Florence Agnes Remembers:
I got to work in the business college for a time, and also take some schooling there.  Grandma was my typing teacher and steno typing teacher.  Grandpa was my English teacher.  It was neat!!
Actually Grandma taught me how to type when we moved to Nampa and I was in third grade.  I could swing by the college and take a lesson on my way home.

Anyway, when I was sent on an errand, Grandpa would say “tell everyone you’re brother Gardiner’s little girl.”  If at the end of the work day, one of us didn’t have a ride home, Grandpa would say “I’ll ride you home.”

I had lunch with them one sunny day in their Nampa brick house and Grandpa would not always have his teeth in.  He would sing “I know the Lord will make a way for Me and Mom and Florence."
They were like angels weren’t they?

Jan Remembers:
I didn’t have the privilege of spending a lot of time with my grandparents, but I do have a few memories.  A few times I was with Grandma while Mom was at work and Grandma always made us a hot cup of tea and we just enjoyed those few moments sipping tea and talking.  If I wasn’t feeling well, she would make me milk toast (so would Mother).  Didn’t they know about ice cream and soda pop?

Sometimes I got to spend a little time with Grandpa and I remember helping him in the yard at their house in Nampa.  He had a 3  foot x 3 foot yellow and green lawn sweeper for leaves.  I couldn’t push it, but I got to play in the pile of leaves!  Sometimes I got to go for a ride with him in the country.  I had to stand in the back seat and once I got to sit in the front seat of his shiny new car.  You couldn’t get your shoes on the upholstery you know.  He would stop dead in the middle of the road, oblivious of traffic, and point out an animal, tree or field or flowers.

I used to get to stay in Grandma and Grandpa’s apartment over the business college while Mom was working there.  I used to lie on a single bed up there and pick off peeling wallpaper next to the bed.  When it no longer came off easily, then I really worked at it!  Eventually there was a very large bare spot on the wall next to that bed.  I was never scolded or reprimanded.

Glenda Remembers:
Remember the song “Memories?”  I love that song!  Elvis Presley has a beautiful recording of “Memories” - I wish I could remember all the words, but in trying to pull up some of those memories, one verse is about “memories pressed between the pages of my mind.”

Do our children realize today how fortunate they are to be able to preserve the past with all our new technology (videos cameras, computers, etc.)  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see Grandma and Grandpa on video today of those days gone by so very long ago.  I have to think long and hard to remember those precious memories.  (Should have kept a diary.)

I do remember Grandma and Grandpa’s farm, gathering eggs, the smell of the hen house, the hay and/or straw.  The sow who had lots of baby piglets that Grandpa tried to warn us to stay clear of.  He said, “You can look but do not touch her babies.”  I can’t remember who it was who couldn’t resist the temptations to hold just one pink little bundle, but Mama was NOT giving us a second chance to obey Grandpa.  There was NO warning, she broke through her stall and the chase was on.  I think we all made it to the screened porch except Larry.  I think the sow showed Larry how to get down and dirty!  I was so scared I lost all my color and thought Larry was a goner for sure - he probably didn’t have much color left either.

Do you remember the cartoons Grandpa would put on that old reel at the Business College?  One of my favorites was Woody Woodpecker.  Yaa ha ha ha ha, it’s the Woody Woodpecker Song.  
I remember the Five and Dime Cent Store on the corner from the Business College.  We would get to buy PAPER DOLLS.   Wow!  We loved to design and color clothes and then cut them out.  
I remember the sound of the old crank copy machine and the smell of the ink.  We got to help run copies sometimes and stack the pages.  

I remember the steep iron stairs out of Grandma and Grandpa’s upstairs apartment that went down to the alley.  I even liked the old alley!

Guess that’s all for now.  Love you Grandma and Grandpa.

P.S.  Wonder if they can see their family now?

Tom Gardiner Remembers:
Grandma giving Grandpa his morning shot ... Last memory of Grandpa (Age 6).

Robin Remembers:
He was BIG!

