The Years 1965-1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society

The Year 1965 Ages 13 and 14 years old

Typical of the Boys of Garden Grove

My art teacher Mrs. Margaret Wattles by Art teacher submitted three pieces of art I had done in her class to the Orange County Schools Exhibit at the orange County Fair  that was held from July 17 to August 1.. One was a painting of a bird in and a pear tree called the Nightingale, another was a drawing painting called The Last Days of Pompeii.  The Third was Calle Batik boat.  I was the only person who had 3 pieces submitted out of the 24 entries. One other kid from the Costa Mesa District had more than 1 entry. Eben Browns had two.

 Hare was still listed as being in the Alamitos School District

In February our family  went to Tom and Jean's Cabin at Runing Springs to spend a weekend

"I received a letter form July Husky on 26 March 1965. Actually it was dressed to both Donna and me.

""Dear Junior and Donna. Well, I guess this letter will be a shock to you since I haven’t written to you in a long time. How is everything  down your way? We are alright, I guess. We haven’t been back to the lake since you were here last summer. I don’t guess  I’ll get back for a while now. As soon as school is out, I’m going to Alpine, Texas  and see if I can’t enroll in the summer session at Sul Ross College. I will graduate  May 27^th 1965 and summer session at Sul rosss  starts June 1, 1965.  It doesn’t look like I will get much of a vacation this year.

""            I will send you a graduation invitation, so I want you to come to my graduation in May. You could stay at my house and visit us a while for about 2 weeks. Boy that would be something if you could come down this summer and stay with us.

""Buddy plans on getting a job so he can buy parts for his old Model T Truck. Pamela will play this summer as always.

""            I was in the hospital over Christmas vacation for nine days. Still these doctors  didn’t find anything wrong  with me. While I was there on Christmas day our dog Yogi was killed. You remember Yogi, don’t you?

""Buddy had tied Yogi up in the back of the pickup.  Then Buddy  had to get out of the pickup because some boys were bothering our cows. Yogi jumped  out of the pickup to follow Buddy and hung himself. Buddy tried everything to revive  him, but it was too late. Yogi was dead.

""            On the same day Yogi died December 25, 1964, a friend of our’s  poodle had three puppies. They gave us one because  they liked Yogi as much as we did and knew it was a great loss. We named the new puppy Charcoal  because his nose is all black  except  for one  little spot in the middle. It looks like he had been in a charcoal sack,  Charcoal is a blond  puppy. He is half  miniature poodle  and half chihuahua. So Charcoal  is going to be a small dog.

""When Mother  went back to school and told her students  about Yogi, a little boy gave her another dog. It also was born on Christmas day. Her students named the puppy Cookie. Cookie is half poodle, the big poodle type and half German Shephard . Cookie is a black dog with white feet. He’s about four times as big as Charcoal and nearly for this reason we have Charcoal in the house  and Cookie is outside in the cellar house. We can’t even let the two puppies play together because Cookie always jumps on top pf Charcoal and nearly tears him up

""By the way, our dog Rusty  does not like the two puppies. She won’t have anything to do with them  Remember my cat Candy Bar and her three kittens. Well Candy Bar is fixing to have some more kittens and Little Running Deer  and Naoche are fixing to have kittens too! Daddy said I am going to half to give the new kittens away when they come or else he was going to get rid of Candy Bar, Running Deer,  Blue Fairy, and Naoche.  Looks like I am going to give away some kittens But who to?

""            Well, I guess that is enough news about my animals. Daddy has already given me my graduation present. It’s a 1964 Oldsmobile and four doors. The interior is a pale green. Buddy now has my ’59 Oldsmobile. Well I have run out of news so I suppoe I better go for now. I know this letter is a little bizarre e but this is all tah has happened around here in the lastsix months. May God Blees and keep you. By for now your Friend Judy

""I turned 14 in April and graduated from 8th grade in June. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came out for the ceremony as I remember and afterwards Donna and I went back to Texas with them.

