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It’s all about Me, Karen Soup Eifler Kirby!

Began in 2007, revised 10-2010

KEK

This story about Karen Eifler Kirby began as a school project and has expanded way be-

yond that. It was the jumping-off-place for my quest into family genealogy, and because of this

assignment I was able to document my grandparents John and Sadie Eifler’s lives, and their chil-

dren John, Irene, and Norm Eifler’s lives in an 80-page manuscript.

This is a separate document and this one is all about me: Karen Soup,

Karen Sue, Karen Eifler Kirby. It may continue to grow as I remember

more, but it is a document about my childhood as it was then, and how

my past has formed who I have become today. The memories are chaotic

and random, so ride the roller coaster of memories along with me as I ex-

plore the past.

While I was growing up I was aware of how unique the ―Eifler‖ name was, but more im-

portantly, I was relieved that other kids couldn’t make fun of my name in any way that hurt my

feelings. No horrible words rhymed with my name, and it couldn’t be butchered and turned into

anything harmful or nasty. The worst taunt I ever heard was ―Eiffel Tower‖, ―Eiffel Tower!‖ It

was hard to take name-calling such as that very personally, and I was truly thankful for such an
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obscure name during my tender years! I grew up feeling extremely proud of my solid German

heritage.

In Alice Walker’s essay titled ―The Place Where I was Born‖ she wrote about her child-

hood home in Georgia. She stated that: ―It [was] incredibly beautiful where I live[d]. Not fancy

at all or exclusive‖ (642). Those words resonate inside of me, bringing forth memories of my

childhood home. Our family’s abode was a bright yellow one-story house, with a walk-out base-

ment apartment prepared especially for my paternal Grandparents, who lived with us. The resi-

dence was located in a sprawling suburban neighborhood five miles southeast of the Boulder city

limits. With two acres to run free on and a safer world to live in back in the 1950’s and 1960’s,

the possibilities seemed endless. We lived about five miles to the south

east of the town of Boulder Colo-

rado in a sprawling neighborhood

called Paragon Estates.

―Ooah-coo-coo-coo‖ was the mournful call of the Mourning dove that crept into my

consciousness and greeted every warm, summer morning in my childhood home of

Boulder, Colorado. I would stretch myself awake listening to the birds singing in the stillness of

the morning as the sunlight poured in through the window of my bedroom, warming my blanket.

The lure of another lazy summer day would spur my imagination into action, and, as I threw the

covers aside and swung my legs off of my bed, my head would already be spinning with the pos-

sibilities and planned adventures lined out before me.

My Mom was a stay at home Mother with a full-time job taking care of three growing

girls and a household. She was also a devoted caregiver to my Father’s parents, and cared for my
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Grandma Eifler for twenty-five years! In those days roles were much more divided than they are

now. Mom took charge of the household and the kids, and Dad took care of the outside stuff and

earned the money needed to sustain a family of five. They both did a fabulous job!

My Father made his career in the

Electronics field, working first at a

company called Sundstrand in Denver,

and then moving between two small

companies; Granville Phillips, and Sci-

entech.
I would look forward to the time that Dad

came home from work. Once he unwound a bit he

would get on the floor and let us climb all over him

and tickle us wildly. I liked to follow him around

when he worked around the house and in the garage.

He would lift me up to sit on his workbench so I could

see what he was doing. Sometimes I got to ride along

with him on errands or go to the dump with him, and

that was a treat.

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Dad had some really fun hobbies. I remember he built an

extensive racetrack and we would go down into the basement

and race cars on this racetrack that would pull down from its

storage place along the wall. He also liked to have a train set up

every Christmas and I loved to watch the train chug along the

track. At other times he would work with glue and tiny parts,

assembling models of airplanes. As we got older we assembled

some models with the help of our Dad. Diane remembers a buf-

falo that she made with him.

My Mother was a talented seamstress. She made beautiful

look-alike Easter and Christmas dress for all three girls and then

we would sit on the fireplace ledge for the Annual lineup. On one

occasion all three of us modeled dresses our Mother had made in a

style show at the Harvest House.

The event was hosted

by our neighbor Fleta Hatha-

way’s bible fellowship. Mom

taught Jan to sew and Jan and

Diane both have my Gramma

Eifler’s talent for needlework.

(I received none of that tal-

ent).

Fashion Show
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I had the Mumps on both sides in February of

1963 when I was 3 ½ years old. I contracted the hard

Measles in June of 1965, the summer before I turned

five. In April of 1966 I had the chickenpox. Then I

was all done with childhood diseases.

When I was small I had a stuffed dog

that was named Penny. I think he was passed

down to me from my sisters, but I loved the

fur off of that dog. I wish I still had him to-

day.

We had a real dog, which in my mem-

ory was always ―old‖ Wendy. Wendy was a

tan colored mutt, and she was sweet and gen-

tle with us. She died in 1970, when I was ten

years old.

Mom should have been a schoolteacher, and we were blessed by her activities and crafts.

She always taught us to make great projects, and she had endless amounts of patience. I did get

some of her ―craftiness‖ and I still enjoy painting and drawing and writing.
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I remember having cats as well. One time we had a mean orange tabby named Mandy

that would sit on the washer and dryer in the breezeway and attack us when we walked by. I re-

member one cat that died on the operating table being spayed. There was another cat named

Samantha that gave birth to three little kittens. We didn’t get to keep them, but my kittens name

was Nutmeg, Diane’s kitten was Mercedes and Jan named her kitten Linus

To the south of our house was a horse pasture that housed several horses. There was a

brown horse I was too young to recall, followed by horse named ―Comanche‖, followed by a

welsh pony originally named Whiskey, but re-named ―Coke‖ when he came to us. My sisters

loved to ride horses, but I was always afraid of them. I remember forcing them to plod along for

the first half of the ride, and being unable to stop them from cantering the whole way back to the

barn. I was never the one in charge, and I got thrown one too many times to enjoy them! Coleen

remembers Coke running up to the fence and throwing her over it. Another time Christine and I

were riding up the street when Diane jumped out to scare us, scaring the horse instead. He reared

up and threw both of us off and I was SO mad at Diane!

My favorite memory of the horses’ field is not of the horses themselves, but of the tall

grasses that grew in the pasture during the early part of the summer. These tall grasses would

grow taller than me, and my sisters and I would trample down rooms and passageways through

the weeds, creating homes with many extensive rooms to accommodate all of us. There we
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would spend hours playing house, pretending to be married, forming relationships, and raising

children. I can still recall the feeling of quiet serenity while hiding in the grass with the warm sun

blazing down and the gentle breeze rippling through the tall weeds.

Another favorite place to congregate was the playhouse. My father built a freestanding

structure in our back yard that had a two-room playhouse in the front for the kids, and a green-

house and tool shed in the back for the adults. It even had a covered front porch, and the outside

was painted yellow to match the house. In one inside room was the kitchen; complete with a

wooden stove, an oven, a sink, and cupboards to put our dishes in. Mom stocked it with dishes,

pots and pans, and empty spice containers and food cans. The second room had two picture win-

dows, a table with chairs and even a telephone on the wall. On the east-facing wall of the kitchen

was a large window that opened up onto our playground, complete with a jungle gym.

A favorite scenario was to pretend the playhouse was

a houseboat on the high seas, with man-eating sharks in the

water all around. We would have to jump from the window

onto the jungle gym without touching the ground so the

sharks wouldn’t get us! At other times the playhouse became

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a castle, an office, a home, or a schoolroom. We played house all the time out in the back yard,

making mud pies with grass and water and playing with all of our friends. When Liz Tary wasn’t

there, Coleen or another friend was, and we spent unlimited hours pretending.

Do you

remember sunsuits?

A sunsuit was a fabulous creation children in the sixties wore all summer long. A sunsuit

was a simple one-piece garment, gathered at the top of each leg and around the waist. There were

ties over each shoulder. I think of a simple garment for a simpler time, and I am convinced that

there would be no wars if all adults still wore sunsuits!

We played classic patty cake games with each other where you would stand facing your

friend and sing a tune that went in rhythm with the motions as one girl’s hands slapped together

with the other girls hands. I remember two songs:

Oh playmate,

come out and play with me,

and bring your dollies three,

Climb up my apple tree.

Slide Down my rain barrel

Into my cellar door

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And we’ll be jolly friends,

Forever more, more, more, more more!

Oh playmate

I cannot play with you,

My dolly has the flu

Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo.

I got no rain barrel

I got no celler door

But we’ll be jolly friends

Forever more, more, more, more more!

And this one that I find very strange now, so maybe you can tell me what it means! My Mom has

an even crazier clapping song that she knows from her childhood. I have to ask her to write it

down for me to keep.

I livey up on teeny weeny housetops

I livey up on thirty-first floor.

I liveyanna teeny weeny housetops

Ruffles on my petticoats

Ten cents more.

Poor Charlie, Poor Charlie,

Way down south in the penitentiary!

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Huge Cottonwood trees surrounding our The Ditch

property shaded an irrigation ditch that only car-

ried water during the spring runoff. In the sum-

mer months my two sisters, my girlfriends and I

spent countless numbers of hours in that ditch,

crafting palaces created from dirt and mud, twigs

and rocks. Those amazing structures hosted multiple rooms prepared especially for our troll doll

collections and for the one-to-two inch Leopard frogs that were abundant as the irrigation ditch

began to dry up in June and July.