Gail Remembers:
Sharpening knives on his stone in the garage.  
Little quick kisses.
The metal black man penny-eater on his desk at the College.
His eyes.
Tea cup collection.
Combing Grandma’s  long hair. 
Crocheting little doilies for me.
Soothing my fever in the back room of the College.
White chenille bedspreads upstairs on Nampa.
Lots of picnics in Lakeview Park, especially the day Mom stabbed herself in the arm with the watermelon knife.
I’m not sure if I remember Grandma saying this directly or the quote from her kids, but she said, “If you don’t like the way things are, just wait a minute.”  About drinking (instead of a sermon on the evils of drink) she simply said “Naw, don’t like it!”
When I read the story of the pigs eating Phil’s little brother, I thought he was confused and talking about me.  The same thing happened to except I had to good sense to keep running instead of stopping to play in the mud.

Lynne Remembers:
From 1950-1954 while Dad attended NNC, we lived across the alley from Grandma and Grandpa Gardiner.  I waited eagerly for them to get home from work in the evening so I could go over and sit on the stool by the fridge in the kitchen and watch Grandma cook supper.  Before they ate, she gave Grandpa his insulin shot.   I knew she had oranges in her fridge (and I knew we didn’t).  I  “hinted” (not so subtly) until she offered me one.  I still love oranges!  

I combed Grandma’s long hair some evenings while they sat in their rocking chairs and she read to Grandpa. 

Grandpa tied “bells” on Grandma’s slippers so he could hear where she was as she walked around the house.  When he heard them ringing, he smiled.....all was well!

When he wanted more coffee, he set his cup and saucer on his head and waited until Grandma noticed and took it off his head to refill it.

Some days I would ride to the farm with them to do chores.  Grandma and I would feed, water and make sure the baby chicks were warm. She sang and talked to them as she fed and counted them.  (She explained that sometimes they fell into the water and drowned.)  I watched Grandpa  cut off and “dip” puppy dog tails in kerosene - seemed pretty awful to me but Grandpa told me it was what you were supposed to do.  He let me hold each one after he was finished - not sure who was consoling who!

Grandma and Grandpa invited Glenda and me to eat supper with them one evening.  Grandpa had been hunting and wanted to “roast” his pheasant for our supper.  Glenda and I watched as he built a roaring fire in the fireplace in their living room.  He wrapped each pheasants in foil and carefully laid them in the coals. Grandma told him the fire might be too hot.  He watched the little foil packages carefully and  Grandma disappeared to the kitchen.  Soon Grandpa unwrapped the pheasants (Glenda and I eagerly looking on) and to our surprise we saw only “ashes.” Grandma called us to the table.  She had been in the kitchen preparing our supper, including meat.  Nobody said a word, Grandpa blessed the pheasants and we ate heartily.   Hey, Glenda, did you ever see what Grandpa did with all those ashes?

While our Moms worked at Nampa Business College, Glenda and I would play “business” in Grandma and Grandpa’s apartment in the back.  (Mom taught typing.)  Grandma gave us “supplies”;  i.e.,  3x5 cards and file box, pencils, paper, etc. .  The table in their apartment always had a tablecloth and a “Bread of Life” loaf in the center.

It took all the courage a six or a seven-year-old girl had to climb the steep iron grate steps that went from the alley up to the back door of the Business College apartment where Grandma and Grandpa lived.  The view down through the grates from the top landing made you dread the thought of the trip down them later.

Robin Remembers:
She left a lot of cake batter in the bowl after mixing it, then asked me if I wanted to lick the bowl.

Larry Remembers:
I remember how Grandpa Gardiner used to take babies on his knee and, with his teeth out, he would say “bloo-blee bloo-blee   bloo-blee bloo-blee.”  Without exception the puckering of his lips and the sound of his voice would evoke a smile and laugh from the baby.

Grandpa loved fine cars.  I remember his black Cadillac and green Packard.  Those cars made you feel like you were cruising down the road in a big easy chair.

I remember when I was about five years old and I had walked to the Nampa Business College to see what was going on downtown.  I told Grandpa that as I passed the police station I had seen the police carrying a dead man into the station who had a knife sticking out of his back.  Rather than to rebuke me for inventing such a lie, Grandpa laughed and asked me for more details.  He was so amused that he had me tell the story to Uncle Milton and they both laughed.  Of course not to be outdone, Uncle Milton told an even bigger story and we all had a good time for a while exchanging lies.

