MEMORIES OF HOME by Paul N Davis
Some of my memories of home took place in a rented house at 655 30^th Street, Ogden, UT.  The family had moved from Idaho Falls in June 1936.  In Idaho Falls father was out of work in the depth of the depression, they had lost their oldest son Bobby from blood poisoning and Paul had been bitten by a coyote at the zoo.  Father found work in Ogden and we moved in June.  We stayed with Mother’s brother, Uncle Dewey Robertson.  In September we moved into a rented home in time for the children to enter school.  The house was on 30^th street which was in the south part of Ogden at that time.  Across the street to the north was the brick yard.  It had big machines that would press bricks out of clay and then the bricks were stacked on carts that were pushed into long tunnels that would be heated and would “fire” the bricks. We brothers loved to go over there and watch them work and we played in the tunnels.  30^th street went up a long hill towards the mountains just east of our home.  In the winter time there were few cars because the road was steep and slick.  We would carry our sleds to the top and go down four or five blocks. Behind the home there was a large open field where we would play baseball and all kinds of games.  Grandma Robertson’s house was on the other side of the field.  We didn’t have a telephone and if grandmother needed help she would hang a large white towel on the porch and mother would go to help her. Our house was not large for mother, dad and seven children.  The bedrooms were on the west side of the house.  The boys all slept in the back porch bedroom on two large beds.  There was a door cut in the floor with a metal ring to lift it.  If we needed to go to the basement we would lift up the door and go down the stairs to the furnace room.  There was a window in the furnace room where the coal company would deliver coal.  We had to be careful and remember if the basement door was open so as not to fall in. The center bedroom was for the girls Arlene and Shirley.  The front bedroom was for mom and dad.  There was only one bathroom that had a sink, toilet and tub.  We had to go through mom and dad’s bedroom to use the bathroom. Our first year there, on December 17^th, 1936 mother gave birth to Roger with the help of a “mid wife”.  Dad would send all of the children over to Grandmother Robertson’s and when we returned, mother would show us her new baby!  Mother’s records showed she paid the mid wife $25.00 and paid it off over time at the rate of $2.50 a month.  Two years later Lyle was born at home and three years later Carolyn was born.  Carolyn was the only one born in a hospital. On the opposite side of the bedrooms was a kitchen, dining room and the front room.  There were no hallways, just rooms.  Oh I remember how excited we would get on Christmas.  Russell and I would sneak out of the back bedroom and check if Santa had come yet.  We would hang long brown stockings on the couch to see if the stockings were filled.  Oh the thrill of a large orange, nuts and hard tack candy and a gift in the stockings.  They were Christmases that I have never forgotten.  I remember how I felt. One Christmas, my older brother Russell, my closet friend, had a paper route and had money to give me a pair of used shoe ice skates!  I thought it was the greatest gift anyone could receive.  There was a pond nearby that we would skate on.  These are some of my fond memories during the depression.  In 5 years the 2^nd world war started and the boys were drafted and went off to war.  The family lived at this home for 10 years.