Casper the Friendly Ghost Town

Going through old photos again....   

In 1963, we moved to Casper, Wyoming from Billings, Montana. Before Billings, we had lived in Denver, Sterling, Anadarko, OK, and Bartlesville, OK. I was 5 when we arrived in Casper. We stayed at a motel for awhile, then rented a house in town while our new house was being built. Fortunately, the new house was finished ahead of schedule because just a few days after we moved, a car slid on the snow and went right into the house we had been renting. The car landed right where my brand new brother, Dave, would have been sleeping. 

Here is the house in November, 1964, not too long after we moved in. There were 3 bedrooms and an unfinished basement where we learned how to roller skate. In 1964, we were right at the edge of town and, walking down the block, there were hills with cactus, scraggly bushes, tumbleweeds, and... horny toads. This was my playground and I loved it. 

The four of us kids - Cathy, me, Dave, and Tom, sitting on the back porch. This was probably about a year after we moved in.

Not sure exactly when this was taken, but the old Comet station wagon was a big hit with us kids. We often rode in the back, lying down so we could look out the back window (don't ask me how we did it). There were lots of children on the block and we played until dark in the summer. 

After finding these photos, I wondered who might be living there now. It didn't take much effort to find out. The Casper white pages quickly gave me a name and I looked it up on Facebook. I sent a quick, private message to see if they were still at the house and if they were interested in seeing photos from 1964 when it was built. They were and they'll be sending me some photos of what it's like now.