Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind

Picture courtesy of PPLD- Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind - 1900's


I have always had a love for this school, it was built in 1874, William Jackson Palmer (founder of Colorado Springs) donated over 300 arces to this school. It still stands and operates today though most of the land has been sold. I had the rare chance to spend a few days there. This is my story.

One Christmas morning, in the late 1950's, I was playing with my presents (a tea set was among them). My father was sitting in his favorite chair watching me.. I looked up and my dad's head slumped to the side, I walked up and gently touched him and told him to wake up, he didn't. My mother and cook (who was my favorite) came in and I told them daddy was sleeping. They called the doctor, who still made house calls


My father had a heart attack, he recovered but the doctor thought it would be better if my parents moved to a better climate. My father loved Colorado Springs, this runs in the Penrose blood-we find a city and its like a comfortable old shoe. For my Uncle Boies it was Philly, Uncle Richard it was New York, for Uncle Francis it was Ireland, for my dad it was Colorado Springs.


So, plans were made, my mother started letting the staff go. She would take them into the kitchen and I would never see them again. I thought that my mother was making them disappear and if I went into that kitchen, she would make me disappear. One day, she asked me to go into the kitchen to say good by to cook. I ignored her and I kept on ignoring her.


She thought something was wrong with me, the doctor was called in. He looked at my ears and noticed my ear canals were much smaller then normal. He thought I might be going deaf, he suggested that my parents take me to the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. They had more experiance then he and they could help me.


So, a little bag was packed with my new tea set and my dad took my to the school. My room was very bleak but I had a room mate. She was about 8 and her job was to find out if I could hear or not and how much. I had a great time at this school, there were kids my age and we played. It was so much fun and one night I confessed to my roomie why I had been ignoring my mother.


She went to the heads of the school and reported to them, my father came and they told him. He laughed and took me home. When he told my mother, she was pissed. She only got madder when my dad said we were not going to leave Colorado Springs. My father explained to me about the disappearing staff.


So, the staff had to be hired back, some came, some didn't. Cook did and I was very happy. I missed my friends at the Deaf School, so I asked my father if I could go visit my roomie. He came up with a plan to have my roomie come live with us but when he went to the school, he was told she had died. It bummed me out and my dad said it wasn't a good idea for me to ever go back there and I never have.


My mother made me pay for a long time but it was still the best few days I had and I still love that school and the people in it.

William Jackson Palmer Statue

Pictures courtesy of the State of Colorado and PPLD

Hi, guys! I need your help. These pictures are the statue of William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs. This statue has been redone and I am hoping that someone out there has an old picture of this statue with the hat in the hand. That's the way it used to be. And now the story behind the statue (you know me, I have to share the truth behind things).

Palmer died around 1906 and the people in Colorado Springs felt there should be a statue of him. That statue didn't come to be till 1926, two of his three daughters were there for the unveiling and they did not notice. Or if they did, they did not say a word.

Palmer had done a grave injustice to a friend of Spencer Penrose's. I do not recall what the injustice was but it was terrible enough for Penrose to go to the sculptor and pay a huge amount of money to have his own face put on the statue instead of Palmer's. And there it stood for many years, people thinking it was Palmer when it was Penrose. For Spencer Penrose it was a pay back for the terrible thing Palmer had done to his friend and every time he went by the statue he felt satisfaction.

The statue was redone and I do not know when. They took Spencer off the horse and put Palmer on it. The statue of Spencer, they put downtown. One person took a picture of it and said Penrose looks like he is taking a crap.

My husband laughed when he heard this and said "yes, the city sh-t on him and his daughters and now he's sh-tting back on the city" I agree with him. :)

Me

These two pictures were taken the same day and they both are me. The PPLD has the costume one as Pauline but that's not true.

I remember the day it was taken and where. Louise was the woman taking care of me, she drove me up to my parents house in the Broadmoor area. Inside the house there were a lot of people, they were nuns and priests (I did not know that then).

My mother greeted us and immediately started to put this costume over my dress, telling me a picture was going to be taken. Louise left us alone and I begged my mother to let me come home. She told me this was no longer our home and then asked if I wasn't happy with Frank and Louise. Before I could answer, Louise walked up, I stopped talking. I knew that if I said anything Louise would make me pay. My mother seemed to understand and said "I see. I'll try to get you back." That never happened.