Within those mud walls, kings and queens ruled over their populace, paupers became

princes, magic ruled and kingdoms fell as our imaginations took us far from the confines of our

secure little world. Those poor little Leopard frogs were also ―raced‖ across our wading pool.

On the bend of the ditch, down at the corner, was a twisted old Cottonwood tree with a

thick limb extending perfectly over a gradual declining bank of compacted dirt. This dappled

green refuge was the ideal host for a strong tire swing, and the perfect gathering place for all the

children of the neighborhood. The stream running through our ditch flowed peacefully; allowing

us to swing way out over the water, splash down into the depths, and climb, laughing, to take our
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place in line once again. Over and over we would repeat the performance, stopping only for a

cold glass of Kool-Aid, a bathroom break, or a parent calling us in for lunch or supper. The tire

swing was replaced by a rope swing over time, but it still exists today.

Our ditch was an irrigation ditch that only ran for about six weeks until early June. My

Dad would blow up three inner tube tires for us and drive my sisters and me to the top on the

Davidson’s Mesa and drop us off. We would float lazily along in the quiet current until arriving

at home, only to get another ride to the top of the mesa again. Again and again we would repeat

the sequence. Once in a while we would spot a water snake floating along next to us, and that

was alarming.

One bad thing happened when I was four years old and I was riding along with my Mom

to buy apples. Mommy parked the car facing downhill on a steep driveway on one of the streets

at the base of the foothills around downtown Boulder. She left me in the car, telling me to behave

because she would be right back. I climbed into the driver’s seat to pretend to drive, knocked the

gearshift out of park, and as the car began to move and pick up speed it traveled down the drive-

way, across the street, through a yard and crashed into a house! I have a very vivid memory of a

startled old woman who was walking by, stumbling after the car in an attempt to stop it! I was

unhurt, save a loose tooth and a cut lip, but Mommy was pretty shaken up, and Daddy was mad

at us both. He’ll deny it but I remember him threatening to have me pay for the car repairs! The
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owner of the house was on vacation at the time, so I don’t know what transpired when he re-

turned home.

Another very early memory

is of my Grandparents farm in Van-

couver,Washington.

I remember beautiful flowers in shaded gardens, eating berries right off the bushes, and a

little attic room with an angled roof, up some steep steps, where I slept. As I awoke, I could hear

voices greeting each other in the early morning, and I would smell wonderful breakfast smells

that came wafting up into the room. Diane remembers a terrible smell – Sauerkraut!

When we visited the farm on subsequent visits I remember the tree lined driveway, the

barn with a big hay filled loft, the cows, the barn cats, HUGE thickets of blackberries, and rasp-

berries, Hazel nut trees, Grandma’s aprons and lap, all the wonderful smells and food that came

from the kitchen, walking with Grandpa, exploring the smokehouse and all the cool buildings. I

loved the time spent with all my Aunts and Uncles and cousins.
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Uncle Henry and Aunt Jo lived on Vashon Island, in Washington State.

They had three sons,

Nathan, Daniel and Mark.

We got to ride on a Ferry

boat to visit the Scholz
family on Vashon Island.

My Uncle Henry was a lot of fun and he could always make us laugh!

He taught us a cute little song:

“I had a dog,

his name was Fido,

he was nothing but a pup.

He could stand up on his hind legs

if you held his front legs up!”

Then he would sing it a second time, mixing all the words up, making us giggle:

“I had a fog,

his name was Difo,

he pus nothing but a wup.

He could stand up on his lind hegs

if you held his lunt fregs up!”

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Keeping close to family was always important to my parents. Many vacations were spent

traveling to see my Moms siblings and their families, and her parents, and several times we had

family reunions in Boulder, Colorado.

Aunt Norma was a lot

younger than my Mother, so

she would come out to Colo-

rado for visits when we were

very small. We traveled to

her wedding in Chebanse,

Illinois when I was about

four.

My Uncle Chuck Sauer died when I was I was twenty-two, and my cousins were much

younger than I was. My Aunt Norma did a beautiful job of raising her two boys. My cousin’s

names were Devon and Chris. I don’t recall traveling to Missouri when I was little, but I must

have, because I do remember the St Louis Arch. I definitely recollect the visits they made to

Boulder.
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Every summer we would

take a two to three week
camping trip.

I have such a love for

camping as a result of
those years!

A plaque on the wall in

the camper said something
like
―Kwitcherbelyakin!‖.

My parents always tried to put one child in the front cab with them to cut down on the

fighting. We had an intercom set up from the back camper to the front cab, and we would con-

stantly ―tattletale‖ on each other. There was an ongoing battle of who got to be up top in the

bunk overlooking the cab of the truck. I thank my parents so much for putting up with continu-

ally fighting children in the back of the camper, and the whining children refusing to hike. Mom

and Dad made a game out of hiking by having us count out ten paces in front of them. During

quiet times I loved to find a secret place in the woods near the camper, to make my little home to

play in within the trees. Many trips included a lake to swim and boat in, and we loved that!

When I was five or six years old on a camping trip, Dad had warned me to

stop playing in the fire with my stick. I disobeyed him when he wasn’t look-

ing and went back in to poke a stick around in the coals. A hot coal landed on

my hand between my thumb and first finger, burning me badly. I didn’t want

to be in trouble, so I determined to tough it out, but my hand ached badly all night long, and I

didn’t get much sleep. We were on a walk the next morning and my mom reached down to hold

my hand and discovered a huge water blister. Then I really was in trouble!
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When I was about six years old we embarked on a long three-week trip to the west coast.

We went to the Grand Canyon, and then stopped in Las Vegas. Jan, Diane and I got to be ―on our

own‖ in the upstairs area at Circus Circus, watching circus acts and playing games, while Mom

and Dad tried gambling in the casino below.

We continued on to Disneyland in Anaheim California, where we stayed in a camp-

ground near the amusement park. We would go into Disneyland in the morning, come back to

rest during the heat of the day, and then go again in the evenings. Diane has a funny memory of

being called ―grumpy‖ by a man in a golf cart, because she didn’t want to go see a berry farm. It

was actually Knott’s Berry farm, and I have a memory of trying to walk through a mixed up

house that defied gravity. All the angles were wrong and I was dizzy! Mom recalls that we forgot

our swim towels that were hanging on the clothesline.

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After we left Disneyland we went to the Redwood forest

where I met Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, Babe. They were

huge statues that talked to us! We drove through a hollow red-

wood. We took a tour of the redwood forests on the Skunk

Train, and came back

on a commuter train.

We took many wonderful road trips throughout the years. On one trip when I was about

eight years old we visited Southern Colorado and stopped at the Sand Dunes, and Mesa Verde,

and the Four Corners monument. On another trip we stopped at the Craters of the Moon on our

way to Washington State to visit our Grandparents. While we were at the farm in Washington

we went to the beach with our Gradparents, to the Science Museum and to the Portland Zoo.

We went on another great trip to Dinosaur National Park, the Grand Teton Mountains and

to Yellowstone National Park. We explored Canyon Lands and Arches National Park in Utah,

and we took trips all across the Rocky Mountains.

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One of my favorite trips ever was a three-week road trip to Florida. Along the way we

stopped in Alabama to tour the battleship Alabama and we stopped and collected seashells at the

Gulf of Mexico. Our main goal was to see the Hauser family. They had four kids, Rhoda, Eric,

Ernie and Rachel, and a beautiful home with a built in swimming pool. I remember palm trees

and air conditioning, swimming in the pool a lot, and Eric finding me a coconut to take home as

a souvenir! We all went to the Everglades and took a boat ride to see alligators. On the way

home we drove through New Orleans where Dad knocked out the glass in a side window of the

camper while parking next to a sign. My only memory of New Orleans is of a plump, black

woman, ―Tsk, Tsking‖, in an apron, wielding a broom as she swept up the glass!
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On the road trip back to Colorado in the

camper Jan put her knee through the
window of the top bunk, showering
broken glass down on the hood of the
truck. That scared my parents who
thought a body would surely follow.

I wish I paid more attention to where I was going as we traveled. Jan used to like to look

for different States License plates. I would sleep a lot, play games, or read. Sometimes we would

play the ABC game, looking for a sign with a word starting with an ―A‖ then a ―B‖, etc… Some-

times we would play travel bingo, or ―I see something you don’t see and it is …‖ Another favor-

ite thing to do while looking out the window from the bunk over the cab was to try to get truck-

ers to blow their horns, and to get drivers to wave back at us when we waved at them. At the

campgrounds my sisters and I would make friends with other children and sometimes we would

have a baseball game. Other times we would collect different kinds of bottle caps. My Mom did-

n’t want to carry our collections with us, so she would trade them for a piece of candy and then

they would disappear.

My Dad would grill steak and potatoes wrapped with bacon, chicken with corn on the cob

cooked in the campfire coals, ribs, fresh trout, and always, S’Mores! After dinner My Father

would build the fire up and we would all gather around and tell stories or attempt to sing songs.

When we went to sleep we slept three across on the top bunk. Many kicking fights were broken

up by tired parents as we struggled to claim our territory. Sometimes, when we had a long way to

drive, Dad would get up really early and leave us all sleeping. He would drive several hours (in

peace!) before we awakened to find ourselves on the road again.

