Remember when we would go sledding?

Significant snowfalls in Twin Falls were a special thing. They didn't happen often and Dad LOVED them. We have many photos of piled up snow. He loved to document how beautiful the world appeared after a heavy snowfall. One way the family celebrated snow was to go sledding. There really aren't any hills in Twin Falls so we grew up believing that a good sleigh ride involved an isolated country road, some rope and our trusty little family car.

I think we only had one sled or at least only pulled one sled at a time behind the car. I don't remember the preparation part where the rope had to be tied to the bumper or body of the car. I do remember that we usually did our sleigh rides on the rode that is near the canyon and now leads you to the mall. It is right by the new temple.

I remember being in the car while someone else had their turn on the sled. Oh, it was maddening how slowly Dad would drive. We barely moved and it seemed it would be such a very long time until my turn.

When my turn did come it was scary being on the sled. I always felt dangerously close to the road. And fast! Dad would go so fast that I was sure I would fly off the sled. I think I probably repeatedly screamed "slow down" while I was flying along behind the car. It was a thrilling ride but pretty much maxed out my need for a thrill. I would be so cold from the ride that it felt wonderful to get back into the steamy warm car and wait again while we crawled along for someone else to have their thrilling ride.

Oh, what memories!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

The big day was a Monday. It was December 16, 1946. Charles Richard joined the Armga family. Dad [Larry H.] was in the hallway while mother [Betty Ruth] gave birth. At home, (probably with Grandma and Papa, or perhaps Aunt Lu came to sit with the children) were LuAnn, age 4 and Lawrence, age 3. I don't know of any special connection to the name that he was given except I imagine this was the first "musical" name that mother prided herself on giving to her children (LuAnn's name was decided by Grandma [Emma] and Larry Jr. was simply named after Dad).

From the beginning this third child was unique. First of all, he was beautiful. He had a round cherubic face and startling blue eyes (think Paul Newman blue). LuAnn also remembers that his lashes were beautifully long and dark and framed his eyes in a way that made them especially striking. His hair grew in blond and with a soft curl. His complexion was perfect and he tanned beautifully when exposed to the sun.

Most unique about this child was his boundless energy and curiosity. And it was tinged with an impish mischievousness. He was always moving, always touching, always exploring and absolutely exhausting! One of mother's solutions to the challenge of having 3 children under the age of 4 -- with one who could perhaps have been labeled ADHD in today's diagnosis happy world -- was to tether toddler Charles Richard to a tree in the yard. When I first heard this I was absolutely shocked and scandilized! I could not believe that mother would have treated her child like a dog. And, apparently the harness and leash were also used whenever they had to go somewhere (this was pre-car years. Imagine that those of you with young children -- you had to WALK to go shopping, go to church, go to the doctor, etc.) Of course years later I met children who were so insensitive to risk that I totally understood how a parent would have to restrain the child just for the child's safety.

This child number 3 was called "Dick" through his growing up years. When he joined the Navy at a tender young age and married, he choose to become "Charles" or "Charlie". While it was so very very difficult to make that mental change in what to call my brother I never do now think of him as "Dick".

In my memories, Charlie is famous for practicing all his 'torture' techniques on me, being the one who Dad trusted to climb up into the attic to bring down the Christmas ornaments (I think he was the only one who ever went up into the attic), being gutsy and always taking risks, and being bright and curious and able to tinker to figure out how things work. In the summers he was brown as a nut with his hair bleached white. As an adult in was in his white Navy dress uniform and Dad was always so proud of him.

In the spirit of our recent survey questions of Mom and Dad I guess the following about Charlie:

favorite color: blue
favorite food: anything Satski makes
favorite place to live: Hawaii
favorite place to vacation: Japan
favorite movie: anything John Wayne
favorite sport: crawling around under houses
favorite vocation: moving irrigation pipe on farms as an adolescent
favorite memory: spending time on Jean and Walker's farm
biggest accomplishment: becoming a non-commissioned officer in the Navy

Okay Charlie, how did I do?
Have a Happy 63rd Birthday! We love you and are grateful to have you in our family!

Thanksgiving 2009

As I've been reminiscing about Thanksgiving the past few days I decided it would be fun to call and interview my siblings to get the details of how they were celebrating their holiday this year. Is this insight into Armga family traditions?

