NOTE: If you would prefer to listen, click here for an audio version of this blog post. When prompted, click the following: Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Photo 7 Photo 8 Photo 9 Photo 10 Photo 11 Photo 12 Photo 13 Photo 14 Photo 15 Photo 16
NOTE: Click here for Part 4: Home # 2 – 1365 S. Vallejo, our first house as homeowners; click here for Part 6: Home # 4 – 5251 S. Independence in Littleton.
In August 1980, Joanna and I moved from the small house on Vallejo to a tri-level in southwest Denver at 4565 S. Independence. Here’s the house as I drove by it on my nostalgia tour. While we had a view of the mountains to our west, our view directly north – which we could see from our bedroom on the top floor – was a federal correctional facility; yes, a prison, no more than a half-mile north of us!
This neighborhood was in an area that was growing rapidly. I even remember speculation that Denver was expanding so rapidly to the south that Denver & Colorado Springs might meet within a few years.
This was Alison’s first home; she was born in December 1981. In Part 2 – Lutheran Medical Center – I related the story of Joanna’s water breaking at 3 a.m., my watching a movie while she showered, and so forth. All of that happened in this house.
Joanna and I lived next to an older couple (probably in their 50s or so at the time), Casey and Charlene Rogers, who became our friends. At one point, when we decided we needed a wooden fence around our yard, Casey took me to Hugh M. Woods Building Materials, helped me pick out everything I needed – including the type and amount of lumber – and loaded it into his truck. Then he built our fence while I “assisted” – yeah, right, I was no handyman, so I was of little help other than to hand Casey the tools and help him carry the fence posts, etc. He asked NOTHING for his labor – he just wanted to be of help, and it was obvious that this wasn’t his first fence; he knew what he was doing and built us a first-class fence. Thanks, Casey!
Casey and Charlene doted on Alison, and we always invited them to her birthday parties. They are seen in my video of her 1st birthday party, with Casey holding Alison’s friend – and son of her babysitter, Sherry – Michael Glumac. Casey and Charlene were wonderful neighbors.
We lived in this house for a little over four years. Alison was born in December 1981. I remember going with Joanna to look at baby furniture, wallpaper, etc. We picked out a Sesame Street wallpaper for the nursery, which was directly across from our bedroom upstairs. As I mentioned earlier, I was – am – no handyman, and, as creative as Joanna was, neither one of us was a whiz at installing wallpaper. We tried but struggled to get it situated just right, just couldn’t get it done, and found ourselves arguing with each other in our frustration.
Then my best friend (and best man at our wedding in 1976), Bob Morris, came to visit. I have often joked that Bob saved our marriage, but I’m only partially joking. Bob took over the wallpaper task and installed it all by himself, doing a beautiful job. A few months later, when Bob and his nephew, Mike Dixson, came to visit on their way to ski, Bob held Alison as he proudly showed off his wallpaper masterpiece to Mike. We often found Alison, as she lay in her crib, looking up at Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and the rest, absolutely mesmerized by that wallpaper. Thanks, Bob!
Speaking of Alison, it was while we were in this house that a couple of incidents happened that . . . well, let’s just say that I thank God for saving my family and me from my mistakes, negligence, carelessness, absentmindedness, whatever you want to call it.
The first incident occurred in the summer of 1982, when Alison was around 6 or 7 months old. After work, I had picked her up at her babysitter’s house, then went home to change clothes before taking Alison to watch Joanna bowl in her Mobil employees league. Arriving home, I parked at the curb. Alison was in her car seat in the front passenger seat, as was the practice back then. I got out of the car and went to retrieve our mail from the mailbox.
After opening Alison’s car door, I fumbled for a minute with the mail, my briefcase, etc., trying to arrange things so I could carry Alison. Unfortunately, with my attention distracted to the stuff in my hands, Alison grew impatient and crawled over the car seat. I looked up to discover – to my horror – our baby girl dropping, head first, toward the pavement. Instinctively, I dropped everything, reached out and grabbed her little legs – just in time. Her soft baby head was no more than 1/2 inch from the pavement. Whew! Thanks be to God. To say this could have been a disaster is a drastic understatement.
