The year was 1943 and my family had recently rented a cabin in Big Bear for a week in the summer and fell in love with the mountains and trees. It seemed to be a place where we could forget about the horrors of the war and trust our Bud was safe in Europe. Mom and Dad loved the idea of a cabin of their own. Their best friends were Frank & Besse Stever and they too were excited about the prospect of buying a cabin together. They found a little place and the 4 of them bought it. Dad was working at Lockheed Defense plant so maybe that’s how we were able to pay our half.
The cabin needed some work so Frank and Dad pitched in and added a nice porch and finished off the loft upstairs with a place for lots of beds so our entire family could come and enjoy the mountains. Frank & Besse didn’t have children but were always a part of our family. Dad named the cabin Poco Loco = A little crazy! And that’s probably what they thought they were, for buying it.
The railing and porch turned out nicely. I remember Jackie and I sleeping on cots outside on the porch in the summer, watching shooting stars.
I was around 9 or 10 when we started coming to Big Bear. I remember in the summer going horseback riding nearby and playing on the huge boulders up the hill from us. In the winter Bobby and I would take our sled and go sliding down the hill lickety split! I remember once when we got snowed in and I missed school because we couldn’t get back home to Temple City. The fireplace inside was a perfect spot to gather, drink cocoa and read, do puzzles and play games. What a cozy family memory. I was lucky to have such a fun loving family!
Drove by our cabin in 2013 and it was recognizable and suddenly all the sweet memories came rushing back. Wish we still owned it.