Participants: Pr. Lyle Albrecht
Series Code: RIN
Program Code: RIN000020
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00:59 Thank You, good evening. Welcome.
01:01 Well, the journey we'll share together tonight is 01:04 certainly my favorite. 01:07 I'm going to introduce you to the family. 01:10 I'll show you the smartest grandkids in all the world. 01:16 Exercise my bragging rights. 01:19 Let's go. 01:24 There they are. 01:27 Beginning on your right is our eldest, that's Tammy Lynn. 01:31 In the middle is Terry Lee. 01:34 On the left is... I'm sorry, in the middle is Troy Lyle. 01:38 I knew better when I said it. 01:41 And then Terry Lee, the boy who passed away 01:46 last September. 01:50 Well, I'm going to show you where we raised the kids. 01:52 When I go to Florida and other places, of course, 01:56 this is more meaningful, I suppose, than it will be 01:59 for you folks from here in the Northwest, but Boise 02:03 is our capital city, of course, from Idaho. 02:07 And our home for 26 years was north and just a touch 02:12 to the east, a little place called Garden Valley. 02:16 And in the center of Garden Valley, there is a little town 02:19 called Crouch and I've always wished that before Hee Haw 02:24 went defunked they would have saluted my home town. 02:26 I could just hear it, "Hee Haw salutes Crouch, Idaho. 02:31 Population 81 during the tourist season. " 02:34 "Salute. " 02:36 Ah, there is the place in the winter time 02:40 there in Garden Valley up on the side of Garden Mountain. 02:44 And then I think we have a backyard view, there it is. 02:48 We would have to get the backhoe out often 02:51 to dig the windows out and dig into the back door. 02:55 And oft times, the kids would ride the snow machines 02:57 right up over the house. 02:59 There's some fat guy shoveling off the boat shed there. 03:02 And here is the camp trailer. Can you see it? 03:05 It's in there somewhere. 03:08 We would often get as much as 15 feet of snowfall. 03:11 Never that much at one time, of course, 03:13 but as much as 4.5 or 5 feet of snow. 03:16 And this is the view from the front yard in the summer time 03:21 looking up at Garden Mountain. 03:23 About 5 miles distance, actually. 03:26 By the way, you get there on the roads. 03:28 Not that far as the crow would fly. 03:30 And here's the same scene in the winter time. 03:35 Often in the winter time, the snows would come and 03:39 the flakes would be so large and the air would be so still 03:43 you could hear the snow flakes hit the ground. 03:47 I've told folks of that before and they find it 03:49 hard to believe, but I tell you it's the truth. 03:52 You really can. 03:53 And it was a really nice situation here 03:58 when the storms would move in, to curl up beside the wood stove 04:02 with a good book and a good bowl of beans. 04:06 Maybe some fried Idaho taters. 04:09 Now these are Elk. 04:10 Beneath the ground up here, there is hot water 04:13 and we'll see more evidence of that in a little bit. 04:16 I went down to the Philippines and I showed these pictures 04:20 down there and I said to the people, "These are moose. " 04:24 Now I knew better but I just misspoke. 04:26 And the people said, "Oh, moose? Uh-huh. " 04:29 And here are quite a few more where they've been feeding 04:32 them in the winter time. 04:33 Now please don't get the idea this is our backyard. 04:36 This is a hot water swimming pool owned by the folks 04:40 of the subdivision. 04:41 And there are tennis courts that have hot water running under 04:45 them, and 9 holes of golf, and then across the road another 9. 04:48 I'll begin to show you then, the kids over the years. 04:52 There's our eldest again, Tammy Lynn and her three girls 04:56 and their daddy, Robert. 04:58 And there she is again, Tammy and Robert. 05:02 This then is Terry, our boy who passed away, 05:04 and his wife Brenda. 05:05 We went up to Canada, British Columbia, Canada 05:09 to hold meetings like these several years ago. 05:12 And Terry had been home for the summer recuperating 05:18 from a really bad car accident and he wasn't completely healed 05:23 at the end of the summer so he went with us up to Canada. 05:25 And he met this girl and it took me 10 years to get him 05:29 back to the states. 05:30 They married up there and then moved back over 05:34 to eastern Oregon just a few years ago. 05:36 There he is. 05:37 I've had folks say to me, "You know, he reminds 05:41 me of Tom Selleck. " 05:42 And I always say, "But he's better looking. " 05:44 And there's our baby then with his wife, 05:47 Troy and Tammy Lorraine. 05:49 We named our kids Tammy Lynn, Terry Lee, and Troy Lyle. 05:55 And then this guy, Troy, goes off and marries a girl 05:59 by the name of Tammy Lorraine. 06:00 Now what are the chances of that. 06:02 There are Troy and Tammy again. 06:05 And here is their first baby. That's Kayla Renee. 06:09 Before she was born, I said to her parents, 06:13 "If it's a little boy, would you please name him Lyle? 06:15 And if it's a little girl, name her Lyla. " 06:19 And they did just like you're doing, they laughed out loud. 06:22 And then the baby came and they named her Kayla. 06:24 Now you tell me how Kayla is better than Lyla. 06:28 Pure prejudice, don't you think. 06:30 There she is at about 2 years. 06:33 These kids have the biggest brown eyes you have ever seen. 06:37 And a little after this, her baby brother came. 06:40 There's ole Matthew. 06:42 Mat Man, I call him. 06:43 I tell him, he's like batman but better. 06:46 Now I want to tell you about this little guy, particularly. 06:49 All of these kids are smart, I mean really brilliant. 06:52 And their mom is really smart, and my boy is no dummy. 06:57 He's a Registered Nurse. 06:58 And I credit Peggy for the intellect that came from 07:02 our side of the family totally. 07:04 But at any event, this little guy has an IQ that's 07:07 almost off the chart. 07:09 And he was in school down in Kennewick 07:12 and the teacher would give him assignments 07:15 and he'd have the morning's work down in 15 minutes. 07:19 And then he was after all of the rest of the kids, you know, 07:21 and the teacher would say, "Matthew, if you don't settle 07:24 down, I'm going to have to send you to the principal. 07:26 You must settle down. " 07:27 Now this kid has had a grown-ups mind 07:30 since, I don't know, he was 6 months. 07:32 I mean, he just thought like an adult and never met a stranger. 07:38 And if he would meet you, he would call you 07:42 by your first name. 07:43 He'd meet you and hear your name once and he'd have it down 07:45 for the rest of his life, I suppose. 07:48 But at any event, he would call you Bill or Sam 07:51 and his folks would say, "No, that's Mr. " 07:54 But he never got over it. 07:55 So at school, his principal was named Tom Smith. 07:59 And his teacher said, "If you don't settle down, 08:03 I'm going to have to send you to Mr. Smith. " 08:05 Well, he acted out again and she said, "Alright Matthew. 08:10 You go to the principal and don't you come back 08:12 until he tells you that you may come back. " 08:14 So in about 15 minutes he was back. 08:16 "Did you go to see the principal?" 08:17 "Yes ma'am, I did. " 08:20 "Well how was it?" 08:21 "Oh," he said, "I think Tom feels a lot better. 08:23 Any time he's feeling down, I'll be glad to go 08:25 talk with him again. 