Our First Annual 'Old-Home Lynne' Party

COWLEY, WYOMING

Looking up Airport Road or "Division Street"
long before I came along.

For those of you who don't know the story, (and frankly, most anyone reading this does) when I was a kid, elementary through High school in my hometown consisted of the same bunch of . . . well . . . 'extended family' really.

let me explain in a nutshell. The town was founded by LDS Church pioneers (including my great grandparents) who were called to settle the area after Buffalo Bill convinced the church it was a great place, and he'd give them the land and some water if they'd come and build the canal. I don't know if Bill mentioned that it is 50 below zero at some point every winter, and trees were hard to come by, but alkali plentiful.

Simplistic explanation, but that's the gist of it. Our grandparents came and begot, and the town blossomed - sort of. We were actually not that plentiful up there by the time I was born! The harsh conditions sent many packing after their initial mission was complete. Thus we had less that 70 students in the entire K-12 when I was there. The town itself had only 365 people in it. It has grown since I left.

Cowley's Population in 1990

Needless to say, we all knew each other really well. Some of us were literally babies in the same hospital wing (as were Lynne and I), or toddlers in the same church nursery together. We played on the same school grounds, ate at the same school lunch room, rode bikes, drove beet trucks, swam in the same canal, and just plain grew up together. We were well versed on each others laundry hanging out to dry, dogs, cows, idiosyncrasies, etc. Everybody knew your name (that's nice) and your business (generally not the greatest thing).

The greatest High School building in the world
(I still have dreams about this place)

This was life in my home town that I still love so much. As for my specific peer group, Lynne's house was often 'the' meeting place. Lynne was one of my best friends of my youth and my second cousin. Anyway, (I know this is getting long) we often used to gather at Ivy's corner on Main Street and Division Street to socialize. The streets didn't actually have any road signs to tell us their real names, we just knew main street and airport road, which was the north part of the Dividing street between the east side of Cowley and the West side of Cowley. TA DA! Division Street was born.

You could easily walk the whole town in an hour, and that was if you stopped to swim in the canal while on your way. Main street and Airport road were also the only two roads that were paved at the time.

So, back to our social networking - we did it in person. If it is was cold, however we most usually went to Lynne's house (next to Ivy's corner as I mentioned) as both were centrally located in the middle of town. Oh Yes! they were fun times (I have forgotten any bad memories as nostalgia waxes strong).

Speaking of cousins, (Yes I was a moment ago) many of us were related to each other, one way or another.

Ed and Lynne - both cousins of mine

First cousins, second cousins, second cousins once removed, or cousin's in law or second cousin's in law . . . one way or another, we might end up at the same family reunion. For instance, Ed (pictured above with Lynne) is my first cousin. Lynne, as I said, is my second cousin, and also she is Ed's second cousin.

Malcolm and Ed were close friends growing up

I don't think Ed is actually thumbing his nose at us!

To further illustrate the cousin thing, note that Malcolm's first cousin, Dave Welch (Second from the right) is also my second cousin, and Ed's, as well - but not Lynne's in this case.

Joe, Dave, Malcolm, Ed

Another, for instance: Frank Hinckley (not pictured) is my second cousin, and Ed's second cousin, and he is also Malcolm's second cousin, but from a different line. Dave and Frank are second cousins to each other, and they are related to . . . Lynne?

Oh, I don't know on that one, but you get the drift? Oh yeah! - I don't know if any of us play a banjo, but we still came out Smart'n all that! Perty too! Alas, we grew up, graduated from high school, and most of us had to move away from Cowley for higher education, marriage, and/or jobs.

My High School graduation class fits entirely into this photo.

Now 35 or so years later, a mere 500 miles from our home town (many of us actually living on the Wasatch Front in Utah) recently had a small version of "our gang's social" once again . . . AND . . . we met at LYNNE's House - just like old times because she is Centrally located!

Lynne And her husband Kevin



Malcolm and his wife Jude

Jude , Lynne, and yours truly

Our spouses, Jim, Kevin and Jude
seemed to survive our Cowley memories with good cheer.

(Note: Ed's wife missed the fun this time)

Jim said he had a really good time,
Can't tell it by this picture though!

Next time, this semi-annual gathering is going to be huge! Or maybe not, but it will still be a lot of fun. Thanks for the memories my dear friends and cousins.
HUGS EVERYONE!