Trixie Belden and the Sawtelles

When I was a kid, c. 1960, we lived in Sunnyside, Queens, NYC.  I don't know how to tell kid's ages,...I'm in the middle - so how good can my memories be?  Some are surprisingly strong, and that's where this story comes in.

We attended the Christian Science church in Jackson Heights and my parents were part of a 'group' which would have round-robin get-togethers in their homes.

During one swanky high-rise apartment party, the host showed a film of his latest adventure:  parachuting into the jungles of Peru to explore a lost city.  What an impression THAT made on me, you can imagine.  Explains all sorts of things.

Anyway, hands-down, my favorite times were visiting the Sawtelles out on Hicksville, Long Island.  From Sunnyside, for me that was going to the country. (Disclaimer:  Sis, 5 yrs older, recently commented on how different our childhood memories are so this may not all be accurate, but it's a fluff piece so who cares?)

Marge and George Sawtelle, from Memphis, TN, had three children:  Paul, the oldest, Jan and youngest Suzie. Suzie had some sort of 'problem' which I'm guessing now was a form of Cerebral Palsy.  She couldn't speak among other symptoms, but was dearly loved and always included in activities; oh, she'd laugh!

Jan and Hillary were the same age and 5 years younter than Paul, which made him 10 years older than me.  Paul was like a big brother and the most handsome boy I knew; Hillary probably had a crush on him, too.

He was always kind and fun to be around, but we were, after all, a bunch of little girls and he had other things on his mind; or other ages.  When I was 10 he went off to West Point, everyone was so proud.  Vietnam was as yet unknown to me.

Jan, Hillary and I would put on song-and-dance shows for our parents.  I found this old Playbill in my storage things and particularly love: Intermission - 'Refreshments will be sold' and at the end, 'If any Refreshments are left, they will be sold'.

Hey, we were trying to supplement our allowances and GoFundMe was not yet invented.

We were inspired (or at least I was) by comedy records like  Stiller and Meara (Ben's parents), who were outrageously funny; Alan Sherman (Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda); Ray Stevens's Ahab the Arab  (I didn't understand the implications) and Bill Cosby's Noah. ("What's a cubit?")  The last two may turn off some readers, especially Cosby; but, like Michael Jackson decades later, this was in the beginning of his career and the routine's brilliant.

Dad George was originally hired as the lead singer at Radio City Music Hall and had loads of recordings.  He also had a small xylophone with three notes:  N - B -  C which I loved to hit.  Perhaps that's the reason I volunteered to play the Glockenspiel in Jr. High; see what writing uncovers?

Another family friend was Julie Campbell Tatham, author of countless children's books including some of the Trixie Belden series.  Going to her home in upstate New York was really going to the country.  Again, snippets of memories, but in her beautiful old farmhouse she owned an enchanting collection of those antique cast iron mechanical banks.

Her son was a Serpentologist and they had a small fortress in the back yard with a tall wooden fence, full of snakes that couldn't climb up the fence (I don't know how that's possible).  But the POISONOUS ones were kept in cages in the attic; maybe that's where I developed my phobia.

Trixie Belden is a blond-haired kid with curly hair who solves mysteries ala Nancy Drew.  She is accompanied by best friend Honey, who has dark hair.  Every time we'd visit Julie would hand over a signed copy of one of her books, which I'm now selling on my Etsy shop because I've  no one to leave them to.  Believe me, I'll hate to see them go, but like so many of the personal treasures I've been hawking through the years, they won't all fit in a coffin.

Naturally I assumed Trixie and Honey were based on Jan and Hillary, and imagined myself as one of the minor characters.  I still suspect some of Jan and Hillary's characteristics, at least a little, are inbued in her books.

"That's neither here nor there," as Mom would say.  Point is, I always associate Trixie Belden with the Sawtelles, and visa-versa.

Suzie passed at a young age and Jan Sawtelle Williams passed in 2016.  We all lost touch at some point, which I regret because it would have been fun to visit her during one of my cross-country trips.  This, from Jan's obituary:

"In high school, Jan's favorite subject and activity was theater; and it became a lifelong passion.  At 18, Jan ventured to the Catskills area of New York, famous for resort hotels catering to people from The City. The hotel had a night club, and Jan was often the MC or an entertainer on its stage."

Doesn't surprise me in the least.  Paul's ending was more dramatic.  After graduating from West Point in 1969 he attended Ranger School,  then was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.  Paul, 25, was shot and killed in 1971; this, from a tribute on his page on the Wall of Faces:

"On 16 April 1971, Paul Sawtelle led a combat patrol in the infamous Ashau Valley located in Thua Thien Province Northern I Corps, Republic of Vietnam. On the second day of the mission, the Ranger Team engaged a 6 man enemy force by small arms fire and called in Cobra gunships. The Rangers killed the 6 enemy soldiers and later made contact with a larger enemy reaction force. After an extended firefight, the Ranger Patrol was extracted by helicopters and used the Cobra gunships to suppress enemy fire. The Rangers suffered 2 killed and 4 wounded during this mission, including 1Lt Sawtelle."

I vividly remember hearing the news:  Margie called Mom then she told me. I was almost 16 and Vietnam was on television nightly.  I broke down crying until Mom gently but firmly asked why, saying,

"You haven't seen Paul in years.  He's just as alive in your mind today as he was yesterday."

You'd have to have known Mom but she was right, and that little reminder has remained steadfast in my heart ever since.

To that's my story.  I wish I had better pictures, but they're clearer in my mind.  Honor to all our fallen soldiers.