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O/T-Your earliest memory

J

JMS/.MN

Well-known Member
Mine is "helping" on a house remodeling job. Folks wanted to remove a wall/door, replace with an arch, between the kitchen and dining room. I remember helping by peeling wallpaper off with a table knife. I could go to that house now and stand in the same spot. Folks built a new house in "55, but saved those two rooms and built around them, just to save the oak cabinets my uncle built in about 1950. Decades ago, I asked Mom, what year was that done? She said, "Summer of "46". I was two and a half years old.
 
I have vivid memories of my grandmother - she died when I was 3 - I can still see the priest who came to the house to give her last rights....
 
I have a lot of memories about my Dads Model A roadster.I was born in 1937.Dad traded in the A in 1941 on a 34 Ford 2 door.The salesman and Dad went for a drive in the 34 with me in the back seat.When we got back to the car lot I realized the A was going to be gone.I ran back to the A got in and started to cry.Dad said it took both of them to get me out of the Model A.I can remember sitting in the rumble seat with an ice cream cone.A friend of my mothers sat in the rumble seat with me.I remember her name was Laura Wheeler.I can remember being out for a Sunday drive when it started to rain hard.By the time Dad got the side curtains on we were soaked.My Dad was out of work so my Uncle used the A to go to work.Uncle Bud used to put penny candy in the tray behind the seat on payday for me to find.I remember sitting between Mom and Dad and watching the ammeter and playing with the dash light.Some memories seem to stand out over the years.My mother broke 2 windows in the 34 slamming the door when she got mad at Dad.The 34 had plate glass in the side windows.During gas rationing Dad would put some kerosene in the 34.I remember the Ford stalling at a stop sign.Dad would have to take the spark plugs out and clean a load of black soot off them.Dad would say too much kerosene.We had a hand pump on the well.My mother would send me out with a pail to fill at the pump.I was too small to carry the full pail into the house.
 
I have a memory of being in the middle of the kitchen floor likely in a walker and my Father was leaning against the counter talking to me. He had on a white tank top tee shirt. He died when I was 16 months old.
 
Plain as if it happened just yesterday, I recall when I was about 4 years old, a fire on our road. 2 boys, in their early teens, were pouring gas into a go cart, inside of a shed, when it lit up. Both boys were killed. I remember details of that even that a friends dad, who was a fire fighter who made the run couldn't recall some years later.

Also, I recall riding on dads lap while he took his new 8N ford (w/Henry loader) and scooped gravel out of a creek bed behind the house, so it could be spread on the driveway. I was MAYBE 3 at that time.
 
'Til I was 4, we lived in an old house on a dirt road, no electricity, no plumbing, no telephone, no gas, no mail delivery (mail box was on the nearest gravel road), no nothing. There was a huge tree in the front yard; apparently a 'chicken' hawk had been getting our chickens and either my mother or dad saw him sitting in the tree. Can't remember the words, but I remember them discussing how to kill it.........that it would fly off if my dad opened the door to shoot it. He stood in the front room and shot through the screen door with a .22 rifle.......killing the hawk.
 
Well remember you asked.

Earliest one I can date is Kindergarten, nap time, Mrs. Wear, walking around the room checking each of us. She always wore a long dress and white bloomers.

There are some earlier ones but the doc says I shouldn’t focus on images of my mother bathing me…….
 
Remember dad driving in the drive with the 34 CC Case and me looking out the dining room windows. The glass in the windows were rattling in the old farm house. Can't rememeber how old I was, probably five.
 
I had Scarlet Fever back in "45 when I was just 4 years old. I had to spend many weeks in bed.
It was during the time when Hollyhocks were in bloom in a patch right outside my window.
I can still see the hummingbirds coming and going to the flowers.
Hollyhocks remain one of my favorite flowers.
 
Interesting thread.
My earliest was one warm summer day laying on the 2x6 top board of the handrail on our deck.
I layed my head down and fell asleep in the sun. Next thing I knew I woke up laying on the ground on my back with the wind knocked out of me. When I could catch my breath I started crying and mom came out and found me. I hadn't fallen but a foot or two as mom was able to reach over the rail and grab my wrists and lift me up in her arms to comfort me.
Hardly even a memory. More like a vague but vivid recollection. I must have been about 3 then.
 
Winter of '50- Dad was out of work (carpenter), they had to do something to "make beans", so he and mom yarded out some logs in the woods across a creek from the house. Sister and I sat on a log that was in sight of the logging operation, were told not to move, so they could watch us. Sister was 5, I was 2. I'm told that she also made soup for us for lunch, but don't recall that.

Also remember when they brought little sister home from the hospital when I was 3- grandparents were there, big deal and all- pouring rain, mom carrying baby, dad holding a newspaper over them to keep the rain off. Everybody fussed over the baby, of course. When I finally got to see her, she was this little red, wrinkly thing- remember wondering what all the fuss was about.
 
I recall playing in the cow pasture. Pretty sure we had Herefords, as they were that reddish-brown color. They were sure tame; used to ride them. Also licked the salt and mineral blocks a lot. The salt's my favorite.

Had a cast iron tub that was used for a water trough. Went swimming in that frequently with the preacher's daughter.

Vividly recall getting my butt whipped with a wire coat hanger. Nap after Sunday dinner was mandatory. I had other ideas and got caught sneaking out of bed. Boy, was mom mad.

What kid wants to be in bed on a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon?

Y'all have a good day!

Anthony
 
Our barn burned the day RFD died. April, 45 (don't remember that). They built a new barn that same summer. I do remember playing around the water tank where they soaked the cedar shingles (round roof). 2 Y.O.
 