LuAnn
Where you had dinner: at our table
weather in Kaysville: cold but sun is out, no snow
Who cooked the turkey: Amy and Stephanie
Stuffing: made from scratch
Other menu items: onions with green beans (Stephanie wanted lots of onions),celery casserole, yams, cinnamon jello salad and pumpkin and one other kind of pie for dessert
Casual dress
Attending: Ivan, LuAnn, Stephanie, Blythe, Amy
What else are you doing today? Girls have already been shopping at Old Navy and Shopko. My girls are going to take me shopping later [they want to go to Park City which opens at midnight but I think it's too cold]

Charlie
Where you had dinner: my house
Weather in Lacy: rainy, 45 degrees
Who cooked the turkey: Charlie, using the recipe he's used for 35 years
Stuffing: made from scratch
Other menu items: turkey, stuffing, Mom's candied sweet potatoes (my wife doesn't like yams), green bean casserole, green salad, homemade croissants, gravy, macaroni corn salad, pumpkin pie
Casual dress
Attending: Charlie, Satski, Kouchi, Lexi (Kouchi's girlfriend) and maybe Charlie's co-worker Pat
What else are you doing today: just cooking, eating and doing the dishes

Cherie, Carol and Pat
Where you had dinner: at the Armgas in Austin
Weather in Austin: blue skies, 63 degrees -- beautiful!
Who cooked turkey: Carol (I brined it first. This is the second year I've done it. The turkey is so moist and flavorful as a result. I highly recommend the process.)
Stuffing: stovetop
Other menu items: Turkey, stuffing, gravy (Cherie made), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows (Lindsey made), green beans with tomatoes, onions and bacon (Pat made), corn, cranberry jelly, Rhoades Rolls, water to drink, homemade Pumpkin Pie with vanilla ice cream, store bought Pecan Pie, left-over 'Sting of the Bee' cake.
Casual dress
In attendance: Cherie, Carol, Pat, Lindsey, Micah, Brode, Graham
What else doing today: riding herd on two curious, energetic and funny little boys, with the girls going to New Moon tonight while Micah does daddy duty and watches football

Mike
Where you had dinner: at our house
Weather: sunny and nice, 58 degrees
Who cooked the turkey: it is smoked and Mike just had to heat it up
Stuffing: stovetop
Other menu items: mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with mushroom soup, canned yams, Rhoades rolls, pumpkin and lemon meringue pie
Casual dress
In attendance: Mike and Julie with company coming later to share dessert
What else you're doing today: nothing, just eating

Bruce
Where you had dinner: at the in-laws
Weather: rainy, rainy, rainy
Who cooked the turkey: one cooked by father in law, one cooked by Bruce -- deep fried [he cooked his first one 5 days ago and the second one today which was better than the first]
Stuffing: stovetop with additions
Other menu items: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, beans, peas, corn, homemade rolls (m-i-l), green salads, cranberry salad, pumpkin and apple pies, blueberry cobbler
Casual attire
In attendance: all the in-laws with grandson-in-law with his parents and brother and future grandson-in-law
What else you are doing today: just prep for dinner, starting at 9, eating at 4 and doing the dishes

Memories of Dad

A continuation of the answers provided to the survey distributed by Katie Larson this past summer. These answers are all about Dad/Poppie.

Favorite flower:

LuAnn -- roses

Charles – red poppy – the paper kind associated with Veteran’s Day and World War II

Cherie -- marigold

Carol – roses, he started a rose garden to the east of the drive-way of the house in Jerome

Pat -- roses

Mike – I have no idea, are men supposed to have a favorite flower?

Bruce – the little yellow ones in front of the Addison house

Favorite hymn:

LuAnn – Amazing Grace

Charles—Battle Hymn of the Republic, enjoyed all military marches

Cherie – The Old Rugged Cross

Carol – The Old Wooden Cross

Pat – How Great Thou Art

Mike – I have no idea

Bruce – O, My Father, sung by Jack VanBuren

Favorite meal:

LuAnn – Chicken rice soup w/ bread to sop up the grease

Charles – hamburger patties, mashed potatoes and tomato gravy

Cherie – tomato gravy

Carol – He loved to eat biscuits and gravy (sausage gravy) for breakfast

Pat – breakfast – biskets and gravy at the little diner across the railroad tracks

Mike – corn beef and cabbage

Bruce – meat and potatoes w/ tomato gravy, milk toast, fresh tomatoes, harvest fresh corn on the cob, his chili, stew and for picnics and camping – beans in the can warmed over the fire and hot dogs fire roasted

Favorite candy:

LuAnn – Hershey’s candy bar

Charles – chocolate covered orange sticks and chocolate stars

Cherie -- caramels

Carol – chocolate covered peanuts (which I remember him buying from the candy counter at Sears, Woolworths or Newberry's 5 and Dime)

Pat – candy bars –Hersey’s

Mike – oreos, I can’t really remember him eating candy, I remember him hiding candy but I can’t remember what it was

Favorite season:

LuAnn -- fall

Charles -- summer

Cherie -- summer

Carol – I would guess winter

Pat -- summer

Mike – late summer, fall

Bruce -- fall

Favorite holiday:

LuAnn -- Thanksgiving

Charles – Veteran’s Day

Cherie – 4^th of July

Carol – Veteran’s Day although it isn’t really celebrated in a big way. But Dad was such a patriot and tenderhearted about those who served in the military and especially those who gave their lives for our freedoms. He loved the American flag and generally would tear-up when he saw it displayed.

