Send in the Clowns

 Classic Clown Costumes!

Growing up Westra ... Halloween was known for The Great Pumpkin (Scott's creation), and some spooky tricks (setting up a coffin and hiding in it, putting a walkie-talkie in the Great Pumpkin). We'd tease Mom/Margie for giving out pencils instead of candy. Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  Another Halloween classic though,  were the cute clown costumes. These were handmade by Aunt Sharon (Dad/Lamar's sister) for her two boys Ricky and Randy. She passed them onto the Westra boys, and they were worn for years to come!

 

In the photo block above, if you look at the top left, and the top right (b&w), it's obvious due to the change in little Wendy, that there is a year between those two photos.  The two photos on the left are from 1969,  and the two  photos on the right are from 1970.  The boys faces haven't changed much, but Scott has grown taller (the leg ruff hits just under the knee rather than fully to his feet) and the blue clown is just a little less baggy on Chris.

Is this one (left, based on how little Chris is) 1968?

Too small for the blue outfit, and because the picture is black & white, we aren't even positive which clown costume young Scott is wearing. Red ... or blue?

The clown costumes would continue to pop up in pictures for years to come ...

In the top picture here (1972), Chris is now filling out the red clown costume, and Wendy is wearing the blue. Scott is a pirate, and little Jen just doesn't even want to be there. This picture combo (one color, one b&w) is another example of the Old Fashioned Film, two separate cameras ... Dad would often snap almost identical photos, one with each camera.  

Jump forward a few years, to 1978. Now, Wendy is the pirate, and Jen donned the blue, and Shane the red (those sizings seem to be reversed from previous years, Jen simply rocking the knickers at knee length). With neighbors Missy and Drew Yates, and the GREAT PUMPKIN makes an appearance.

Next year ... 1979, Wendy stayed the same (almost identical!) Jen turned tropical, and Shane is in the red clown costume again. Looks like it was a little chilly that October, as he needed hoodie to cover his head.

... a year later Shane appeared in the blue clown suit 

(and looks like neighbor Drew also shifted up his clown costume). 

No more found photos for five years ...

In 1985 (left photo below) Derek took his turn as the red clown with Shane as some sort of Darth skeleton (with another classic, the brown argyle sweater peeking out at the arms). The red clown costume was the choice again in 1986. Shane shifted costumes ... but still kept the same "thumbs up" pose for the picture!

Little Derek looks so cute!

Looking through the Westra Home Movies, 

there is some found footage featuring the classic clowns.

https://youtu.be/bwlh3CghtwI

Cute little clowns clambering for candy!

Who wore it best?

To my knowledge, we never got any of the grandkids to model the old clown costumes. One of them disappeared a few years ago, and the other was sent to DI amidst the cleaning for the move. Hopefully somewhere out there, someone's kid has on the clown costume this Halloween!

Just a Journal - Peek at 1985

Dad/Lamar has been keeping a journal for many, many years. Before a typed up version, he had lots of little books with details and information. Just taking a peek at some of the pages gives a snapshot of that time frame. Below, are three pages from Aug/Sept 1985 (these were scanned in after an email discussion about Chris's hiking accident - blog post about that still to come). This would have been right before Chris's 19th birthday. Scott (22), Wendy (17), Jen (15) Shane (9) and Derek (3). 

There is quite a bit of talk about Chris's injury and follow-up care (which was the reason these pages were looked up and scanned in, we need the few days before though, the accident was August 21), but also fishing, camping (ward campout), tennis, soccer, work, church. It's always fun to see what people include in their notes/journals (remember Shane's childhood journal, where he concluded his entries with "and now I'm going to bed.") A journal, things that may or may not be written for others to see, but for a personal record. One sentence that made me laugh (9/2 Labor Day) "The females of the family spent a good deal of money at stores -- using up the VISA". Dad did not record the amount spent ... although he did record the price of a dozen worms for fishing in an earlier entry and the cost of a new Whirlpool freezer in a later note.

