My Portfolio

The spirit of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was alive and well in my small hometown of Caney, Kansas during the `40's.  We boys wandered the woods, shooting at, but seldom hitting, small animals with our .22's.  Or, we climbed the “Shale Pit"; skinny-dipped in "Smelter Pond", and tested our courage...

Growing up on a farm was much different in the 1950s and 1960s than it is today.  With six siblings younger than I, there wasn't much time for either music or movies.  The local movie theater was in Garland, about five miles away.  I'm sure I attended some movies, but nothing...

The summer of 1959 began with my graduation from Farragut High School, one of 53.  I had many memorable events to enjoy, among them presenting a solo piano recital in May, and receiving many good wishes and in that day many graduation gifts.  The church members were very generous.  The money gifts were...

  I graduated from Bear River High School in May, 1962 and had received two scholarships through my activities in Future Farmers of America (FFA).    One was a Union Pacific Scholarship and the other dealt directly with agriculture, as I recall.   My intention was to go to Utah State...

For whatever reason I have no memory of how I came to own a Studebaker Lark. It was my very first personally-owned vehicle. I'm sure it didn't run well because I would've had very little money to support it in high school. What I do remember is that the front seats...

I spent my teenage years at the pool - swim practice every afternoon and 2 mornings a week before school and on Saturdays (when we were not at swim meets).  My goal was to represent the US at the Olympics - 1984.....  200 meter breastroke and either 200 meter Individual medely...

M y early childhood was unusual at best. I can remember my two sisters and my mother and living in a large house with Grandparents. My Father deserted us soon after I was born. I was told the story when I had grown to an age of understanding the facts of...

I entered First Grade in September of 1937.  I skipped Kindergarten.   Not because I was precocious.  Such an educational luxury wasn’t offered by Drumright’s schools.   The Board of Education apparently didn’t favor naming schools in honor of presidents or heroes.  They just named them according to where they were located in...

              We lived on Rockland Street in Natick, Massachusetts.  I was the youngest of the first half of a large brood of Cormiers.  Because there were four other children ahead of me, I learned to avoid being disciplined by paying attention to what was meted out to my older siblings.  But, one particular day,I was in...

What if I told you that tomorrow morning, between four and five o'clock, you must run to your next door neighbor's house and kill everyone inside? Would you do it?  Keep in mind that, earlier, you would have taken an oath to protect, and you have no choice but to obey the...

Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 I commenced my nursing training a few months before I turned 17, when I left home and moved into the Nurses Home at the Repatriation General Hospital at Daw Park, a suburb of Adelaide. There were 12 of us in our Preliminary...

I was a Tom Boy.  I liked to catch mice in the woodpile and show them to the neighbor, climb trees and fight with the boys in my neighborhood.

“A kid will run any errand for you if you ask it at bedtime.” Red Skelton, US comedian.

Trying to get 10 kids to do chores was like herding cats...

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Turkeys and noise - When turkeys hear a noise almost the whole herd will all gobble at once.  (Click on the audio above to hear the turkeys).   Growing up on a Turkey Farm in Moroni, Utah Normal 0 false false false...

What childhood chores or jobs do you recall? ·       Were the chores circulated around each week, as my Auntie Joan did with her 8 children? My three older sisters and I shared doing the dishes. If one were not there the other three would still have to share them, sometimes that...

My daughter Jamie has had a passion for dance that outlasted all her friends who started with her. Now, as she has just graduated High School she is starting to see her future and the road she needs to follow in pursuit of her dream. This video is of a number...

The AIF Project Home | Search | About | Disclaimer   John Birmingham SPELLS Regimental number 508 Religion Roman Catholic Occupation Agent Address Burra Street, Port Wakefield, South Australia Marital status Single Age at embarkation 21 Next of kin Mother, Mrs. Capt. Spells, Burra Street, Port Watkefield, South Australia Enlistment date...

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I was fortunate to have a unique relationship with all 9 of my siblings. In the coming stories I hope to share memories with all. Jimmy was the oldest and I was next. So, I spent more time with Jimmy than any of the others. I looked up to him as...