Fun Times

What would life be like if there weren’t some fun times scattered along the way?  Pretty dull I’d say.  My Dad was a fun-loving person, so I had fun growing up.  He could tell good jokes, and pull jokes on my mother, making her turn red (as her hair was red.)

So, I grew up in a good, cheerful atmosphere.  I had a fairly normal childhood, playing jacks, jumping rope, playing “hide and seek,” “Rover, Rover, won’t you come over,” and other outdoor games, popular in my day.

Growing a little older, I played softball, ½ court basketball, and volleyball.  In 5^th grade at my University Laboratory School, we were taught ballroom dancing, so from then on, there were lots of school dances.  I began to date in 8^th grade, (pretty young, I know) but you have to remember things were much more innocent back in those days. Or, maybe I was just pretty naïve.  I didn’t think of the “evils” of dancing, and my dating was the same way, and most of the time, double dating with other couples.

When Jim and I met at the University of Missouri he had been raised by a strict Church of Christ mother, had dated some, but had never learned to dance.  However, then we became engaged a month and a half after meeting, he and I were both involved in several campus organizations, and one of the activities was to have a dance.   We could attend, and we would kind of walk around the floor.  (I had also jitter bugged, too, but Jim never learned to do that.)

When were moved to Albuquerque, NM, after marrying in 1946, our fun times consisted of getting together with several other couples, both neighbors in our apartment building and couples we met at church.  (Two of those couples, the Coles and the Martins we have kept up with through all these years.)

We were transferred to Phoenix in 1950, and here again we met some wonderful couples at church.

Then in 1951, our children began to arrive, and as they grew we had more fun with them.  Jim traveled quite a lot during their very young years, but always tried to reserve some time on Saturdays just for them.

When we moved to Denver in 1954, and as the boys grew older, we really began to have some fun times.  One of our main forms of recreation was going to the mountains, camping in the summer, sledding in the winter, or just going to the foothills for a picnic with friends.

We became good friends with the Lewis’s  (4 boys) and the Bungers (3 boys), so a lot of our times in the mountains were with these families.  There was fishing involved too.   Lots of times Jack Lewis, Carl Bunger, and Jim would leave Friday evening after work, go to some lake, fish all day Saturday, and arrive back home late Saturday night.  They didn’t want to miss Sunday Church. 

Other times we’d all go as families, and you can imagine the fun with 11 boys.

I remember one trip we made (just us) to Lake John.  It wasn’t a very pretty setting for a lake, rather barren and rocky, but the fishing was good.  I don’t remember how old the boys were, but Jim knew that all six of us in one boat was too many, so we divided up.  Jim took Jimmy and Lee in one boat, and I took Jay and Mark in my boat.  We got our fishing poles and bait all fixed up, and set out.  (You have to realize that I was really not into fishing, to put it mildly).  We hadn’t been out very long, when I felt a tug on my line   and knew I’d caught a fish.  Rather than reel it in, I threw the pole over to Jay and told him to reel it in.   Fortunately, that was the end of my luck for that day.

One summer Jim decided to use a week of his vacation and we’d spend the week at Big Creek Lake, CO.  We rented a small trailer, probably 15 ft., because we just planned to sleep in it.  We had a Coleman cook stove, and a little Coleman fold-out table, where we planned to cook and eat.  However, we picked the wrong week.  It rained and rained, so we were stuck in the trailer.  I guess we played lots of games, and sometimes the boys would go out in the rain and get soaked.  It finally stopped raining a day or two before we were to leave, but we had fun anyway.

Another one of our camping trips was to Chambers Lake.  We borrowed the Lewis’s fold-out trailer, which Jack had made, and two of the boys were going to sleep in our small tent.  We arrived late one afternoon, and because we were there a little early in the season the snow was still on the ground, and there was ice on the lake.  So, the guys got busy clearing off a place in the snow to pitch their tent, and with a tarp on the wet ground, and their sleeping bags, they made it all right.  It was cold though, and I was afraid we hadn’t brought enough warm clothes, but we made it.

The Lewis’s and we decided to take a week’s vacation together to a lake in northern Colorado.  Delores and I shopped for groceries, and filled the back of their station wagon with sacks of food.  I think we left after church on Sunday and planned to return home on the next Saturday.  This lake was about 35-40 miles off the beaten path, up a two-track rutted road.  We had fun.  Delores and I gave the boys whistles, and they were not to go any farther than where we could hear their whistles, unless they were with Jim and Jack.  We cooked and it all tasted so good, and everyone had such ravenous appetites that after we cooked breakfast on Wednesday morning, we were out of lots of our staple food.  So, she and I made the trip down that rutted road, to a little corner grocery store, where we paid double the price for the groceries we needed.  Still, we had fun, being in the beautiful mountains, the guys were having good luck fishing, and the fish tasted so good cooked over an open fire.  Jack Lewis did some of the cooking, and Delores always brought a gallon container with her dough for sourdough pancakes.  My mother could never understand why a person would want to leave a fully equipped kitchen to go out in the mountains and rough it, but with good friends, and 8 boys having fun, and guys catching fish, what more could we want.