""My sister Charline did not graduate with her senior class from Rancho, so Mom and Dad made her go to summer school to get her diploma. During this time, she became engaged with a skinny boy named Ernie Judd who she had dated since 1963.

""Judd as everyone called him was really a likeable guy with a 1950’s pompadour hair style who was into cars. He was crazy about Charline, and I think he was the first to suspect that I was queer as that I never was into typical boy things.

""Donna and I spent the summer of 1965 in Texas and spent a lot of time with the Huskys at Lake Stamford where we really became even closer friends. We also attended the rodeo again that year, but I don’t recall Ronnie McCoy being at the lake that summer. Half of the time was spent at the lake and half of the time was spent on the farm at Hart Camp.

""I know Grandma and Grandpa took us to the Hardeman County Reunion that summer which was a gathering of old-time folks who lived in the county once. Grandpa was raised in Hardeman although he was born in Commerce, Texas.

"" I became close to our cousin Laura Kay Johnson who we just called “Kay” as that she was almost like a single child since her older brother John Johnson had married and moved away from home by then. I think we spent as much time at my uncle J.W. and aunt Pauline’s house playing cards as we were at the farm where there really was nothing to do but go visit Grandpa when he was at the Hart Camp gin playing dominoes with the other old men of that community.

""We came back to California by train on 9th August 1965 which detoured through Watts during the riots of that summer. I remember standing between train cars with Donna and a black conductor while crossing an intersection. I saw some white people get out of their cars and was yelling and cursing at the conductor.

""The Watts Riots of 1965 was to a large-scale demonstration which lasted 6 days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. By the time the riot subsided, 34 people had been killed, 1,032 injured, and 3,952 arrested. It would stand as the most severe riot in Los Angeles history until the Los Angeles riots of 1992. The riot ostensibly was a reaction to a long record of police brutality by the LAPD and other racial injustices suffered by black Americans in Los Angeles, including job and housing discrimination.

""Grandma Johnson wrote me on August 26. I had written her about getting ready for school and how Grandma Williams and Aunt Bonnie Fagan were in a car accident when someone ran into  them.   She mentioned that J.W. and Pauline had gone on vacation and Grandpa had been water his place for him.

""“Dear Jr. was I happy to get your letter and so much news. Glad Mrs. Williams is home and improving and Minnie there to care for her. Would like to see your new school clothes. Know you look neat in them. Guess you have your new glasses now. Do take care of them and your precious eyes.

""Grandad got through irrigation now for J.W. Crops sure look good. Still having lots of beans, peas  and corn. Oh yes muskmelons and one water melon. Sure miss you to burn my trash and wash the dishes and the room looks so vacant since I took out the bed. I kind of dread going back to the lake . Know how lonesome it will be for a while. Look for J.W. to be in tonight. Seems like they have been gone a month.

""L.W. Sullivan still not able to work on his wells yet, There’s nothing of news. Maybe will do better next time. Write us often. We love you so much. Grandma and Granddaddy.

""In late August I attended an exhibit of some art pieces that Mrs. Wattles my former art teacher had submitted to the Laguna Art Festival. Another piece of work was exhibited in the Santa Ana Library. I think mom and dad were proud but also embarrassed to have an artsy son rather than an athlete

In September 1965 I began high school as a 9th grade freshman at Rancho Alamitos. It was  a real departure from the mile walk I had to do to go to Hare.   

    HS Picture 1965

Rancho which was just down the street from Orangewood and Dale. After two years of walking a mile to school now I was close enough to come home for lunch. 

I did not like any of my teachers especially my P.E. teacher who drilled us by doing calisthenics for 15 minutes before taking us out to play what ever was in season. We usually did football, tennis, basketball, wrestling, track and field and the dreaded Baseball in which my permanent position was left field. The thing I remember most of fresh man year in the fall was going to night time football games. I didn’t really enjoy football, but I liked going out with my friends.  Donna would usually drive us to the various schools. My favorite was playing La Habra as it was the furthest a way

 My sister Donna and Phil Casas were both Juniors at Rancho when I started school and I also was rejoined by several of my old elementary school friends like Jerry Smith and Loyd Davis who had gone to Alamitos Junior High. Jerry and I remained close, but Loyd had changed, and we drifted away while in elementary school he was like my best friend. 

