Hoquiam horsemanship -- 1940

 

This murky photo fascinates me. Rosa is in the middle, in a snazzy riding outfit, a seldom-seen perm, and a double-rein bridle more suited to a show ring than to this logged off acreage of fern and grass. I'm guessing the gentleman in the jacket and tie is her riding instructor, an exiled Slav (Russian, maybe?) who was known in family lore for his constant reminder -- "Heel more down, Meez Morgan."

Frank Sadler to Murray, 30 May 1979 -- "a Cleveland-like shrine of Democracy"

Murray and his best friend from grade school through college, Frank Sadler, reconnected in the 1970s and began a 20-year correspondence full of reminiscence. This letter about Frank's experience in World War II makes reference to their time in  ROTC at Stadium High School in the early 1930s. I'm assuming that was a required activity since Murray's parents were pacifists and would not have encouraged him to participate. 

In our family lore, Frank was the protagonist, if not the hero, of a marching demonstration gone wrong in Stadium's famous arena, the Bowl. This would have been in 1932 or '33. Frank made a hole in one of his uniform pockets and then loaded it with small change. His after school job at the time was professional boxing, to the despair of his very proper widowed mother, so he had more money than most.

Stadium Bowl

As the cadets marched in file, coins worked their way through the pocket opening and dribbled on to the turf. In the Depression, no amount of cash was minor. First one boy and then others broke ranks to snatch up the price of a burger or a milkshake, and the whole exhibition fell apart.

(This photo is from gritcitymag.com

I don't know its original source.)