Clay: Reflecting on 67 years of being alive

This is a two-part series about my life.

Today is my birthday. I was born in Ephrata at the Columbia Basin Hospital on July 3, 1947 at 11:45 p.m. There was not a hospital in Moses Lake at that time. Mom said I looked like a football, because I weighed over 11 pounds. My name was Dennis Laurel Wollard.

My birth certificate shows my father was Willis Clarence (Bill) Wollard, a machinist in Moses Lake. Mom, Enid Artina Grimshaw Wollard, is listed as a housewife.

Moses Lake, Ephrata and other towns in the area were busy places in 1947, with preparations for the arrival of irrigation water and the completion of the Columbia Basin Project.

Next I remember us living in Oregon, in a house near the Willamette River. I understand my father worked at a dairy. My memories center on this man taking me goose hunting several times at 3 years old and him shooting a few geese.

Then we lived on a houseboat in Portland. This was about the time my sister, Denise, was born. Mom wanted twins, to name Dennis and Denise, and although we arrived four years apart, the names stuck.

Our next home was in an apartment on the second floor of a building. A tavern was located on the corner of the block and at the bottom of the stairs leading to the apartment.

This was not a happy time for the family. Mom says Bill would work and receive a paycheck, but the tavern was between his work and home. He had no money in his pocket when he arrived at the apartment on payday.

Mom says all she had for food was flour, so she fed me a flour and water mixture. I remember this man slapping Mom during an argument and when I ran to her defense, he slapped me.

There was no money for Mom to pay the rent or buy food, so she called her sister, Nadine Driggs, who lived in Moses Lake. My aunt drove to Portland with her daughters, Janice and Cheryl, picked us up. We lived with the Driggs family for some time in the Guffin Eccles area.

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Clay: Reflecting on 67 years of being alive