of three) on active duty. The first half of the first year was spend in Biloxi, MS, at Ground Electronics School; the second half was spent here at the Detachment. I was the third ranking Officer (of three Officers in the Detachment). The Major and the Captain were both pilots, who took tours of duty flying the B-47 and B-52 bombers flying over that our Detachment was 'scoring' as they made their simulated bomb runs.

[The B-52s started flying in 1952, and these same planes, the very same planes, were used to bomb Baghdad, Iraq, just a few years ago (85 in active service, 9 in reserve).]


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Winslow, Arizona

Those Places Thursday - Winslow, Arizona

After leaving Coon Rapids and the snow we drove to Winslow to complete our three year active duty Air Force commitment. When we arrived in Winslow, we were greeted by several days of heavy fog. A memorable experience. Here is a photo of the nice little cement brick two-bedroom we rented (and our dirty car!). It was "in the backyard" of the landlord (to the left, above), a nice young couple with a couple of young kids. We have many pleasant memories of this home, including a number of family groups who visited us there.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Maytag Store in Coon

Those Places Thursday

Maytag Store in Coon Rapids, Iowa

Sometime in the 1940s

Photo in the 19 Mar 2009 Coon Rapids Enterprise, page 4

We are taking a break in our Those Places series of our homes, to share this photo with you that shows the Maytag Store in Coon Rapids, where my Mom, Eileen, worked in 1936-1937. She mentioned the snow and cold in her diary entries (see Fri, Dec 18, as one example). This represents it very well. Who remembers this street!  ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Six weeks in So. Calif.

Those Places Thursday

Six weeks in So. California

 

 

Nancy and Annette in front of our apartment in Redondo Beach, California 

(I'm sure that was not originally black and white??)

In the afternoon of my graduation from Iowa State in the morning, one day in late May, 1961, the three of us loaded in the car (the gull-winged Chevrolet) and took off into the west for our new life in southern California. It was a very hot trip - air conditioning was not normal yet… Annette laid in the 'bed' in the back seat in her diaper, and was still sweating, along with us. Quite an experience.

We were pleased to have a nice apartment, not far from my work, not far from the ocean beach. What a life!

Within the first few days of our arrival, I got my orders to report to my first duty assignment in the Air Force, the 8th of August, as I recall. I was to report then to Ground Electronics School at Keesler Air Force Base, in Biloxi, Mississippi, as temporary duty for the rest of the year of 1961.

So, in addition to my work experience at Space Technology Labs, as a computer programmer, we got an 'all-expenses paid' (that is, I was getting a pay check!) six weeks vacation in Southern California. We did take advantage of it with many trips and vacation activities on the few weekends we had available.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Pammel Court at ISU

Those Places Thursday

Pammel Court at ISU

Nancy and Annette in front of our Pammel Court home (May 1961).

Last week, I shared our first home as a married couple in the 1959-1960 year, where Nancy was teaching in State Center, Iowa (where we lived), and I was in my junior year at Iowa State University (ISU), in Ames, a few miles to the west.

At the end of the school year in State Center, we moved to 103 Pammel Court, in Ames, just north of campus, along and just east of the main road, just north of the railroad tracks running east and west - yes, it was loud, sometimes.

We were living there, of course, when Annette was born at the Mary Greeley hospital, in Ames, in August 1960. Fall classes had started, and I was carrying and reading my Genetics textbook. Fathers didn't participate in deliveries, back then. We sat in the waiting room; so, I was making good use of my time. That is what I remember. Nancy probably has a different set of memories…  ;-) It was a comfortable small home, build for the G.I.'s coming back from World War II in the late 1940s - but still serviceable nearing 20 years later.

We lived in Pammel Court (1960-1961) until I graduated in the Spring; then moved to California. More on that to follow, of course.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - First Married Home

Those Places Thursday

First Married Home

When we first got married, in August 1959, Nancy and I lived in the upstairs apartment, with outdoor stairs, of the house, above, in State Center, Iowa, where Nancy had a school teaching contract for the 1959-1960 school year, third grade. I was a junior at Iowa State University that year, a few miles to the west. We were able to buy a simple new bedroom set, but the rest of our furniture was all left over from our parents farm homes. But, it was our place, and we were working hard to make it a home.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Farm Home

Those Places Thursday

Farm Home

As I continue this occasional 'Those Places' Thursday theme, today I will focus on 'where I grew up.'

The aerial photo is of the farm in Willow Township, Greene County, Iowa, in 1947, where I lived from about 2 until about 18 (or until I got married, at 20, depending how you count, I suppose). It is just a mile to the east of the Map I shared on a recent Mappy Monday. It was technically my third home, as explained there. 

