During my entire childhood and youth, Heber always had a rodeo on the 4^th of July. It was a town tradition when I was a kid and it provided some entertainment for everyone in the middle of the summer. It also came to symbolize the beginning of the rainy season. When I was small, it was purely a ranch type rodeo with stock brought in from off the range. Contestants were mostly local cowboys or “cowboy want-ta-be’s” doing most of the events. Later the rodeo became an amateur rodeo with the stock contracted from a person who supplied stock to several local rodeos and with more amateur cowboys who made all the rodeos in the area.

For several years the rodeo grounds were across the creek up Black Canyon. The thing that made it a rodeo grounds was the pens for the animals and the chutes for the bucking broncs and bulls. There was also one concession stand and above the chutes was an announcer’s booth. There was no grandstand for spectators. Everyone just parked their car around the outside of the fence and watched from their car or came and sat on the fence closer up to the holding pens and chutes. There was limited space on the fence so you had to get there early to get a seat. Some of the kids (including my brothers and me) watched from the roof of the concession stand.

Since we didn’t have much money for concessions, Mom and Dad would buy each of us a quart sized bottle of pop from Holbrook. That was what we had to drink during the rodeo so we drank it reeeeal slow. We could select the flavor we preferred. I think a quart bottle of pop cost twenty-five cents at that time. If we had made homemade root beer in time, we used that instead of buying pop. (see another section for details on root beer)

Later the rodeo grounds were moved down to about where the new LDS church building is currently located. That rodeo grounds was a lot fancier and the rodeo got more sophisticated. They would hire more professional stock and the contestants got better because the prizes were larger. People would come from further to participate. Only a few of the local cowboys participated in the events when the rodeo moved to the new location but the fans were always glad when a local person won the event prize money. The new rodeo grounds had a grandstand and on one side next to the hill, they had dug out two levels of parking spots so people could still sit in their cars and watch the rodeo, but they had a better view.

At the old rodeo grounds, the events were calf riding for the kids, steer riding for the teenagers, calf roping, team tying, wild cow milking, barrel racing, bronc riding and bull riding for the adults. In the riding events very few stayed on. If a kid wanted to try to ride they would put them on a calf. Usually they fell off as soon as the gate opened and the calf moved. I never did try it myself but some of my friends did with little luck. I liked the wild cow milking contest the best. It was done by a team of two or three people. One member of the team would grab hold of the cows head, another the tail to hold it still while the other tried to milk the cow into a pop bottle. The team with a bottle full of milk in the shortest amount of time won. It was usually a blast because the cows were straight in off the range and they were pretty wild.

At some of the rodeos they had a greased pig chase for the kids. There were also various types of foot races and other contests for the kids to participate in. We had lots of fun. Winners won prizes from the concession stand or tickets to Windy’s Theater.

When the rodeo got more professional, events like the wild cow milking and calf riding and steer riding fell by the wayside as did the races and the greased pig chases. There was more bull riding and bronc riding as well as roping.

The rodeo was put on by the Heber Ward to raise money for the budget. When I got to be twelve, and until I was eighteen, the young men helped out in the corrals or in the concession stands. We all had shifts and it was fun. We got pretty good at selling hot dogs, hamburgers, snow cones, pop and candy. The closest I came to participating in any of the events was some of the races and a boxing exhibition which earned me tickets to Windy’s Theater. I never rode a cow or horse and I never ate dirt. I guess I may have missed something but I can’t say I’m sorry. I still have all my teeth and other body parts.

When I was a young man living in The Rock House, one of the things we did for fun during the winter months was to play “Church Basketball” against boys from the other wards in the Snowflake Stake. In fact, about the only thing we did when we had mid-week meetings and when we had a church building with a gym, was to play church basketball.

(For those not familiar with the way the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is organized, the different congregations are called “wards”. All of the congregations in an area are a part of a larger church unit called a “stake”.)

