Share A Memory

Seeing a picture can jog your memory. This picture taken by the Temple swimming pool in Puente, California during the 1920's really brought back memories. The Temple Mansion was turned into a nursing home in the 1940's. My Grandfather Forgey worked there after WWII. My Grandmother Forgey was a resident of the modern nursing home built next to the Mansion in the 1960's. I used to walk the grounds of the nursing home with my father while my mother spent time with my grandmother. When I saw the picture above posted in my news feed at Facebook it really jolted me. I had never seen a picture of the pool from that era. I remember when I first noticed the old pool on one of my walks with my father. I was about 5 yrs. old and was fascinated by it. I couldn't believe it was a pool. I never saw one like it before. I've had dreams about swimming in that pool. Every time we visited my grandmother I had to look at the pool. My father said my Uncles swam in it. Don't know if that's true? (I also enjoyed looking at the old cemetery, also located on the grounds; which probably helped spark my interest in genealogy and love of cemeteries.)
I believe the Puente Hills can be seen in the background. I grew up at the base of those hills. I feel lucky that I was able to see the pool and other landmarks in the area before they were demolished. The pace of change in Southern California really sped up during my childhood in the 1960's and 1970's. You could still find unspoiled open spaces and farms near where I lived in the late 1960's early 1970's. We had terrible smog back then too. The smog situation is better now, but I do miss some of the old landmarks and the farms which were still around back then.