Pat – Veteran’s Day

Mike – anything that didn’t involve spending money; Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day (but he didn’t like going to the graves)

Bruce -- Christmas

Favorite hobby:

LuAnn – collecting pins for his hats

Charles – beating his kids, fishing

Cherie – watching boats on the sound

Carol – watching TV, camping

Pat – remembering people

Mike -- work

Bruce -- family

Favorite fruit:

LuAnn -- pears

Charles -- grapefruit

Cherie -- watermelon

Carol – he loved raisin pie (yuck!), also loved cantaloupe

Pat – got me here

Mike -- peaches

Bruce – apples and fresh tomatoes

Favorite vegetable:

LuAnn -- carrots

Charles -- potatoes

Cherie -- squash

Carol – fresh corn-on-the-cob

Pat – he loved Aunt Jean’s young sweet corn

Mike -- potatoes

Bruce – corn on the cob

Favorite TV program:

LuAnn – Lawrence Welk

Charles – Lawrence Welk

Cherie – Lawrence Welk

Carol – Lawrence Welk

Pat – when we were young it was Lawrence Welk, later years, Johnny Carson

Mike – Lawrence Welk

Bruce—Lawrence Welk

Of what was he most proud:

LuAnn – serving in the army

Charles – toss up between you and me. You (Carol) because you got a college education and me (Charles) because I became a commissioned officer

Cherie – his honesty and integrity

Carol – That he was an honorable man and a gentleman. Being honorable included paying his bills on time, treating women with respect (especially his wife), and being a man of his word.

Pat – service to his country, memorizing the Gettysburg address, his family

Mike – his name

Bruce – family and marriage

What made him laugh the hardest:

LuAnn – good joke

Charles – Lou M.Boyd, newspaper columnist

Cherie – Red Skelton

Carol – dirty jokes

Pat – dirty jokes, Carol’s notes

Mike – his grandkids

Bruce – dancer in Wisconsin

Pleasant memory:

LuAnn – trips to Wisconsin

Charles – A camping trip when we went to Redfish with Papa’s (Grandpa Luke's) boat. We were up there for a week. Dad was uncharacteristically laid back. It was a really great time together and one of my favorite memories of being with Dad. We reminisced about it many times. While there, Dad almost drown. He was trying to get the boat out of the water at the boat ramp and had his hip waders on. He slipped and the hip waders filled up with water he almost didn’t get out.

Carol – being respected and included as the stage manager in the drama class/club at Twin Falls High School. His classmates and faculty advisor really adored him. Most memories of his time in the military were not positive. He hated the overall experience which he described as ‘hurry up and wait’.

Pat – marrying his sweetheart

Mike – can’t say

Bruce – family – his greatest accomplishment and pride

Vocation he favored:

LuAnn – accounting, public relations for Trout Farm

Charles – he loved bookkeeping and liked selling trout

Cherie -- sales

Carol – He liked all his jobs. He thrived on working and being a good worker. From his job to selling newspapers on the street corner at age 12, to feeding logs into the machines that planed them for the building of Sun Valley Lodge, to topping a million dollars in sales for the Blue Lakes Trout farm, Dad loved it all. Working and providing were an integral part of his life and self-worth.

Pat -- accounting

Mike – he liked accounting

Bruce – bookkeeping/sales

Nicknames:

LuAnn -- Poppie

Charles – “Larry”, Poppie

Cherie – Larry, Poppy

Carol – I don’t think he had any nicknames. Although, in reality, the name Larry, was not his given name. His birth certificate documented his name as Harvey Elmer. Harvey was the name of his maternal grandfather. His father’s (William Carl) brother and wife and recently had a baby boy they named Lawrence. Apparently “Larry” was a name with some cache in the early 1920s. Dad’s mother (Lillian Rose), was quite the contrarian and never one to be outdone, and she started calling her baby “Larry” soon after he was born, even though his birth certificate said otherwise. The name was formalized when Dad was drafted. Once the military documented his name as Larry H. Armga that became his legal name.