One time we and Bungers decided to go on a short camp out, up Bear Creek Canyon, to a camp site called Evans Ranch.  The Lewis’s were going to meet us Saturday morning.  They arrived early enough for breakfast.  As Delores was unloading some things, she set the gallon of sour dough pancake mix beside her, just as one of her boys came running around the car.  He hit the gallon of mix and over it went.  Delores was able to rescue about half of it, but we didn’t have quite as many pancakes as planned.  Delores always made her own syrup, too, out of brown sugar and water, and a little vanilla, and that always tasted as good as you could buy.

We did a lot of camping and fishing at other lakes, including Horseshoe Reservoir and Eleven Mile Reservoir.  We also had many one-day sledding times in the foothills of Denver. 

When we moved to Kansas City, our fun times consisted of watching the boys in their sports, and Jim’s music performances.  We did take a trip or two back to Denver, before they left for college.  I’ll devote another chapter to our travels, which were fun times for Jim and me. 

I’m sure I’ve left out some incidents and events that were fun, but maybe you get in inkling of our life, not all dull, but lots of fun sprinkled in.

A Growing Family

When Jim Trotter and I married, we had not discussed some of the important aspects of our life together, including money management and what we felt about having children, and if we wanted them, how many. It’s worked out just fine for us, but I would urge young couples considering the huge step of marriage, to discuss both these issues and other important subjects in order to have a solid base and understanding of each other’s views.

We were to be seniors in college when we married (June, 1946) but because both of us lost hours of credit when we transferred we each had another semester to go. We worked that out (my chapter on education) and we really didn’t want any children while we were in school. However, things do happen. I became pregnant in December, 1947, and then had a miscarriage and operation in March 1948. That was very sad in one way, but I’m sure God was looking out for us.

We were transferred to Phoenix by GMAC in March, 1950 and in April I became pregnant. James Bruce Trotter was born January 13, a big baby boy. After three months of colic, he became much more fun for me.

We purchased a house on N. 24th St. and life went on as usual, hot in Phoenix in the summer, with no air conditioning and a simple water cooler on the roof – not too effective when it was 112-116 degrees F.

It was not long till I was pregnant again, and a second baby boy, Jay Michael Trotter, was born on October 2nd. Lots of dark hair (a nurse cut the back of his hair before we left the hospital) and big dark eyes, which became dark brown.

Jay was just about four weeks old when we were transferred to El Paso, TX. That was a trip to remember- a boy not quite two, a baby, and a fairly new cocker spaniel puppy, which was car sick as we drove to El Paso.

We settled in, bought a house on Honeysuckle Dr., and again I was pregnant. At a bridge party, I began to realize things were soon to happen. We arrived at the hospital late on February 13, and Mark Randall Trotter arrived about 12:30am on February 14th, our biggest boy, weighing in at 9lb. 6 oz.

Again we were transferred by GMAC to Denver, CO. We rented duplex in a suburb, Englewood- then moved to a rent house, and I was pregnant again. I believed all the time it would be another boy – and I was right – Lee Roy Franklin Trotter was born on November 9th.

Now we had our family of four boys and decided that would be it. I’m sure Jim would have loved, and spoiled a little girl, but this was it for us.

We rocked along for a number of years, being transferred to Dallas, TX in 1958, back to Denver a year later, 1959, and then with early retirement, we moved to Kansas City in 1965, and that’s where we remain till this point in time.

When the boys were ready to enter 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th grade, the American Field Service Organization called us and asked if we would be willing to host a student for a year. We agreed, and after a home visit and interview we were approved. Around August 1, 1968 we picked up Bruno Riegl at the airport. He was from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), of polish background, as his parents had migrated to Rhodesia after WWII. He had been schooled in a British school there, spoke beautiful English with a very distinct accent and had wonderful manners. He taught our boys a thing or two along those lines.

So, for a year we had 5 teenage boys. I was teaching 8th grade English–lots of papers to grade. I’d try to go to the grocery store just once a week and load up, usually filling two grocery carts full. Lots of people would look at those carts and sometimes ask me how many children I had. When I explained about 5 teenage boys and a husband, they’d just nod their heads as if they understood.

Bruno was with us his senior year at Raytown High School, returned to Rhodesia for a year, and then came back to University of Missouri where he graduated with a B.S. in Economics, received a Master’s Degree in Economics, married Ann (we attended the wedding in Columbia), is quite a successful business man, and remain a part of our family to this day.

Now our boys began to head off to college. We visited York College at one point, visited Oklahoma Christian college and then visited Harding College. With some discussion, Jim decided on Harding College (now University) Jay followed Jim in 1971, Mark in 1972, and Lee in 1973.