          Phil Casas

 Phil Casas was a big man on Campas playing on Varsity Football team and he said we had to keep what we were doing secretive as we would be "ostracized" if kids new. I had no idea what that word meant but I knew that he would not acknowledge me at school  but kept our affair a well kept secret. This taught me that what we were doing was considered "shameful" and if anyone found out we would be labeled queer, which he really wasn't just horny. He married twice and had I think 5 children before committing suicide when his business failed. 

 

The Battreals who were our long time neighbors had moved away but their daughter Paula who was married continued to live next door. She enjoyed my company and I would visit often. I can't remember exactly when they returned and Danny went to a Catholic school so I didn't see him much except next door.  I remember trying to get him to play around but he was not interested in me at all once we were adolescents.

Carol Horan, the daughter of Tom and Jean Horan married John Griggs in 1962 when she was 17. She had a son Jerry and a daughter Jennifer by 1964. They had a house down in Huntington Beach and they were both into the surfer scene big time. They asked me several times to baby sit their two kids which I did I think in both 1965 and early 1966. It was not long after this time that John Griggs became heavily involved with distributing LSD which I had no clue.  All I remember is that they switched from being surf rats to hippies almost over night.

   My sister Donna sister sent John William Warren, a longtime friend of Grandma and Grandpa a Christmas card in which she included her senior class picture.. John owned the farm that my uncle J.W. Johnson farmed at Hart Camp. He was a widower and I think was fond of Donna. He wrote back, “Was away for the holidays and didn’t get your card . Hope you had a nice Christmas. Thanks for the picture.” He was born in 1897 and died in 1985 and buried in Thalia, Texas.

  According to WWII draft records his address was Route 1 Littlefield Texas in 1942 and he gave as his occupation “farmer”. Route 1 was the address of people living near Hart Camp. In 1950 he was living in the town of Littlefield and probably had rented out his farm to my uncle J.W.

 The 1940 census of Lamb County listed Grandma and Grandpa  as Household 90 with his farm valued at $800.  Grandpa had just bought the place in 1940 and in 1935 had been living in Wheeler County.  My uncle J.W. Jr. was listed as 16 and my mom “June  as 10. The census was taken on my birthday April 10 in Precinct Three. The location was given as the unincorporated part of the town of Field ton. Next door to Grandma and Grandpa were the Dyer family and L.W. Sullivan’s family at household 91. His farm ws was worth $500.  There were 7 children living in that household ranging fin ages from 17  to 1. My aunt Pauline was listed as a step daughter age 14.  Others mentioned in the census which grandpa always talked about but I didn’t know were the Nicolas Family and the Foy Moore Family. Jon warren was listed between the Nichols and Moore families  age 42 and living with two sisters and they were all single.

Sometime after the 1950 about 1951 John Warren was married for a while to a woman named Audra Lee Orr  [1901-1953] who died of a cerebral hemorrhage.  She was never married before she married John Warren.

        

The Year 1966 Ages 14 and 15 years old 

I was in 9th grade and a Freshman at Rancho Alamitos High School when I turned 15 in April.

Tag and Lady in my bedroom

""Life was changing for me as the dynamics at home were changing. Charline broke off her engagement with Judd which was more of a heart break for the family than for her. Judd still would come over occasionally to see Mom and Dad but soon drifted away. I believe that Charline realized that Judd was really kind of a mama boy and immature and also, she had met Mickey Wheeler, this extremely good-looking sailor from Minnesota who was stationed at Long Beach as the war was ramping up.

Mickey Wheeler served in the Navy from 1966 to 1967, I think. In July 1966, the family

Mickey and Charline at Running Springs 

went down to San Diego to pick up Mickey whose ship had just come in San Diego. I am not sure whether he was coming back from Vietnam or was just on duty down there. I remember us going on board his ship as part of an open house and climbing through hatches up and down ladders. I also remember all the young men in Navy Uniforms. Just 21 years before this, Dad was still in the Navy himself serving in the South Pacific during World War II.

