Baby Jenny ~ Art by Scott

This will be backdated to November 1970 

Early artwork of Mr. Scott Edward Westra ... pencil sketch drawn when he was just 6½ years old. The muse? A new baby sister. According to this detailed sketch, Baby Jenny was quite the crier, with tears streaming down her face. Look at those tiny toes. 

This paper masterpiece was found preserved in the baby book for Scott Westra.

Check out photos and a history of Baby Jenny,

... and other instances of ART by the wonderful Westras!

Also of note ... the BACK of the artwork. Dad/Lamar worked at Unisys, a tech company. Always thrifty, he would bring home piles of this used paper for the kids to draw and color upon. Much of the early artwork from the Westra Siblings had this unique canvas ... rows and rows of numbers, with the holes on the sides. Endless pages of paper, perforated end to end, but still together, until torn for individual use.

Jenny Joins the Family

Just an interesting note ... here on Google's Blogspot, posts can be backdated, but the furthest back you can go is ... (drumroll please) 1970! Will I backdate this all the way to 1970? We shall see :) 1970 is when all the important stuff really started! The birth of Jennifer Lynn Westra.

Jenny was about 8 days late, so my parents went ahead and came to Richland, thinking surely she would be born any day. It was almost time for them to go back home before she was finally born. It was the middle of the night when we went to the hospital, so we didn't even wake my parents to tell them we were leaving, and they would be there to tend our 3 kids. Back then, new mothers stayed in the hospital a little longer. 2 or 3 nights? But since my parents had to leave and I wanted them to be able to hold her lots, I came home early, after maybe 1 night. So this was my hardest birth emotionally afterwards, coming home to 3 little kids, plus the baby. My parents left in about one day. And I really didn't get the help I needed being away from family and all. I don't think either Dad nor I really knew what to expect in the way of needing help after having babies. So he would come home from work and go out in the yard to work til dark. Born Tuesday at 2:35 am (the other three had all been born on a Monday). I have already written about Kadlec Methodist Hospital. 3 to a room. Get out and crank up your own bed. A young girl smoker in the middle bed--another reason to go home early. 6 lbs. 10 oz. 20 inches.

Information from the baby book ... 

• Room 413B
• Dr. Robert E. Chase (Dr. Gard also listed)
• Looks like - Mom/Chris
• Eyes - Blue, Hair - Light Brown
• First Smile - 4 weeks
• Slept through the night at five weeks.
• Crawled at six months
• Walked at 11 months

Scotty's Sacajawea School

 This will be backdated to 1970

It's always fun when you make the news! Proud parents clip out the articles and fold them to be set aside and preserved. Such was the case when the Sacajawea School in Richland Washington was featured in the Tri-City Herald on Thursday, September 24, 1970. This was young Scotty's school. You can see that Mom/Margie added some personalized notes to the newspaper clipping, pointing out Scott, his teacher, and the "3 team-teaching cluster" of grades 1-3.  In Dropbox, the picture of the paper is in the Newspaper/Documents folder, and it can be enlarged quite a bit to see the details if desired. 

Here's a close-up if you wanted to read the actual article ...

Interesting to note, that if a child is mentioned in the article, in addition to their name, their home address is listed. This was similar to birth announcements in the newspaper ... in the future, this would be unheard of due to safety and privacy concerns!

Here's a note to little Scotty before school started ...

... a little worse for wear over 50+ years. A few smudges and stains. The "Primary Green" section. School starts at 9:00 and ends at 2:45 - with a full hour for lunch, but encouraged to "eat at home" the first week before lunch is officially served at school?

Here's the end of year report for Scott's 1st grade year ...

Here's some of Mom/Margie's memories ...

I remember Scott went to Spalding Elementary first for kindergarten and was bussed. It was further away. There was also a Sacajawea Elementary school. Then they built a new Sacajawea school quite close to our old house in Richland and also to our new house in Richland. Then Scott went there. And Chris went to Kindergarten there. as I remember, both Sacajawea schools were in operation one year, so they called them Sacajawea 1 and Sacajawea 2.

The budget was so tight at the new school, parents were encouraged to donate computer paper that was used on one side but blank on the other side, so they could reuse it. And we had to furnish pencils, markers, etc. (which is the norm now, but I think it was new then--that the schools used to furnish those things-----if my memory is correct).