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My sisters started school two and four years

before I was old enough to go. While I got Mommy

to myself while my sisters were at school, I also

missed my sisters. I remember twirling in the tire

swing out in front of the house, waiting for the bus

to come. I also had a bright yellow push peddle hy-

draulic dump truck that I wish I still owned today. I

have a photo of me sitting patiently in my dump

truck waiting for my sisters to step off the bus.

My Mom liked to bowl on a league. At the Thunderbird bowling lanes I spent one morn-

ing a week in the daycare at the bowling alley. I can still clearly see the cinderblock walls and

the bright yellow and orange checkerboard lockers. I still kind of like the loud noises in the

bowling alley, with balls rolling and pins smashing together. I guess they remind me of those

early memories.

I was lucky to be born in the year 1959 as I had al-

Snow Turkey
most one dozen girls my age that lived close to our

neighborhood. My sisters had a few good friends each

that lived close by, but by the time I started school,

friends my own age surrounded me. Liz Tary was my

first Paragon Estates friend who spent countless hours

playing with her sister Mary, my sister Diane and me.

She lived right across the street.

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ME! Coleen

Liz

Kristine

I met my best friend Coleen Androvich on the first grade school bus.

I had two little friends early

on by the name of Ellie and Jeff, but

they moved away after a couple of

years and I never saw them again.

They lived on the lower loop by the

Jeff, Ellie, Karen
Korans.

As I entered my Elementary school years my close friends expanded to include Dana

Burdick, Terri Washington, Kristine Steinhauer, Shelli Allen, Theresa Steele, Lynn Lamontagne,

Lauren Weinstein, Gretchen Lockwood, Kim Harrison, Betsy Mack, and Nanette Heidt. We rode

our bikes everywhere we went because the neighborhood was spread out on acreage and houses

were far apart. Theresa Steele and Betsy Mack lived in the Spanish Hills Subdivision. Dana Bur-

dick and Nanette Heidt lived in Fairview Estates. Liz Tary and I lived on the ―Upper Loop‖ in

Paragon Estates, and Shelli Allen, Gretchen Lockwood and Kim Harrison lived on the ―Lower

Loop‖. As you climbed up the hill towards Davidson’s Mesa you would first pass Christine

Steinhauer and Lena Aweida’s homes on the left, and then Coleen’s house was a branch off to

the right on Spring Ct. As you continued the trek upward, Terri Washington’s house was on the
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right and then you would turn left to the top of the Mesa to visit Lynn Lamontagne and Lauren

Weinstein. It was a different world back then, so I must have checked in periodically, but most of

us were ―on the run‖ until dinnertime. At my house dinner was Six o’clock sharp!

When I started school I always rode on a full-sized yellow

school bus. I think the elderly bus drivers name was Mr. McCutchen,

and he was a kind man that we all loved. My bus picked up kids

from Paragon Estates, Spanish Hills, and Fairview Estates. Regular

riders included all the girls I mentioned earlier as well as Allen Ab-

shire, Greg Gapter, Todd Clynke, Denise Negler, and Eric Peterson.

Coleen’s house was my second home and her parents were my second parents. I can still

picture the layout of that house as if I were there just yesterday. Coleen’s bedroom was upstairs,

and when you came down the stairs the formal living room was off to the right (Off limits. I

think the couches might have been covered with plastic). Coleen had a Siamese cat named Mia,

and older sisters and a brother who thought we were little pests. She had Russian Grandparents

living in the basement for a time (when we were older). My favorite memories were the times we

spent in the basement playroom. She had an extensive play kitchen and lots of fun toys to play

with. One favorite set of dolls collected back then were called ―Liddle Kiddles‖ and from my

memory these dolls were about 2‖ tall, resembled pixie or fairies, smelled scented, and were en-

cased in a lockets or perfume bottles.

The Kiddle had their heyday in the late

1960s. Many little girls during that time had
several Liddle Kiddles to their names. The
Kiddles could be worn (Lucky Locket Kid-
dles) sniffed (Kola Kiddles and Kiddle Ko-
lognes) and even shot into outer space (well,
figuratively, with Kosmic Kiddles).
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Coleen had other really cool toys too! I remember baking little cakes

and cookies in her Easy Bake Oven, and she had a similar oven to make

Creepy Crawlers in. Creepy Crawlers were plastic bugs, flowers, and other

assorted shapes made by pouring ―goop‖ into a mold and cooking it.

Easy Bake Oven

The Easy-Bake Oven was
introduced in 1963 by
Kenner Products, a Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, based toy
company. The early mod-
els were designed to look
like miniature conven-
tional ovens.

The Easy-Bake Oven,

currently a product of
Hasbro, is a working toy
oven that for many years
used an ordinary light
bulb as a heat source, but
now has a true heating
element. Eleven versions
of the Easy-Bake Oven
have been sold. It comes
with packets of pastry
mix and small round
pans. (Additional mixes
can be purchased sepa-
rately.) After water is
added to the mix in the

Shelli Allen had a bunch of brothers and sisters, and I thought that was very cool. Her

Mom was always very welcoming and offered freshly baked goodies to snack on. Her family

was very religious, and I remember kneeling down on the floor next to our chairs to pray before

dinner. I liked the strong sense of family I felt when I visited there.

I wasn’t a bad student, but I wasn’t the best one either. I think I was more interested in

the social aspects in school than the academic ones. I started Kindergarten at Burke Elementary

School and my teacher was Mrs. Liddle. I then moved to Arapahoe Elementary School for first
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grade with Mrs. Johnson and second grade with Mrs. Bentsen. I was definitely bad the day that I

was laughing and giggling in class with Coleen Donnelly and was sent to the principals office. I

thought I was going to get a spanking, but only got a talking to instead.

I went to Douglas Elementary School for third through sixth grades. My teachers were

Mrs. Feldman, Mrs. Purcell, Mrs. Kienzle and Mrs. Phillips. The only teacher that really sticks

out in my mind is my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Purcell. I thought she was mean and she scared

me to death! What’s interesting about that is that I got reacquainted with her as an adult, and

found out she was really a decent person.

When I was in grade school my Mom gave me a little notebook in the shape of an orange

that I used to collect autographs from my friends and family. I carried that little notebook with

me for 40 years until my dog got ahold of it in 2009 and decided to maul it. I am going to trans-

fer some of the writings to this page to preserve the memories.

To my stupid To a nice but

sister. mean sister.

Jan Keep that

way!

Diane

To a nice little girl who is sweet, kind, lov-

To a nice little girl who does everything able, generous, helpful, friendly, nice, enjoy-
she’s told. able, co-operative, and willing.
Grandma Anyone answering this description please let
me know.
Dear Karen Dad I’m not going to say anything special
But I like you!
Roses are Red
Violets are Blue Teresa Goodwin Love & peace forever,
Friends are nice
And so are you. You’re nice :0) Coleen

Betsy (Mack)
 Roses are red
25
Violets are blue
When you are old And sugar is sweet
And out of shape To a good friend for- And so are you
Remember that ever!
Girdles Margaret Adams
Are $4.98! Lauren Weinstein
Have a nice spring
Liz Tary (not Really!) If it ever comes!

Gretchen Lockwood

Now I lay me down to rest

I pray I pass tomorrow’s test

If I die before I wake

That’s one less test I have to

take!

Kristine

You are a real nice

kid and I like you a
lot.
To one of the nic-
est girls I know.
Denise Negler
Good Luck!

Kim K.
Valerie Jones
_________________
Hi Karen,
I like you a lot. Good luck.

Read down will

Up and see
And you that

I LOVE
YOU! To Karen,
Teri
Roses are red
Violets are Blue
You are my cousin
And I like you!
Yours Forever,
From Julie Eifler
Leann Brown
26
More Gradeschool friends!

Dana Burdick Eric Peterson Alan Abshire Theresa Steele

Tom Vidamour Doug Meneley Tim Campbell Bart Woodiel

Todd Parish Steve Peterson Mike Compton Mark Wolny

Laura Cyphers Kim Medaner Jim Keene David Nelson

 27

David Fransean Brett Fransean Chris Edwards Barb Swisher

28
One little ―Karen oddity‖ was due to the three operations I had before the age of ten. I

really liked the amount of attention I was given as a result of those operations. For years I would

fashion crutches made of sticks and hop around on a pretend broken leg, creating injuries in my

mind. For a long while I thought I wanted to be a nurse, inflicting injuries on my dolls and patch-

ing them back up again. Coleen and I would play nurses on the playground at school, fixing up

the boys who got hurt in the battlefield. In school during those years I was always acting out to

get noticed. The Kindergarten teacher called one time to ask my Mother whether I was getting

enough attention at home!

I was a bed wetter as a child. I think I really tried the patience of my parents who tried

everything to stop the behavior, unsuccessfully. I have several traumatic memories of sitting mis-

erably on my foot, knowing without a doubt, that if I got up I was going to have trouble. I did

have a few small tense moments in class but another girl, Tammy, REALLY created a puddle

under her desk, and I was SO glad it wasn’t me. Kids are so cruel. My problem ended up being a

medical one that was corrected through surgery when I was nine years old.

