Marshall Terrill, an author and a reporter for the East Valley Tribune, emailed me and said he loved my book Home Sweet Jerome, a modern Jerome AZ history, and wanted to write something about it. It’s every author’s dream. After I got his email, I … Continue reading
Category Archives: Home sweet jerome
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A lot of people ask me about what it is like to live in Burns/Hines, Oregon, especially after living in Jerome, AZ for thirty years. Although a piece of my heart will always be there, life here is sweet as well. Just different.
Continue readingAnyone who has lived in Jerome for any period of time knows this to be true: the women are strong, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, accomplished at what they set out to do and passionately engaged. Many are artists that have served the town politically. And they’re smart. Very very smart. Here’s my contribution to International Women’s Day.
Continue readingOne day the chief of police in Jerome approached its most notorious teenage daredevil. “Feel like racing me over Mingus Mountain and back?” Zack was in disbelief. “You’ll probably arrest me if I say yes,” Zack said. He was in his late teens. “No, no,” said Ray. “Your car is the only possible contender. There won’t be any arrests.” The race was on.
Continue readingJane Moore is one of the few women who built hand-stacked rock walls in Jerome. I always looked at her driveway and corral walls when I drove up to Richard’s house and assumed Chuck Runyon, her partner, built them. I am so embarrassed. Jane wrote, “Not too many people have ever seen them. I’m sending you a few pictures. I don’t know of too many other women in Jerome who do dry stack walls!”
Continue readingFifteen hundred retaining walls can be found from the historic Victorian-like homes at the top of Jerome, Arizona to the homes at the bottom of Deception Gulch—less than one aerial mile. Here are only a few of of my favorites.
Continue readingJerome, Arizona’s ruins are slowly disappearing. . . Behind the shop called Skyfire, the remains of the brick ‘cribs’, home of Jerome’s ladies of the night, fell down during a winter storm, and the bricks were neatly stacked to make room for parking. Then the bricks slowly disappeared. …And when the ruins are gone, where will the ghosts hide? (Great photos with this post)
Continue readingAbout a year after the pot bust of 1985, the Clarkdale Elementary School set up a precursor to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program. Mr. Steele, the fifth-grade teacher, brought in a policeman, whom he introduced as Officer Friendly. . . . After every educational program, Officer Friendly invited the kids to rat out their families or friends. “It’ll be a secret between us,” Officer Friendly said. Max and Omar had heard the stories about the snitch and the big bust in Jerome, they knew that a snitch was the worst kind of person.
Continue readingThe most interesting and valuable segment of Empty Mansions are 125 pages or so (almost a third of the book) devoted to William Andrews Clark, Huguette’s father. In my opinion, It is single best biography yet written about W.A. Clark. It includes debunking some of the allegations of Clark’s bribery for the United States Senate and its aftermath and the veracity of Mark Twain’s now famous and oft-quoted excoriation of Clark.
Continue readingOutfitted with overlarge Wellington boots, a hard hat with a flashlight and a self-rescue device, which would give us breathable air in case of a fire, Walter and I are ready to descend 1100 feet down the hoist located at the Audrey Shaft in Jerome, adjacent to the Douglas State Park. In the 1980’s, a new gold mine was proposed in this location.
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