Rock House and Heber Memories

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MY FIRST CAR

When I got in high school and got a driver’s license, I wanted a car in the worst way. I had taken some “Auto Mechanics” in my Vo‑Ag class and I thought I  knew quite a bit about what made them run or what to do if they didn’t run. All I needed was a “real live car” to practice working on.

I started looking around town for a suitable candidate. I didn’t really care whether the car could run or not, I knew I could fix it. I was pretty cocky then, but I guess ignorance is bliss. I finally found an old Desoto that still had a motor in it. It was up on blocks and hadn’t been driven for years. The lady that owned it gave it to me if I would drag it off, so I got Charlie Reidhead to help me and we hitched it to the tractor with a chain and we drug it from her house to my house. I finally had “my car.” Needless to say, I soon learned that its needs exceeded my abilities and my pocketbook so I started looking around again. I finally found an old 1949 Dodge Sedan. It was owned by a Mr. Reidhead. It did not have current license plates but it did run. I bought it for fifty dollars. Mr. Reidhead didn’t have a title to the car but he thought I could apply for an “Abandoned Title” since the car hadn’t had license plates for several years.

I was in “hog heaven!” I had my own car and it ran and it had a radio that worked sometimes and it could be washed and waxed and it was a deep blue color and the engine was a flat head six that I knew how to work on and I could drive it as long as I didn’t get caught by the deputy sheriff because I didn’t have current license plates. Life couldn’t get much better!

I spent a lot of time in that car. I figured out that the deputy sheriff did not drive on the dirt roads that went up the canyon or down the canyon. He did not travel the roads that were in the woods. If I confined my driving to those roads, there was little chance he would bother me. My car had good clearance so I could actually go about anywhere “Off Road” with that car. I did take it lots of places and I had a lot of fun with it.

Sometimes I would just sit in my car and listen to the radio when I could pick something up. At that time, one of the radio stations that came in the clearest at night was KOMA from Oklahoma City. It was a station that played all the popular songs over and over and over and over but I loved it just as most teenagers probably did at that time. I knew the words to lots of the songs and could sing along.

I tried to keep my car washed and shined. As I mentioned, it was a very dark blue, almost black, but the paint was so old it would oxidize quite rapidly. The oxidized paint was a lighter bluish gray in color and not too attractive so I waxed it quite often so the real color would show.

I have fond memories of running around the dirt roads leading to and from Heber and having a blast. We often went up the canyon to Black Canyon Lake since it was dirt road all the way. I knew ways to get to Overgaard without driving on the paved roads so I could go to Overgaard if I needed to.

I remember one night I decided to take my car to a football game in Snowflake. That meant driving on a major highway. The game was at night so I thought I would be OK and I drove to Snowflake. My car’s top speed was probably forty-five miles per hour so it took me almost an hour to get to Snowflake. I parked in an obscure place and went and watched the game. When it was over I started home. As I came over one of the rises in the road, I saw a bunch of cows in the middle of the road ahead. Somehow, and I don’t know how, I made it through that bunch of cows without hitting a single one. I think I might have grazed one of their noses with my car but it could have been a lot worse. I think “Someone” was looking out for me that night. It shook me up enough that I didn’t ever try that again. If I needed to go to Snowflake for something, I would ask Dad for the keys to the family car and use it.

I sold my car when I got ready to go to college at ASU. It still didn’t have any license plates and I didn’t have an “Abandoned Title.” I sold it to an Indian man for twenty dollars. I have always thought that sale was probably the best deal I ever made. I ended up spending thirty dollars plus gas money for two or three years of fun with “my car.” I hope it is resting in peace someplace because it gave me a lot of pleasure. I never did do much work on it. It just ran and ran and ran so I just drove and drove and drove. We were a good combination.

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SLEEPING OUT

 

One of the high adventures when I was growing up was to “sleep out.” Sleeping out amounted to sleeping outside the house with my brothers or a bunch of friends. Maybe the reason it was so special was because I didn’t get to do it very often.

