Teen Aged Years

*Tell about your first crush. What was he or she like?
The first crush I can remember was when I was about fourteen years old. It was over a girl from out of town named Elaine Clark. She came here to spend the summer with her grandparents. She had blond hair and somehow looked different to me that the girls from around here. I never even talked to her, but she was sure pretty. She left to go back to school in the fall and in a very short time she was forgotten, at least by me.

*What was your most embarrassing moment?
When I was 16 or 17 my two friends and I decided to go get some grapes from Delma’s grandparents. We waited until 10:00 or 11:00 at night and then went to go get our fill. We just got to the grapevines when someone started to yell at us. We started to run, and I ran into the arms of Delma’s Uncle Clyde. He grabbed me and her grandpa also got me by the arm. I wouldn’t tell them who I was so they dragged me up the house where Delma, Beryl, and her grandma were. I remember Delma seeing me and laughing. I had torn a hole in my pants getting over the fence, so when they finally let me go I had to back out of the house. I had promised to tell my folks but didn’t until one night Dad and I were milking the cows. Dad said “I heard someone got into Uncle Will’s melons and grapes, do you know who it was?” Thinking he already knew, I confessed. He nearly knocked the cow over getting up. I got a Scotch blessing you can bet.

*Were you responsible for household chores? What were they? What did you like most or least?
I didn’t do much in the house. I had a job of carrying in wood from the woodpile into the house, and I had help from Howard and Carl, so I didn’t hurt myself. After I got bigger I helped Dad chop it. I’d rather chop it than carry it, even if it was harder. The girls and mom did the house work. We always had good meals and plenty of it. I can never remember being hungry.

*Describe fashion when you were young.
When I was young the fashion was not very important. The dress in those days were pants and shirts on week days and if you had a suit or better pants and shirt you wore that on Sunday. I had a pair of shoes I wore on Sunday and I went bare footed on week days or as long as Mom would let me. The girls did a little better. They had colored dresses and nearly all wore little straw hats with brims on them. The styles today are not very good. The young men wear sneakers with the laces trailing behind. Only at church do the kids look good. At least those who pass Sacrament wear white shirts and ties.