Monday Memory

THE HOMES IN MY LIFE

Home # 1 301 14th Street Ogden, Utah

Our family moved into this house around 1940-41 after Grandpa Mayhew died. Mom and dad decided to buy a bigger house and remodel it so Grandma Mayhew could live with us. Dad worked for the Ogden Iron Works at the time. The house was divided into 2 sections [duplex]. When you walked in the front door you went to the right to enter Grandma Mayhew’s front room and to the left to enter our front room. Both my family and Grandma had our own kitchen and bedroom upstairs, but we shared a bathroom. Down stairs was a large family type room that also had a bed in it, a storage room, laundry and another bedroom. We shared the laundry room [2 wringer washers/one for grandma and one for us]. Our family was very happy here. These are some things that happened while my family lived in this house:
1. World War II ended.
2. Raymond came up missing. He was 5 or 6 years old. They dragged ditches for him. The police helped to look for him. They found him. He had gone fishing with a friend. There was even an article in the Standard Examiner newspaper about him. He did not do that again.
3. Raymond and his friend built a fort out of piano crates. One day it burned down along with a shed. The shed had Uncle Parley’s saddle in it. [Dad’s brother] Not a happy day.
4. My family attended the Ogden 10Th Ward where mom and dad made many lifelong friends. Every Saturday night the Ward would get together for some kind of family get together. Sometimes they would show a movie and have popcorn and other homemade treats. Sometimes they would have a sort of talent show. I remember even after we moved to Pleasant View we would return for reunions where they would have talent shows.
5. My mother and father made many lasting relationships while living in this house. They had a lot of friends and would get together and play cards or just visit.
6. We had no TV so we played "dominoes", "rummy", or "Sorry" on Saturday night.
7. Every Sunday night mother would make a rice pudding. Sacrament meeting was in the evening, and this would be an after church treat for us.
8. The only memories I have of this house is watching Carolyn and Rosalie come down the street from school. They walked every day no matter what the weather. They went to Mound Fort Elementary which was a three story building on the corner of 12Th street and Washington Blvd. [Where the "Sizzler" is now.]
9. Carolyn tells me we had a big swing in the back yard made from telephone poles. She said she could swing so high she pretended to be a trapeze artist. She thinks we got the poles from Uncle June [dad’s brother] who worked for Utah Power and Light.
10. We also had a pasture with dad’s horses, a sand pile, and a coal shed later made into a play house complete with wall paper.
11. Carolyn was in the Ray Minter Drum and Bugle Core as a baton twirler. They always marched in the local parades.
12. Rosalie remembers laying on Grandmas bed every night and she would sing a lullaby to her. Rosalie was named after her and was very close to Grandma Mayhew.

This house brought a lot of happiness to our family. We moved to Pleasant View in 1953 when I was just 3 years old. The house was later torn down to widen Grant Avenue. If you drive on Grant Avenue and 14Th street you will be driving through our living room.