720 East Franklin

When we bought the house on Gilbert Road from Dad, we had to buy a lot to put it on. We found one in a quiet residential neighborhood in south Mesa. There were some newer houses and the price was right. So we moved the house there and began to remodel.

The house, though older than me, was solid. We drew up plans to add an ell to the living room to create a dining area, as well as a carport and laundry room. The plans moved forward as we lived first at the apartment and then at Sophie's. There were, however, a few glitches.

David made arrangements with the neighbor to use their power and be reimbursed. They agreed, but it soon became clear that they were uncomfortable with the arrangement and hostile to us. We also suffered some vandalism that became fairly costly and required us to fence off the house to secure things.

But we finished the house and moved in, happy to have the house completed, and planning to sell it so we could clear a reasonable profit. We didn't live there long, and my memories are few. We didn't have time to complete the landscaping, which on such a large lot would have taken more time and cash than we had at that point. I remember the very sunny living room, since we had two large windows with a sunny exposure and semisheer blinds.

We had a lot of fun with our new baby there. David used to lay on his back, and lift Gordon straight up in his hands and fly him around--"SuperBaby!" Gordon loved it. We also called him Tiger Paw for a little while, but David made us stop because he didn't want Gordon to have a nickname for life like his friend Tigger Larson.

A few years after we moved away, my cousin Debbie Bradshaw Hitchens and her family bought the house and lived there for a while, having no idea of the family connection before they moved in.