Those 70ish Girls

We’re going to have another 4th of July parade this year. Mark has a horse named Prince, and I have a Shetland pony named Governor or Guv for short. I was so excited the day Dad and Swede drove up with a pony for me in the back of the truck. I love that horse even though he can be really stubborn. He also hates men.
His name is Governor Archie Francis. Archie Gubrud is the Governor of South Dakota.
The parade is really fun. We hook Prince up to a red wagon with a chair in it. I wear my red gown and a crown made out of tin foil and ride in the chair. We decorate Guv because he does NOT like to pull a wagon. All of the other kids dress up in red, white, and blue, then we March up and down all of the streets south of 16. People seem to like it. They would probably like it better if we had candy to throw to them, but we can’t afford it.
I remember a little about the parade Murdo had when we celebrated the bicentennial. I was only 4 1/2 in June of 1956 and I remember that Kitty Reynolds made me an old fashioned dress and bonnet. Billy was almost 13. He said that Francis Plumbing & Heating had a float with an outhouse on it. One of the workers was looking through a hole in the back of it and the sign said, “We stand behind all of our work.” I wish I could remember that, it must have been so much fun.

One day my cousin Valerie and I decided to play Rawhide. Valerie rode Mark’s horse Prince and I rode Guv out to Aske’s ranch where they have a bunch of milk cows. We were having so much fun herding, that we decided to spend the night. I volunteered to ride back to town and get some supplies like food and matches. I already had the saddle off Governor because he was pretty hot, so I rode bareback. The ride was a lot farther than I thought it was going to be. I really didn’t feel like riding all of the way back, so I went to my cousin Mark’s to play. It didn’t seem like such a big deal until I saw Aunt Ella, (Valerie’s Mom), drive up in her pink car. She was looking for Valerie and when I told her that she was at Aske’s ranch, she said to get in the car. Well, I must have forgotten that Valerie had both saddles, so she just couldn’t have hopped on Prince and ridden back. It would have been hard to find my saddle if she’d left it there.

Brave little Valerie
We found out that people don’t really like you to herd their milk cows around, so we’re not going to do that again anyway.

Not so brave little MG
I wrote this letter to my parents. I had to sell Governor several years after this photo was taken. I eventually got too big for him. The other girl in the picture is Betty Reiners. Her parents had a restaurant where the Buffalo Bar is now. I think it was called Don’s Diner.
Thank you lady, for letting me write about my horse. It got my mind off my dangerously mean brother.