My sister Helen
wrote form New Mexico to say that her husband, Allen would give me a job at
Elephant Butte Dam in Hot Springs, New Mexico. Kermit and his wife, Amy, said
they wanted to visit Helen, so they took me along with their children, Kermit
Jr. and Gladys.
I told my girlfriend Lela to forget me. I knew that I would be dating other
girls and she should date other boys. I didn't want her to mope around waiting
for me to come back. When I did come back nine months later, she had moved away.
I guess some little Mormon guy married her.
Gladys still remembers the little joke I told them on the way to New Mexico.
There once was a little boy who was eating an apple and discovered a worm in it.
He took him out and made a pet out of him. He called him "Motor". They
had so much fun playing together. About two weeks later Motor disappeared. The
little boy went outside by the apple tree calling, "here Motor, come here
Motor." There was only one apple left on the tree, and Out Bored Motor.
Allen made me a "rough carpenter" which paid a buck an hour. I
worked swing shift from 4 pm to 12 midnight, pulling nails and salvaging good
used lumber. When Allen and Helen wanted a night out, he'd come down and take me
off the job to baby sit the kids. I would still get to draw my pay.
I lived with them while working on the Power House. They had a real nice home
overlooking Elephant Butte Lake, upstream from the dam. I got to spend a lot of
my time fishing, or swimming in the Rio Grande river below the dam.
We were both on the same local softball team. We played other teams as far
north as Albuquerque, and south to Las Cruces. I played third base and was
chosen to play on the New Mexico All Star team. We went down to El Paso Texas
and got knocked out of the tournament by a team from Los Angeles. They had a
pitcher named "Windmill" Jackson. That guy could twirl the ball once,
twice, or three times before delivering it at 90 mph. I only got a hit because I
opened my stance so that I was facing the pitcher and just flicked the bat with
my wrists only. They eventually ended up the best team in the nation. They beat
us 4 to 0.
On Saturday night, I'd borrow Allen's car and go to a little dance hall and
bar called the Silver Slipper, about a mile out of town. They loved to dance
polkas, a few western, and just an occasional swing. I was the Rio Grande Swing
instructor. The whole area was at least 15 years behind the times. Fifty years
later, your mom and I revisited Hot Springs, New Mexico, which is now called
Truth or Consequences, and sure enough, the Silver Slipper was still a mile out
of town.
In August of 1939, Allen quit his job at Elephant butte Dam and left to open
his own contracting business in Modesto. A week later, I finished up my work and
hitch hiked to Boulder City. On the way, I got stranded in Flagstaff Arizona on
old Route 66. A light snow started falling, so I walked a block away to the
Monte Vista Hotel to warm up. I walked into the bar and asked the bartender for
a hot drink of some kind. He said how about a hot buttered rum "Bing"?
It was "Duke" Thayer. He was now the assistant Varsity Football Coach
at Arizona State at Flagstaff. Boy, was I surprised. He asked me to stick around
and play football on the freshman team, with a full scholarship of course. I
accepted and said I'd return the next week. The next day, I found a part time
job at a men's dress shop. He wanted a window dresser; I said that I was his man
but that I couldn't start until next week because I had pressing business in Las
Vegas.
During my week at home in Boulder City, I went into Las Vegas
and bought a magazine all about window dressing. I had a lot of good ideas when
I went back, but I couldn't put a shirt on the dummies without it having
wrinkles all over the place. That was the shortest career I ever had.
Nevertheless, he did put me on as a salesman.