Pat – Poppie, he loved being a grandpa

Mike -- Dad

Bruce – Silver Fox

Secret talent:

LuAnn – he loved to dance

Charles – always knowing the right answer

Cherie -- gardening

Carol – he had many. He was a superb shopper – he could find the best deal, always checked details, did comparison shopping, and always knew where the cheapest gas in town could be found. (One incident I remember from a visit to Olympia. I went shopping with Dad to Safeway’s. He was going to buy a 5-pound bag of potatoes. He weighed probably 20 bags of potatoes, only to find that all of them came in at under 5 pounds. He called over a produce manager who was embarrassed but basically could do nothing about it. Dad was VERY good natured about it and mostly enjoyed being the consummate shopper and making Safeway’s admit that they were shorting the customers.) Dad perfected the process of doing laundry. When I was in my late 30s he would correct me on how to fill MY washer with clothes. He thought about most processes he engaged in and found the better way to complete projects. He was friendly and made a point of introducing himself to others and being warm and receptive to conversation. This was something he worked at. He had taken a Dale Carnegie course in his 40s and absolutely did apply the principles he learned in the course. It really changed his life and reshaped his sociability. He had a talent for making great soup. He was very talented in keeping his mouth shut when he would like to say something. Many times when I cooked and my attempts were feeble at best, he never said a word, just got up from the table, pulled the peanut butter from the pantry and made himself a PB sandwich. I think to be honest I’d have to say his most secret talent and love was women’s clothes. He loved having his wife look beautifully groomed and delighted in seeing the women in his life dressed up and looking good. He hated his daughters wearing Levis to excess (me).

Pat – dancing, remembering people’s names

Mike – I never saw Dad dance but he loved Lawrence Welk and there was a lot of dancing

Bruce – relationships, making things happen that would not have normally been accomplished

Also from Bruce:

His most heartfelt memory was during the war. He would sit on the beach (in the Philippines), look east, and long for his family.

Best advice given to you by Poppy and/or Grandma?

1. Turn the other cheek

2. Food is better with a little burn (dark and caramelized)

3. Honor all women!

4. Love and cherish your wife (led by example)

5. Be able to look in the mirror every morning and like what you see

6. Family is the most important thing

Memories of Mother

This past summer Katie Ann Armga Larson asked the siblings to complete surveys on our parents. There were no right or wrong answers, just memories. It is interesting to note the consistencies.

I'm starting with Mother but will post answers for Dad next week.

Favorite flower:
LuAnn -- red rose, peony, iris
Charlie -- lilac
Cherie -- rose
Carol -- I once asked mother what her favorite flower was and she admitted she had none.
Pat -- peonies, irises or lilacs, not sure which though
Mike -- roses
Bruce -- bearded iris, rose

Favorite Scripture:
LuAnn -- Psalm 31
Carol -- I can't think of a particular scripture. I think she loved the Book of Mormon.

Favorite hymn:
LuAnn -- Because I Have Been Given Much
Charlie -- We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet
Cherie -- Because I Have Been Given Much
Carol -- I'd just have to say that she loved church music. She loved to sing "O Divine Redeemer".

Favorite meal:
LuAnn -- George Kays Chinese
Charlie -- anything she could get someone else to cook
Cherie -- anything she didn't have to cook, Chinese
Carol -- eat at George Kays
Pat -- dining out
Mike -- stuffed green peppers
Bruce -- depended on the restaurant

Favorite candy:
LuAnn -- chocolate
Charlie -- chocolate
Cherie -- divinity
Carol -- Idaho Spuds candy bar
Pat -- Idaho Spud
Mike --no idea
Bruce -- chocolate

Favorite season:
LuAnn -- summer
Charlie -- summer
Cherie -- spring
Carol -- I don't know that she had a favorite. I think she liked aspects of all seasons.
Pat -- Holidays
Mike -- fall
Bruce -- spring

Favorite holiday:
LuAnn -- Christmas
Charlie -- Christmas
Cherie -- Christams
Carol -- Christmas (loved the decorations and giving presents)
Pat -- all
Mike -- Christmas
Bruce -- Christmas -- the gifting

Favorite hobby:
LuAnn -- shopping
Charlie -- gossiping
Cherie -- shopping for bargains
Carol -- shopping, singing barbershop, loving her grandchildren
Pat -- singing
Mike -- singing
Bruce -- spoiling grandkids, shopping