Mickey Wheeler was very handsome with dark hair like the singer actor teenage idol “Fabian” and we all just loved him even after Charline had broken off with Judd. However, Mickey was Catholic, and Charline didn’t want to sign a release that any kids she might have would be raised in the Catholic Church. I actually think Charline received some instruction in the Catholic Church but the imposition of the Catholic Church on any kids she might have had with Mickey was too much.

I was  upset when Charline broke it off with Mickey Wheeler who was handsome like Fabian and we all just loved. He was Catholic and Charline didn’t want to sign any kids she had off to the Catholic Church. Grandma Johnson said that Charline often seemed like a young widow because she had at least two serious relationships before Gary. Mickey Wheeler was a navy guy from Minnesota [1966-1967] and before him there was Ernie Judd [1964-1966]. Judd as we called him was her high school sweetheart. There was another boy named Herb that I think had a crush more on Charline then she did him, but he hung out at the house a lot when I was in Junior High and ate dinner with us.

Grandma Johnson said that Charline often seemed like a young widow because she had at least two fiancée before Gary that Grandma kind of got attached to.

In the spring of 1966 when in P.E. we had to learn to tread water for so many minutes in Rancho’s swimming pool. It was really hard. One time the pool was filled with chlorine powder and the coaches had us jump in the water to splash around and stir it up. However, I got a bit up into my nostril that burned a slight hole in one of my blood vessels which caused my nose to bleed any time I became flushed in the face or just slight rub my nose. It would bleed for no apparent reason sometimes when I was simply sitting in class. I would have blood stains on my shirt often and many times at night if I rubbed my nose on my pillow my nose would bleed and I’d had to get up and change the pillow case. Mom probably could have sued the school, but we just didn’t do that back in those days. However, my nose would occasionally bleed for years afterwards.

Grandma Johnson wrote to me in a letter dated 20 May 1966 when she was at the cabin at Anchor on Lake Stanford near Haskell. She wrote, “Dear Grandson Jr. How are you this pretty morning/ Everything making noise that can, Bob Whites and Mocking Birds. Everything so green and pretty. My flowers are not blooming yet but lots of wildflowers. Texas Blue Bonnets our state flower  is everywhere. Not many fishermen here. The fish just don’t seem to want to bite. Think so much feed washed in, they’re not hungry and water so muddy.  Surely will clear up. The old catwalk is just above water. Some boats filled with water and sank. We haven’t seen the Huskys since you have. Their house is about to fall in. When school is out may be they will be down. Keeping Judy in college  and 2 more in school  not an easy job for wage workers. Jr. hear the niggers are breaking out near Watts again. Do you go to the beach very often. Glad you get out to see Williamses. Are they coming back this summer? Has Ed and Beulah got out there yet?  Hope June likes her job what ever it is. Write again soon. Love you. Grandma and Granddaddy.

Donna was the opposite of Charline as she was shy and really didn’t date or have any boyfriends that I was aware of. She was content to have some close girlfriends to hang out with. 

Donna 1966

About 1966, fast food really became introduced to our area. There was a Taco Bell on Beach Boulevard and Katella, and we began eating there pretty regularly. When we first started eating at Taco Bell the prices there were 18 cents for tacos and burritos. There was also a newly opened MacDonald's on Dale and Katella. I remember that you could get French fries for 12 cents, plain hamburgers for 15 cents and cokes for 15, 20 or 25 cents.

