THE WAY IT WAS

The business portion of town of Pagosa Springs Co. was all on the north side of the San Juan river. The business’s that I remember the most are the Morehart Chevrolet , Citizens Bank, Roy’s Liquor, Pagosa Bar, La Cantina Bar, Hershs’s Mercantile, Ace Hardware, Jackish Drugs, Metropolitan Hotel, Mesa Theater (Liberty), Liquor Store, Goodman’s Dept. At side walk level of the hotel was a set of iron steps which lead to a pool hall in the basement level.

The pool hall was a favorite hang out for all the high school boys and retired old men. Curly Nelson ran the place and always had card games such as rummy going ‘till late hours in the evening. Young boys could enter and play pool only with the permission of parents who had to give that consent in writing. Knowing how my Mother felt about men hanging out in a smoky pool hall or the “Devils Den” as she referred to it, I knew she would never approve of me being there. I came up with the bright idea of forging my Mother’s name on a permission slip and worked for a long time cleaning and racking balls until one day I had to explain where I was getting spending money.

The local theater was sold to Albert Petry along with the hotel and liquor store. Dad continued working as the projectionist and everyone in the Willett family worked there at one time or another. The art of running the projectors was

passed on to the oldest son Ronnie, Inez worked the ticket booth, Jerry, and Butch took tickets and did janitorial duties.

Changing Employment:

The west side grocery was sold to Jim and Gay Whitfield. Jim was the founder of the Baptist Church and held services in the grocery isles on apple crates. He eventually was able to purchase property to build a church on highway 160 near the town park. I am proud to say that the corner stone of that building was done by the author of

this text. The Whitefield’s changed the store into a Gambles Dept. store.
Frank Brown purchashed a house just west of the old building and across McCabe creek where he once again opened a small grocery. That property was sold to Harry Cole and Frank then opened a new business next to the court house. A fire destroyed that business and when it was rebuilt a five and dime store was opened in its place. Ira Rupp was the proprietor and Inez (Mother worked for them).

Mother and Dad tried making plaster of paris figurines in our kitchen. They seemed to sell quite well in the local gift shops. Frank Brown built a store building on his property for Dad to open a novelty store and the rear of the building housed the local newspaper “The Sun”. As the building was going up, passers by would stop and ask,“What’s it gonna be?” The curiosity gave Dad the idea to name the store “The What’s It Shop.” It wasn’t very profitable so Dad went back to painting signs and buildings. He painted just about every house and road side advertisement.

Winter Time:

Winters in Colorado were long and cold. If all the chores had been done properly and the wood and coal put away, then playing in snow could be a lot of fun. there were Igloos to build to play in, sledding, skiing, or ice skating. Many a skinned knee was had from tying a rope to the back of a car and being pulled along the icy road until the sled flipped over. Ice skating parties were always fun, smelling tires burning to keep warm as we skated the San Juan or the pond at a place called Catchpoles Mistake. Old tires were gathered and burned along the river bank for warmth.

Earaches were a common occurrence for me; it was nothing for Dr. Thompson to bundle up and come to our house in the middle of the night to give shot or a dose of some awful tasting medicine.

Somehow the old school was always having frozen pipes from someone leaving the water on. That always resulted in the school having to close for a day.

Like any youngsters in America, a favorite season is fall when Halloween was celebrated with a much mischievous vigor and imagination as one could muster. Like the time we managed to put an old “out-house” in the middle of main street. The next morning a sign was found hanging on the door saying “Dr. Anderson’s Office.





From My Window Seat

The Internet can be a wonderful tool for research but then such things as social web sites can be a breeding ground political, religious and family feuds.

I recently tried going down the memory trail to find information on places where my family once resided. Starting with the towns that my parents and brothers were born and then looking for places my father would have been employed. I found a site referencing a town where my family lived in 1951. This site gave a very interesting detail of the demographics of the area, and photos of the Theater where my father was employed. The description of all the types of prejudices that were rampant sent shock waves down my spine. It made me so glad that we did not stay in Texas very long. Recently I've seen first hand that such mentality still is the root to the teachings in that state to, the term "Redneck" is really too polite to label those with no tolerance with anyone who disagrees.

Social websites such as Facebook can be a wonderful tool for interacting with friends and relatives, to visit and keep in touch with those whom we selom see face to face. However lately I am finding it more a place where the english language is becoming something of the dark ages and replaced with four letter profanity or coded abreviations that only those under the age thirty can understand. Political and religious views even between family members can errupt into verbal wars and threats of physical harm. These thoughts and ideas would never be mentioned face to face but the ability to write them on a site shared by so many give the writer a sense of bravado.