In the summer time when the weather was good. Mom and Dad would sometimes let us boys sleep out on the porch or on the wagon. We had a large flat bed wagon that we hauled wood and other things on, and we also had a bunch of old mattresses as well. If we asked nicely, Mom would let us put the mattresses on the wagon and then sleep out there at night. It was a real adventure. Laying on you back looking up into the night sky was quite impressive. The skies over Heber were crystal clear most of the time and the stars were bright. Most nights we could see lots of falling stars.

Sometimes, for special occasions, we could invite our friends to sleep out with us on the wagon. Usually if that happened, it involved an activity for the entire evening. It generally included a bonfire with hot dogs followed by games like kick-the-can, hide-and-seek, run-sheep-run and others. We usually had some quiet games and ended with some ghost stories and sometimes roasting of marshmallows for dessert. We could play for hours because bonfires were a common entertainment in those days so we knew lots of games to play in the dark or near dark. When the fire started to burn down low, Mom would come out and tell us it was time for bed. We would climb onto the wagon and climb into the beds made on the mattresses. Sometime we just slid into bedrolls but whatever type of bed we had, it was fun.

There was always a little goofing off for a while and then we would settle down and just watch the stars together until everyone went to sleep. It was a quiet time with something pretty awesome to share. If we got too loud, Mom or Dad would come to the back door and speak to us and we would settle down. If we slept out, we usually also woke up early. Everyone would get up and make the beds and then head for home. Later on when we got the shop built, we used to sleep out in the top of the shop every night. Charlie Reidhead slept up there with me all the time and sometimes others of our friends would join us as well.

Sometimes Mom and Dad would let us take the tractor and wagon and drive out of town a ways. We would find a quiet place in the forest and sleep there. A few times Mom and Dad also slept out with us but most of the time it was just us boys or us and some friends. I suppose parents today would be aghast at would we did when I was a kid, but our parents didn’t seem to worry too much about us. We were very familiar with the places around Heber and there was nothing and no one to bother us. There was always a group of us and we were perfectly safe. Those were good and uncomplicated times and I still remember how much fun it was to “sleep out.”

 

 

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SHOPPING IN HOLBROOK

Heber had only the one small store with a limited selection of items. For other shopping we had to go to Holbrook or Show Low. When I was small, our family made a monthly shopping trip to Holbrook. Holbrook had a large Safeway store just around the corner from the old Navajo County Court House.

Mom and Dad would buy groceries at Safeway for the whole month. Because of the canning Mom did and the butchering of animals, we didn’t buy a lot of canned fruits or vegetables but we bought other canned goods. The meat we bought was usually ground beef or bacon. We did buy flour in twenty-five or fifty pound bags. We bought sugar in fifty or one hundred pound bags. We also bought other items like cooking oil, Jell‑O, crackers, cheese, fresh vegetables and other items that might be needed.

One of the good things about going to Holbrook to shop was the fact that they had a Sprouse‑Ritz Store which was called “the five and dime” store. It was a fun place for kids to shop who didn’t have much money to spend. It had one big section where items ranged in price from five cents to a dollar. We could buy caps, pea shooters, sheriff badges, squirt guns, balloons, cap guns, Lone Ranger masks, bows and arrows, dart guns, marbles and probably a hundred other things. We would go there and look and look and look and finally make a decision on what to buy with our dime or quarter.

Holbrook also had a Penney’s store. That is where we bought some of our clothes and it is where Mom bought cloth and cotton or dacron bats for making quilts. Penny’s also had shoes, thread, socks, ties and even suits. When I graduated from eighth grade, I think I got my suit at Penney’s. In those days it was fun to just watch the clerks in the store. The business office was apparently upstairs on the second floor so when the customer paid their money, the clerk would put the money in a small bottle-like container. This would be screwed onto another piece that was attached to a cord that ran from where the clerks were waiting on people to the area on the second floor where the cashiers were located. The small bottle-like containers were moved to the second floor somehow by the clerk pulling on a string or rope. When the rope was pulled, the bottle moved rapidly up the cord to the second floor where change was made. Then the bottle would come back down the line by someone upstairs pulling on the cord, and it would land close to the clerk and they would unscrew the bottle and get the change out for the customer. We spent lots of time just watching the bottles going up the cord and then coming back down. They also had a system similar to what drive up banks have but I think it came later.