08:26 He's better now. " 08:30 And then Peggy and I bought an old 5th wheel camper trailer 08:36 in Kennewick that we were going to take back over 08:40 to our mountain place in Baker, Oregon. 08:42 And I had not a hitch to pull it with, didn't have a 08:45 5th wheel hitch in my pickup. 08:47 And so I parked it behind the Adventist church over in 08:50 Kennewick and just a stones throw from there 08:53 was Matthew's school. 08:54 And one noon hour, the teacher caught Matthew with 08:57 two or three of his little friends headed out the gate. 08:59 And she stopped him and she said, "You can't leave 09:01 the school grounds. 09:02 Where are you headed?" 09:03 He said, "I was going to take my friends over to see 09:05 my grandpa's camper. " 09:07 "Well," she said, "you can't leave. " 09:08 She said, "Maybe after school, your mother can take you and 09:11 your friends over, but you can't leave the school, not now. " 09:16 She said, "Is that the camper over there?" 09:17 "Yes. " 09:18 "The one right behind the church?" 09:20 "Yes, that's my grandpa's. " 09:22 "Well," asked his teacher, "does your grandpa work 09:25 for the church, or something?" 09:26 "Yeah," he said, "my grandpa's the Pope or something. " 09:30 "Some of my good friends call me the Little Pope, 09:32 and you may if you like. " 09:34 There he is, ole Mat Man. 09:36 These are my parents. 09:37 My dad, he's gone to sleep in Jesus 09:39 and my mother's not a bit well. 09:42 But there they were in happier times. 09:44 Oh, there's a new member of the family from not so 09:47 terribly long ago. 09:48 That was Peggy's baby. 09:51 There's grandma, my mother, and I think Troy 09:55 riding in the tubes behind the snowmobile. 10:00 In the summer time, we would ride in the boat or 10:03 on our motorcycles. 10:05 And in the winter time, on the snow machines. 10:07 This is Payette lake, for those of you that might be wondering. 10:11 We would, traditionally, when the kids were teenage, 10:14 and even after that, spend about a month up in and around 10:18 McCall fishing and swimming and boating and just 10:21 having a good time. 10:22 There's some kind of a creature from the Black Lagoon, I guess. 10:26 Kind of scary looking. 10:29 On occasions, we would strap our sleeping bags 10:32 behind our motorcycles, throw in some granola or something, 10:36 and then take off into the back country and be gone maybe 10:39 for 2 or 3 days seeing the wild country and just having a 10:43 wonderful fellowship together. 10:45 Now I need to explain this picture to you just a bit. 10:49 Peggy had gone off to see here mother over in eastern Oregon, 10:53 but Troy and I were involved in some building project, as we 10:57 often were during the summer time. 10:59 And we didn't go along with Peggy. 11:03 A couple of days later, we finished our job and 11:05 my boy Troy said, "Dad, let's hook the boat on behind the 11:09 pickup and just through the tent in the back. 11:12 We won't need to take the camp trailer or make two trips. " 11:15 He said, "Let's go fishing and camping and water skiing 11:20 and have some fun up at McCall. " 11:21 I said, "One condition, son. If you'll do the cooking. " 11:25 He said, "I'll do the cooking if you'll do the dishes. " 11:27 So we shook on it and took off. 11:29 This is the morning after the night before. 11:31 Does that look like a happy camper? 11:33 Sleeping on the rocks, and about the 3rd or 4th burned 11:37 grilled cheese sandwich, you know. 11:39 If you think this guy looks like he has indigestion, 11:42 have a look at my cook. 11:47 So Troy said, "Dad, let's call mom and see if she won't 11:50 come and cook for us for a day or two. " 11:51 And we did and she did, and then we had some fun. 11:55 Now that boy, Troy, our last, grew up on the road 12:01 in a camp trailer, and then in a bus. 12:03 His mother was his teacher until he went away to boarding school. 12:07 And he would work at meetings like these operating the sound 12:10 machinery and the public address and recording, and all of that. 12:13 And I would pay him a little bit. 12:14 And every fall when we'd hit the road again, he'd make 12:17 me give him a raise. 12:19 And he saved his money like a pension, or something. 12:23 And I asked him one day, "For what are you saving your money?" 12:25 He said, "I'm going to buy me a fat fendered Ford. " 12:28 Well, this is the fat fendered Ford after we worked 12:31 on it about 5 years. 12:32 It's not quite finished yet. 12:34 1953 Ford and we put, let's see, a 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine 12:41 that we punched out 30,000 and then bolted it up to a 12:45 9 inch Ford rear end. 12:47 The only problem we have now is trying to idle away 12:50 from a stop sign. 12:51 Hey, that's a drawing of Lyle's first car. 12:54 That's a 1950 Ford Crestliner. 12:57 I'll tell you more about that after a while. 13:00 I think, ladies and gentlemen, we have the privilege 13:03 of living in the most beautiful part of the world. 13:06 I have been, as the song says, everywhere. 13:09 Hank Snow sung it, but I lived it. 13:11 And I've been everywhere. 13:12 About 62 countries and all of the states, nearly. 13:16 But there's nothing quite like the Pacific Northwest. 13:19 It is so beautiful. 13:21 And I want you to join me in keeping it pretty and lovely. 13:24 We have so much to be thankful for. 13:27 We're going to discontinue our travel just now. 13:32 It was 108 years ago when my grandfather, John Albrecht, 13:36 came to this country from Russia with two sons, teenaged. 13:41 In the old country, he'd buried a wife and a little girl. 13:45 His forbearers had gone there at the invitation 13:48 of the government to teach the Russians how to farm. 13:53 But after a couple of generations, there came a 13:56 Czarina who knew not the Germans. 13:59 And their lands were taken from them and it was at that time 14:01 that there was a great migration of the Germanic people 14:06 from Russia, and from Germany for that matter, 14:08 to the United States. 14:10 John Albrecht and the two boys came across the Atlantic Ocean 14:14 and landed in New York City and matriculated through 14:18 Ellis Island like hundreds before and many, many afterward. 14:22 After they'd passed all of the tests, health and otherwise, 14:25 they asked, "Where is this land that's available 14:28 according to the Homestead Act. 14:30 Where is this free property?" 14:32 And someone said, "Mr. Albrecht, if I were you, 14:35 I would take my boys and go to North or South Dakota 14:39 or somewhere along the border of the two states. " 14:42 And so, John loaded the boys on the train and they traveled 14:45 west into Nebraska and then turned it north. 14:49 And somewhere on the border of South Dakota, 14:52 they got off the train and John bought a horse and a wagon. 14:57 And they loaded their few things in and continued to move north 15:01 until they came to the border of North and South Dakota and 15:05 the little county of Campbell and the little town of Pollock. 15:13 John went down along the Missouri River and with a 15:16 hatchet, he cut some Willows and from those he made stakes. 15:21 Beside the wagon, he drove one. 15:23 And then he turned north and walked up the banks of the 15:26 Missouri on the east side for several hundred yards, 15:29 and there he drove another stake. 