Community Spotlight Vernon Soos, Sr.
Vernon grew up in a three-room adobe house at Oak and 92 street with his mom and dad and eight brothers and sisters. When he was young, a tornado came through and took half of the main room. He also remembers that a fire burned down their house. He then went to live with his grandma around Dobson and Indian School. His grandma and grandpa had four horses and he liked to ride them. They
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also had a little horse wagon they would use to go out, explore and pick up wood. As Vernon grew older, he become daring. “I used to take my grandpa’s bike which was hard because he would always lock it up, but I figured out how to get into his room and I tried all his keys until I found the right one,” recalled Vernon. “I’d ride that bike around all day but I always took it back before grandpa got home. If he caught me, it would be a spanking, but he never did catch me.” Vernon attended day school in the community and elementary school at Carson Junior High where he enjoyed playing football and baseball. Later, most of Vernon’s friends attended out-of-state boarding school in Nevada or California, but Vernon was to attend high school in mesa. While in high school, Vernon’s dad had to have surgery. He remembers visiting him in the hospital with tubes everywhere. “I watched my dad work and work all his life and I remember thinking there’s no way my dad can work now. There is no money coming in. There are no groceries. I am the oldest so I need to work and get groceries for the family,”