Jim majored in Science-Biology and in 1973 took the entry exam to UMKC Dental School a year early and was admitted. He had girl friends at Harding but when he returned home to enter Dental School, there was no firm commitment on anyone’s part. Jim had a wonderful baritone voice (a wide range) and was leading singing at church on Sunday (now this is the way I heard it). Harold and Bonnie Ensley were sitting on the back row with their daughter Sandy. When Jim got up in front, Bonnie nudged Sandy and said, “Now there’s the boy you might get acquainted with”. I don’t know Sandy’s immediate reaction, but they did eventually have a first date. Sandy had graduated from UMKC. She had also attended Kansas University for a while, a conference-type thing that would have applied to her master’s degree in speech therapy. However, she decided that was not for her. A lot of people she was working with were veteran’s returning from Vietnam, etc. and it was just a depressing environment and not for her. They had a second date a couple of weeks later, and it went on from there. They were married at the Raytown Church of Christ on September 21, 1974.

Jay entered Harding in the fall of 1971, finished his freshman year, and was in the first semester of his second year when he received his draft notice to serve in the Army having been assigned #76, of the people born in 1952 (the last year the draft was implemented). He served two years in the Army, having been stationed in Augsburg, Germany. It helped him to survive that duty because of the wonderful missionary family, Clyde and Gwen Antwine, who took him under their wing and welcomed him into their home whenever he had leave. Jay returned to Harding for the spring semester, 1975. He and Shelley Morgan had met before he left for the service. In fact, I think she told me she had even sent him cookies. When he returned, their friendship flourished, and they were married March 6, 1976, ready to enter their senior year.

Mark entered Harding in the fall of 1972. Jim, and especially Jay had had some fairly serious girl friends, so we warned him to remember that if and when he’d decide to get married, our help with college would cease. He returned home Thanksgiving, and as we were talking he told us our advice was not working. He was trying to date different girls, not get serious, but word had got around that he was just playing the field, and he was having trouble dating anyone. He returned to school and now he and Kerry McEuen began to date. Kerry had made up her mind that Mark was the one for her, and I’m sure it was mutual. They were married (secretly in June 1975, and then in a more official wedding on Oct 25, 1975.

Lee entered Harding in the fall of 1973. He and Cheryl Welch had been going together in high school. She was a year ahead of Lee, so had gone to Northern Missouri State at Marysville for her freshman year. When Lee went to Harding, she transferred there and graduated. She received her medical technology degree in Kansas City. Lee was accepted into UMKC School of Pharmacy after graduating from Harding, and he and Cheryl were married April 22, 1978 at the Raytown Church of Christ.

Now the fun really began, at least for Jim and me. One can spoil the grandchildren all you want, and send them home to let the parents straighten things out. Jim and Sandy discovered they could not have children, but after being married about 10 years, decided to adopt. They have David, a tall slender young man, never married, and living in California. They have their daughter, Leslee, who has a son Johnathan, 5 years old. She has recently married Scottie McLeroy, and they live in Austin, TX.

Jay and Shelley moved to Weatherford, OK where Jay entered pharmacy school at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Leanne arrived while he was in school. Shelley worked as a nurse in a nearby town, Clinton, OK. Justin Morgan Trotter was born two years later, and then Lindsay was born about two years later.

Mark and Kerry moved to Kansas City where Mark had been accepted into UMKC dental school. While Mark was still is school Jonathan Mark was born. Two years later Kathryn Lee was born. Then a tragedy-Laura Beth was born with a terrible heart defect. Jim and I were at Rocky Mountain National Park, where Jim was a temporary ranger for the summer, but when I got the call, I came back to Kansas City. Doctors at Children’s Mercy Hospital operated on the baby, but the defects were too extensive so they told Mark and Kerry to bring her home. I helped where I could. The baby was so sweet-she looked like a little doll. She lived about three weeks. Jim came back for the funeral, and then we returned to Colorado. Corrie Lynn was born about two years later. Anna Elizabeth was born next and it was soon apparent that she as a Down’s syndrome child. As I’m writing this, she is now 18, and just as sweet as those children usually are. About a year and 5 months later, twins arrived, Sarah Grace and Jamie Ellis, their combined weight of 14 lbs. 9 oz. They are now 17 years old and identical, but have always maintained their own identities. Two years later almost to the day, Audrey Ann arrived, with bright red hair (inherited from my mother). She’s 15, and has loved horses almost from the day she was born. A year and a half later, Andrew James was born. I Have always called Jonathan and Andrew the bookends, with the six girls in between. That would be the end of the children in that family, as Kerry died of cancer the following year, (more about that in a later chapter).

Mark had a nanny for the eight children for about a year, then married Lyla Bremer, who had two children of her own, Cassandra and Russell. Cassandra is married to Jon Perkins and Russell is married to Jennifer. We include them to make the number of grandchildren at 17.

