February 8, 1970 - Amway

 

This journal entry was made in my mother's handwriting.

"Daddy's shop" refers to the missile shop my father led on base.

Sometime in 1969, my parents because Amway distributors and "rode to Amway dealer" appears to refer to a trip to our supplier in Mekinoch, a tiny town of 2000 people just north of GFAFB.  Our supplier was a farmer who lived near Mekinoch.  I sat at the kitchen table and stared at the model tractor they kept on the top of their refrigerator.

When we moved to California in the summer of 1970, my parents ended their association with Amway.  I think their involvement had not gone well.

February 9, 1970 - Made Valentines

 

This first line "Made Valentines" was written by my mother.  I later added the words "was sleepy".

February 10, 1970 - Family Store

 

The Family Store (Building 211) on GFAFB was where my mother worked.  I liked visiting the store due to its great toy section.  The store had a huge mirror on one wall and once my mom started working there I found out it was a 1-way mirror window that employees used to watch customers from the break room.

I saw a Ford Mustang in the parking lot day with a houndstooth vinyl top and interior.  I don't think I ever saw another one like it.

This journal entry is in my mother's handwriting.  Note she calls it "supper" and not "dinner".   From what I've gathered, "dinner" is most commonly used in the west and northeast parts of the US, while "supper" is very common in North Dakota and the surround states.

February 11, 1970 - Mrs. Hogan

 

Patrick refers to Patrick Rios discuss previously.  I do not recall who Clint was.

This entry is interesting because it explains something else that happened:  in fourth grade, we were assigned to make a clay object that could be fired in a kiln.

I my infinite wisdom, I designed an ashtray with a tooth brush holder in the middle of it.   It sounds so absurd now but back in the 1960s everyone smoked so there were ashtrays everywhere!

So the "lava dish with a volcano in the middle which was an ashtray"  may have been my inspiration for a combination toothbrush holder / ashtray.

I bet my teachers and parents got a great laugh out of my submission.

(my handwriting)

February 12, 1970 - A Dull Day

 

Reading back through these entries 50+ years later, I wonder what my mother thought when she read these?  And I can assure you she read my entries.

Did she concur with my thoughts?  Find me more activities because she thought I was bored?  What was the impact of my comments on her thoughts and actions? 

(my handwriting)

February 13, 1970 - Valentines Party

 

This party was almost certainly held during class time.  I don't remember anything about it.

(my handwriting)

February 14, 1970 - Find Out

 

This is a reference to Sheldon Rohde who lived nearby on New Jersey Street and was in my fourth grade class I believe.  

Why did I want to know what Sheldon's valentine looked like?  Did he give one to a female I liked and I had found out she was thrilled with it?  I do not know!

I don't recall Sheldon and I hanging out after school at any point so this note was likely spawned by something said in class.

(my handwriting)

February 15, 1970 - Matchbox

 

"Funnys" refers to the cartoon page in the local newspaper.  My favorite cartoon was always "Peanuts" though there were about a half-dozen comic strips I would read each day.

"Matchbox" refers to Matchbox toy cars which I had been collecting for 2-3 years by 1970.  Matchbox and Hot Wheels were my two favorite brands and I still have my collection to this day in 2026.

(my handwriting)

February 16, 1970 - Wrestling

 

We were taught wrestling in PE class.  I thought that was in third grade, but from this note it appears to have been fourth grade too.

(my handwriting)

February 17, 1970 - Yawn

 

Nuff said.

February 18, 1970 - Cubs and Peepbox

 

I joined Cub Scouts in 1968 or 1969 when Glenn Bleakley's mom (I could be wrong, it could have been another mom) was the den mother.  One project was to create an animal costume for ourselves.  I was assigned something easy like a monkey but trade with another kid who was assigned a blue whale - I loved blue whales at that time.   Excited, I went home and told my mother.  She did not share in my excitement and she was upset that making a blue whale costume would be significantly more difficult than a monkey costume.  Another of life's lessons!

I would love to know what I meant by "peepbox"!!!

(my handwriting)

February 19, 1970 - Doctor

 

The doctor's office was right there on GFAFB.  

This visit may have been to check the condition of my knee.  I had injured it pretty badly in a bicycle accident.  I was riding my new bike on J Street when I was surrounded by a group of kids on their bikes.  One of them took his foot and pushed the frame of my bike near the rear axle sending me careening to the ground.  The bike was new to me and slightly too big for me which is probably why I could not recover from the kick.  I still have the scar on my knee.

