Lyrad Kelly Riley - Ernest Ray Riley (born December 4, 1939)
Grandpa Ernie
When Ernie was two years old, he was
riding his tricycle on the driveway when his dad backed up over him and his
bike. Ernie was pinned underneath the
truck, but luckily the wheels didn`t go over him. His dad stopped the truck, looked underneath
it, and was so surprised to see Ernie down there.
When Ernie was about four years old,
he was visiting his grandparents. His
Grandpa Thomasini had worked hard to plant some new seedlings (little trees),
but little Ernie found a hatchet. Ernie
proceeded to chop all of the bark off of several of the seedlings, until his
grandparents found him and made him stop.
Another time at his grandparents`
house, Ernie thought he was in trouble, so he hid in a big pipe that carries
water under the street. He sat there for
a long time, listening to his parents and grandparents calling for him.
Ernie loved to play with toy trucks
in dirt piles and sand piles. After he
turned three, he received a dump truck that he loved for Christmas. When he was supposed to go out to dinner with
his aunt, he only wanted to show off his new truck and he refused to go to
dinner.
One day he was driving his metal
fire engine around the driveway when he saw a gopher snake crawling toward him. He sat petrified in his fire engine until it
crawled by him and went away. He thought
the snake was seven feet long.
Ernie`s mom, our great-grandma Mary,
hated snakes. One day Ernie found a
water snake while working in the garden.
He brought it home and put it in the bathtub, but the snake crawled out
and headed for the kitchen. When Grandma
Mary saw the snake slithering along the kitchen floor, she "just about
died".
Ernie
loved his big old English Shepherd named Bingo.
The dog was bigger than Ernie and they were best friends. Ernie sat on him and rode him like a horse.
One day while playing outside, Ernie
saw his dad drive his tractor a half-mile away to work. Ernie wasn`t allowed to go with his dad, so
he just followed him there instead. Ernie
remembers having to eat his cheese sandwich and go to bed early (a common
consequence when he disobeyed).
Ernie`s dad, Kelly, raised turkeys a
few miles away from their home. Ernie
absolutely loved staying overnight in their little "turkey wagon" (a
trailer with a roof, stove, and bed). He
loved to drip water, one drop at a time, onto the stove to hear it sizzle. One time he dripped fuel onto the stove, and
a huge flame shot up!
Ernie's standard breakfast was
cooked whole wheat cereal, toast, and eggs.
His FAVORITE dessert was cooked chocolate pudding with a thick skin on
top. He HATED to eat potatoes with
gravy, baked ham, and vegetables (except for peas and asparagus). He loved Grandma Thomasini's asparagus dipped
in oil and vinegar.
Ernie's chores as a little boy were
hauling wood for fires, feeding the dog, weeding, hoeing, and milking
cows. He enjoyed playing checkers and
Monopoly indoors, and his favorite book was Grimms' Fairy Tales. But Ernie was happiest outdoors! He learned to swim in canals, floating
downstream while frantically dogpaddling.
He loved building fires and would dig up sagebrush, stack it into big
piles, and burn the piles just for fun.
Ernie's favorite childhood pastime
was setting off firecrackers. He earned
money by catching magpies (noisy birds); he earned three cents for each baby
bird he killed and one cent for each egg he turned in (he would climb trees and
take the eggs out of the nests). With
the money he earned, he would buy firecrackers.
Ernie liked Indians and collected
Indian cards that came inside boxes of Shredded Wheat. He had cards that told how to make a bow and
arrow, build a teepee, hide an animal trap, and identify plants to eat in the
wild.
Ernie's school in Altonah, Utah,
didn't have a fourth grade, so he rode the bus to Altamont for fourth
grade. He played baseball in Little
League and also in high school. Across
the street from the school was the church building, where the children attended
primary once a week after school. Movies
were shown weekly at the church building, such as "Abbott and
Costello" and "Red Stallion."
He really wanted a t.v., but t.v.'s required a huge antenna; Ernie
didn't have his first t.v. until after he was married.
Ernie (a fifth-grader) first met
Shirley (a third-grader) one morning in December 1950; she was playing
Christmas carols on the piano as the school children sang them. Ernie remembers walking in and noticing that
"her feet could barely reach the pedals." Their first date was years later when they
travelled to Provo to watch Altamont High School's basketball team play in the
state play-offs.
When a young boy, Ernie hoped to
become a truck driver when he grew up.
He began Dixie College hoping to become an engineer, but the math
classes were too hard. His next choice
was to be an auto mechanic, but that was too much work and too dirty for
him. So then he decided to become a
biology teacher.
+++++++++
+++++++++
Ernie’s Glimpses of
the Past
Bountiful, Moss Hill 13th east, little white
house
Earliest
thing I remember
Christmas present
dump truck, stubborn , I wouldn’t go to dinner with aunt Ester,
Spinning
tires in the snow. The road to the
driveway was pretty steep and during snow storm the old blue ford panel truck
would spin and I loved to see the tires spin.
