White Sands New Mexico, 1964

At White Sands, New Mexico in 1964, with my Mom's Aunt Loreas and Uncle Vernon and my Dad holding my sister and me leaning against Uncle Vernon's 1963 Chevrolet

This was a trip my family took out West, from Southern Illinois, to see Mom's Aunt Loreas and her husband Vernon in the Summer of 1964. I was only three years old but I remember Uncle Vernon's car. The reason I remember it so well was that I got to ride in the front seat, (remember when three people could actually fit comfortably in the front seat?), because it was over the "hump," and was good enough for a kid. The adults all got to sit by doors where there weren't any humps. Vernon had one of those "add-on" air-conditioner units that fit under the dash just above the hump and I got to enjoy the cool air the best of anybody. This particular trip was a visit to the White Sands military base that was fairly close to where Loreas and Vernon lived in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Aunt Loreas, really my Great Aunt Loreas, was my Mother's Mom's sister and she collected salt and pepper shakers. Her house was literally full of display cases full of them. Great Uncle Vernon had been a chuckwagon cook in his younger days on cattle drives and liked to go down to the dog-racing tracks in Mexico and bet on the races. My family, the time just after my brother Matthew was born, was again visiting with Loreas and Vernon the day Elvis died in 1977.

My Mom's not in the picture, because as usual, she was the family photographer and hated getting her picture taken anyway.