Annie Clara George ^{2 3 4}

  General Notes:

Annie Clara George's life written by herself - up to about 1980

I was born on Rifle Creek, five and one half miles north of Rifle, in a cabin. My parents were hard working people. We were poor, but everyone was in the same boat. At the time of my birth my parents were leasing 120 acres, which they soon bought. Uncle Harry, Dad's brother, married Mama's sister soon after by birth. They farmed together. Times were hard and prices cheap. The general store gave credit between crops.

My grandparents lived near by. They had two kids at home. Aunt Margaret had finished teachers normal as it was called in those days. I started to school. The building still stands. It is the club house now. Grandpa was blind. Grandma was a good cook and a wonderful house keeper and she sewed a lot. In those days we made everything we wore.

I started to School to Aunt Margaret in the fall on 1918. The next year Rifle Creek consolidated with Rifle. The district bought a bus which I rode twelve years.

Bud started to school the second year the bus ran. It was hard. The road was rough and narrow. We left at eight in the morning and got back at five. The bus was cold.

By the time I was nine years old there were seven of us kids, five boys and three girls. The first World War was being fought. Prices were high.

We had a good life at home. Every one worked and played hard. We had lots of friends. Santa Clause was always on time with something for everybody. One year he brought a little farm wagon. He brought me a rag doll. Santa always ate some pie. One time he brought a real pony. We named her Fannie. She had a will of her own. She could really dump you.

Time passed each year with its joys and sorrows, but it seemed we got through it all. All of our children diseases. Florence had whooping cough bad. Clyde had a hard time with measles.

Dad had a spell of rheumatism. He was in bed for a year. Uncle Harry did the farming. Dad finally got to where he could get around on crutches. He did some work for the county.

The next spring in April another brother. When Bill was about two, Mama had a gallstone operation which was a bad one. She went to the hospital in Glenwood. In those days Glenwood was a long hard trip. A neighbor and Grandma took care of us kids and the canning.

One Sunday, Dad took us girls up to see Mama. It was a long slow trip. It was the first time I had eaten a meal in town. It was a long time before Mama was able to work.

I entered high school in the fall of 1928. Grandpa had one of his eyes operated on. He could see us kids for the first time. School had always been an ordeal for me. I couldn't enter any of the activities which made it rough. Bud entered the next year and Clyde the next, but neither graduated. There wasn't any money anywhere. Many banks closed their doors, farm products were cheap.

Dad and the boys milked twelve or fifteen cows. We shipped the cream which bought the groceries we needed. We sold eggs and a few turkeys. All of us kids were 4-H members. There were lots of kids on the creek. We had all attended Sunday School in the old school house. We also had many neighborhood dances. Our parents would attend too. We would take sandwiches and make coffee in a wash boiler. Some of the neighbors would play. We had many Thanksgiving dinners where the whole community shared in dinner, games, supper and dance.

There was plenty of work for everyone at home. For years, us kids had a beet patch we attended. In the fall we got the money. I used to feel so badly because I wasn't strong enough to work in the beet field, but there was plenty of dishes to be washed. Dad and Uncle Harry bought a gasoline washer. We pulled it on a stone boat between two homes. This was a big help because we had big washings.

The years passed. We had another brother. Graduation came. I was glad it was over. We were still living in the old house. Another brother came to live with us. Ruth graduated from high school and went to nurses training that fall. Bud went out to see what the world was made of. I thought the folds had struggled long enough. There just wasn't money enough so that they could go and do some of the things they wanted to do. Eight kids was a big family but as time went on I found out what real joy those last three became to them.

I hardly knew what to do with myself. There was plenty of work to do, but I wanted more. I could sew, which I did. I had a horse to ride. I had lots of friends, but most of them were getting married to have families. Grandpa died. Grandma lived in a little house near by and I spent a lot of time with her. It was empty time and wasted days.

