“…So, Bob McMinn was included in all our outings, activities, and meals. I remember two Easter Sunrise services – one at Garden of the Gods, but he would be gone in the summer to work in the oil patch. One summer Mertie went and stayed with him in a tent! That was the summer when we went to meet him at the train and he had a full beard!
Mother and Dad purchased a lot on Sunrise in Lakewood, just off of 6th Avenue and started building a house. Bob would help; they excavated the basement with horses. Bob delighted in getting to drive them.
In 1940-41, I had a part-time job at Sears after graduation and then wartime! I remember Dec. 7 vividly. We had moved into the new house. It was a beautiful warm Sunday, and we had the windows open preparing dinner. The men were working outside when we heard on the radio the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. It would change all our lives. Later I went to work at Remington Arms in Quality Control, inspecting bullets. It was a big, new beautiful plant with four buildings, now the Denver Federal Center.
That Christmas was memorable because Mother was so unhappy. She was pregnant and too embarrassed to tell me. I had saved up for her gift – a set of silver plates, and that just made Mom unhappier. Finally, she was able to tell me.
That New Years, I went with a married couple – I had been an attendant at their wedding – to a party in Golden. Bob was home in Red Lodge, Montana. It was so cold, the block froze in the car, so we walked to Louise Mather’s home. We didn’t have a phone in Lakewood, so I called a neighbor to inform Dad and Mom about the situation. I always was aware and concerned about Mother’s health – her heart—and she was such a worrier. Finally, about 3am, I decided to get on a trolley and go home. I did, but then had 1.5 miles to walk in the snow in that freezing weather. Several cars going to work at a plant, stopped—but I wouldn’t ride with strangers! Mother and Dad peacefully sleeping, unconcerned, but I had to crawl in bed with them to get warm….”