1963

In 1963, we moved from Haltom City to Euless in North Texas.  Do you remember when you first had memories?  Between ages 2 and 4, my memories are still a bit sketchy but once we moved to Euless in June of 1963, I could recall more and more.

The memory of the move I have is of driving in my Granddaddy Taylor's pickup truck. He was my mother's father.  He was driving, I was in the middle, and my Dad was in the passenger seat.  Back then, a 4 year old could climb all over the car without restraint since there were no seat belt laws.  So, I would turn around onto my knees and look at our stuff in the bed of the pickup.  We were driving down what is known now as Highway 10, a little one lane road that took us to our new neighborhood in Euless.  My interest was mainly in my kitchen riding back there.  I had a cardboard kitchen with a sink, stove, oven, and refrigerator.  It was pink and yellow.  While I was watching, the little pink plastic sink flew out of the truck onto the side of the road.  I may have yelled or cried but I know I told my daddy what happened.  Not sure who convinced my Granddaddy, but he stopped and my daddy walked back to where the sink lay and got it for me.

The new house was on a block with no other homes around it at first.  Our front and back yards were dirt, no grass.  There were no fences either.  At some point, a small bulldozer fixed our backyard so there were two levels to the yard.  We watched out the patio door as it moved the dirt around.  Not sure of the time frame at all, but eventually houses were built around us, grass came in, and sometime after I started to elementary school, we got a cyclone fence put in.

Timmy and I got our own bedrooms at the new house.  My room was gigantic!  I had my twin bed on one wall and my kitchen on the opposite wall.  I had a built-in vanity that I was too small to appreciate then but later it was really cool.  My bedroom was in the front of the house, Timmy's in the middle of the hall, and our parents' bedroom was at the back of the house.  We had a formal living room with nothing in it because we didn't have that kind of furniture.

My parents added on to the house later, so it is hard for me to recall exactly how it looked when I was little.  But it was a big move for us to be in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  Daddy worked in downtown Dallas so it made a lot of sense to move to Euless.

More Early Memories

The other memories I have from before age 5 are mostly about a house on Katrine in Haltom City.  I remember a lot of random things about that house. The part of the street it was on was near an intersection that was a triangle.  It had a cyclone fence that I played Barbies through with a girl next door.  There was a sidewalk in front of the house and I think my mother and I would walk next door on occasion.  We walked to the triangle area too.  The front porch was small with about five steps.  The posts were iron railing with scrolling leaves or something on them.

Inside the house, I remember the hardwood flooring throughout the house.  I remember the hall closet because there was a clothing barrel in there with my toys in it.  I would jump up with my stomach on the edge and lean down into the barrel to retrieve my stuffed tiger.  If you know me at all, you know I love the big cats and the little cats.  The tiger was my favorite stuffed animal.  It was smallish and yellow with black stripes like a real tiger!  After my little brother, Timmy, came along we shared a bedroom with twin beds.  My picture in my head of that room is the doorway from the hall.  You could see in there and see the twin beds.  They had wooden headboards in a light color varnish.  That is my memory, not sure how accurate the description is.

There is a memory from that time frame that is a story told by my parents. Saying that to say I am not certain I remember the incident or if I remember the story my folks tell.  It was summertime, I think, and we had relatives or close friends over but I don't recall who.  Mom, Dad, and the guests were inside playing 42 or something.  Timmy and I were either in bed or just playing in our room.  Apparently there was a scream outside coming from across the street.  All the adults went out on the front porch to see what the commotion was all about.  Not sure if someone at our house or a neighbor called, but the police were called.  911 was not dialed, as that did not exist.  You actually had to call the police station.  Anyway, the story went that a teenage girl and a friend had staged a pretend kidnapping at a car across the street.  The girl was admonished by the police that this was not funny at all.  She was trying to get some attention from her parents I guess.  Anyway, I remember this as a highlight of our time at the house on Katrine.  We lived there until June of 1963.