Memories of Stone's Hill

September 6, 2016

When Mike Ashby made mention of Stone's Hill (School in a small town: First Grade Memories),  it also triggered memories for me. I grew up on Monroe Street in the 1940s and 50s, just a "stones throw" (pun intended) from Stone's Hill on Van Buren Street. I and my Flexible Flyer spent many wintry hours on the hill. However, before Stone's Hill, I had to graduate from Chubb's Hill on Jackson Street. It was a gentler slope. Being a tad older then Mike, I remember John Hopkin's "devil's swing" he had rigged up on a tree on the slope below his folk's house. Only the older dudes were brave or foolish enough to swing out over the neighborhood below. Tom's parents died early and he was being raised by his grandmother when she married Charlie O'Callaghan, an early day judge and real estate man. His original house was the first one to be built on the South Hill and still stands on Madison Street with its wrought iron fence enclosing it. He later built the house on Van Buren Street where Tom was raised and later owned. Of the Tom Hopkin's tribe, George, the youngest, is the only one of the clan that still lives in Bonners. Our dog used to chase cars on Monroe street until Mike's father, Les, ran over him with the lumber company's sawdust truck. He never chased another vehicle after that. In fact he didn't do anything after that. If you could transfer this bit of nostalgia to Mike I would appreciate it.

Howard Kent Bonners Ferry