Shirley Marie Vardiman Anderson (1926-current)       

Missouri & Colorado

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• Facts

• Father - Charles Henry Vardiman

• Mother - Emma Henriette Jensen Vardiman

• Brother - Harry Lee "Bud" Vardiman

• Husband - William "Bill" Thorwald Anderson, Jr.

• Son - James Edward Anderson

• Son - Robert Charles Anderson

Shirley's Father, Charley

Siblings - Harry Lee "Bud" and
Shirley Vardiman

Shirley

Bud and Shirley

John Peter & Luella Vardiman,
Bud and Shirley,
Emma & Charlie

Bud and Shirley with kittens at Grandpa & Grandma Vardiman's  farm

Left to Right: Eddie, Charlie, Johnny, John Peter and Luella with Shirley and Bud in front

back yard at the farm in Marshall

Johnny and Luetta's Farm
Shirley's "pet" chicken

"This is the road to John and Luetta's house. I visited there one summer and this chicken was crippled and I made a pet out of it. I believe there was something wrong with one of its legs." Shirley 7/10/10

Childhood Home
9505 E. 16th Street, Independence, Missouri

Emma and Shirley

"I was born on April 14, 1926. My parents were on their way to the hospital when they realized they would not make it to their destination so stopped at the nearest hospital (I came into this world in a hurry and I’ve been in a hurry ever since - I want it done and I want it done now - (that’s one of the traits I inherited from my Mother). The chief obstetrician in Kansas City (Dr. A. L. Hearst) happened to be on duty at the hospital and because my Mother was a nurse, he gave her the professional courtesy of not charging for the delivery - so I came into this world free!

House

Shortly before I was born my parents had bought a house at 9505 E. 16th Street in a suburb called Fairland Heights which was in the inter-city district between Independence and Kansas City. We lived in a middle class neighborhood in a nice stucco house at 9505 E. 16th Street, Independence, Missouri. There was a living room, dining room, fireplace, built-in bookcases, kitchen (with a combination fold-down table and ironing board), pantry, two bedrooms, bathroom, full basement with a drive-in garage. Another neat feature was a laundry chute on the first floor where you dropped your dirty laundry and it went to a basket in the basement where the laundry room was located. My Dad and brother also had a workshop in the basement. We had a large yard with several beautiful large oak trees. We had a few flowers, but mostly just grass. I lived in this house until October 31, 1945 when I quit my job, sold my record collection to my brother Bud for $60, packed my bag and moved to Denver, Colorado.

School

I attended Bristol grade school from Kindergarten through 7th grade. The school was located about a mile from where we lived. We walked and never thought it was a chore. We did have to cross the railroad tracks on a very narrow swinging bridge and sometimes I thought that was real scary. It was quite high and made me dizzy to look down at the tracks. We had good times in school and learned the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic, etc. A lot of emphasis was put on penmanship, spelling and proper language. Once a year we would go to the Kansas City Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

When it was time for high school there wasn’t one close to us so we had to ride the Public Transportation System to Northeast High School (which was probably about ten miles from home). I took business courses in high school - two years of typing, two years of shorthand and office procedures. These classes shaped the rest of my life. In my Senior year the Manager of an insurance company, Mutual Life of New York, called the school during the Spring and wanted to hire someone for some part time work during Easter vacation, Saturdays and for the summer. Our shorthand teacher asked for volunteers and since no one volunteered, Ms. Weatherman said, “Vardiman, you go!” I had no choice. I went, was hired, and continued to work full time after I graduated from high school and worked there for more than two years until I resigned and moved to Denver. I really wanted to go to college, but my parents didn’t have the money and I was told I had to get a job and be on my own. My ambition as a child was to be a teacher - I used to come home from school, line my dolls up in a row and teach them. I guess it was fortunate that I excelled in the secretarial field and enjoyed the jobs I had. 