Another favorite part of our trip to Holbrook was the bakery. There was a real, live bakery in Holbrook and most times Mom and Dad would let us buy a dozen doughnuts to eat as a snack. The bakery always smelled soooooo good. We would get the doughnuts or maybe they were spudnuts and then go and sit under the trees on the courthouse lawn and eat them. I think that’s where I developed my love of doughnuts.

Also located on the main intersection in Holbrook was the “drug store.” It had all the things a drug store was suppose to have like a pharmacy but it also had a soda fountain. I don’t remember ever sampling the ice cream from the soda fountain but it was fun to walk around in the drug store and watch others sitting at the soda fountain. If we needed medicine, that is where we got it most of the time.

Those shopping trips were not only a family outing, they were also necessary in those days. They took careful planning to be sure we bought what was needed during the month. I’m afraid most of us have forgotten how to plan ahead and shop for a month at a time like we did then.

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SHOPPING IN HEBER

Uncle Thomas Shelley owned the store in Heber when I was a kid. It was much smaller than the current store and I remember that it had a basement in it. It was also the location of the Post Office, as well as the location of the only public telephone in Heber. It was the old crank type that hung on the wall.

Uncle Thomas was a pretty tall old gentleman with white hair and we kids were a little bit afraid of him. He was a little abrupt with people sometimes and he didn’t mind correcting us if he thought we were doing something wrong. Aunt Eva who was his wife was a tiny little lady who was always very nice to everyone. I can remember as a small child being sent to the store for items. One vivid memory I have is of going for some cheese. The Longhorn Cheese came in “horns” which were rolls of cheese about six to seven inches in diameter and about eighteen inches long. We bought cheese by the pound. A pound of cheese was a slice from the horn about one inch thick. I remember Uncle Thomas had a curved cheese knife he used for slicing off the piece of cheese for the customer. That curved knife made him seem even more dangerous, I guess. Anyway it left an impression on me that remains until this day.

It was not uncommon at that time for kids to go to the store for their Moms with a list and some money. Some families had “charge accounts” at the store so they just sent a list and the cost for the item was added to the charge account. The accounts were settled at the end of the month or whenever pay day came. I can’t remember whether we had a charge account at the store or not. Mom hated being in debt to anyone. She would go without until she could pay for what she needed, if at all possible.

Uncle Thomas sold the store to Uncle Donnie Porter and it became Porter’s Shopping Center. Uncle Donnie added on to the original store and made it much larger. One of the conditions of the sale was that alcoholic beverages could not be sold in the store and they never were as long as Uncle Donnie and even subsequent owners ran the store. I doubt if those conditions are honored today, but they were for many years.

The store had an assortment of candy and that was a favorite stop for me when I was a kid. The top row of the candy shelf was for “penny candy.” As you might guess, items on that shelf cost one cent. The middle shelves held items for a nickel and the lowest shelves held items for a dime. Most candy at that time cost five cents. Only a few “special” candy bars cost a dime.

Most of my purchases came from the top shelf. It always had bubble gum of various types and suckers with straight sticks or with flexible loops for the handle. I think the flexible handle types were called “Safety‑pops.” I guess they were safer for babies or small children. There were also square taffy-type candies of various flavors, wax bottles filled with flavored liquid, pixie sticks, and candy you just sucked on. I’m sure there were others I don’t remember.

When I was growing up the most money I usually had to spend on candy was a few cents or a nickel. If no nickels were available, I would earn money by finding empty pop bottles and turning them in for the deposit. Seldom did I earn more than a few cents, but that was enough to buy some “penny candy.” Sometimes Mom would pay me a nickel for doing something for her. When she paid me, I usually didn’t waste too much time getting to the store to spend it. The nickel candy included most of the familiar candy bars such as Hershey’s, Mr. Goodbars, Baby Ruths, Milky Ways, Snickers, Polar Bears, Butterfingers, Three Musketeers, etc.

