Roller Rink Accident

The Battle Creek Ward had a roller skating party. We got a sitter for Chris and our daughter, met up with some friends and off we went. I had been to a rink in Detroit a few times as a kid and loved skating. Bruce had also, but I had no idea he was a little klutzy.
WE were having the time of our lives, skating to the music, holding hands when Bruce fell. He didn't fall backwards, he fell forwards. He's about 6'3", so when he fell forward, he covered a lot of distance. Not only did he fall forward, but he flung his arms out. I rolled right over his fingers.
I felt bump, bump, bump, bump twice; each finger with front wheels then back. He had fallen so quickly that I didn't have time to stop.
When I did stop and turned back to him he was getting up. I asked him if he was all right. He said he was. I dissolved into gales of laughter right there in the middle of the rink.
We all need something to keep us humble.

NOT Powder-puff Football

When I was a junior at Rose D. Warwick High School in Tekonsha, MI., some of the girls wanted to have a powder puff football game between the junior and senior girls. We had never before had one and it was a relatively new idea.
A couple of girls from the 12th grade and a couple of girls from the 11th grade spoke with the principal to see if it was o.k. He said 'no'.
When asked why he wouldn't let us do it, I think he tried to frighten the girls by saying that if they wanted to play football, they had to do it like the boys did - tackle. We would have to use the schools equipment and suit up for real, manly-men football. We were all thrilled to do it. He was stuck, so he agreed to allow the game.
No one really knew me, I was the only new kid in school that year. Two of the senior girls cornered me in the lunchroom and threatened me. They said that if I played, they'd beat me up. I looked them in the eye and told them I was playing. They left with the threat and I just about fell on the floor with weak knees! I'd never been threatened before! Not even in Detroit!
We practiced with the junior members of the boys team. Well, the boys practiced with the cheerleaders and the rest of us were pretty much ignored.
I was a left end and my best friend, Mary Ellen Hazen was a tackle. She looked like a pro player in her uniform. She was 5'9 and built like a pear, small shoulders and wide hips. With the shoulder pads on, she was huge.
My parents came to the game to see girls play tackle football. I have to say my folks were entertained. The kickoff was a whopping success with the ball flying about 6" into the air then flopping at least 8 yards. It was down hill from there.
I did recover a fumble and the juniors won. We got a touchdown and the seniors didn't. I think it was more like 'herd' ball that an organized game. But we were so excited. Mary should have been MVP. She had 2 brothers who loved to harass her and her friends, so tackling a sissy girl was easy for Mary.
The girls who threatened me never beat me up. There was not another game between the juniors and seniors until after I graduated.

Wedding

The year was 1971. My sweetheart had proposed and I had accepted. We decided to get mat tied before the year was out - taxes!
My father had just started a job (this is after his failed attempt with his brother - Ronnie - to build houses) and my family did not have any extra money. Weddings were not something that could be budgeted for in a non-existent budget. That was all right. Bruce and I were both working and we had saved some money. We paid for our own wedding.
Being LDS we didn't have to pay for a minister or the building to get married in. My mom suggested that the family could clean up the church after the wedding so we wouldn't have to pay a clean-up fee.
I fell in love with a bridal gown and veil from the J.C. Penney catalog. Inclusively, it was $100.00. I ordered it. It did not even need any altering, it fit like the picture. Bruce is so tall that it didn't matter what height heel I had.
I had 5 bridesmaids, so Mom and I went shopping for patterns and material. I wanted all different colors in pastel. Beth made her own, Karen made her own and Mom made the other three. We also had 2 flower girls, June and my niece Pammy. They wore yellow. Mom made both of those dresses also.
My art teacher, Mrs. Pileri, made the cake. We paid $35.00 for 5 bottom cakes and three additional tiers to the top. We bought a cake top that was 2 hearts made of pearls entwined.
The most involved part of the wedding was picking out and having invitations made. Bruce and I agreed on everything. There wasn't any arguments nor was there any ego issues.
Bruce and I ordered flowers. I was so excited because I ordered a bouquet that I thought my mom would love. We drove to my house from the florist and I ran into the house to tell my mom that my bouquet was made up of red poinsettias. She flipped. How could I carry a bouquet of red flowers? People would talk! Brides carried all white flowers! We drove back to the florist and changed the order post haste!
Bruce's best man - Ken Behling - was 5'3". My maid of honor was 5'9". I had asked Mary to please buy flats for the wedding. She bought 3" heels. They looked pretty funny walking down the aisle together.
My parents bought Ted a little brown suit to wear for the wedding. He was to carry my train down the aisle.
While my father and I waited for my turn to walk down the aisle, my dad got his licks in. "There goes Beth." "There goes Karen. You're almost up!" "Well, there goes Mary. You're next! Are you nervous? I am!" By the time we walked down the aisle, I was shaking like a leaf. And crying. My life was changing. I was going from a child in my parents home to an adult in my husband's and my home. It was happening in a matter of hours.
The wedding was beautiful. Everything went well. The reception was simple - cake, mints, cashews and punch.
After the reception the wedding party drove around honking horns and creating minor havoc. When we went into the circle around the fountain in Marshall, Don's car slid on ice and his car rammed ours - well, Ken's car. There was no damage, thank heaven.
That was all almost 38 years ago. We're still together, through thick and thin, trials, happiness and 5 children.

