Our family left Tacoma, Wn. in the mid-1950s--spending time in Salt Lake City, Utah and in Eastern Montana, eventually moving permanently to Phoenix, Arizona. Dad was all over Arizona during ensuing years. I must confess that Dad prized Cottonwood the highest (with the Hereford area in Cochise County being second). He spent many years there, and truly loved this area the most. He purchased land. on Zalesky Road in Bridgeport, while married to my mother, Leone. They, and his German Shepard named Susan, set up a mobile home on this property. Later on, Dad was to build a small home while married to Cecile (Ashby). Those were all good times for Dad but I guess not everything lasts forever and changes came about including the sale of this land. Years later, Dad returned to Cottonwood, sharing an apartment (owned by Frances) with his life-long buddy, Jess Green, whom had come over from California to be with Dad. Both men did better with each others' company than living singly. They would share household duties, shopping, gardening, and watching baseball games. A few fishing trips also entered the picture as well as some long distance trips together to places Dad and Jess shared together in earlier times. Dad wasn't really single, as he also shared a Phoenix home with Martha (Sheets) Slater simultaneously. Dad preferred Cottonwood and maintained a chair in the local barbershop in town. Martha preferred to be closer to her family so Dad would go back and forth at different times each month. Dad helped to hold down both places. Martha and Dad were married over 28 years all the way to his death this year (2012). He raised many garden projects in both of these regions of Arizona during these years. Ever since his arrival in Arizona, after completing barber college, in Phoenix, Dad worked various locations: the ones I remember were at Angelos' Barbershop (next to Durants' Restaurant on Central Avenue-Phoenix); the Cottonwood barbershop (several different eras); the Shoppers' Fair Barbershop, in Scottsdale; and a shop, later on in Mesa. Dad also had his own barbershops--one in the TransAmerica Title Building with a streetfront shop there--and a shop he set up (all at different times in his life) in Youngtown. Dad always had something going on. His very last barbering endeavor took place again in Cottonwood, where Dad continued to cut hair into his early eighties! Dad would never have left Cottonwood in his final years but aging complexities forced Jess to return closer to family in California and Dad closer to Martha and family in Phoenix. If Dad could have continued to manage all of his concerns, he would have spent the majority of his time remaining in Cottonwood. But, he had doctors, etc. in Phoenix requiring him to make a choice. He always said that the Cottonwood hospital was his favorite, as well. Phoenix won out, due to necessity, and Martha assisted Dad to the end. Dad was happy with the decision to rest eternally (eventually) in Sierra Vista, but I realize that his spirit will always favor Cottonwood.