By Billy Willett
Come climb aboard my wagon full of wonderful memories; to a part of heaven on earth. To a time when the love of friends and family were the most valuable possessions to hold.
The time was 1944 when the United states was fully engaged in World War II. Herman and Inez Willett were struggling to put food on the table for three hungry boys. Herman was employed as a motion picture projectionist in Texas when Uncle Sam requested his presence. Not knowing just what the future might bring, arrangements were made to move the family to Colorado. Herman’s Mother lived in the small town “Pagosa Springs.” She and her husband “Frank Brown” owned a small grocery store there.
After volunteering for the military, Herman learned that he could not pass the physical exam . The family settled in with the grandparents at the West Side Grocery and Herman traveled to Denver to work in a defense plant. As the war came to an end Herman again found employment in the motion picture business. The little Theater in Pagosa was in need of his talents. The man who owned the theater also owned a liquor store next door and that provided employment for Inez.
After some period of living upstairs in the grocery story, we moved to our first home in Pagosa near 7th street and US 160. Of the three boys only two were old enough to start school. I had to wait a year before I could join them. Pagosa only had one school at that time and it served all of Archuleta county.
This is where my education began from 1945 until the new school on 4th & Lewis was built.
The lower grades were all housed in the first level and the high school in the second level. The basement housed the gym where basketball games were played. Read Part 2 Tomorrow.