Lee and Cheryl had been married a little more than four years when they welcomed Ryan Christopher into their family. About 4 years later, Jessica Lee joined their family, and it seemed everything was going smoothly. She and Lee were eventually divorced. She and Richard married and now live in Austin, TX.

A mutual friend introduced Lee to a lovely lady (two years older than Lee) Rhonda Munce. She had a mellow contralto voice so when they were married, they sang a duet to each other. Rhonda had four children, two boys and two girls, so that was a pretty full household. They had just a few years together until Rhonda died of cancer.

Cherlyn Peterson, member of our congregation and some years younger than Lee, had graduated from Oklahoma Christian College. She and Lee began to date, found out they had lots of things in common, and were married in August, 1998. They live in Lakewood, not to far from us.

The natural progression is when grandchildren marry, great-grandchildren begin to arrive. This is the case in our family. Jonathan and Elizabeth have four children-Nathaniel, Isaac, Hannah, and Faith. Leanne and Michael have Eden Michelle, and are expecting a baby girl, Harper Ann on October 3, if not sooner. I’ve mentioned Johnathan, son of Leslee. Morgan and Jamie have two sons, James David and Myles. Cassandra and Jon Perkins have two sons; Owen and Elijah, making a total of ten great-grandchildren, with number eleven on the way. Ryan and Diana have been married a year and have said they do want children.

This completes the Trotter family at this point, but we have the feeling that the Trotter family will continue to grow as grand children grown older and marry. We feel so fortunate to have this wonderful family.

Accidents Do Happen

No matter how careful parents are, they can’t be with their children at all times. We feel we have been blessed with not having had really serious things happen, but accidents seem to happen to boys, and ours were no different.

The first major accident happened in Denver after we had moved to our new house on Patton Ct. Jim, 1st grade, and Jay, kindergarten, were home from school. A neighbor boy, Michael, came over to play, and they all trooped downstairs. I was in the back bedroom getting ready to go to my alumnae meeting of S.A.I. when I heard a terrible “thump, thump, thump.” Michael had left the basement door open (our boys were trained always to close the door) but Lee, 10 months old, in his Taylor Tot stroller, had followed them, and gone down the stairs. That was the “thump”. I rushed to pick him up, my heart pounding, and discovered he’d been knocked out, but his face, from top of the nose to upper lip, had been split open. My mind went blank. I couldn’t remember Jim’s office number, or the doctor’s name or number. In the meantime, Michael had rushed home to get his mother. By the time she arrived, my memory had returned, and I had called Jim and the doctor. The doctor called an ambulance, but Jim came before the ambulance. We loaded Lee in the car and drove to the doctor’s office. He took one look at Lee and directed us to the hospital where the doctor had arranged for a plastic surgeon to meet us. The doctor sewed him up with stitches inside and out and also put both arms in casts so Lee wouldn’t disturb the stitches. We brought him home in a day or two, but the nurses had given him his milk in a cup, so that was the end of the bottle.

Another accident had happened a little bit before Lee’s accident, Jimmy was standing at the front screen door when a wind gust went through the house and knocked him out the door onto the front cement porch, breaking off one of his front teeth. I took him to our periodontist, but because it was a baby tooth, he felt it would be all right to leave it as it was.

The next experience (not really an accident) was the removal of tonsils and adenoids. This operation was normal procedure, back in the day, whether children really needed it or not. Jimmy was the first, at about age 6, and he really did need it. However, when he was about 8 or 9, the doctor discovered his adenoids had grown back. So, this time the procedure was done in the doctor’s office, nurse assisting and I was assigned to sit holding Jimmy’s hands, trying to keep him calm, while the doctor probed in his nose, cutting the adenoids out. That, however, was not the end of it. They grew back again, and we went through the same procedure once more. Not fun, I can assure you – but finally a success.

Next came Jay, with no problems with his operation. He was about five.

Then came Mark. He had had so many colds, sore throats, etc. that the doctor decided he should have the operation, even though he was only about 3 ½. When Jim and I were allowed into the recovery room, Mark was standing up in the crib, crying and yelling, and shaking that crib. The doctor wanted him to be in hospital one more night. That was one of the hardest thing we’ve done, having to walk out of that room. We did pick him up the next morning.

Lee had his tonsils and adenoids out but had no problems.

When Mark was about 8 or 9, he and his Dad, the other boys, Carl Bunger and his boys were in the back yard playing catch with a football. Mark went back to catch a pass, running backward, and ran into one to my clothes line poles (no dryers back in those days) and knocked himself out. He came to a little bit later but really had a “good egg” for a while.

We had bought a trampoline while we lived in Denver, and we were very fortunate not to have any serious accidents related to that. Our rule was to have only one person jumping at a time, and all were to take turns. I have always believed that the moves Jay and Mark made in their diving careers, they learned from their trampoline moves.

