My story begins in the late 1940's, when my
father met my
mother in Portland, Oregon. In the early 1950's, my Dad was just
getting out of the Army and was interested in settling down. They were
married in 1952 and had their first son, David, on August 4th, 1953.
l followed one year, ten months, and 29 days later, on June 2nd, 1955.
We lived in Roseburg, Oregon, where my Dad worked out of the Roseburg
office of the Oregon State
Police after his graduation from the Oregon State Police Academy.
We were living in Roseburg when the truck exploded downtown. The
truckload of dynamite that blew up in Roseburg, Oregon, on August 7,
1959, contained two tons of dynamite and over four tons of ammonium
nitrate. This incident, known as "The
Blast", resulted in a devastating explosion that killed 14 people
and injured over 120 others. The explosion was so powerful that it was
described as resembling an atomic bomb, and it caused significant damage
to buildings and infrastructure in the area. We felt it at our home on
Porter Drive.
My Mom and her parents were very close. Grandma and Grandpa LaForge
were well off. My Grandpa was a Union Steam Fitter/Pipe Fitter and
worked for Kayser, at the Port of Portland. He was a very intelligent
guy. He was managing their largest projects for many years. He got a
huge salary and a new car every other year. They lived in a house that
Grandpa LaForge's father built, on Multnomah Street next to the Lloyd
Center shopping Mall, back in the 1930's. Mom used to drive up to
Portland to see them at least every other weekend. Dad bought a new car,
a Simca stationwagon, so that she would have reliable transportation
for our many trips to Portland. On one of these trips to Portland, one
of the front wheels came off of the car, causing it to roll over a
couple of times. Seatbelts weren't even a dream in those days. David and
I were sleeping in the back of the car when the accident happened. We
were pretty much unhurt but Mom lost some teeth when she bounced off of
the steering wheel a couple of times. We were transported, by ambulance,
to the Hospital and Dad, who was on duty patrolling at the time, was
notified that we were all in the hospital. He came by to check on our
status and went back on duty. Dad took my brother and I home the next
day and Mom stayed in the hospital for a couple more days while she
recovered from the accident. She ended up losing some front teeth due to
the accident. Shortly thereafter we moved to Drain, Oregon briefly while
Dad continued in his Oregon State Police career, working the graveyard
shift. Dad bought a Chevron oil distributoship and, after a short time,
ended up selling it for a loss due to the weak oil and gas market. I was
riding with him one weekend, while he was making deliveries, and got my
thumb caught in the door when I was getting out of the passenger side. I
howled like a banshee until Dad ran around the truck and opened the
door, freeing my thumb. I lost my thumbnail over that mishap.
Dad patrolled the highways and freeways during the night and delivered
gas and oil during the day. After Dad sold the Standard Oil
Distributorship we decided to go to El Paso and so he could apply to be
a Border Guard for the Government. He wanted to work for the Government
and have the benefits and pension that went along with it. Both of his
parents worked for the Government and had great pensions and security
when they took their retirement. We moved in with Dad's parents,
Grandpa Sam and Gramma Grace. Dad took some tests, which he passed,
but when it came to the physical, he found out he was color blind and
couldn't pass the vision test.
I was enrolled in Kindergarten in El Paso, where my Aunt was the
teacher. Kindergarten was my first and last experience where I got to
take a nap during class, legally.
I really enjoyed getting to know my Granparents. They had
a very nice house
on Tetons Drive, in El Paso. My Grandfather had Cowboying in his blood,
when he met and married
Grandma Grace , and wasn't really that thrilled with haveing to
settle into a regular 9-5 job where he was working inside. He had been a
Cowboy for many years in his younger days. Grandpa wanted my brother and
I to be Cowboys.
Grandpa bought us boots, hats, belts, and saddles.
When Dad couldn't pass the vision test he had to come up with an
alternative plan. Mom and Dad talked it over and Dad began to check out
locations to go back into Law Enforcement. After a lot of soul searching
Dad decided to retire from the Oregon State Police and find a nice small
town and become a City Policeman. There were a lot of high speed chases
in the State Police and he was ready to dial it back and slow down a
little. Dad began to consider small towns that would only be a couple of
hours from Portland, where Moms parents lived. Dad applied for a job
with the Toledo, Oregon, Police Department and was accepted. We headed
North to our new life in Oregon. All of our household goods were put
into Mayflower storage, prior to going to El Paso, and the house that
Dad rented was completely empty. The next day Dad arranged to have all
of our furniture delivered to our home in Toledo in the next few days.