At that time, a boy could either play on the school team or on the church team but not both. There was quite a bit of prestige associated with being on the school team. When I was a freshman in high school I tried out for the Freshman Basketball Team. I was pretty tall and I liked to play basketball. I think about thirty boys tried out. I found out that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. I was cut from the team on the second cut.

Those who didn’t make the school team could play on the church team and so that is what I did. None of the boys from Heber made the school team so we all just played “Church Basketball”. We would play the teams from the other wards in the stake including wards from Show Low, Snowflake, Taylor, Pinedale and Clay Spring. We usually played a game once a week. Because it was a church activity, almost the whole town would show up to watch us play. Each ward had a junior and a senior team. The junior team was made up of boys from twelve to eighteen years of age, and the senior team was made up of the men. We had yellow uniforms as I recall. The boys would play first and then the men would play.

Basketball season was always in the winter time when we were in school. We had to practice either early in the morning or later in the evenings. We did both. The men only practiced in the evenings. I can remember that when I was fourteen or fifteen, our advisors agreed to open the gym for us at about five o’clock each morning. We would drag ourselves out of bed and run up to the church to practice basketball until about six thirty when we’d have to leave, run home and get ready for school and catch the bus about seven o’clock. As I look back, I am amazed at the devotion of our advisors. They were there almost every morning.

I can still remember the feeling of the clear cold air burning my lungs as I ran to and from the gym on those cold  early mornings. Because I lived so close to the church building, I didn’t bother to put on a coat. I just ran fast. Most of the time there was snow on the ground so it was like a winter wonderland in the light of the one or two street lights we had on the main street in Heber.

I don’t recall any of our win-loss records but we did have lots of fun. Church athletics were very important activities at that time in my life. I am grateful we had them to help keep us busy and involved in something special.

Uncle Thomas Shelley owned the store in Heber when I was a kid. It was much smaller than the current store and I remember that it had a basement in it. It was also the location of the Post Office, as well as the location of the only public telephone in Heber. It was the old crank type that hung on the wall.

Uncle Thomas was a pretty tall old gentleman with white hair and we kids were a little bit afraid of him. He was a little abrupt with people sometimes and he didn’t mind correcting us if he thought we were doing something wrong. Aunt Eva who was his wife was a tiny little lady who was always very nice to everyone. I can remember as a small child being sent to the store for items. One vivid memory I have is of going for some cheese. The Longhorn Cheese came in “horns” which were rolls of cheese about six to seven inches in diameter and about eighteen inches long. We bought cheese by the pound. A pound of cheese was a slice from the horn about one inch thick. I remember Uncle Thomas had a curved cheese knife he used for slicing off the piece of cheese for the customer. That curved knife made him seem even more dangerous, I guess. Anyway it left an impression on me that remains until this day.

It was not uncommon at that time for kids to go to the store for their Moms with a list and some money. Some families had “charge accounts” at the store so they just sent a list and the cost for the item was added to the charge account. The accounts were settled at the end of the month or whenever pay day came. I can’t remember whether we had a charge account at the store or not. Mom hated being in debt to anyone. She would go without until she could pay for what she needed, if at all possible.

Uncle Thomas sold the store to Uncle Donnie Porter and it became Porter’s Shopping Center. Uncle Donnie added on to the original store and made it much larger. One of the conditions of the sale was that alcoholic beverages could not be sold in the store and they never were as long as Uncle Donnie and even subsequent owners ran the store. I doubt if those conditions are honored today, but they were for many years.

The store had an assortment of candy and that was a favorite stop for me when I was a kid. The top row of the candy shelf was for “penny candy.” As you might guess, items on that shelf cost one cent. The middle shelves held items for a nickel and the lowest shelves held items for a dime. Most candy at that time cost five cents. Only a few “special” candy bars cost a dime.

Most of my purchases came from the top shelf. It always had bubble gum of various types and suckers with straight sticks or with flexible loops for the handle. I think the flexible handle types were called “Safety‑pops.” I guess they were safer for babies or small children. There were also square taffy-type candies of various flavors, wax bottles filled with flavored liquid, pixie sticks, and candy you just sucked on. I’m sure there were others I don’t remember.