Then Scott was entering third grade when we moved back to Utah in Aug. 1972. We lived at my folks for a bit until our furniture arrived and I had to drive the boys to school at Woodstock. I remember the first day of school, I couldn't find a parking place and was nervous, but Scott said, "Just drop us off and I will find Chris's 1st grade class and take him there. They had a list by the door of each class of the students in that class. I will pick him up at his class after school and you can pick us up at the flagpole."

I had debated about having Chris repeat kindergarten at Woodstock. He was so little for his age and just going to turn 6---making the Sept. 10 deadline by 5 days. I thought there wouldn't be any stigma about him repeating because it was in a different state, so few would know. And in Washington, they didn't teach reading in kindergarten, but just "reading readiness." But in Utah, they did teach reading, so he would start behind the other students. But I really didn't want another year of 3 pre-schoolers at home, so went ahead and put him in 1st grade!

That year Chris went from the slowest reader to the best reader in the class by the end of the school year. The principal awarded him a big book (about cars, planes, and automobiles, as I remember). Chris was scared and overwhelmed to go to school lunch. So his teacher Mrs. Clark would help him pick up his lunch tray and take it back to their classroom and eat lunch with her. After while, he was able to handle the lunch room. Mrs. Clark's husband had Meniere's disease really bad and so she had to get her teaching degree and go to work to support their family.

She did the individual reading charts where parents wrote when titles of 20 books as their child read them and then rewarded them with a little storybook for each 20 books read. That's what I copied with the grandkids. Chris was always competitive and I credit these reading charts with him reaching the best reader award! I think maybe Mrs. Clark moved to 2nd grade and had him two years, if I remember correctly.

Scott had Mrs. Silver for 3rd grade. I think all of the other kids had Mrs. Bullock for 4th (old and not that great or fun!).

Jen correction ... Mrs. Bullock taught 3rd grade. If you did something bad, you'd have to write up "I will never _____________" 100 times. I never had to do that though ... I was an angel. My main memories of Mrs. Bullock was her introduction of two of my favorite books, "Baby Island" and "Sonny Elephant" during reading time. My fondness for those two book overshadows all else, so my memories of Mrs. Bullock are good.

... and just for fun, back to the newspaper shared at the start. You've seen one side, featuring the photos and article. What's on the back? Ads ... which are always interesting, as prices and commodities change with the times. Portable radio anyone? A black and white TV? Typewriter stand? Wig care or a diet scale ... your local Pay 'n Save is the place to shop!

Uncovered Archives ~ Margie's Presidency

Primary Presidency that is... looking through old papers, artifacts and other memorabilia, this church document was discovered. A little "getting to know you" about Mom/Margie as she moved into a new calling, Primary President. 

Here's Mom's memories she wrote up when she saw this document ...

Dad has been working on our church callings through the years and looking for clues here and there in letters and journals. Wish this had a date on it, as to when I served as Primary Pres. in Richland. Clues: 6th year there. We didn't have Jeni yet, so it was before Nov. 1970. Dad said he thinks he has this on his callings timeline. Primary was held on a week day. Right before this calling, I was serving as Jr. Sunday School Co-ordinator in Richland. This calling no longer exists. Kind of like Primary Pres. of the Jr. Sunday School. Primary age Children met in Jr. S.S. in the Primary room on Sundays.

Teens & Adults went to SS and children to Jr. SS on Sunday mornings. Sacrament was served in Jr. SS as well as in adult SS, which had opening exercises in the chapel, then they went to classes. Jr. SS had a sacrament table and did the prayers and everything there in the Primary room, as well as in the chapel for teens and adults. We had opening exercises, talks, and sacrament, and then classes. Families came back to Sac. mtg. around 5 or 6 p.m. They had sacrament passed again. This went to 1980, so maybe you kids remember it.

In Richland, when I was called to be Primary President, and had never worked in the Primary, I accepted thinking it couldn't be too hard, probably just like Jr. SS Coordinator, except over Primary. The former Primary President came over to our house on St. Street. She was moving out of state. She told me all about the different class names and inservice and quarterly-type activities, etc. and I was completely overwhelmed---all the names were like Greek to me. And she would not be around to answer any questions I might have.

I was in my mid-20's, with 3 little kids.

After she left, I sat down and just cried! The phone rang and it was one of the current Primary counselors. I wasn't able to hide that I was overwhelmed and had been crying. I think her name was Dixie Partridge. Anyway, she said she and the other counselor would be happy to stay on and help while I was "learning the ropes." So they did.

Later when I was called to be Primary President in the Cottonwood 11th ward, I was a few years older and more experienced and wasn't so overwhelmed.

