Sharing our Links to the Past
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Glimpses Into My Early
Years This series of articles was written by Elsie over a period of three years. Chapters 1-12 were written monthly during 1991 and compiled into one volume for Christmas. Volume 2 (Chapters 13-17) came out in December 1992. Volume 3 (Chapters 18-21) appeared in December 1993. Placing them on the Internet allows for a wider distribution. They are valuable because they contain historical information, some of which is not found elsewhere. These chapters are produced on four pages as follows: 1. My Younger Years Young
Adulthood (Page Two) The Young Family (This
Page) Widowhood
(Page Four) 11. CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME! We could see the radio business Don was working for was going broke as many other businesses had already done, so the offer George had made for us to make a home for him in California gave us a ray of hope. I went first, with Frances, by train to Salt Lake City where we picked up my sister, Mary, age 15. We were welcomed by Ruby and Frank in Eagle Rock, California at the end of July, 1931. In my last installment I mentioned that George worked for U.S. Tire Company, but I remember now it was Goodrich Tire Company. It was near Maywood and we settled in a nice apartment in that city. Don sent what furniture we had including the little white crib on wheels, and he came a few months later. California's sunny and clean climate was a welcome change from sooty Pocatello, but working possibilities were no better. The depression had set in. We could eke out our food from what George gave us, if we were very careful and frugal. Don did some painting and maintenance of the apartments in the court where we lived and that helped with the rent. If we watched the sales, we could get many items for 10 cents a pound such as white "oleomargarine" (which you added coloring to), soup meat, bread, flour, sugar, and potatoes. Peanut butter was 10 cents a paper carton, and vegetables were one cent a bunch. So our fare consisted mostly of soup, rice, spaghetti, macaroni, beans and "Washday raisin cake" (Ruby's expression) or "Poor Man's raisin cake" (my expression). We could go to the movies for a dime and a baby sitter was the same price (except that the babysitter would often request a bowl of our soup rather than the dime). Sometimes we visited our friends, a couple with two children from the East, who lived in a makeshift place. We sat on their boxes, drank from little jars, made popcorn and drank Postum, having a good time encouraging each other. Gordon is Born Soon I was due for our second baby. With no money I didn't go to the doctor until the last week or so. When my time came, the doctor sent me to a new little hospital in Bell. To our joy, we had a son whom we named Gordon Douglas (which was later changed to Gordon Donald). He was born November 16, 1931 and weighed a little over seven pounds. He was fair-haired and had given me little trouble in delivery. Now Don had a boy to tussle with, and play baseball and football with. He brought Frances with him to see the new baby and stayed near by for the three days I was in the hospital. We were happy and thankful, and Gordon was a sweet, good-natured baby.
I urged George who was slightly embarrassed around babies, to come close to the crib to
look at him. He finally passed by about two feet from the crib and said, When I asked the doctor for his bill he said, "I have only seen you two times and you did not give me much trouble." He smiled as he handed me the bill for $15. With the hospital bill at $25, the total cost of having the baby was $40! The "Fresh Air Taxi" When my Aunt Helen, my father's sister, got our letter about the new baby she sent us $20. Don said the best thing he could do with it was to try to find a car. We had no transportation. What could $20 get you? But he went out and came back with an antique Model T Ford Coup with a rumble seat in the back.* Since Don was mechanically inclined he went to work on the car, making it run smoothly. He even added celluloid windows on the sides for rainy weather. We called the car our "Fresh Air Taxi." Then Don got the inspiration to go into business buying fresh produce and selling it door to door. It took some doing, but he would sell potatoes, oranges and cabbage, making about one dollar for a day's work. The advantage of this business was that we had the left-overs, and it was good food. The government had started the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to help the unemployed. Don got a job with them helping to build the courthouse in Maywood. Don could do anything and do it well. To show you how low the wages were, when Don finally got a job in a
furniture company antiquing new furniture, making it look like it was old, he earned $50 a