15:31 And then he turned toward the east, walked several hundred 15:33 yards and drove a stake. 15:35 And then turned toward the south and drove another, 15:37 and then back to the point of beginning. 15:39 And when he got back to the wagon, he and the boys stood 15:42 up in the bed and viewed the landscape. 15:45 Here was their opportunity, here was their chance 15:48 in the promise land. 15:49 But one day, John left the boys in the fields and went 15:52 into the town of Pollock and into the bar. 15:56 He began to ask the question, "Does anyone have an idea 16:00 where I might find a wife? 16:02 My boys need a mom and I need a cook and a wife. 16:05 Anyone have an idea?" 16:06 And someone in the bar said, "John, if I were you, 16:09 I would go over to Bowdle. 16:12 I understand the Jacovo family has a niece that's recently 16:15 come over from the old country. 16:16 You might check her out. " 16:17 And so the next day, John hitched up the horse 16:20 to the wagon and went over to Bowdle, South Dakota 16:24 and found the Jacovo place and asked, "Is it true 16:27 you have a niece?" 16:28 "Yea, yea. " 16:30 "Well, can she cook?" 16:31 "Well, John, why don't you stay and eat with us and see. " 16:33 Evidently, he was impressed because after the dishes 16:36 were done, he asked Christine to marry him and she said, "When?" 16:40 He said, "Tomorrow. " And she said, "Yea. " 16:44 The next day, he took Christine home. 16:47 And she, not only did the housework and the cooking, 16:50 but when she had a bit of free time, she went out into the 16:52 fields with John and the boys and did planting 16:56 and did harvesting. 16:57 And as the family grew and prospered, so also 17:01 did the ranch, and vice verse. 17:04 Before too many years had gone by, in addition to the two boys 17:08 who'd come with their dad from the old country, 17:09 there were 14 new Albrecht's. 17:14 Of course, now they'd long since outgrown the old soddie. 17:17 But with God's blessing and hard work, they were able to 17:20 build for themselves a two-story farmhouse with screened in 17:24 porches on all four sides where the kids could sleep 17:27 during good weather. 17:31 They had the first rubber tired tractor in Campbell county. 17:35 And there is some debate, some say, "No, the first 17:38 indoor plumbing was down at the gubernatorial 17:41 mansion in Pierre. " 17:42 Others said, "No, it was at the Albrecht farm 17:45 up in Campbell county. " 17:47 I'm not sure. It doesn't matter. 17:49 I know this, that many a neighbor and many of the 17:52 folks from the little town of Pollock would, on Sunday, 17:55 crank up the Model T or hitch up to the buggy 17:59 and go to the Albrecht farm. 18:00 They wanted to see a couple of things. 18:02 They wanted to see the indoor outhouse, 18:04 and they wanted to see John flip the switch and watch the 18:07 electric lights come on inside. 18:10 One day, the two older boys came to their father and said, 18:16 "Dad, if we're going to stay ahead, we need to 18:18 upgrade the cattle herd. 18:20 What we need is a registered bull. " 18:22 And grandpa John said, "Boys, if we make some money 18:25 when we sell the grain this fall, we'll go buy us 18:27 a registered bull. " 18:29 And the boys said, "Dad, the wave of the future is credit. 18:32 The neighbors are already doing it. 18:34 If we're going to keep up and keep ahead, 18:35 we could go now and the banker would give us the money. 18:39 We could get the bull now and upgrade the herd. " 18:43 And John said, "Boys, surely you remember from the old country, 18:46 we don't spend money we don't got. " 18:48 But the boys were influential. 18:51 And so John reluctantly went to the bank, signed papers 18:55 he could not read, was given cash with which he immediately 18:58 went over to the livestock auction and bought a bull. 19:01 Tied him behind the wagon and led him home and turned him 19:04 loose in the fields. 19:08 Six weeks later, the stock market crashed. 19:13 And a few months after that, the banker came asking for money. 19:18 And John said, "You know we got no money. 19:21 We're like all the rest of the neighbors. 19:23 But I'm an honest man. 19:24 Soon as I have money, you'll have your money. 19:26 Just be patient with me. " 19:29 And the banker said, "We can't go on like this forever. " 19:33 I want you to hold that thought in your minds and let me 19:36 tell you about a visit that I made in search of my own roots. 19:39 I was holding meetings like these in Bismarck, North Dakota 19:41 and when our day off came, Peggy and I and our boy Troy 19:45 drove down to Campbell county and found the little town of 19:49 Pollock and drove right to the end of Main Street. 19:52 You must, at the end of Main Street, stop because the 19:55 Main Street itself stops. 19:56 And you must either turn right hand or left. 19:59 And I saw at the stop sign, pointers that went this 20:03 direction and this. 20:05 One said, the Van der Hoeven's this way, 20:07 and de Slava's that way. 20:09 And then one said, Albrecht Bay this way. 20:12 And I parked and ran to the nearest house and 20:14 knocked on the door. 20:15 And I asked the gentleman, "Tell me about Albrecht Bay. 20:18 What's that all about?" 20:19 "Well," he said, "there was an old pioneer who came from Russia 20:22 by the name of John Albrecht. 20:23 And he built a ranch house down there. 20:26 And now," he said, "of course, the river is dammed. 20:30 Down at Pierre, there is a dam. 20:31 But where the ranch house use to be, that's where we 20:34 dock our boats, so the name Albrecht Bay. " 20:37 I said, "Was that John Albrecht with a lot of kids?" 20:40 "Yea," he said, "yea that was the guy. " 20:43 I said, "Did you know him?" 20:45 "Not well," he said. 20:46 "I was only a kid myself. " 20:48 "But," he said, "we had the grain elevators and we 20:51 bought his grain. 20:52 And I always heard he was a good honest man. " 20:54 I asked, "Is there anyone else still alive around here 20:58 that might have known him personally?" 21:00 "Yea," he said, "Go down to the pharmacy and see Mr. Lovo. " 21:05 So I went down to the pharmacy, and inside I found behind the 21:10 counter, a lady and I said to her, "I'd like to meet 21:13 Mr. Lovo, if he's in. " 21:16 She called out, "Mr. Lovo, please. " 21:18 And he came out of the back room waddling. 21:20 He was about that high and he was about that wide. 21:25 And he had real thick glasses. 21:27 And I introduced myself. 21:29 I said, "Mr. Lovo, my name is Lyle Albrecht. 21:32 And I understand you may have known my grandfather, John. " 21:36 "Yea, I knew him good," he said. 21:38 "Knew him good. " 21:40 "Well," I said, "I want you to tell me all about him. " 21:42 "Well, what I can say. I don't know. 21:45 He was good man, I guess. I don't know. " 21:49 "Oh," he said, "what I can say to you about him. 21:52 He was just a short fat little German. " 21:54 Now somehow I had the idea that my grandfather, John, 21:57 was tall and broad shouldered and narrow at the waist. 