I wish I could remember more about my life before Larry died, when I was 7. I'm able to conjure up playing drive-in across the street with the Beumer girls or the Schmidt kids on the corner. Learning to ride my bike, playing hopscotch, or spending hours in the playhouse Dad built. Just being a little kid. But my most vivid memories, came after his tragic death in 1958.
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| Awesome playhouse that Dad built. This is about 1954.... |
During the mid-60's my Mom was on a mission. We had lived in our house on 15th street for a decade. Larry had been gone for 8 years, and Mona was married with a couple of boys. This time frame was during my angry, rebellious, fun-loving mid-teens. Dad was working for the State Hiway Commission, and Mom was a nurse's aide at Valley Manor. Her mission? New furniture. She was totally smitten with Early American Hard Rock Maple furniture. From Vanderploeg's in Sioux Center, her old stomping grounds.
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| Mom's favorite, her Hard Rock Maple clock, about 1966... |
