Alaska: Even Better the Second Time Around, Part 1

We moved onto Elmendorf Air Force Base in the summer of 1969.  We left the apartment life behind and moved into military quarters; into our Quad.  Quads were groups of four buildings with a common parking area and each building had eight families.  So when you moved in, you had 32 instant neighbors. With all these families living in our quad or very close by, we had lots of kids to hang out with.

Our house in the quad.  However, when we lived
there it didn't have a garage.

I started sixth grade that year and it was a very unusual situation. There were so many of us that they had to get another building just for sixth graders. We ended up in an old office building. (Memories of my kindergarten year, The Day the Earth Moved, March 27, 1964.) We actually started changing classes there so it helped us when we got to junior high school. My home room teacher was a wonderful lady named Mrs. Wallace. I had a terrible crush on a boy named Mitch Huff. Unfortunately, for me, he had a crush on a friend of mine named Sandy Martin. Because it was an old office building, our recesses consisted of standing around an empty field ogling the boys.  That's okay because they were doing the same thing to us girls.  Another favorite teacher during that year was Mr. Hadley.  I would love to know what happened to those teachers.  They had a huge impact on my life and because we were military, we would leave and most times not know what happened to them or many of our friends.

It was a fun year being with just the sixth graders.  We were all in the same boat.  All trying to figure out the whole growing up process but we didn't have to deal with any of the older kids that year, or the younger ones.  It was just us and we enjoyed that.  We did a play at the end of that year and I was chosen to be the queen. I remember the king was a friend of mine named John Kennedy. I don't think his middle initial was F.  I kind of liked doing that play and although I didn't have an opportunity in junior high, I pursued drama later, in high school. 

During the winter we would play outdoors a lot.  Yes, it was cold but we bundled up, many times to the point that no one could tell who we were.  We would go out and build ice skating rinks, forts and igloos in our back yard. The ice skating rink was a little bumpy but we still had fun.

I used to babysit a lot for the Paxtons and the Baldwins. If you remember from a previous blog, Land of the Midnight Sun, my family was in the Paxton's wedding the first time we were in Alaska. Now I was babysitting their boys.  It's hard to believe that those boys now have children of their own.  Yikes, I feel old!  This is an older picture of Johnny Paxton and his daughter, from our last visit to Alaska.  A great young man, husband, and father.

One summer I babysat Linda Baldwin all summer. I thought that was really cool to have a full time babysitting job. We couldn't spend any time outside though because she was allergic to the sun. But we still got to do lots of fun things.  One of our favorites was going bowling.  I heard she passed away recently, which really made me sad.  

Seventh grade was fun. I went to Orion Junior High. We were the peons at the school and the ninth graders didn’t let us forget it. They would make us do, what they called thumb ditties. That means that we had to stand on a table in the hall and put our thumbs on our heads and turn around saying that the ninth graders were the best. I couldn't wait to be a ninth grader so I could do the same thing but by the time I got there, I didn't have the heart to do it.

In this Google Earth picture, it shows the quads on the base.
Ours was at the top right at the white arrow.
Schools are on the left.  Expand for more detail.

We had lockers and I felt so grown up going from class to class. We even had dances. I remember that we would go to these dances and all the girls would stand on one side of the room and all the boys would stand on the other. Eventually someone would venture out and ask someone to dance and that would break the ice, somewhat.

During this time, we had Nugget, the family dog. He was a black Pekingese and was the pride and joy of the family. He went with us everywhere. He hated squeaky toys!  I don't know what made him dislike them so much, but if you gave him one he would disassemble it in minutes, to get the squeaker out or at least where it didn't squeak anymore. We timed him once to see how long it would take.  It was amazing how fast he was able to do it. We almost lost him one summer.  We were out camping, and a huge Weimaraner dog attacked him and almost killed him. That was a hard weekend for our family. But he was a tough little guy and he survived.  Nugget brought great joy to our family for a long time.

Nugget

Today's Terri's Tidbit: Have you ever found a recipe from your grandmother, old church cookbook or even online, and couldn't understand the measurements? What is a smidgen, pinch, dash, or tad?  I found this great little conversion chart website that shows what those measurements are in today's terms.  Also I found this chart, from Family Tree Magazine, with some of the same types of things. Pull out those old recipes and make something yummy, using these conversions!

