04A - Clearwater Tribune

THE SAVVY SENIOR
4A—Clearwater Tribune – Orofino, ID – JULY 10, 2014
Caring for the land and nurturing minds
By Marcie Stanton
Barb and Norm Fitzsimmons enjoy the days spent on their ranch. The couple
remodeled their home four years ago.
This month’s Savvy Seniors both grew up on Idaho ranches. Barbara Sifton Fitzsimmons was born
June 5, 1932, in Emmett,
to Luella and Forest Sifton.
She and her parents, along
with an older sister, Luella
Ann, lived in Emmett. Her
father worked at the Emmett mill. In 1936 her parents bought a ranch northeast of Weiser, about 25
miles from Midvale, raising
cattle, pigs and sheep and
also farming the ground.
Barb and Luella Ann’s
job was to take the sheep
out to pasture every day.
Both sisters became avid
readers, spending hours
reading books to pass the
time while they watched
the sheep. Because there
were no sons in the family
Barb’s father relied heavily
on his daughters to help
with all aspects of the farm.
Barb says, “We loved it!”
With the ranch being in
a remote area with difficult access, Barb’s father
would eventually purchase
a home in Weiser. This is
where Barb, her sister and
her mother would stay during the week so the girls
could attend school. Their
father would come to town,
when weather permitted.
Barb recalls her father telling her that was something
he would not do again, feeling like he never really got
to see his family enough.
“When he told me that,
it made me sad,” reports
Barb.
Since the ranch didn’t
have a phone, the family
would communicate by letter. During bad winters, on
occasion, they had a plane
fly supplies or check on his
well being. Barb recalls of
the family’s ranch experiences, “Dad use to get
pretty lonesome.”
There was an old schoolhouse about 10 to 15 miles
from the ranch, but it had
been closed. The families
that lived relatively close
used it as a dance hall.
Barb remembers attending two dances at the old
school. She also remembers that homeschooling
was a concept that was
unheard of in those days.
Some of Senator Craig’s
relations were “neighbors”
to the Siftons. Jim Weidner
and the late Jim and Bob
Bray, who would all become barbers in Orofino
many years later, worked
on the Sifton farm in their
teen years.
Haying the old way
Forest had a “slip,”
similar to the bottom of a
wagon that he would use
for haying. As teenagers
Barb and her sister would
spend summers haying
with their father. The horses and tractor would pull
the slips and the girls and
their father would load it
with hay. Recalling some of
the teenage boys her father
would hire to help with the
arduous job, ”Sometimes
the boys would pretend
like they didn’t see some of
the bales so my dad would
pick them up. My sister
and I tried to load as many
of the bales as we could so
he wouldn’t have to lift so
many of them.” Barb’s dad
had multiple back injuries
he suffered with much of
his life.
Barb would graduate
from Weiser in the spring
of 1950 and attend college
at the University of Idaho
(U of I), going home to the
ranch in the summer. She
would eventually receive
both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the U of I
in education.
Depression farming
Norman Fitzsimmons, an
only child, was born June
30, 1930, to Lester and
Gladys Cooper Fitzsimmons, on a ranch near
Pomeroy. Norm was born
in the same house where
his father had also been
born. After a few years of
struggling to provide for his
family by farming, Norm’s
father decided there surely
had to be a better way to
make a living during the
Great Depression. His father would work at various
places for different grocery
chains during this time.
Norm’s mother’s family
(Cont pg 5A)
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