Darlene was born in Colby, Kansas on May 18th 1923 to Otto and Frances Hofenstine.  She already had her big brother Earl b. Nov. 1921 and she would have two sisters, Venita in 1925 and Betty in 1927.

In 1927 Frances and Otto built a new home at 155 S Mission Ridge Ave in Colby.   Dad worked for Stevenson's Produce.   Later he started working for an ice cream factory. We kids loved to go over when they cleaned out the large ice cream freezers every night.   Best of all was all the eskimo pies dad brought home.   We always had lots of ice cream and would take some over to Grandma Dora and Grandpa Chris.   We were all amazed at how much ice cream grandpa could eat.   We always loved to go to Grandma Dora's.   She had homemade cinnamon rolls and of course homemade bread and jelly.   It was just a block from our house to grandma's house.

We always had Christmas with them and Thanksgiving we went to Uncle Nalse's.   This was Nalse Jasperson who was grandpa Chris' brother.   They had a monopoly game and this is where we first learned to play the game.   Darlene was real lucky.   About this time Grandma Dora taught Darlene and I how to crochet and knit. Darlene was better at it than I was and Betty had no desire to learn. 

On Saturday afternoons we usually went to the picture show for 10cents.   They always had serial which was continued on next Saturday.   Darlene, Betty and I loved the movies and next to reading was our favorite pastime.  

         
Some time around 1935 dad didn't have any work.,   We lost our house and Dad decided to try his luck on the farm. We moved to a farm north of Colby.   It was called the Stewardson's farm.   It had an upstairs and a large porch all around the house.   There was a large horse tank out in back and we kids loved to get in it and swim.   During this time Mother and dad brought Bennie Rand to live with us.   Dad went to Colorado to get him, as Bennie needed a home.   They had always been close to Ben Rand who was dad's nephew so it seemed only right to have his son come and live with us.   He loved the farm and was at dad's heels right from the start. and they grew to love him as their own son..   He was around 12 when he came to live with us and he stayed until he married Marge.

   
When Stewardson sold his farm , we had to move.   We found a farm north of Gem and this meant we had to go to Gem school.   It was a much smaller school than we were used to but we all soon made friends.   We started going to Gem Methodist Church. We loved to sing in Church and always sang in the choir. Darlene was a freshman and in the same class as Wayne Webb, Dale Sharp, Francis Sears, and Leo Poland, Helen Ribblet, and a few others.  
     
We always went to Colby every Saturday to sell our cream and eggs and buy our groceries for the week.   Darlene, Betty and I always went to the library; we loved to read.   We always check out the limit of books every two weeks.   We would read all of them and then go back two weeks later for more.   This was our recreation during the summer months and we couldn't wait for school to start in the fall. Mother used to read aloud to us every evening.   Dad and Earl liked westerns but mother also read the Oz books to us.   I guess this is where we all developed our love of reading.                     

           
Our friends Donald and Dale Sharp had a car they called "Hulda" and we usually went in Webb's car, a Marquette.   We used to go to cheat parties together.   These were dances where we played cheat, which was a dance we played like a square dance and you could jump in and take someone else's partner, (hence the word cheat).   We had a player piano with lots of rolls and we used to move all the furniture out of our living room and invite our friends over for a cheat party.   The boys would pump the piano as we had lots of music.   Everyone brought sandwiches and food and we all had a lot of fun.  

   
At this time Darlene really liked Dale Sharp and they were a couple when we went to Cumberland on Sundays afternoons.   Cumberland was a park north of Gem.   There was lots of trees and a stream running through it.   We loved to go there on picnics.

        
Darlene and Wayne graduated in 1941 and for their senior sneak their class went to Mexico with their teacher, Wayne Stevenson.   There were 8 seniors who graduated from Gem.   They had to get their passports.   They went to Juarez, Mexico.   They had a lot to tell us when they came back about the shacks that some of the people had to live in.

                                                                                                    (Next Page)