Gary ...trying out for the Yankees... Fantasy Camp...his dream to play professional ball... well not really but he did get it over the plate...lots of our friends were there to cheer him on.... Raptors won bigtime that night... we had seats right behind home plate...
Our cat Gig would never run away to join the circus.. He couldn't been trained to do anything.... He's very entertaining all on his own..... though I'd like to shoot him out of a cannon somedays.
This is Leah Christiana (My friend Mollie White's daughter). She is very high up at this point... My pictures were taken from very far away, so the 'steady' factor wasn't the greatest.
This is Alex Ramon...world famous magician and ringmaster of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus... he is the son of my high school girlfriend, Mollie White. Her daughter Leah is in the show also, a lovely trapeze artist... They were on The View recently, where Alex and Leah levitated Whoopie Goldberg...... Gary, Christian, and I went to see the "Greatest Show on Earth" Zing Zang Zoom last night. It was so wonderful. Mollie arranged for her son, STAR of the show (if you don't count the lions, elephants, etc.) to meet us afterward. He was darling and gracious... I took pictures. He (and Leah) look just like Mollie..... I gave him some pictures of his mother & his sweet grandfather ---our Red Bluff High School counselor, Mr. White. It was so nice to meet Mollie's son.
Mr. Cowboy Van Hoosen discussing horses and cotton candy with Kami.
Do you think the original handcart pioneer dressed like this? Kami and Macy's gr.gr.gr.gr grandmother pulled a handcart like this from Illinois to Ogden in 1852.
Daddy & daughter at the VIP luncheon at the Bistro on 25th Street.
This is a fabulous book, A Grand Celebration,put out by my friend Judy Anderson detailing the history of the Ogden Rodeo Days and the Queens.... she had me signing books for a while at her booth.
Desiree Cooper-Larson was the Director of the Ogden Pioneer ays Celebration this year.. first time a woman has held this job. Great Job! She even brought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Dee Events Center on their 80th anniversary. Great Show!
Alan Hall, Chairman of the Board of Ogden Pioneer Days Celebrations, looks over the display case.
The Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden has a section called How the West Was Fun. they asked me to put together a display for the rodeo museum section using my mother's things from 1936.. It turned out nice.
This is Suzanne Pinegar Osmond.. Love Her.... She's Marie Osmond's sister-in-law, married to Alan and she had 8 (EIGHT) sons (they are The Osmond Second Generation, and they are VERY GOOD...) We were classmates at BYU, then she left to marry Alan, and I left for Europe...We also lived a block apart for two years when we went to UCLA..... It was so fun to see her again after so many years... She and her husband (who suffers from MS) were the Grand Marshalls for the Rodeo/Parade.
Current Royalty
Eliza Jane, one of my darling Jr. Whoopee Girls.... standing next to the original Whoopee Girl.
Jana Rae Shaw..awesome woman... cousin, in a complicated way...... mover and shaker with everything rodeo....poses with my daughter, Melissa... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DID!
David Osmond .. a great singer and performer. He is one of the 8 sons of my friend, Suzanne Osmond...married to the oldest of the performing Osmonds, Alan. David was the Grand Marshall of the Children's Parade.
These cuties are my Jr. Whoopee Girls... I made the 6 outfits, then after they yee-hawed their way down the parade route, the outfits were donated to the children's museum... a section was built called "How the West Was Fun" and the centerpiece was a huge shadow box with my mother's museum pieces I arranged in it...from 1936.
This is as close as I can get to my mother these days. Gone 15 years. But isn't this cool?...to have your own beautiful mother memorialized on a horse in front of the Children's Musuem? (however, the artist took some liberties with the skimpy outfit... eeeeeee)
This is what I started the first day of school with...great introduction for Walt Whitman's poem, "Oh Captain, My Captain" --about the ending of the Civil War and the death of President Lincoln....wonderful metaphors comparing a ship and a captain to Pres. Lincoln and his 'ship of state'.
O Captain My Captain a poem by Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still; My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will; The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
My friend Mike Ramey sent me this.... it is INCREDIBLE you'll be surprise at all the twists and turns..it'll have you sitting on the edge of your seat.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
This is my mother's original 'Queen 1936' sash..wow..75 years old. Macy, 4 Kami, 6 On the float, just before it started out...we were #11 & #12...there were about 150 entries...the parade started at 9:00 am, and the last entry finished around 11:30 am.
My three darlings... the queen bloodline runs true... This picture was taken by a Deseret News reporter. She was also on the Channel 5 and 13 news that night. For the feature parade story, she beat out the The Days of 47 SLC Parade, soldiers, bands, the Osmonds, assorted LDS Church General Authories (oops) and politicians. Go Girls in the Short Skirt! The caption reads: BETH SCHLANKER/Standard-Examiner Melissa Fowler — the granddaughter of Lorene Donaldson, the Ogden Pioneer Day Rodeo queen, or “Whoopee Girl,” in 1936 — rides atop a float with daughters (from left) Kami, 6, and Macy, 4, during the Pioneer Day Parade on Friday. The float is a re-creation of the 1964 parade float Fowler’s grandmother rode when organizers were reflecting on 30 years of the Whoopee Girl image. .
I was in the parade, too, sitting on the back of a cute yellow convertible in front of their float waving to the crowd... The placard on the side of the car read "Anne House, Daughter of the Original Whoopee Girl"..... Isn't that a trip? My 15 mins of fame lasted 15 blocks. The best was when so many of my former students yelled "Mrs. House!" Yep, that thar's me in the black cowboy hat... Yee Ha ....
Melissa and her daughters Kami and Macy were asked to ride on the float for the Ogden Pioneer Days Parade (24th of July Utah holiday). They flew in from Minnesota Tuesday. They were to represent my mother, the symbol of Ogden..and a famous pin-up girl for the last 75 years. 15 blocks down Washington Ave.... thousands of people cheering them on.Wish mother were here. She should have been the one. But Melissa was the star, in her whoopee girl outfit, huge hat, white boots , diamond belt, and swinging her lariat. The little girls were PRECIOUS. We were also recognized at the rodeo on Tuesday night and the finale, Friday night on the 24th. I'll post more photos when I get more time.
David was the Grand Marshall of the Children's Parade.
This is my mother's original 'Queen 1936' sash..wow..75 years old.
This picture was taken by a Deseret News reporter. She was also on the Channel 5 and 13 news that night. For the feature parade story, she beat out the The Days of 47 SLC Parade, soldiers, bands, the Osmonds, assorted LDS Church General Authories (oops) and politicians. Go Girls in the Short Skirt!
Melissa and her daughters Kami and Macy were asked to ride on the float for the Ogden Pioneer Days Parade (24th of July Utah holiday). They flew in from Minnesota Tuesday. They were to represent my mother, the symbol of Ogden..and a famous pin-up girl for the last 75 years. 15 blocks down Washington Ave.... thousands of people cheering them on.Wish mother were here. She should have been the one. But Melissa was the star, in her whoopee girl outfit, huge hat, white boots , diamond belt, and swinging her lariat. The little girls were PRECIOUS. We were also recognized at the rodeo on Tuesday night and the finale, Friday night on the 24th.
