Memories from the past by Sterling

Our rental house located at 655 30th Street in Ogden, Utah, was small, five rooms, compared to present day home construction. In the eyes of a six year old in 1935 it was huge and magnificent. We lived there eleven years. The house faced north. The east side consisted of a living and dining room separated by a large archway, and a kitchen with a closed-in mud porch covering the exit to the back yard. The west side had a front porch, two bedrooms and a closed-in back porch. A bathroom and two walk-in closets were located between the bedrooms and the outside west wall. You passed through the master bedroom to get to the bathroom. You passed through the other bedroom to get to a large walk-in closet. This closet was large enough to accommodate a baby crib. It was by this crib that I spent many hours rocking Carolyn to sleep. It seemed that my job became one of watching out for Carolyn, putting her to sleep and responding quickly when she awoke. I was twelve years old at the time. We became fast friends. The house was placed on a half basement located below the bedrooms and bath. Entrance to the basement was down a concrete stairway, which I fell down once, covered by a trap door in the floor of the back porch. This closed-in porch was large enough to accommodate two double beds. The basement contained a storage room, where bottled fruit and other food items were stored, a room to store two tons of coal, the furnace to heat water, and room enough for a double bed. The house was heated with hot water radiators, one located in each of the five large rooms. The kitchen was the center of activity, however, we always ate the evening meal and Sunday dinner as a family in the dining room. The boys slept in the unheated back porch and in the basement, the two girls, Arlene and Shirley prior to 1941 and Shirley and Carolyn after 1942, (Arlene was married before Carolyn was born), occupied the center bedroom, which had no windows, and our parents occupied what we called Grand Central Station, because of the location of the bathroom. Christmas was always a special family time. A tree was set up in the living room. Stockings, chosen from Dad’s closet because ours were too small, were pinned to the back of the davenport, because there was no fireplace in this house. Each child was busy making, or searching for just the right gift to give. In school we made presents of calendars and hand prints for our parents. I remember the first time I had money enough to buy something for each family member. I spent many hours searching the stores in downtown Ogden to find a toy for those younger than I, and something useful for those older. I remember the secrecy of wrapping and hiding each item, then Christmas Eve when they were carefully placed under the tree. On Christmas morning I was always amazed at how the quantity of presents had increased around the tree. The circle of gifts seemed to extend to the center of the room. The stockings contained a toy and were also stuffed with nuts, still in the shell, and a large orange, a real treat in those days. Dad would distribute the gifts. In later years it was the older brothers and with the passage of time, I had a turn. Some of the gifts were for the children in general, such as the snow sled or the red wagon. My gifts from Santa, I remember most, are a wind-up caterpillar tractor one year, and a set of Tinker Toys with an electric motor, another year. What I remember most of all is the feeling of love of family, the older children taking care of the younger, all of us loving our parents, and the great love of our parents for each of us individually and collectively. We were a happy family in that house on 30th Street.