Favorite fruit:
LuAnn -- apple, watermelon
Charlie -- apple
Cherie -- strawberries
Carol -- no favorite
Pat -- strawberries
Mike -- apples
Bruce -- apples and strawberries

Favorite vegetable:
LuAnn -- onion, corn, beets
Charlie -- onions
Cherie -- onion
Carol -- disliked string beans -- her mother's favorite and she said she had to eat too often as a child
Pat -- radishes and onions
Mike -- onions and tomatoes
Bruce -- onion (onion sandwiches)

Favorite television program:
LuAnn -- MASH
Charlie -- I Love Lucy
Carol -- MASH
Mike -- MASH, Bewitched
Bruce -- Mission Impossible

Of what accomplishment was she most proud?
LuAnn -- 8 kids
Charlie -- her 8 kids
Carol -- Church choirs that she directed
Pat -- her singing/conducting choirs and participation in Sweet Adelines
Mike -- singing ability, her family and how we turned out, heritage
Bruce -- family, church involvement and singing

What made her laugh the hardest?
LuAnn -- MASH series
Charlie -- Cuzzi
Cherie -- her grandkids
Carol -- anything funny. Mother had a distinctive laugh that was easily recognized. She loved to laugh.
Pat -- her grandchildren
Mike -- her kids
Bruce -- Grandkids

What was her most pleasant memory?
LuAnn -- of her mother and father
Charlie -- getting married in the temple
Carol -- letter from Marge Pond complimenting her for the excellent performance of a choir she directed for Stake Conference
Pat -- not sure what this would be, but I would guess spending time with her siblings and/or children

What vocation did she favor the most?
LuAnn -- housewife and mother
Charlie -- sleeping
Cherie -- music teacher
Carol -- being a manager at the Orthopedics office
Pat -- singing
Mike -- being in her home
Bruce -- singing, entertaining

Did she have any nicknames?
LuAnn -- Betts
Cherie -- Betts
Carol -- Betts
Pat -- Betts
Mike -- not that I remember

What was her secret talent?
LuAnn -- singing Italian Opera
Charlie -- getting someone else to cook for her
Cherie -- spending money
Carol -- shopping for clothes and finding bargains, soothing crying babies, loving her grandchildren. She was a competitive grandma! She wanted to be each grandchild's favorite grandma!
Pat -- she was the original 30 minute cook
Mike -- beats me
Bruce -- creating havoc

Mehetabelle

Does my memory serve me correctly that mother use to always call our car Mehetabelle? I remember her coaching the car to keep going, hang in there and not let us down in a tough spot. It didn't matter which car we currently had, this was just the name.

Well, checking Google (what DiD we DO before Google?) I discovered that this name is Hebrew in origin. While it cites both male and female usage of the name (male: favoured of God, God is doing well), it appears in 1st Chronicles as the the name of the wife of King Hadar of Edom. It also states that this was a common Puritan name.

What is the name of your car? I named one of Pat's vehicles Jerry. I think it was her Ford pick-up. She wasn't impressed. Hah!

Lillian Rose Loomis Armga, #2

The penciled date on the back of this photo is 1930s.