North to Alaska, Once Again

Spending time with our extended family always seemed to go by so fast, because visits were few and far between. However, as the day grew closer to leave on our trip to Alaska, we said our goodbyes and finished all our needed tasks. We had bought a new car, a tan station wagon, and decided to drive up to Alaska, up the AlCan Highway. That is a 4,370+ mile trip from Pinehurst, NC to Anchorage. Going at that time of the year was actually better on your car because the AlCan was all gravel, and tended to beat cars up pretty bad. But with the snow cover, it was a lot easier. This journey took two weeks.

We went through a great many states and while doing so, we all got sick. This was the time that the Hong Kong flu was going around. We finally stopped in Great Falls, Montana, at the Air Force Base located there. They had just had a major car crash and some very serious injuries and didn’t have time to look at us so gave us some medication and sent us on our way. Unfortunately, the medicine had codeine in it and therefore, mom and dad couldn’t take it and drive.

Shortly after getting on the highway we slid into a ditch. Now this could be quite scary because you never knew how long it would be before another car would come along. We were very blessed though because within a very short time, a snow plow came around the corner and was able to help get us out. We continued to move toward Anchorage, although not as fast as any of us would have liked.

We had a guidebook called The Milepost that we used along the AlCan, that pointed out all kinds of neat features along this 1200-mile road. Most importantly, where the bathroom stops were. It also had major landmarks, points of interest, historic sites, restaurants, etc. If you ever make this journey, do not leave home without it. They are constantly updating it.

Texas is a big state and Alaska is even bigger. When you reach the border, you still have a very long distance to get to Anchorage.  You can see from the picture below just how large it is. A lot of it is beautiful wilderness and is still uninhabited. I hope it can always maintain those qualities. It is a gorgeous state and if you haven't been there, put it on your bucket list. The cruises along the Inland Passage are nice but you really need to go to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Denali to get a real feel for what Alaska is like.  It is a must see!

Alaska compared to the US as a whole.

By the time we got to Elmendorf AFB, the rest of the family had recovered but I was still sick. I was running a very high temperature and felt horrible. We had been on the road for two weeks, were trying to get checked into temporary quarters, I was sick, and if that was not enough to deal with, as soon as we checked in, my dad got a visit from someone telling him that my mom’s dad had passed away while we were traveling north. We didn’t have cell phones then, and we never knew where we were going to stop, so no one knew how to get ahold of us. Grandpa Garrison was buried by the time we got to Alaska. A sad time for all but a very difficult time for my mom. 

My parents made several phone calls to the doctor, about my fever. They suggested that they put me in a cold shower to bring it down. Cold showers are no fun!  I was feeling so bad and had to do them several times and they didn't do any good. I would get in and the fever would come down for a short time and then go back up again. So they finally took me to the hospital. I ended up having spinal meningitis and was in isolation for a week. Only my parents could come in and see me and then they would have to be covered from head to toe. It was very contagious. It was a scary experience. I had to have a spinal tap, which was terrible. The doctors told me that I had to lay perfectly still. Not one movement or I could have bad headaches for a long time. Little did I know that my first real sight of Alaska would be from a hospital bed.

I remember when I finally got to go home, I was still pretty sickly and my mom would have to get up several times during the night to give me medicine as well as throughout the day. It took a long time to recover fully. I remember sitting in the apartment, in Muldoon, and watching all the kids playing, sledding, etc. on the hill outside and wishing I could join them. One of the first things I did, when I was able to go out was slide down that hill.  I thought it was so huge but on a trip back there, many years later, I found that it wasn't near as big as I thought.  

Our apartment was on the second of three floors.  

I had my first close up encounter with a moose while we were still living in this apartment. I guess it was foraging for food because he came right up to the apartment building. He was huge and I remember that mom and dad said to stay away from him, even if he looked docile, because they could turn mean quick. Especially the momma's with their babies.

Our next-door neighbors in the apartment were the Gaffords. Tracy and I became good friends. We were in the same 5th grade class at Muldoon Elementary. She had two sisters, one of which was in the same school, so my brother and I walked with them to school each day, about a mile away, even in the snow.  I was fascinated with the fact that she played the drums. I had never seen a girl play the drums before. We are still friends with the Gaffords today.

We moved onto Elmendorf AFB in the summer of that year, 1969. We lived in another quad on Apricot Street, at the opposite end from where we lived the first time. I think the address was 21-632 Apricot, Apt. B. However, someone said it is no longer called Apricot Street. Lots of things have changed since we left. Yet much is still the same.

