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The
McQuilkin
Memory
Book
Cross cou ntry road trip 1962
Memories of “Dad”
Dad was always busy, a nd yet he carved out time to spend with all six of us kids.
Sometimes it was just two of us. Before we turned 12, a nd would need a n adult
airpla ne ticket, he would take us somepla ce exciting. For our birthdays, we could
choose a party with a lot of friends, or a sleepover with one friend, or a date with
Mom a nd Dad. We always chose to go out with Mom a nd Dad — eating out a nd
spending time with them individually were both rare events beca use there were
so ma ny of us! We got the birthday party, too, but just with family — which was
boisterous enough with eight people.
Having six kids did not deter Dad from pla nning epic trips. There was the road
trip a cross the United States when I was three years old, ba ck when you could
throw six kids in the ba ck of a station wagon to sleep. We camped all along the
way a nd stopped at major sites. Dad made camping a n adventure, but it was
probably the only way we could afford to travel so much with su ch a big family.
We camped in Japa n, too — on the edge of a misty lake with a stone arch high
above the tree tops — where we took a n inf latable ru bber boat to explore the
opposite coast. There was a camping trip on the bea ch where we used the ru bber
dinghy to investigate off-shore stone formations with tiny pools full of live shellfish
a nd sea a nemones. We explored aba ndoned tu nnels where the Japa nese guarded
the coast during World War II.
After our older siblings had left home, Dad took the you nger half of the family
a cross the United States again to see Y ellowstone, Y osemite a nd Gra nd Ca nyon
National Parks. When we were ca noeing the Snake River, the current was so fast
that it slammed the ca noe into a log jam. The ca noe swamped, a nd I grabbed
Dad’s paddle as it f loated by. He claims I saved his life when I offered the end of
the paddle to pull him ba ck to the ca noe.
For all of these trips, a nd in between, Dad took lots of photos a nd made photo
albums of the family — enough to fill a station wagon! Missionary kids ca n’t
always go ba ck to their childhood homes, but with our family albums, we could
always go ba ck for a visit. We miss Dad, but we ca n relive ma ny good times with
him through his photographs.
- Amy Ba rber, da ughter of Robertson McQuilkin
Y ellowstone Nationa l Pa rk
Me a nd Dad
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CIU Today
Fall 2016