Neighborhood

In the evenings all the kids in the neighborhood would get together and play games like softball, kick the can and catch lightening bugs which we would put in jars and we would watch them light up. There was a vacant lot down the street and we played softball there. I have no idea who owned the vacant lot but no one seemed to care that we played there. Other activities which my brother and I participated in were going to the movies on Saturday or Sunday, going to the roller skating rink and bowling.

Family Traditions

My dad worked half a day on Saturday and when he got home we would have lunch, then we would go to Independence to do the weekly grocery shopping. He would drop my Mother at the grocery store, she shopped and then he would take Bud and me to the dime store to buy bags of candy and then we would go to a store and buy two Sunday papers ( I think they were from Chicago and New York) and we had all those wonderful funnies to read. Some things the family did together were to go to the zoo, sometimes on Sunday afternoon we would go to the airport and watch the planes take off and land. My Dad and Uncle Eddie liked to go to the stock car races and Bud and I got to go with them and we had a wonderful time. I still like to watch them on TV - it brings back pleasant memories of times with my Dad. On Christmas Eve we always had dinner first and then had to wash the dishes before Santa would come. After the dishes were done my Dad would take us to the Street Car Station and wait for Santa to get off the Street Car. We missed him every year! When we got back home he had already been to our house and we had lots of fun opening the gifts he had left. Christmas Day we would drive to Marshall and spend the day with my grandparents with more presents and always a delicious meal.

Church

When I was six weeks old my parents had me baptized in the Lutheran Church and my Mother took me there for several years. I have vague memories of a slide and sandpile in a playroom. There weren’t any Lutheran churches close to where we lived, so we had to go on the streetcar. Later on we (Bud and I) went to the Maywood Baptist church with Edward and Florence Murdock who lived next door to us. Several of my other friends also attended there and then when we were young teenagers one of the girls (Katie Smith) was dating a boy from the Mt. Washington Methodist Church and convinced us we should all transfer to that church. I have many wonderful memories of that church and it was very influential in my life. We had a wonderful Youth Fellowship group and had such good times. We met on Sunday evenings and our sponsors always took us out for hamburgers and malts after our meetings. My parents never went to church with me and when I felt I was ready to join the church I did it on my own and never even told them for a long time. When I moved to Denver I transferred to Trinity Methodist, one of the largest churches in Denver and close to where I was living. After I married Bill and we moved to Edgewater there was a Methodist church just one-half block from our home and Bill and I started going there and became members in 1950. Jim was baptized in that church. That church has been a big part of my life, I have made many friends there and to this day I am still a member there. I have been a member of Dorcas Circle for over 50 years and those friendships are very special."

Shirley and friend, Marion who encouraged Shirley to move to Denver, CO

Shirley lost her front teeth in a fall

Mac and Bob, Shirley's bosses at
Acacia Mutual Life Insurance

Ron and Shirley worked at Van Schaack together then at his "Frim"  (see below)
at her 80th Birthday Party in 2006

Move to Denver, Colorado - 1945

"After we graduated from high school in 1943 my good friend Marion Rudd’s parents divorced and she and her Mother moved to Denver which had been her Mother’s home. I spent two summer vacations in Denver and loved the climate, clean air and the mountains. When I was 19 years old, Marion convinced me that I should move to Denver. I packed my bag, boarded a train which was full of drunk soldiers (this was shortly after the war had ended) and sat on my suitcase all the way to Pueblo where the soldiers got off. There was one sober sailor on the car I was on and he singled me out and stayed with me during that long overnight trip. I will be forever grateful to him. Marion’s Mother met me at the station, we had lunch at the Oxford Hotel and then went to their apartment. I lived with Marion, her Mother and step-father for a short time and then since it was crowded, Marion and I moved to a room. We wanted to get an apartment of our own, but this was just after the War and there was nothing available.