Today's Terri's Tidbit: Help out future generations who may be doing your family's genealogy. When cutting personal events out of the newspaper, (or other periodicals) make sure to have the source data, for the article, picture, memento, with it. Either write it all down and attach with the article or make sure to cut the name, date, page etc. from the top of the paper you are saving. It will make it so much easier to find out more information later, if you are careful to gather that information now.

Hello Peshawar Pakistan, Part 2

Living in Pakistan, as a kid, was fun!  Even though we came in at the end of a war, I don’t ever remember being afraid while living there. It helped that there were eight-foot high brick or cinder block fences with barbed wire on them.  And I think there was glass embedded at the top too.

During this time, the Vietnam War was going on but because we didn’t have access to radio or TV, (my parents would occasionally listen to Armed Forces Radio) my brothers and I didn’t know anything about it. 

 My parents didn't share a lot with us about all that was going on in the world so we wouldn't be afraid and would continue life as usual.  Therefore, we didn't have a care in the world.

While there, my brothers and I, along with our friends, found lots of ways to entertain ourselves, because we didn’t have TV. We used to make up plays and perform them for our friends. We did some of the silliest things but enjoyed the heck out of it. We spent many hours at the pool and I joined the swim team one year. We didn’t like November because they would close the pool down to clean it. We were able to swim every other month. We spent a lot of time at the school playground too. It helped having both so close to our house. 

Family photo taken before we left Pakistan.

Another one of my friends was Veronica. Her brother Warren was my first boyfriend (third grade). I remember sitting with him and listening to Leaving on a Jet Plane, by Peter, Paul and Mary, from one of their records. I didn't know until recently that John Denver wrote that song.  Warren used to carry my books home from school. True love at the age of eight! 



Our back door neighbor had twin girls and they were fascinating. We had never seen twins before. And, they had an adult tricycle, which we also had never see before. It was a huge, three-wheeler, and they let us ride it. We all had bikes in Pakistan because we didn't have a car. It was very expensive to bring a car over so we didn’t have one for two years. The base was pretty small, so you could get around on it pretty quick with a bike.

This was another location where your friends become your family because it is so far from everyone’s home. To this day, we still have very good friends that we met in Pakistan. Our friend’s, the Turner’s, lived directly behind us. We shared the two guys who worked for us. They had one of them one day and we would have them the next. Every week, I think it was on a Wednesday, our two families would get together and have dinner. One week they would do the barbecue and the next week we would do the enchiladas. My mom made a mean batch of enchiladas. She got the recipe from another couple of good military friends, the Garza’s.

When we moved a couple years later back to Alaska, the Turner’s did too. We were blessed to be able to spend that many years being stationed with them.

Some of the things I remember about our stay in Peshawar were the festivals and squadron picnics. I remember being in a race during one of the picnics and losing because I was too concerned about what everyone else was doing. My dad gave me very sage advice after the race about looking straight ahead and finishing the race and then checking out what’s happening with the others. That's good advice for life too.  At some of these events, they would bring in camels and we got to take rides on them. We rode them several times. That was a ride I will never forget!

I remember a softball game that my dad played in that was so fun. Some people dressed up in different costumes, did weird plays and used trick softballs. One of the trick balls was a grapefruit that they had painted white and when it was hit, juice sprayed everyone that was close by.   Another fun time was when our friend, Mr. Turner had a fishing line attached to first base and he was in the outfield.  When the batter hit out to him, he took off running back and as he did the base moved with him.  The batter kept running trying to catch up to the base.  I remember a lot of laughter at those games.

We had a small nine hole golf course on the base and I remember when people would hit their balls over the wall, little Pakistani kids would collect them up and bring them to the front gate and try to sell them back to the troops. Another way they would try to make money was to charm cobra snakes. We saw them do this once. They had a basket with a top on it and they would take the top off, and lure the snake out. These were big snakes and cobras are very poisonous. I wonder how many people died trying to train them.

We got to go on a day trip one time to the Khyber Pass, which is a pass up in the hills that connects Pakistan and Afghanistan. I remember the people we were with told us that many invasions started through this pass. I read somewhere that it was part of the ancient Silk Road and was one of the oldest passes in the world. I don’t think it made as much of an impression on me then, as it would today.

I was in Pakistan for part of third, all of fourth and part of fifth grade. I actually went to three schools for my fifth grade year.

