The early years...

My father loved Colorado.  He had visited a number of times before he married my mother.  He had siblings living there so he would go there during the year to work. After he married my mother and before my sister and I were born, mom and dad would travel to Denver to spend the summers where dad could work and make more money.

They had been married for five years before my sister was born and thirteen years by the time I came along.came along.

Mom and dad around 1940.

According to dad, this was probably the closest my mother’s mouth ever got to dad’s crotch.  He liked to tell me that oral sex was dirty because the penis and vagina are dirty.  I later found out that wasn’t a 

true statement. I’m really glad I found out.

 Mom and dad, 1939

Dad was 38 year old when my sister was born; mom was 25.  When I arrived in 1949, dad was 45 and mom 33.  Dad was kinda old for a newborn, mom, not so much.

I understand that I was “planned” and they were thrilled when I finally came along.  I’ve been told that my sister was also thrilled when they brought her little brother home on Christmas Day, 1949.  That changed before too many years passed.  My sister, Camilla in 1944.

  Me, age three, 1953, all dressed up as "butch" as can be in my OshGosh overalls.

1953 again, more like what is to come.

Home was in a smaller town, Ramsey (population 800) about 17 miles south of where I was born.  There was not much there.  The town started out as a water and coal stop for the Illinois Central Railroad.  Other than the railroad business, everything else was based on farming.  The town had a couple of general stores, two service stations, a Chevrolet dealership, barber shop, pool hall, bait shop and a couple of diners.

Of course there were the churches, mostly protestant, although there was one Catholic Church, a funeral home and the elementary school (1^st-8^th) and the high school. There was even a movie theater (The Roxie) but it closed in the 1960s.

During more recent visits to Ramsey I’ve found that the population has increased by 400. I’s assuming the reason is that the offspring don’t leave the family.  There is nothing in the town to draw new inhabitants. There is now one service station/store, one grocery market, one diner, a bank, no more Chevrolet dealership, no more pool hall.

There are quite a few wealthy farmers in the area, but most of the population survives on some sort of governmental  assistance.