My 1970 Journal - Introduction

 

In 1970, I was given an assignment to write a journal / diary for 30 days.  I don't recall if the assignment was given to me in my fourth grade class or in cub scouts.

The photo to the right was taken within a month or two of my writing the journal.  The photo appears to be from a photo booth that were commonly found in downtown areas at the time.  They are kind of extinct now with the advent of cell phones.

In early 1970 when I wrote my journal, my family was living on Grand Forks Air Force Base (GFAFB) in North Dakota.  We lived there from mid-1966 to mid-1970.  I lived with my father, mother and sister who was two years younger than me.  I was 9 years old in early 1970 and attending fourth grade.

The following posts show each page of the journal and give a glimpse as to what each entry meant.   Some days were rather boring, but hang with it as there is some good info in some of the posts!  If you just read one day, read February 7th.

Enjoy.

January 24, 1970 - Puppets, Bear Book, and Belts

 

"To town" meant traveling from GFAFB where we lived to the city of Grand Forks about 15 miles away.  Among the stores we shopped at in Grand Forks were Sears and K-Mart.

I have no recollection of a "Bear Book" or a Charlie Brown puppet.

The blue text was written by my mother.  My handwriting starts with the word "Work", also in blue text.

January 25, 1970 - Scout Book

 

Mom worked at the Family Store (Building 211) on GFAFB.  This is where I bought most of the plastic car model kits I assembled as a kid and where I was introduced to CARtoons magazine which I regularly purchased.

"Dad's shop" referred to the repair shop (Building 622) for the AGM-28 Hound Dog missile that my father managed.  The shop had extensive test consoles and a huge bay that could hold several missiles at the same time.  He managed a staff of between 5 and 10 people as I recall.

(my handwriting)

January 26, 1970 - Hockey and Library

 

In PE during fourth grade, we played hockey indoors in the school gymnasium which I enjoyed greatly.  One of the first real-event stories I would tell as a young boy was about the day two players hit the puck from opposite directions, sending the puck sailing skyward and hitting the ceiling of the gym.   My 9 year old brain saw that as an exciting story.  It was only after telling the story a few times did I realize that no one else found it exciting.  It gave me a data point as to what makes a great story.

I'm not sure if "went to the library" referred to the GFAFB library (Building 201) or the Twining school library.  It was likely the Twining library as we only went to Building 201 a few times in four years.  At the Twining library, I checked out books on Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, and Thomas Edison.

(my handwriting)

January 27, 1970 - Hockey and Math

 

My handwriting.

January 28, 1970 - Social Studies and Art

 

My handwriting.

January 29, 1970 - Patrick and Freddie

 

I wrote the first part of this journal entry, my mother wrote everything else starting with "Patrick".

Patrick and Freddie Rios lived almost directly across the street from us on GFAFB.  Patrick was my age and Freddie was a couple of years younger.  We played together regularly and had sleepovers sometimes.  

The first time I saw a Spirograph toy was at their house.  One evening when I ate dinner with them, their mother made me a heaping plate of food - about ten times the amount I normally ate.  I could only eat a small fraction of it - she was disappointed.

The family had a gray 1967 Ford Falcon with an electric cord sticking out the grill.  It was common in North Dakota to have engine warmers to keep the motor from freezing overnight.