We left Peshawar and headed for our next station, which was back to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. Before we headed north again, however, we went back to North Carolina to see family. We stayed there for about a month so we went to the school we had been in two years earlier. We got to reacquaint with some of our old friends. During this time we also prepared for our two-week trip up to Alaska, via the Alcan Highway. That’s a long time to be in a car, especially if you all get sick.

Today's Terri's Tidbit: I discovered a YouTube video done by a man named Bryan Nelson, who was stationed in Peshawar about the same time we were, and it shows a lot of what I have shared in this blog, even down to the Leaving on a Jet Plane song. Click here to see the video.

The Day the Earth Moved, March 27, 1964

I was five now and I knew that meant that I would be starting school soon. I had heard lots of talk about it and was very excited to begin. By this time we had moved onto Elmendorf AFB, on Apricot Street, and registration took place two weeks before school was actually going to start. My mother took me with her to registration and I thought I was going to get to start that day. Needless to say, I was so mad when I found out that I would have to wait two more weeks, that I threw a little temper tantrum in the parking lot.  My poor mother and the things I put her through!

The type of house we lived in is in the background, and
our car is behind us.

I can still vividly remember that first day when I did start kindergarten. Even though I was excited to go, I was too young at the time to realize just how hard it would be on my mom, to send her first born off to school.  She walked me down to the bus stop and waited until the bus picked me up and cried as she watched it drive away. It was a milestone in her little girl’s life. Things would never be the same.

Elmendorf was building a new elementary school just as I started kindergarten. Unfortunately, it was not done in time to begin the school year. So, the base scrambled to find places to put the students until it was completed. My class ended up in an old office building. We continued at that location through the end of December. I can remember dancing around a Christmas tree there, singing Old Tannenbaum! When the new-year started we were able to move into our brand new school. I loved that classroom. We had our own little cubbies and a cloak room. It was a great school…Mt. Iliamna Elementary. We moved right after my kindergarten year, so I only went to the new school for those five short months. Little did I know that in later years, I would once again have some classes in the same school. I am not sure it is even being used as a school today, but it is still there.

As I write this, I realize that today marks the 51st Anniversary of the catastrophic Alaskan earthquake.  We were there on that Good Friday, March 27, 1964, and experienced an event that would be forever engraved on our minds. The quake was measured as a 9.2 on the Richter scale. I remember my brother and I were in the living room with my dad, and we were watching the Mickey Mouse Club on TV. My mother was cooking dinner. As the rumbling began at 5:36 p.m., I had no idea what was happening. I remember watching my mother trying to maneuver her way to the picture mirror that was over our brand new stereo, to keep it from crashing down.

In the meantime, whatever she was cooking on the stove was a giant concern too, and my father went in to turn off the burners. Things were crashing out of the cabinets and the noise was deafening and unforgettable. The shaking was so hard; it sloshed the water right out of the toilet. We had some breakage but my family was not hurt. The quake shook for four minutes.  Over 125 people died and many people lost their homes. Some homes were totally swallowed up by the large crevasses that opened up.  Downtown Anchorage was decimated.  Streets sank, buildings tilted, businesses were torn apart. There was a brand new JC Penney building that had multiple stories and it was totally destroyed.  There were clothes hanging out the sides and large sheets of the siding came down on top of cars sitting on the streets.

Fourth Avenue in Downtown Anchorage

Tidal waves (Tsunamis) destroyed a lot of coastal towns. There has never been another earthquake, in North America, as powerful as the one we experienced that Good Friday. For days there were lots of tremors.  With each one, we would all panic that it was starting all over again. Thank goodness we did not experience another one while we were there.

There were lots more memories from our first time in Alaska. Some right off the top of my head are: Standing in a long line for the polio vaccine; skating in what seemed like nighttime but it was just the darkness of winter; running out in the middle of the night to see the aurora borealis or northern lights; my parents helping to start a new church; bugging the Romper Room lady that went to our church and trying to get her to look through her magic mirror and see me at home and say my name; and watching television, the night John F. Kennedy was assassinated, just to name a few.

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  If you would like to see a video about the 1964 earthquake, that explains why it happened and shows pictures of the event, click here to watch, "1964 Quake: The Great Alaska Earthquake", courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.   The USGS website home page has lots of interesting info, too, and can be found here.