Henry Ford High

After the riots happened at Cooley High and my parents pulled me out, they tried to get me into another high school. Back then ( I don't know if it's still true) Detroit schools had 1/2 years. You could start a grade in January, not just September. So, my parents tried to sign me up to go to Henry Ford High. You had to live in the school district then, and with the busing going on it was strictly enforced.
Karen's parents offered to let me live with them and go to school, but my parents didn't want to get that drastic. There was a family in our ward who lived in Henry Ford's boundaries. They said I could use their address and still live at home. I would go to seminary in the morning, go home with Karen then either ride the bus home from Karen's or my parents would pick me up at Karen's house.
I started in January at Henry Ford. My mom registered me with a false address. I already knew a few of the kids there - Karen, Roz, their boyfriends and a few other guys. I loved it there! When I went to lunch, Roz's boyfriend invited me too sit with him. I didn't know it but the table he sat at was the table reserved for the varsity guys. There I was, varsity guys then me and the rest of the lunchroom wondering who I was.
I had gone there for two weeks when I was called into the office. My mom was there. I was being thrown out of high school. The boundary issue was so intense that the school sent out a person to check if the addresses of the new students were valid. The person at the address that my mom had used couldn't lie. She 'fessed up that I didn't really live there. So I was summarily tossed out. I was SO embarrassed.
I didn't go back to school until we moved out to Eckford and I went to Tekonsha High.

Cemetery

I was 15 years old when our youth group from church decided to have a hayride. We were all to meet at a farm, go on a hayride, have some refreshments then go home. I got there early, then Karen came with Roz. There were three guys there, too - Richard, Hal and I think his name was Matt. The guys saw a cemetery across the street and invited us girls to go with them.
We hesitated. None of us was too brave, but in the end we were persuaded to go with them into the cemetery.
The girls all walked in a tight bunch and the guys told scary stories of dead people rising from their graves. We were in the middle of the cemetery when one of the guys pointed to a grave and screamed. They all took off running, screaming and laughing. We all took off, too.
I was streaking toward the entrance when I heard, "My shoe! My shoe came off! I can't find my shoe!" It was Roz.
I was torn. Do I run for safety with the rest of the gang or do I go back and help Rozzy? I could not leave Roz there by herself. I went back and we frantically searched for this little black slipper. We found it! We put our arms around each other and ran as fast as we could out of that cemetery.
When we got back to the farm, the guys and Karen were there laughing their collective butts off.

Cars!

When Chris was 16, we bought him a used car from a friend. He had his license for about 2 months before he wrapped the car around a tree on Waterford Rd. We took his license from him for a few months.
The following summer we bought him a used Firebird. Not a good thing! This car was pretty fast and looked the part. Chris loved that car.
One day I had to borrow it to go to a karate lesson. I had on a brand new white uniform. The trip took about 15 minutes on back roads. It had been raining for a few days, so everything was wet. There were puddles everywhere.
In the middle of a dirt road there was a huge puddle that stretched across the whole road. I couldn't avoid it. I drove through it and all of a sudden muddy water splashed up from the floorboard all over me. My pretty white uniform had huge brown spots all over the legs and up the front of me. I was shocked for a few seconds.
Then - I have this strange sense of humor - I could see in my minds eye the water splashing all over me and the look on my face. I started laughing. I almost had to pull over because I was laughing so hard.
The floorboard had a couple of big holes in it that Chris had covered with cardboard. I must have moved the cardboard when I was driving. I'm not the only one that got bushwhacked by the holes. My daughter got a face full of water, too.

The Thing Steve Dragged Home

It must have been 1994 or 1995. I was standing in my dining room in Rochester, Mi when I heard this very strange scraping, screeching noise. It was faint at first, then got louder and louder. I was reminded of the War of the Worlds by Wells with this noise.
I ran to the front window and looked out to see what was going on. I saw Steve's truck with something behind it. I couldn't make out what it was, but it was the object making this otherworldly noise. The closer he got, the louder it got.
Finally he pulled up in front of the house. I waited until the noise stopped (o.k., call me a coward if you want, but if you knew Steve when he was a teenager, you would understand).
I went outside and saw this rusted out shell of a dune buggy. It had no wheels, which is why it was so noisy!
Steve was so proud of his new find. "Mom! Look! This guy said I could have it if I just took it home!" I thought of finding this guy and smacking him.
"Josie (his girlfriend a the time) and I are going too fix it up and have fun in it. It won't take too much work."
It sat out front for quite a while without anyone touching it except Rob and Brian who went out and took funny pictures of one sitting on the others' shoulders while in the driver's seat. They had a blast in the eye sore.
One day a police officer showed up at the door. He said there had been a complaint by a neighbor and we had to get the buggy out of sight or we would be ticketed. Great. So the boys pushed and pulled this ugly thing into the garage and closed the door.
A couple of years later, Bruce insisted that Steve get rid of the 'thing' in our garage. Steve called a junk yard and it was towed away.
The road to hell is filled with good intentions. I thought for sure that hell was visiting us with the noise that thing made coming down the street to my house.