Poetry - John to Elna

I found these to poems in an envelope on which my mother wrote "Poetry John to Elna".  I don't know if it is the only poetry that he wrote, but I remember nothing of any poetry being written by my Dad..  Since one is dated May 9, 1948, which was when I was in  Seminary they may both have been written after I was no longer around them very much of the time.

What shall I do for Mothers' Day

Something useful? frivolous? ornamental or gay?

Hose she has from her daughters already

Curtains she's worked on till her pins are unsteady.

A nice box of candy would suit her taste

But the state of her tummy would make it a waste.

She'd love a new hat but which one I don't know

She can choose it herself and here is the dough.

Father Olson

Enclosure - Check


That was the dated one.  I'm not sure what the occasion was for this next one. But thought you might enjoy it.

OWED TO MY DEAR WIFE

You wash my hose,

You iron my clothes;

You cook my meals,

You ignore my oaths

When my temper's hot

And I boil like a pot.

You know how it feels

To be on a tough spot

With a husband who's grouchy

And lazy and slouchy.

It's misery he deals 

By being so touchy.

So when your nerves start to ravel,

And you feel you must travel

Despite hubby's appeals

In a voice coarse as gravel - 

Here's a bag that's just right 

For two days and a night

This absence reveals

You're his sweetness and light.

John H. Olson

Now I never knew anytime my Dad had a hot temper, or was grouchy, and certainly not lazy or touchy or slouchy, but it makes a good poem, I thought.

They were a very devoted couple and taught me a  lot about getting along in a marriage.

John and Elna Olson

John and Elna Olson

John and Elna started their family in Waco, Texas while working for Dad’s brother Clarence.  Vivian was born on September 28, 1923.  Sometime in the next 3 years they moved to Amarillo, Texas where I was born on May 13, 1926.  Dad worked for the Brazelton Lumber Company until I was 2 and then moved to Hereford where we lived in a company house and he worked for Rockwell Bros and Co.

The house was very close to down town. The telephone company was half a block away and the ice company was about a block away. They brought a block of ice to our house daily to keep the ice box cool.  The telephone company sometimes told a caller that we had gone to church and wouldn't be home but she would ring it anyway. It was a small town of 2500.

Dad would go to work every morning. I used to go with him when I wasn't in school. The railroad ran right along side the big lumber building and they would dump sand into the sand box. He sold BPS paint (Best Paint Sold). Vivian and I had special pairs of pants and shirts to advertise it..

He was very particular with the finances. One day he was 1 penny off, and he was looking for the mistake. Our neighbor's son asked him why he worked so hard to find the mistake. Tommy was ready to give him a penny to settle it, but that wouldn't do, according to my Dad. Tom went on to be the president of a very successful bank. I like to think that my Dad had something to do with that.

Rockwell Bros & Co.

When I was in High School Dad decided to buy a Texaco Service Station right along Highway 60. We were just 60 miles from Clovis, NM and people would often ask about what time they might get to Clovis. The speed limit was 60 miles an hour, so Dad would look at his watch and tell them the time it was at that time in Hereford. Yes, at the state line the time changed from Central to Mountain time.


Since he no longer worked for Rockwell Bros. we had to buy a house, which we did. It was further from town past the street called 25 Mile Avenue. I was in high school by then.

Dad was very proud that he was known for having good service and insisted that all cars that came in for a wash job, had to be very polished. This is Dad checking the windows on a car that had been polished.

This was all happening during WWII and help was not really plentiful, so I enjoyed helping out when I wasn't in school. Kerosene was 17 cents a gallon, Firechief was 19 and Skychief was 21! If I remember correctly we had to pump the gas up into the top and then put it in the cars, until we got new pumps which were more like today's pumps and easier to use.


One of the guys who worked for Dad challenged me to change a truck tire. Those were the days when you didn't have all equipment that is used today. I pried off the rim, got the tire open enough to pull out the tube, patched the tube and put it all back together. I don't know how long it took, but it wasn't a short project.

This picture is me, trying to get all the water spots and dirt and grime off a car that someone brought in to be cleaned and polished.

During the war Mother took a job with the USO that had started when a prisoner of war camp came to the outskirts of town. I would also go there to play pingpong with the guys when they came into town. I'll have to admit that I got to be pretty good at it. I also enjoyed going to the dances where the guys from the camp got an orchestra together and some of them told of playing with the "Big Bands". I had fun dancing.


I graduated from Hereford High School in May of 1943 and that fall I went to Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.


In the spring of 1946 Dad sold the service station and he and Mother moved back to Waco, Texas. But that's another story.

Who's Boss

WHO’S BOSS

When people start out on the journey of life,
Happily mated, as husband and wife,
The sun seems to shine, and the skies to be blue,
The world even, seems to be turning for two.

The two seem so sure that they only are one,

That they never will quarrel, not even in sun.

He thinks she is right, she’s sure that he knows

And so it will be, down to life’s very close.

But after a while, there’s a bit of a strife.

As to who shall decide things, the husband or wife.
He is sure he is right, and she thinks that she knows,

Sometimes (in the paper) the two come to blows.

But you, my dear friends, never had any strife

Since ever you started as husband and wife.

You’ve been living, in spite of all doubts and all fears,

In the most perfect harmony , twenty-five years.

Through sunshine and shadow, thru profit and loss

For twenty-five years, you both have been “Boss”.

And tonight you’re congenial, as never before,

So we hope you’ll be “Boss” for twenty-five more.

December 15, 1916
Leila Hodgson

Maybe we should all take a lesson from the Boss line. The Bosses stayed together for another 25 years!

Their 50th Wedding anniversary Kenneth, Elna, Evalina, Wallace, Andrew, Mabel,Hazel

Grandchildren with Grandparents Back row L to R Robert Cleland, Polly C., Betty Boss, Marjorie C., Burton C.

Bottom row Andy Boss, Grandmother, Douglas B., Grandfather, Janet B, Gary B.