David Williams (1951)

Denton and large family moved in two doors west of my house. (Anson Worley was three doors East.) Fresh from a farm in Iowa, they soon adjusted. Denton and I were best friends for a while, until he and Anson ran together, and Danny Buis and I ran together, all from Washington Elementory in LaHabra.

I remember Denton yelling across our backyards that Japan had attacked Pearly Harbor. For the next few years, we played war. Denton and I built a high treehouse across the street from my house in a tall Eucalyptus tree. We had a candle for light inside, and the door was gunny sack. We peeled strings from that sack, lit them, then dropped them to the ground. We pretended they were Japanese Zeros shot down trailing smoke. 

Later, we heard my mom scream. Then we found that the sack door had caught fire and we were trapped 50 feet above ground. I stood up, just tall enough to break thru the ceiling, but my head was stuck. Then Denton also crashed the ceiling, breaking the boards that had my head stuck. We climbed on top the treehouse, looking for a way down. My brother Jim climbed up and told us to slide down a certain limb. It was scary sliding down, almost upside down. But we made it.

Denton left high school early and worked for his dad as a carpenter til he joined the Navy. He visited once when home on leave, and surprised me that he had grown to about 6'-6". He and Anson became firemen in LaHabra for a long time.

Dave Williams, "51

Sharon Smith (Gibson) (1961)

What a fun memory you shared, Dave. It reminds me of the simple times we all had growing up in a kinder era. Thank you for sharing. Do kids today have memories like that? I think not !
(Sharon Smith - FUHS 1961)