22:00 I said, "Mr. Lovo, maybe we're not reading off the same page. 22:04 I'm talking about the John that built the farmhouse out where 22:08 they dock the boats now and homesteaded there 22:10 and raised a big family. " 22:12 "Yea, yea. Yea, same one," he said. 22:14 I said, "Do you mean he was like you described, short and... " 22:18 He said, "He was a short fat little German 22:20 about like you are. " 22:28 I said, "Could you tell me where he's buried, sir?" 22:31 "Yes," he said, "go to Mount Hope cemetery up the main road 22:34 and about half way on the right hand side, there you 22:37 see the family plot. " 22:39 And so I went there with my son, Troy. 22:41 And I found the grave of my grandfather, John, 22:43 and some of the other children who died prematurely. 22:47 And I knelt there beside the grave and prayed that on 22:50 the day of the first resurrection, I'd have the 22:52 privilege to be caught up together with my grandpa John. 23:01 A few weeks after the banker's first visit, he came again 23:05 with a demand. 23:06 He said, "I can't carry you on credit any longer. 23:09 You haven't even made a payment against the interest, 23:12 let alone the principle. " 23:13 And John said, "Yea, but as soon as we get money. " 23:15 And the banker said, "That won't work, John. " 23:18 And a few days later he came again and took, not only 23:21 the bull, but all of the cattle and all of the farm machinery. 23:27 And when he left with the cows and the equipment, he said, 23:30 "It's not over yet, John. " 23:32 And a few days later, he came back with the sheriff 23:34 and an eviction notice and took the section of land 23:38 and the farm house and the whole thing. 23:43 John Albrecht did come to this country with nothing 23:45 but calluses on his hands and a dream in his heart. 23:48 With a lot of hard work and prayer and faith, 23:51 he built what, for him and his family, was an empire. 23:54 And in just a few days, for reasons he would never 23:56 understand, he'd lost it all. 23:59 And it was more than he could stand and he died 24:01 of a broken heart about 6 years before my birth. 24:08 When he died, he left nothing but unpaid bills 24:10 and hungry mouths. 24:13 And one day, a couple of the older boys from the 24:16 second marriage came to their mother, Christine, 24:18 and said, "Mother, things are better out west. 24:22 We're going to take the old Model T pickup and we're 24:25 going to go out west and get jobs and we'll make money 24:28 and we'll send it back to you. " 24:29 And my dad at age 15 overheard this conversation 24:33 and he went running up and he said, "I'm going to. 24:35 I want to go with you. " 24:36 And the older brother said, "No, Walt, you're going 24:38 to stay right here. 24:39 You're nothing but a snot nosed kid. 24:40 You're going to stay right here. " 24:41 And my dad said, "Look, if you'll let me go along, 24:45 I'll ride in the back, I'll be no problem, 24:48 and if we have any flat tires, I will fix them all. " 24:52 Now that was a bargain too good to pass by. 24:56 Now I love old cars and antiques. 25:00 It was Ray Charles who put it to music. 25:03 He said, "I love antique autos and old Eldorado's. 25:11 When I was pastoring in Weiser, Idaho, I found a 25:13 1936 Chevrolet and I bought it and began to restore it. 25:17 And I was having some problem with the knee action 25:19 on the front end. 25:21 And I knew my dad once had one and knew about it mechanically. 25:24 And he would often come over with mom on weekends to hear 25:28 me preach and to spend a day or two. 25:30 And so I asked him one Sunday, "Dad, would you come out 25:33 in the back and look at my old Chevrolet?" 25:36 "Not now, not now. " 25:39 And so I let it slide. 25:40 It happened another time or two, and finally one day 25:43 I confronted him. 25:44 I said, "Dad, what do you have against old cars? 25:47 You won't even look at my antique Chevy. " 25:50 And my dad told me about the strip in the back 25:52 of the Model T. 25:53 He said, "En route between South Dakota and Idaho, 25:57 we had 15 flat tires and my brothers made me fix every one. 26:01 Jack it up by hand and take off the tire and take it apart 26:06 and take out the tube and patch it and put it back in 26:09 and put it on the wheel and pump it up and put it back on. 26:12 Don't talk to me about old cars. " 26:16 When the three Albrecht boys arrived in Idaho, it was the 26:19 fall of the year and the fruit was hanging heavy on the trees 26:22 and they immediately got jobs in the fruit harvest. 26:26 They were given two or three big meals a day 26:29 and one big silver dollar each at the end of every day. 26:32 And they stayed there in the Caldwell Marsing area 26:36 until the fruit had been picked. 26:38 And then they asked around, "Where might we go? 26:41 What might we do throughout the winter? 26:44 Do you have any suggestions?" 26:45 And one fruit farmer said to the Albrecht boys, "If I were you, 26:49 I would go to the Camas Prairie and get a job feeding cattle 26:53 during the winter. 26:54 They may not be able to pay you much, if anything at all. 26:56 May not pay you but you'll have good meals and you'll 26:59 have a good warm place to hang out for the winter. " 27:02 And so the boys loaded into the old Model T and drove to the 27:06 little town of Fairfield near the ski resort of Sun Valley. 27:10 In the bar, they went and asked, "Do you have any suggestion 27:14 about a rancher that might be able to give us jobs?" 27:16 And the owner of the bar said, "Boys, if I were you, 27:20 I would go... " and he told them a name and gave them directions. 27:23 And they went and the rancher said, "Yes, of course. 27:26 I can put you to work feeding, I can't pay you much. 27:29 But you'll eat well. " 27:30 And he said, "We'll go into town a couple of times a week and 27:33 have a few beers and shoot some pool. " 27:36 It happened that there was a son of the rancher 27:40 the same age as Walt, my dad. 27:43 And so the three Albrecht boys and the ranchers son 27:47 would, in the morning, get up early and go out and pitch 27:50 the hay off the loose stacks onto slips or sleds 27:54 in the winter time. 27:55 And then take it out through the fields and throw it off 27:59 to the hungry cattle. 28:00 Break the ice on the ponds and creeks so the cows could drink. 28:04 And then, nothing else to do until or unless it was a real 28:08 bitter winter day and they'd do the same thing 28:11 in the evening time. 28:12 And at least once a week, and sometimes more, 28:15 the rancher would take the boys into the town of Fairfield and 28:17 into the club cigar store where he'd buy them a few beers 28:21 and they'd play some poker or shoot pool. 28:26 When the spring came, the two older Albrecht boys 28:28 learned that there were good paying jobs on Swan Island 28:33 in the Portland, Oregon area in the ship building business. 28:36 And so they left Fairfield Idaho and went to the Portland area. 28:40 But Walt stayed behind. 28:42 He'd found a family and a boy his same age 28:45 who was much like a brother. 28:47 He put up hay that summer and fed cattle the next winter. 28:51 And the next summer, he was putting up hay when at the end 28:54 of a long day, the rancher took the two boys into town 28:58 and treated them to some beer and some poker games. 29:04 The owner of the bar came over to my dad and he said, 29:07 "Walt, I've been looking for a bartender. " 29:12 Walt was 17 years of age now. 29:15 "I've been looking for a bartender for a good while. " 29:18 And he said, "I think you're the guy that I want. 29:21 Everyone likes you and you have such a wonderful sense of humor, 29:24 and you'd be in out of the heat in the summer and 29:28 out of the cold in the winter, and I could pay you more 29:29 than you're making on the farm. 29:31 Would you come to work for me?" 29:33 And Walt said, "Mr. Hutchinson, evidently you don't understand. 