""Judy Husky wrote me a letter dated Wednesday June 8. “Howdy Junior. Me surprised when I got your letter-of course not. I was shocked to death. It was sure nice hearing from you again. Mother sent your letter to me. You see I am  still going to Sul Ross. Yes, I’m going this summer too. If all goes well. I should graduate in December of 1967. This summer I am taking Speech and federal government. Ugh. I am going home this weekend because this Saturday is my Dad’s birthday. I  am working in the dormitory now so, I won’t get to go home as much  this summer as I did last summer. ""No Buddy isn’t old enough for the draft yet. He is 17. Next year is when he had to sign up. Horrors! I don’t want him to. ""Pamela is doing fine too. She is not a dumb little sister anymore. She is growing up fast. She is as tall or taller  than I am now. She has changed quite a bit. You’ll eat your words the next time you see her. I can’t believe she is growing up so fast. Buddy is much taller than I am and very strong. He has been building up his muscles. He is going to summer school too. Nope he didn’t fail anything.  Buddy is taking government this summer so he won’t have to take it next year like everybody else will. ""I haven’t been down to the lake since last Christmas. The folks are going down sometime this summer. I doubt that I will get to go since I am in school. Are you and Donna going to get to come to Texas this summer? Boy, has it been hot here. Mother said it was pretty hot at Lubbock too. ""I sure hope you get this letter. I don’t know if our pony express rider knows how to get to California. Our stagecoach is in the blacksmith’s  shop  with a broken axel. Besides all that the horses are old and feeble. Ha! ha! Speaking of horses, Buddy now rides wild mares in the rodeo. He wants to ride the broncs but Mother and I don’t want him to. One of those old horses threw him last May and hurt his leg a little. Buddy also passed his lifeguard  test in March, I believe. Anyway, my little rother is a qualified life guard. Pamela is ready to take her life guard training but she can’t because they say she is too young. She’s 13 now. Mother is going to talk to the head of the swimming department and see of they will let Pamela go ahead and take life guard. ""Well I guess I better go give this letter to our Pony express rider before he dies of a heat stroke. Bye Bye for now. May God Bless and Keep you. Love ya Judy.

 I am not sure why Donna and I didn’t go back to Texas after school was out but rather, we stayed in California, going to the beach for most of the summer. The main beach we went to was Huntington Beach at the end of Beach Boulevard. Often Charline would take Donna’s and my friends to the beach riding in the bed of dad’s old pick-up truck. Lots of kids hitch-hiked regularly up and down Beach Blvd often carrying surf boards. 

My best friend that summer was Jerry Smith with who I shared a birthday. His parents were Delbert Smith [1923-1974] and his wife Carma [1927-1972] who lived on Poes Street one block over from Dale Street.

Chris Barber

One of the most memorable times of that summer was in August while cruising around with my sister Donna, her girlfriend Chris Barber, and my school friend Jerry Smith in my folk’s 1963 Ford Galaxy. Donna and Chris were both 17 and had graduated from Rancho earlier in June and Jerry and I were both 15. We were that summer all carefree teenagers 

 On Tuesday 2 August 1966 , it was a hot summer day and my sister Donna and I wanted to get out of the house. So Donna called her girlfriend Chris Barber and I called my friend Jerry Smith  to see if they wanted to go out cruising  with us. Of course they did so after picking them up we started driving  down Highway 39 which is also named Beach Boulevard.  At Garden Grove Boulevard  we spotted  a young service man  who had his thumb out hitch hiking.  Donna slammed on the brakes and  pulled over.  The young man came over and looked in the car and saw that we were all just kids  so he climbed into the front seat next to Chris and Donna.

""It was in the early evening when we picked up this young 19-year-old hitchhiker named Denny Palick who was stationed at Los Alamitos Airforce base. Denny was tall, cute, and blond. He had just received a pass and was on leave. He said he was from Chicago Illinois and that he had had never been to California before  and wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.

""Since we had never made any plans and had absolutely nothing to do we told Denny that we would be his tour guides and show him the sites of Orange County. So, we made an evening of it by first taking him to the beach. We cruised down Beach Boulevard  to the pier at Huntington Beach  where we parked. We all got out of the car, took off our shoes and walked in the warm sand beneath the pier. Then we rolled up our  pants legs and walked up and down the beach splashing in the water as the wave rolled in.  The sun had gone down and it was getting dark with hardly any moon out as we walked along the pier. The ocean waves were just phosphorescent and looked chimerical.

