It is interesting to look at the faces and see similarities to children of another generation.

Mike Lawson

Looks like his dad, doesn't he?

80--CONTINUED--8

I don't remember the year that we moved to our home on 3rd street. A lot of things happened while we lived there. Arlo was still working for Boyd Pagett. We lived across the street from Elma and Boyd. Grandma Dunn had died and Doris and Verden moved into Grandpa's house. Loyd and Cathryn still lived in Manassa. Keith had married Erma Rae and Leon Married Jean, LaRue and Harold were married. Barbara was alone with her children. Doris Faye and Bill were married. Our lives were surrounded by family. Isabel and Alta had died.

Arlo's back was doing good. He worked from daylight until dark at the station. He loved fishing and hunting. Those things took his off time. I took the children and went to LosAlamos and visited with Keith and Erma and their family. I think Barbara and Doris Faye went too. We also went to Pueblo and visited Nona and her family. We went in the VW pickup and it broke down in Pueblo. We had to find another way home.

Larry got Brights disease and when I took him to the Doctor. (Dale Thomas), He said we needed to take him to Denver, the next day, to a specialist. That night I took him to Alamosa to the hospital, because he couldn't go home. Before we I took him, we went by Mrs Brothers, Jerry Dunn was the and gave him a Priesthood blessing. We waited in the waiting room for about 3 hours, because they didn't have a bed for him. The hospital was full. It was getting late and Dr. Thomas hadn't come yet. I decided to go home and get some things ready to go to Denver the next morning. I hadn't been home long when Dr. Thomas called and said that Larry's blood pressure had gone so high that he didn't know if he would be alive until we got there He said that he was going to give him a shot that could be fatal. All of the way to the hospital, I prayed that whatever was best for Larry would be. When we got there the shot had worked and his blood pressure had come down. Arlo took us to Denver the next morning and Larry was admitted, then Arlo went home. That was in January and it was so cold in Denver, I wasn't prepared for that cold. I got a room close to the hospital. I walked to be with him each morning and back to the room each night. The temperature didn't get above zero the ten days that he was there. That is the coldest I have ever been. Larry and I rode a bus home.


I think it was earlier when Bonnie Lynn had surgery to correct her eyes. Later Bonnie got hit in the ear by someone when she was swimming and got an infection in her ear. We took her to the doctor right away, but they couldn't stop the infection and it destroyed her ear drum. I took her to Denver, where she had surgery to replace the ear drum. It was like a miracle. She didn't loose any of the hearing in that ear. She couldn't go home so we stayed in Denver for a week and then we went to Nona's for a week. We couldn't take her over a mountain pass, because it would have too much pressure on her ear. We had to wait two weeks.

We took her back several times for check ups. I think all of the children went with us and we went to shows and ate at a restaurant where they had a toy train that ran around the the top of the restaurant. We also went to the museum while we were there.

TO BE CONTINUED--8

80 CONTINUED--7

When we moved to the Christenson house, I was still working at hot lunch. I don't remember how long I worked there. Arlo was still working for Boyd. Arlo had an old red pickup, that he drove to work. When it was snowy, and the roads were slick, I tried to drive the monster and it would just jack knife. I didn't know how to drive that pickup when the roads were icy.

We bought a Plymouth coupe that was just right for our family. I don't know what happened to that car. It was a good little car. Later Arlo did some work on the model A and we drove that for quite a while.

We were living there when we bought a T V. Everyone else seemed to have one and the children were going to other homes to watch them so we decided to buy one. Arlo watched it as soon as he got home from work until it went off at night. He really loved to watch television. It did keep the children home, too. The first T V, I ever saw was just after World War II. The programs then were so good. I Love Lucy was so popular that everything seemed to stop when it was on. There were good musical shows and fun things. It has really changed in the last 50 years.

The first time I heard of a recorder, I thought that was strange. Why would anyone want to record things. I surely didn't understand all of the things that came because of that instrument.

I remember times when Bonnie Lynn would go to Nancy's after school or would go back to the garage with Arlo after lunch and one day I tied her to the clothesline with a rope that went the full length of the line. She still tells me about tying her to the clothesline. She didn't go again without permission.