After one of Grandma’s delicious meals, when Grandpa was ready for a refill on his coffee, he would balance his cup and saucer on his head and gently call, “sister, sister,” until Grandma would come get the cup from his head and refill it.

One time Grandpa shot a chicken hawk that was terrorizing his chickens.  It was not quite dead when he bent over to pick it up.  He was badly clawed by the injured hawk.  One of the hawk’s talons went completely through his hand.

When Grandpa first started his chicken ranch, he was worried about finding water.  When they drilled for water, they hit a natural artesian well.  The well was never capped and it flowed freely creating a little creek.

Grandpa always enjoyed gardening and had lots of tools to play with.
Grandpa Gardiner enjoyed relaxing at night while listening to classical music.  He used to ask me to identify the various instruments that were being played.  He would tease me by claiming that the instrument I identified was really something else, later he would tell me if I was correct.
He loved books and used to delight in reading storybooks to us.
He was dignified, articulate and generous.  H. R. Gardiner was a true gentleman.
As a child I characterized Grandpa Gardiner as a gentle giant.
I admired his style ... still do.

I was a high school sophomore when Grandpa and Grandma were reported missing.  I was thankful that they went together, but I have never gotten over missing them.

Diane Remembers:
Grandma as warm, round and cooking.  The smell of bacon and eating strawberries out of the garden.  I used to take her hair out of the bun she wore and brush it.  I remember all the hairpins.  It was then that I learned the difference between hairpins and bobby pins.  I would “style” her hair (ohhh, even then I did hair).  We used to bump down the stairs on our fannies until we had rug burns on the back of our legs.

Grandpa looked huge to me!  He let me practice tying and untying his big, shiny shoes.  He would sit and I would tie.  It was creepy to watch him give himself shots.  I felt sorry for him.  I remember playing on the honing wheel and Grandpa cutting tails off puppies.

Phil Remembers:                The Day the Pigs Ate My Little Brother.

It was always great fun to visit the grandparents’ farm.  Minnie and Harry Gardiner decided to get into farming later in life – investing their profits from a very successful business college.  They raised chickens and hogs - as well as (being Gardiners) a huge vegetable garden with corn, collards, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, cukes and strawberries. 

One Sunday our Mom took my brother, Larry, and me out to the Gardiner farm in the “yellow streak”, a big ol’ Chrysler she drove.  After dinner, Larry and I went out to the barn to see the new little piglets.  My brother reached his little arm through slats of the pigpen to pet one of the little pigs.  Well, the momma sow, Molly, thought her baby was in jeopardy and decided to take action.  She came charging across the pigpen toward Larry.  He jumped up and started running, scared out of his wits.  Now, Molly weighed about a thousand pounds and she had such a speed built up by the time she reached the other side of the pigpen that the brittle boards couldn’t contain her weight and she came crashing right through the fence. 

Well, Larry was about halfway across the barnyard, screaming and crying, with Molly in hot pursuit.  His little legs were churning like lightning and his arms flailing against the wind but Molly was gaining on him.  He glanced over his shoulder and panicked at the sight of this huge sow bearing down on him.  At that moment he tripped and fell head first into a large mud puddle in the barnyard.  He slid across the slick mud just as Molly hit the edge of the puddle, lost her footing and started sliding.  Mud sprayed into the air like a blizzard.  Molly was tumbling, spinning and scrambling to regain her balance. 

Now, the seven little piglets took advantage of the hole in the fence and came scampering across the barnyard to join in the fun.  A little dazed, Molly sat up in the middle of the mud puddle and watched as her brood danced around Larry pulling and tugging at his clothes.  Well, Grandpa heard the ruckus and came barreling out the back door, lumbered across the barnyard and scooped up the totally terrified tiny tike for a just-in-the-nick-of-time rescue.

Larry was so shaken by the experience he was never again able to eat so much as a single slice of bacon.

Copyright © 2003-2008 philfrisk
Last modified: March 31, 2008