I was thinking what I could do to treat myself right now. I’ve been a good and obedient citizen during the pandemic.
I knew immediately–all winter, every morning when I put on a coat and scarf to go out, I think it’s odd that I don’t have a tartan scarf. At my age. Imagine.
My new scarf has been completed and it’s in the mail. I’m looking forward. Late March, winter in Colorado is nearly over but now I’ll be set for next year.
Swanstrom Tartan Scarf
The Swanstrom tartan has been registered with the Scottish Tartan Authority, STA Ref. 7222.
Ivinson Memorial Hospital, about 1960 (Credit: Laramie Plains Museum)
I was born at Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie, Wyoming (According to my birth certificate–Mom teases that I was born in a log cabin at Tie Siding, but that’s a different story. She means I was born when we lived on the ranch at Tie Siding.)
I was looking for the CPS coordinates not long ago. (Trying to resolve a question about my natal horoscope, as people do.) I came across an article about the old hospital. The history is about what you’d expect from a small town.
The old hospital was built in 1917 between 10th and 11th Streets on what is today Ivinson Ave. Until 1949, it was managed by nurses “who were not generally trained in administration” That’s when a local businessman took over. (Really? A hospital managed just by nurses? Was that a thing?) A new hospital opened in 1973. The old hospital was purchased by University of Wyoming. They used as offices for the Police Department and for computer facilities. The building was demolished in 2011 and replaced with a parking lot.
I didn’t grow up in Laramie. The first time I was there was in 1974, when we moved from Ft. Collins to Orem. After that I was there many times, just short visits. I drove by the old hospital in (probably) 1975. I’m glad I got to see it before they tore it down.
As expected, it says I live on Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute lands, as in the Denver City Council’s territorial acknowledgment. It also adds Dakota (Očhéthi Šakówiŋ), and because of my father, that pleases me.