Maggie Weston worked at hot lunch with me. I learned a lot from her. I loved that lady.

While we lived there, Donnie and Kent were in scouting and the ward was taking the Mutual boys to Arizona to the Dam. The boys were all ready to go, but our alarm didn't go off and they were left. I have always felt bad about that.

While we lived there, Barbara was left alone in Denver. Doris Faye and I went to Denver to get her and the children. It was quite an adventure. Barbara's car broke down on the way back home and we left it there and all of us rode in Doris Faye's car to Manassa. Barbara and her children lived with us for a time. We bought the house on 3rd street. where we live for the remainder of the time we lived in Manassa. Barbara lived in our old house for a time, until she moved into the house that Doris Faye and Bill owned.

80--CONTINUED--6

We were settled in Manassa, in Lucille Jackson's house. Donnie, Kent and Bonnie were in school. Grandma Dunn was taking care of Larry. Arlo was home after surgery and life was going on as usual. Arlo was working at the Conejos County Gas and Oil Company, for Boyd Pagett. I was working at hot lunch at the school where the children were going.

We were there until Larry was in school. LaRue and Doris Faye and Leon were living with Grandma and Grandpa at that time. We were surrounded with aunts and uncles. Elma and Boyd lived on the same street, but on the next block to the north. Loyd and Catherine lived in the northeast side of town. Edgar and Laverl lived on the highway about three blocks into the town on the west . We had Christmas eve parties with the family and always had a big Thanksgiving Dinner at different houses. Belonging to a big family was wonderful to me.

Life was simpler then. We didn't have television and I don't remember if we had a radio. Cousins and friends came often or you each had things to do. We picked asparagas and pepermint off the ditch banks. Grandma had a big garden and had milk and eggs. we took advantage of those thinga. Life was good.

One day Lena Sowards called me and said that Donnie was on the roof and she was afraid he was going to fall. There was always things to keep kids having fun.

We had the chance to buy a house in the northwest side of town. It was across from Maggie Weston. I think I mentioned that in my last chapter.

I worked at hot lunch with Maggie for several years. She taught me a lot and I enjoyed working with her.

Through these years we went camping with Arlo's sisters and their families. One year we went up on Wolf Creek Pass. We went with I sabel and Don and Raedeen and Alta and Tiny and their two girls. Bonnie was quite young. We probably lived in LaJara at that time. I suspect that I will have a memory jog and add things out of time. One time we went up the Conejos Canyon camping with them, when Alta and Tiny came to visit. We made a Brigham Bed. It was quilts on the bottom and the top. It was spread out long. The ends were dads, then their children then the mom, next was a mom and their children and then that dad, then the next dad and the children and then the mom. There were three families of us. That was so fun. The camp fires and the stories told around them. The meals. were all fun.

TO BE CONTINUED

Lawsons

One year, Harold Lawson was deployed to Vietnam and his family was left behind. They parked a trailer home next to our home and during that year, they were our next door neighbors.
David was the newest member of the family, and I remember how proud his parents were of him. Even at this age, I enjoyed listening to David laugh and loved to watch his nose wrinkle up as he did. His handsome dark brown eyes were such a contrast to LaRue and Eddies beautiful clear blue eyes.

Uncle Harold's military career took the family to a number of places. I remember that they lived for a time in Alaska and by the time that David was in high school, they lived in Bloomfield Colorado. David played football there. In this photo, he looks like he really means business.

I was so involved with my own life that I haven't done a good job of keeping up on the doings of the Lawson family. I know that for a while Harold and LaRue lived in Mesa, Arizona

Everyone grew up entirely without my involvement.

For a time, Eddie (John) and his wife lived near us as did David. Eddie and his wife moved to Missouri where his wife is from.

David called after he had back surgery and we went up to visit. David and I rekindled our friendship. Now and then we get together and laugh and remember old times.

David now lives in Commerce City, Colorado. He and his girlfriend, Marti came to visit a couple of weeks ago. I always love David's infectious laugh. Marti is a sweetheart and we enjoyed getting to know her a little better.

Someone talked me into joining Facebook. I've really enjoyed the conversations with friends on Facebook. I especially have enjoyed these photos that David shared on Facebook. I thought it would be nice to share them with you.

