Our oldest grandson will attend Boston College in August if all goes well. I really can’t believe we have a grandchild old enough for such an adventure but what can I say? I have been reflecting on the past more than ever lately. Is it a factor of my age or can I blame it on these surreal COVID moments of lockdown aberrations? Please indulge me as I travel down a winding, often therapeutic memory path of my early childhood,…an amazing time of discovery, exploration, fantasy, and occasional…trouble. My first real childhood memory is in kindergarten living with my parents, my sister, and grandparents in Oakland, California.

For some reason, I almost always wanted to be in the front row. I’m front row left in Kindergarten at Chabot School in Oakland. Psychologists would have a field day with this one! I must have been at the forefront of the 6″ jean cuff style.

My grandparents lived in the same house with us which was really wonderful as my dad was often gone due to military service. My grandfather made this boat for me in his woodshop. At this age, my imagination really ignited. I pretended I was acting in pirate movies,…and I was the director as well. I can almost taste the sugar cookies my grandmother made. I stole cookie dough when she wasn’t looking. She made the delicious pies from the blackberries I picked in the backyard.

This is my 6-year-old birthday party. I’m in the front row left in my new cowboy shirt and my sister Patty is at the top. Mom often created themed birthday parties for us. The guys in the front row were my buddies on all my neighborhood adventures. We may have been only 6 years old but we felt independent and free to roam as we pleased. Moms were obviously way more trusting in those days. If I were my own kid today I would be monitored with an electronic ankle bracelet!

I really felt cool in my new airplane! Nothing like a peddle airplane to attract a crowd!

These are more of the neighborhood “wild bunch.” For some reason, I was selected as a team leader in our neighborhood fantasy war games. I guess I was a pretty good strategist and tactician. I thought I was a big deal until I burned down half a hillside while playing with matches. When the fire department arrived I ran home and went immediately to bed though it was only 2 PM. You can only imagine what happened when my parents found out!

I found this early image of a trestle over Chabot Road near our home. The Sacramento Northern freight line used it when I was a small boy. A friend and I thought it was a grand idea to walk over the trestle. We put our ears to the rails to listen for a train before crossing. Definitely not a scientific method for safety! Thank goodness I’m alive to tell this story!

I loved playing cowboys but horses really weren’t my favorite.

I cherish this wonderful photo of fishing at Lake Temescal with my dad and my grandpa.

Marla and I visited Lake Temescal a few years ago. I was flooded with so many memories of fun times with my friends. The Lake was just up the hill from where I lived as a boy. Temescal Creek flowed behind our house. I often “fished” for minnows with a hook almost as big as the little fish! I remember crossing the creek one day to explore the thick vegetation nearby. I came upon a hidden clearing and spied two “hobos” as my mom called them. Totally scared, I ran home and told my mom. I never went back.

“Sugar” poses with this photo of my dad and me.

Mom and I in our front yard. It’s a miracle I survived being seven years old. The psycho psychiatrist’s son next door once put a noose around my head and put the rope over the swing set. My mom yelled out the upstairs window to make him stop. Another day he took his grandfather’s rifle and pointed it at me saying, “What if this is loaded?” I was petrified! He next pointed the gun at a bird in a tree and pulled the trigger. “Bang,”…and a wounded bird hit the ground. He said, “Quick, hold the rifle” as he went into the house with the bird. He used to barge in when I was playing at a friend’s house and say, “I’ll give you this shoebox full of firecrackers if you play with me!” Unfortunately, later I lit a firecracker with a long fuse in our mailbox. While I hid, my grandfather approached as it exploded. I felt terrible. Lesson learned.

Cub scouts back in the day.

One day my mom said, “Dickie, I think it’s a good idea for you to go to church.” She took me to the College Avenue Presbyterian Church. The building was designed by Julia Morgan in 1916. She was one of the first major women architects of her day. She is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. I asked my dad why he didn’t go to church. He said his church was the “great outdoors.” Looking back I think he was on to something!

My parents were members of a tennis club at Bushrod Park in Oakland. They were really excellent players when they were young. I’m with my mom and my sister, Patty. Do I look like someone who would eat six hotdogs with so many orange pops at a tennis picnic, they had to take me to the doctor?

Big family dinner night in Oakland. My grandfather had a small real estate business with an office near Lake Merritt. My dad tried this as well, but aviation was his real passion. I loved walking to College Avenue to see movies with my sister at the Chimes Theater.

