Tres Robles: The Story of Firman and Helen Gray
CHAPTER TWO: Helen
The Ranch Near Rainier
Helen’s first 21 years were spent on a ranch seven miles from the town of Rainier, Thurston County, Washington. This life had a profound influence upon her. It explained her love of animals, flowers, vegetable gardens, hiking, horseback riding, cooking, bird watching and nature. Her father, Niels Nelson Bungard and mother Bertha Madsen raised cattle and crops and sold eggs and cream and some calves. They made butter for themselves and raised their own food. They had a team of horses and Helen had a riding horse.
Home at Rainier
Howard, 11, seated and Helen, 7, child standing. Niels seated
and Bertha, standing on right. Other child is Verna and
other woman is Christine Madsen, sister of Bertha. The dog is Fido.
The cow, which Niels or his hired hand milked, was named Ina. The dog was named Fido. No doubt other animals had names as well for it was the custom all Helen’s life to give names to pets whether they were turkeys, donkeys, dogs, cats, pet chickens or turtles.
Her Family
Helen Esther Bungard was born on November 6, 1896. Her older brother Howard Luther Bungard was born four years before on November 10, 1892. Their parents were born in Denmark and each independently immigrated to America, Nels going to North Dakota and Bertha to Minnesota. They each moved to Tacoma, Washington, where they met and married.
The house in which Howard and Helen were born burned to the ground when Helen was a year old. It was replaced by the one which the family lived in for the rest of their stay at the ranch. Helen was baptized in the old house on June 24, 1897, by J. F. Oertel, an evangelistic Lutheran minister.
Helen and Howard walked two and a half miles to school through rain, snow, sleet and frost. Helen graduated from District 59 of the Common Schools of the State of Washington, County of Thurston in June 1910. She took further education at a business college in Seattle. Howard had graduated from the same school in May 1907.
Helen and her horse.
The year 1914 was a sad one for Helen and her father. It was the year when both her mother and her brother died. During that final year of his life Howard kept a small book in which he recorded the every day events on the farm. He speaks of transplanting calla and amaryllis, planting sweet pea seed of various colors, pruning Logan berries, transplanting stock plants, setting the incubator for the chicks. Niels is busy digging potatoes, cultivating strawberries, plowing the chicken yard, killing and butchering a pig (295 pounds), blowing up stumps, taking out fences, burning logs, building a grow room for chicks, disking the chicken yard and hauling manure.
Routine Days on the Farm
In April, according the the journal, the family and neighbors installed a telephone line "from Rainier to Ruth’s place." Later the telephone subscribers met at the schoolhouse to decide which part of the line each would keep in repair.
Howard depended on mail orders for his seeds and other supplies. On April 19 he recorded, "I wrote to Childs for seeds. Horses got in yard twice." On April 20 "Pa and John fixed the fence so horses couldn’t get in." Helen and Auntie washed.
On April 24 Howard planted Ten Weeks Stocks and pink Lantana. The cherries were in full bloom. The next day Niels and John finished the fence, manured kale ground and disked the piece below the barn, ready to plow. The next day Nels, Helen and Miss Greene went to Rainier. Helen got a lovely dress from Tacoma, he reports. Louis, another hired hand, got caught in the rain and asked Niels to milk Ina.
Then these ordinary farm days turn to sorrow. Howard records on April 27 that "Mamma very sick this morning unconscious. Better in afternoon." It is still raining, Helen and Auntie are washing. "Papa" is milking Ina.
The next day Bertha was unconscious all forenoon and passed away at 11:10 a.m. Neighbors came over and some stayed all night.
On April 29 the last entry of Howard appears. He reports the making of a floral pillow by friends and the hired men John and Louis spading and raking. But his writing suddenly appears shaky and there are no more entries from Howard. Niels added:
"After April 29 my boy did not write in this little book but he gradually grew weaker and finally passed away on May 12, 1914 between 2 and 3 o’clock a.m. He went to his dear mother and to God, where I hope to meet them and to be happy with them again and forever."
Bertha was 43 at her death and Howard was 21. At the time of these tragedies Helen was 17.
In the same booklet in 1917 Niels writes of the death of a friend of Howard’s at the sanitarium and the death of a nurse who had been at the sanitarium. From this we assume that Howard had been ill and had come home for recuperation. His writings reveal that he was able to do little work. Both Howard and his mother died of pneumonia and tuberculosis. In 1917 when Helen turned 21, she registered for voting (check out when granted in Washington.) Voting was very important to her and she exercised her franchise throughout her life. In later years she served on many election boards.
Helen and Niels remained at the farm remained on the farm until 1918 when they moved into Rainier and became the postmasters of the post office.
Friends and Passers-Through
Helen had many friends during her years on the ranch. One was Helga. There were men friends that show up in photos such as "Bill," etc. but no last names are given. A close relative of hers was her cousin Clara Hansen (who later married Hans Hansen, the same surname.) (The author had the privilege of meeting both Helga and her husband and Clara and her family while visiting in Tacoma during the time he was in the Navy. Clara gave him a lot of family information. After his marriage he and his wife again were able to visit Clara and Hans and their children and families while on a trip to the Worlds Fair in Spokane.)
An outing of the Tacoma Branch of The Mountaineers came to the ranch on June 10, 1916, as guests of the Bungards who accompanied them on a week end outing to Des Chutes River. The group of 27 arrived by bus and gave an appreciative cheer to Helen and Nels when they left.
At School and Work in Seattle
In 1919 Helen went to business school in Seattle then went to work for the George P. Ide Company as a stenographer. The company manufactured shirts and collars. She was there for two years.
In 1921 Niels left for Santa Monica, California, where he worked as a gardener for the city. Helen followed him the next year, boarding the Queen for Wilmington, California. While on board, she met Firman, traveling with his parents to California.
Niels' Comments
We have possession of an undated 5-inch by 7-inch sheet of paper in Niels' handwriting which reads:
"Mamma (Bertha Madsen) was born in Denmark on the 14th of April 1871. Came to Hutchinson Minn: in June 1885 with her parents. She came to Tacoma in 1889 or 1890 and we were married there on the 31st of Oct. 1891.
" In Feb. 1892 we went out to Rainier on a homestead I had taken
where we were still living at her death April 28th at 11 a.m. 1914. Buried at Rainier
Cemetery April 30th 1914. Two children were born, Howard Nov: 10-1892. Helen Nov. 6-1896.
"Howard died May 12th a little before 3 o'clock a.m. Buried beside his mother May
14th at Rainier Cemetery. This death came just two weeks after his mothers. My heart feels
so lonely."
NOTES
Information for this chapter comes mainly from biographical data obtained by the author in interviews he conducted with his mother. Some comes, of course, from the small book that Howard, her brother, kept during the last few months of his life. We also have in our possession the graduation certificates for both Howard and Helen and the baptismal certificate for Helen. Photos in various albums filled in some information. Also used was the Sketch on Helen Bungard Gray.
Home Page
Tres Robles Introduction
Tres Robles Chapter One