29:36 I'm not even old enough to be in here, let alone old enough 29:39 to be a bartender. " 29:40 But the boss man said, "Don't worry about it. 29:43 No one ever comes, and if they do, I'll take care of it. 29:45 Come to work for me. " 29:46 And so my dad went to work tending bar at age 17. 29:51 Having lived through the depression, he developed 29:54 an attitude that he took to his grave. 29:56 You don't waste anything. 29:58 If you take it on your plate, you eat it. 30:02 He said, "It seemed such a waste when the loggers or the ranchers 30:05 would come in and order up a beer and say, 30:07 "Walt, I want you to put a good head on it. 30:09 I don't want half a mug of foam. " 30:13 Seemed such a waste to watch the foam spill over the side 30:16 of the mug and go down the drain. 30:18 And so over the drain he placed a can, a metal can, 30:22 that would capture the foam and it would return to liquid. 30:25 And he always had a beer, then, to share with his buddies. 30:28 And by the time he was 20 years of age, 30:30 my dad was a confirmed alcoholic. 30:37 At about the time he turned 20, he began to notice 30:40 a girl in the little town of Fairfield. 30:43 And she'd just been a kid when he arrived, but suddenly 30:46 she was a young lady, 30:49 and pretty, and her name was Virginia Cox. 30:54 But she was very different from Walt in many ways. 30:56 She was native as her forbearers had been 30:59 for generations. 31:00 And more than that, while Walt had no religious background, 31:03 she had come from a family whose roots went way deep 31:09 in a religion that's very prominent in southeastern Idaho 31:13 and over in Utah. 31:15 The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. 31:17 Your friends, the Mormons. 31:20 And when Walt and Virginia began to date, her parents 31:24 began to show their nervousness. 31:27 They said, "Virginia, don't get serious about Walt. 31:31 He's not a Mormon. 31:32 And more than that, he's an alcoholic. 31:35 He's great and a lot of fun, I know, when he's sober. 31:37 But he's an alcoholic. Don't get serious. " 31:39 But over family objections, Walt and Virginia married. 31:43 About a year and a half later, there came a baby boy 31:46 whom the named Lyle. 31:47 Three years later, there came a baby boy whom they named Max. 31:50 Two more years and baby girl whom they named Diane. 31:54 At about the time Diane came, there came a 31:56 business opportunity. 31:58 The county was going to allow, not only beer and wine, but 32:01 also whiskey and mixed drinks. 32:03 And my dad saw the opportunity. 32:05 There was a building one block off Main Street 32:08 that if remodeled would make a wonderful night club and bar. 32:13 And so he went to a rancher and made with him an agreement 32:18 that if the rancher would put up the money, dad would 32:21 oversee the construction and they would be partners 32:24 in the bar business. 32:25 Now my earliest memories, ladies and gentlemen, 32:28 are of the refurbishing of that building into a night club. 32:34 I need not even close my eyes and I can see the 32:36 recessed lighting that glowed in the tops of the glass topped 32:42 coffee tables, or cocktail tables we called them then. 32:46 There was over stuffed furniture around the peripheral 32:48 and in the very center, there was a dance floor 32:52 with dance wax upon it. 32:55 The boys were just coming home from the war that had ended. 33:00 Lyle, about 4.5 or 5 years of age, would be stood upon 33:04 the bar by the G.I.'s and taught some dirty little lyric or song 33:10 and as soon as he could repeat it, they'd buy him a Coke 33:12 or an ice cream cone. 33:14 By the time I was 6 years of age, I had a sewer mouth. 33:18 And I'm not proud of that. 33:20 It was only the gift of God that took it from me. 33:26 My mother would take my brother and sister, leave them with 33:32 grandparents or with an aunt, her sister, while she 33:37 tended the bar or tended the tables. 33:41 When school was out in the afternoon and other kids were 33:43 going to their farms or their homes in town, I would come 33:46 back to the bar and stay there and be entertained by the 33:51 attendees until about 6 o'clock when mother would take me 33:55 by the hand, go by grandparents place or by her sister's place 33:58 and pick up brother and sister, take us home, feed us, bath us, 34:01 and put us to bed. 34:03 Dad would close up the bar at about 1 o'clock. 34:07 By law he was required to do so. 34:10 Then he'd begin to sweep up after he'd pulled the blinds. 34:13 For tomorrows business, he would get ready. 34:16 But without exception, there would come a knocking 34:19 on the door and he'd peak through the shutters and 34:20 there were some of his very best friends. 34:23 "Open up, Walt, open up. 34:24 We'll have just one drink, we'll buy a bottle. 34:27 We'll play a few hands of cards. " 34:29 And so my dad would open the door, get a bottle, 34:33 and with the boys, go to the back room, 34:35 and there he'd spend the night drinking and gambling and 34:38 losing everything, generally, that he'd made during the day. 34:43 At about daylight, he'd come staggering up to the front door 34:46 to our little home. 34:49 Back then no one locked their door. 34:51 He would come inside and become abusive. 34:55 Some folks drink and get happy and others drink and get ugly. 34:59 And dad, tragically, was in the latter category. 35:03 Mother put up with it for quite a long while. 35:06 And then one day, she decided it was time, perhaps, 35:10 to put an end to it. 35:11 So she went over to her parents place and said, 35:14 "Walt's and alcoholic and he gambles and drinks all night 35:17 long and then comes home and is abusive, 35:19 verbally and often physically, and I'm sick of it. 35:21 For the kids sake, I'm thinking I ought to divorce him. 35:23 What do you think?" 35:24 And my Mormon grandparents said, "Don't, Virginia, don't. 35:28 You made your bed. 35:31 One day he'll find a spiritual need. 35:33 One day the bishop will be able to relate to him. 35:35 One day the homeroom teachers will be able to share with him 35:39 and he'll become a Mormon. 35:41 So just be patient. " 35:43 And mother was patient and it only got worse. 35:49 And one noon when dad sobered up and was getting ready to go 35:52 back to the bar, mother laid down the law. 35:56 She said, "Walt, if you can't come home sober, 35:59 please don't come home at all. 36:01 You come in and the kids run and hide. 36:04 You're abusive and fearful. " 36:09 And my dad made a speech he'd made, I'm sure a dozen times 36:12 prior and always meant, "I'm sorry, I'll be home on time 36:14 tonight and I'll be sober. " 36:17 And she said, "You'd better because if you don't, 36:20 you're going to find the door locked. 36:22 And you can just turn around and go back to the bar 36:25 and sleep it off on the cot in the back room. " 36:27 And dad again said, "I'll be home sober and on time. " 36:31 And he was sweeping the floor that night after business 36:34 when the knock came and the boys said, "Just one hand, Walt. 36:39 Just one drink. " 36:40 And against his better judgment he opened the door and with the 36:43 boys and a bottle went to the back room and spent the night. 