Mom and Dad having dinner at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley before I was born. I remember an unusual Gentry family tradition at Christmas. Dad would take a drive with my sister and me on Christmas eve while Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa placed “Santa’s” present under the tree. I remember always passing the famous Montclair fire station on the drive.

Life for this soon to be 8-year-old boy changed drastically when we traveled to Germany to be with my dad who was a pilot in the Air Force. I had to leave my wonderful grandparents and my friends in Oakland.

This is similar to where we lived on the base at Rhein-Main in Frankfurt. The housing had been used by the German military in the war. With a new friend, we discovered how to climb up on the three-story roof and travel to other areas of the base apartments. We also thought it was really cool to throw Charms candy at some of the cute girls in the class. I’m sure they thought we were nuts!

There were many unfilled six-foot deep bomb craters after the war that we played in. One day we followed some German Nationals through a hole in a fence in a restricted area. It was exciting until we were picked up by the MPs in a jeep with siren blaring. Big Trouble when Dad found out there were unexploded bombs in the area.

I’m with little brother Gary and sister Patty at our first Christmas in Germany. A month later we received a phone call that changed all of our worlds forever. My grandfather had passed away! I couldn’t believe a person I totally adored and loved so dearly was gone! How was this even possible? He was such a rock in our world! I was devastated!

We were transferred to Munich Germany in mid-year. Disruption again. New school and new friends. It was difficult. To escape, my new friends and I explored some of the bombed-out buildings which still existed. I remember seeing the skeleton of a German Shepherd dog in a basement. On some days we tied ropes around our waist to explore old German military fortification tunnels. Dangerous? Well yes indeed! Toy stores near where we lived sold an array of firecrackers. Of course, I had to have some!

After my dad’s deployment ended we traveled back to the states. This is me at the Grand Canyon on one of our stops on the way to California. Early one morning I had the brilliant idea of walking down the canyon by myself. Everything was great until a large deer on the trail scared me and I ran back to the room!

Upon our return, I learned our Oakland house had been sold which really made me sad! More challenges to fit in and make new friends…again! All of us lived with my aunt and uncle in Pleasant Hill (10 people and one bathroom) until my parents found a home for us. A big memory was at Gregory Gardens School field day. I won every running race I entered.

I’m with one of my Pleasant Hill chums.

Fishing near Mount St. Helena in Northern California with my brother.

In middle school, I remember a day in math class sitting near the back when the teacher asked me to solve a problem he wrote on the chalkboard. It was too blurry and I couldn’t see it! I answered it wrong because I was just too self-conscious to walk up closer to see it. My parents bought glasses for me but I was just too insecure to wear them at school. I rarely wore them in high school as well, even running track.

My dad took me fishing on the Martinez pier. We used sardines for bait and tried our luck for flounder, sculpins, and striped bass. One day while fishing I leaned over the railing and…my glasses fell off into the water below! I was afraid to tell my dad as money was really tight and he had a temper. The next day I saw my glasses on the dresser in my room. My dad waited for low-tide and climbed down into the mud in his waders and miraculously…found my glasses! I couldn’t believe it!

In middle school, my hobbies flourished. I loved collecting rocks, shells, and even insects. I went hiking with our dog Henry and later my brother Gary looking for insects and…snakes. I remember putting two large 3′ gopher snakes in a round box with a lid and hid them under my bed. The next morning I checked on them and they…were GONE! My Mom and my sister were furious! We never found the snakes!

I had a fabulous book on hunting for fossils and minerals near where we lived in Contra Costa County. My Mom and Grandma took me to good spots for finding specimens. The photo above is at Shell Ridge on Mount Diablo. I had a knack for finding really wonderful fossils here. I showed them to my 7th-grade teacher. He was pretty impressed and asked me if I would give them to the classroom. I proudly said “yes.” Well, the teacher left a few months later and …took my fossils with him!

I truly had an adventurous young life full of imagination and discovery as well as the upheaval that helped form the person I would become. My mom sacrificed so much to make our life as happy and normal as possible. We didn’t know the struggles to make it financially. There were many difficulties she did her best to hide from us. Her love kept it all together and I can’t thank her enough!

PHOTOS: Dick Gentry. Not to be used without permission. (Except Train Tressel, German photos, College Avenue Church, Martinez pier, and Shell Ridge.)