1965 Summary

 

In 1965, the war in Vietnam continued to worsen and the Anti-War movement grew. On November 13th, 35,000 protestors marched on Washington. There was also continued civil unrest with rioting, looting and arson in Los Angeles. This was the first year mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packets and smoking was looked on negatively. The latest craze in kid's toys was the Super Ball and The Skate Board. Fashions also changed as women's skirts got shorter men's hair grew longer as the miniskirt makes its appearance. The word "Hypertext" is created to describe linking in early computer systems and computer networking. (The People History)

On the Westra homefront, LaMar turned 28 in May 28, 1965, Margie turned 23 in November and Scott turned 2 at the end of the year in December. Home was still the house on 2031 Rainier in Richland Village. Joseph Ate Westra passed away 24 May 1965. The family drove to SLC the next day. The funeral was Friday, 28 May 1965, on LaMar’s 28th birthday. They returned to Richland 12-13 June 1965.

LaMar had a bicycle, and they purchased one for Margie too. Add a baby seat for Scottie and they would ride all around the town. Mom/Margie mentioned that Scott loved the bike and would ask "Go bye-bye on bike?" Mom wrote in Scott's baby book that Dad/Lamar would ride his bike to work every day, and that she and Scottie would go meet him. Mom also mentioned "I remember on the bike rides, with him in his little bike seat, he would give me directions on where to turn on our way to his friend Kevin Pickard's house, at such a young age. It was quite a ways away, with many turns, and I was amazed he could know the way and tell me!"

Why is there a picture of a volleyball included in the photo collage for the year? LaMar was playing on the ward volleyball team. He wrote "We won our stake tournament and went to Portland to play in the Regional Tournament, 18 April 1965. We stayed at a motel in Portland. We also played some golf in Portland. The flowers in Portland were gorgeous. Our ward volleyball team went to Salt Lake City to play in the all-church tournament, 23 April 1965. We got trounced by teams from Hawaii and Oakland, California. Those players hit the volleyball so hard that they sometimes split the volleyball." Being in Salt Lake, LaMar was able to see his dad one last time before he died.