I have a memory of when I was very small eating ice cream cones with other kids in front of a big house. But not just any kids and not just any house. I always thought the kids were some of my brothers and sisters as well as some of my cousins, and that the house was my Grandma Owen's.
I consider it my earliest memory but I don't know how old I was, and it's not really that specific. Like if I said, Remember when we ate ice cream cones at Grandma's big house my siblings might say, Um, sure. We probably did that.
Recently I was looking at family photos on FamilySearch.org and was in the Memories section for my grandma, Olevia Owen, and I discovered a picture of her in front of a house.
A big house.
I got excited.
This was the house in my memory!
But I had to verify it because Grandpa Owen is in the picture and he died in 1959 before I was born, and he is holding a baby that I knew immediately was my cousin Ed who is way older than me. What were the chances that Grandma still lived in this house when I was born and long enough after that so I could be eating ice cream there?
The big house on Weidler Street, Portland, Oregon
Grandma & Grandpa Owen with Eddie Owen
(the home was divided up and they rented part of it)
Well, I emailed my siblings, and then my cousin Dan who grew up in the Portland area and visited our grandma way more than I did. He confirmed that she lived there at least until 1965 or 1966. I was born in 1961.
My earliest memory is real!
This is so sweet--and not just because of the ice cream.
ReplyDeleteGrandma and Grandpa lived in the bottom floor of this house and that also included the basement. It was a dark and scary basement which often had drying walnuts in circles on the floor. The bathroom had a old-fashion claw foot tub which was awesome. One unique feature of the house was that there was a hallway which ran from the kitchen/gathering area of the house to the end where there was an amazing library (at least to me) and the two bedrooms and bathroom could be accessed from the hall. But my distant memories also believe that there were doors between the bedrooms and the bathroom so you could access the rooms from different doors--and it made like a loop. We should gather memories of this house on our extended family blog.