I even saw that Michael was on Facebook. He posted some pictures of his life in the Caribean. It has been fun to get reacquainted.

This picture of the Lawson family is more recent than any I have in my collections. It is good to see their faces again. I'm looking forward to seeing them more on the blog and on Facebook. I love them very much and want to know them better.

80 CONTINUED 5

I moved my little family to Manassa, while Arlo was in Denver in the hospital. I rented a house from Lucille Jackson, which was one block west of Grandma and Grandpa Dunn. Arlo was not happy about that. He thought Manassa was a terrible place. It didn't take him long to love it there.

Grandma Dunn helped me tend Larry so I could go to work in the school hot lunch. My hours there were the same as my children, who were in school.

Arlo had surgery on his spine and was not supposed to go to work for a time, but he was very anxious to make a living for his family. He did a job for uncle Loyd and was paid with a pig, to butcher. He killed the pig and I cured the bacon and ham, we cut it up and put it in the locker (a place to freeze food. They had places like wooden crates built into the walls, where we rented a locker to store our meat. Dale sowards owned the locker. That didn't give us any money. I made a small salary and we got by, but it was scant.

Arlo went to work for Boyd Pagett, who owned the service station that had once belonged to Grandpa Dunn. He worked for Boyd, until Boyd died and then he bought it from Elma. That was our income until Arlo sold it to Mitch and Mike. They didn't pay anything on it so it came back to us. That is another story.

The Christmas following the time Arlo came home from the hospital, Arlo said we would not have a Christmas that year. I said, äs long as I live there will be a Christmas for the children. We bought a pickup load of scrap lumber from a sawmill and Arlo made a elevator garage for the boys and we got some little cars for it. He made a table and chairs and a doll cradle for Bonnie. I think that was one of the best Christmases that we ever had.

We got a skunk under the house and it took a long time to get rid of it or them and the smell that went with them. We did finally get the hole closed up and that was the end of the skunk.

Grandma Dunn thought that Larry was the nicest little boy. He never made a mess when he ate and she could rock him to sleep. He never let me rock him. Grandma had a special touch.

We bought a house in the northwest corner of Manassa, and we lived there for a number of years. We lived across the street from Maggie Weston on the North side of Jake and Stella Parker.

TO BE CONTINUED!

80 CONTINUED 4

After Bonnie was born, Ed Guymon built two rooms on the 2 room house we were living in. That was roomier and made it possible for Doris Faye and the boys to have a room, and for Arlo and me to have a bedroom. All of us had shared one room. It was the living room and our bedroom.

Arlo enjoyed hunting and fishing and that was where he spent his extra time. Sometimes we went with him, but most of the time we didn't.

At some time later Arlo didn't work for Ed Guymon anymore, and we moved into Grandma Vance's house in LaJara, for a short time. From there we moved to a house between Sanford and Bountiful. Arlo worked for a man named Gylling. I don't remember his first name.

At that time Grandma Vance had alziemers disease and she spent part of that year living with us. She had the kind that she became a wanderer. It was hard to keep track of her. We loved her dearly, but it was hard to keep her, since I hardly ever had a car, as Arlo went to work in it.

Kent wrote a post on the blog about Donnie dropping the manure fork from the top of a shed and it cut a hole in Kent's head, We were out in the country and had neither a phone nor a car that we could use. That was quite a year.

From there we moved to a farm house Northwest of Romeo. That is where we lived when Larry was born. LaRue and I were both expecting babies, we decided to have them at our house. Doctor Davis was willing to come to our house to deliver them. I took care of LaRue when Eddie was born and LaRue took care of me when Larry was born. (Harold was in the army, overseas.)

Arlo was working for Thales Smith and the farm house was a part of the pay for his work.

I was so excited to get Larry. He was born on the 20th of October, 1954. Arlo had lived a life of poverty as he was growing up and didn't think it was fair to have a big family. I begged for Larry. He is a great blessing to me. How can you thank the Lord enough for a good family?