Boarding Houses and Missing Teeth

Another grade school friend, Betty Liggett, lived in Denver with her parents and I spent many wonderful times with them.  Her parents would frequently take us to the mountains on the weekend. Before long Marion moved back home and I moved to a boarding house. This was a beautiful big old house on Capitol Hill which had been converted to a boarding house. This house was at 906 Grant and has since been torn down and the Denver Public School Offices are now located there. I made wonderful friends there, but eventually moved to another boarding house which is where I met Bill. When I lived in the first boarding house my roommate was a girl named Lee Young. Her parents lived in Niwot, Colorado. We frequently went up there to spend the weekend. One time we went for a ride as Lee wanted to show me the countryside. There was a “Mountain” called Haystack Mountain which was really not a mountain - just a hill that looked like a haystack. Lee stopped the car and said, “I’ll race you to the top”. We both got to the top in no time at all, but coming down was a problem - I was going too fast, lost my momentum, fell and opened my mouth to scream and hit a rock. I knocked out my two front teeth, sprained my wrist, had a black eye and my back was covered with cacti (which Lee pulled out for months). I looked like I had been in a brawl and had a hard time explaining this at work. I recently read in the paper that there is now a goat farm on Haystack Mountain. The dentist pulled the rest of my upper teeth and made a full denture. I've had to have it replaced a couple of times, but have had absolutely no problems with getting used to it. Most people don't even know I wear dentures.

Career

I had been in Denver just a couple of weeks when I got a job with the telephone company. When I left Kansas City I had asked for a transfer to the Denver Office of Mutual Life of New York. I talked with the Manager and there were no openings, but he told me he knew many friends in the insurance business and would keep in touch with me. Before long - in fact in just two weeks he was on the elevator and his friend, Mac McKibben from Acacia Mutual Life Insurance Company told him he was looking for a secretary and asked if he knew of anyone.   He referred me and the rest is history. I was hired and worked there until I was married.

I stayed home for six years and then was talking to Mac one day and they were desperate for a secretary. He asked if I could come in and help for a few weeks until they could find someone. That “few weeks” turned into 13 years - I don’t think they were really looking for anyone. This was about a year after we came back from Roswell and we needed the money. I made some wonderful friends there. Bob Link became the Manager later and I worked for him until he went back to selling and was replaced by Pres Adams. It wasn’t long until I decided I could not work for this man - I didn’t like him or the way he ran the business."

Shirley and the bright blue 1933 Chevrolet

Bill and Shirley
Married 5 August 1947

Married - 1947

"In 1947 I moved to a boarding house at 6th and Grant. This is where I met Bill Anderson whom I would marry on
August 5, 1947. Our first “date” was a beer at a local bar. We liked each other right away and dated almost every night for four months before we married. We enjoyed a lot of trips to the mountains, picnics, trips to the Zoo and Museum. We didn’t have a lot of money, but it didn’t seem to matter. Bill was working for the J. A. Ossen Company which was a camera store. Bill had a bright blue 1933 Chevrolet. One Saturday we went to the mountains with some friends, Mary and Kenny, and we got as far as Morrison when we had two flat tires. This was late at night and no stations were open so we had no option other than to sleep in the car and wait until morning to get the tires fixed. We had a bag of donuts with us and during the night Kenny sat on them and I remember him saying, “These donuts are just as flat as our tires”.

Another trip we took (in the Blue Chevie) was over Memorial weekend to Montrose to meet Bill’s folks. We didn’t start out until about 10 o’clock at night and I had no idea where I was going. We got as far as Buena Vista where again we ran out of gas. We managed to get to a service station which was closed (it was five o’clock in the morning. Fortunately, the owner lived in back of the station and couldn’t sleep so it wasn’t long until we were on our way. When we got to Montrose Bill called his Mother from town and asked if there was anything she needed from the store. She didn’t need anything, and I couldn’t understand why Bill had to “show me the town” before we went to his home - we saw the courthouse, the church, the post office, the cemetery, and all sorts of other points of interest. As it turned out, Mom Anderson had to “slick up the house” before I got there. They had been to a parade that morning and she hadn’t done her morning chores.

