Home in Marion

We bought a ranch-style home in Marion in late 1961. Possession date was December 16. So we moved across town with snow on the ground. Moving across town is much harder than moving across country because you have to do everything - packing, loading up, transporting, unloading and unpacking. A moving van comes to pick up your household goods, some of which you may have packed. The movers load the van. Then it is driven cross country. They unload it and you unpack! There are many trips back and forth from the old house to the new when you move across town.

The house was painted tan with white trim as shown in the photo. There were white drapes with orange and yellow butterflies for the picture window in the living room. The entry way and the wall with the picture window were painted orange. I do not like orange! It stayed that color because I did like the drapes.

Patti and Tony each had a bedroom. I crocheted small rugs to go by their beds. Patti had a white vanity that had been mine when I was a teenager. Mom made a pink floral skirt for the vanity.

Chuck built drawers to fit under Tony's bed. These acted as his dresser. His room was smaller than Patti's but we made it work. He had a small closet while Patti's closet was twice as large.

My father-in-law had used a photo he had taken of me for display at his studio. It was my engagement picture. It was a large framed photo. He gave it to us when we moved into our house. It hung over the piano in the living room.

That first Christmas, the tree fell over, broke lots of glass ornaments and scared poor Tony! We stood the tree up and vacuumed up the broken glass.

The Starry Drive neighborhood was filled with children. Some were older and some were younger and a bunch were about the same ages as Patti and Tony. We counted one time and figured there were about 50 kids on Starry and the area of A Avenue across the block.

It was a good neighborhood in which to live. It was a good place to raise our children.