Interesting question......how old do you have to be to write your autobiography? One person said they were too young and didn't have enough experiences to make it interesting. Another person said that now that he was old enough he was going to get started. He died the next day. The right answer...........you're never to young to start: but there's one thing to remember, your autobiography should be a lifelong endeavor. You may rewrite it dozens of time as your perspective matures. But you need to write it so you won't forget.
You may not know this, but I wrote one when I was a student at BYU. It needs to be updated.
About ten years ago, Grandpa (Charles Cash Rampton, Jr.) decided to write his Life History. That was when he was still able to sit down at his computer and type. And what he typed was remarkable. Below is the first third. Next week and the week after, I will add the rest with some comments and photos.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Life History of Charles Cash Rampton Jr.
l, Charles Cash Rampton Jr. was born on June 14th 1929 at Salt Lake City, Salt
Lake County, Utah.
I was born in the Holy Cross Hospital (l think). I was the first born of two children
to my parents. My sister Janet Claire was born two years later on June 2nd 1931
in the same hospital.
I have been told that I was any colicky baby and quite a pest to my parents, who
were awakened often by my cries.
They lived in the Elaine Apartments near downtown Salt Lake City. Sometime
before my fifth birthday they moved to a residence at 938 South15th East, which
was in the Yale Ward of the Bonneville Stake. We lived there until about March
of 1948.
I was named after my father Charles Cash Rampton. He was born in Bountiful,
Davis County, Utah on December 24th 1901. My mother was Blanche Ruby
Worthen. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 23rd 1926. My
grandfather was Charles Hyrum Rampton and his second wife was Wilda
Cash, my grandmother. We called her "Grammie" They were married January 31,1894 in the Salt Lake Temple.
My father worked for the Walker Bank & Trust Company all his professional life. Some of the bank officers and my Uncle Charles R. Mabey, a former governor of the State Of Utah, helped dad purchase a home on 15th East. These were very difficult financial times I was told. Without help we couldn't have obtained the home.
When I was two years old, a baby sister was born in the family. I was very
indignant over this because she stole the spotlight from me, but as she got older
the interests of my parents were turned to both of us and so it has been since.
A short time after we moved into our home, I bumped into a very large vase that
stood on a low table and it broke. Everyone was very angry with me and I got my
first spanking that I can remember. Everyone felt bad including me.
Soon after we moved in, dad purchased a very large radio that sat on the floor with four legs; one with tubes in it. Dad had to change the tubes often. It was hard to know which one was bad. I used to like to lie in front of the radio and play with the knobs and my toys. There were a lot of wonderful radio programs in the thirties and forties. I used to like Jack Armstrong, the all-American boy. You
used your imagination and you felt you were right in the middle of the story.
Our home had two bedrooms, Janet and I shared one bedroom for many years,
one bathroom, a large kitchen, a dining room with a swinging door, and a nice
living room with a fake fireplace. The living room had two large windows to look
out of on cold winter days while waiting for Dad to come home. We also had a
full basement with a furnace room; washroom in which we hung cloths to dry on
cold winter days; a finished rumpus room, which I used as a bedroom in later
years; and a food storage room where we kept the bottled fruit and preserves
that mom put up.
Next to the furnace room was a coal storage room or bin to keep coal in for the
winter. About twice a year a big coal truck would back into the driveway and
dump a load of coal in our bin. We felt secure when the coal room was full. The
coal had to be shoveled into the furnace by hand and the clinkers and ashes removed from the fire box by hand each day. Later we got a machine to feed the furnace automatically but still the clinkers had to be taken out each day by hand.
It was a wonderful home filled with happiness and a gully behind it to play in.
I first went to the Uintah School when I was five years old (September 1934). It
was about nine blocks from my home. My first day as school was a very hectic
one. I really wanted to go to school but I was rather timid. When I arrived at
Uintah School, I didn't know what it was going to be like. By the time the first day
was over, I decided it was fun. My teacher's name was lone Naigel. We got to
take naps on the floor on our own rugs and drink chocolate milk, orange drink, or some other good treats. Our teacher would pull down the window blinds so the room would be dim for us to take our nap. That was a good start!
Most of the usual childhood diseases came and went during my grade school
days which accounts for so many days of school absences. Mom and Dad both
worked much of the time so we had some very nice babysitters. (Grandpa never added their names and does not remember them anymore. He does remember that some of them were good singers.) Probably my most serious affliction was when I fell from a second story of a new home being built across the street and broke my arm. My father kept
telling me that it wasn't broken and not to cry. It pained me all night so we called
the doctor the next day and had it set. My cast was made from layers of plaster
of paris and cloth. Since my break was near my left elbow, the cast went from
my wrist to just above my elbow and formed an L shape, so I could not bend my
elbow. After about six weeks, they sawed the cast from off my arm but I could not
bend my elbow. So I had to practice lifting a heavy iron to straighten my elbow.
It took a long time before I could get it to extend all the way. That was the hardest part of experience.
We loved to play in the new houses while they were being framed. The lumber
had lots of loose knots. We loved to knock the knots out of the lumber. It was great fun. The contractors did not like us to do this so we had to be very careful not to be noticed when we played there. One time when the contractor came unexpectedly in the evening, we had to hide in the tall weeds. He walked right over us not noticing us in the weeds. It was a pretty scary time but it was just across the street from our home so we did not have far to go for help.
I have summarized my elementary school history on the following three pages.
Probably the most significant thing that happened in elementary school was
being held back in the second grade.
We had some good neighbors. On the south were the Jorgensens and on the
north were the McAllisters. I played often with Bell Marie McAllister and was in
their home a lot. We liked to play hide- and- seek in the darkened hall way. One
of their sons was killed in World War Two. The Jorgensenes were not LDS and
seemed strange to me. They had no children my age. There were many good
neighbors across the street on Hubbard Ave. It was on Hubbard Ave where I fell and broke my front tooth off on the curb. Also as I was coming home another day, a bolt of lighting struck a tree I was under and split the truck almost in two.
Someone had to drill a hole through the trunk and put a big bolt to keep the tree
together. That bolt remained in the tree as long I can remember.
A Fun Game with Dad and His Feet (A true Story)
Dad had a large armchair with a matching footstool to put his feet on. It was
located in the archway between the living room and the dining room. He liked to
sit it in this chair and have his feet rubbed. To get us to rub his feet, he played a
game with us. He told us there was a "spot" on his foot and if we could catch this
spot he would give us some money. He always left his sox on so we could not
see the spot. Of course it took quite a while to catch the spot. It wasn't until later
years we discovered that the spot was imaginary. Dad just wanted his feet
rubbed. It was a fine game. During the game we often came very close to
catching the spot which was very exciting. The spot moved very fast over his
feet. It was a loving time, which always ended with success when we touched
the spot and got the money.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2 will be next week. Below are some early photos of Grandpa.
 | ||||
| This is the earliest known photo of Charles Cash Rampton, Jr. taken in 1929. He is being held by his grandmother, Wilda Cash Rampton, who he called "Grammie." I believe that is his mother, Blanch Ruby Worthen (Grandma Blanche) looking on.
|
