January 29th 1984January 29th 1984 I was 20 married with a 18 month old child and unemployed. I would do odd jobs for my father-in-law to pay the rent and put a few meals on the table. One of the jobs I did was to drive out to his ranch and take care of his cows and other farm animals he kept in Yelm Washington about 25 miles from where I lived. It was easy work and I enjoyed being on the ranch and working with the animals. On this day ( January 29th 1984) we had snow. This made driving into Yelm that much more interesting. I owend a 1972 Ford Pinto at the time with a 1600cc engine that I thought was the do-all go-all car on the road. Because I only had a AM radio I listened to the news on my 25 mile drive into Yelm. The news was reporting a murder/suicide in the Univercity Place neighborhood and interviewing people that had witnessed gun shoots the night before. I payed close itention because I had family in this area and I was concerned. The news guy kept reporting they could give names because the family hadn't been notified of the murders. When I got to the ranch in Yelm I went into the house and built a fire in the fireplace and made coffee. I made my rounds,breaking ice out of water troffs and spreading hay and grain for the cows in the uppper fields. I returned to the house for coffee and to get warm. It was about 10am when I decide to check the barns on the lower ranch. I wanted to see how my Pinto would do in the deep snow so I drove out into the snow toward the barns. As I started the car the radio came on and the news guy again talking about the murder/suicide in Univercity Place anounced the names of the family that was murdered. In shocked silence I heard my sisters name then my nephews name then my nieces name. I was shook with disbelief. It was several days before I could cry....Its been many years later and I still do.
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I knew before I knew, if that makes any sense. I was the one who answered the door when the men came to tell us. But they didn't want to talk to me... They wanted to talk to Pops. I told them where Pops worked and off they went. They wouldn't tell me why they were there or why they wanted to speak to Pops. They didn't even tell me who they were. But there is no magic in knowing who they were. Imagine the look on your face if you had to tell someone such news. That is the look they had and I knew somebody I loved was dead, I just didn't know who. All I knew was that it wasn't Pops.
I recently wrote a journal entry elsewhere titled simply: January 29th, 1984. There is no suprise to find you wrote one here with the exact same title.
- Your (Big) Little Brother