.

Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Life in Rapid City in the Early 1960's

Charles and Luella Williamson lounge on the sofa in 1966. Luella was 27. Charles was 30.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Saturday's Virtual Family Reunion

Hello to Everyone!
Welcome to tonight's virtual family reunion. I've got the WayBack Machine set to the early 1960's. We'll travel to Rapid City South Dakota to visit the Charles Williamson family living at 39 East Signal Drive in a two bedroom duplex on a hilltop overlooking Robinsdale. We had a room with a view!

Joining the Williamson's will be their good friends, the Soderquists.

This picture was taken when Janice and Jon were, well I'm not a very good judge of infant's ages but I'd say they were 6 months? So this would have been sometime in the winter or spring of 1966. Luella says Janice is the baby on the left. Jon is next to her and the third infant is a Soderquist baby. I remember that carpet to this day. It was rose colored with a leaf pattern.
Strange the things you remember.


Here we are in a heavily staged photograph. I'm on the left holding Jon. I'm five, nearly six. Soderquist child one is next. Two / three year old Kevin comes in at the third position wearing his cowboy boots. He's holding Soderquist baby two. Kim is on the far right holding Janice. Doesn't she look the demon in this picture? Yikes........ This is one of those rare pictures that captured Kim's darker side. She could be a real sweetheart if treated right, but if you crossed her you'd better run because she wouldn't stop the hunt until you were hurt. I think this picture captures that mood nicely.

Here we are in front of our duplex. Don't you find the cars interesting? This picture was taken in the summer of 1966. You see Kim and I in the background. Kevin is standing next to a Soderquist boy. Kevin is in the blue/white trunks.

Yes, that's me reacting to the ice cold sprinkler water. Yes, you guessed it. Water was colder in those days :)

The young lady on the left belonged to the Soderquists. Jon sits next to her with Janice at the end. Jon is captivated by the flash of the bulb. He was easily distracted and accident prone, a real menace to himself and others for sure. Janice has her hands in her mouth. I'm guessing she's found some tasty bit of lint off the carpet considering everything she got her hands on went straight into that black hole.

And finally as we leave this happy gathering we pause to say goodbye to the children that are permanently stuck to the sofa. A Soderquist child sits on the left. Then me with the cute smile doing my best to outdo my sister Kim next to me. Try as I did I was never able to steal the adjective "cute" from her. Her smile beat mine by every comparison. I was OK with that but that didn't keep me from trying from time to time. I have to laugh at Kim's hair do. That is the mid 60's for you. Kevin sits on the far right.

Hoping this finds everyone well. I've just returned from another camp. I'm tired and tend to drift off while typing but doing well myself. The weather is beautiful in the valley as the sun sets on this Saturday evening.

Simply,
Victor