Honeymoon High Jinks

Clara Jean Garrison became Mrs. James V. Hatch on September 14, 1956, in the Minister’s Parsonage of Culdee Presbyterian Church. She wore a beautiful dress, hat and white gloves and Dad was decked out in a very sharp looking suit. Both sets of parents were in attendance along with numerous other family members. After the wedding, they set out for their honeymoon to the mountains in western North Carolina, ready to start their life together.

Wedding Day, September 1956 

After they had left, Clara Jean’s brother Fred realized he had their luggage in his car. He realized it too late, however, to catch the happy couple, as they were already way down the road. He was in a state of panic that the newlyweds would not have the stuff they needed for their trip. He tried everything to get the bags to my parents, even contacting the local law enforcement, but to no avail. No worries though. Dad said it was not a problem because they had all they really needed for their honeymoon.

They toured the mountains, a Cherokee Indian Reservation and went to visit one of Clara Jean’s sisters, during their time away. Knowing that dad would have to leave when they got home, probably made the trip seem shorter than ever.

Several days into the honeymoon they were driving along and there was this horrible odor emanating throughout the car. They had noticed it a little along the way but now it had gotten much more pungent. Dad is looking at mom and mom is looking at dad, wondering what or who was making the smell. Awkward! They finally figured it out that it wasn’t either of them, so they pulled off the road and went through the car and discovered an open can of sardines under the rug, beneath one of the seats. One of their relatives or friends had placed it there as a joke. It took a while to get the odor out but the thought of it made them laugh whenever it came up, even years later.

After they returned home, dad headed to South Dakota and mom stayed in North Carolina to finish school. At Christmas of that year, she headed up to join him in the frigid Rapid City weather. They began their life together a long way from North Carolina, a long way from home, a long way from family. 

A little over a year later, the first of their three children arrived in this world. Me! My mom had a very hard pregnancy. She was sick for many months and lost a lot of weight, which she couldn't afford to lose. I was born on January 6, 1958 at St. John’s Hospital, there in Rapid City. Years later, the hospital was converted into apartments. Our family went through Rapid City when I was 16 to see the town, Mount Rushmore and the hospital I was born in.

I asked my dad about the day I was born and he said, “We did not live far from the hospital. We had made several dry runs to time it, see how long it took, etc. The night your mom's water broke, we got up, got dressed, got her bag, got in the car and drove right past the hospital…we laughed about that for years. In those days you could not go in the room for delivery… I got word of your birth then took off to see you.”

Me standing in front of the hospital I was born in.

Our little family lived in an apartment, which used to be part of a local motel. It sat on the outskirts of town, on the road to the airport. It is still there today. I have pictures from back then with my mom and I, and outside of the change in color, it looks very much the same.

I don’t remember anything about our stay in South Dakota because I was still very little and we weren’t there long after I was born. As was typical of Air Force families at that time, we were off to a new base long before we had the chance to put down too many roots. However, I do know that while there, Rev. Rew Walz baptized me at First Presbyterian Church. Right after I was born he typed me a note and placed it inside a tiny white bible that he gave me. I still have both to this day.

It wasn’t long and we moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina. My dad was transferred to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and on April 15, 1959, my brother Kevin came into this world. We are 15 months apart in age. He was my best friend and what one didn’t think of, the other did. We had many exciting adventures as kids, much to my parent’s chagrin. I’ll share more on our escapades later. 

This was a great place to go after being all the way out in South Dakota. Mom and dad were close to home again. Our house was on Luftberry Drive and when I went looking for that address on Google Earth, it looks like the houses of that time have been torn down and new ones constructed. The house was a Capehart home, which was typical military housing on several of the bases we lived on. If any of them are still standing, they are very old.

Kevin, too, knew little of his birthplace, as we were off to Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska, long before he was able to remember Goldsboro. Moving to Alaska would once again take us a long way from Pinehurst/Southern Pines, North Carolina and to another very cold climate! Would we like it?

Terri's Tidbit for Today:  I really like my Amazon Prime!  With the Prime membership, you can get free two day shipping (I used an option where you could take a longer delivery time, still free, and got a $1.00 credit towards a book), you get great music you can listen to, you can watch lots of instant videos and I learned today that if you buy something from Amazon and they drop the price within a week, you can contact them and depending on what you bought, they may credit you the difference.  Because I have family all over the US, I really benefit from the free shipping but I love all the other features too.