1948-1974
Contemporary Notes & Rememberences
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1959
Little did we know then, that six-year-old Barbara would later go to
the same place with her then-husband, Rusty
Nona Brooks
1962
As a rule, Bill, Barb and I got along quite well, whether on vacation
or back in San Antonio; however, we did have our moments. I remember a
snowball fight that Bill and I got into on this trip. Bill won...
Further, he made up a song to commemorate the moment:
On top of Mt. Rainier
All covered with snow
I lost my best friend
Which filled me with woe.I picked up a snow ball
And hit him on the head
He didn't like that
And tears he did shed
Bob Brooks
1964
"Oliver" was one of the very
first musicals I can remember seeing. It was a rather revolutionary
production, in more ways than one. This was one of the first stage
shows which used a revolving stage. Actors would run up a flight of
stairs as the set rotated, and be in a new set when the staged stopped.
The music in this play is still some of my very favorite. I'm sure I
was singing, "Food glorious food; hot
sausage & mustard" for days afterwards, just as I sang, "It's a small world" after going to
Disneyland ! I'm sure these early experiences with the theater helped
to instill the love of any live performance I still feel today.
Bob Brooks
1964
Little did I know at the time, that years later dad and I would see a
grown up Hayley Mills in a stage play in London. In fact, if you had
ask me in 1964 if I would ever get to London, I would have told you
that I doubted I would.
Nona Brooks
1964
In the summers of 1985 & 1986, I would return to this same area
while working for the National Park & Forest Services. I was
attending college at the time at Texas A&M University and took off
two summers to work as an interviewer on the P.A.R.V.S. Project (Public
Area Recreational Visitor Survey). During this time I had an
opportunity to climb Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Smokey
Mountain National Park, on my own. I had wanted to get up early and
shoot some pictures of the morning sun breaking over the Mountains. The
morning I tried, it was cold and drizzly. I was up well before first
light and as I drove up the winding mountain road, I kept hoping to
break out above the clouds. When I finally reached the summit of
Clingman's Dome it was so cloudy and foggy, I could just barely make
out the tree tops 15 feet away. It kept getting brighter and brighter
until it was obviously full daylight... and I still could not even tell
the direction of the rising sun through the dense fog !
Bob Brooks
1965
I believe this was the first time we actually brought along on a trip a
snow sled. I think the fact that we had ruined two wash basins using
them to slide in the snow in 1962 might have influenced this decision.
I remember the story of Mom ordering the "Snow-Wing" from a Sears
Mail-Order Catalogue. The operator had Mom repeat the order several
times and finally spell it out. It was just beyond her comprehension
that a family in Texas would be ordering a snow sled, especially with
summer coming on !
Bob Brooks
1966
I remember pitting the cherries for the pie. I got so
sticky I couldn't wait to wash up after I was done. I pitted the
cherries in
the car as we drove along. It was a mess. I even got cherry juice on
the
roof (head liner) of the car. It was all worth it, though. Grandma's
cherry
pies were the best! It was sure a shame when diabetes hit family
members
and put an end to the greatest home made pies in the world.
Bill Brooks
1966
The fishing picture was taken near a lake where we hiked in to fish.
The fish
were trout. Mom hiked back to the trailer earlier than the rest of the
family
to get started cooking the fish for dinner. I went with her. Turns out
I was
getting sicker and sicker. By the time we got back to camp I was too
sick to
clean the fish and mom had to do it (and she wasn't too happy about
that.)
Didn't much matter to me. I was in bed with a fever.
Bill Brooks
1971
The picture of dad sliding in the snow came, dad believes, outside of
Yellowstone. This was the time that Barb and I were supposed to stop
him from bouncing into the street at the end of his run, and we were
stationed so that we could catch his elbows and stop him. The only
thing was, he was coming at such a fast clip that neither Barb nor I
had
nerve enough to try to grab him, and he ended up with a three foot drop
into a big puddle of dirty snow water at the edge of the highway.
Nona Brooks
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