The next accident happened to Lee. It was the spring of 1965, and Jim had already started a new job at Commence Bank in Kansas City. I remained in Denver to let the boys finish the year at their schools, and to sell the house. One Saturday afternoon Lee went to a friend’s house to play. Later, as he was leaving he leaned down from his bicycle to pet his friend’s dog. No one knows what got into the dog, but he jumped up on Lee, caught his chin in his teeth, and bit him, causing a bad gash. The mother, of course, called me right away. I picked Lee up in the car, called our pediatrician, who met us at his office. The doctor told me he would sew Lee’s chin up, but he would need a plastic surgeon later. So he sewed him up, with me holding Lee’s hands (Saturday and no nurse available). This was not pleasant for either of us, but Lee was very brave. Fortunately, Lee’s friend’s family had insurance, so when we moved to Kansas City, Lee entered the hospital and a plastic surgeon redid the bad scar that had been left on Lee’s chin.

Things went along smoothly for a few years. The boys had cuts and scratches normal to active boys. We had not taken a real sightseeing vacation with the boys (we typically came to Kansas City and Pittsburg, KS to visit grandparents) so we decided to change that and head for California. However, before we left Jimmy had jumped down from something and landed wrong, breaking bones in his foot. The doctor put it in a walking cast, and we went on our vacation. This was really a “bummer” for Jimmy because we spent time on the beaches along the coast, and all Jimmy could do was watch us having fun in the ocean. I’m sure he was quite ready to get that cast off when we returned home. The boys were all active in sports from an early age, but it soon became evident that Jimmy was leaning more toward musical activities. However, he did play 9th grade footfall and then center on the senior high football team.

Jay, Mark and Lee played football. Mark and Jay played basketball, Mark and Lee wrestled and the three of them played baseball till they entered college. As you’d imagine there were accidents along the way.

In 8th grade Mark got his nose bashed in (he insisted on going back into the game even though the coach didn’t want him to). We headed for the doctor’s office, and again, I was called on to help. I held Mark’s hands as the doctor put 2 small wooden splints up his nose to be sure it would grow back straight. Mark also broke his wrist as a senior on his high school team. Mark also was hit so hard in one game he was in a coma for a few minutes (a scary moment for his parents).

Jay had a broken nose in a basketball practice, and again, I was called. Jay was taken to the hospital where reconstruction surgery was performed. Jay had a sprained ankle as a senior on the team. Do you see a pattern here – first Jimmy, then Lee, and finally Mark, holding their hands to help the Doctor and keep them calm? I kept hoping I didn’t ever have to do that again.

Lee had a hard hit on his upper arm, in football, and in a year or so a bone spur had grown where he was hit, so that had to be removed. He has quite a scar several inches long, and he used that at times to get sympathy from girl friends. He played in about five games and then hurt his back, so that was the end of his football season.

I’m sure you who are parents know how injuries or accidents affect you. In each case, it seemed as if my adrenalin surged through my body, and I always wished it was I and not one the them experiencing the trauma. All in all, however, we feel very fortunate not to have had anything more serious happening to them, as they reached their adulthood

Raising the Boys

Unless one has had children she can’t know the joy that comes from having a family. Along with these joys came challenges too, but for me, the joys far outweigh the challenges.

Our boys came along pretty fast, although we had been married 4 ½ years before our first was born. I had a miscarriage in 1948 when we were seniors in college, and we were both sorry to lose the baby. My doctor was afraid it had been a tubal pregnancy. They did exploratory surgery, but that wasn’t the case. I was out of school for several weeks but still make it to graduation.

We moved from Albuquerque to Phoenix in 1950 after Jim’s first promotion with GMAC, and soon after we moved I became pregnant. James Bruce (Jimmy in early years) was born January 13 1951. After that the boys were born pretty close together  - Jay Michael on October 2, 1952, Mark Randall on February 14, 1954, and Lee Roy Franklin on November 9, 1956. Even thought the dates are not exactly 18 months, when some on asks about the dates, I just round it off to that time. 

The first challenge came along with the joy of having a big (8lb 14 oz) baby boy. Jimmy had colic, and it seemed nothing I could do would soothe him. I’d walk the floors with him, feed him, and rock him. Then when Jim came home from work and I handed the baby to him, he immediately would calm down and go to sleep in his arms. This went on for about 3 months but finally things straightened out. Another challenge came when Jimmy was about 7 or 8 months old. He would cry and cry when we put him to bed, and would not settle down. We’d pat him, pick him up for a while, put him down again, and he’d break out crying again. Finally our next-door neighbor, having heard the crying each night, suggested we let him cry it out. We tried this and after 2 or 3 nights, he when right off to sleep.

The next challenge came when Jay was born. No one told me for a while what I had, girl or boy, and then they didn’t bring him to me till the next morning. It turned out that he had come so quickly and had such broad shoulders, that his collarbone was broken. They had it all bandaged up when the nurse brought him to me, but again, there was that wonderful joy of having a big (9 lb) baby boy. At 6 weeks old, when we went to the doctor, his collarbone was completely healed.