Grandma Armga was scary to me but she was also unknown. Even though I grew up in the same small town where she lived I did not know her and learned to fear any encounter that I might have with her.
When I was a young child she had a 'falling out' with mom and dad. I'm not totally sure what caused the break down in relationships. I do know that she disliked mother immensely. I remember mother saying that Lillian had told our dad that he had to choose between his wife or his mother. This would have been when he also had at least 5 children. He obviously chose his wife and children.
This 'falling out' was not unique to our parents. Lillian was the mother to 3 children. She disowned two of them, dad and Aunt Jean (dad's only sister). She was the grandmother to 13 grandchildren. She disowned all but two grandchildren, Sandra Carr (Aunt Jean's oldest child) and Vicki Armga (Uncle Bill -- dad's only brother).
Lillian also disowned her siblings and had difficult relationships with her husband's family. Her niece in Wisconsin, Agnes (known to us as Blondie, daughter of Agnes, Lillian's sister and John, William Carl's brother, so she was dad's double cousin), could only share with me that no one really knew why Lillian was so angry with her family but she basically was impossible to please and didn't hesitate to let everyone know how disgusted she was with her family. This problem had existed from the time Bill (name our grandfather William Carl was called by family and friends) and Lillian were newlyweds living with relatives in the 1920s.
The details of the end of Lillian's relationship with Aunt Jean will need to be another post. But it illustrates the anger that characterized Lillian's familial relationships and her determination to stop at nothing to get what she wanted.
I mentioned in a previous post that I was able to gather information about Lillian's life because she had agreed to let me interview her. I had wanted so much to know her and to have a relationship with her. But I was also very frightened because her history with family members. In the end, our cousin Sandra arranged the visit. 'Grammy', as Sandra called her, agreed to see us together at her home -- a small apartment in a government subsidized housing area in Twin Falls. Sandra went as the mediator and peacemaker, and in the end I was so grateful that she was there.
What I remember is that the apartment was dark and full of furniture -- but it was small. We did the interview in the kitchen and I used a tape recorder. I had a written list of questions and used them to keep me on course. My stay lasted only about an hour. While I did get through a good number of questions I could have asked many more.
Lillian seemed quite pleased with the opportunity to tell me about her accomplishments. Two things I remember being noteworthy; first, how impassioned she was about not knowing the Roman Numeral system because she had missed that part of her schooling and second, how she would emphasize that people were 'very good to her/them' when talking about someone she liked. The Roman Numeral thing seemed to offer a glimpse of an experience (or perhaps several) in her life where she had been embarrassed because she didn't know how to read Roman Numerals. So ironic I think, because how hard is it to learn the system? It isn't! And even with remembering the X, V and I, I always have to kind-0f intuit from their placement in the number at the values of the M, C and D.
After about an hour Lillian started to become agitated and became very confrontational about my 'horrible' mother. I don't think this was in relation to any questions I was asking, but rather the ongoing awareness of who I was and that I was in her home. When she started getting angry Sandra quickly let me know it was time to go and we headed out to the car. As I left Lillian made some passing reference to not knowing all her grandchildren. It was overwhelming to me to think how tragic that this woman had denied herself of being a part of the lives of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I remember that when Grandpa Armga died, someone in the family -- one of his sibs from Wisconsin I believe -- had expressed disappointment that he died before Lillian. The family had always hoped that warm relationships with Bill could have been re-established if Lillian had proceeded Bill in death.
Dad in particular was very nervous about encountering Grandma Armga in a public place. If he saw her shopping downtown, he would cross the street to avoid letting her see him.
Michael tells of the harrowing experience of being called up to the front to carry out bags of groceries when he worked at the Safeway in Lynwood and upon arriving at the check-stand discovering that the bags belonged to Grandma Armga. I think she recognized him before he recognized her and she 'threw a fit' and refused to let him help her. Everyone involved in that incident was confused and taken aback about what was happening that this young man who said and did nothing could cause this old woman to shout and carry on.
I interacted with many people in Twin Falls who knew Lillian and considered her to be a wonderful woman and outstanding friend. When they would comment to me about her being my grandmother I usually remained silent about the fact that I didn't know her, but sometimes I had to admit that not only did I not know her but she refused to have anything to do with our family. People were always amazed. Some of her friends were Mormons and felt that Lillian and Bill had adopted them as a family. They spent many evenings together playing games and loved their time together. That has always stumped me. She couldn't have hated us just based on our religion. The only conclusion I could draw when contemplating this dilemma was that with family Lillian had firm and high expectations that were rarely or never met. With friends she had no such expectations so they didn't frustrate or anger her so easily or so much.
When I was working in Nampa I needed help on one occasion to get back to my apartment after a visit to Twin Falls. Uncle Bill and Aunt Velma lived in Boise and Dad had arranged for Uncle Bill to drive my car and for me to ride with Aunt Velma in their car. It was a sweet experience to spend time with Aunt Velma. She is a lovely person. She very carefully shared with me that it was a very very difficult experience being the only family that Lillian accepted. The responsibility and obligation that Bill and Velma felt toward Lillian, and her expectations and temperament, had a serious impact on the quality of their life. So, that candor helped me realize that the situation could have been worse than just not knowing my Armga grandparents.

Lillian Rose Loomis Armga, #1

Lillian is seen above as a young mother with son Larry and daughter Jean.

Lillan Rose Loomis is our paternal grandmother. She was born December 8, 1902 at Waupun Township, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Charles Harvey Loomis and Margaret Kelly and was the youngest child and second daughter of a family of five children. Her brothers and sisters were Thomas Franklin, James Ray, Agnes Josephine and Charles Henry. When Lillian was just nine years of age, her mother died. Lillian described her as tall and slender. Her father, she said, "was wonderful and a quiet man." According to Lillian family history was never talked about.