Bill was born in Winnemucca, Nevada but his parents returned to Montrose, Colorado when he was a baby. They lived in an area called Bostwick Park which was on the way to the Black Canyon. He loved the Canyon and we always took a trip up there when we were in Montrose. My first trip was quite harrowing for a city girl - narrow dirt roads with lots of curves - going around corners you had to honk to let cars coming from the other direction know that you were there. At that time Bill’s friend Rod was the Ranger at the Canyon. He and his wife lived in a very small cabin with a path at the Canyon. Quite rustic! His wife was from Birmingham, England and I can’t imagine what she thought when she saw their first home. The road to the Canyon was later widened and paved and trips were enjoyable.

We were married in Montrose at the Congregational Church where Bill’s parents were members. It was a very small ceremony with Bill’s best friend Rodney Woodburn and his wife standing up with us. We had a nice reception at the Anderson home and then headed for Grand Junction. We had a week off and made our way back to Denver. At that time there weren’t any apartments available in Denver so we rented a room and had to eat our meals out. Our room was in a house at 1144 Ogden. It was a fairly large home which had been converted to several apartments and the one sleeping room. It wasn’t too long until we were able to get an apartment there. I don’t remember how long we lived there, but it wasn’t too long until we discovered our landlords, as well as some other couples there, were nudists. We didn’t want to live in this type of environment, so moved to an apartment at 17th and Washington. It was a small two room apartment on the second floor and we had to go to the third floor to the shared bathroom. After that we moved in with Bill’s Aunt Emma Anderson (actually Dad’s Aunt) who had fallen, broken her hip and needed some help. We stayed there until I became pregnant again and that was when we moved to 2515 Fenton Street in Edgewater. Bill’s folks bought the house in Edgewater and rented it to us for $50 a month."

Bill and Shirley
1948

Leaving
Roswell, New Mexico

1954 - Jim and Bob,
Shirley & Bills children

Jim & Bob with cousins
on their Dad's side, Ted & Richard

Family

"Our son Jim was born on May 23, 1949. I had been pregnant once before but had a miscarriage at about six weeks.

Bill had one sister, Marian, who was married to John Wade. John was a Presbyterian minister and when we were married they were back in New York where he was in Seminary. They soon moved to Colorado and later lived in Wyoming, Nebraska, Utah and back to Colorado. Marian was a great friend and was like the sister I never had and wanted so desperately (when I asked for a little sister my Mother said “NO WAY!”). Marian and John had two sons, Ted and Richard. Ted was just two weeks younger than Jim. Marian had a stillborn daughter the year Bob was born and she is buried in Crown Hill. The next year Richard was born, so the four boys were all close in age and had great times together, especially when they could all be in Montrose together.

Bill was a nice looking man, well mannered, hard working, and loved me and his boys. He was a very faithful husband and I never had to worry about him going to a bar or becoming involved with anyone else. While we had a lot of different opinions, we were finally able to work them out and had 27 years of marriage. We enjoyed trips to the mountains - sometimes just a day trip - sometimes overnight camping trips which I didn’t particularly enjoy. After one weekend trip in Rocky Mountain National Park when it was very cold, I told him that was the end of my camping adventures, he would have to just take the boys. We enjoyed eating out and going to plays at Elitch Theatre and to the operas in Central City. Bill was very much of a homebody and had many hobbies - trains, collecting coins, music, photography, and he loved to have garage sales.

Bill's Career - Roswell, New Mexico then back to Denver, Colorado

I don’t remember just when but Bill got a job at the Harry H. Post Company which sold paper products. He was a salesman and didn’t particularly like it. He later got a job with Lever Brothers Company and after working for them for a couple of years he was transferred to Roswell, New Mexico. I did not enjoy our time in Roswell. Bill traveled - he would leave on Monday morning and come back on Friday night. Walker Air Force Base was active in Roswell at that time and the population was either Army or Mexican and we didn’t seem to fit in. We did make friends with Ken and Mary Lou Trangmoe and spent many good times with them. Roswell was dry, dusty, windy and had lots of cockroaches. We stayed there for about two and one-half years - until I could no longer stand the cockroaches, mice, wind and dust.
Our son Bob was born in Roswell on June 8, 1952.