When I was growing up the most money I usually had to spend on candy was a few cents or a nickel. If no nickels were available, I would earn money by finding empty pop bottles and turning them in for the deposit. Seldom did I earn more than a few cents, but that was enough to buy some “penny candy.” Sometimes Mom would pay me a nickel for doing something for her. When she paid me, I usually didn’t waste too much time getting to the store to spend it. The nickel candy included most of the familiar candy bars such as Hershey’s, Mr. Goodbars, Baby Ruths, Milky Ways, Snickers, Polar Bears, Butterfingers, Three Musketeers, etc.

The dime candy bars were ones like Almond Joys, Mounds, Mars Bars and Cups‑o‑Gold and similar ones. I didn’t get to buy them very often but it was a real treat if I ever got to taste them. When I later worked at the store I used to buy candy bars by the box. At that time I could buy a box of twenty-four nickel candy bars for $1.10 and a box of dime candy bars for $2.20. I knew I was rich when I could afford to buy a full box of dime candy bars and sometimes I did, just to feel rich.

Even when I worked at the store, people would send notes with their kids with a list of things they needed and I would go around and collect them and we would charge them to their bill and the kids would take them home. Some of the kids got a little too smart for their britches and tried to forge notes from their parents to buy cigarettes or snuff. They usually got caught, needless to say.

Things were simple in those days in Heber. Everyone knew everyone else and people trusted each other. It made it easy to do business. I guess I grew up in a “trusting environment.” Even today I tend to trust people although some say I am naive. I think it comes from being raised in a place where you could trust everyone. I am sorry that is missing in today’s society.

 

For most of my growing up years, we had a milk cow that provided milk for the family. The earliest memory I have of a milk cow was one we called “Old Red.” She was dark red in color. We had her when I was very small. She was struck by lightning and killed down close to where the high school is in Heber.

The milk cows in Heber were allowed to roam and graze all over town and also on the forest land around Heber. Many of the families had milk cows. In the morning after milking, the cows were just turned out of their corrals and they could roam and graze at will. Since the cows were turned out at about the same time and since they all drank at the same water tank after being turned out, most of the cows in town stayed together as they grazed throughout the day. Usually one or more of the cows in the group wore cow bells. The bells were used to make it easier to find the cows in the evening when it was time for them to be milked again. Because Heber was so small, if you kept very still, sometimes you could hear the cow bells and know where to go find your cow. The job of finding our cow and bringing her home fell to me a lot of the time. Usually if I found our cow, I also found every other family’s cow as well so I just drove them all back to town. Other kids did the same.

I think we may have had a Jersey cow after Old Red but I don’t remember for sure. The cow I remember best was Sleepy. We went to Joseph City to get her. Morn and Dad bought her from Uncle Burr Webb who ran a small dairy. She was a “real” dairy cow. She was a Guernsey and gave lots of milk. She was small for a dairy cow and she had a sort of sleepy expression on her face so we called her “Sleepy.” We had her until I was out of high school.

Because she had come from an operating dairy, she was used to being milked with hobbles on and in a stanchion or stall. I remember Dad had to build a milking stall and manger so he could milk Sleepy. The stall had a place to put a board behind her so that she was in snug and tight. Before milking her we had to put hobbles on her legs to prevent her from kicking. This was unusual because most of the milk cows in Heber could be milked about anywhere. They just stood out in the open to be milked while they ate some hay. Not Sleepy!!

Every year we would breed Sleepy with one of Uncle Laurald Bigler’s bulls and then when the calf was born and weaned, it was traded to Uncle Laurald for a beef off the range. He wanted heifer calves that were half dairy cow because they gave more milk than the normal range cows.

