Thomas Wolfe was wrong, you can go home again, you might get a little dizzy though! The week before last me, my Dad, my Sister Ellen, and Brother Bob went to Payson, Arizona for a church reunion that my parents helped start back in the early 1960’s. We lived there back then you see, Ellen doesn’t have any memories but that is where she was born. Dad was the Payson District Ranger on the Tonto National Forest.
Back then Payson was out in the sticks so the government provided us a house. This is where we lived. It was exactly like the house we left in Coyote, NM where Dad was a Ranger for the Santa Fe National Forest. I remember every detail about the houses. Or at least I think I do. Now it is a storehouse for the local parks department.It is just exactly like I remember except it was yellow when we lived in it.
Here we are, Ellen, Brother Bob, Dad, and yours truly. Best BIL in the world, Irv took the pic. (Sister Ellen’s post on this trip.)
This is Dad’s former office. Now part of the Rim Country Museum in Payson. It was closed the day we were there but the nice people at the museum opened it up for us.
A listing of the Rangers. Dad is listed as the Ranger from January 1960 to July 1962. We were proud of him then, and we are proud of him now.
The getting dizzy swooning part is when we went into the main part of the museum. It used to be the Assistant Ranger’s house. I hadn’t been in it for about 50 years. The details I remembered were overwhelming. It is bizarre to go into somebody’s house that you knew very well and it is now a museum.
The biggest shock and vertigo was the next door elementary school. I went to First Grade there and now the brand spanking new school is named after my first grade teacher. I had her in her 45th year of teaching. Everybody now speaks of her in reverent terms about how great she was. Maybe so but from my first grader’s perspective she invented shock and awe. Have you ever been slapped out of your seat and onto the floor. I have!! I have to tell you though that doing some research on Julia Randall I have some newfound respect for her. She started teaching at age 17 in 1916. She taught first grade from 1923 until she retired in 1969. The Payson Roundup website has a great article on her. She really was a true western pioneer teacher.
The old Ranger Station is now a very nice park with ponds and fountains and such. This used to be where the Forest Service had the helicopter landing pad and close to the warehouse where the guys who worked for Dad used to work when they weren’t out fighting fires. Brother Bob and I told him how we used to go pester his guys and he was shocked.
You see the Forest Fire fighters nowdays may train by playing frisbee football. The guys we knew way back when trained on whiskey, cigarettes, and poker. Dad was a little shocked that we hung around them. He got doubly shocked on this trip when Bob and I told him about jumping off the platforms they used way back when to teach the firefighters how to jump out of hovering helicopters. Of course brother and I were shocked that he was shocked. He wanted to know what else we did. We think we may have told him too much already.
Anyway, I have to tell you I was very happy over going back to Payson. The woods that brother Bob and I roamed are now there for everybody to enjoy, Dad’s work, and the work of others like him is honored, and everything looks great!
Wow, that was really very interesting. Someplace I would like to visit for sure. Yes, I had one of those kind of teachers, not so sure I would have named a school after my teacher. She was actually forced to retire the year after I had her.
fabulous post … have you ever read any of Nevada Barr’s novels set in the national parks?
How fun to be able to go back and see the place again! And, to see your Dad’s name listed on the list of rangers is so very cool. Wonderful post!
What a delightful trip for you and family returning to the old homestead and seeing improvements and changes.
What a fun, wonderful trip for all of you! I love your photos! Hope you have a great day!
Sylvia
Terrific…lots of memories. The house we grew up in on Sandia Base in Albuquerque is gone now, but my brother and I got back once a few years ago. It was so small, compared to our memories of it.
It’s great that you returned with members of your family so that you could “remember” together, except for your sister of course. I bet you all remembered things a bit differently from each other…unless your family is not like mine. :))
Except for being slapped out of your chair (ahem!) I bet you had a super childhood.
What a great post, all lovely photos especially of you with your family.
What a wonderful post and congrats to your dad!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
You live in such a beautiful environment. Impressed !
daily athens photo
What a wonderful post. My grandparents home in Henryetta has been gone for many years now. I still drive by the site occasionally and it still floods my mind with memories of days gone by. I am thrilled that you can visit your childhood home for many years to come.
What a great trip to be with the family. It must be really great to see those things preserved. Incredible.
Not all revisits have a happy ending. I went to see the home I grew up in and hoped to request a visit to see the garden as my father had won prizes for his creation. What a letdown, the house was grubby and the garden totally neglected – good job I have memories and photographs. I won’t go there again!
What a great visit down memory lane.
How lovely to go on such a great nostalgia trip!
I’ve always told my kids – and now grandkids – that parents find out everything their kids do. It might take a few minutes, hours, days, months or even years, but it happens. Sounds like you sure spilled the beans! LOL
What a wonderful story with the people and pictures accompanying it. I loved going to New Orleans and seeing the house my daddy grew up in. There is something really special by coming so close to the past. I enjoyed all of your pictures. genie
how fascinating. looks like an enjoyable trip for the family.
It must have felt like going back in time and reliving lots of good memories.
What a great trip down memory lane, and how nice to be able to return with your dad and siblings. You first grade teacher sounds awesome!
Great post, Yogi!
You mentioned that your dad was a ranger at the Santa Fe National Forest. Growing up in Lubbock, TX, «Louis’» family often vacationed at Santa Fe National Forest.