This view is generally north, and a bit east. The road you can see at the bottom of the photo, running east and west, had an intersection with the north and south road right at the lower left corner, above, behind the trees. That road, paralleled the Carroll-Greene County road a mile to the west, ran one mile to the north to the corner where Willow #3 school sat (north and east of the corner). Two miles directly west of that corner was the location of the Star School-Star Church corner described earlier.

The clump of trees, lower left, beyond the house was 'The Grove' - I built an infamous playhouse there where many stories were told (mostly by me to my cousins, mostly girls; wonder what, if anything they recall about that?) - my younger brothers took it over after I moved on... no telling what went on there, after that.

The buildings are, from the left: House, Wash House, Cob House, Chicken House, Barn (red, of course), Corn Crib, Hog House (north side of road) and the Cattle Shed - all white, on the south side of the road. There was a very large garden west of the grove, north of the house.

Those two years between High School graduation and getting married were taken up with:

1. Summer working in Des Moines with Keck Motors, owned and operated by Mom's uncle and his family.

2. Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa - dormitory, fall, winter and spring

3. Second summer, lived in Des Moines for awhile working (unsuccessful Vita Craft sales job), then returned home for a while (working at gas station in Coon Rapids, as I had done in high school), before,

4. Iowa State University - dormitory, fall, winter and spring.

5. Summer in apartment with friends near campus, until wedding first week of August.

These are my memories. It was a long time ago, and I now realize these memories don't come as easily as they did years ago. Anyone else have that problem? Comments welcomed.

First married 'home' next...

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Inside Star Church

Those Places Thursday

Inside Star Church

A while back I reported here, Those Places Thursday, on the rural Star Church of my youth. Today, I want to share three photos from inside the church during the early 1950s.

Looking north, this is the left side of the main part of the church sanctuary. Rev. Joston is preaching. My Mom, Eileen, is at the piano on this day. (Sometimes it was my future wife, Nancy, at the piano.) The choir included several members of our two families, as well. Note the folding door, to the far right. That opened into the 'newly added' Star school building that was added.

Here is a better look at the choir (note: not the same day as above!)

Family in the choir: second from left, Aunt Lillian (Kinnick) Ford; fourth and fifth from left, Nancy's Mom and my Mom; first man on left, in back, Lillian's husband, Delbert Ford; next man, after last lady, Nancy's Dad; tallest, my next younger brother, Jim; next to him, Nancy's brother, Al Bolger. The way it worked out in a small rural church.

Meetings were held in the basement, downstairs. Here is an adult Sunday School class holding a dinner-based social meeting, one evening.

Very typical events of our small church. Great memories.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Willow#3 School, Greene County, Iowa

Those Places Thursday

Willow#3 School, Greene County, Iowa

Recently, I shared a "Those Places Thursday - Star Church 1955" that was a social center of the community where my wife and I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in west central Iowa. Today, I continue this series by sharing photos including the one-room country school that I attended for Kindergarten through seventh grade: Willow #3 in Greene County, Willow Township, Iowa. This school was located two miles directly east, across the county line, from the Star Church.

Iowa one-room country schools were originally located on the center corner of every four square miles. The Iowa I grew up in consisted of a very homogeneous checkerboard of regular roads every mile, both north and south and east and west. Only rivers, lakes and such natural barriers prevents a road every mile. Interesting, looking back; and fairly distinctive, it now seems. [Our farm house was also on a corner, one mile directly south of the Willow #3 school house.]

A few years ago, I created a web page in my The Early Years series on Willow #3. Today, I will add another photo taken at the school. I'm at the far right, with suspenders.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Star Church 1955

Those Places Thursday

Star Church 1955

This photo would have been taken between my sophmore and junior year in high school. This is the rural Methodist Church that was the focal point of our rural community. The left hand side of the building was the original church, see below. The right side was originally the Star School building that had been located across the road to the far left, above. It was moved, a new basement was built, the school building "set on top" and it became a "Community Hall" - very nice, for the times.

The Bolger family, my wife's family, lived a mile to the north of this intersection, and a half mile west. She attended the school from kindergarten through seventh grade, then went to Coon Rapids Consolidated School. My family (Smith) lived a mile south and two miles to the east, across the county line in Greene County. I went to Coon Rapids school starting in the eighth grade. After we graduated from high school, a few years, this church closed and the members all went to Coon Rapids for church, as well.

For comparison, this is the original church, a few years earlier.

This physical location is a few miles north of Coon Rapid, Carroll County, Iowa.

Note: The Carrollton School and Store I wrote about a few weeks ago, was located just a few miles directly west of this location.  ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)