Hart, Francis Lee
Francis LeRoy (Lee) and Sally Ann (Erickson) Hart
1570 Standish Ct. SE
Salem, OR 97302-6403
Phone: (503) 362-4010
Cell: (503) 931-3726
Email: leesallyhart@comcast.net
2015 update: Since 2000, Sally and I moved from our Ellis Avenue home of 30 years to Standish Court in Salem.
It took us 15 months to move and sell Ellis! You could say that I am a packrat because of all the stuff I kept and had to discard.
We have traveled some in our RVs and watched Wee T grow. She passed her driver license exam the first try last April
after extensive training from grandpa. Tammy is fighting the boys away from their door on a daily basis.
On October 18, 2014, we were involved in a crash that was caused by a lady who was driving a compact car too fast on wet pavement with bald tires.
She lost control, crossed the center line and crashed into the front our suburban while we were towing our travel trailer.
She, her husband and their baby were killed in the crash. Thanks to air bags and seatbelts, Sal and I are alive.
Sal’s sternum was cracked and we had bruises, but we are OK now.
I still dabble in our backflow testing business and we go places when we have the energy.
Otherwise, we haven’t changed much except for more wrinkles. (click photo for larger image)
2000 entry: My not-very-short history follows: (What can you expect after 45 years?)
6-1955 until 9-57: I worked at road construction as Cat skinner, truck driver and mechanic.
4-54 till 4-62: Oregon National Guard - Darwin Kelsey got $5 bounty for talking me into joining.
9-57 till 6-58: Oregon State College - Three terms learning academics missed at high school and pursuit of an exciting social life was my curricula. Lovely girls there caused me to major in lust. I wanted to continue my actual major in Premedical courses but finances were not available.
9-58 till 10-61: Construction lured me back as truck driver, welder, mechanic, power shovel operator, loader operator, Cat skinner and crane operator. Maneuvering heavy equipment to do what it was designed for is extremely gratifying. Miles and miles of road in Oregon got built with my help. Construction is great fun and paid very well but it required too much travel.
8-12-61: Sally and I were married. OSC girls were enticing but my gal Sal chose me. We found each other when she came to pick berries at our farm west of Salem when we were 12. Sally was my senior prom date. We planned for a nice home on a quiet street where we could raise two kids in comfort while I worked at a fulfilling occupation that would allow plenty of time at home. We achieved that. Tamara Susan was born 5-19-64 and Darren Tyler was born 10-1-66.
10-61 till 5-63: H. L. Stiff Furniture Co. paid me $80 per week to sell furniture. It was dreadful work.
4-12-63 till 5-31-93: Salem Fire Department - Starting pay as Fire Fighter was $65 per week, which was one-fourth of my wages at construction. My position with the Fire Department after 1976 was Company Captain. Our retirement income is from Oregon PERS and investments.
6-90 to present: Salem Backflow Testing is our Assumed Business Name. Backflow prevention assemblies are one-way valves in water service connections that prevent contamination from swimming into or siphoning into a drinking water pipe system. Oregon Health Division requires annual certification of testable backflow preventers by a State certified tester. We serve about 800 customers annually. Owners pay upwards of $25 per test.
Our family has enjoyed numerous activities: Camping, boating, fishing, water skiing, little league, off road motorcycles, (Each of us had our own motorcycle and we rode trails all over Oregon.) All American Soap Box Derby, (Darren was 1978 World Champion Racer in junior division at Akron Ohio and Senior Champion Racer at Salem in 1980.) sand dune buggies, snow skiing, house boating at Shasta Lake, yachting in the San Juan Islands, RV travel and Corvette club.
Since April of 1995, Sal and I have traveled with our 27’ travel trailer to all four corners of the US, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Yukon, Alaska, and many places in the Northwest we had not seen. We've been to Branson, MO twice. {“What a Country!”} We are planning our next bare boat rental cruise trip on a 47’ motor yacht from Anacortes, WA, to the San Juan’s.
Gamma and Gampa are home for a while now. Tammy and Wayne had our first grand child on 4-13-99. She is: Amanda LeeAnn McGhee. “Wee T” is perfectly cute, sweet, and precious.
I will be working on our 45 year class reunion which is being planned for year 2000.