I was 4 and Dad had taken me with him to a farm auction. I know I was 4 because some kids I was playing with asked me how old I was. Dad must of left me by the swing set to get me out of his hair. This was back when parents let kids play and didn"t have to worry about it.
 
My very earliest memory was when I might have been 2 years old,barely. Dad and some other guys had a cabin in the U.P. and we went up there for a short summer vacation. We took the ferry because the bridge wasn't there yet. I remember they carried me to the cabin,there were milk cans to sit on and while they were getting stuff in,they sat me on some bare bed springs and I still remember I started crying,thought I was going to fall through.
A better memory was Christmas,I'm thinking that same year,but might have been a year later,I can still remember all of those green and yellow John Deere boxes,I got a whole set of JD toys. I remember opening those boxes like it was yesterday.
 
I don't know. Maybe when the roofer guy was reroofing our house and sat down under a shade tree to take a break, so I joined him. He was picking up bugs and eating them, told me to try it cause they were good. I sat next to him, watched him toss one into his mouth, nummy, num, nummy. Told me to try it, handed me the same kind of bug. Not so nummy. He kept picking up bugs and tossing them into his mouth, then kept handing me the same exact kind of bugs. Said they were good, but not to me they weren't. Oh well, he kept doing it and laughing every time that I did it, so... Was about 3 I figure. Will say one thing about them though. Helped me grow up big and strong. That, and if you can eat live bugs and survive it, can surely stomach a plate of beef liver and steamed spinach. Well, that might be going too far.

Mark
 
May not be my first but I was about 3 or 4 and a boy a few yrs. older went to the next house as we all wandered from place to place back then . Well we was walking in the drive and heard someone in the barn so we went over there and there was the older boy about 14 , the old jersey milk cow in the stanchion and he was on a bucket behind her !! We ran as fast as we could home , my buddy dropped off at his house and I just keep running till I got home . We never told anyone what we saw cause I dont think we knew what we saw , dont think we ever said anything to each other about it .
 
I remember my mom taking me outside the house to look at the moon when they did the first moon walk in 1969. I wasnt sure if I believed her or not since I couldnt see the men walking from our backyard, lol. July 20 or so, 1969. I would have been 2 and a half.
 
I remember coming home to the farm with my parents and finding we could not go in. It was swarming with Lawmen in cars with machine guns. This was the times of the Dillinger Gangs Some workers on JD experiment farm had seen some suspious people in my father soybean field yep they caugnt them. Real exciting for a boy 4or five. gitrib
 
What I thought might be going on was he was faking it acting like he was eating bugs just to lure you into doing it for real. That would be a mean trick to play on a kid.
 
I remember parts of the 1938 hurricane. I had just turned 3 three days before. I was watching my mother gathering up the chickens that were free range and my sister wouldn't put any sugar on my shredded wheat. We had just gotten power and all the kerosine lamps were put away so they had to get them out again. I don't remember them at all either before or after. Don't remember part of the barn roof blowing off or the living room windows blowing in.
 
That's about the age you start remembering things that, for whatever reason, stand out. Thomas Edison could remember back to about age 1 1/2. I remember a train trip that I took with my mother when I was 3 years and about 2 months. What a trip! And I remember almost all of it to this day. From the steam engine belching smoke and burning embers that came through some of the train car windows that had no screens with people screaming and trying to brush the burning embers from their clothes to a cousin we stayed with for a few days who had the most complete toy barn I've ever seen, to having my mother help me with my bath (in a tub) and having another cousin (a girl in her teens) just "pop in" and laugh about how cute I was in the tub (I was SOOOO embarrassed!!) to staying in a hotel that another cousin owned (my first hotel visit) to visiting the museums in Chicago with all of the neat displays, a really great bus ride, seeing a big steamship out on Lake Michigan, etc. etc. I wish I could do it all over again-except the bath.
 
I was three or four and Dad and the neighbor "Mr, Crom" (Who was blind), were putting up the T.V. antenna on the roof right over where I was supposed to be taking a nap. I wanted to be there to 'help' and was mad 'cause I was forced to take a nap. When I awoke from the nap the T.V. was working and I was amazed.
Good Luck
k
 
shux i cant remember what i had for lunch these days ,LOL , but i remember lots of stuff /i was born oct , 1956,the second son of three,, and the 5th child of 8 /// i remember Pop and neighbor bigkids enlargin the cellar into a larger basement ,, as i recall they were digging the basement usin a slip scoop dragline pulled by a tractor .. ,mom nailed a board across the doorway so i could watchfrom above ,and told me to keep my little sister away , ,i remember dad had a Sc Case that he traded for a like new 35 deluxe ferguson ,, it even had a red tailight !,,I remember a brand new NEW HOLLAND 68 baler being delivered on a hot sunny day , my sister and i were under the shade trees ,and mom was snapping peas . this was 1958.. Gilbert was pullin it behind his green pickup .We usually Sat close to his family at church ,, joey was same age i was and we could not keep still in church ..as time went on I realized Gilbert owned the Local OLIVER dealership , He Also welded my tricycle ,.he would lease OLIVER combines to Young MEN to harvest the local crops ,, one of the youn men was a goverment / history teacher , who became the school principal while i was in grade school, dad and mom built a new house in 64 , I remember that old house very well , I was the last one to do the dishes th evenin we were moving everything ,I recall the springhouse in the bottoms ...
 
I remember waking up one morning during a heavy thunderstrom to find myself alone in the house as Daddy had carried Mama to the end of the lane coming up to our house to catch a ride to her job. About 200 yards away. I could see the car through the window. I was scared to death and cried until Daddy came back. I think he felt really bad about leaving me there alone, but if the thunder hadn"t woke me I would have never known any different. I was probably 3 or 4. I also remember the JFK funeral on tv. That would have put me at 5.
 
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