Special Note—This post is about slide Carousel 6 in the trove of carousels that have been stored in my office closet here in San Antonio for a number of years. The quantity of slides, negatives and photo albums is a bit staggering. My intention is to explore and digitize these archives on a daily basis, as much as possible.
Carousel 6 contains 100 slides. The first 54 slides document my parent’s trip to Washington DC, Mount Vernon, Monticello and environs, Colonial Williamsburg and the Gettysburg National Cemetery. About half the slides were purchased and the other half were processed June ’79. So this trip took place probably in May or June of 1979.
At this time Bob had just recently graduated from Utah State University, I was working in Salt Lake City at the Carlton Hotel (Cheryl and I had separated in February) and Marilyn was a young mom in Genoa—Meg being one year old. Mom and Dad were living in Billings.
From what I have been able to piece together, at this time, their trip began at Christ Church in Old Town Alexandria, Va. The slides, except for the purchased slides, are not labeled and, at this time, I have found no notes about them.
From Old Town Alexandria they proceeded to Mount Vernon and Monticello and environs. Then to Colonial Williamsburg.
Inexplicably, there are no photos with either of my parents in them and most of the photos were not the best quality.
Next stops were Colonial Williamsburg, Washington D.C. and then to the Gettysburg National Cemetery. And that is all the info I have on this trip taken in the summer of 1979 by my parents.
Carousel 6 continues with slides of Bob’s graduation from Utah State University, June 2, 1979, in Logan, Utah. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Unfortunately his name is misspelled in the program as Robert J. Hays and is listed under the group heading Magna Cum Laude. There is no heading for Summa Cum Laude in the program.
Carousel 6 continues with 6 slides with a process date of Sep ’66. One of the photos identifies this batch was taken in the High Uintas Primitive Area. There is a single, washed-out photo of Bob, the rest are photos of Moon Lake. I have no recollection of being on this hike. At this time I was in my Senior Year at Olympus High School in Salt Lake, Bob was in the 7th grade at Olympus Junior High School. Marilyn was beginning her Junior year at Montana State University in Bozeman.
Fortunately, one of the six slides is a trail sign that identified the location for me. From there I used Google Earth to find out what lake was in the High Uintas and Voila! Moon Lake.
A Mystery—The remaining 21 slides in the carousel have no slide info, date stamps, or labels. They are mostly photos of rough mountain scenery. Going through these I was thinking that maybe these were taken in late summer of 1979 in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. At that time, for a period of about 6 weeks in July and August, I worked for a company called AERC in Salt Lake City. A few of the photos show individuals present but no closeup shots or recognizable figures to me. We were allowed to take a camera with us on our field surveys and I remember having mine with me. But, the individuals look more like some of Bob’s friends, possibly. So these may have been taken by Bob and his crew of friends, perhaps in the environs of Salt Lake City or Logan. I tend to this possibility because two of the mountains show a steep climb (photos below) and my AERC experience was basically surveying along contours as our crew worked its way along the side of a mountain area. No steep climbing involved.
All in all—Carousel 6 is a bit of a disappointment. Lack of notes made the east coast trip not very memorable. Twenty-five of the 54 slides were purchased and the slides my father took were poorly lit for the most part. On the up side, the graduation photos of Bob were a nice find.
I would like to take this opportunity to provide some information about my brother. Bob graduated with honors and then completed his Master’s Degree in English Literature at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He taught English Literature and Shakespeare at the University until moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he opened Burnt Horses, A Book Store. He married Beverly Antaeus in 1982 and together they operated Bridging the Worlds, a sanctuary for abused and homeless dogs. My brother passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer, February 6, 2008, Santa Fe. He was 53 years old.
I’m including a few photos (not part of Carousel 6) from my motorcycle trip of 1993 when I visited Bob and Beverly in Santa Fe—
My brother was a remarkable soul. He was very creative. He and Beverly researched and designed the straw-bale structure that was environmentally friendly. The straw bales gave the structure its shape and provided insulation. The straw bale walls were stuccoed and have the appearance of adobe bricks. It was oriented to the sun to take advantage of sunlight in the winter and shade in the summer. The house is solar powered. And he figured out how to get satellite reception and later access to the Internet. He shared his innovations with inquiring neighbors.
I wish he was here to share his stories.