We thought we had prepared Jimmy for the new baby, but he began to throw little tantrums when something didn’t go his way – and especially when I was busy with Jay. Rather than scold him or spank him, I’d just walk out of the room and let him carry on. Those episodes soon stopped.

The next promotion and move came in November 1952, when Jay was not quite 2 months old. We make the trip to El Paso Texas, with Jimmy, 22 months old, Jay the baby, and a cocker spaniel puppy, newly acquired. Jim had rented a house for us. GMAC, fortunately, packed for me, moved us and unpacked everything in the new place. 

Christmas was near, so I found the decoration and put up a tree. Jim hadn’t connected the clothes dryer yet, so I was hanging lots of diapers out each day. When I can back in the house, I discovered the tree turned over, and many of the little glass ornaments broken. Now, who was I going to blame – the dog Taffy or the 23-month-old toddler? I cleaned up the glass and when Jim came home, we put the tree up again, but this time in the playpen!

We bought a new house on Honeysuckle Drive, moved and I soon found out I was pregnant. (We went by the house this year  - 2011 – and it looks very much the same.) We finally made friends with a number of young couples at church (congregation of 500), and when I was about due, the ladies at church gave me a shower. I received over 30 dresses and frilly outfits. They were all hoping I’d have a girl.

We were invited to a bridge party on February 13, 1954, but about 10:00 or so, I began to feel funny, called my doctor and he said to head for the hospital. Mark was born at 12:30 am on February 14, weighing in at 9 lb. 6 oz.  So – here was another healthy baby, a real joy and my Valentine all of his life.

Jim again received a promotion and we moved to Denver, Colorado in the fall of 1954. We rented a house in a suburb of Denver, Englewood, and settled in with our 3 boys. It snowed and the boys were so excited having never seen snow. I bundled them up in snow suits (given to us by church members whose children has outgrown them) and we went out to play. I have a picture of us in the driveway, with me pulling them on a sled. Fun!

Jim’s mother came to visit us in February (she was still working) and on Mark’s one-year birthday, she got to see him take his first steps – a joy for all of us. We have a picture of him walking towards her with her arms out to catch him.

We moved to a rent house on Dale Ct in Denver and the boys had fun riding tricycles on a big concrete patio which covered a double car garage.

Not too long after we moved, I was again pregnant. As winter 1955 approached, I did a lot of shoveling snow so the boys could play out on that big patio. On November 9, we had quite a big snow and that caused things to happen pretty fast. We make it to the hospital ( I had called Jim from work) and Lee was born at 12:30 pm, weighing 8lb 13 oz. I called my mother soon after he was born and she was on her way to help with the new baby. Now we had a wonderful family of four healthy boys. The challenge was to raise them to become good Christians, good citizens, and kind and caring individuals.

We had a lot of help along the way in raising these boys. They were all active in sports at one time or another, and for the most part their coaches were good Christian examples in their coaching. Jay, especially, had a football coach in junior high who helped Jay and really brought him along in many ways.

There were also some good Bible School teachers who helped mold the boys’ characters. I’m thinking especially of a teacher of Jimmy’s in Denver who would tell me how much she appreciated him, and what a good example he was in class.

The boys were all baptized in their early teens ( I think Mark was the youngest when baptized, and Lee was the oldest.)

The boys also displayed roles of leadership and good citizenship at an early age. Even in elementary school in Denver, the boys were looked up to. When we moved to Kansas City, Mark’s 5^th grade class had a party for him, and presented him with a very nice watch. In junior high in their Raytown School District, Jay was elected Student Body President and Mark was elected the Vice President.

Jim (Jr.) had begun his interest in music when he was about six. I started to give him piano lessons but soon realized he really had a musical talent and ear for music, so I obtained a very good teacher who had been recommended. He was chosen to sing in the Denver All 6^th Grade Choir (a few from each school) and I ran across the records of this not long ago.

Now I must tell you that these boys were not perfect. They had their spats and my way of dealing with those was a spanking when they were little. As they grew older, I’d send them to separate rooms, and when they decided they could get along, they could come out. Jim’s method was a little different. When they were fairly young, he bought 2 pairs of boxing gloves and had them “duke” it out in the basement. (I didn’t want to watch!)I think they learned rather quickly that the spats were not worth it.

If something more serious happened, Jim took care of it another way and we might have been arrested (in later years) for child and endangerment. I can remember one instance that caused “Granny Great” to shed tears. We were visiting her in K.C. and Lee must have been around 5 or so. Jim’s mother had fixed a good dinner, and it included an eggplant casserole. Our policy was that the boys would eat one teaspoon of any dish on the table. If they didn’t like it, they didn’t have to eat anymore of it. Lee decided he didn’t want to eat the bite Jim had put on his plate, so Jim took him to the bedroom and we could hear the spanking. They came out, but Lee was still not going to eat the bite. So – back he and his dad went to the bedroom. This happened three times. After the second time, Jim’s mother had tears running down her cheeks. I can’t remember exactly how it all ended but I do remember Lee sitting at the table for a long, long time.

