Mom played in a mission bridge group organised through church and the extra money they collected after the prizes were paid out went to the missions.

There were eight women who met every two weeks at each others' houses. They played 3 sets of 6 hands, changing partners after each set. When Mom had her turn to entertain it was very exciting. There would be place and score cards which had pretty pictures on and these would get written on with Table and Couple numbers and the ladies would each take one, and put 50 cents on the silver dish Judy or I handed around. They then knew who their partners were for the first set.

They played for about two hours and then had coffee and pie.  When Mom went out to make coffee, Judy or I would sit in for a hand and although the ladies seemed very suspicious of our bidding and playing, we learned quite a lot of the basics of bridge and didn't ruin the proceedings completely. There were prizes of 50 cents for top score and 25 cents for second, so the ladies didn't want their chances of prizes ruined by us messing up a good hand for them.

One of the ladies in the group was Mrs. Kavaney. She was always on a diet so they had to have some salad for her instead of pie. The lady who took care of the money and the cards was called Mrs Hulligan. She was a sour faced but very well organised lady. She lived up the road from us. It was through her that I got my first paid babysitting job.

Her daughter Delores was Kathleen's age and one summer she was home visiting and had brought her several children, at least. It was a Saturday afternoon that I had to babysit. I doubt if I got more than 10 cents an hour and I remember it as being very hard work. I was probably about 12.

The only other bridge that got played was when Conrad and Dorothy Wald came around to play with our parents. They had such a good time, drinking beer, eating peanuts or potato chips, smoking and playing bridge. None of them was a tremendously good player but they all enjoyed the evening so much and laughed and laughed. Judy and I watched and learned how to play from watching. Before long we were able to play too, and after that we played frequently with our parents.

But soon after that first job of babysitting for Mrs Hulligan's grandchildren I became quite a popular babysitter and as I seldom had anything to do on weekend evenings, babysat at least once or twice a month. I saved all my money frugally and spent the sum total of my first year of so of babysitting and bought Mom an electric fry pan.

One family I sat for a lot had four bratty children. They often stayed out very late at night, and I really earned my money. One time when I sat for them, the little boy got mattery eyes and couldn't open them. He screamed and screamed, and I didn't know what to do. I called his mother who was bar tending at the Elks, and she said it would be okay. But it didn't get better so I asked Moma to come over and between us we managed to get his eyes open.

I usually spent time doing charades and having talent shows with the kids and they thought I was a marvellous babysitter because I wasn't very strict with them. I also babysat for Cookie's uncle, Art Brady and his wife Lois who had two children, and for the Dybdal's on a few occasions. They had a younger daughter, Susie, who was only a few years younger than me, but they didn't like leaving her alone when they were out, and Karen was out too. One New Year's Eve, I babysat for her, and we spent the night telling each other ghost stories and were both terribly frightened. Karen came home from her date about midnight, but when she knocked on the door, and wanted us to open it, we were both so worried that it was a burglar that I wouldn't open it. Karen had to go to another neighbour's house and call us on the phone to tell me to open the door. I didn't get asked to baby-sit there again. I think they thought Susie should have been in bed earlier than midnight too.

Usually I got about 35 cents an hour and 50 cents for after midnight. It accumulated quickly as the people I sat for most seldom got home before 1 or 2 in the morning and one night they didn't get home until 5. I'd slept on their couch, but I couldn't really sleep proper1y as I was nervous about whether they'd had an accident or something.

We went to all the sports activities of St Mary's High School. Dad loved sports too and never missed a game and took tickets at the door each time. When we went to football games I spent more time running around with my friends and playing Red Rover than I did watching the game. But basketball I liked, especially the cheering, and the band.

We knew a lot of the families of the ball players, so the game had a personal meaning for us. Even when the games were away from Bismarck we'd listen to them faithfully on the radio. Dad had his score paper and marked down each basket, free-throw and foul.

One very good basketball player was called Duane Morris. He had lived in the next door house to ours when Judy and I were babies. He'd been about seven then. One basketball tournament Duane Morris scored about 50 points on his own. The announcer said, "Duane Morris beat Bismarck High", rather than St. Mary's beat them. Dad thought that was so funny he told that story over and over again.

