Alumni Sandstorm ~ 01/18/15
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7 Bombers sent stuff and 1 Bomber Memorial today:
Steve CARSON ('58), Pete BEAULIEU ('62)
Earl BENNETT ('63), Jim ARMSTRONG ('63)
Carol CONVERSE ('64), David RIVERS ('65)
Betti AVANT ('69)
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BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Missy KEENEY ('59)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Jeannie SHANKS ('60)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Kathy O'NEIL ('63)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Bob DeGRAW ('66)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Sheila DAVIS ('71)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Connie MARSHALL ('74)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Eric HOLMES ('90)
BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
Click the event you want to know more about.
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>>From: Steve CARSON (Championship Class of '58)
To: Betty CONNER Sansom ('52)
Thanks for the memories.
-Steve CARSON (Championship Class of '58)
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>>From: Pete BEAULIEU ('62)
Re: Maren's Map
http://AlumniSandstorm.com/Xtra/15/0116-Map1949-Dwntwn.jpg
Lots of good entries yesterday about Maren's 1949 map of downtown
Richland. Here's some more.
Sometime during the '50s when Camp Hanford still manned the Nike
sites, I recall a glimpse of World War II injuries. The customer
at the counter fished his wallet out of his pocket and with the
other hand nimbly retrieved the needed bills. At the ends of his
long sleeve shirt he used not one, but two mechanical hooks.
At the north end of the map is the solitary home of one A.B.
Murray. Murray owned the pre-boom town hardware store also shown
on the map, a landmark that still exists. His other claim to fame
was as the contractor who in 1939 built the brick Lewis and Clark
Elementary School. A modern wing with glossy floors and personal
hallway lockers was completed at the north end in 1953. Those of
us housed in the sagging ceiling "huts" finally got into a heated
building. The last shall be first. As a third grader in one of
the huts, I recall Mrs. Lester in that bitter winter crowding us
around the piano, still in our coats and hats and gloves, to sing
songs just to keep warm. Even my ungifted self liked to bellow
out because I could see my breath.
In addition to the Village Theater, the other theater to the left
(south) was the Richland Theater, later to become the home of the
Richland Players thespian group. The hands down star was Mrs.
Mary Fleischer, a graduate of the famed Pasadena Playhouse and
often compared to Kathryn Hepburn in both appearance and talent.
She's also the one who in the early years insisted that boom town
Richland would be civilized, and initiated the standard that
women when they "went out" would wear hats and gloves and nylon
stockings too (with the sewn seam up the back).
As for the Safeway store on the map, other grocery stores in town
included Campbell's Grocery at the south end (across the side
street from Pott's Rainbow service station). Some of us thought
Campbell also owned the soup company - a possible hint of
aristocracy right there in frontier days Richland! In 1951 the
price of a banana Popsicle jumped 40 percent from a nickel to
seven cents. In 1955 Campbell's son, "Duffy" (Kennewick Lion),
was part of an afternoon elementary school talent show. Decked
out in a cowboy outfit he soloed "Someone's in the Kitchen with
Dinah," and at the end hoisted out his two cap guns and fired
some rounds into the ceiling, much to the innocent delight of
all. How things have changed.
Those who attended Lewis and Clark in the 1950s might also
remember the weathered dugout canoe, a full scale Lewis and Clark
replica, mounted outside the front entrance next to the flagpole.
For us grade-schoolers the boomtown without a past still had a
connection to larger history. Privatized cell-phone amnesia came
much later. Again, how things have changed.
Also on the map, the open field north of the bank was the site
for the annual citywide bon fire of all the Christmas trees
hauled in each January from all over town. This was the
community-building event of all time. And no Department of
Ecology—the home of the atomic bomb got away with a primitive bon
fire and hand warming, and friendship warming, and global
warming.
Not much sass against Christmas trees either. But it is said that
the Christmas tree is actually of pagan origin. The Germanic
tribes in the vast forests that covered half of Europe would also
break the monotony of their own bitter winter by song, and by
observing the solstice. Their own communal event and singing
centered around the "mother tree," instead of a piano, at the
center of every clan village, a tree that reached down into the
depths of life. This festival couldn't hold a candle to our own
Atomic Frontier Days, but it did carry over into the much
celebrated yule log, and then was adopted by the ever new
Christmas season, and then seems to have ended up in the
anachronistic annual bon fire at the north end of the Richland
Parkway. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
-Pete BEAULIEU ('62) ~ Shoreline, WA, that in 1995 incorporated
to avoid being annexed into Seattle.