month. And we were thrilled to get it! *Rumble seat: an uncovered passenger seat that opens out from the rear of an automobile where the trunk usually is. 12. CALIFORNIA AND THE DEPRESSION Not only were we in the Big Depression, but after a while, to me, it was personally depressing. I was beginning to feel like a drudge. My health was dragging. I didn't have enough milk for baby Gordon. I was trying to make Ruby's old clothes, several sizes too big, fit me. I wore her shoes, used Vaseline for cold cream, and soda and salt for tooth paste. I must do something. I couldn't afford a doctor. So I went to the county welfare office in Los Angeles. I took the train, eventually found the building, stood in line with others, and finally saw the doctor. He said, "Do you know what you have? "Depressionitis!" He gave me a prescription. I stood in another long line to fill it, then I found my way home. Yes, it did help a little. I needed to lift my spirits and get a new attitude. At Church I heard about a Sister Vorkink giving a lecture in Los Angeles on family relations, so with a friend I went to the big city again. The subject was "How to be Happy Though Married." I learned one of my greatest lessons. She said, "Girls, do not expect to change your husband to the model you want, but change yourself to be pleasant and helpful without nagging. In other words, have a different attitude." All this helped me square around and put a new atmosphere in the home. We were going to the Maywood Ward. This was the period when Don was the most active, and he was made an elder. He worked on his genealogy, was active in the MIA (Mutual), was lead man in a musical, not because of his singing but his acting. Bishop Rice gave him the very good job of ambulance driver in his mortuary business. The stake put on a pageant from each ward to depict a period of royalty and carry it out in appropriate costumes. Naturally, Don was chosen to be the Duke in our ward, and the most beautiful girl in the ward to be his lady. He helped to make her hooped dress. I borrowed a formal to wear to the stake dance and was thrilled to get one dance with the handsome Duke, though he wasn't much of a dancer. These were happy days. We joined the stake choir preparing for the oratorical, "The Seven Last Words of Christ," to be sung at Easter in Huntington Park Stake. The 1933 Earthquake In March, 1933, about 6 p.m., we heard a rumble and felt the earth shake under us. Frances saw the chandelier swing back and forth and jumped on the couch, pointing with glee. Gordon, in a swing in the doorway, was getting lots of motion without anyone pushing him. "An earthquake!" Don said, and ran out in the back yard to see huge flames rising on the horizon from Huntington Park. Being an ambulance driver, he knew he should report to Bishop Rice, and he was dispatched to Huntington Park where buildings had collapsed on the few people still on the streets, most having gone home from work. He said he used baskets to put the crushed bodies in. Before he left he told us to go over to the bishop's nearby and stay the night. I remember how eery it was, being a foggy night. The after-quakes came frequently for a week or more. Even the bravest were scared and nervous. Carbonated Gas Business Don heard of a chance to take over a carbonated gas business in Santa Monica. He managed to negotiate taking it over from the widow of the former owner, and we were in a new business serving soda fountains and beer parlors. He picked up the gas tanks in long various-sized cylinders near where we lived. We also sold syrups for the fountains. A panel-body truck went with the business, and we moved to Ocean Park in a little home three blocks from the beach. Don had acquired a faithful dog who looked like the Victrola Record Company dog used on the company's record labels so we named him Vic. He was white with a curled tail. He was Don's truck companion and we were all devoted to our faithful dog. One day Don had a special surprise for all of us in the garage, including the neighbor kids. He had put up a real set of used soda fountain taps for a drug store. With all the syrups and carbonated gas and a little ice cream, we could have a real soda. When Don was home and had time, we clustered around him for the treat which we thought was very special. Frances and Gordon were very popular for some time with their friends! 13. DON TAKES HIS FAMILY BACK TO BRITT, IOWA It was Don's dream to take his family back home to Iowa for a visit. In 1937 when the trip finally became possible, Gordon was five and Frances was seven. The carbonic gas business had been good in the spring and summer and by the middle of in August we felt it was a good time to go before school started. We packed up our black Ford panel truck, something like a motor home, with an old seat placed in the back for the kids. We furnished it with quilts, blankets and pillows, a box bread, a few canned goods, cereal, a bag of potatoes, a black iron skillet, kettles, dishes, towels, etc. There were no windows to open in the back of the truck and so the only air came from open windows in the front. That was our air conditioning. The kids entertained themselves with playing Old Maid and other games they made up. We were excited and thrilled. With our old faithful dog Vic we headed east. Following are excerpts from a little journal I kept of the trip: The account of this trip will continue through several Glimpses.