Take a peek into Lamar's Life for a few days in 1985.

The original scans are saved in Dropbox, in the 1985/Histories folder, as a PDF.

(skipped a page)

Do you keep a journal? 

Scott - Mission Complete

Scott left on his mission May 26, 1983 (Farewell to Florida). In 1982, the missionary term was changed from two years, to 18 months. Scott served during this time, and it was probably helpful to Mom/Margie to have her first-born back a little sooner than the full 24 months. Scott said that the mission rule was returned to the 24 month length on the day he arrived home ... but that his Mission President (President Talbot) wouldn't let him return. 

In the 80s, it was writing snail mail letters, with a phone call at Christmas and Mother's day.  

Just a few photos taken with a film camera. 

Scott got back just after Thanksgiving (November 30) in 1984. 

Pictures (1) A little pre-Christmas celebration in Florida (2) Hitchhiking home (just kidding!). (3) Airport arrival - Elder Frank T. Reilley was there, one of Scott's companions (he actually served with him twice, once in Titusville, and then again in Port Charlotte. (4) Home for Christmas.

Scott thinks he gave his Homecoming talk the Sunday after he returned home. The folks were great at keeping all papers with the Westra name in them, and while that program hasn't surfaced, this one from January 1985 in the 11th ward was saved (scanned in 37 years later!). The returned missionaries would travel to other wards in the stake and speak on High Council Sunday. Scott mentioned that the missionary circuit was discontinued, but that he thought it was a good experience for missionaries and members.  

Baby Books and a Chris Questionnaire

Here on the blog, I've tried to capture the birth stories of the Westra siblings (Shane and Derek ... I'm still working on it!)  I had Mom write up her memories from each birth. There are pictures in Dropbox. We have the little DMarie time-capsule. I had MY baby book, and it had some good details, so I wondered where the other baby books were. I had Wendy look for hers, but she couldn't find it. Turns out, Mom and Dad still had all the baby books for everyone besides me (even Dad/Lamar's baby book! They made baby books back then?) So now armed with more memorabilia and information, I'll have to update Scott and Wendy's birth blogposts, and/or make a new post to address the childhood years (I did add a little to "Chris Came"). You can see in the image below, that there were extras included and saved along the way. Cards, photos, birth certificate and immunization records.

In Chris's collection, I found pages of text, written by both Mom and Dad in September of 1984. It appears that Chris had a school assignment to write about his birth. While I didn't find a copy of the actual questionnaire included, both Dad and Mom followed the same format, so I can imagine what the original looked like. It was quite comprehensive, and Mom and Dad really came through with their answers (with a little help from the baby book).   

Rather than scanning stuff, I went ahead and retyped (Google Drive links below), and while it is all about Chris, I really enjoyed reading about it all.  It was interesting to see how differently Mom and Dad answered the same questions. Dad's crazy humor! How much more Mom remembered for this write-up, vs the little one she did recently for me (36 years later, and not glancing through the baby book for memory prompts).  Lesson ... write things down sooner than later! Now I need Chris's completed paper for closure here!

Chris Questionaire - Dad

Chris Questionaire - Mom

What would Mom and Dad's answers be about the other kids?
What would you (as the parent) write up about your own kids?
Did you keep a baby book for your kids?

Lake Powell Memories

Dad/Lamar's sister Sharon and her husband Kent were big fans of Lake Powell. They had a houseboat, and a boat for waterskiing, and jet skis. The Westra clan was invited on a few trips to Lake Powell over the years ... Mom/Margie recalled one early trip when Jenny was about three years old; "I remember her missing and I was sooo panicked that she had maybe fallen overboard! Then came to find out she had gone in the speedboat with others to the shore." 

So while this may not be a complete collection of trips and memories ... it's a start!