Memories of my hospitals stays are varied. I had my ton-

sils removed when I was six, my Appendix removed when I was

seven, and an operation to repairs a leaky Urethra valve when I

was nine. I had the Tonsillectomy because I was sick with strep

throat a lot, and back then it was very common to remove in-

fected tonsils. The Appendectomy was much more unexpected.

One day I had terrible pain in my abdomen, and recall lying down on the couch by Grandma and

Grandpa Eifler for hours and hours (I think Mom and Dad thought I was faking!) before heading

to the hospital with acute Appendicitis.

29
30

That day remains very clear in my mind. I saw the sign at the hospital that said, ―no children

allowed‖ and told Mommy that I wasn’t supposed to go in! I remember my doctor playing ―Dr.

Kildare‖, pushing me on a gurney through double doors into the operating room. He painted a

smiley face on my scar when he removed my stitches. All the kids at school sent me get well

cards and that was very cool.

31

This was back in the days when parents were not encouraged to stay

with their children at the hospital, and I remember feeling very frightened and

alone after Mom and Dad went home. Dad wrote down his phone number at work and gave me

permission to call him when I got scared. He also asked me if I wanted a cute present or a funny

one, and when I chose ―funny’ he brought me a fuzzy purple furple, which was basically a

fuzzy stuffed animal with arms, legs, and a funny face. I loved it!

As I felt better I made friends with other patients and played Score Four

with them and with Mom and Dad. All the kids at school made cards and sent

them to me to read as I recuperated. The worst pain I remember is when they

removed the staples from the incision after the third operation.

OWWWWW!! Diane remembers being very scared when I went into

the hospital for one of those operations. She thought I was going to

die.

In the winter time my Dad and Mom would drive us up to Pactolus Lake near Nederland

to ice skate. I remember skating as early as 1965 at the early age of four or five holding on to

both of my parent’s hands.

Pactolus Lake was a world of it’s own with a warming hut built over part of the lake,

and an indoor skating area downstairs. Sometimes we arrived to silent, peaceful,

frosted beauty. Sometimes it was very cold and windy out on the ice, and we

would fight our way down to one end of the lake and let the wind blow us back

to the other side. At other times it was clear and mild and beautifully sunny.
32

The California Zephyr train ran between

Los Angeles and Chicago, and it used the
tracks that ran right by the lake. When-
ever a train came by all the showoffs on
the lake would perform our best tricks for
the passengers and trainmen. The passing
of a train was exciting, especially when
the silver cars of the Zephyr glided by.

When the weather was bad, I loved to

practice my spins and spend time alone inside

the ice house, which was dimly lit by a few incandescent bulbs. The warming house was a large

barn-like edifice that once was used to store ice blocks cut from the lake. The blocks were loaded

aboard railroad cars and taken to Denver to cool the meat lockers in the days before mechanical

refrigeration was available. There were about a dozen posts that held up a very high roof (about

30 ft tall), and although the wind was blocked out it was always cold. I would eventu-

ally find my family and we would sit and rest on the warming house bench sipping hot

chocolate together. The warming house was a one story addition built on the west side

of the ice house. Pactolus Lake is a favorite winter memory of mine, and the begin-

ning of a love for skating that all three girls developed and maintained for many years.

The lake closed down eventually. I found the ruins of the old warming hut when Chris and I

were on a road trip in recent years, and it brought back a flood of warm memories for me.

As a little girl I remember pretending to be a world-

class ice skater in the summertime, using the patio as my ice

skating rink to practice my jumps and spins. As teenagers we

transferred our skating passions to the flatirons skating rink in

Boulder. Flatirons became a major hangout in our teenage

years.
 33

Sledding was another great favorite. Our

house was on a hillside with a dirt road that had

very little traffic. It became the perfect sledding hill

after a decent snowfall. I remember piling three

high on top of my father and sledding down the hill

on a flexible flyer on our bellies! Half the time we

would go flying off and get up laughing and ready to go again. I also remember him attaching a

flying saucer to the back of his truck and pulling us behind the truck through the whole neighbor-

hood. When he whipped us around the corners we felt as if we were almost flying. (He probably

was going fairly slowly in reality.) Today that probably wouldn’t be considered safe, but it was a

blast!!!

My sisters and I would carry little

American flags and have our own
4TH OF JULY parade around the house and then all
the way around the block.

Speaking of unsafe . . . Fireworks! Dad always care-

fully supervised us but we had some really great fireworks

when I was a kid! We had cherry bombs and we blew up pop cans with them. We had awesome

fountains, loud pop bottle rockets and always had sparklers.

We would usually go to Folsom field to see the fireworks display, and the sing-along was

as good as the show. ―There was an Old Woman who swallowed a fly‖, ―Deep and Wide‖ and

―Old Mister Ford‖ were my favorites! The Lutherans always had an ice cream social nearby, and

we took our grandparents with us to all of the festivities.

34

I have always loved holidays, and I have several favorites, particularly Easter and Christ-

mas. I felt extremely blessed to have the kind of Mom who always bothered to transform the

whole house into ―holiday‖ mode. At Easter she put together the perfect Easter baskets for the

Easter Bunny to deliver and there was always a great Easter egg hunt at church and at home. We

always had shiny new shoes, and pretty new dresses to wear to church, and Easter dinner was a

wonderful celebration.

In more recent years she started filling plastic eggs for the grandchildren and she had the

best system, where each kid knew to look for only a certain color. Each child’s eggs were filled

with age appropriate items and we would hide the older kids eggs in difficult places while setting

the little kids eggs within easy reach. It was pure genius.

Christmas was heavily steeped in traditions. We would go to the mountains and cut down

a tree. We would decorate the tree together, handling treasured ornaments carefully and gently

draping tinsel over the ends of the branches. My Mom taught us all to make German Stollen

bread that is sweet bread filled with candied fruit and nuts.
 35

Mom helped us to make Gingerbread

houses. I liked the frosting the best!

On Christmas Eve we got to go downstairs

to see my Grandparents and open presents with

them. We always listened to a parent reading

―Twas the Night before Christmas‖ before bed,

and then we would set out the milk and cookies

and go to sleep like little angels, waiting for Santa

Claus to come.
36
My parents took us to Crossroads mall to sit on Santa’s lap every year. I think I believed

in Santa until I was eleven or twelve years old. On Christmas Evening we went to bed in new

jammies, freshly bathed and our hair set in curlers for Christmas morning services at church.

In the morning, first thing, we were allowed to open the stockings lining the mantle,

bursting with goodies. My Mom would make a yummy breakfast and my Grandparents would

come upstairs to watch the chaos and flurry of unwrapping presents from under the tree. It was

glorious! Church services and a special family day with a wonderful meal would always follow.
37
We were charter

members of Mt.

Hope Missouri

Synod church in

Table Mesa in

South Boulder.

My parents raised us in a Christian home where I have always believed in God, and en-

joyed all the rituals that went along with church and Sunday school. On Saturday night we would

bathe and then have our hair set in curlers. My Mom was a talented seamstress and she sewed

some beautiful dresses for us to wear, sometimes dressing us all alike. On Sunday morning Mom

and Dad would take us to services. We knew not to misbehave in church. If Dad took me outside

it was certain he was going to give me a spanking, and that was not desirable! My parents were

very smart and sat me in between them with a sister on either side of them. With no one to fight

with the worst thing I ever did was to fall asleep, and I did that very well sitting up! When I was

very small I used to cuddle on my Daddy’s lap and play silent games with his hands. He would

lace them together and we would play church and steeple, or he would start with all his fingers

down and as I touched each one he would pop it up until I would touch it again to bring it back

down to rest.

Once church was over it was time for Sunday school. The best part was seeing my friends

Betsy Mack, Lance Enholm, Nanette Heidt, and Scott Freeman. As we grew up we went to mid-

week school, and confirmation class, and I made many of my friends through youth group and an

evangelism program called Ongoing Ambassadors for Christ.

 38
Around Labor Day we would look forward to the Lafayette Days celebration. There was

the Little Britches rodeo at night and booths and games and activities during the day. The fes-

tivities took place at the end of summer, right before school started, and the officials would kick

the event off with a Kiddie Parade from City Hall to the Lafayette Park. Many kids would dress

in costume and my cousin Tommy dressed up as Huck Finn.

My sisters and I would wind red, white and blue crepe paper through the spokes of our

bikes and join the opening parade. At the end of the parade we received a free ride coupon and a

bag of goodies. One time my sisters and I walked all the way there from our house in Paragon

Estates. Diane got heat exhausted and we had to stop in the shade of a stranger’s tree and sip cool

water until she recovered.

My Uncle Johnny and Aunt Joan lived in Lafay-

ette. They had four kids of their own, and they had such a

huge heart for children that they took in Foster kids as

well. I remember a little blond girl but don’t recall her

name, and a sweet little boy named Buddy. They eventu-

ally adopted my Cousin Ken. My aunt Joan loved Basset

Hounds as well. Their house was filled with constant

movement of children and dogs, and I loved it there!

39
A favorite activity to do with our grandparents was to picnic in the mountains. We would

take a drive up various canyons surrounding the Boulder area, and wade in the streams, skip

stones, and watch Grampa and Dad fishing. My Grampa Eifler loved to fish! Gramma was con-

tent to sit with Mom at the picnic table and watch all the activity going on. Mom would pull out

the checkered tablecloth and picnic basket and we would sit down to a scrumptious lunch at a

table nearby the stream.

