I have always been fascinated by science and scientific toys. Luckily, my parents felt it important to always feed that fascination. I remember one year, one of my main requests for a Christmas or birthday present was petri dishes filled with agar agar. My parents had signed me up to get a science kit each month for a year. Each month had a different scientific theme. The first kit taught me how to build an alcohol lamp from a baby food jar. Using this heat source, I then learned how to heat glass tubing and make pipettes and to make other scientific tools to do my experiments. I made invisible ink, and other fun recipes. This one month was on micro-organisms and I needed the agar agar to grow bacteria cultures. My parents had no idea what agar agar was, but they searched the stores of Stockton and found a scientific supply store that carried it. They were pleased that I was so excited to receive agar agar as a gift, even though they had no idea what it was.
One year, I received a crystal radio set. I had to put it together, which included using a soldering iron. My dad helped me string a wire across the roof for an antenna. There was no amplifier, so I listened to the radio with a set of headphones. I could pick up a Texas radio station at night. I would fall asleep with my headphones on, listening to Marty Robbins singing about his gal in El Paso.
The experience of putting together that crystal radio set gave me the confidence later on to build a radio receiver from a Heathkit. I really appreciate that my parents saw my interest in science and helped feed me great scientific experiences.
Brian
I was fascinated by a lot of things when I was growing up. I was always curious about how things worked. I wanted to understand what made things work the way they did. Unfortunately I don’t have much patience for trying to figure things out and for trying to fix them, so that didn’t work out very well. In high school I took an aptitude test to see what I was interested in and what I should pursue in college. My test came back saying that I should go into mechanical engineering because I was so interested in how things worked. As it turned out though I wasn’t fascinated enough to really put the work into figuring out how things worked.
I was also fascinated with the news from an early age. I remember reading the newspaper every day and listening to the news on tv or the radio. I really enjoyed learning and hearing what was going on in the world. I was also fascinated with boys. Growing up I was hardly around boys except at school . My dad worked long hours at the grocery store and wasn’t around much. Boys were always a mystery to me until I met Brian.
I’m still trying to figure out how things work, but I’m afraid my patience hasn’t improved. I still read the newspaper and watch the news every day, I’m pretty addicted. I’m not as fascinated with boys anymore. After having three sons and being married to the same man for 51 years, I think I’ve kind of got them figured out!
Mary Lou
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 