When I was about twelve or so, I learned to milk a cow. Fred Bigler, one of Uncle Alma’s boys, was about my age and he let me help him milk so that I could learn. He would milk two teats and I would milk the other two. Over a couple of weeks, milking twice a day, I learned to milk a cow. Up until that time Mom or Dad did the milking. I think maybe Ted also learned. Once I learned to milk, it became my responsibility to milk the cow in the evenings. Dad, or sometimes Mom, milked in the morning. The cow gave about two gallons of milk per milking as I recall. I figured out that Sleepy liked music so I used to sing to her while I milked. I used to sing her all the popular ballads at the time like “Frankie and Johnny,” “Teen Angel,” “Flight 1003,” and others. It’s probably surprising that we didn’t get sour milk with all the sad songs I sang to her. The barn was down at the bottom of the lot and there weren’t any other houses close by so I could sing as loud as I wanted to. She was a good listener and only kicked the bucket over a few times when I was milking. I wonder if all the Nashville stars got their starts singing to their milk cows?

Depending on where you go in the U.S., flavored carbonated drinks go by different names.

In some places they are called “Soft Drinks.” In other places they are called “Cokes,” regardless of the flavor, but in Heber and the surrounding area—including most of the state of Arizona—they were called “Pop” when I was growing up. At that time, pop came almost entirely in bottles and a bottle of pop cost ten cents.

Pop machines were about as common then as now. Most service stations had a pop machine and most stores had a pop machine that dispensed bottles of pop. At that time the pop machines usually carried a large variety of flavors. Almost any pop machine would have orange, strawberry, grape, root beer, 7up, Coke and Dr Pepper. Sometimes there were even options on the brands. I remember you could get orange pop, for example, from Kist, Nesbitts, Barq’s or Crush. Root Beer was available from Hires, Kist, Nesbitts, Dad’s or Barq’s.

For me at that time pop was relatively expensive, so getting a bottle of pop was a special occasion. Sometimes Mom and Dad would buy pop by the case. There was a bottling plant in Mesa that bottled some odd brand of pop and sometimes we would get a whole case (twenty-four bottles) of a variety of flavors. At that time, we had to pay a deposit for the bottles if we took them with us so it was not uncommon to see people drink their pop while standing around the pop machine to avoid paying the deposit. The deposit on a bottle was usually two or three cents per bottle.

I can’t mention pop without being reminded of Brother George Crandall. He was an elderly man who lived on the southern edge of Heber. He didn’t have a car and didn’t drive but he could certainly walk. For many years, he had the job of cleaning the church building which was almost directly across town from his home. He seemed to love Dr Pepper. Almost every morning without fail, he would walk from his house to the store where I worked to buy a bottle of Dr Pepper. He usually also bought a “Mounds” candy bar to go with it. It didn’t matter much what the weather was like, he was always there to enjoy his Mounds and Dr Pepper. He would then continue on to the church building to do his cleaning. I always hoped that when I retired, I would find something to enjoy on a daily basis as much as he seemed to enjoy his daily Dr Pepper.

For some reason I never quite understood, the Indians who shopped at the store seemed to especially like strawberry flavored pop. They for sure liked it the best of the fruit flavored pops. They drank lots of pop as did a lot of the people living in Heber.

Because pop was expensive, we made our own root beer (see “Homemade Root Beer”). We used bottles that were not accepted back by the store. With this background, you may understand what a “big deal” it was when the pop man offered to give Terry a six‑pack of pop for sorting the pop bottles (see “Pop Fights”).

One of the most popular places to stop when I was a kid was at the A&W Root Beer Stand just on the edge of Holbrook. They served root beer in frosted mugs, which was great, but they also sold root beer by the gallon. Almost every time we went to Holbrook to do shopping or see the doctor, we stopped at the A&W Root Beer Stand and bought a gallon of root beer. That’s about the only time we even came anywhere close to getting filled up with pop. I still enjoy pop and I still like a variety of flavors, but root beer is still one of my favorites. In those days there wasn’t any Sprite. That came out later to challenge the 7up market and I think it won.

Today I have gotten away from using the term “pop” as much as I used to. I tend to use “soft drink” more now. Maybe that says I’ve lived away from Arizona too long.