Once in a while we would travel up Trail ridge

Road and see big horn sheep and tundra, and snow in the

middle of summer! On the way down we would stop to

shop in Estes Park, see the herds of wild elk, and eat

freshly pulled taffy.

Grandma and Grandpa Scholz at Flag-

staff Mountain During a Colorado Visit.
40
My Grandparents were very talented people. My Gramma could knit and crochet and she

played the piano. My Grampa could play the fiddle and perform magic tricks. Later in life he

took up oil painting. Birthday parties were always special when my Grampa was alive. He

would entertain my friends with his magic tricks!

My birthday parties were cool anyway because of being the day before Halloween.

Sometimes everyone would dress up in costume, and I always felt like the entire Halloween holi-

day was simply part of MY special day. My Mom made every birthday great by planning birth-

day parties with fun activities and themes, and by baking cut-up cakes and decorating the fun

shapes in frosting and coconut. I remember a clown party with a clown cake, and animal cakes

such as a elephant and a bunny.

Jan’s Party

Kristine Steinhauer
Diana Warren
Nanette Heidt
Teri Washington
Coleen Androvich
Betsy Mack
Liz Tary
41
Saturday nights were exceptional around the Eifler household, because Uncle Johnny,

Aunt Joan, Uncle Bud, Aunt Irene, and my cousins David, Linda, Johnny, Tommy, Bambi, Julie

and Ken would arrive at the house. We would have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and the

male adults would play Pinochle and watch the Lawrence Welk show together. My cousins

would play outside with us until we were called in for baths (and curlers!) at dusk. We would

play on the tire swing, or in the ditch, and my favorite thing of all was when we would organize a

baseball game in the field. The baseball games would draw in neighborhood kids as well, and

sometimes even the adults would join in. Later at night my Cousin Tommy would sometimes

entertain us with scary ghost stories. We would get scared silly!

42

Gramma and Grampa had pets of their own. Gramma always had a Parakeet singing in the base-

ment apartment where they resided. They had a mean yellow kitty named Ginger. Ginger chewed

through an electrical cord and lost half of her mouth. She wasn’t ever quite right after that. Next was a

crabby, old, (rather round) black dog by the name of Taffy, who tended to snap at me whenever I came

too close. Finally there was a sweet little

white dog with big ears named Mickey,

and he and I were friends.

My Grampa Eifler died in

February of 1968 when I was

only eight years old, but I re-

member him well and can pic-

ture him to this minute. My

Gramma Eifler lived into her

nineties, and was a great pres-

ence in my life until my early

twenties. She liked to play cards

with me once in a while, and I

could talk to her about anything.

43
Having grandparents in the home was the best thing ever. Gramma and Grampa were warm

and loving and I could hang out with them and play in their house. Whenever I got in trouble upstairs

I would run downstairs for laps and hugs and a butterscotch candy from Gramma’s apron pockets.

My Grampa liked Horehound candies, but those had a strong flavor and weren’t as popular with the

kids. My sisters claim that I was the spoiled youngest child and that Gramma would give me enough

candy to share with my sisters, and I would run back behind the barn

and eat all of it.

I claim I don’t remember that!!!

Candy! When we were very good Mom would take us to a store called Ben Franklin’s and

hand each one of us a dime. With one dime I could buy a bag full of candy, picked out from bins with

many kinds of candy to choose from. Remember candy dots, wax filled bottles of syrup, candy ciga-

rettes, taffy, and tootsie rolls and pops? MMMMM!!!

When I was a little girl, people didn’t eat out very much, and when we were taken

to a restaurant we knew we had to behave well. MacDonald’s was my kind of place, and it was a

huge treat to go there. The whole family could eat there for under $10.00. ―Shakey’s Pizza Parlor‖

was another great favorite with a player piano. I remember eating at the ―Denver Drumstick‖ where a

train ran around the top of the room, and my fried chicken was served in a train car. The best break-

fast place in the whole world was the Pancake house. We would get a plate full of very small ―dollar‖

pancakes and a Lazy Susan filled with different kinds of syrup, such as maple, honey, strawberry,
44

blueberry, apricot, blackberry and our favorite, boysenberry (pronounced poisenberry!). I recall des-

sert outings to A & W Root Beer, Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins, and an Ice cream parlor called

―Swenson’s‖.

I don’t think there were a lot of

Jan injuries as my sisters and I were

growing up. I DO remember

Jan being kind of a klutz on a

bike (sorry Jan). It seemed like

she would make it around half

the block and have to walk the bike home nursing skinned knees quite often. I remember her stepping

on a nail one time and having to get a tetanus shot. I remember Diane crashing her bike into a wall

Dad was building along on the back driveway of the house, and having to get stitches in her thigh.

There was another instance when girlfriends and I were playing in the ditch and the tire swing got

stuck in the tree. One of us (Coleen?) was poking the rope out with a big stick and lost her grip. The

stick came down on Christine’s head, creating a tiny puncture wound that bled and bled and bled,

scaring all of my parents and us to death.

My sister Diane and I always shared a bedroom. But she and I did not often get along with

each other. I was a slob and she was a neat freak. I wore all the clothes she forbade me to take. I

thought she was prissy and un-cool and a tattletale during our high school years, and she worried

about my immorality and hated my bad choices. I remember drawing a line down the middle of the

floor and forbidding each other to cross that line. We didn’t start working at a friendship until our

mid-teens, but we are very close today. Jan and I got along better because of our age differences, but

it was always two against one, and someone was always left crying or mad. Poor Mom and Dad!
 45

I may have been the spoiled little sister, but there were times that I took the brunt of punishments unjustly. I

vividly recall my father’s hairbrush being off limits to girls. The poor man was surrounded by women and probably

had precious little that he could call his own! Diane used his hairbrush, and when confronted, she blamed me. I got

spanked with that hairbrush, and I resented my sister for a time.

DIANE

I remember being in the Wonderland of Junior Cooking School with Diane when I was ten years old and

Diane was twelve. It was sponsored through Public Service, our utility company. I remember mastering the art of

cracking an egg all by myself. I also spent time in the kitchen with Mom, learning how to bake cookies and cakes. I

have a cruel and wonderful recollection of the time Diane was making cookies as a young teenager and her hair got

caught in the mixer, winding it up and pulling her face closer and closer to the beaters as she screamed bloody mur-

der at the top of her lungs. I, (being such a good sister), rolled on the floor laughing hysterically while Mom finally

pulled the plug on the mixer.

Jan got laughs from the whole family when she began dating and decided to bake her boyfriend a cof-

fee cake. She had never made one before and folded in coffee grounds instead of the liquid. I don’t

think the cake was a big hit, but the man married her later, in spite of that! I hung out with Jan and her
 46

set of friends by the time I got to High School, but in my Jr. High School years she probably thought

I was a huge pest.

Mom and Dad tried to find things for each of us to be good at. I think I was a challenge. I re-

member taking a pottery class once, and although I do remember liking it, I didn’t keep doing it. I

also tried to play the Clarinet, until it became dreadfully apparent that I had no musical talent whatso-

ever. Diane liked cooking and baking things a lot, and participated on the Wrestling team Mod Squad

for several years in High school. My sister Jan was good at playing the piano, and eventually the vio-

lin, but I remember covering my ears when she was first learning.

My parents always enlisted the help of all three girls at dinnertime. One would set the table,

all three would clear the table, another would wash the dishes and the third child would dry the

dishes. My Dad loved to say ―Who needs a dishwasher? I have three!‖ He finally purchased a dish-

washer for my Mom after we all grew up.

We always had a big garden with lots of fresh vegeta-

bles. I liked to eat carrots and tomatoes straight from the

garden. All we would do is rinse them with a hose before

munching on them. We all learned to help with the plant-

ing and weeding. One fabulous summer job (not) was

picking tomato worms off the tomato plants and drown-

ing them at five cents a piece! When the corn was ready

to harvest it became a family event. My Mother would

have all three girls sitting out under the Silver Maple

trees in the back yard shucking corn for what seemed like forever. Then she would take the corn and
 47

blanch it, cutting the corn off the cob with an electric knife and freezing it in Ziploc Baggies. All

winter long we ate the corn we had fixed from the garden.

A favorite place to be in the summertime was the Boulder Reservoir. Aunt

Diane
Irene and Uncle Bud lived right up the road from the Boulder Reservoir

and they always had season passes we could borrow. Grandma and

Grampa would picnic with us under the shelter along the shore. Our two

families would arrive early and claim a dock in the middle of the lake.

Then we would spend the day picnicking, swimming, sun bathing and wa-

terskiing.

Aunt Irene and Uncle Bud taught all of us

how to water-ski. I took pride in being able to take

dock starts and to land back on the dock without

getting wet! I remember Diane smacking into the

dock one time, but she was fine.

Me? Pouting?
Never!
 48

My Aunt Irene was always the comedian. She could make us all laugh, and she always had

fun things for all the kids to do. She continued to be the ―party Aunt‖ to all of our kids as they grew

up as well. My Uncle Bud was the strong, silent force behind her; gentle, patient, always kind.

Cousin Grampa
Linda Eifler

ME!