""After we left the beach behind we piled back into the Ford and we drove out on the Pacific Coast Highway towards Newport Beach so Denny could see the coast.  From Newport we turned inland on Jamboree and took the back roads into Costa Mesa.

""The roads out there were almost deserted as it was near 10 at night and we would jump out of the car at red lights and run around the car several times yelling and screaming before hopping back I before the light turned green. Denny must have thought we were nuts but we told them it was what we called a “Chinese Fire Drill.”

""We had the radio blasting for much of the ride and when the Beatles ‘ Yellow Submarine” song came on we would all sing along, “We all Live in a Yellow Submarine” as we eventually drove up Harbor Boulevard so Denny could see Disneyland as we passed by on Katella and we had such a great time singing songs off the radio and laughing so much. ""We were all young and full of life and Denny loved our company and perhaps could be a kid again.

""Our new found friend from Chicago said that he had never eaten a taco before or even had heard of it so we knew we had to take him to a Taco Bell  on Katella off of Beach Boulevard in Stanton. We made him try a little of the mild hot sauce and he exclaimed that his mouth was on fire as he down his cold drink.  We all laughed because we were so used to Taco Bell’s hot sauce that we could almost drink it like water. For us, the mild sauce was like ketchup.

"" All fun times come to an end, and we dropped Denny off on base as he had to be back by curfew. It was such a letdown when we took him back at midnight near Katella and Los Alamitos. We all said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch. When I saw Denny sadly leave us, I knew then that I hated the Vietnam War and the military that had so much power and control over the lives of young men. The military had the power of life and death over him.

""We never saw Denny again however I kept my promise and wrote to him a few times and he wrote back once when he was home in Chicago. It was just one of those magical times.

""In his 12 September 1966 letter to me he wrote “Hey Edgar & fans- Donna, Chris & Jerry. It’s a bit unusual and flattery to be sure to write to the California branch of my fan club. By the way the first of its kind!

""First an excuse for not getting this letter off sooner. As  you might guess, things were hectic with my father’s absence checking out the possibility of a California branch of the Christian Art Gallery, leaving me to run the Chicago gallery & our publishing house- Graphic House Inc. Add this to this, my getting settled in my new  apartment above the gallery and you have a pretty full schedule. By this time, you must be getting  back into the swing of things  with school and all or did  you all decide in favor of surfing rather than school this semester?

"" Your letter was handed to me by one of our officers as I boarded the plane home- lost in the channels and red tape. I’m afraid . To be sure had I received it earlier, I would have gotten in touch with you- for I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and our evening together. That I can’t forget.

""In answer to your question of course that personal service and open invite applies all of you- Chris, Donna, Jerry, and Edgar. When you get up this way give me a call and I’ll show you the sites of Chicago.

""In the following days after our ride, I had the chance to see L.A. and the Inglewood area as well as Los Alamitos and San Francisco areas. To me California is every bit as nice as the brochures and write ups describe it here in the north. Thanks again “fan club” for the letter. I’ve enclosed with this letter a few copies of our magazine, “Christian Art” and a few of my cards for Jerry and Donna. Hope you like the magazine and if you find time drop me a line on what’s going on out your way. As Ever Denny Palick”.  1801 West Greenleaf Avenue Chicago, Illinois, 60626.

""I began my Sophomore Year in September, and I had Mr. Osborne, the assistant junior varsity football coach for History. He roped me into being water boy for the football team to my embarrassment but actually I learned to enjoy it as the guys depended on me to provide water and I also helped with some taping their ankles. I also was the main towel boy who got to be in the locker room while the guys showered, and horse played. I was never disparaged for being the water boy and actually I earned a “Letter” for my participation although I never wore it or purchased a letterman jacket.

"" I remember that Jean Horan’s daughter Carol and her husband John Griggs descended upon Dale Street at Jean’s house. I saw about eight men and women dressed in white muslin dresses, shirts and trousers embroidered with colorful designs. The girls all wore crowns of flowers and the guys all had beards and long hair. I was mesmerized.  Little did I know that John was the founder of a group called The Brotherhood of Eternal Love which was an organization of drug users and distributors in Orange County, California. They were dubbed the Hippie Mafia and operated out of Laguna Beach.