The dime candy bars were ones like Almond Joys, Mounds, Mars Bars and Cups‑o‑Gold and similar ones. I didn’t get to buy them very often but it was a real treat if I ever got to taste them. When I later worked at the store I used to buy candy bars by the box. At that time I could buy a box of twenty-four nickel candy bars for $1.10 and a box of dime candy bars for $2.20. I knew I was rich when I could afford to buy a full box of dime candy bars and sometimes I did, just to feel rich.

Even when I worked at the store, people would send notes with their kids with a list of things they needed and I would go around and collect them and we would charge them to their bill and the kids would take them home. Some of the kids got a little too smart for their britches and tried to forge notes from their parents to buy cigarettes or snuff. They usually got caught, needless to say.

Things were simple in those days in Heber. Everyone knew everyone else and people trusted each other. It made it easy to do business. I guess I grew up in a “trusting environment.” Even today I tend to trust people although some say I am naive. I think it comes from being raised in a place where you could trust everyone. I am sorry that is missing in today’s society.

 

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SEVENTH GRADE

 

When you got to seventh grade in Heber you finally got into Mr. Capps room. You were one of the “big people” in school. Mr. Capps was a very tall man with a very dark complexion. He also had a very loud, deep voice that could strike fear into the hearts of all school children. When you finally got into seventh grade, you discovered that Mr. Capps was really a fun guy who wasn’t nearly as scary as everyone thought. He was also a good teacher and didn’t put up with much in the way of poor work or laziness. Mr. Capps was the principal of the school and he was the one who rang the recess bell or rang the bell to announce school was starting. He had a bell on a handle and he would walk out into the main hall connecting the three classrooms and ring the bell for school to start. For recess, he would just raise the window at the back of his room and put his hand out and ring the bell to end recess. I don’t think the school ever had an electric bell system when I was attending there.

Mr. Capps was also the coach for all the sports played by the “upper classmen” in seventh and eighth grades. He coached basketball, softball, and track. Those were the sports we could compete in and we tried. I don’t think Heber had a mascot that I can remember. We were just “Heber.” We would have softball practice during recess and after school sometimes. We played the elementary schools in Pinedale, Clay Springs, and Show Low and the Jr. High in Snowflake. I don’t remember that we ever beat the Jr. High in Snowflake because it had all the kids from both Snowflake and Taylor and some of them were pretty good. We could beat some of the teams from the smaller towns.

Because we didn’t have a full-sized gym, we always had to travel to play basketball. We would load up in Mr. Capps’ car and he would drive us to the games. I guess sometimes some of the parents must have helped with the transportation. The yearly track meet was always held in Snowflake. I can remember that, by default, I got the job of throwing shotput one year. We decided who would throw shotput by tryouts. We didn’t have a real shotput so we just found a big rock and everyone threw it. I guess I threw it about as far as anyone and since I wasn’t in the running events, I got to throw the shotput. I was pretty proud of myself until I got to the track meet and lifted a real shotput. I don’t think I even threw it far enough to get to where they began measuring the distance. Oh well!! I got to go to the track meet with the others.

We had a similar problem in basketball. Because our half of a gym didn’t have an extended backboard—or any backboard for that matter—we learned to run up and stop when shooting lay ups so that we didn’t kill ourselves on the wall. When we went to play at other schools, they had the extended backboards and their guys would run fast at the basket and shoot those lay ups and we would run up and slow down before we got to the basket and they would usually catch up with us. Needless to say, our fast break left something to be desired. Shooting at a basket with a backboard was a new experience, too. Oh well!! We had fun playing.

When it carne to softball we could play with anyone. Softball was a “Heber sport.” We had a ball, and a bat, and we had bases, and we had gloves and cleats and we could beat most other teams. I suppose the fact that we spent nine months a year playing softball could have had something to do with it. We did love our softball and the girls were almost as good as the boys.