Hey Lanny, I know you're a little older than I and we lived in the same neighborhoods as kids. Wondering exactly when were you born? I have an older sister you may have known at Forest Hills. Always interesting to hear someone else's experiences and memories of LO. I believe you once posted you lived across from Lakeridge but did your family move back to LO from Portland to there? Was the school built then? I also attended Forest Hills, LOJHS, Sophmore year at LO and Junior year at Lakeridge.
I now live across the street from Lakeridge. My driveway is directly in line with the West most goal line of the football field.
We moved to Oswego in 1948 shortly after my birth in Atlanta where my father was serving in the brand new Air Force. I remember stopping at my grandparents' home near Huntsville Alabama on the way. We briefly lived in a tiny cracker box of a house just off Boones Ferry near Terwilger's endpoing. Terwiiliger did not extend to State street at that time. Then we moved into my grandmother's house. This was the grandma who was the mother of my mother. The Alabama grandmother was the mother of my father. My father remodeled grandma's upstairs and made an apartment out of it. That was on second street near C avenue. My memory's a little faded but somewhere in there we lived on eighth street and B then living in Garden Home and tenth and E around the same time. I remember going to the first grade while living on tenth. My mother, unbeknownst to my father, invited the high school band to practice at our house. My father would come home from work as a brick layer and imediately start taking off his clothes as he he entered the front door. One day he did that while the band was there practicing and he didn't immediately notice them and started disrobing. The band sounded like random sounds to me and terribly loud. I was always hoping they would soon go home. Anyhow, I don't know who was more surprised, the band or my father. It was hilarious.
Then, we lived on fifth near C. That was when the Rillettes lives next door and their smallest boy, would make more random noises while he practiced his drumming. That boy became the fire chief for Washington county.
Next in about 1956 we moved to second street across from grandma. We lived across the alley from the Bacon's. They had three sons, one was my age, Jerry, and one was about five maybe six years younger. I believe Jerry is now living somewhere West of Salem. Their youngest, Randy maybe you heard of. Then when I was about to enter Oswego's one year old Junior High, we moved to Portland where I went to a grade school for another two years. Ugh.
I remember going to Halvorsen's island on an invite to the class of my classmate, Karent Halverson's mother.
I remember my mother helping to found the civic theater in Oswego with their first production, Harvey.
I remember my mother helping to start the annual Water Festival.
I also remember my mother and a girlfriend who owned a small plane beginning a business venture by a feat called Pennies from Heaven which weighted down small parachutes with a penny with a local business coupon attached. Us kids would find them and take the penny while throwing the parachute and coupon away.
I remember going to the Lake theater and listening to all the Glenn Miller tunes during the time before the movie started and the intermission.
I remember the father of a friend of mine owning both the Pinafore restaurant and the Dairy Maid. That father was also the mayor of Oswego at one point.
I remember the Chief of Police, who was a well known alcoholic, had a son who went to school with me and played Gray Y football with me. They had a huge Great Dane that shared the city with our dog, an equally massive German Shepard. They were the Solsos.
My younger cousin went to Lake Oswego High. Her name is Devanna. Her older brother went to the same Junior High and Senior High.
My wife and I got married in the Lutheran church on 10th and C if memory serves me, by pastor Nash.
I rmember old man Weiser when he ran the produce department of the old Food Center which he eventually bought and renamed Weiser's. At that time they were on the NW corner of A avenue and 1st. street.
When we first moved to Oswego, we didn't have a pot to pee in. Old man Weiser reached in his wallet and gave my mom a fifty dollar bill and said, no hurry, just pay it back when you can.
Ah, I almost forgot, the library, then located on the SE corner of 1st street and A avenue, had a contest for kids. You started with a colored rocketship which they placed with your name on it high along the wall. It started at planet Earth and progressed to the Moon and all the planets beginning with Mercury and ending with Pluto (Pluto was a planet at that time).You advanced every time you read a certain number of books. I was an avid reader and won the contest. I remember that my favorite book at the librrary of Forest Hills grade school was a biography of Babe Ruth. I loved baseball heroes of the day.
I remember my favorite haunt was 24 Flavors ice cream store. And there was a soda shop on State street nearby where I could get a phosphate soda for 3 cents.
I remember going by the Five and Dime store on 1st. street between A and B where I would stare at this gas engine model plane that I coveted known as the Fire Baby. It was ten dollars and far far far out of my reach.
But my absolute favorite acitivity, even better than going to 24 Flavors for a five cent ice cream cone, was swimminng at the public pool on the lake. I* would go there every single summer day beginning when I came home from my strawberry picking in Gresham until it started to get dark.
I also loved fishing in the lake. At that time I could always catch a few perch still my favorite eating fish today.
Use to fish and play in what is now known as Tryon Creek state park. I remember one time seeing a huge beautiful fish rising to the top of the water and then turning sideways and going to the bottom of the pond. I had never seen such a large nor such a beautiful fish. I spent a week trying to catch it but couldn't get a nibble. One day my mom and my aunt and my little brother, older cousin who was my age and my grandmother decided to go on a fishing trip and take a picnic lunch with us. We parked grandma at the little pond with a makeshift pole, no real and a little like tied to the tip of the pole with on tackle other than a worm hook and a worm, with not even any leader or swivel. Then we all scattered with dreams of hooking on to some trophy trout. Then we heard this long scream from grandma, I figured she was getting attacked by a grizzly, a mountain lion or a pack of hungry wolves. I ran to her aid and so did everyone else. When we got there it turned out that grandma had cought my fish. I had mixed feelings. It was my grandmother and I loved her dearly but dammit, she caught
MY fish.
My cousin and I once built a fire on the banks of Tryon Creek and cooked a couple of crawdads and ate their tails.
As I said previously I sold newspapers. I hawked them mostly in front of the Piggly Wiggly on State street. I replenished the news stands and sold in and out of restaurants and bars.
I rode my bicycle all over town and most would have known me by sight.
When I got out of college I rented the old house I use to live in on second street. Then I got married and bought a new house in Aloha. I always wanted to return to Lake Oswego and that dream came true a little over four years ago. I now live in an area that was once in Oswego.
I always wanted to live on the Lake and I could have done that if not for the progression of this disability that happened while serving in combat. Anyhow, the house I live in now is pretty nice.
The only thing that I dislike is that we don't get many trick or treaters. In my childhood neighborhood there were always a ton of trick or treaters and a ton of candy to be had. The sad part is that my wife and I both love children. I would tutor kids in math and science if I could but I'm seriously disabled and am pretty much unable to do that..
We moved to Portland just a month or two before Oswego merged with Lake Grove to become Lake Oswego.
There's my life story.
