I have not been able to get back to Porterville for some weeks. Today being Independence Day , I set out in search of the familiar picture of Dad sitting on the front stoop with Greg and holding a sparkler. I finally found it in my Photos archive and scanned it to the Gallery pages. I also set out to find pictures from a Fourth of July parade I remembered seeing in Binder A. I scanned and attached three of them. They are from July 1964. None of the three oldest kids are present. I don’t know if perhaps we were just busy or ‘too old’ to be part of a parade. Regardless, the photos show Beth “Betsy” Ross in front of our house in a very clever costume. (I am both sad and grateful when I look at this little slice of our sister’s life) And the start of the parade on the street with Beth, Brian as a wounded Minuteman, and Bruce Gerard as a dapper cowboy. I believe Greg is partially in view and perhaps Donna as well. The last picture shows the entire troupe with perhaps hangers-on resolutely attacking the ‘hill’ on Roswell on their way past the Stevensons’ picket fence. In the upper right of the photo is the house where the Englishes’ lived at that time (I believe that because I was babysitting their two boys). Just barely visible is their front porch off whose wet concrete surface I slid one day over the edge and onto my head on a rock by their hose bib. I am disturbed a little when I think of the number of shots to the head I took from various incidents in childhood. Anyway, I don’t recall any Fourth parades in my younger years though there may have been some. I am happy to see these photos of that time. A nice 62 (I think) Impala on the street in that last shot.
I am hoping that some of you who do feature in the photos will take a moment to comment or will send me your own thoughts and recollections so I can add your voice to Porterville. I’d be happy to include any Fourth of July memories–not just from this time. Going back to the picture of Dad with Greg, I am struck by the hint of a smile as he looks at the sparkler. I imagine him enjoying the spectacle of the sparkler but also the experience of introducing another one of his children to this American holiday tradition. I am fond of that smile.