February 20, 1970 - Mrs. Pappas

Mrs. Pappas was my substitute teacher on this day.  She was our neighbor as discussed in a prior post.

(handwriting is mine)
 

February 21, 1970 - Penneys and McDonalds

 

Penneys and McDonalds were located in the city of Grand Forks so this was obviously a trip into town.

I don't recall where McDonald's was located but Burger King was on the south side of Highway 2 as we entered town.  Just opposite the Burger King on the other side of the road was an A&W Root Beer drive-in restaurant we also frequented.  Behind the A&W was a dirt race car track at the North Dakota Fair Grounds where we would watch stock car races and demolition derbies.  The track could also be used figure-8 style which lead to interesting collisions.  I loved the track and ate cotton candy there.

On South Washington Street in Grand Forks was the K-Mart we frequented and a small Ben Franklin store.  That street also had a Kentucky Fried Chicken and car dealers including Chevrolet and Buick.

(handwriting is mine)

February 22, 1970 - Baseview

 

I do not recall where "Baseview" was but it may have been near Highway 2 and 25th Street NE as that location would have a view of GFAFB.  The city of Emerado was near there so Baseview may have been there also.

This sounds logical to me as there was a "Champ" gas station in that general area which would explain the drawing of the Champ sign covered in spider webs.  My recollection is the Champ station was dilapidated.

February 23, 1970 - Wrestling Again

 

This was probably the day I decided I liked wrestling enough that I attended an after-school session of kids who were serious about wrestling and wanted to take on wrestling as a regular sport activity.

Those boys were very rough and after one body slam to the mat that knocked the wind out of me, I decided I had enough and went home, never to return to the after-school sessions again.  That was a life lesson!

February 24, 1970

 

The last day of my one-month diary assignment and apparently I wasn't in the mood to say much.  I guess I didn't want to repeat myself.

February 1970 GFAFB Map and End Notes

 

And with that, my one-month assignment to keep a diary ended.  I think I was probably happy about that.

For reference, here is what GFAFB looked like in the late 1960s.  Our house on North Cypress is shown in the lower right cover, with a small line drawn next to it.

Twining Elementary School is shown nearby.

A separate school - Eielson School - was created for the officer's kids.

One of my relatives gave me a signature book as a gift and on this page we recorded the signatures of my friends at the time - likely 1968 or 1969.

My mom probably suggested my friends sign it or perhaps this was done at one of my birthday parties, I really don't recall.

Tommy and Wesley Moore signed it.  If my recollection is correct, they were the sons of my dad's boss Ed Moore.  I think I only met Tommy and Wesley a few times.  The only memory I have with them is one of them - can't recall if it was Tommy or Wesley - suggested we play in their basement.  He pretended he was Elvis Presley and made me "The Colonel".   I had no idea at the time what that meant and went along with it.  Hey, it was something to do.

I don't recall a Jeffery McC but from the address listed I think we did play together a few times.  Only recollection I have of being at that house was seeing a Sea Horse for the first time - those were commonly advertised as something kids could send away for at that time.

Steven Harris was a friend and I think we had sleepovers a time or two.  I believe the first time I read a Dr. Suess book was at his house.

Next door to Steven lived Glenn Bleakley.  Don't remember a whole lot except when the adults had a party one evening, us kids played with a toy bowling set in the hallway, then had bowls of ice cream with chocolate syrup.  They taught me to mix the syrup in real good to create chocolate ice cream.  I thought that was the coolest thing!

"Mitchell" was Mitchell Worden who I played with a lot - he was just a few doors down on the opposite side of the street from our house.  Mitchell had one of those "time bomb" games we played with a few times and I watched at least one Peanuts cartoon specials in his living room.   He and his dad also built a wooden go-cart (they planned to add an engine later but don't think they ever did) which us kids nick-names the Hogan's Hero Wagon as apparently we watched a lot of that show back then.  And his parents bought a new 1969  Chevrolet Malibu that I thought was just gorgeous.

Steven Gray and his brother lived on the other end of the Cypress Street horseshoe so we didn't play together all that often.  They had a Play-Doh set we used in their bedroom a time or two.

I have no clue who Michal or Kenny were.