John spent his early years in Lehi, Utah. He was born January 1, l936. (One year before they started giving big prizes to the New Year Baby.) His mother was Katherine Blair Gilchrist and his father was Raymond Crabtree Carson. His big sister was Barbara Rae, 4 years his senior. Because Barbara had started school she was able to bring home most of the regular childhood diseases of the day. John especially struggled with Whooping Cough around age 9 months. On a couple of occasions, dad found John unable to breath and before conventional methods of mouth to mouth resuscitation were known, dad would blow into John's mouth to give him the air he needed.

Things were starting to turn around economically after the depression and the young Carson family moved into a two room house with a "path" (also known as an outhouse.) It was because of this path that Barbara now has such a great story (with pictures). One isn't too secure at age 6,7, or 8 and because of this, Barbara insisted on taking John with her to the outhouse (for protection probably!) So, prior to going outside herself, Barbara would need to get John, the toddler, ready to go with her. This meant putting on leggings, boots, coat, scarf, hat and mittens.

It was also in this house that John and Barbara saw mother without her shoes on for the very first time. It was a ritual to stoke up the fire in the kitchen to try and keep the mop from freezing to the floor and then send the kids to the living room and close the doors to keep the heat in. Mom would then remove her shoes so they would stay dry. John and Barbara didn't understand why they couldn't watch this process and so one day they decided to "peek." It was at this time they discovered that mothers heels were not pointed in order for them to fit down into her shoes. Her heels were just like theirs.

There were many "warming" tricks in the early days of no central heating. Warming the blanket and wrapping the kids into a nice hot blanket before running them up to bed or into the living room to listen to the funnies being read over the radio were common ones. Many times water taken up to set on the night stand at night was frozen by morning.

There was a big yard where John could ride his trike and he also had a truck that was big enough to sit on. There were cousins from both sides of the family to visit and play with. There were trips to Aunt Tant's (Tanta is German for Aunt and so the children to came after referred to her as Aunt Tant). This is where they played under the magical tree that rained candy. If the kids could play all afternoon with cooperative attitudes and no fighting then without anyone seeing her, Aunt Tant would stand on the porch and throw candy high into the branches of the old sycamore tree and the tree "rained" candy.

It was when John was about 5 years old that the family moved to the big city. They lived at 832 So. 7th East in a duplex by Liberty Park. John started kindergarten at Hamilton Elementary School on 8th So. and 8th East. His years at Hamilton were pretty typical with few allowances for his handicap. He was a proud milk monitor and since he was allowed to leave classes early to make navigating through the less crowded halls easier, he was most excited to be chosen as the bell ringer for recesses etc. Lynn was born while the family lived here at 832. There were a lot of fun times at 832. The kids always played kick the can and magic circle (a type of hide and seek.) The parents always sat on their porches and watched as the neighborhood came alive at night. There were lots of kids to play with and many memories come to mind.

The Carson family bought their first (and only) home about 1944 and it was located at 744 So. 7th East. Kathryn and Margaret, the twins, joined the family in 1945. While living here, John had a big, "big" trike. He would use this to get from place to place where walking might be too tiring.

There were always trips to the Tower Theater for the Saturday Matinees. The movie was fourteen cents and included a serial, a newsreel, a cartoon, the coming attractions, and the feature movie. The candy was five cents. John and Barbara would go together with others from the neighborhood and John would ride the big trike and park it in the bike rack. It was always there when they came out!!