I forgot to tell of the canyon which was about ten miles up the creek. It is a lovely place. Grandma and Grandpa lived at the falls several years. It was a real treat to go up there. Sometimes we would pack a lunch and spend the day picnicking. We always enjoyed the big trees, cool grass and the crystal clear stream of water. Just beyond the canyon is where we ran the cattle in the summer. It was an effort to got up there, so many things had to be done before we could go and so many jobs when we returned.

As time passed we continued our labor on the ranch. Prices higher. We bought another 160 acres. We hired several men, raised more cattle, hay and corn. About this time Dad decided to run for county commissioner but he lost the election.

The basement of the new house was dug and little by little Dad's dream of a new house came true. The talk of a second world war was beginning. Draft boards were being set up. All the men and boys had to register. Ration books appeared. Clyde was among the first to go. Burt and Walter got married. We had been in the new house for a couple of years. It was great, so nice and warm. We sure enjoyed it. We had a pump in the kitchen and a big basement for our fruit.

At this time, I decided to go to Grand Junction to see if I could work for wages. I got several jobs but I couldn't do it. I returned soon after Pearl Harbor. The war got worse. Walter and Burt were both called, each leaving a family. In due time Bill and Gene joined the Navy. Dale was called after the war was over.

Grandma had moved to Rifle where she lived for a few years. I spent a lot of time with her. She had several strokes. Aunt Margaret took her out to her home where she died. I sure missed Grandma. She was a wonderful lady.

Before Burt left for the service, I went with him to a dance on Divide Creek. I met a man, we liked each other. He lived with his father on Divide Creek. They had a ranch and ran cattle. Albert was twenty years older than me. We were married on my thirtieth birthday. They owned one of the better homes. We lived in a little house in the back. The spring after we got married Dad Hansen's cook got married, so we moved into the main house. I had plenty of work. The men were good to me and we had everything we wanted. We raised a big garden. I canned everything, of course we didn't have much sugar. The war still went on. We made trips to Denver each fall to ship the cattle. We stayed in hotels which was a real treat for me, because I had never slept in a hotel before. I had been in Denver a few times to see Ruth and Bud who lived there. They were both married and had families. I enjoyed the big stores and theaters.

We didn't have electricity on the ranch yet. We had a battery radio. I saw my first T.V. set in a store window.

The war was over. The boys came home. One of our cousins was missing. He was never found.

With all of this, think of the changes we saw in Rifle and on the creek. New cars, new homes, new stores. But I learned things were nothing to what the next few years would bring. Neighbors drifted apart, even families didn't see each other very often. We did all get home once. All of us under Dad's roof. It was great.

I only wish I had the word power and wisdom to describe the feeling I had for the people on Rifle Creek the first thirty years of my life. They were great people. My life as Mrs. Hansen went on. The many things we did, cattle raising became difficult. The date to turn them out became later each year, the time to bring them in earlier. Good farm help was hard to get. An old friend of the family came and Dad Hansen hired him.

We had been married three years when I became pregnant and had an operation which I came through with flying colors. Within a few weeks I was doing the work again. I always did more canning than was necessary.

Before the war was over, Albert and I went on a trip to California. It was a nice trip. I was kind of disappointed because I just saw more mountains. I did enjoy the ocean and the big waves.

Spring came again on Divide Creek. Spring is a hard time of the year. Water is so short. You work so hard to get over the hay as fast as you can.

That fall Albert began to fail. The doctor said he had to have a gallstone operation. The operation was a success but the cancer claimed him the next March.

Afer his death, I moved back to my old room and my old way of life. It had been a little over five years. I want to add this. Bill pulled me out of Hansen's at noon and R.E.A. electricity was turned on that afternoon. Rifle Creek didn't have any yet.