California Summer 1969

Back in 1969 ...  Dad/Lamar's CSC job needed some employees to develop software at the main computer science corporation headquarters in El Segundo. So from July 19 - September 25, 1969, Mom and Dad had a Los Angeles summer.

• The Flight: The company split up the families heading out onto different planes ... "just in case" something happened (if there was a crash, they didn't want to lose everyone). Not a comforting thought for Mom/Margie on her first flight! Mom recalls Scottie  being very excited, and saying, "When are we going to blast-off?"
• The House: It was hard to find somewhere to rent for only three months. They spent a week in a hotel while they tried to find a place. Mom had a cousin (Diana Brady Coleman) who lived nearby and there was a house close to her for rent. Mom was so disappointed when someone got to it first.  Here's more memories ...

From Dad: 5951 INTERCEPTOR, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90045. We lived in this home while we were on a temporary assignment in Los Angeles, working at the main Computer Science Corporation building in El Segundo, 2 miles away.  We rented a small house and moved in on 25 July. The house had two small bedrooms, and a garage. It was located almost in the middle of the Los Angeles International Airport. It was quite noisy when certain runways were being used. At first, Scott would run outside excitedly every time a plane flew close over the house, but soon we became oblivious to the noise. Most of the area was bought out by the airport for demolition, but we rented from one of the hold-outs, We rented for $225 per month, paid for by CSC, plus rental furniture. We took the bare minimum of clothes and household items, so housekeeping didn’t take up much time, even with 3 little kids.

From Mom: We finally found this old house on the L.A. airport property, that was going to be razed to make more runway. At first the noise was so loud every time a plane took off because we were so close. Scott (age 5 1/2) loved it and would run outside to see the airplane. Dad said he could identify all the types of airplanes. After awhile, we didn't even notice the sound. The coat closet in the house, we never opened. It stunk so bad if we did---like something dead in there! With minimal belongings, there was not much to do as far as housework. So it was very boring and hard for me to just tend 3 preshoolers all day with no friends or much in the way of toys while Dad worked. I read every Agatha Christie book there was in the library closest to our place, but it was even hard to read and watch the kids closely at the same time. The ward was really excited to have us--then when they found we were only there for 3 months, they didn't go out of their way much to get acquainted or invite us over or anything.

Visiting Mom's cousins in Cali ... summer 1969

Karen and Lisa Coleman, daughters of Mom's cousin Diana Brady Coleman 

Diana was Mom's same age. Daughter of Bertha Howell and Lloyd Brady

But, while in California, might as well take advantage of area attractions! There was a trip to Knott's Berry Farm (pictures below). Then the family flew to Sacramento for a side trip in late August, then a trip to Disneyland (pictures at top). Wendy was just 18 months, so the folks left her with Mom's cousin. Chris had just turned three ... if they'd gone before his birthday he would have been free. There was also mention in the Dropbox memories/calendar of a trip to Universal Studios, but no pictures ... pictures of Knottsberry but no mention of it on the calendar. Maybe it replaced the planned Universal Studios trip?

Then it was back home to Washington and the house on Saint Street, September 26, 1969. 

Scott was a little late starting kindergarten at Spaulding Elementary.

Creative Cakes ala Margie

I (Jen) have some memories of mom having cake decorating supplies. Of her making royal icing, and teaching me to make roses. When we'd go to the store, I'd love to stop at the bakery department and watch the ladies there decorate the cakes. I'm fairly certain I said that was what I wanted to be when I grew up ... a cake decorator. Mom had taken a class before I was born. Here are her memories ...

Several of us in our Saint Street neighborhood took the class. So the teacher came to the Kosorok's home, so it would be handier for all of us. One evening a week, we would go there (2 doors down from us) and bring our cake, with the base frosting on, on a turntable, for ease in decorating, along with our Wilton tips and bags and little jars of paste colors, and buttercream frosting to decorate with. We were taught to color frosting by dipping a toothpick in the jars of paste coloring and then use the toothpick to add the color to the frosting, adding more with a clean toothpick if needed. The color was more concentrated and you needed less, using the paste colors. The teacher said using the liquid coloring would make your frosting too runny. Then I got pregnant with Jeni and with morning sickness, I had trouble working with food/cakes :-) .

For many years, I made gingerbread houses with you kids each Christmas, that we decorated with Royal icing, and all sorts of candies. Not sure if we still have any photos of them. Then you would each get to eat yours after Christmas.