Happy Trails To You

Once again this old memory is loosing one its favorite times when as a young boy I would strap on my pearl handle six shooters and ride the hills of Pagosa Springs. No I didn't have a palamino like Trigger or dog like Bullet but with enough imagination I didn't need them, just my trusty old cocker spanial.
There were times I would tire of being Roy and decide to be Red Ryder with one of the Martinez boys being Little Beaver.
While veiwing the morning news on NBC, my eyes glued to the screen and grew misty with tears as the story unfolded of the Action in NYC at Chrities selling of all the memorbella from the Roy Rogers Museum.
As the years passed and I became a grown man, the memories of the Saturday Matinees watching Roy, Dale, Gabby Hayes and Son's of the Pioneers chasing the bad guy across the screen never faded my mind. I was lucky enough to live in Califorinia after my military service and be close enough to visit the Roy Rogers Museum in Apple Valley. My Children were able to also share some of my childhood memories by visiting the museum. The year the Museum was leaving the Apple Valley site I took my wife to the museum and to our amazement Roy was there in person and even allowed us to take his photo. All the years of seeing him on in the movies I picuted him as being a tall man but he really was just an average height but the warmest smile and personality.
I wish our youngsters could have such an example of character to look up to instead of the horror and sexual depictions put out as entertainment.
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time out

I am taking time out from blogging for awhile, seems the only people looking at this is someone using oriental language that get a kick out of posting porn photos.
Understanding that this wonderful country of ours prides itself with all our freedoms, there are times when a little restrain would be appropriate.
The supreme court just struck down the hand gun ban in Chicago and today advocates of gun rights are parading around like Rambo in Hermosa Beach CA. I'm all for the right to bear arms, I too enjoyed hunting animals, not human beings. Having been the victim of armed robbery twice and having a ten year old nephew blown away with a shotgun given to his 12 year old brother I don't care if I ever see another gun. I would like to see statistics of how many armed civilians have actually stopped a crime in progress or shot a person in self defense. The second amendment to the Constitution with the understanding of the English language should not be interpreted with so much confusion, it seems so easy to eliminate the phrase "well regulated militia" leaving a wild west mentality to gun toting fools.
As I sign off this posting my thoughts and prayers will be for all those in the gulf states suffering from this disaster and pray that our leaders will find a solution quickly.

Fathers Day

This old tear jerking song by Jim Reeves always brings loving thoughts, remembering my Father and the love he gave to his family. With only a grade school education and living through the great depression he managed to provide for a wife and three boys. We never acheived any wealth only a home filled with love for one another. My father always said a man don't deserve any thing he ain't willing to work for, always do you best and be thankful for whatever your reward might be. As I grew in age my Dad was always looking out for my well being even though at times I didn't realize it. When I ventured out and got into trouble he could talk to me and make me wish he had beaten me instead. When he felt my wrong doings were only a growing pains of a young man he would cover up so my mother would not know just what I'd gotten myself into.
My father first worked as a motion picture projectionest, a trade he learned as a young man and moved from town town in Texas and then to Colorado. While in Colorado he began a painting business where he painted signs and houses. When his health began to keep him from climbing ladders he purchased some printing equipment and self taught himself and opened his printing business in the home. His last years on this earth was a lonely time for him missing my mother who had passed before him and caring for his pet cats.

Reunions?

Thanks for the world of internet I am able to keep up to date on the happenings in and around my favorite place in Colorado. By visiting www.pagosa.com the latest events with beautiful photos of the place where I grew up come to life.
One of the upcoming events mentioned is a class reunion for any all who attended school in Pagosa Springs, this will take place on July 3rd. I'm sure this will be a memorable event for all who can attend. I recall attending a similiar event in 2000 and cherish the memory of meeting up with some old fiends. I just couldn't understand how my class mates all got so old! Oh how is wish I could be there to join in the festivites and compare wrinkles and gray hair but I don't beleive any '57 class memebers are around any more.
When I departed that part of the country in the 50s there was not much to keep youngsters attracted to the area. Congratulations to the new generations for bringing the beauty and potential for continued growth to such a great little town.
As this older population of which I am a proud member of begins to perish my prayer would be for the conservation of the natual beauty of the San Juan mountians and the home of my favorite comic charactor "Red Ryder" the town of Pagosa Springs.

Good Music

Seeing this music posted on You Tube of the Music filling the mountain air of Pagosa makes me wish I was young and roaming those hills and streams. There was never any such entertainment for folks to enjoy as I was growing up there in the early 50s. The only place to catch any live music was to go to Pine Grove Inn or one of dances at the old Bales one room school house. My favorite place to catch up on the latest tunes of the day was over the AM radio stations late at night. Many nights my father would open my bedroom door and yell turn that thing down! There was great country music stations that came in loud and clear late at night from Del Rio Texas, thats where I memorized the lyrics of many tear jerkers with a country twang. Oh, it wasn't only the country station that keep my ears glued next to the speaker, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Sinatra, Doris Day, Ella, Bennett etc, etc. Even today those tunes can make feet want to get up and swing or hold a sweet smelling girl in my arms and sway to some love song that could bring tears to any eye.