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>>From: Earl BENNETT ('63)
Re: Village Theater
I also recall the cheap westerns matinees, a dime if I remember
correctly, not sure which years but probably mid-fifties. Also
recall being fascinated by the short documentaries called
Industry on Parade; my wife really enjoys similar TV shows today
about how things are manufactured and "Dirty Jobs." I believe
the old ones were more focused on "look at how great American
manufacturing is!"
I believe the Richland Players, and maybe the Mid-Columbia
Light Opera, used the Village Theater for their productions in
the late fifties and early sixties. Went to a cast party there
with Leoma COLES ('63) after one production ended in which she
participated. I also participated among the dancers in Music Man,
which I think we did on the Chief Joseph stage when I was in high
school: Someone told me that the outstanding theater equipment
there (complex lighting, curtains, etc.) was installed because
Hanford needed a first class venue for a major conference, but I
never checked the accuracy of that story.
Regards, ecb3 - from normal January in central Virginia
with the serious cold on hold for a couple of days.
-Earl BENNETT ('63)
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>>From: Jim ARMSTRONG ('63)
Hi Maren
Re: The Map [with typos fixed]
http://alumnisandstorm.com/Xtra/15/0116-Map1949-Dwntwn.jpg
C.D.Andersonn's should be C.C. Anderson's, I believe. He had a
store in Boise. When I was there visiting he gave me a shiney
penny when I was in his store with my mother and aunt. He carried
a pocket full of them.
The women's store next to Ganzel's was The Style Center.
Before Ernie's Typewriter there was Paul's, Inc. a toy store. My
Dad would take me there at Xmas to see the electric trains.
Did Robley Johnson's photography studio move into Mickey's Shoe
Repair?
Regards,
-Jim ARMSTRONG ('63)
P.S. Remember The Buck Private at The Richland Y?
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>>From: Carol CONVERSE Maurer (Magic Class of '64)
Re: X-Ray machines:
I remember the x-ray machine in Buster Brown Shoe shop. Wasn't
that located in Uptown Richland?
[Sounds like David's Shoes... Mom got all our shoes
there and I remember one of those X-Ray things. -Maren]
Well, I'm not sure the name of the store though. I do remember
there was a ramp that we would go up and down on it. Could be
that was where the machine was located. I loved all my Buster
Brown shoes.
To: Bill SCOTT ('64)
Received your book yesterday in the mail. Thanks.
[Got my copy of "The Rail Queen" last week, read it,
and passed it along to somebody who doesn't know Bill.
waiting for a report. -Maren]
-Carol CONVERSE Maurer (Magic Class of '64) ~ Kennewick where
we had sunny skies all yesterday, but the gray skies are
back this morning.
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>>From: David RIVERS ('65)
Re: The Uptown
I gotta say I've enjoyed the map of the Downtown and all of the
memories that go with it... shore wish we hadda map of the Uptown
tho... that's where I spent most of my time, 'cept maybe alla
time I spent at Richland Bell Furniture that was owned by my
Pop's best friend, Joe Carroll... I got my store bought hair
cuts at the shop in the Uptown and got my shoes there, too, at
David's... I'm figuring the B-day Bomber-babe spent a lotta time
in the Downtown... I saw some great movies at the Richland and
matinees at the Village... those were some great times... so
this b-day babe can tell us in her best bass where she spent her
time... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Missy KEENEY ('59) on your special day,
January 18, 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-David RIVERS ('65)
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>>From: Betti AVANT ('69)
Re: Hansen's barber shop
To: Mike FRANCO ('70)
Hansen's barber shop is still where you remember it. There is a
picture somewhere on the Bomber site that shows a picture of it,
[http://richlandbombers.com/ picture of the Spudnut Shop
at the very bottom of the page shows Hansen's. -Maren]
There's a toy store next to it, and the Spudnut Shop next to the
toy store. The toy store is now the Attitudes Salon where I get
my hair done. In fact the gal who cuts my hair is a classmate
of yours. It truly is a small world. I grew up on the corner of
Torbett and Thayer and we were always walking to the Pennywise
Drug store or the Mayfair market. When we walked to the Uptown
area we passed by the drug and grocery stores on Symons. I live
across the street from that area now. The buildings are still
there but they aren't what they used to be.
-Betti AVANT ('69) ~ from good old Richland
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Bomber Memorial
>>Barbara McLELAND Rowley ~ Class of 1954 ~ 1936 - 2015
Bomber Memorials
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That's it for today. Please send more.
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