If that wasn’t bad enough, there was another incident that happened when Alison was around 15 to 16 months old. I had gone outside to warm up Joanna’s car so she could go to work; I often did that on those cold Denver mornings. As Joanna was pulling out of the driveway, it dawned on me that I had left the car running with MY keys in the ignition – how was I going to get to work? So, without thinking – and with little toddler Alison in the living room, I ran outside, trying to flag Joanna down but couldn’t get her attention. I even chased her around the block to the next street but still couldn’t catch her.
As I started to head back to the house, I saw a woman driving down the street, probably on her way to work. I can’t believe I did this, but I flagged her down, told her of my predicament, and asked her to help me catch my wife; she should have told me where to get off and driven on, but she was too nice to do so and said okay. I got in, and we started after Joanna but never could catch up to her. We got all the way down to busy Hampden Ave., at least a mile-and-a-half from the house, when the thought struck me – Alison is all by herself in the living room, and the front door is open! Well, the woman was getting late to work so didn’t have time to drive me back home. She let me out at the intersection of Hampden & Wadsworth, and I started thumbing it down Wadsworth. A truck driver finally stopped and gave me a ride to my house.
When I arrived, I found – to my relief – Alison still in the house. (I had feared that she had gone outside!) She had pulled a chair over to the screen door and was standing on the chair, looking out the door, wondering, “Daddy, where are you?”
As I said, God has been gracious in saving our family from my boneheadedness! Thanks be to God!
Joanna realizes two major goals, and we celebrate her accomplishments together
On June 13, 1984, upon successful completion of all requirements, Joanna was presented with her Certificate Of Naturalization from the U.S. Department of Justice; in recognition of her new citizenship status, Joanna received a letter of congratulations from U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado. On November 6, only days before moving out of 4565 S. Independence, Joanna joined me in proudly casting her first presidential vote for former Vice-President Walter Mondale.
It wasn’t long after becoming a U.S. citizen that Joanna celebrated another major accomplishment. She had graduated from OBU in 1976 with a degree in Accounting, and had now worked for Mobil Oil as a financial analyst for over 7 years. Joanna was always driven, though, to know everything she could to become ever more effective and accomplished in her career, so it was her goal to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). This is no small accomplishment . . . the CPA exam is every bit as demanding as the bar exam for attorneys. Joanna took the Becker CPA course, which involved weekly classes in downtown Denver. I remember the times that Alison and I drove her to class and came back later to pick her up; as well as the many times that I took Alison, who had turned 2 in December 1983, to a movie or for ice cream, or for whatever, just so Joanna could have peace and quiet at home to study.
I don’t remember the date of the exam, but I do know that it was on August 1 that Joanna received notice, by mail, that she had passed all four parts of the CPA exam and could now apply for certification. How do I know that date? Because Joanna wrote it on the back of a Polaroid. You see, early that evening, shortly after she had opened the mail notifying her of her success, a double rainbow appeared above our house. Joanna took that as a sign of God joining in our celebration. She took a photo of the double rainbow from our front porch and wrote on the back, “8/1/84 around 7:30 pm.”
I was so proud of Joanna for these two significant accomplishments, because they epitomized her dedication and commitment to achieving worthy and notable goals. She always made me proud to be her husband.
More pictures
Here are a few snapshots of 4565 S. Independence back in those days: (1) snowed-in (while we were in that house, Denver experienced back-to-back “once-in-a-century” blizzards – Christmas Eve 1982 & Thanksgiving 1983); (2) bringing Alison home for the first time; (3) Joanna holding Alison in the front yard; (4) Joanna, Alison, & me with Joanna’s parents; (5) Joanna, Alison, & me with my parents; (6) Alison with my parents in the front yard; (7) Alison’s 2nd birthday party; (8) Alison playing in her room; (9) Bob (the human) and me in the front yard; and (10) Bob (the schnauzer) and Rae.