Mukilteo Musings

Helena's Homes Continued


Ringo's House


Ringo lived kitty corner across the street at this house and man oh man, was he mean! Ringo was the canine member of this family and he was a collie mix. He attacked our Golden Retriever, Laddie, when he was a puppy and from then on a hatred excisted between the two that would have resulted in a fight to the death if humans did not prevent it. Actually, the large Roman Catholic family that lived here was really nice.

I identify them as Roman Catholic for the simple reason that the kids who lived in these big houses with all of their brothers and sisters did not go to the same school as I did----so we were friends but not classmates. Slowly, many of the Catholic families started to send their kids to public school because frankly, Helena schools were and are excellent. Soon when I entered high school, there were more Catholic kids in our school than the Catholic high school. (At that time, Helena had one public high school and one Catholic high school.) So for financial reasons the Catholic Diocese closed their high school and all of those kids came to our school the year I was a junior. This caused our school to practically burst and we had to go to shifts to manage 2000 kids in a three year school. Since they were our cross town rivals, all of the parents expected riots but actually, it was great. Our basketball and football teams finally went to State! Moreover, I was in school with some of my neighborhood friends including the girl my age who lived in this house.

Yes, indeed! They had Halloween parties, too. They were just scarier in these houses, I guess. Just as in the houses below, I have a memory of running in and out the back door to the kitchen. We used to play "Mother May I" on the back stair case. Each of these homes would have the grand staircase in the front rooms near the front door constructed with incredible detail out of gorgeous woods and they also had the dreary back stair case off of the kitchen. As children, we were always supposed to use the back stairs to run up to the bedrooms or the third floor ball rooms to play. I think back in the day, when these places were first built, the servants used these stairs.

The Girl Next Door; The Boy Next Door


I probably remember this house more than any of the others. Three families lived here during the time we lived in our house which was directly across the alley. The first family had two kind of mean boys and I'm serious when I say I heard they ended up in prison. Nevertheless, my brother still played with them. Our dog Laddie was great friends with their chihuahua. What a sight! In those days nobody tied their dogs so our big Golden Retriever hung out with this teeny tiny thing. To be honest, I was glad when they moved.

When I was about 10, a--yes--large Roman Catholic family moved in and they had a girl named Carol exactly my age who became a really good friend. And this is why I remember the inside of this house so well. We played dress up because she had a big sister who had a lot of old prom dresses. I loved pretending to be a princess in the top floor ballroom. We also played with Barbie dolls when they first were introduced to the American economy. My thumb has a scar on it to this day from a time we made fudge and I burned myself. Carol at age 12 got to be a bridesmaid in her big sister's wedding and of course, the wedding was in St. Helena Cathedral, pictured below. It was such a fairy tale.

Unfortunately, this family moved away before I reached high school. The home was purchased by--horror of horrors--the most popular kid ever in the history of Helena. I went from having free and unfettered access to being afraid to even walk down my alley for fear "the kid" would see me. How awkward at age 13! The very last time I was in this house was at the end of the ninth grade. Our ninth grade was still a part of the Helena Junior High and my Dad was the principal which is an entirely separate blog issue.

"The kid" decided to throw a graduation party and since the principal conveniently lived just steps from his back kitchen door, he asked my parents to be the chaperones. Obviously, he could not ask my Dad to be at the party without inviting the chubby ugly girl with glasses and braces who happened to be his daughter. YUCK! At least he invited some of my friends so I wasn't totally humiliated. Well, I take that back because he invited the boy I had a crush on, too, and oh my God, my parents were there.

The last time I saw the cherry wood stair case, I was hanging on to it frozen with fear and afraid to make a move.

One Last House


I've never been in this one which is located in the central part of town and I do not know anything about it. When I was little, this was considered kind of an icky part of the city and this house was in disrepair. Nevertheless, I always thought it was interesting. Sure enough, in more recent years and after urban renewal, there is no more icky part of Helena and this home has been redone.