The Cardplayers

When Harry and I were first married and living in Salt Lake City, our dear friend Ronnie Horton got us a job ushering for the Salt Lake Symphony Orchestra. We got 4 tickets each time - and we loved doing the job - and being able to invite people to join us free of charge!

Those were great years - we did it for 3 or 4 years I think - maybe we quit ushering after Bonny was born and just went to the concerts? I do not recall. Harry had the opportunity to travel with the orchestra on their South American tour in 1971 - and that was an adventure. I stayed home with Bonny and had a couple of adventures on my own - not nearly as memorable as Harry's though!

The concerts for the orchestra were in the Tabernacle then - and we'd drive in and park on West Temple, on the street. As we walked to the Tabernacle, we passed a large cluster of old apartment buildings. They were fairly well cared for, but were old. Harry's great Aunt Vi had lived in them at one time - and we even visited her once.

Whenever we walked along the buildings, we would look down into the basement windows - we saw living rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms - and usually saw people in them. They seldom if ever looked up at us - and we tried not to stare. But it was intriguing to me!

I am not sure when we first noticed this one elderly couple (and what do you suppose - maybe they were all of 60 years old!!) They were always playing cards! It didn't matter what time we came by, they were there playing cards. When we were walking back to our car after the concert was over, their windows were dark. Maybe they really were old and couldn't stay awake past 10:30!

And so when I first found this old photo of my Grandma and Grandpa Stevens and my Aunt Dot and Uncle Steve - playing cards - my first thought was of the card-playing couple on West Temple in Salt Lake City.

Harry and I can be seen playing cards if you came up close to our kitchen or dining room windows - not every night though - and sometimes it's not cards, but Scrabble or Racko!!

What goes around comes around I guess!

Three-hole golf course!

Grandma and Grandpa Stevens lived in Inglewood.  Their house seemed large and elegant to me, but I'm pretty sure it was small and tract-like.  But it had a large front porch - I have always dreamed of a large front porch!!

In the "rumpus room" - now called family rooms or dens - was a built in bar!  Grandpa was not a member of the church and he drank. We loved playing bartender and serving up 7-Up in shot glasses!  And Grandma taught us how to play cards!

Grandpa had a 3 hole golf course in the back yard - and he'd show us how to go around it 3 times to play 9 holes of golf.

Also Grandma always had Quaker Puffed Rice - and I loved it - still do!!

She had vestiges of her Southern prejudices though - she was from Kentucky - and when her black cleaning lady came, she'd have her stand in the kitchen and she'd stand in the dining room to give her instructions.

I spent time with her - and certainly wish I'd asked for more stories from her past!

He wasn't Grandpa Bob, but he was a great Grandpa Stevens!

Harry is known to our grandchildren as "Grandpa Bob."  He tells "Grandpa Bob" stories when they come to spend the night.  The stories always include chocolate milk and Milanos too.  He is becoming pretty "famous" with the kids - and they love the stories.  (One time Esme asked him to repeat a story - he was at a loss - he just makes them up as he goes - and doesn't think about repeating them!)

My own Grandpa Stevens was not a story-telling man, but apparently he hung up diapers - as least he did one time when this photo was taken.  But I have some great memories of time spent with him.  He had a 3-hole golf course in his back yard and would let us "play golf" with him when we were there.  He'd let us help him water the garden too.  He worked for GM and got a new car every year.  When they came out to visit, he'd give us and our friends rides around in whatever new car he had then.  Riding in a new car was pretty special - especially the year it was a Cadillac convertible.

One special memory from my childhood was the Christmas he and Grandma gave me roller-skates.  Our small house was surrounded by concrete sidewalk - not sure why, it was just built that way.  He had me put one hand on the wall of the house and he held my other hand.  He walked with me around and around the house until I was steady enough to skate on my own.  I was maybe 7 or 8 and I can still feel the stucco of the walls under my fingers.

I was visiting with my mom today, and she shared a story I've never heard.  She said the year she was 5 or 6 she got a tea set and small table and chairs for Christmas.  She said she can still remember her dad sitting with her and having a tea party that day.  It was water and crackers she said, but he stayed with her and played for quite a while.

There are other stories about my grandpa:  he said children should be seen and not heard, he said women didn't belong in college, he said my mom shouldn't have had so many kids, and he often said that if she and my dad would just stop paying tithing they could get ahead!  (He was pretty critical about our church membership.)

After he died, my grandmother went to his clubhouse to gather up his golf clubs and other personal items.  Several of the men there asked her how her grandson was doing.  She asked which grandson they were referring to, since she had 8.  They replied, "The one who's on a mission for the Mormon church.  Harry talked about him all the time and admired his diligence and service."

Sometimes I guess you just never know everything there is to know about a person!