Memories by Brenda Parish Bailey
My earliest memories were when we lived in the old farm house South of Burley. We had a wood burning stove and mother was very particular keeping her house spotless. She was a typical farm wife and helpful neighbor. She was full of fun and had the best birthday parties for us. She made our clothes and decorations and invited all the cousins and friends.
When dad played church baseball, mom would keep us 3 small children in the car while we watched the game. Every time dad made a homerun we would honk and horn and yell for our dad.
We moved into a house in town on
She wore her hair rolled up and I remember watching her put her make up on and combing her hair and thinking how pretty she was. One Christmas Eve after everyone went to bed, the dog got tangled up in the electric cord hooked to the Christmas tree and made a big mess. We woke up to a wrapped gift that was bobbing all over the room as somehow the dog had bumped it and pushed the lever to the on position. It was hilarious.
Mother grew pansies in the flower bed by the front door. We had a lot of friends that were always at our house. We had popsicles, homemade root beer, and penny candy. Our parents purchased a wholesale business where my father would drive a truck around to the different stores stocking their shelves with candy, beer, and cigarettes. One time we were leaving the warehouse and when mother shut the big doors her thumb got caught in the doors and was bleeding really bad. We helped her shut the door and while she was driving home she passed out. I started steering the car and had Dwight get on the floor and would work the brake and gas pedals as I would tell him to go fast or slow. Somehow we made it home and helped mother into the house. I was about 6 years old and Dwight was about 4 years old.
My father always loved horses and kept them at his parent’s house on 100 South of Burley. In 1955 my grandpa Parish died in a tractor accident and my father moved the family to the farm. Mother had a huge adjustment going from a comfortable home in town to country life and an old farm house. Grandma Parish moved into a house across from
Dad became active in the posse and started racing horses. Mother helped him by sewing blinkers, flags etc. She would make a big pot of stew, homemade rolls etc. and take to the fairgrounds where we would have a picnic while dad was racing or having posse meets.
We always had an Easter Picnic with mom’s brothers and sisters up Birch Creek. One time we were playing in near the stream and a few of us fell in. Mother took some jackets and put our legs in the sleeves and tied them around our necks so we had something to wear while our clothes dried. Mother taught us how to find watercress in the streams.
One time she had all her family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Our dad and uncles pulled us in sleds behind the horses for a fun sleigh ride.
When I was about 9 or 10 years old she took me to Oakley to visit Margarita Whittle, the nurse who helped bring me into the world. She had been Adolph Hitler’s secretary during World War II. She had maps on the wall of Germany Germany going through the underground tunnels, sewers etc. to get to America
Mother loved each one of her babies and devoted her life to bring children into this world. Her desire was to have 12 children and she had 9 living children and had 3 miscarriages. She didn’t really believe in doctors and only went to the doctor just before the babies were born. Her last pregnancy was hard as the baby was overdue and she wouldn’t go to the doctor. Her baby required a lot of extra attention and mother had to teach him everything. She spent hours teaching him how to climb stairs. She worked for Doctor Wagner and traded him for treatments on her son. He was a German Doctor and he taught her many things that she used later in life as she gave massage treatments to everyone.
