935 Diestel
February 2013
This is George Haley, thank you Julie for putting together this project, it is a lot of fun. I have spent my life on and around Diestel Road. My mother, Joan (pronounced JoAnne) Hempel, grew up on the northwest corner of 9th South and Diestel Road. My Grandparents (Edgar and Emma Hempel ) bought the house in 1927. At that time there were no houses east of them on 9th South all the way up to the foothills. When I was growing up, in the 1960’s, we used to go to my grandparents every Sunday for dinner. There was a boy my age named Marty Gulbrandsen who lived next door. We used to always go and play army in the gully, entering down the steps off of 9th South. This was before they put fences around the gully in the late 60’s. One way out of the gully was up the steps that now go into the Long’s back yard, although the owners at the time didn’t like it too much. We had many great adventures. It is interesting to me how the amphibians, which were so abundant, are now gone. We used to catch; salamanders, leopard frogs, horned toads and just plain toads all the time. Interestingly there were no squirrels. I now see the occasional snake in the yard, but in the 22 years we have lived here I have never seen an amphibian and the squirrels rule. I remember watching a fight to the death between a salamander and a garden snake in the creek on summer day probably in 1964. I also remember going to the O’Brien’s house on a Christmas holiday and playing with Joan’s brother John’s new slot car he got for Christmas. This was probably 1965. What a small town this is. We used to walk to Fernwood’s, where Jolly’s Pharmacy is now, and buy a “pigs dinner.” They would give you a badge theat said “I ate a pig’s dinner”... if you ate 10 you got a free one! There was also an A&W Root beer stand where Sea Salt Restaurant is now. We would get a hot dog and a great root beer float on a hot summer’s day. My mother raised four kids on her own working at 7/11 and we had little. I remember being 10 in 1964 looking up at the beautiful back yards in the gully vowing that one day I would own one of those beautiful homes. In 1991, when Tricia and I were looking for a home I learned that this house was coming up for sale. I called her and told her that we were going to buy it sight un seen. I fulfilled my childhood vow. It was on the market for 10 minutes and we gave a full price offer. By the end of the day they had three back up offers, including one from a man who had grown up in the house. We didn’t move in for 3 months as we began our now 20 plus year project of “remodeling” the house. My mother inherited her parents house in 1985 and lived there until her death in 2007. My twin nieces Emma and Addy Rider bought the house from my mother’s estate and live there now. As we raised our kids it was so nice to have my mother just up the street. My three kids, Andrew, Katie and Erin, from my first marriage lived with us half the time and Grace and Maureen have lived their whole lives on Diestel Road. When they were little all the kids would want to walk up to Grandma’s. We would probably be reported to DFS now but we would let them go alone up Diestel, having called Joan who would be waiting on the corner to help them cross the street. There were many times when my daughter Erin would get up on an early Saturday morning and sneak out of the house at 6:00 am and go up to Grandma’s. We would get a follow up phone call at a reasonable time letting us know all was well. All of my kids have very fond memories of hanging out at Grandmas’ and making either pancakes or chocolate chip cookies.
I have loved living here. Tricia and I spend many hours on our back patio listening to the creek and the birds. As she says:” we have the country in the backyard and the city in the front”. My favorite room in the house in our backyard... I still just love the gully. I go there almost every morning taking my beloved dog Liesl on her morning walk. Many of you know her, and know that she thinks she owns the Gully and gets mightily offended if another dog has the temerity to walk down the path without her permission. She exercises her first amendment rights freely at the fence. I love the birds and have maintained 5 separate bird feeders for many years. We are in a migratory path of beautiful song birds. The Miller’s knew what they were doing when they donated the land for the city. It has been so nice to see the work the city has done to revitalize 9th/9th, 15th/15th and 13th/17th. It has created a great sense of community.
This is George Haley, thank you Julie for putting together this project, it is a lot of fun. I have spent my life on and around Diestel Road. My mother, Joan (pronounced JoAnne) Hempel, grew up on the northwest corner of 9th South and Diestel Road. My Grandparents (Edgar and Emma Hempel ) bought the house in 1927. At that time there were no houses east of them on 9th South all the way up to the foothills. When I was growing up, in the 1960’s, we used to go to my grandparents every Sunday for dinner. There was a boy my age named Marty Gulbrandsen who lived next door. We used to always go and play army in the gully, entering down the steps off of 9th South. This was before they put fences around the gully in the late 60’s. One way out of the gully was up the steps that now go into the Long’s back yard, although the owners at the time didn’t like it too much. We had many great adventures. It is interesting to me how the amphibians, which were so abundant, are now gone. We used to catch; salamanders, leopard frogs, horned toads and just plain toads all the time. Interestingly there were no squirrels. I now see the occasional snake in the yard, but in the 22 years we have lived here I have never seen an amphibian and the squirrels rule. I remember watching a fight to the death between a salamander and a garden snake in the creek on summer day probably in 1964. I also remember going to the O’Brien’s house on a Christmas holiday and playing with Joan’s brother John’s new slot car he got for Christmas. This was probably 1965. What a small town this is. We used to walk to Fernwood’s, where Jolly’s Pharmacy is now, and buy a “pigs dinner.” They would give you a badge theat said “I ate a pig’s dinner”... if you ate 10 you got a free one! There was also an A&W Root beer stand where Sea Salt Restaurant is now. We would get a hot dog and a great root beer float on a hot summer’s day. My mother raised four kids on her own working at 7/11 and we had little. I remember being 10 in 1964 looking up at the beautiful back yards in the gully vowing that one day I would own one of those beautiful homes. In 1991, when Tricia and I were looking for a home I learned that this house was coming up for sale. I called her and told her that we were going to buy it sight un seen. I fulfilled my childhood vow. It was on the market for 10 minutes and we gave a full price offer. By the end of the day they had three back up offers, including one from a man who had grown up in the house. We didn’t move in for 3 months as we began our now 20 plus year project of “remodeling” the house. My mother inherited her parents house in 1985 and lived there until her death in 2007. My twin nieces Emma and Addy Rider bought the house from my mother’s estate and live there now. As we raised our kids it was so nice to have my mother just up the street. My three kids, Andrew, Katie and Erin, from my first marriage lived with us half the time and Grace and Maureen have lived their whole lives on Diestel Road. When they were little all the kids would want to walk up to Grandma’s. We would probably be reported to DFS now but we would let them go alone up Diestel, having called Joan who would be waiting on the corner to help them cross the street. There were many times when my daughter Erin would get up on an early Saturday morning and sneak out of the house at 6:00 am and go up to Grandma’s. We would get a follow up phone call at a reasonable time letting us know all was well. All of my kids have very fond memories of hanging out at Grandmas’ and making either pancakes or chocolate chip cookies.
I have loved living here. Tricia and I spend many hours on our back patio listening to the creek and the birds. As she says:” we have the country in the backyard and the city in the front”. My favorite room in the house in our backyard... I still just love the gully. I go there almost every morning taking my beloved dog Liesl on her morning walk. Many of you know her, and know that she thinks she owns the Gully and gets mightily offended if another dog has the temerity to walk down the path without her permission. She exercises her first amendment rights freely at the fence. I love the birds and have maintained 5 separate bird feeders for many years. We are in a migratory path of beautiful song birds. The Miller’s knew what they were doing when they donated the land for the city. It has been so nice to see the work the city has done to revitalize 9th/9th, 15th/15th and 13th/17th. It has created a great sense of community.