When we returned from Roswell, the Fenton Street house was vacant and we were able to move back in there. The first year was difficult as Bill had a hard time finding a job. He worked as a car salesman, insurance salesman and finally found a job with International Harvester in the Parts Department. He worked there until his death in 1974. If it hadn’t been for Bill’s parents helping us that first year, I don’t know what we would have done."

Bought House
2595 Ingalls Denver, CO

Garden

Home

"We stayed in the Fenton Street house until 1961 when we saw a house at 2595 Ingalls (just a few blocks away) which was for sale and which we bought. One of the things we enjoyed doing was looking at “Open Come In’s” which were houses for sale. This is how we happened to buy the Ingalls Street house. It was available on a GI Loan, we paid $300 down and our payments were $100 a month. It had a full finished basement with two bedrooms and a bath and that became “home” for the boys. They enjoyed their own rooms and privacy. There were two bedrooms upstairs, a full bath, living room, small dinette and kitchen. In 1974 we decided to add a dining room to the back of the house. Bill did a lot of the work himself. Once he started a project, he couldn’t stop. He was working nights and then would get up early in the morning and start working on the house. We also built a patio out back. There was a flower bed in back and Bill had planted some daffodils and tulips which he didn’t tell me about. I had asked him to plant these and he kept telling me that he didn’t like those particular flowers - that they didn’t last long enough. I didn’t know until the next Spring when they came up (too late for me to thank him) that he had planted these for me. Bill liked to work in the yard and it always looked very nice. There was a row of lilac bushes, lots of iris and other flowers, a cherry tree, and, of course, Bill had his garden and we always enjoyed good food from there."

1957

1969

1970s

Bill and Shirley

1984 - Employee of the Year

2005 - Shirley with Jim's children,
Ethan & Emily

Children

"Bill and I had two children, Jim and Bob.   They were as different as night and day but each enjoyable in his own way.   Jim was born May 23, 1949 in Denver at St. Luke’s Hospital.  Bob was born in Roswell, New Mexico on June 8, 1952 at St. Mary’s Hospital. Go to each of their pages for details.

Grandchildren

Jim married Leslie Van Benschoten in 1989 and they have two children, Emily and Ethan. Bob married and divorced two times.  He had a step son, Addam and a daughter, Julia from  his first wife.

Widow

When Bill died I was not working. I had quit a part-time job just ten days before he died. We had decided we could get along on his salary and wanted to spend some quality time together. After his death, I stayed home for three months, took care of all the paper work, got my life together and then knew I must go to work to support myself. I was just 48 years old. I read the ads in the paper, made several phone calls which eliminated some of the jobs and then had an interview at Van Schaack & Company, a well-known real estate company in Denver. I had some insurance money, but I also had a mortgage, funeral expenses and other bills and not only needed money but needed to be doing something. My interview at VS&CO was on a Tuesday. They called me on Wednesday to tell me I had the job and I started my job on Thursday. I was to work in the Commercial Loan Department (had five different bosses while I was there). I worked in that Department for 13 years and then was transferred to the Legal Department where I went to work for Ron Tucker.  
In 1984 I received the Employee of the Year Award which was a very special honor.

Career Continues

Ron and I worked together for two years at Van Schaack when he decided to go into business for himself and asked me to come to work for him at the Firm of Laff, Stein, Campbell, & Tucker. I jumped at the chance and worked for him for 12 years full time until I retired in 2000 when I was almost 75 years old. Due to a misprint on an announcement for a new attorney, the Firm affectionately became known as “The Frim”. Over the years we’ve had many good laughs over this and we still refer to the office as The Frim. When Ron and I joined the firm there were three other attorneys. Since then others have come and gone. There has always been a nice staff and they have also become good friends. There have been lots of birthday cakes over the years, weddings, babies and the annual Christmas dinner at Alan Laff’s home which is the highlight of the year. For the past five years I have been doing some part-time work for Ron. He is not only a wonderful person to work for, he has been one of my best friends. I’ve had the privilege and fun of watching his daughter Nora and son Cory grow up. He has been there for me through some tough times.