My Father bought a Go-Cart, and all of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins would either go out

to the racetrack, or up to the top of Davidson’s Mesa. At the top of the mesa were some turn-a-rounds

where houses were planned but not yet built. We raced up and down those roads over and over, en-

joying our first attempts at driving a vehicle. First we rode with an adult, and then, as we gained ex-

perience we were allowed to navigate the path alone.

49

My Mom and Dad signed all three girls up for swim lessons every summer at Scott Car-

penter pool at Arapahoe and 30th St. I thank my parents for my love of water! The only trau-

matic memory was of the instructors trying to get me to dive out past a metal pole they would

hold out over the water. I never did get the hang of diving. There was a big slide in the water

and THE best park there with a spaceship and that spaceship still exists today. It’s very cool to

think that my children climbed through the same park playground equipment that I played on

when I was small.

Another summer treat was go-

ing to the movies up at Chau-
tauqua Park. Our dairy was
Watts Hardy Dairy, and if we
took the cardboard insert from
the top of the milk bottle, we
would get into the movies for
free

That rickety old building has been refurbished but still exists today and holds all kinds

of shows. Amazing! Mt Hope would always have it’s annual picnic at the shelter next to

the theatre. After we all ate an abundant spread of potluck food dishes, the kids would

run off to the playground.

50

My parents liked to go to the MotorenaDrive-in on Arapahoe Avenue near the

public Service plant. They would pile three children in pajamas into the back of the car

with pillows and blankets and the whole family would go to see a double feature. There

was a playground down in front for the kids to play on. We would usually only make it

awake through the first movie. I remember seeing a movie called Cat Ballou (1965)

when I was little, and I must have been older when I recall seeing a really odd set of

movies: Soylent Green (1973) and Westworld (1973).

Boulder Theatres Trivia and History:

This is a great link! http://www.internationalfilmseries.com/timeline.php

Chautauqua Auditorium (1300 seats) opens on July 4th, 1898; first place in Boulder to
show moving images via the Kinetoscope.

The Temple Theatre (540 seats) was the first place to project a film (Hooligans of the
West) in Boulder (1906) for twenty-five cents admission. It was located on the third
floor of the Masonic Temple Building on the southwest corner of 14th and Pearl. Built
in the 1890s, it later burned down on April 5th, 1945.

The Isis (607 seats), formerly known as The Rex, became in 1916 the first theatre built
specifically for motion pictures and was located at 2022 14th Street. It later became the
The Fox on January 13th, 1951, and burned down April 18th, 1960. Only the marquee
and sign remained; so the management moved both to the old Rialto Theater on Univer-
sity Hill, which they reopened as the "New" Fox. It now is a venue for live perform-
ances.

The Sink opens in 1924, originally named Somers Sunken Garden. Many decades later
(in the 50s) it would provide Robert Redford with a job as a janitor while he attended
C.U. on a baseball scholarship (which he then lost due to alcohol-related infractions).

In 1935, the Curran Opera House closes. It reopens as The Boulder Theater in Janu-
ary 1936 and would continue through the 70s with Chuck Norris martial-arts films,
 51
Robert Redford titles (e.g., The Great Waldo Pepper), and Sinbad movies featuring the stop-
motion magic of Ray Harryhausen - but would close as a dedicated cinema house in 1979.

A 650 seat Varsity Theatre was opened by Fox Intermountain in 1941, then closed for nine years
beginning about 1961, and then was remodeled and reopened as the Boulder Art Cinema in 1970.
The Boulder Art Cinema was on Pearl Street between 13th and 14th.

On October 1, 1948, the Moterena Drive-In opens on East Arapahoe, east of 63rd Street. The
Moterena Drive-In closes in 1977.

The Flatirons Theater opens on University Hill (1950).

The Holiday Drive-In theatre opens July 9, 1953. The theater serves 650 cars and has the latest
in-car sound receiver sets. It features elevated ramps so that the car windshields are in line with the
screen. The Drive-in was moved to 28th St and Lee Hill Rd in 1969.

Sidney Poitier wins an Academy Award for his performance of Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field
(1963). The film is inspired and based on the Convent of St. Walburga located in Boulder.

In 1967, an 800 seat house called the Village 70 opened in the Arapahoe Village Shopping Center.
In December of 1977, the Village Theater transforms into a 4-plex and opens three more screens.

In 1970, Basemar Twin Cinema opens on Broadway and Baseline in the Basemar Shopping Cen-
ter.

Woody Allen's Sleeper (1973), makes use of NCAR and other Boulder locations.

The Mann Arapahoe Village 4 opens across the street from The Village (1979).

There was a United Artists Regency Theatre, a downtown house which was taken over by an in-
dependent operator in 1968.

The Holiday Drive-In closes in the early 1980s and the property is slowly converted into low-
income housing; the marquee is still standing on Hwy. 36. Mann's Crossroads Common 6 opens
on Pearl Street (1986). The Fox on the hill closes and reopens as a concert venue. In the summer
of 1989, the Art Cinema and United Artists Regency close.

The Shining (inspired by The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park) was mostly shot in Mount Hood, Ore-
gon, but it also had a few pickup shots in Boulder (shot by IFS projectionist John Templeton!).
 52

I loved the TV shows we had when I was a child, probably because we were not allowed to

watch the television very often, and when we did, it was the whole family gathered around together

eating popcorn. My favorite memories are of the Sunday night regulars: ―Hee Haw‖, Bonanza, Mu-

tual of Omaha’s ―Wild Kingdom‖, and my very favorite, ―The Wonderful World of Disney‖ (1954—

1966)

Do you recall these episodes? Davey Crockett, Toby Tyler, The Ugly Dachshund, Charlie,

The Lonesome Cougar, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit,

Those Calloways!, Escape to Witch Mountain, Absent Minded Profes-

sor, Parent Trap, The Shaggy Dog, That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug.

I have SO MANY favorite shows from that time period! Gilligan’s Is-

land, Family Affair, Gentle Ben, My Friend Flipper, I Dream of Jeanie,

Bewitched, Get Smart, Adams Family, Brady Bunch, Flying Nun,

Johnny Quest, Lost in Space, Hogans Heros, The Jetsons, Petticoat Junctions, Andy Griffith, Beverly

Hillbillies. On and on!

53

When the school year ended (1971?), my

parents chaperoned a class trip for my sister

Diane’s science class. Mr. Hudiberg took his en-

tire class to the Sand Dunes, and I got to ride

along. I thought it was very cool hanging out with

the older kids, but I bet I embarrassed Diane!

Our good grades got us into the roller skating rink.

The roller skating rink was in downtown Boulder across from central park between

Arapahoe and Canyon Blvd, at 14th street. I don’t remember exactly how it worked

but I remember that ―A‖s got more free admissions than ―B‖s would get. Roller-skating was harder

for me than ice-skating. I always thought four wheels were heavy and awkward. I DID love the

games they played, though. I liked the ones where you would try to freeze when the whistle blew,

and the four corners game, and the Limbo.

In the spring of 1972 I was confirmed in the

Missouri Lutheran church. That was a big deal since it

involved years of midweek school instruction, two ver-

bal questionings in front of the congregation, and a writ-

ten essay. I got a new dress and high heels to wear for

my confirmation, and we all wore a white gown and had

our photo taken being blessed by Pastor Reiss.

 54

As we approached our teenage years Coleen and I talked about boys more and more. I re-

member that she went to New York one summer, and when she came back she educated me about

what sex was. She had learned all sorts of important information from her New York cousins.

I loved sleepovers at my friend’s houses. Terri’s house was great because she had a built in

swimming pool. Coleen’s was fun because her Mom would always fix us pop, and ice cream sand-

wiches, and frozen Banquet dinners or Totino’s cardboard pizzas. That was a real treat for me, be-

cause my stay at home Mom didn’t buy foods like that. Sleepovers usually involved six to twelve

girls, and as we morphed into teenagers they involved glamour, make up and dress up, ghost stories,

séances and Ouija Boards, and lots and lots of talk about boys. At one sleepover at Kristine’s house I

recall ―practicing kissing‖ (yes it’s true, I kissed a girl once). Once in a while we would ―sneak out‖

to meet the boys in the fort by the ditch. Remember the evil black dog, Coleen? We egged or TP’d

our share of houses, and once we even tried ―streaking‖ (a seventies fad) through the neighborhood.

That was hilarious because we didn’t want anyone to see us, so we dove into bushes and off into

ditches every time a car drove by! Coleen has a memory of us breaking the fish tank in my parent’s

basement during a sleepover, but I don’t recall that. I DO recall jumping the fence once at the lake by

Platt Jr. high school (with Laura Cyphers) to skinny dip one moonlit night.
55

Dana and Coleen and I all had nicknames we would

call each other Don’t ask me how it started, but I can imagine

that it was just silly girl talk on a school bus, riding to or

from school one day. Coleen was ―Andy‖ as in ―and he‖, I

was ―Iffy‖ as in ―if he‖, and I think there were other friends

with similar nicknames like ―Coudy‖ (could he) and

―Woody‖ (would he). Maybe those friends can remind me

who they were so I can correct this! Dana was always

―Burdo‖, simply because.