The winter after Larry was born, Donnie got rheumatic fever and saint vitus dance. Arlo had a pinched nerve in his back and suffered terribly with it. Donnie had a priesthood blessing and the saint vitus dance was instantly healed. It was a disease of the nerves that went with rheumatic fever. He shook so bad that he could hardly hold a spoon, to eat.

Richard and Roxann and Gerald Lynn came to have Christmas with us. Larry and Gerald Lynn were both blessed in the church while they were there. That year the weather was very mild. In fact it was very warm.

Richard And Roxann took Arlo to Grand Junction to the veterans hospital. He was there for about a month and was transfered to Denver Vetrans hospital. He had back surgery in Dencer.

I had to move, since Arlo was no longer working for Thales, I moved my little family to Manassa, so I'd had some help taking care of the children while I worked at hot lunch, in Manassa.

TO BE CONTINUED!

A letter to a teacher

Mom has told me that when Uncle Keith was in the military, he would write letters home. There was a teacher that Keith was especially fond of and he decided to write her a letter.

The teacher received the letter from the young soldier and decided that his grammer needed correcting. She marked up his letter and returned it to him.

According to Mom, that kept uncle Keith from ever writing letters again. I think that I would have been crushed as well. I can't help wondering if that teacher ever knew how devasting her criticism of his attempt to communicate with her was.

80 -- CONTINUED --3

I hope to touch on all of the things in the 2 lists of 80.

I missed telling about my baptism. I was baptized in Manassa in the old brick Stake building that is on the northeast corner of the church lot, on 1 November 1936. There was a baptismal font, in the basement, at that time. I don't think it is there anymore. I don't remember much about it, but I am thankful for that blessing in my life.

Arlo and I moved several times before he went to work for Ed Guymon, and we moved into their two room house. There was no indoor plumbing, so we had a path. There was a running artisian well. The water was wonderful, sweet and icy cold. We had an oil heating stove and a cook stove that was heated by oil also. We heated water for washing and we carried the water for any use we had.

TO BE CONTINUED !

Doris Faye was living with us when we moved there. We lived there when Don was born. He was a sweet red head. Both Arlo and I thought that he was the best child that was ever born. He slept through the night, from the time we brought him home. Arlo washed out his dirty diapers. Can you believe that. He was so proud of him. Life does a drastic change when babies come. It was a cold winter night when Don was born. We had the model A and there was no anti-freeze, so we drained the car every night. When we were preparing to go to the hospital, Arlo had to fill the radiator with water and He had such a hard time getting it filled. He was so nervous. Don was born in the Alamosa hospital. Everything went well. The doctor that delivered him was Dr Hurley. He was the doctor that had delivered me and all of my brothers and sisters. He talked about my mom as he was waiting for Don to get here. I felt the presence of my mom at the time. I think she was there when each of my children were born.

I often took the children, Doris Faye and Don and the other children as they came, to see Grandma Dunn. She was like a mother to me and I felt her need at times.

Eighteen month later Kent was born. He had dark hair and was a good son. Kent has always been a special person to me. I was so proud of my boys. There are a lot of things that make a family. I loved my little family.

We were in the Richfield Ward when we moved there. I was a counselor in the Primary while we lived in Richfield. The LaJara chapel was built when we lived there and Arlo worked on the building. In the winter, there wasn't much work to be done on the farm, so Ed paid him to work on the chapel.

I taught a primary class there. One day the car wouldn't start. It was a heavy car. Not the model A. Arlo had made a crank for it, because that happened sometimes. I cranked and cranked and couldn't start the car. Finally I went into the house and prayed that the car would start, because I felt a great responsibility to be there to teach my class. I went back out and turned the crank once. The car started. I got there, but I was really tired. I know that prayers are answered. I love the Lord and am thankful for his care.

Three years after Kent was born we had Bonnie Lynn. I had always wanted a girl and was so pleased to get my sweet Bonnie. She was a red head, although it didn't really show red until she was about a year old. I told Grandma Dunn that it was red, but she didn't think so. I liked her beautiful hair. The Lord greatly blessed us as a family. When Bonnie was four years old, her eyes were crossed and she had surgery to correct them, Uncle Bill payed for that surgery. It is wonderful to belong to a good family, who are there for you when you nave a need.