One morning in late September 1953, my mother and I had the best come-as-you-are surprise pajama party. My mother was the event and activity women’s leader for our family logging camp, a Weyerhaeuser operation in Southern Oregon. The men were off working during the day and the families stayed behind at home.
Mom had the opportunity to know most of the women in the camp and had a natural gift of hospitality, which brought a lot of fun and laughter into our small two-bedroom track house. Track houses were usually green and placed on wooden slats for the purpose of moving the houses around easily in the different locations of Camp 4. My mom was also the librarian and sometimes the store clerk.
I remember the fun of making the invitations and drawing stick figures that had pajamas and slippers onto the bright red paper and Mom wrote: “Please come as you are to our home and enjoy a fun pajama party. Coffee is on and lots of cinnamon rolls, warm and ready to eat. Come now — drop everything and come have fun!” I folded the red paper and put on my coat and proceeded to deliver 22 invitations as fast as my 5-year-old legs could carry me.
Our home was the first track house as you would come into Weyerhaeuser’s Camp 4. All 24 houses were located near each other, but had a few large Ponderosa pines separating them, and a large circular red dirt road near each house. Some of the occupants planted flowers and shrubs around the houses and few of our homes just had plumbing put in to replace our outhouses. All the houses on our side of the road were blessed with the new plumbing first and the women of Camp 4 were eager to experience our new plumbing.
I remember being out of breath after delivering eight invitations when I came to my good friend’s house; her name was Nancy Stone. She was two years older and suggested we involve Lexie Close and Sherry Stringer to help deliver the remaining 14. We did a lot of explaining and inviting as the women opened the doors to see why we were there at 8 a.m. I kept explaining that Mom told me to do this.
Asking for extras
I made it home before the ladies started to come. This gave me my chance to have a cinnamon roll and catch my breath. Lexie and Nancy asked for extras for their role in the invitation delivery. I remember thinking I should have done that. That must have been the age difference.
The ladies started to arrive and Mrs. Mammy Close was our first. She was gray-haired with lots of bobby pins that made small circles on the top of her hair, and had a blanket-looking bathrobe on. We all called her Mammy, at her request, and she was a grandma to all of us children. She handed out cookies often and was the oldest woman in Camp 4, at around age 60. The next lady to arrive was Nancy’s mom, Rosemary, who wore a blue bathrobe and blue slippers and red messy hair with a hairnet falling off, and stated loudly that Nancy should have had only one cinnamon roll due to sneaking out of the house. She had been looking for her for a while.
The next was Sherry’s mother, Bobbie Manning, who had her clothes on, but forgot to button her blouse at the bottom. My mom said “Leave it — it’s a come-as-you-are party.” The ladies all had a laugh about the frilly bra she was wearing. Other ladies trickled into our home, and some wore regular clothes and some came just as they were. They last lady to arrive was Betty Radcliff, who was the youngest. Betty was in her early 20s and she and Tom had not had children as yet. Betty came groomed with curled hair and nice clothes. I remember Mom stating to her at the door, “You need children,” which drew a big laugh from the women. Twenty-one ladies attended the fun party and all the cinnamon rolls and several pots of coffee were enjoyed.
I’m left with memories of a gifted, loving and caring mother. Those gifts were passed on to myself and my daughters. I am grateful for that surprise come-as-you-are pajama party and what fun we had that morning in 1953.
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