Some Childhood Recollections

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on a cold morning on November 1, 1946 the first born child of Lorin and LaRue Sanderson. Eight brothers and sisters followed. It was hard being the oldest. My parents expected a lot from me and gave me a lot of responsibility. My parents relied on me to help with the household chores and take care of my younger brothers and sister. One of my younger brothers, Ken says that he feels like my sister Peggy and I raised him because we were the ones always taking care of him.

My Grandma and Mom enjoyed telling a story of when I was a toddler. They used to tell me that one day they were sitting in the living-room and I came out carrying my sister, Peggy who was a baby. They about fell on the floor because she was a baby and I was only about 18 months old. They asked me what I was doing and I said, “She was crying”!

I was extremely shy and timid and didn’t have too many friends. I was a good student who loved to read and write. I got mostly “A’s” in elementary school. My grades went to A’s, B’s and a few C’s in middle school. I am not sure why except maybe I had more responsibilities at home and less time to study and read.

I spent maybe happy hours reading and would read anything I could get my hands on. My siblings teased me that I would even read the backs of cereal boxes if nothing else was around.

My parents purchased a set of Worldbook encyclopedias and Childcraft books which had a lot of the classic fairy tales, fables and nursery ryhmes and I read them from cover to cover many times. It was a 15 volume set. These little orange books provided me with hours of entertainment. My parents also introduced me to Nancy Drew books and provided me with one book each Christmas and birthday for several years.

When I was eight years old, we moved to California. Growing up in Southern California was a unique experience and I will write more about that later.

My siblings were about the only friends that I had growing up. We had some fun times together. I especially remember summers when I would write and direct plays and my siblings would be the actors and we would present the plays for the neighborhood and my parents.

My Mom was a prudent shopper and we always had plenty to eat at meals but not many snacks. She would go shopping every Friday and take one of us with her. It was her way of having special time with us. After we finished shopping, she would take us to McDonald’s for dinner.

On the summers that we didn’t go to Grandma’s, my parents took us on outings to amusement parks and other attractions in Southern California. I especially remember going to Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. The trip to Disneyland was unusual. We able to qualify for a group tour because there were eleven of us.

I remember that whenever we traveled and made a stop for food and a pit stop, my parents would count heads to make sure that we were all there.

We didn’t get our first TV until 1956 and it was a console which my Dad got wholesale because it had some damage to the cabinet in the back. Many fun times were spent in front of that TV. I especially remember Sunday evenings watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” and eating popcorn for dinner. On Sundays, we only had breakfast and Supper.

Our meals were simple and cheap, usually consisting of hamburger casseroles with chicken for Sunday supper. Having enough for seconds was rare. A special treat was our summer BBQ. My mother brought one steak a week starting at the beginning of summer, so that we could have a big BBQ at the end.

Copyright © 2014 by June Saxton