36:46 And the next morning, a bit after daylight, he came 36:48 staggering up the little pathway to our front door 36:51 and reached out, as he'd done a thousand times prior, 36:54 to open it but mother had kept her word as well 36:57 and the door was locked. 36:58 And like it was this morning, I can hear the war that 37:02 raged through the glass. 37:03 Dad on the outside cursing and turning the air blue with 37:06 rotten epithets, and mother on the inside shouting back through 37:09 the glass, "No, I told you no more. 37:11 You just go on back up to the joint and sleep it off. " 37:14 And after about 3 minutes of this talk fight, my dad 37:18 doubled up his fish and put it through the glass 37:20 in the upper half of the door, reached in and unlocked, 37:23 and came in and it was ugly. 37:31 Two days later, there came a knocking on that same door. 37:36 Where the window had once been, there was now a piece of 37:39 cardboard box taped in its place. 37:42 And because she couldn't see through to see who was outside, 37:46 mother asked, "Who is it?" 37:48 And a man said, "It's Brother Hayes with Christian books. " 37:52 Now back in that time and place, anyone that introduced himself 37:55 to you as "brother" or a lady introduced herself as "sister", 37:58 you knew they were Mormons because 92% of the community 38:01 was Mormon, and that's the way the brothers and sisters talked. 38:04 And so mother took off her apron and through the cardboard 38:08 she said, "Just a minute Brother Hayes. " 38:10 She fluffed up her hair a little bit, dusted her dress, 38:13 and then opened the door and in came a gentleman 38:16 with a little satchel. 38:17 He placed it on our little chrome dinette and opened it 38:21 and pulled out some children's books. 38:23 Uncle Author's Bedtime Stories. 38:26 "Wouldn't you like to have these?" 38:28 And mother said, "I don't think so, not now. " 38:32 He put them away and reached back into the valise and 38:34 pulled out what I still call, "the doctor book. " 38:37 It was called, The Modern Medical Counselor. 38:41 In the little town of Fairfield, we had no hospital. 38:45 It was 36 miles to a hospital and to decent medicine. 38:49 And so he showed my mother, "This is what you do for 38:51 snake bite and this is what you do if you're bleeding here. 38:54 This is what you do for pneumonia. 38:55 Would you like this book?" 38:57 And my mother said, "Yes, I would but I have 39:00 a couple of problems. 39:01 I don't have any money here. 39:04 And even if I did and bought it without my husband's permission, 39:06 I might know his displeasure. " 39:09 She said, "Why don't you show it to my husband. 39:11 This you may do, take it up to Walt's bar, 39:14 they're just one block off Main Street, and show him. 39:16 I'll bet he'll buy it. " 39:17 And so Brother Hayes put the books back into the valise, 39:20 went out to his car and drove up to Walt's Place, parked, 39:24 took the valise, opened the door and walked right inside. 39:27 Now I don't promote Christians going into a bar, but not a day 39:31 goes by except I thank God that on that day 39:33 ole Brother Hayes did. 39:36 He didn't just push the door open and call in, 39:39 "Walt, could you come out for a minute?" 39:40 He, as we said in beer parlor parlance, went inside and 39:45 bellied up to the bar. 39:47 And he opened his valise and pulled out the doctor book 39:50 and showed my dad. 39:52 And my dad asked one question, "How much?" 39:56 And when he was told, dad opened the till and took out the cash 39:59 and just kind of tossed it across the bar. 40:02 And ole Brother Hayes wasn't just a salesman. 40:06 He was a literature evangelist in the finest sense, 40:09 and more than that he was something of a 40:11 barnyard psychologist. 40:13 I think he had no more than 7 or 8 grades of formal education. 40:17 But God had given him wisdom and a love for people. 40:21 And so while he was writing his receipt, he said, 40:23 "Walt, do you know anything much about the Bible?" 40:27 And my dad sarcastically said, "Well you can look around and 40:30 count the bottles and know I'm not a scholar, can't you now. " 40:34 "Oh," he said, "I know enough about it to know the Mormons 40:36 have it all wrong, I know that much. " 40:38 And ole Brother Hayes picked upon that. 40:40 He said, "The next time the bishop comes by, 40:42 how would you like to be able to open the Bible and show him 40:45 what the Bible says?" 40:47 And my dad had a flash, mental revenge. 40:51 "How could I do that?" 40:53 Brother Hayes said, "You just sign this card. 40:55 I'll put it in the mailbox for you on the way out of town. " 40:58 And dad signed the card. 41:00 And about two weeks later, there came from 41:03 Box 55, Los Angeles California, a manila envelope 41:08 with three Bible guides. 41:11 What is that address, by the way? 41:13 The Voice of Prophecy. 41:14 The oldest continuest religious broadcast in the 41:17 United States of America, originated by dear old Richards 41:19 and followed on by his sons and now by 41:22 Lonnie Melashanko, my buddy. 41:24 I had the privilege, by the way, of being an evangelist 41:27 for them for 3 years. 41:33 The night that the lessons came, dad, instead of going into 41:36 the back room with the boys and the bottle, brought 41:38 the lessons home, sat down at the chrome dinette 41:42 and opened the Bible, emptied the coffee pot and filled an 41:46 ashtray with ashes and cigarette stubs, and filled in 41:50 all three lessons that night. 41:52 And when he finished the last one, he put a PS, 41:54 "Send me more lessons. 41:55 Save me time and yourselves as well. " 41:58 A few days later, there came a thick envelope. 42:01 And that night, my dad came home and filled out 42:03 a bunch of lessons. 42:05 You know what happened to him. 42:07 The Holy Spirit of God took control of his life. 42:11 And those habits that held him in a vise grip for years 42:14 and years fell away. 42:16 That filthy mouth was cleaned up over night 42:18 and from that day until he died, 42:22 I never heard him use a slang word. 42:26 And tobacco habit, 3 or 4 packs a day of Lucky Strikes 42:30 or Camels, and rolling Prince Albert in between, 42:34 gone overnight. 42:36 And alcoholism that had held him in the enemy's grip, 42:39 gone instantly. 42:41 No one had to convince me of the power of the Holy Spirit 42:44 and the word of God. 42:45 I saw it in my dad. 42:50 And he began to take brother and me fishing 42:52 and while we fished, he talked to us about Jesus. 42:57 "He's coming back but we need to clean up our lives and change. 43:00 That's why I don't drink or smoke any more. " 43:07 Then he began to explain to us one day that he discovered 43:10 in his Bible study that the Lord's Day was not Sunday, 43:14 but rather was Saturday. 43:17 And he began to keep the Sabbath thinking he was 43:19 the only one, perhaps one exception that he knew of. 43:23 The only one that was observing the Saturday Sabbath. 43:31 The cupboards were now completely bare. 43:33 I can remember mother calling me for school now, 43:37 "It's time to go to school, son, get up. 43:39 It's time for breakfast. " 43:40 I'd sit down at the table and there on a plate 43:44 were two sections of soda cracker and a little puddle of 43:47 brown Caro syrup. 