A couple of sad losses occurred in my Jr High years. In January of 1973 my Friend Don Don-

nelly was killed in a sledding accident. He had a twin sister Colleen, and I was really affected by this

loss. I think it was the first time someone my age had died. Then I had my first experience with a

friend committing suicide when Randy Thomas died. I had some guilt about his death, because he

took his life shortly after I said I didn't want to go out with him.
 56

When I was thirteen I went to Diane’s friend Cindy’s church camp for a week. It was my first

experience away from my family and I really loved it. It was a Christian camp and they talked a lot

about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Although I was raised a Christian I never

knew I could accept Jesus into my heart and have a personal relationship with him. I accepted an alter

call and will always pinpoint that time as the point at which I gave my life to Christ. I remember

Mom being upset by this when I returned home, as she felt I was a cradle Lutheran and was raised as

a believer, and therefore had no need to convert.

57

We made great friends

with counselors by names such

as Rattle-rat, Bobcat, Grizzly and

Squirrel.

I went to the Lutheran Valley Retreat (LVR) summer camp with Dana in 1973 and with

Coleen in 1974, and I really have

great memories of those times.

We learned how to navigate through the woods, made crafts, went swimming and horse-

back riding, played capture the flag, and played wonderful pranks on fellow campers. We got

―boyfriends‖ that we kept in touch with through letters for a while, and we always had trouble

wanting to go back home when the week ended.

When we sat down to eat meals in the dining hall there was a rule: ―No elbows on the ta-

ble!‖ If someone caught you with your elbows on the table EVERYONE would sing

―Karen, Karen strong and able,

get your elbows off the table!

This is not a horse’s stall,

but a peoples dining hall.

Round the building you must go,

you must go, you must go.

 58

Round the building you must go,

you were naughty!‖

Out the door you would run, all the way around this massive log cabin. If you were forgetful

enough to repeat the infraction, out the door you would go again. Only this time, when you came in

everyone would sing: ―Back around the other way,

other way, other way.

Back around the other way,

you were naughty!‖

Each cabin would get awards for being the cleanest or the messiest. We got the messiest

award. Each cabin would have to make up and perform a skit at

the closing ceremony. Ours was really lame!

I remember getting to go camping to Yellowstone with the

Androvich family and having Coleen travel with us on a trip to

Sand Dunes and Mesa Verde. I also remember traveling with

Shelli and her family on vacation, but can’t remember where we went (Utah?). What I DO remember

is that Shelli’s Dad accidentally hit a dog while driving, and he had us stay in the car while he tried to

track down the owner. Coleen and Dana and I also went to the YMCA camp in Estes Park.
59

Back in the seventies my friends and I all kept in touch through postcards and letters sent

through the U.S. Postal Service. I still have the letters my friends and families wrote to me when I

went to camp, love letters written by early boyfriends, and postcards from my friends sent during

their summer travels.

These are all my

―Best‖ friends. How
come they can’t spell
my name???
 60

Coleen and I were capable of getting into a lot of trouble. We experimented with smoking

cigarettes in the fields behind my house. We began by trying to smoke ―Pull Apart‖ weeds, but they

tasted terrible. Somehow we got a hold of cigarettes and managed to set the field behind the rope

swing on fire. I don’t know how we managed to get the

flames put out just in time to see my father’s car round

the corner, but that was a VERY close call!

I have a letter in my scrapbook promising never

to smoke cigarettes again. It was a contract between

Lauren, Coleen, Dana, Teri, Kristine, and Teresa and I,

signed by all of us.

My Father signed a similar contract

with me, and he promised to pay
me $100 if I never smoked another
cigarette before I was twenty years
old. I must have been serious be-
cause I collected that $100 when I
turned twenty. Smoking other sub-
stances didn’t count, did it?

Another time, a group of girls decided it would be a great idea to

experiment with drinking all kinds of alcohol. Each one of us stole liquor from our parents and

brought it to school. We took a sip of this and a sip of that out on our lunch break. A friend who will

remain nameless got falling-down drunk and we got busted. Every one of us was hauled into the prin-

cipal’s office and our parents were called. Oops.

61
Coleen’s Dad was very cool because he worked at IBM. That meant – IBM DAY AT

ELITCHES every summer!! The original Elitches Gardens were located at 38th and Tennyson

streets, in Denver. Coleen and I would run around the park from the minute it opened until it

closed at night, dressed in tight shorts and little tops, teasing and flirting with all the boys. IBM

had the best food spread ever and we would run back for food every now and then. Coleen and I

loved the old wooden trestle roller coaster, and we would scream through the tunnel a million

times, getting bruises on our arms from holding onto the bar so tight and taking the same ride so

many times.

Elitch Gardens was a family owned

seasonal amusement park, theater,
and botanic garden in the West High-
land neighborhood of Denver, Colo-
rado, United States at 38th and Ten-
nyson streets. For more than a cen-
tury Elitch's was one of the most
popular entertainment destinations in
Colorado. It was nationally known
for its lush gardens, the Trocadero
Ballroom, the Theatre at the Gardens
and the premier wooden roller
coaster, Mister Twister.

One summer when I was eleven years old, Diane was thirteen and Jan was fif-

teen, we were on a family camping trip through Montana. Dad decided to stop for the

night and passed by all sorts of cool campsites with, in Jan’s opinion, ―cute guys‖, to

choose a boring campground with nothing to do. Jan was resentful, and she came up

with a great idea of hitchhiking into town. Diane was all freaked out and refused to

go, so Jan stuck out her thumb and she and I were picked up and taken to town. Un-

fortunately the town consisted of one boring gas station, so we bought a soda and

thumbed our way back to the campground. Diane ―told on us‖ to Mom and Dad, but

they didn’t believe we actually did it (until years later). Good thing that was a better

world back then and no harm came to us during my first hitchhiking experience!
 62

When I was about thirteen we got a German shepherd puppy and we

named her Sara. She was a wonderful dog but she did some really strange

things. She loved the Sprinkler, and she actually ran a rut into the grass in

the circular pattern that followed the spray of water. She loved to catch

rocks. You could keep her entertained forever throwing pebbles for her to

catch. I remember a car stopping to ask for directions, and when the door opened she jumped in the

car. She just wanted to go for a ride. The oddest thing she loved to do was to catch bees on the patio.

She would finally get one in her mouth and make the most horrible face as she was most likely get-

ting stung while she chewed that bee up! Then she would come right

back and do it again. Sara only lived for five years. She died while we

slept one night, and my Dad thought she had choked on something. I

really missed my dog, but we were all moving out by then, so they

never got another one.

My very first ―boyfriend‖, in fifth grade, when I was twelve, was Mike Warren. My

first Jr. High school boyfriend was a boy named Doug Meneley, and he was so much

shorter than me that he would stand up a step from me to kiss me. Budding relation-

ships were fairly innocent, but fast and fleeting in those days as we all experimented

with what kind of guy we even liked, or wanted to date.

My early relationships that lasted a little bit

longer were with Jim Chrisman and Dave Vermillion.

They brought me presents and gave me love notes.

 63

In Junior high Shelli and I would go to Mormon dances together at various churches. She and

I both had boyfriends for a time that we would meet at those dances. When we were apart we wrote

letters back and forth. My boyfriend was named Darrin, and I still have some of the love letters he

wrote to me.

I went to my Nevin Platt Jr. High School dance

with a bunch of girlfriends. Shelli Allen, Coleen

Donnelly, Lauren Weinstein, and Dianna Warren

all dressed up and looked beautiful in our long

Gunny Sack – like dresses. My parents snapped a

photo as we arrived at the dance. Lauren moved to

Arizona after ninth grade, and we wrote back and

forth for a long time.

I have a photograph of Lauren Weinstein, Coleen Androvich,

Shelli Allen, Amy Jensen, Michaela Lochran and I practicing

cheerleading. I really wanted to be on the 9th grade Cheerlead-

ing team but wasn’t really surprised when I wasn’t chosen.

What DID shock me is that Coleen didn’t make Cheerleader

either. I thought for sure she would! Terri Washington and

Christine Steinhauer were both 9th grade cheerleaders. We had

to live vicariously through them.

64

Here is the Nevin Platt Fight song:

Go you Trojans, Go you Trojans

Fight for victory.

Fair and square we’re always there

To win this game, you’ll see. Rah Rah Rah

Go you Trojans, Go you Trojans

Loyal we’ll always be.

Stand and shout for Trojan power

Fight Fight Fight Fight Fight!

 65

I tried out for 9th grade girls Basketball team

with Coleen and we both made the team. I was

so excited! The truth was I had a really ―on‖ moment the day of

the tryouts, and I could never repeat it. Coleen actually played

games while my main job was warming the bench.

A fun winter activity was learning to Ski. Coleen and I

took the YMCA Bus up to Eldora for at least eight ski les-

sons. I loved to ski and thank my parents for finally finding

an activity I enjoyed doing. I have continued to ski now

and then through the years. Although I

never progressed past the intermediate

level, I really enjoy being out in the fresh, crisp winter air, bundled in warm

clothing, looking out over the snowcapped mountains and taking on a beautiful

slope covered in fresh white powder. Amazing!

In the summer before I turned fourteen I got

involved as a Candy Striper at Boulder

Community Hospital. Coleen, Dana, Liz,

Kristine, Theresa and I all competed at least

one year of volunteer work. I know both

Dana and I completed all three summers.