Later as the boys became adults and as they were married, we’d be sitting around the table and the boys would begin to reminisce about their growing-up years. Incidents would come up that Jim and I had no idea had happened, and they were quite the eye-openers.

So – as you can see (yes, I admit I am prejudiced) our boys were regular boys and had their very good traits, but also had a ways to go as they were growing up.

My challenge, as they were growing up was to raise them to be independent and not be attached to my “apron springs.” There’s a fine line between this independence, and not causing them to be to distant from their mother. I don’t really know whether I accomplished this balance, but for the most part, I guess I did. Someone asked me one time how it felt to be this “queen bee” in the house with these boys and a husband, and my reply was, “It feels wonderful!” I give a lot of credit to Jim, Sr. because he has always treated me with a great deal of love and respect.

As the boys grew older, they knew that college was in their future. It just happened that Jim, Jr., because his two front teeth protruded had braces before we left Denver, and the orthodontist was a great person to talk to Jim and tell him just what he was doing. So – the boys got the idea that they would all be dentists, form the Trotter Dental Clinic, and each do a different branch of dentistry.  This never came to pass but it pointed them for sure to college and beyond.

The college Jim, Jr and we chose was Harding University (College at that time) and the boys each followed Jim there. The challenge was to pay for college, as several would be there at the same time. The boys worked many jobs as they were growing up and each summer, as they were in college. They sold Bibles and religious materials in the south. This helped tremendously with expenses. The professors and atmosphere at Harding were a good influence on our boys, as it gave them a few more years to strengthen their Christian values.

I’ll write more of later years in another chapter, but these years, from boys’ birth till they left home were entirely too short. I look back on those years with a great deal of joy and bselieve we met most of the challenges in a good way.

Education Through the Years

Jim and I have had a varied education, both in the classroom and outside the classroom. However, this chapter will deal mainly with our formal education.

Jim grew up in Gallatin, Missouri and had his first twelve years of schooling in Gallatin. He was a good student, studied hard, and teacher liked him because of those traits. He graduated high school in 1941.

           

He received a scholarship to Wichita State in Wichita, Kansas, and this was fortunate because he had a cousin living there who offered him housing. Since his cousin also ran a Western Auto Store, he hired Jim, which helped with his expenses.

His schooling was interrupted when he enlisted in the V-5 program of the Naval Air Corps. He spent time in training but became ill with pneumonia and tuberculosis and was given medical discharge.

Now he had the “G.I. Bill” for his service and entered Missouri University in the fall of 1944.

With the interruption of TB again, he graduated from the University of New Mexico in May 1948 with a degree from the School of Business in accounting.

My education began very early in life. Since I was an only child, my mother had time to read to me and by the age of 2 or 2 ½, I was reciting most of the Mother Goose rhymes. (I don’t remember this but relatives tell me that at a picnic in Junction City, KS, my mother stood me up on the table and I recited many rhymes and I was about 2 years old.)

I entered kindergarten at Askew School in Kansas City and loved school from the very beginning. At a spring PTA meeting, my teacher had me memorize a little storybook, and while 2 of my classmates rolled a holder with butcher paper illustrating the book. I recited the story along with the pictures.

We moved to Columbia, Missouri in June of 1931, where my dad had interviewed at Missouri University and was successful in getting the job as Chief Engineer at the power plant. (Remember this was in the midst of the depression and he was thrilled to get the job at $1800 a year.)

I entered Grant Elementary School – in 1^st Grade and my teacher Mrs. Whitmore, was a lovely lady – stately and very pretty. A few days into the year, she set up the board with the letters of the alphabet – Aa, Bb, Cc, etc. I guess I raised my hand and Mrs. Whitemore called on me. I told her I could already read.  I don’t remember her exact reaction, but she asked me to come up to her desk, handed me a book and asked me to read it, which I did.  (Many years later, as I was a teacher, I realized how smart she was.) Instead of having me sit at my desk, bored, she often asked me to go help someone who was struggling with reading.

In the summer of 1935, my dad decided he wanted to own some land, so he bought 40 acres east of Columbia about 5 miles (its all built up now) and we moved to the country.

I entered fifth grad at this little country school, one teacher, Mrs. Walker, about 40 students. A typical schedule was as followed – teacher would have one class up in front – go over their lesson and give them their assignment – then the next class would come to the front. Thinking back, I must have been a real nuisance because when Mrs. W would ask a question of the class in front, if I knew the answer, I’d wave my hand and want to answer. Another incident could have had my classmates turn against me. There was a little stream running through the school property, and someone would say, “Let’s go down to the crick.” Well, I’d heard this just about enough so I said to them, “It’s not crick, it’s creek.” And ever spelled it out for them. It’s a wonder they didn’t throw me in the creek.

