The McBride Family

Nov. 1, 1999

Dear Danielle,

We received your letter asking for pictures and descriptions of where we live. For some time I have been thinking that had we lived closer to each other you would have heard many stories from me that started out “When I was your age…” I probably would have said it so often that you would have thought “Oh no, not another when I was your age story”. However we didn’t live close together so I’m going to make this a “When I was your age” letter, instead of about where we live now.

I was born in Pueblo, Colorado on Dec. 4, 1924 (almost 75 years now) and then we moved to Green River, Wyoming. We lived in Green River from when I was one year old until I was eleven years old. This is the “When I was your age” that I’m going to write about.

Green River was a small town on the side of a river that was called, as you might guess, Green River. And as you might guess, it was green. The river and the town were in a small valley that the river had cut down from the prairie. Sort of like a very, very small Grand Canyon.

On the north side of the valley there were two big, red rock formations. One was called Castle Rock and the other was called Tea Table. Castle Rock was an enormous block that stood guard over the town. Tea Table was a somewhat smaller rock that was big at the top and very small at the bottom. One wondered why it didn’t fall down on the town.

On the south side of the river there was a formation called Man’s Face. You could see the forehead, nose, lips and chin in profile.

I hope you find the pictures and this letter interesting. I will follow up with some other memories later. There are just too many things to put in one letter.

Nov. 25, 1999

Dear Danielle,

It’s Thanksgiving morning and I am reminded of some more “When I was your age” stories. But first I must tell you about Aunt Sally who was my Daddy’s sister. She also lived in Green River.

We always said we were going over to “Aunt Sally’s”, but “Aunt Sally’s” meant Aunt Sally, her oldest child Margaret, the middle child Dorn, the youngest Harold, and her husband Uncle Sy. Aunt Sally wore big thick glasses. She always had on an apron, and talked happily, and loud. She was one of my favorite people.

This has been a long way of getting to what I remember about one Thanksgiving. It had snowed a few days before, but Thanksgiving Day was sunny and warm. The Green River High School football team was playing the Rocks Springs High School football team. The reason we were there was that Dorn was playing for Green River. This was my first chance to see a football game.

At the start of the game the teams took the field, dressed in their bright colorful uniforms. The snow on the field was shiny white, and the spectators on the sidelines were happy and noisy. It was a beautiful sight. However as the game progressed the snow was trampled into the dirt or was melted by the sun. By the end of the game the field was one big mud puddle and the bright colorful uniforms had become so muddy that we couldn’t tell one team from the other. I don’t remember who won, but that was the first football game I ever saw, and it was on Thanksgiving Day.

Feb. 10, 2000

Dear Danielle,

Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone and I am thinking of things wintry, when I was your age.

This Christmas we had gone over to Aunt Sally’s for dinner. When we got there, her tree was lit up with many lights and was truly awe-inspiring. As we were all gathered around the tree, Dorn picked my brother Monte, who was about 2 years old, and told him to blow out the candles. Monte finally gave one big blow and Harold pulled the plug of the lights; sure enough, the lights all went out. Monte was really amazed and we all laughed like mad.

This may not seem too funny now, but that was the first time that any of us had ever seen electric lights on a Christmas tree. Up to that time, all I had seen on Christmas trees were candles.

Milk was delivered early in the morning and left on our porch. Sometimes in the winter when I went out to bring in the milk I would find that it had frozen. There would be a five or six inch column of frozen cream, rising right up out of the milk bottle. I would very carefully bring in the bottle and put the frozen cream in a bowl. Sprinkle on some sugar and voila, I had ice cream for breakfast.

May 17, 2000

Dear Danielle,

Here we are and the year is hanging between spring and summer, and I am remembering things that happened this time of year when I was your age.

One of the first things I remember is a day in school when the sun was shining and beckoning me to come out and play. On this day, in the morning, it happened that I saw the start of what would turn into a river of sheep going to a sheep ranch for their spring sheering. As they flowed along I could see the sheep dogs running back and forth nipping at heels to keep each drop of sheep in that river. I watched for hours. There must have been thousands of them.

A little later we borrowed Aunt Sally’s Model T Ford and went to visit a sheep ranch. Along the way we saw two things that have always remained special in my memories. First, we came upon a herd of antelope. When we got too close they took off across the prairie at full speed, floating over any sage bush that got in their way. Second, we saw a herd of wild horses! There must have been about twenty of them. They were brown ones and black ones and as they ran their manes and tails were blown back by the wind. They were incredibly graceful as they escaped from these people that had invaded their home.

Also, on spring or summer evenings, if you went to the top of the hill during twilight you would see a bright blue light along the western horizon, and as you looked up and over your head the blue would turn to purple and then to black. There would be one big bright star just above the horizon. We called this the Evening Star and I always made a wish on it. The wishes never came true, but I still make a wish when I see the Evening Star. Who knows what might happen?

Enough for now.