I would try to throw snow back under the tires with my little toy shovel
to make them spin after he had shoveled it away and was trying to get up the
hill. As the wheels would spin I really
thought I’d done something neat.
Fire engine
and Gopher snake that scared me motionless
Dead gopher
snakes after they cut hay across the fields
Hiding
under the culvert from Grandma and Grandpa
Barking the
trees at Grampas
Bringing
cows up the lane with Stella
Riding on
the handlebars of aunt Stella’s bike
Altonah
Age 5-18
Trading
tops with Gary Jessen I had no sense of
value, can’t remember what I traded but Mom didn’t like the trade, I think She
made me try and get it back, or else I got the top and had a hard time learning
to spin it but when I did nearly drove everyone nuts with it.
Kindergarten, first ever Mrs Snider at Altamont
Elementary
school -- first three years
Beaten
in foot race by Janice Allrred. I
thought I could easily out run any girl, what a blow to the ego.
Outhouse
bathrooms
Gail
Timothy
Old
Well for water, water bucket in hall way for drinking. One of the rewards for getting your work done
early ws to go out and lower the bucket into the dug well, about 30 feet deep,
fill the school bucket and bring it into the hall for the school. There was one long handled dipper that
everyone drank out of. Never a thought
of spreading germs, etc.
Primary
part of school, one day a week. The
entire school was excused to go across the street to attend primary classes. I seem to remember that there were about five
kids that didn’t attend.
Jesse Fowler, pocket knife I wanted. I had notice that mom and Dad kept a small
box above the clothes closet where they kept their change. Seemed like there was always a few quarters,
nickels and dimes in the box. I got the
idea that if I just took a few no one would know the difference. I’d help myself to a few coins for a candy
bar, pop, or just give them to other kids.
One day I saw the neatest little pocket knofe in the store carse in of Jesse Fowler’s store
My
earliest memory of buying a soda pop.
Uncle Dell and I were getting a tire fixed at Jesse Fowler’s garage and
Dell bought me the biggest Pepsie I’d ever seen. I remember that it tasted so good but was so
filling that I had t leave some in the bottle
Mohlmans Store, 5
cent pop
stove in classroom
lunch room
first value of
snakes, I got to take it back outside
Shirley had to come
for thire grade, I went to Altamont for the fourth grade
Altamont Elementary
Mrs Gomm
art teacher, getting placed in seats and levels
I was a
terrible ball player, seemed like I was always the last one chosen on a side
when sides were picked for teams.
Altamont High School
Guam
__________
Letter from 2001:
Grampa
Ernie has had a most enjoyable last month with the Riley’s in Guam. Getting there on the 5th of Dec
and returning home on the 8th of Jan. Got to enjoy numerous aspects of Guam, all
most enjoyable! Amazing how many
activities got packed into this time—Christmas, Birthday parties, New Years and
Family outings, and even getting Grama Shirley here for almost two weeks It’s not possible to pick out any one thing
as being the best, but I supposed one of the very best was experiencing the
growth of Joshua in just a little more than a month. I think he had his first cherrio’ on about
Dec. 6, and (pardon my memory if wrong) but he seemed to stay in whatever
location he might be placed. By the time
I left he was never in the same place unless strapped into his seat. The progress he made in such a short time,
learning to crawl, move around the hot chocolate table, taking the position of “chief-picker-upper)
of anything on the floor and the master of apples, cereal, crackers, cherrio’s
with only two front teeth was quite amazing.
I sure enjoyed the interaction with all the other kids, Lyrad and Alicia
included. Never saw seven kids, one
grampa, one van, two boogie boards, a whole sackfull of sun and surf things
have anymore fun than we did.
Fun
included playing in the warm ocean water as waves and surf broke over the coral
reef flat, trying to keep the waves from banging us around on the sharp
limestone rocky beaches, hiking through numerous trails, (some we were sure of,
others we had a pretty good guess, some it just didn’t matter) to more secluded
coves and beaches, and visiting some of the War in the Pacific memorial and
parks, museums, and invasion sites. I’d
list all the places we visited and try and tell you about them, but really the
best thing to do is hot on a short flight or a long boat ride and come to Guam
to see for yourself.
I suppose nothing is all good and
one negative of Guam would be that weeds in the garden never take a break and
the grass never quits growing. So when I
left Guam the bean seeds we planted earlier had all rotted in the ground, and
the weeds loved the newly prepared soil for the garden, I’m pretty sure
thinking “we’ll overrun those invasive tomato plants in no time", and Lyrad
will need to mow the grass before the next inspection.
There’s no
way to state all the pleasant memories I’ve had during this visit, but I sure
do thank each member of the family for the time and energy they had given to
make this such an enjoyable winter trip.
I’m writing this on my last day in Guam and can’t help but feeling some
sadness at leaving here, it has been great.
Thanks for a great ending of ‘01 and beginning of ’02. Grampa Ernie
Hikes
Kids
Beaches
Christmas
Birthdays
No comments:
Post a Comment