Dick, Dad Hansen's only son, moved into the house with Dad. This arrangement didn't work out very well. So one day Dad phoned me and asked if he could buy a house in Rifle, would I keep house for him? I said yes. He bought a nice brick house and we fixed it up and made a nice home. We continued to go to Denver each fall. Our next door neighbors were people I had known all of my life. I could spend time with them. I joined some of the clubs and lodges. I had joined the Rifle Creek club in 1933. I am still a member. The old family friend Art Rule came to visit often.

Soon after I moved to town, Florence began to fail in health. She had an attack of rheumatic fever which impaired her heart and was in bed for several months. Mama took care of her day and night. The folks finally took her to Denver. She improved and soon could get around, even drive her car. Her and Arilis were divorced and she was miserable. She died a few years later and never gave up loving her husband.

Aunt Margaret died about this time. She had lived to see her family grown.

The young boys had chosen wives. I forgot to tell you about the wonderful wife Clyde had brought home from Texas. She has been so good to me. She is a wonderful person. Burt and Clyde run the ranches. Burt has three kids, Clyde two.

Cattle prices are good. Everyone has a new car. The talk of T.V. has hit the country. I saw one in Denver and wondered what it would be like to own one. Even Rifle Creek has electricity. I had an electric sewing machine which was my pride and joy. Dad Hansen was getting old but he still drove his car. One day in May he helped Dick drive the cattle to the pasture. He came home and become unconscious during the night and he slipped away the next morning without a word for anyone. I got an estate from him and soon married Art Rule.

We went to Silt to live. My life there was very wonderful. Art was good to me and the community accepted me. We joined the church, Lions Club and the lodge. We had a cute little house and a garden patch and enough to live on. We were janitors for the church and the lodge hall. I went through the lodge there. One of the best friends I ever had lived there. In all it was a good life. Then we decided to sell the house. I don't know why people do things like that. How many times I have wished I still owned it.

The prices skyrocketed. Dad got a big offer for the old home, so the folks retired. They bought a house in Rifle. In fact, they bought next door to where I had lived. He remodeled and it was real nice but it didn't seem like home. Dad was so unhappy in Rifle. The first summer he took a job riding for the Pool on Rifle Creek. Mama raised a big garden in the back.

Clyde bought a little country store and also got a job in Rifle. Walter owned a ranch. Burt bought a dude ranch. Gene was the only one left on Rifle Creek and he worked in Rifle. Dale decided to be a heavy equipment driver so he bought a trailer home where he could live.

While all this was happening I seemed to be having more trouble. Little things disappeared around Silt. To my sorrow I found out it was Art. I was so embarrassed, because nothing like this had ever happened to me before. It was unbelievable. We soon got a divorce. We were living in a trailer then.

I got a job taking care of three kids. The parents were separated. The mother worked. The hours were long and difficult. The children missed their parents. They weren't old enough to know what it was all about. I worked two years.

Mama had needed an operation for a long time. She decided to have it so I went home to be with Dad while she was in the hospital. It proved to be a real serious operation. She again had a hard struggle. At the end of one month Mama died.

No one will ever know what a loss I suffered. Others had always gotten rough with me when I got so lonely. The only person I could turn to was gone. Dad was a wonderful man full of honor and respect for his family and fellow man. Each of us in our own way tried to find comfort without Mama. If she had taken care of herself sooner, but she always thought of others. It was God's will. We did find some happiness together. Dad needed a cook or someone in the home. I sold the trailer to a niece that just got married. I hated to leave my friends in Silt.

The years passed. Dad had a stroke then another that paralyzed his left hand and did some brain damage. He hired a man, a friend of ours to stay with us (Troy Morgan) to drive the truck for him. Troy fixed a camper on the truck. He took Dad to the hills. We all went to Yellow Stone Park. They went to Frontier Days. He had the Moose Lodge, he joined when I was a little girl. Dad got a lot of pleasure out of the lodge. In the fall he had his first operation. Troy couldn't stay any more so we hired a woman. Each month he got worse and finally the doctor said he had a cancer. He was so sick and depressed.