During the Christmas break a change was coming in my scholarship. My dad arranged for me to take the Stanford – Benet IQ test. I don’t think that was part of qualifying for entering the laboratory school of M.U., but maybe my dad had talked to Dr. Gorman, principal, and they decided it would take it. When Dr Gorman called my dad to give him the results, my dad told my mother and they told me. Because of this rather high score, my dad and mother instilled in me the concept that I could to most anything I set my mind to.

When I entered the lab school for the second semester of fifth grade, I was now in an entirely different mode of learning. Mrs. Farthing believed in group projects, so right away, I was on a project where we were constructing a map of South America with its mountains, river, etc – quite a change from just sitting at your desk and doing your assignment.

Those years at the lab school, 5^th through graduation from high school, where very good for me. We started French in 5^th grade and I continued with French through high school. Someone discovered I had an ear for music and started me on bass violin  in 5^th grade. I switched to the viola in 7^th grade, because I had almost made up my mind by then that I would concentrate on music.

I sang in many ensembles, and had the lead in several musical productions including “Pirates of Penzance.”

As we neared the end of high school in 1943, we had entered World War II, and many students were anxious to get on with their lives. Because of this, two bright students, and boy and a girl, were allowed to moved from junior status, to seniors. Now Max Threuholme and I had gone back and forth in our ranking of #1 and #2 but when the two students came up to be in our class, they bested both of us with their grade point average ad were designated #1 and #2.

I received a scholarship to Stephens College, a 2 year girls school in Columbia, and was thrilled to get it. Tuition at that time was $2000 a year and my parents would not have been able to afford that.

Our classes were small – 16 to 18, and I was able to take lots of music – viola, piano, voice – the symphony orchestra and two different singing groups. Our Sunrise choir was composed of 12 girls, sang each Sunday morning on the radio (no TV yet.)

I graduated from Stephens in 1945, spent the summer in Pittsburg, KS, where my parents had moved that summer. I had become engaged to Jim (more about us in another chapter) in the spring of 1945. Jim had taken a summer job at Lassen Volcanic National Park, so in addition to writing him every day (he wrote me every day, too) I worked at the telephone switchboard at Pittsburg State University where my dad was chief engineer and supervisor of buildings and grounds. Jim and I returned to M.U. in the fall of 1945 where I continued with my major in Music Education.

During the first semester Jim and I were awarded several honors – you have to realize this seemed very important to us at the time, but in the grand theme of things, it too its place as not quite so important.  Jim was inducted into a male organization called “Meptical Seven,” which was an honor. I was named to Mortar Board, a girls’ national organizations of ten girls from our campus. We were chosen for our qualities of leadership, scholarship, and character. I was also named to Sigma Alpha Iota, a national music honorary and was also chosen at the U of New Mexico to lead our chorus. I also became a member of the National Honorary Education fraternity. I have ben active in S.A.I alumnae group in several places where we’ve lied, and have also been active in the American Association of University Women, attending a national convention for both AAUW and SAI. These organizations have allowed me to remain active with music groups and women with degrees, where we try to encourage high school girls to pursue college degrees by awarding college scholarships.

Jim became ill again, so spend the second semester recovering, as we were getting married in June 1946. My parents were not too happy about us marrying before we finished college, but I promised I would finish school, and they approved of Jim.

We were married on June 4, 1946, spent several days on our honeymoon and then traveled back to Pittsburgh. My parents drove us to Albuquerque, N.M. where we had been accepted as transfer students. Doctors thought that the dry air would be good for Jim.

We had trouble finding a place to live, finally subletting an apartment for te summer. We found a re-modeled garage down in the valley and entered U of NM in the fall. We each lost quite a few credits in the transfer, so each had to go an extra semester to graduate. We were living on the “GI Bill” – about $160 a month – so on the off semester, one worked while the other went to school.

Jim and I had a class together, but we don’t talk much about it. It was part of my English minor, so I had the advantage and I graduated 2^nd in the School of Education.

We graduated in May 1948, and that was the end of Jim’s formal schooling. However, I needed hours for a major in English Education so I attended U of MO, Kansas City where I received my master’s degree in May 1974.

Thus ended our years of formal schooling. However we hope we are learning something new everyday as life goes on.

The First of Many...

This summer we went to Kansas City, Missouri for my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary. I know...AMAZING. These two are great! They have always been great grandparents and faithful christian examples to all of us.

Anyway, every time I am around my grandmother I am reminded at how great her memory is. She has great stories about growing up during the Great Depression, her education, parenting, marriage, and so on.  I asked her to write everything down, so that we can capture her spirit, fun memories, and family history. I presented the idea of a writing to her and she loved it.  So here I am starting a blog to share her memoir. My Grandmother will write me letters, I will type them up and share with all.

So, i know you are on the edge of your seat waiting for the first post. Don't worry I have the letter in hand and I will post it later this week :)