The Guza Family Babysat Me For Years

This photo was sent to me seemingly out of the blue the other day. It was sent from a lady whose family used to babysit my sister and I back in the late '60s and early '70s.

Both of my parents worked nights at bars. For you Great Falls folks, mom bartended at the Red Lion and dad's band was playing at the Cartwheel, so my mom ran an ad in the paper looking for somebody who could watch us five nights each week.

The Guza family answered the ad and there were five of them willing to babysit, so my folks were always covered.

They were Judy & Steve, the parents, Opal & John, and also Opal's mother, Katie, whose regular job was as a waitress and bouncer at the Beacon Bar. (Everybody went Freakin at the Beacon back in the day.)

Whichever Guza we got babysat us for nine hours. They would also do the dishes when mom couldn't get to them and they got paid five bucks for the whole night.

As you can see, our mother dressed us quite nicely and that clock over mom's shoulder was on that wall at my grandparents' house until the day they died.

I'm guessing that this photo was taken by my grandpa, Les, as he was the official photographer of all of our family events. Subsequently, we have far fewer pictures of him than any other family member. Good guy though. His other duties also included assembly of any presents we got that weren't already put together, and smoking his pipe. Inside.

It was great to get a picture that I wasn't expecting and one that I hadn't seen before.