So, it was time to take the picture. A man with a long red and black robe with a funny red hat walked up, "So, this is her." My mother bowed her head, "Yes, Father," she replied. Well, you know me, I had to pipe up and say "this is your father!" My mother told me to hush. "You are not raising her in the faith," he asked. My mother kept her head bowed and kept silent. "It's just as well that she isn't," he said. My mother let out a sigh like air coming out of a balloon.

He took the picture, then walked up to me "I hope I never see you again," he told me. Turning to my mother he said, "I'm going back to Rome tonight, this just might save your life." (I did not know what he was talking about then, I do now, but I cannot share that with you now).

My mother took off the costume but let me keep the bracelets. So, I left my mother and the home I once had. Louise made another stop, the house they used to live in. She made me stand in the front yard, pulled my hair back and used spit to flaten my bangs (ick),telling me to put my hands behind my back and she took the picture above. The sun was glaring in my eyes and I had a hard time looking up because of it.

So, there you have it. A picture of me and me :)

What A Gift Can Do

My husband and I are BIG fans of Playing For Change, so when they came out with a DVD/CD, we got 3. One for ourselves, one for my in laws and one for Aunt Beth.


Beth is a teacher in St. Louis and after receiving and watching her DVD/CD gift. She took it to her high school class and shared it with them. The kids were inspired and they shared with their friends. Soon, the other teachers came and borrowed it and shared it with their classes.


All the teachers and students were inspired. Little did we know that a B-day gift would flourish and grow and reach out to so many. It inspired our hearts :)

Veteran's Day

Yesterday was Veteran's Day and here in Colorado Springs we honored those who have served, are serving and who have fallen.


Colorado Springs is home to Fort Carson, the Army and Peterson Base, the Air Force. The Broadmoor served food to the military but my favorite is The Retired Enlisted Association. Few people know that at Peterson (it used to be Norad in the mountain but they moved to Peterson) we have the Royal Canadian Air Force (they have changed thier name to Canadian Forces Air Command) here in Colorado Springs.


The Retired Enlisted Association gives tribute and is attended by The Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force to honor Veteran's Day.


It is a reminder that many have served around the world and that we are all in it together. It was our day to say thanks to those living and give a moment of silence to those who have fallen.

The Changeling, 2008 Movie

If any of you saw Clint Eastwood's movie, then you know it was done very well. But, Clint didn't have all the information about it. Did you ever wonder what happened to the little boy? Well, I'll tell you.

Above is a picture from my family album, the man with the hat is my father. The man in the middle is Jack Dempsey's little brother and his little girl, the man in the white pants is C.L. Tutt Jr. (and if you notice C.L. is a short man, he married a tall woman and 2 of his kids came out tall).

C.L. was a ladies man and he had lots of affairs, one of those affairs involved Christine (the woman in the movie). C.L. was the father of the little boy. In the movie the little boy asks about his dad, the reason he did this, C.L. was visiting him without Christine knowing about it.

Now, Christine is a telephone operator, she is told by either our government or the mob, to eavesdrop on a phone call. She doesn't do it, this is why her kid disappears. It was pay back for not doing what she was told to do.

Her little boy had his name changed to Karl, and when he got older he became my father's chauffeur. His girlfriend was my nanny. They talked a lot about his younger years and she would beg him to call his mother, he refused. He was hurt and didn't understand why his mother (Christine) said that someone else was her little boy. There was also the circumcision, which they did to him after Christine let it be known that he hadn't been.

My nanny explained a lot to Karl that he didn't know about. He was ranting about how his mom was crazy. Nanny explained to him about that and the movie did a great job on it. But what they didn't know was my dad paid for the lawyer to get Christine out. My dad felt sorry for her because she would never had been in that situation if she never would have started seeing C.L.

So, Karl had a good life. He married my nanny, they had kids. He was a Tutt the whole way and enjoyed them being his familyand the money that they had stolen. And he was a traitor to my father and me, maybe that's why he drank himself to death.

So, there you have it. that's what happened to that little boy. I wonder what his life would have been like if Christine had done what she had been told to do.