Lillian was born and raised on the family farm of 100 acres established by her paternal grandparents. Horses were used on the farm to drive the machinery and the crops raised were grain, corn, potatoes and hay. In addition, the family had an apple orchard of 25 to 30 trees and utilized a cider press kept in the cellar of the house. Part of Lilllian's chores as a child were to carry in kindling and water. There was a 100 foot well on the farm and the water drawn from it was always ice cold. Through the summer it was Lillian's job to carry cold water to the men in the fields and water to her mother so that lemonade and ginger ale could be made to quench the men's thirst.

Lillian worked the farm for one year during World War I. She was age fifteen. She recounts the circumstances as follows:

"There was a man that had always wanted to buy the farm from Dad and he wouldn't sell it to him. And I know that this man was on the draft board and we always figured that he thought that if my brother was drafted that Dad would have to sell the place. Instead, even though I was only fifteen at the time, I took over and milked ten cows and did all the chores, cut all the hay and raked all the hay. I worked outside just like a man all summer."

Lillian graduated from the eighth grade and went on to complete two years of high school. Her education was interrupted with the advent of World War I that required her help on the farm. She walked three and a half miles to attend high school in temperatures that often reached forty degrees below zero. She shared the following story from her grade school years, that showed her determination to attend school.

"They had a contest. Everybody that had perfect attendance that year got a certificate for it. Well, I was terribly sick. I used to have sick spells, more or less maybe the same thing as I do now, just be sick for a day or two. And I was going to go to school. In fact they practically had to tie me in bed. I was going to go to school. I was going to get that certificate. Well, the teacher was nice enough to see to it that I got it. I guess she knew that I couldn't have stayed out of school, if it would have killed me I went to school."

Lillian attended school in a one-room schoolhouse that included all eight grades. Edna Cramer was her teacher. Lillian like to read and learned things fairly easily. About grades 5 or 6, she was so far ahead of the rest of the kids that the teacher let her skip a half-a-grade. Part of what she skipped was learning the Roman numerals. Lillian was very good in algebra when she started high school.

Her study of domestic science brought two especially remembered highlights to Lillian's life. Even though she did not want to take the domestic science class because she felt she already knew how to cook and sew, on the day they baked bread, "my little loaf of bread was the very best in the class." When they made cakes the class ran out of milk before Lillian got some to make her cake. The teacher asked her to just watch the others make theirs but Lillian insisted she didn't mind and would use water in hers. "My cake was the best there was and I had just used water!"

Lillian was just two years old when Bill Armga saw her crying on the front porch of her house. She was wearing a red dress. He lived on a nearby farm and had come to pick mulberries. She later learned that he had said at that time, "Someday that's going to be my wife." (Bill would have been 7-years-old at the time).

The Armga farm was located 1 1/4 miles directly north of the Loomis farm. Both families were good friends and traditionally spent Thanksgiving at the Armga's and Christmas at the Loomis' Lillian grew up playing with the Armga girls and they would spend days at a time at each other's house. She helped with the ironing at the Armga house from the time she was 'knee-high-to-a-grasshopper'. The old heavy flat irons that were heated on the wood stove were used.

Lillian and William (Bill) Armga were married in 1920 by a Justice of the Peace named Fairbanks. Lillian wore a beautiful blue georgette dress complemented by a large hat with a pleated ribbon.

Lillian described her brother Frank as an excellent mechanic who was 'one of the best.' In the late summer he would go down 'as far south and Texas and start with the threshing crews' as the work took them through the nation's breadbasket up into the Dakotas and even Canada. He went to mechanics school in Regina, Canada through the winter. Frank and his wife Alice had two boys, Lee and Ray and were 'very good to us'.

James married his childhood sweetheart Marion Carrier. She died. Charles worked the farm and never married. Frank later committed suicide. All the family is buried at Cattaroga cemetery in Waupun.

After Lillian and Bill married they lived on the Armga farm for one year. Son Larry was born on the farm. They next lived in Fond du Lac where Bill worked delivering coal while learning to be a mechanic. Jean was born in Fond du Lac. The family then moved to Washington, Pennsylvania where Billie Lee was born. He was about one year old when the family returned to Kenosha, Wisconsin where Bill worked construction and helped build a bank and a hospital. During this time Lillian and children stayed with her brother Frank and his wife, Alice until they could get a home to live in. Lillian also worked and got a job running the elevator in the bank building for which she was paid $.25 an hour. Later she was in charge of a restaurant at night where she distinguished herself by having the income of the establishment show a significant increase under her watch. In Twin Falls, Idaho Lillian worked for Mary DeBaird at the lunch counter of Woolworth's and also for both Parisian and Troy laundries.