We also made sugar-mold eggs with you kids, with little "scenes" inside, and decorated on the outside. We made all different sizes. One year, your Grandma Westra/Burgener made sugar mold eggs for all of you and mailed them to Richland to you for Easter. They are a lot of work, but very fragile. They arrived all broken. I felt bad since she had gone to so much work and effort. I can't remember if I told her they broke in transit. Probably not, as that is not my nature.

I don't have specific memories of making and eating gingerbread houses, but I remember there was one (the same one? different ones?) on a white pedestal plate on the piano for many years. I definitely remember the sugar-mold eggs. I LOVED those. Loved peeking inside and seeing the little scenes set up there. Later when I married, I bought some molds and little figures and such to make some ... but then I never did.

Welcome Wendy!

When Wendy was at Snow College, age 18, she took a class that required the students to write up an autobiography. Here's what Wendy wrote (based on her baby book and interviews with Mom) ...

It was 8:15 on a Monday morning when a miraculous event took place on earth. I, Wendy Westra, was born on April 29, 1968. My parents were excited to have a girl after having two boys and had had my name picked out for five years simply waiting for me to arrive. At eight pounds I outweighed both my older brothers. The nurses fussed over my long dark hair and formed little curls on the top of my head. The first night home I very considerately slept the whole night through. I have loved sleeping from the day I was born! At six months I was a very active baby. I turned over and over, got around in my walker, and started crawling. At ten months I stood up for the first time. My first words were “Mama” and “Dada.” I became very attached to a pink thermal blanket and wouldn’t sleep unless I was holding on to it tightly. By the time I was 19 months old, I had been on five round trips by airplane. I haven’t been on one since, and have always wanted to. At age 1 ½ to 2 I began to take all my stuffed animals to bed with me. Luckily now I only take one stuffed animal to bed!

Mom added some memories ...  Since Chris's labor and birth was so long, I stayed home too long with Wendy and was only at the hospital a half-hour! She was my quickest birth and weighed 8 lbs. I remember being out in the sunshine planting a flower bed at our new St. Street home the day before she was born, outside the sliding glass window area of our family room. Born on a Monday. Never missed a week of church.  Regarding Wendy sleeping through that first night home ...when I woke up the next morning and realized that she had not woke me up in the night, I panicked, thinking crib death, and rushed to her room, so relieved to find her alive and peacefully sleeping! Regarding the plane trips; in 1969 we were flying to California (my first time in a plane) for the 2-3 month assignment for Dad's work, a flight to visit Nelva's family in California, and our flight home from California back to Richland. I hadn't even remembered that we flew to Nelva's and back, while we were stationed in Calif. until you girls were working on this project (it was written in Dad's history of that year). Must have been quicker and cheaper to fly and allowed us to have more time with them.

From Wendy's Baby Book ...

• Blessed on June 2, 1968. Grandma Westra came from SLC for the blessing.
• Became very attached to a pink thermal blanket and wouldn't go to sleep without it (6 months to 18 months). 
• At 18 months, wanted to take ALL dolls and stuffed animals to bed.
• Gave up the bottle at 20 months old. 
• First words:  Mama, Dada
• Had been on five round trip airplane flights in the first 19 months.
• First two teeth at 7 months old. 3rd tooth not until 13 months. First dental visit at 3½ years old. First cavity at 6½. 

Originally - I hadn't found this "on this day" report for Wendy, so I Googled to see if I could find something similar. Then I located this file, but thought I'd include some of the other interesting facts I'd found from the year.

• 1968 was the year that the first episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood aired, providing a stable, warm cultural icon for generations of children. This was also the year that Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston, was released in theatres. And one of the great bands of the 20th century, Led Zeppelin, performed live for the first time in October of this year. In another more mild development, Yale University announced this year that women would be admitted to the university, making it a coeducational institution.
• This year was also an important one for space exploration. 1968 saw the United States launch Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission and an important step toward the Moon landing. Apollo 8 followed not long after, when Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William A. Anders orbited the Moon. These men were the first human beings to see the far side of the Moon.
• 1968 will be mostly remembered, though, for the death of two major political figures in the United States: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Martin Luther King, a major civil rights leader in the United States, was murdered at The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th. In addition to mourning across America, King’s murder sparked a great deal of civil unrest in an already tense environment. Robert F. Kennedy, brother of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, was a U.S. Senator from New York and was a presidential candidate in the Democrat Party. While campaigning for his party’s nomination in Los Angeles, California, Kennedy was shot on the evening of June 5th. He succumbed to his wounds on June 6th.