Happy Easter

Easter was one of few times during the year that our family would go to church.  Easter also meant that I usually got a new dress to wear to church, sometimes with a new Easter bonnet and gloves.  Mom made most of our clothes and she often made me and my sister  matching dresses.  In the photo below, we are standing in front of my Great-grandma Wilson's home in Cortez, Colorado.

Easter 1959

Favorite Easter Memory 

One of my favorite Easter memories was with Maymie and Elmer.  I was traveling with Maymie and Elmer  from Cortez to Yuma and we had stopped in Holbrook, Arizona to spend the night.  We stayed in an old hotel in the middle of town on main street.  Our room was up a tall set of wooden stairs.  Since the next day was Easter, I was concerned that the Easter Bunny would not find me.  Grandma Maymie assured me that he could find me no matter where I was.  To my delight the Easter Bunny did manage to find where I was staying and left an Easter Basket full of goodies in the hotel room.

 As we were leaving our room and walking down the wooden stairs, Maymie bent down and picked up something that was on a stair tread.  She then explained, "See what the Easter Bunny dropped!  It's his pencil - look at all his tooth marks on it."

Maymie then handed me the Easter Bunny pencil with his tooth marks all over it. I was so excited to have a pencil that had actually belonged to the Easter Bunny🐰.  I loved that pencil even more than the Easter Basket full of Easter goodies! 

Least Favorite Easter Memory

🙁🙁🙁

This happened one Easter when living in Yuma, Arizona.  While reaching for an Easter egg hidden down in some tall grass, I was bitten by a scorpion - a small lighter colored scorpion.  My hand and wrist became swollen and painful, and I was quite sick for a bit.  I remember laying on the sofa and icing my hand and arm for what seemed like days.  After that unfortunate incident, I was a bit more careful of where I placed my hand. 

  

Anle Theatre in Cortez, Colorado

I've always loved going to a movie theater and watching a movie on the big screen while munching on  fresh popped corn 🎥🍿.  

When I was growing up, Cortez only had one theater - the Anle Theatre on Main Street.  A theater has been at the same location at 23 W Main Street in Cortez for as long as I can remember.  

While going through some mementos, I found an interesting bit of history.  It was a movie schedule for December 1963.  It brought back a lot of memories of going to see movies in the old Anle Theatre during the 1950's and 1960's.  The theater changed names by the late 1960's to the Fiesta Theatre.  And, I'm sure the theater has been updated and remodeled over the years.  Wonder if there is still a balcony along the back of the theater?  

Anle Theatre Movie Schedule Dec 1963

On the bottom right-hand corner is a notice for the Arroyo Drive-In.  It was just north of town and only opened on week-ends and warmer months.  Interesting reminder on the top right-hand corner to "Attend the Church Of Your Choice Every Sunday".  

Bobby the Bobcat

Several years ago, I posted a blog story called, Old Man Taylor and the Bobcat.  This previous blog article was about a man my family called "Old Man Taylor" and his pet bobcat.  Taylor camped in a shack along the banks of the Colorado River outside of Yuma, Arizona in the early 1950s. My grandfather and father would stop and visit with Taylor when they would go fishing at the river.  My grandfather took photos of Taylor and his bobcat during his visits to the river.  
It appears there was more for me to find about “Old Man Taylor and his Bobcat”🐯…

The Rest of the Story

At the time I wrote the article, I wondered what Old Man Taylor's full name was and if the bobcat had a name.  Thanks to a recently found 1954 news article in the Yuma Sun Newspaper, I now know both.  The bobcat's name is -- Bobby.  

Bobby the Bobcat

Yuma Sun newspaper, Yuma, Arizona, 20 Jan 1954

Our Family Photos of Bobby the Bobcat 

Taylor holding Cathy, Bobby the Bobcat, Leroy 1954

Bobby looks like he is smiling for the camera
(cropped and colorized)

The 1954 newspaper article, which I found on a new newspaper website, also gives the full name of Old Man Taylor -- Jack Taylor.  

After doing some research, I was able to find a 1967 death record for a Jack Taylor aged 94 who died in Yuma.  

The Jack Taylor in the death record had been living in a rest home when he died, but there was no personal information on the death record - no parents, no family, no known occupation, no known place of birth, etc.  If  our “Old Man Taylor” is the Jack Taylor in the death certificate, he would have been 80 years old when the above photos were taken.  I'm not sure the Taylor in the above photos looks 80 years old??  What do you think??  Just like the death record, the obituary does not contain much information.  

Yuma Sun newspaper, Yuma, AZ, 14 Aug 1967

To see more photos and read the original post, go to:  

Old Man Taylor and his Bobcat