This excerpt from my journal will give you an idea of what our days were like. We went on to the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Painted Desert, Indian Ruins, beautiful red rocks, across Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. We were lucky because almost every afternoon we would get a shower and every afternoon we saw rainbows. All I had to do was take good care of the money he entrusted to me, keep a journal of the trip in my little black book, crochet some pineapple lace for pillow cases I intended to give his folks. Don was like an experienced tour guide. He seemed to know all about the country, its red soil, the rocks, the buttes, the mesas and the Indian ruins. We stopped at many camp grounds to refresh ourselves and cook our meals. I have never tasted better potatoes and onions than Don turned out, fried in butter with an egg on top. We picked up tomatoes and fruit on the way and had our canned bean sandwiches and made out very economically. Don wanted to surprise his folks
and we couldn't wait to see them either. 14. OUR IOWA TRIP CONTINUES As I read over the rest of the Iowa trip diary, I decided to let it speak for itself. So we pick the trip up again the day before our arrival in Britt, Iowa.
The dream had come true! We had gone to Don's home town and met his friends and relatives. The next issue of Glimpses will relate the trip back home. NOTE: George's sister Lena and her husband Elmer Fisher had 13 children. 15. HOMEWARD BOUND We took the northern route on our way back covering all new states, that is, states we hadn't been through on the way to Iowa. We had something else new that we treasured with us going back: the quilt that Aunt Anna and all of us had worked on [the quilt was left unfinished by Don's mother who had died in 1905, almost 33 years previously]. We called it our Magic Quilt, because it was so bright and warm, and felt good as the nights grew colder.
My journal of this fabulous, memorable trip that would always mean so much to us, suddenly broke off after we left Yellowstone. As I remember I became ill, and will tell you the result of my illness in the next Glimpses. But we came back for school, and to pick up our daily routine. 16 BACK IN CALIFORNIA, SEPTEMBER 1937 We got the children back in school, and Don picked up his carbonated gas business. My headaches on the trip sent me to the doctor. A hemorrhage in my eye had caused a scar on the retina of the left eye and spotted parts on both eyes, causing partial blindness, particularly in the center of the left eye. I foolishly did not see a specialist, and merely covered the eye with a patch for several months resting whenever possible. I felt that I was blessed to have the sight of the right eye and eventually carried on as usual for 20 years before I experienced another degeneration of the retina, called Choroid Retinitis. September to November included all our birthdays and our ninth anniversary. Gordon and Frances turned six and eight and Don and I, thirty-four and thirty-three. Don Manages a Boxer During these years in Ocean Park many of our family and friends came to California to live or to visit. Bessie and Ern Lundstrom, friends from Salt Lake, lived close by with their boys and Ern worked for Don in the business. Don's cousin Bob Dana came to visit us, fresh from the Navy. He was a favorite among his fellow sailors as a boxer. Don immediately saw a potential fighter in him and decided to be his manager and promote some fights. He stayed with us and Don trained him. We had the excitement of seeing him fight in the Santa Monica Arena. Once was enough for me, but Mary Jean Lindeman, Bessie's niece, fell in love with him. He was a very good looking and charming person. They soon were married, and went to live in their own abode. My sister Mary came from Salt Lake and stayed with us occasionally. She was a great help and seemed like part of our family. We had lots of good times at the beach playing games and eating pop corn. She got a job as a housekeeper for a doctor and family in Westwood. We invited Mildred Pugmire, my sister Ruby's niece, to come and stay with us after her appendectomy and prior to her marriage to my brother George. We all remember it as a delightful time, playing games of Majon, trips to the beach, interspersed with "Knock Knock, Who's There?" Then came the lovely wedding at the Wee Kirk 'o the Heather at Forest Lawn, September 18, 1936. Frances and Grace were the pretty little flower girls, and they were about 7 years old. Reva Visits Us After our trip to the McNabbs Reva came to see us the next summer for several weeks. That was a great highlight to be able to show her the beauties of California and get to know her better. We had our wiener roasts at the beach, trips to special places and Don took her deep sea fishing. She taught Frances to sew on our pedal sewing machine. The following year in 1939 after
our summer business had slowed down, Don decided to sell his business. We didn't make much
in the winter and could hardly make it up in the spring and summer. It was sold and he was
happy to be free from serving the huge area. We took our last trip together to the San
Francisco World's Fair. Teckla Baker went with us. We visited Aunt Anna Klingbeil's two
daughters Margaret and Lois who lived nearby and then went over to my brother Roy's place
in Sacramento. Reluctantly we returned home. To Glimpses Chapters 17-21 Widowhood Home Page
| Elsie Gladys Lundquist McNabb |
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