43:49 That's all we had in the house. 43:51 And that was nearly gone. 43:53 And mother said to my dad, "I'm going to take that 50 cent piece 43:56 and buy some flour and things so we can make some bread. 43:59 And my dad said, "Not with that. 44:00 That's not ours, that's God's money. " 44:02 And he went and picked it up and put it in his pocket. 44:05 And the next day he went to church and put it in 44:08 a tithe envelope. 44:10 And while he was in church, some saint filled the 44:13 back seat of the car with groceries. 44:22 And when they got home, there was in the mailbox 44:26 a little note from the Idaho power company. 44:28 "Come in for a job interview, Walter. " 44:32 And so on Monday he went to the power company. 44:36 And the man said, "We've been looking for a long time. 44:40 I have read your application. 44:42 I've, for 6 months, been looking for just the right man and I 44:45 believe you're the one. " 44:48 My dad said, "There's just one think, sir. 44:50 I can't work on Saturday. 44:54 It's not that I won't, it's that I can't. 44:56 It's one of the ten commandments. " 44:58 "Oh," he said, "if there's a power outage, if there's 45:00 some problem, if the power goes out, I'll be glad to work 45:03 all Friday night and all day Saturday for nothing, no charge. 45:06 But for the ordinary mundane things, I can't come in 45:09 on the Sabbath. " 45:10 And the boss man leaned back, he said, "That's a problem. 45:13 There's no way I can make the other men come in on Saturday 45:16 and give you the Saturday's off. 45:17 That won't work. 45:19 But I want you, Walter. 45:21 I'll tell you what I'll do. 45:24 I'll give you one Saturday off and then you come in the next 45:27 and the next off. 45:28 You come in two Saturday's a month. 45:30 How about that?" 45:31 And my dad said, "No sir, I can't. " 45:38 And the boss said, "Walter, I'll go this far. 45:41 I shouldn't but I'm willing. 45:45 You come in one Saturday morning a month, 45:49 just once a month. 45:52 And you hit the time clock and then you go into the back room 45:56 or in the restroom and hide out for a few minutes 45:58 and then leave and go to church, do whatever you want to do. 46:01 You just come in for a few minutes once a month. 46:05 You'll do that. " 46:08 And my dad said, "No sir, I can't. " 46:11 And the boss straightened up in his chair and he said, 46:13 "Let me make sure that I understand you, Walter. 46:16 You told me that you don't have anything to eat at home and 46:18 the kids don't have decent shoes and you won't come in here 46:22 for 15 minutes once a month on Saturday? 46:24 Is that what you're saying?" 46:25 And my dad said, "Yes sir, I guess that's it. " 46:27 "Good," he said, "you're hired. 46:30 For months and months, I've been looking for an honest man. 46:34 Our men have been stealing from us out of the yard. 46:37 And if you won't violate the 4th commandment, 46:40 you won't steal or let anyone else ever do it either. " 46:42 And my dad got the best job he ever had. 46:46 And after a few years, 2 or 3 only, he was able to 46:50 put a payment down on a little farm between 46:53 Payette and Weiser on the Idaho side of the Snake River. 46:56 And now I was a teenager. 46:58 And we would chase water all during the day and 47:02 dad would be in town. 47:03 He'd set the water in the morning, we'd milk early 47:06 in the morning, and then he'd go into the power company 47:07 and put in 10 or 12 hours, and then he'd come home. 47:10 And we'd put up hay by the moon light and milk cows 47:13 until about midnight. 47:15 And then fall into bed and then start about 4:30 47:17 the next morning. 47:19 And too much of a good thing is a bad thing 47:21 and after about 3 years on that program, 47:23 my dad's health broke. 47:26 I was now 15 years of age. 47:29 He went into a doctor in the little town of Payette. 47:32 And the doctor said, "Walter, if you're going to get well 47:34 quickly, you need to go to a warm dry climate. 47:37 I would suggest somewhere down around Phoenix, Arizona. " 47:41 And so my dad got together with mother that day and they 47:44 talked it over, and at the dinner table that evening 47:47 they made an announcement, "We're moving to Arizona. 47:50 We're going to have a farm sale and auction, 47:52 and we're moving to Arizona. " 47:53 And I said, "Goodbye. See ya. " 47:58 In addition to working on the farm, I'd been working in 48:00 the fruit harvest to earn enough money for my first automobile. 48:03 And when I had a few hundred dollars saved up, 48:04 my dad said, "I'll help you to buy a car. 48:07 I know where there's a 1948 Ford 4-door Sedan, 48:10 one owner, good shape, and I believe you have enough 48:13 money to pay for it. " 48:14 And I said, "No thanks, dad. 48:16 I've already found my automobile and it's not a 1948 Ford. 48:21 It's a 1950 Ford, not a custom, not a club coupe, 48:25 but a Crestliner. " 48:27 The sport model of the year. 48:28 They only made a very few of them. 48:34 And so I purchased my first automobile. 48:39 What the factory hadn't done, some really wise 48:42 young man had completed. 48:44 He'd lowered her down until it barely cleared the tracks. 48:49 And put on the rear end of it, a continental kit, a real one. 48:54 And real twin aerials on the fenders. 48:58 And then he'd taken the chrome off of the hood 49:01 and off of the trunk and lettered it in. 49:03 And then best of all, he put 12 inch fiberglass pack 49:08 cherry bomb mufflers under the thing. 49:11 Oh, oh I tell you what. 49:13 I was never big enough to play basketball or football. 49:16 I was a pretty good baseball player and nobody cared. 49:19 And back then, if you didn't have at least two stripes 49:21 on your sweater, you couldn't buy a date. 49:23 If, on the other hand, you were a letterman and your face wasn't 49:25 one big zit, you could go with the prom queen. 49:27 But I couldn't, you see. 49:29 And then I found my equalizer. 49:34 Yea, my customized 1950 Ford Crestliner. 49:38 And so I would drive that thing to the school parking lot 49:41 and when the last bell rang, I'd make a mad dash for the lot 49:44 and fire it up and come around and park right in front 49:47 of the main doors and put her in neutral and mash the accelerator 49:51 and here they'd come, like ants out of an ant hill for sugar, 49:54 the beautiful little Idaho girls. 49:55 "Lyle, could I ride with you? Would you take me home?" 49:57 "Yes, you here and you here and you here. 49:59 I'll be back for you. " 50:00 And in that context, my folks said, "We're going to Arizona. " 50:03 And so I said, "Goodbye. " 50:06 And I stayed in Payette, Idaho and went to high school. 50:11 And about Thanksgiving time, my mother sent a card 50:14 and in the card there was a check for 30 dollars. 50:17 She said, "We want you to come for Christmas. " 50:20 Now I'd been to Boise a time or two. 50:22 I'd been across the Snake River bridge into Ontario a few times. 50:26 But that was about the extent of my journeyings. 50:28 Go to the big city of Phoenix for a few days? 50:31 Alright. 50:33 Mother said, "I want you to bring all your clothes. 50:35 I want to be sure that they're all in good order. " 50:38 I should have caught on. 50:40 "Oh and by the way, dad said to take your car, 50:42 He's made arrangements for you to park it in 50:44 the Bassford's garage. 