""I learned much later that in 1966, John Griggs was a member of an Anaheim, California gang known as the “Street Sweepers” when he “robbed a Hollywood producer at gunpoint, taking his LSD stash. Griggs ingested his loot, and, by one account, soon “threw away his gun and was running around hollering, ‘This is it.'” He had a spiritual awakening, one that would lead him to found a psychedelic-inspired religious organization called the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.”

""The Brotherhood played a major role in the late-1960s counterculture movement and function as one of the largest drug smuggling operations of the era.

""“In William A. Kirkley’s documentary Orange Sunshine, Griggs’s wife, Carol, says that he came home from his first LSD experience determined to change the direction of his life. The documentary Orange Sunshine explores the history of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. He became convinced that psychedelic spirituality was the key to curing society’s ills. With his friends, he formed the Brotherhood of Eternal Love and registered it as a tax-exempt religious organization with the intention of spreading their combination of psychedelic drugs and new age spirituality. The Brotherhood’s primary goal was to be able to distribute LSD to as many people as possible for as little money as they could manage. California officially banned the substance in October 1966, and a protest three months later in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park called the “Human Be-In” underscored the hippie resistance to the government’s infringing on their psychedelic enlightenment.

""I was in my art class at Rancho when I heard that Walt Disney died in December 1966 of Cancer. When we heard the news, everyone was sad as he was “Uncle Walt” for most of our childhood and we grew up watching him on television. Disneyland was only a few miles from our house and we used to climb on top of our roof to watch the fireworks over Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

The year 1967 Ages 15 and 16 Years

Grandma and Grandpa moved from Cole Street to 13234 Carfax in Downey  and Grandpa no longer worked for Conveyors but as a machine operator for the American Horse and Dairy company in Azusa.

""I received a letter from Mrs. Laura Sullivan who is my cousin Kay Johnson’s maternal grandmother. It was dated 31 January 1967. She wrote, “Dear Junior. What a pleasant surprise to get your letter. Expected you to wait until you were here sometime to answer my question. As Leonard said and I agree with him, You have the most sensible answer that we have heard. Your letter was very interesting. California is having problems that  takes men with brilliant minds to solve. Remember the article and picture  several years ago  about the water hose disappearing or going down a  hole or something in some folks lawn in California. Do you remember that? I wondered a long time about that. Never did read what they decided about it. ""Back to this well they are drilling. Haven’t heard another word about it since the air accident. If there  has been more happening,  they kept that quiet.  Am sure we would not have known about the air pocket if they could have controlled  the rear. Ha! Fieldton is trying to get notice I guess. They have a petition going around getting signers want parimutuel betting. I knew there are getting to be a lot of horses in the country but didn’t know they are that good.  Your Grandpa still goes to the office after he milks the cows. I hear they are going to the lake for a few days pretty soon. Guess they think we ae going to get any more snow. Everyone discusses the weather  It has not rained since last September. The farmers trying to break  land  have to pull a clod buster behind the breaking plow and still there are big clods left. Going to take a lot of rain  to melt them. JW and Pauline pretty busy. Besides doing the everyday work they do  quite a bit of going since Kay plays basketball. This is basketball tournament season. Think they are enjoying it. Thanks for your letter. I am wondering  if you shouldn’t major in geology? But major in what you like best. You can be smart in other subjects too.   Tell Donna, Charline, June and Edgar  hello for us . 

One more thing, wasn’t the deaths of those astronauts Grissum, White  and Chaffe a tragedy? Thought you might enjoy this article. Bob Wear is a Church of Christ preacher at Littlefield. He came to Littlefield from Canyon. Better let you get back to your lessons. Best wishes to all of you. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan.

I was in 10th grade and a Sophomore at Rancho Alamitos High School when I turned 16 in April. 

