Prior to Christmas 2002, Janelle Wilde Falk requested that Burnett family members document and share memories and stories of Grandfather and Grandmother Burnett to be compiled and shared with extended Burnett family members for Grandmother's birthday on December 24th of that year. These are the memories I shared.
P.S. Does ANYONE have a copy of the compilation of those stories? I don't recall whether they were shared in hard copy or electronic format.
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I have some fond memories of our family going to Grandma and Grandpa Burnett's canyon home around Christmas time. I enjoyed tobogganing and snowball fights with cousins, using the snow blower to clear the deep snow from the driveway, breaking huge icicles from the roof, singing
carols and sharing stories, and of course watching Grandma and Grandpa take out there dentures and ham it up. I'm glad that I was old enough to remember visiting great-grandmother Brewer at Christmas time.
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I have some fond memories of our family going to Grandma and Grandpa Burnett's canyon home around Christmas time. I enjoyed tobogganing and snowball fights with cousins, using the snow-blower to clear the deep snow from the driveway, breaking huge icicles from the roof, singing carols and sharing stories, and of course watching Grandma and Grandpa take out there dentures and ham it up. I'm glad that I was old enough to remember visiting great-grandmother Brewer at Christmas time.
One of the memories that I recall of Grandpa Burnett was snow removal on the large driveway of his and Grandma’s home at 4441 Emigration Canyon Road (which home was torn down when the land was sold to a developer who built a subdivision access road where the house use to be). In between family relocations from one Air Force Base to another, and before our family moved to Germany, I lived with Grandma and Grandpa for part of one school year and rode a school bus down the canyon to a school in east Salt Lake City.
Their driveway was steep and very large, extending from the 2-lane canyon road all the way up to their garage, plus a parkway that branched off from the driveway about halfway up the hill and paralled the front of their home. This parkway was large enough for two cars to park side-by-side and would accommodate at least 2-3 cars length-wise on the asphalt section, not counting the west end of the parkway where additional cars could park in the wild grasses during the summer time. The lower part of the driveway was angled up the hillside in such a way that when driving up the canyon road and turning into the driveway, it was necessary to turn very sharply to the left and almost perform a U-turn in order to start driving up the driveway. It was also difficult turning right from the driveway when leaving and driving back down the canyon. In the summertime, it was sometimes possible to exit the parkway by driving forward and following the grassy end of the loop back down to the roadway.
Because of the elevation and location of their canyon home, the snowfall accumulation was often two or more feet deep. Grandpa got himself one of the largest non-riding snow blowers I had ever seen. It was an auger type machine with powered wheels (with chains no less) and the ability to throw the snow from its large chute for 15-25 feet. I watched in awe as Grandpa would clear the first swath down the middle of the driveway and marveled how the snow-blower had the power to throw most of the snow past the edge of the driveway even when there was already tall piles of snow on the sides of the driveway from previous storms. I made certain to keep my hands away from that auger! Grandpa would work his way from the middle to the edges of the driveway and parkway until all the asphalt was once again visible. My job was to shovel the relatively small amounts of snow that leaked around the side of each swath Grandpa cut through that deep, world famous powder that makes Utah skiing so fun. After we returned from Germany and I was several years older, Grandpa let me run the snow-blower once. Then I found out just what hard work it was to wrestle that heavy snow-blower and clear that entire driveway, despite the power of the auger and the engine driven wheels. I think it was more fun watching Grandpa do it.
Cameron Marshall Hess
18 November, 2002
