Walter Allen Swan ⁴¹⁰

  General Notes:

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I was born Walter (Allen) Swan, fifth child of Walter and Deloris Swan, on November 5, 1947. in St. Joseph's Hospital, Stockton, California.

When I was born our family lived in a small block house which was later known as the "middle house." We quickly out grew it, so my father built a new house with a large bedroom over the garage where all the boys slept. We called this the "big house." To get to our bedroom I had to climb the stairs and pass a two-feet by two-feet attic crawl space on a stairwell wall about head high. There was never a cover over that opening. It was dark and spooky and I was always afraid that a monster would reach out and grab me as I passed by. Since our bathroom was at the bottom of the stairs, I had to make many trips past that awful hole.

On our ten acre place we had about one hundred walnut trees. Each year soon after school started, we were kept home to pick up walnut-for however long it took. All the kids would line up an arms length from each other on hands and knees and we would work a swath between the trees picking up walnuts and peeling the green hulls off as we went. The stain in the hulls left our hands blue-black and we went back to school that way where we were teased unmercifully by our friends. If we stopped to look up from our work we could expect to be whomped in the head by a walnut Daddy would throw at us. Our compensation for the weeks of work was an ice cream sandwich purchased as the Challenge Cheese Company. Or if we didn't work hard enough we got a liking instead. Daddy used this money to pay the taxes on the land each year.

I was about four years old when I learned to drive the tractor. Daddy said I was so little that I had to jump on the clutch with both feet, exerting all my strength to stop it. One day we were harvesting tomatoes, we picked them and put them in boxes which we stacked in the rows and as we went. Then someone would drive the tractor pulling the trailer along the rows and we loaded the boxes. I wanted to drive the tractor! I begged, "Can I drive, Daddy? Can I drive?" I was so persistent that he finally let me. I was so proud of myself! Then I proceeded to run over about six boxes of tomatoes. Daddy scolded me and sent me up to the house bawling my head off.

One time we had moved several loads of bees from the almonds to the cherry orchards. It took all night long and it was just about getting daylight and boy, did have to pee. I decided that the coast was clear and I was really going good when I got stung on my most sensitive exposed part. The pain was so excruciating that it made my whole body ache!

We had a neighbor who had a combination cherry/walnut orchard. He had a pretty strange wife. She used to set the alarm clock for the middle of the night so she could wake up to see if she was still alive. Anyway, that man could really cuss. We weren't allowed on his property because he and my dad were always feuding. One day I listened to him cuss at my dad over the fence and I learned how to do it, too. I went home cussing up a streak. I didn't do it very long. I was told in no uncertain terms that "we don talk that way." All Daddy had to do was frown at me and I would go away crying.

My seventh grade teacher was the school principal. He loved to play baseball and of course we got impatient to play on the way out to the field. We were walking along side the building, carrying bats and balls and gloves. Somebody pitched me a ball and hollered, "Hit it Swan." Without thinking I swung at it and it sailed right through the cafeteria window. I went into the lunchroom to clean up the glass and there was a party going on. One of the ladies said, "Oh don't worry about the glass, have some cake and ice cream." So there I sat having a party when the principal came after me. I think he bawled us all out but that was all.

That year I started working Miles Parrish who was in the septic tank and sewer business. He had a fleet of about 35 vehicles--back hoes, trenchers, trucks--all World War II equipment. And I got to drive them all! I worked after school, five days a week from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. I checked the oil, looked for flat tires and made sure they were all full of gas. It was my responsibility to lock up the gas pumps when I was finished. I locked the mechanic shop, four sheds and turned the alarm on as I went out of the yard, locking the gate behind me. I made fifty cents an hour-about $14 per week. That was a lot money for a kid with no bills.

When I was about 15 I was driving my Dad out to check the bee yards. Mustard greens grow wild along the fences in California and he saw some and told me to stop so he could get some. We got back in the pickup and he started eating some raw. He said, "These sure are good." I replied, "Yea, they're good and probably have some dog pee on them, too!" He spit them out the window right now if not sooner!

Two months before my sixteenth birthday we moved to Pima, Arizona where I met Barbara Ann Maner during my junior year of high school. On November 11, 1966 we were married in the Mesa, Arizona Temple and sealed for time and eternity. During the next eleven years we had three children, Steve, Tim, and Jill. My first job as a married man was cleaning sewers in Stockton, California. Then I kept bee in Michigan and after that I delivered milk in Bisbee, Arizona.

When Steve was about two I had a job operating a huge Caterpillar clearing brush off of a cattle ranch near Douglas, Arizona. I worked the 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM shift. One evening I went to work and after fueling up the tractor I had to cover a distance of about half a mile to get to the area where I was to start clearing. I put the tractor in high gear-as fast as you can go on a Caterpillar. It created a thick cloud of dust and I couldn't see a thing in any direction. I knew that there were power lines in the area but I couldn't see them. Suddenly a little voice whispered, "Allen, you had better shut this thing down until you can see where you are going." I listened. I sat and waited for the dust to clear and there about 30 feet in front of me was a high line power pole.

That experience shook me up pretty badly and about a week and a half later when a job came open deliver gas for Petrolane I took it. I really enjoyed that job because I loved to drive and I got to know the area for a 75-mile radius around Bisbee. I worked at that job for about four years until in the spring of 1972 when Daddy convinced me to make the move with him to Tucson, Arizona to go into the stucco business. We built a good reputation in that business over the next several years.
On April 12, 1979 Barbara died of cancer, leaving me with Steve, age 12; Tim age 9; and Jill age 6. During the summer of 1980 I met Carolyn Sue Worbois and after a short courtship, and a proposal by the entire Swan four, were married November 15, 1980 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. To this family we added Carolyn's daughter, JoAnn and we became an even half dozen. We spent that Winter in Alamagordo, New Mexico, moving again in the spring to Mesa, Arizona where we live today.
I got my stucco contractor's license in late 1981 and started my own business, first doing 18-yard house fronts, one at a time for about $200 each, then to cracker box houses, small commercial jobs, mini-storage and a half-million dollar custom homes. Steve has worked for Swan Plastering since the company was formed. Tim joined the team as soon as he was able and over the years both girls have done jobs like masking windows, watering down houses and clean up work.

I have been truly blessed with a family I can be proud of and a successful business that has been an important stepping stone in the lives of other family members. What more can one ask from life? ⁴¹⁰

  Birth Notes:

St. Joseph's Hospital

  Life Events:

1. Church Affiliation: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ⁴¹⁰

Walter married Barbara Ann Maner on 11 Nov 1966 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, USA.⁴¹⁰ (Barbara Ann Maner was born in 1947 ⁴¹⁰ and died on 12 Apr 1979 ⁴¹⁰.). The cause of her death was Cancer.

Walter next married Carolyn Sue Worbois on 15 Nov 1980 in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona, USA.⁴¹⁰ (Carolyn Sue Worbois was born in 1948 ⁴¹⁰.)