50:46 But he said to be sure and drain the radiator and the block. " 50:50 Now I should have picked up on it. 50:53 You've heard about folks that don't quite know 50:55 what's going on. 50:56 I wasn't even suspicious. 50:59 And so I did as they described and put my things in a little 51:03 suitcase and I caught the Greyhound bus and I rode for 51:06 most of three days to Phoenix, Arizona. 51:09 And I got off and my family was there to meet me. 51:12 And I knew no one else. 51:14 And all during those holidays, my folks were softening me up. 51:18 "Why don't you stay here? 51:19 Why don't you go to school here? 51:21 There's a Christian school right out here, high school, 51:23 and they'll teach you to fly. 51:25 It's called Thunderbird Academy. " 51:26 I said, "But my equalizer, my Ford is up there a thousand 51:30 miles away in a garage. " 51:32 And my dad caught on, he said, "Son, if you should happen 51:35 to get a date," I'm pretty sure that's the way he said it. 51:38 Least that's the way I remember it. 51:40 "If you should be lucky enough to get a date, 51:43 maybe I could loan you the family car from time to time. 51:46 Now at that time, my dad had a 1956 Pontiac hardtop. 51:51 And if you'll remember those days, you remember that Pontiac 51:53 was one of the fastest things around. 51:55 "Alright," I said. 51:57 And so the first of January, I went out to Thunderbird Academy 52:00 and registered and matriculated and I knew nobody. 52:04 And the first ones to welcome me and take me in 52:06 were the wrong kind. 52:09 And I got in with a fast crowd and I was way over my 52:11 head and I knew it. 52:13 And I was homesick for Idaho and for my Ford. 52:17 And as soon as spring came, I got a job. 52:19 School was out and I got a job in a boat shop and earned 52:21 enough money for a ride on the bus back to Idaho. 52:25 And there I ran down, left my bags at the bus station, 52:30 ran down 6th Street, and there I opened the garage door 52:35 and rolled my '50 Ford out, lifted the hood and filled the 52:40 radiator and put the battery charger on her. 52:43 And while she was charging, I washed her and waxed her down. 52:47 And then I cranked it up and those glass pack mufflers 52:51 sang my song and I knew I was home. 52:54 If you want to know absolute pure unadulterated joy, 52:58 ladies and gentlemen, you drive, during the happy days, 53:01 your '50 Ford down Main Street and you stop right in front 53:04 of the rock and roll radio station, KPID Payette, Idaho, 53:08 and now you put her in neutral and mash the accelerator 53:11 until the windows in the radio station begin to rattle 53:15 and you hear your own pipes on your radio in your car. 53:19 And the disc jockey said, "Guess who's back in town. 53:22 Lyle's here. " 53:23 And all of my boyfriends and a lot of girlfriends came 53:26 down to Main Street. 53:27 I was home. 53:28 But I had some bad habits. 53:33 Someone phoned or wrote or called my folks, I don't know. 53:38 But they told them, "Lyle is going down a bad road full born. 53:42 If you care, you better come back. " 53:44 And so they sold out and moved back to Payette, Idaho. 53:47 And I moved back in with my family and I had these habits. 53:53 And my dad said, "Look, there is a Christian school 53:55 over at Caldwell, it's called Gem State Academy. " 53:57 And I said, "I know your worries dad, and I know where 54:01 you're headed here. 54:03 But I'm never going to leave my Ford. 54:04 I will not go without my Ford. " 54:07 And so my dad called the principal and then he hung up 54:10 and he said, "The principal says you may bring your Ford, but 54:12 you must give the keys to the boys dean. " 54:16 I thought about that long. 54:19 I had keys wired glued magnet, I had a dozen sets of keys. 54:22 Give the dean a set of keys? Not a problem. 54:23 And so I loaded up my few things and went to Gem State Academy 54:27 with my '50 Ford. 54:30 And I was only there days, I think, when I caught a 54:34 vision of loveliness. 54:37 Oh, there were pretty girls in Payette, and some pretty ones 54:40 down in Arizona, but this girl was something else. 54:44 I mean, she made Dolly Pardon look like a little boy. 54:50 But more than that, she was sweet and good and funny. 54:55 And I began to ask around, "Who is that girl? 54:57 What's her name? Where's she from?" 54:59 "Oh that's Peggy Hopkins, she's from over in Baker, Oregon. " 55:03 "That's not so far away. 55:05 What is she in, what does she talk about? 55:07 What are her interests?" 55:08 "Well, she loves horses. I know that. 55:11 She has her own quarter horse and she draws pictures of him. " 55:13 I said, "That's it. " 55:15 And so I made my way up to Miss Peggy Hopkins. 55:18 And I said, "I'm Lyle Albrecht. 55:19 I'm from just over at Payette, not so far from where you live. 55:22 And I understand you like horses. " 55:24 She said, "I do, we have a cattle ranch and I have my 55:27 own quarter horse. " 55:28 I said, "What a coincidence. 55:29 My dad and I have an Arabian ranch. 55:32 What do you know. " 55:33 "You do?" "Yea. " 55:35 "Well," she said, "we must ride together. 55:37 Come over and we'll ride together. " 55:39 "Alright," I said. 55:41 I had no idea what side you got on. 55:45 But I was willing to learn, I'm a fast study. 55:47 I went down to the barns and I took a crash course 55:51 on horse riding. 55:53 And I remember the man there said, "I have one question. 55:57 Tell me, which style do you prefer?" 55:58 I said, "What do you mean, I want to ride horse style. " 56:01 "Well," he said, "there's English style and then 56:04 there's Western style. " 56:05 "Well what is the difference?" 56:07 "Well," he said, "the Western saddle has a horn. " 56:09 I said, "That's the one for me. 56:10 If anyone gets in my way, I'll blow the horn. 56:12 I mean business. " 56:17 And I made that riding appointment. 56:19 And I began to work on that girl, convinced her that she 56:22 couldn't live without me. 56:26 And when we graduated, we married. 56:28 I don't promote teenagers getting married. 56:33 But if I had it to do over again, I'd do it 56:35 just the same way. 56:37 Maybe sooner. 56:40 It's been the light of my life. 56:43 The mother of my babies. 56:47 My constant companion 56:51 for lo, these 37 years of ministry 56:54 and vagabond living. 56:59 I spoke to you a few Sabbath's ago about the importance 57:02 of the home and the family. 57:05 And I had something in my notes to share with you and I 57:08 forgot it so I'm going to tell you right now. 57:11 That girl that I met so long ago 57:14 has made an agreement with me, 57:18 not only are we spending a lifetime together, 57:22 when we pass away, if Jesus doesn't hurry back, 57:26 we're going to be cremated. 57:28 And we made the kids promise to mix us together. 57:36 Would you pray with me. 57:39 We thank you, Lord, for Your mercy. 57:46 We thank You for Your deliverance. 57:49 The power of the gospel to change lives completely. 57:55 Thank You for what You've done for my family, 57:57 my dad and my mom. 58:00 I thank You for Peggy 58:04 and our kids and grandkids. 58:08 May we spend eternity together with them 58:11 and with all of these that we've come to love here as well. 58:14 In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17