 66
I remember making a lot of beds, filling water jugs, running errands for the nurses, and hav-

ing a few wheel chair races when we got bored. I got really into it and earned 300 hours of service

over three years. After that I became a Jr. Auxiliary girl and volunteered some more. There was a lit-

tle old lady named Dora Moorehouse (who had painted on eyebrows) who mentored me. She was a

very special person, and she blessed the hospital with her presence.
67
68

Coleen and I worked two summers in a Summer Playground Program with the City of Boul-

der. We were Playground Assistant Leader Volunteers at Burke Elementary. We helped with the chil-

dren’s program, playing games and helping with crafts and activities. We rode our bikes all the way

into town every day to volunteer. One time I hit a pushed up piece of pavement on South Boulder

Road and went flying over the handlebars of my bike. Traffic stopped and I was probably lucky a car

didn’t hit me, as the road hardly had a shoulder to begin with. I actually continued on my bike and

worked that day, but had to call for a ride home. My poor bloody knees wouldn’t bend with the

freshly formed scabs covering them.

 69

I had really busy summers! Another activity for quite a few years was to participate in the

March of Dimes walkathon. This was no small feat. We collected donations from everyone we knew

and walked twenty full miles in one day. I wonder why they stopped having those races? We had a

little card that had to be stamped when we stopped at check stations along the way.
70

When I was fourteen my Dad had to go to Los Angeles on a business trip and he took my

Mom, Diane and I with him. Jan was working by then so she stayed behind. That was a wonderful

trip! I had camped all of my life, but this time we stayed in the Disneyland hotel in Anaheim and

Diane and I went on our own each day to Disneyland. Mom took a tour of Universal Studios one day.

Diane and I would ride the Monorail back and forth from Disneyland, being adventurous, riding

rides, swimming in the hotel pool. Diane and I actually got along well together for a change, and

bonded a bit as sisters. The best part is that we got out of school to go on this trip!!!

This is the portion of this document that segues back into the ending that

was written for my journalism class. I’m going to stop here in , before I

enter the high school years and beyond, when life became WAY more complex.

Reflecting back, I don’t know why I was such an insecure creature throughout my younger

years. When I read through my yearbooks, journals, and report cards I see evidence of a pretty well

behaved student with good manners and decent grades. The common themes throughout my friends
 71
yearbook signatures were ―sweetest girl I know, cute, good looking, always nice, cool, sexy (yes!),

and good friend‖. I made friendships that have lasted a lifetime, I was good at some things, learned a

ton, accomplished a lot, and have fond memories of fun times. I had a really great life (even if I do

say so myself)!

The strong sense of family within me has become so profound that one of my passions in life

today is preserving the past and documenting the present. I am the historian who journals, researches

ancestry, writes poetry, scrapbooks memories, and photographs every special occasion. I am part of

the family glue that sticks my extended relatives together; keeping people in touch through written

communication, organizing activities, and honoring life events and mo-

mentous occasions. My sisters, and my Mother and I all love to take photos

and make photo albums. These photo albums weave the fabric of our lives

into tangible records of times gone by. My journals hold valuable records

of my children’s lives, detailing the progression of my pregnancies through

the first five years of milestones.

So, what does all of this tell the reader about who I am? I am the product of a secure child-

hood surrounded by generations of love. My upbringing was steeped in German traditions and I was

made to be proud of my name and my heritage. My parents maintained the bright yellow house I was

raised in until they moved to Longmont in the summer of 2008. Whenever I spot the vibrant yellow

house color as I round the corner to visit, I continue to feel the peaceful presence of home envelope

me. Although the neighborhood nowadays hosts large mansions and wealthy landowners, our farm-

style house remains greatly unchanged. The town has grown outward to join together with the coun-

try neighborhood; but the tranquil, peaceful quality of this little world resonates deep inside of my
72
inner being. The old swing has been replaced with new rope, and the neighborhood children

still congregate underneath the huge Cottonwood tree.

As I sit quietly watching the neighborhood activity and reflecting on the past, the breeze

gently swirls the autumn leaves around the wheels of the car and down Paragon drive. I place

the gear shift into drive and slowly travel away from my childhood home without a backwards

glance. As I face the future, I am reminded that all is right in the world and the continuity of life

flows on.
 73
Retro Toys—
Remember playing
with any of these?
I DO!

Chatty
Cathy

Sewing Cards
74 Remember these Places around Boulder, Colorado?

Tulagi’s
 75

Colorado
Building -
Joslins Colacci’s
Restaurant
In
Louisville,
CO

Arapahoe Elementary school

Burger King on 28th St

 76

Original
Mike’s Camera

Neodata—Louisville, CO

1910—just thought it was cool—Kirby

Bros

Der Wiener schnitzel

Colorado Book Store

Boulder Drug
 77 The New Denver– Boulder
Turnpike
Lumber Mart

Watts Hardy Dairy

Pow Wow

Boulder Band Shell

The Boulder Christmas Star

Campus Liquor
 78

Boulder Drug

Art Cinema

Baseline Safeway

Hi Mar Post Office

Boulder Bus Station Downtown

 79

This picture
cracks me up!
Look at all the
long haired
Boulder Hippies
hanging out in
front of the bar-
ber shop!

Meryn’s in Crossroads

One of my favorites! Roman Village Pizza

 80
Mustard’s Last Stand

Wrangler 2 BBQ

JC Penney—Crossroads Mall

Public Service—Arapahoe Rd
 81

Lolitas

Rocky Mountain Records and Tapes Majestic Savings and Loan

Before Pearl Street Mall
82

Baby Pac-Man 1982

Photo’s are from

Lyons Classic Pinball.
Go and visit, it’s a great
place!

PINBALL! 1975—1976 Games

83
History of Pinball— "Bally Hoo" was a countertop mechanical game with optional legs released in 1931. Bally Hoo was
the first coin-operated pinball game and was invented by the founder of the Bally Corporation, Raymond Maloney.The term
"pinball" itself as a name for the arcade game was not seen until 1936.

Tilt- The tilt mechanism was invented in 1934 as a direct answer to the problem of players physically lifting and shak-
ing the games. The tilt debuted in a game called Advance made by Harry Williams.

Powered Machines - The first battery operated machines appeared in 1933, Harry Williams made the first.
By 1934, machines were redesigned to be used with electrical outlets allowing for new types of sounds, music, lights,
lighted backglass, and other features.

Bumpers, Flippers, and Scoreboards — The pinball bumper was invented in 1937. The bumper
debuted in game called Bumper made by Bally Hoo.

Harry Mabs invented the flipper in 1947. The flipper made its debut in a pinball game called Humpty Dumpty, made by D.
Gottlieb & Company. Humpty Dumpty used six flippers, three on each side.

Pinball machines during the early 50s began to use separate lights behind the glass scoreboard to show scores. The 50s also
introduced the first two player games.

The Future of Pinball— In 1966, the first digital scoring pinball machine, "Rally Girl" was released Rally.
In 1975, the first solid-state electronic pinball machine, the "Spirit of 76", was released by Micro.

There was the Crystal Arcade where Grand Rabbits is now.

There was Tommy's Pinball Wizard on Broadway before University.

There was Aladdin's either in Crossroads or on the Hill.

I always hung out with my sister at an Arcade in the basement of a building on the hill.
What the heck was it called??? My sister Jan thinks it was the Silver Unicorn.

Chris, Jay and Gus all worked at the "Sport Center" pool hall. It was owned by the
"mobster" Fast Eddie Marchiando…

Pinball was just getting popular by the mid 70’s. Foosball was another favorite.
 84
Works Cited

―Eifel.‖ Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service. 31 Jan.

2005. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9032121&query=eifel&ct=>.

―John Eifler Died Tuesday Evening.‖ Boulder Daily Camera Newspaper.14 Feb. 1968.

Section A.

Walker, Alice. “The Place Where I was Born‖. The Presence of Others. Fourth Edition. New

York: Bedford, 2004. Page 642.

This wasn’t writ-

ten by me but it
perfectly describes
one of my favorite
childhood dining
experiences!

by Stan Dyer

Believe it or not, there was a time in this country when visiting a restaurant was a rare, special occasion. The only fast
food was either "walk-up" or "drive-up"; there was no "drive-through" and it was not that fast. It was the age of the
Four Food Groups, and many people had the idea that "fat" was not only one of those four groups, but also an essential
nutrient. In those times, one of Denver's favorite, "sit down", family restaurants serving a variety of deep-fried, com-
fort foods served the old-fashioned way, (with plenty of saturated fat), was the Denver Drumstick.

In every Drumstick restaurant, (or at least every one I visited), there was a model train that made its way around the
inside perimeter of the restaurant on a track built near the ceiling. People, (especially kids), could watch the train as it
traveled on the track through a painted mural of Colorado scenery around the dining room, through a tunnel, into the
kitchen and back out again. It was a good way to keep fidgety kids entertained and occupied while waiting for dinner,
and was a sort of theme for the restaurant.

Expanding on the train theme, the Drumstick featured take out that came in boxcars. Well, not real boxcars, but big
boxes that looked like small boxcars complete with a brakeman waving a lantern that held boxcar loads of chicken,
fish or hamburgers. These boxcar take-outs were the complete meals of the era featuring not only enough of the main
entre for the entire family but also potatoes, gravy and their signature Texas Toast. I do not remember if the food was
good, but I do remember getting excited about the cool boxes and the big, Texas Toast we all covered with the Drum-
stick thick, chicken gravy before eating.