Memories of the Adair Home by Marceline Sidna Mae Russell Adair The first time I saw the house was in the summer of 1930. My father was in the VA Hospital in Whipple. He became acquainted with another patient, Jake Renfro, so the two families planned a camping trip for the White Mountains. The Renfros had a house and 40 acres in Pinetop. We were going to spend ten days at Paradise Cienega. We went to the Adair's and picked up four horses that we rode up there. I had an experience by the cattle guard going into McNary. My saddle slipped off the horse and I wound up underneath him. Quite alarming for a novice! The next time I was at the house was the summer of 1932. We had moved to San Diego and came to Pinetop to spend the summer. We rented the house where Ina Clair was born. Mildred and Snooks were expecting Delbert. My sister Mary Ellen and I became acquainted with Genevieve (Sis) and we spent time in the Adair's house. A covered porch was in front. It was a nice place to sit and visit. There were a lot of impromptu concerts held there as everyone was musically inclined. The house had a living room with a fireplace (later replaced by a wood-burning stove). There was a bedroom used by Grandma and Grandpa Adair. Grandma Adair had a cedar chest in the bedroom. Every time somebody gave her a gift- a tablecloth, embroidered pillow cases, etc.- it would go in the chest, and she never used them. Their burial clothes were in there too. Hers were used, of course, but not John's- the chest went in the fire. The next room was a dining room with a huge table. A dish cupboard was in one corner. One outstanding feature sitting on the cupboard was an antique wash basin with a water pitcher that was lost in the fire too. On the wall was a large framed picture of William Penn Adair Rogers (Will Rogers). On one wall was a covered wooden container where flour was kept, usually 100 lb. bags. Also, in the fall a truck would go through town with 100 lb. bags of pinto beans and one of them would be stored in the box. There was another bedroom off the dining room and a narrow stairway to the second floor. The kitchen had another good sized table, a dish cupboard and a huge wood-burning range. The washstand with water buckets was in a corner. There was a small window in one wall and the room was unusually dark. There wasn't electricity or running water (never any plumbing) until the house was wired probably 1940. There was another bedroom off the kitchen and a small covered porch where laundry could be done, except in winter it was done in the kitchen. The woodpile was in the backyard and a large iron tub sat on three rocks and washing water could be heated. I have to mention the apple orchard. It was gorgeous in the spring. I moved in with Linda and Raymond in 1947. We fixed up the middle bedroom and that's where we lived. Lloyd and Dell were the only sons at home. I had the janitor's job at the schoolhouse down the road for which I was paid $16 a month. Janice was born in Snowflake that same year. Shortly after we came home, I came down with yellow jaundice and was completely wiped out for three or four months. The next summer we started work on our log house. When fall came our logs weren't chiseled and it got to cold so I moved back to the big house. This was the time when Grandma Adair was suffering from cancer so I found plenty to do and didn't feel so much a fifth wheel. Raymond, Janice and I slept upstairs. There were cracks in the wall where the boards had dried and shrunk. Snow would drift in, so every night when we went up there I would have to shake the top cover and get the snow off. It was kind of cozy- in bed with two kids and covering our heads to keep off the snow. I would get up early and go down to the living room, start a fire and put the coffee pot on. John loved it- getting up to a warm room and hot coffee. This was about the time I sent Raymond (Linda was already there) to his dad, and Janice and I went to Phoenix where I got a housekeeping job. I was back in Phoenix when the house burned so I missed that, but I can imagine those dried out old boards went fast.