In 1930 the family left Wisconsin in a Ford sedan headed for Twin Falls, Idaho. They drove night and day with the children sleeping in the back of the car. They stopped several days in Montana where they stayed with the Adams family who were 'very very good to us'. In Idaho, Bill worked for a Mr. Mullencamp and helped build the Twin Falls Feed and Ice Building. It was his acquaintance with Mr. Mullencamp that lured the family to Idaho. Mr Mullencamp wrote and promised Bill a job if they went to Idaho so "we brought everything we possibly could, practically all our worldly goods" and set out for the new state.

Lillian recounts, "One of the biggest thrills of my life was seeing Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park [during the trip out to Idaho]. I had started school at 4 1/2 and remember seeing a picture of Old Faithful in my geography book. I said, 'Someday I'm going to see that.'" She also told the following story of the family's stay in the National Park. "We had all our food and utensils on a box on the running board of the car. To sleep, the kids slept in the back of the car with us parents out on the ground. It started to rain so we had to get up and try to sleep the best we could in the front seat. Just at daybreak something woke us up and there was a great big 'ol black bear just about ready to get into our food box. We piled out of the car on my side and shewed the bear away. The food box was on the ground but opened perfectly -- just the luggage carrier was hurt. When the bear left us he went and climbed into the back of a great big truck where some boy scouts were sleeping. Boy, if you don't think that was a sight to behold to see all those scouts scattering!"

This information was gathered from an interview I had with Lillian in 1981 at her home in Twin Falls, Idaho. She died November 22, 1994 in a Boise, Idaho nursing home at age 92.

Remembering 9/11

Dad would have been so pained with the death, carnage and suffering in the September 11th attacks. And he would have been powerfully touched with the huge American flag that was hung at the Pentagon near the gaping hole that remained after an airplane flew into that building.
One of my most treasured reminisces of Dad is his love and profound reverence for the American flag. I remember him telling, with tears in his eyes, of how touched he was to see the American flag flying on American soil as he returned from his over-seas duty during World War II.
Dad truly believed that America was wonderful. He consistently gave thanks in his prayers for the freedoms that we enjoy in America. He wanted his children to have great respect for the country we live in. He consistently flew the flag at whatever house he lived in. Pat and I purchased a spray of red, white and blue flowers for his funeral. When I think of patriotism I think of my Dad.
God, please bless America.

Our beloved Toufa

Toufa was the black standard poodle that our family had from 1965 to 1977. She was a wonderful, smart and loving animal. We adopted her from another family -- I don't know any details on this. Does anyone else? We never did know for sure what her name really meant except that to all of us it meant LOVE. She played with the kids and was especially good at the game of 'hide and go seek'. She loved chocolate and french fries. One Christmas she knocked over the Christmas tree and consumed all the foil wrapped chocolate balls which decorated the tree during the night while the family slept.
Toufa loved to go camping with us and would really prance around in the wood. We would take her for a walk and wait until she became caught up in her surroundings and and then we would quickly hide behind a tree. Toufa would keep walking for awhile and then suddenly realize that her human was not with her. She would hunt and hunt all over until she found us. Then she would smile and snort, embarrassed that she had "lost" us and also enjoying our little game.
One thing Toufa had a hard time with on the camping trips was the swimming. She didn't like to swim -- in fact she hated being in the water. But the humans liked to see her swim. We tried everything to get Toufa to swim. Finally we resorted to putting her on one of the little homemade rafts that were always around and taking her ten to twenty yards or so out into the lake. Then we'd push her off. Sure enough, then she'd swim. (Oh, I don't like remembering that we were mean to her!)
Toufa had a cold wet nose that she used to good advantage. She would nudge nudge nudge any idle arm resting on the arm of a chair until it would love her little head. Then oh, she was okay. She loved to go for rides in the car and would often sit in the front seat next to the driver (we had what were called 'bench' seats then. Fancier 'bucket' seats were few and far between). So great was her need for love and affection that she was plastered against the driver making right turns really difficult. People seeing us with her in the car often thought we had some black hairy adult with us, since she was human size when she sat on the car seat with us.
Toufa's most distinguishing characteristic was her smile. She would bare her teeth as a mad dog might, only hers was to show affection or embarrassment. One summer day I remember her standing at the back door with her nose pressed against the glass panel in the closed screen door. As she was looking outside and concentrating, there was a sonic boom. It scared her and she jumped so hard that she slammed her little noses right into the glass. Realizing that a human was watching her she smiled and ducked her head and sneezed over and over. (She was embarrassed!)
Toufa not just tolerated the cats we had through the years, she was buddies with them. They would play together but most often slept together, snuggling up close for warmth.
Oh, we loved Toufa! She was an amazing dog and a true member of our family.