While all of this was going on several nieces and nephews got married and started families. The niece that bought my trailer took it to Climax and in a little while she bought a new one. She had just lived in it a few months when it burned down. Their two kids and another child burned with it.

Sister Ruth's health was beginning to fail. All of the brothers were doing good.

Dad finally got so we could bring him home. We hired a practical nurse to stay with him. Little by little he got worse. The doctor hadn't got all of the cancer.

I started to got with and old friend of mine. His wife had been dead for several years. We had a good time. Bert Randolph was his name. I had know him all my life. We were both so lonesome. He owned a nice car. You see the nurse had taken all duties. I couldn't do anything to suit her. Just sew for myself.

Dad lived until June. He was like Mama, had a hard death. Bert and I were married soon after Dad's death. We spent the summer in our beloved canyon. Bert was so much a part of it and it will always be a little bit of heaven to me.

I am not going to write about the next five years of my life because I want to write about the changes in Rifle and my beloved creek.

The old time families are all gone. The older ones dead. My generation has moved away to find better jobs. Our old home has been sold and re-sold. There is a golf course just above our home. The Fish and Game owns lots of the canyon. They made lots of campsites with fireplaces and tables. There is a fish hatchery at the mouth of the canyon and a big lake just inside the gap.

There are lots of changes in Rifle, new homes, a nursing home, a hospital, and two new schools.

Now I'm going to put my story away. Some day I may add to it. I had great pleasure in writing it. I hope who ever reads it will enjoy it. If I have made it sound like I had a rough life, I really haven't, only lots of it hasn't been what I would have liked it to have been.

It is 1980 now. I lived in the trailer about four years after Bert's death. I went a lot and I also played cards.

Oil shale being thought of again. The Navy had been experimenting with it a few years back. Rifle really boomed. Home after home was being built. A large trailer court and another large school and a large City Market.

I spent two summers with Burt at his guest ranch cleaning cabins and helping with meals. It was hard work but I sure enjoyed it.

The second fall I took a trip to Neveda. Aunt Ida and Uncle Harry lived out there. Uncle Harry was in bad shape. I went by bus. I stayed the weekend with Bert's nephew in Ogden. We had grown up knowing each other. He had a nice wife and family. We sure had a good time.

I spend a lot of time sewing and going to clubs and lodge and playing cards.

Rifle was sure growing. So many new people. Prices were going up.

Two years ago Troy lost his wife. She had a cancer. She sure had a struggle.

About this time there was talk of a senior housing project being built. I put my name in for one. In November I moved in. I have three rooms and a bath. The rent on the trailer space was so high and with high prices of gas and electricity and groceries, living was high. There are eight buildings up here. Four units in each building. There is a center building where the office is and a big room for parties and meetings. There is a man who takes care of it. There have been two deaths, one marriage, one went to a nursing home and two moved away.

Soon after I moved, I fell and broke my hip. I was all winter getting over that.

In August I had my teeth pulled. I have been sick all winter. I don't seem to get them to fit. ⁴

Annie married Carl Albert Hansen, son of Carl Gustan Hansen and Rebecca E. Hansen, on 22 Oct 1942 in Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado.¹ (Carl Albert Hansen was born on 26 Mar 1891 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa,^{7 8} died on 7 Mar 1948 in Glenwood Springs, Garfield County, Colorado ^{4 8} and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado ^{4 9}.). The cause of his death was cancer.

  Marriage Notes:

Carl and Annie were married by Rev. Otto B. Duckworth. Their witnesses were Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Thomas.

Annie next married Arthur Rule in 1954. (Arthur Rule was born on 27 Feb 1892 ⁴ and died on 14 May 1971 ⁴.)

Annie next married Wilbert Lester Randolph on 23 Jun 1966. (Wilbert Lester Randolph was born on 27 Feb 1892 in Rifle, Garfield County, Colorado ¹⁰ and died on 14 May 1971 ¹¹.)