Mom didn't much like sports and probably appreciated the few hours of peace and quiet on Friday nights when we went to the games. But when we got home, she always had cocoa waiting for us and sometimes we had marshmallows in it. Kathleen always called the bubbles on the top of cocoa "money". I don't know why, but it was a good thing if your cocoa had lots of money on it. We often had popcorn too, hot and lots of butter and salt on it.

We didn't get terribly involved with summer sports. But Dad and Judy went to quite a few baseball and softball games. For awhile we had a semi-professional ball team in Bismarck, but usually the games they watched were Little League. Our cousins, the Hamm boys from Jamestown played Little League baseball. Dad considered Judy like a son to him as they shared so many interests that traditionally don't appeal as much to girls.

When I was I the 8th grade, I had Mrs. Wald for my teacher and I thought she was so marvellous. She liked me too, and a lot of the kids thought I was her pet. I remember one time she was giving examples about eye colour - probably a lesson on genetics, and she said my eyes were about the darkest she'd ever seen. Everyone tumed to look at me. I was a tall skinny awkward gangling 13 year old. I was 5'8" tall, near1y the tallest in my class and weighed only 100 pounds. I had the longest arm span in the class including the boys, because we measured. I wasn't proud of that, but embarrassed.

Margaret Sitter had a mixed dancing party that year and I was allowed to go. I managed to upset that proceeding too, as I helped with the food. I told the others that I'd mixed soap in with the kool-aid - which I hadn't, but of course they all felt sick afterwards. I had a ride home that night with David Wald. His brother Jimmy was in my class and he told his Mom about the soap and she told my mom. But nobody would then believe me when I told them I'd made it up.

Mrs. Wald was a short plumpish woman with such a friendly way about her that everyone liked her. She had blondish-gray hair and was very attractive and sort of flirty. Her husband Conrad was very tall and thin and sober looking. We liked him too.

After Judy's class had graduated from the grade school, there were a few days when the other children were still at school. At Mass, the Epistle and Gospel were normally read out loud by eighth grade boys and of course there weren't any of those around anymore. So Mary Tschider and I decided that I would read the Epistle and she would read the Gospel since we didn't feel any of the current seventh grade boys were capable of it. I did my bit, although it came out a bit shakey, but Mary backed down and didn't do hers. When Mass was over I came in for prolonged criticism. "Girls are not to be heard aloud at Mass." Mother was rather surprised when she heard a familiar voice reading but didn't turn around and thought it could not actually be me.

I was the editor of the school newspaper when I was in the 8th grade, and also of the class annual.  It was a fun year and I enjoyed all the extra projects we did.

Judy Sloniker, another classmate and I ran the school shop when we were in the eightth grade. We didn't get paid for it, but we got our school meals free. It meant being tied up each lunch hour, but we enjoyed it. However we got in trouble because of it.

I always had a sweet tooth, and didn't always have spending money. I tended to hoard my money anyway, rather than spending it on candy. But of course we were surrounded by candy in the shop and I guess both Judy and I found it a great temptation. So we ate some candy, and rather than paying for it, we said we had charge accounts, and mentally decided how much money we owed the shop. We didn't intend to steal and didn't think of it as stealing. But it was, of course, because we never got around to settling up the debt.

Then one day, Father Simon called each of us into his office. He had done the books and realised that a certain amount of money was missing each week compared to the candy sold. I admitted that I'd taken it, and I presume Judy did too. The next day I put a dollar in the cash box. I doubt if that really covered the amount I'd eaten, but that was all was willing to part with. But we didn't take any more candy after that. I don't think Father Simon ever told my parents about it. If he did, they never mentioned it to me, and I never told them. I was ashamed of it, and I finally was made to realise what we'd done was wrong. But, I suppose if we hadn't been caught we probably would have continued.

Another thing we did relating to the school store was bad too, but we didn't get caught. We stored the spare boxes of candy in a large climb-in cupboard that could only be reached by a ladder, way down by the gym. So we would invite friends up to this high cupboard, and then, as an initiation ceremony, push the ladder away, and they would have to jump down. Judy and I did it first, and so felt it was not overly risky. Nobody broke a leg, thank goodness.

We had several money raising projects like pancake breakfasts and traditionally each top class would present the school with something bought with the proceeds. Our year bought a new vestment for the priests, and a new altar cloth. I do remember spilling hot maple syrup down one man's shirt.

But soon our years of primary school were at an end, and we felt almost grown up when we took our places at St. Mary's High School.