During the July 1982 trip, baby Derek was just a few months old! Mom/Margie says he slept in a little cardboard box by their bed on the houseboat. Thanks to Wendy's journal, we have a pretty good recap of everything (you can read it here).  There was a lot of water skiing, jet skiing, cliff-jumping and the big log (pictured above) was a lot of fun. Wendy mentions she, Chris and Dad spelled "Westra" with rocks and took a picture (couldn't locate said picture though). She mentions a group picture at the end too. In addition to our family and Amann's, Burgeners had come up (Grandma Lucille, Vic and Karen), Ricky's girlfriend, Alyson's boyfriend, and another girlfriend.

Wendy mentions pulling the tumbleweeds from the water. Jen remembers this too ... little fish had gone in them to hide, and then would flop out as we pulled the big, round branches from the water. After they dried out, they were burned in a big bonfire! There were fireworks and sparklers too. A storm the first night, and lots of gnats!

And then there was the catfish incident, but that was the NEXT trip ...

We went to Lake Powell again a couple years later. Wendy's journal isn't quite as helpful for this trip ... written in retrospect a few months afterward, and mainly focusing on some of the teenage boys that came along with the Amann family (Kent's nephews and an exchange student from Germany).  More cliff-jumping and skiing. Wendy was able to get up on one ski, and cross the wake. 

And the catfish incident. Grandma Lucille recounted the event in her history ...

I went to Lake Powell with my daughter Sharon and family and my son LaMar and family and daughter Diane. Sharon was recuperating from a broken and sprained arm (she had been knocked down while roller skating). The doctor said she could get in the water. While she was out floating, LaMar was fishing and caught a large catfish. He unhooked it and flung it out in the water and the catfish hit Sharon in the thigh and hung on. She was bitten and the ranger took her to the doctor's office for a tetnus shot. Later when she was in Hawaii, she scratched her leg and found a tooth of the catfish.

There were more trips ... exact dates and details weren't quick to appear. 

This can be updated if more information/pictures come up. 

Jen has some additional Lake Powell memories too ...

• I remember we went "hunting" lizards with BB guns (not very humane, I know!)
• Sleeping on top of the houseboat under the stars ... so much brighter than back home.
• Ricky and Randy had bottle rockets, and lit them and aimed them so they went underwater. There would be the whistling as they were in the air, then silence as they hit the water and were submerged, then a muffled "boom" and flash under the water.
• Once Uncle Kent was driving the boat trying to get someone up on water skis... they fell, and Uncle Kent shouted "I'll save you" and jumped out of the boat. One of the older boys got up and took over the driving of the boat ...
• There was a card game we played ... we called it "The Lake Powell game" and I remember it was a lot of fun.
• Gray and I went once after we were married. Grayson remembers Uncle Kent called him "Killer" ;) 

1983 ~ Wendy's Write-Up

Wendy has kept a journal for years. That's been a great thing for family history. If we need details about an event, there's a good chance Wendy had something recorded. Below (check out Dropbox for a clearer copy, Word doc or PDF) you can catch her recap of 1983. While a lot of the details are about what a 9th grade/10th grade girl's life was like at that time, there is oodles of information about the family and other activities.

Scott left on his mission. Chris fell into the orchestra pit at the high school and broke his ankle. Wendy got her ears pierced, her braces off and got a perm. She loves waterskiing, tried snowskiing, and ran track. There was a family reunion for Mom's side of the family in June. A family reunion for Dad's side of the family in July. A fishing trip to Strawberry Reservoir. Griffiths came to visit. Mom&Dad went to Vernal. There was a Bishop's Youth Outing to the Uintas, big floods and a huge hail storm. The Westra's got their first family computer!  It's interesting to compare Wendy's wrap-up with the annual Westra Christmas Newsletter recap.  We still need a complete BLOG recap too, based on all the information and pictures we have for the year. But Wendy's write-up is pretty complete!

Merry Christmas from the Westras ~ 1983

 ** Christmas border was added for the blog image, not included on the original. **

To enlarge, check out the PDF version from the original scan.