After being home for a couple of years there was a desperate need for a secretary at church and I agreed to go in and work one day a week. It wasn’t long until it was two days (sometimes three). I have volunteered my time and feel I have received much more than I have given."

MY LIFE STORY - SHIRLEY MARIE VARDIMAN ANDERSON
Written in February, 2006 (As I approach my 80th birthday)

Invitation to 80th
Birthday Party

2006 - 80th Birthday Party

Left to Right:
Back row - Addam, Julia, Leslie, Shell, Russ;
Front row - Emily, Shirley, Ethan, Jim

Shirley, Ted & Kathy (Ted's Wife) and Richard Wade
(Shirley's nephews)

Minnesota Cousins
(Mom's Side)

Windsor Gardens Retirement Home

80th Birthday Party

"On April 14, 2006 I reached my 80th birthday and my family gave me a wonderful party. They worked hard, there were 80 people there and I had a wonderful time.  My nephew Ted and his wife Kathy came from Newton, Massachusetts, nephew Richard came from State College, Pennsylvania and my friend Wilma came from Bellingham, Washington.

The party was held May 13, 2006 at my church and before the luncheon our church organist gave a recital and it was wonderful.

Retirement Home

For several years Jim and Leslie had been suggesting that I should live closer to them and with the event of becoming age 80, I decided it was time to move to “The Home”. It took me several months to find the condo I wanted, but I finally found what I wanted at Windsor Gardens which is about four miles (10 minutes) from Jim’s family. Closing date was September 8 and it needed a bit of work so I didn’t get entirely moved in until October 21. My unit is in a four story building, 1,200 square feet, has a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two baths, a huge walk-in closet (at least it looked huge until I got everything in it) and an enclosed lanai. It is on the second floor along with the laundry and storage room. Also, I have a garage - which I will really appreciate when the snow flies as my car has been sitting outside for the last 20 years or so. The neighborhood where I had been living was beginning to go downhill. I had a wonderful landlord these past 12 years but he sold the complex in June and it just seemed to be the right time to make the move.

Windsor Gardens is located on 143 acres, has 72 buildings, 2,690 units and approximately 4,000 residents. They have ice cream socials, pancake breakfasts, dances, an outdoor and indoor swimming pool, golf course, restaurant, picnic area, movies, all sorts of classes, exercise equipment, church services, plays, musical programs and just about anything else one would want to do. There is a shuttle bus that runs every 15 minutes and the City Bus also stops in front of every few buildings. They also have a Senior Ride to various programs in town. If anyone is lonesome here, it is there own fault. I have two couple friends who live here and other friends who live in the area. There are lots of mature trees, green areas , shrubs and flowers which are nicely maintained. Windsor Gardens will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in June of 2012. It is thought to be one of the first retirement communities built in the country.

One of the best things about this place is that I have made many new wonderful friends. My building has 56 residents. Most are very friendly and one special group is four of us who play Rummikub every Tuesday night. I continue to go to Edgewater to church every Sunday (weather permitting) as I don’t want to lose contact with those friends. I’ve been a member there 61 years and it is “my church”. As is true of many urban churches, our congregation is shrinking, but we keep hanging in there. We have a day care center which keeps us financially afloat.

I am still doing a little bit of part-time work for Ron. My condo is ten miles closer to the office now and I enjoy the shorter ride. I also enjoy keeping in touch with the people at the Frim.  I’ve visited the Minnesota cousins the past four years and hope to go again this Fall.

My friend Marion who was instrumental in bringing me to Denver passed away in December of 2009. She had been in a nursing home for two years and I visited her almost every Sunday. I miss her a lot but will be eternally grateful to her for her part in my life. I’ve had a good life in Denver, am in good health, enjoy my family and friends and still think Colorado is the best place in the world to live."

MY LIFE STORY - SHIRLEY MARIE VARDIMAN ANDERSON
Update Written in June, 2010