Donna graduated from High School on time in June. She was the first in the family to actually go through a graduation ceremony since Charline hadn't.  

In her senior year, Donna began running around with two high school drop outs named Lanie and Linda. I am not sure how she met them, but they were unsavory characters and perhaps that is why Donna liked them. Linda had a partially crippled hand that she kept mostly in a jacket pocket. For some reason I associate the Buckingham’s song “Don’t You Care with Them” as whenever it came on the car radio Linda would sing along to it.

I remember once while Donna went out with them driving the Ford Galaxy around at night, they were all drinking peppermint schnaps and people threw up in the back seat. Donna was frantic that I help her clean the car before Mom and Dad found out but the smell kind of lingered, so we poured Old English, my cologne all over the back seat to try and cover the stench. It only made the car smell like puke and cologne, but I don’t remember mom saying a word to us.

Donna and I took the train again back to Texas for the summer where Donna became engaged to Buddy Husky. While Mrs. Husky liked Donna a lot she disapproved of the engagement as she really wanted Buddy to attend college in the fall. The engagement didn’t last not because of Mrs. Husky but I think Buddy had second thought of tying himself down and he kind of stopped writing to Donna and semi broke it off by the end of the year. I think Buddy was really getting into riding in rodeos by this time and had made friends in the Rodeo Circuit. His specialty was calf roping.

The Huskys lived kind of outside the city limits of Lubbock on Quirt Street where they kept horses and some other livestock. They always had plenty of dogs. Buddy had his own horse he care for at this time when the family lived on Quirt.

In September 1967, I became a Junior in the 11th Grade at Rancho Alamitos. Judy Husky wrote me a letter dated 25 September Monday Night. “Hi Junior. Well here I am answering your letter late again. I sure did enjoy hearing from you and the front-page of your psychedelic letter is now hanging on my wall. Boy you sure have an artistic ability. You said you finished two oils. Would you paint me a picture too? I sure would love to have one.

"How are you doing in school? Being head counselor of a girl’s dorm is sure a lot of work and a lot of responsibility. They are always needing me for something and I never seem to have time to do much anything else.

""In your letter you said something about coming to California. Boy I would really like that. I hope that I will be able to come up someday. Johnny and I aren’t getting married  for a few years so maybe I will make it.

""Buddy seems to enjoy school a lot. He thinks that some of the subjects are easy. I sure hope he makes good so “Uncle Sam” won’t get him.

""Everybody seems to be all right at home. Dad worked in Paces, Texas this last weekend and Buddy went up there and worked with him. Paces is about 90 miles from Alpine.

""How is your family? Tell Donna  said Hi. Hope she enjoys school. Well t least liking it a little bit.

""I know this letter is short compared to yours but nothing ever happens around here to write about. Guess I better close for now and rewrite some notes for my mental hygiene class. Ugh! May God Bless and Keep you in His Care. Write soon. Love ya Judy. My new address is Judy Husky, Ferguson Hall, Sul Ross State College, Alpine Texas.

Jerry Lee Smith

On 3 November 1967 Jerry Smith and I went to Orange Coast College to hear Governor George Wallace of Alabama speak. He is running for President on a third party ticket. He came down after the speech and shook both of our hands.

""Orange Coast College was formed in the January 1947 on a 243-acre site, secured from the War Assets Administration in Washington, D.C, carved from the 1,300-acre deactivated Santa Ana Army Air Base. It is located in Costa Mesa, California, about  20 minutes from Disneyland.

""            I am not sure when or where Charline met Gary Wachs, but it was in 1967 as that by the time Donna and I returned from Texas she had him as her new boyfriend. I never knew Gary very well as that he was in the Navy and only came to the house a few times. I think actually I may have only met him four times and usually it was when he was on leave and bring his buddies to the house to sleep over. I never cared much for him, but I had a crush on one of his Navy Buddies named Rick Adams who was from Little Rock Arkansas.

""Gary served some time in Vietnam, and I remember him bringing Charline a whole set of China from overseas. she went to Healdsburg to meet his folks after she and Gary were engaged.