Beginnings

March 13, 2006

It is very difficult for you, I know, to think that Pat and I were young once and that we were children and had to learn to do things as you do. It doesn't seem like such a long time to us but it was, as we measure time. We really don't feel a lot different now than we ever did, although getting older does slow you down, and you can't do all the things we would like. We certainly would not want to start over and be young again. We are happy as we are. I would like to tell you a little about my growing up and tell you about some people I knew and about your relatives of long ago. You will see some of the pictures of them and realize that they were people too, just like you. They went to school and worked and played and lived just like you. The Family History charts show the Pedigree and family relations, so you can figure out who I am talking about by their names.

Grandmother and Grandfather Christensen were my mother’s parents. These fine people lived most of their life in Fairview, Utah, where the home still stands. They worked very hard to provide for the needs of the large family. Grandfather had many interests, but money was made from raising sheep. He at times had a coal mine, owned the telephone company, built the picture show house, brought electricity to the town and the roller rink and dance floor. He helped Uncle Bill open his drug store in town and always had farmland, a few cows etc. I spent some summers with Grandma and Grandpa and learned about farm living and working. Everyone in this small town knew and respected the Christensen name, so I always had to be good because they knew also that I was that Christensen boy from California. Grandmother was very kind, and I knew she wanted me to be there even if it was extra work. She was a very gentle and loving person. I don't think I ever heard them argue.

The Swan Family: Herbert and Jessie were just as kind and caring, however I didn't know them quite as well because they lived so far away. Mother always was very impressed and I think a little in awe -- She said often that they were such fine Ladies and Gentlemen... They were city folk and Mother always felt that she was just a farm girl. Grandfather Swan had worked several jobs, Hotel manager-owner, Grain elevator operator, and worked for the Government at his death. I think for Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms division. Grandmother Swan was a schoolteacher in her younger days then helped with the Hotel and support of Herbert as she raised 3 children. You would have liked these people also. They were quiet and dignified and very nice.

When I was growing up we moved a lot. My father worked for Safeway Stores and was a meat cutter. (Butcher). He was very good at his job and people liked him although he was very quiet and dedicated to his family--never socialized very much. When a new Safeway was to open he often got the assignment to go open the store and stay awhile until it got

going good, then we would go again. As a result we lived in Delano, Ca., Green River, Wy., Culver City, Pomona, Utah, Monrovia (where I was born) and others I don't recall. One of the frustrations I recall was that I changed schools so often that I never learned how to paint with water colors and keep the brush clean. Maybe you can't, but it seemed that every time the teacher would begin to teach us to use water colors we would move and I never learned to paint -- Maybe I could have been a good painter if we didn't move so much... My first recollection is that I was in a store with Grandma Swan, and I saw a toy truck. I wanted it and must have put up a fuss. I got the truck. I think it is the steel truck I still have in the garage. I keep thinking I will restore it--sometime I might. I can remember living in Pomona during the winter when the smudge pots were going and the sky was black and everything got black soot from the heaters. We had to stay indoors because of the black outside. I must have been about 6 as Kathy was very small. We only had one car as mother did not drive ever, but most people only had one car so we walked or took a street car or bus if we needed to go someplace-- usually we didn't. Dad would have Sunday off usually, and then we would go for a ride. Sometimes to the beach or to visit a friend of Mom’s or Dad's.

I don't recall going to Church when very young, probably because we had only the 1 car. I am sure Dad would have taken us, but we would spend the day together, and if he had to work, then we had no transportation. My mother did want us to know about Jesus, and we would go to other Churches sometimes. The LDS churches were not close as they are now, so we didn't go to them often until we moved to Highland Park when I was in the 6th grade. It was then Garvanza Ward. It no longer exists now but was a very friendly and good ward from which came many life long friends for Mother and I. A few times we went to hear Amie Simple McPherson, a very popular lady preacher, who started the Four Square Gospel Church. She was a show person and the services were always a spectacle, more of a show than a testimony builder.

The first house that my family owned was in Highland Park, 6015 Monte Vista, the house is no longer there as the Catholic Church expanded and replaced it with other buildings. It was a very nice place with a big terraced back yard with fruit trees and rose bushes and a fish pond. I remember when we looked at it, I thought it big enough for an archery range and was very excited. Never developed the archery range, but in those days we had an incinerator and got to burn the trash. I enjoyed that a lot. Milk cartons, if tightly closed, go Pouf when they catch fire. We moved there when I was finishing the 5th grade at Latona Ave school near Ave 43. For a few weeks I rode the streetcar to school and back each day. I thought it lots of fun. At Latona Ave School I was placed in a special class, they called it the opportunity room. It was a pilot program of some kind. We got to do a lot of independent study and did some plays and so-called enrichment programs. We had a lot of fun but I don't think I learned a lot.

I could walk to school from Monte Vista, about 7 blocks in the 6th grade. It was here that I first met Pat and Paul and had other friends that continued on to school with. Sometimes I would take the long way home and go down to Marmion Way-- there were railroad tracks there and sometimes railroad cars standing there that we would climb on. I don't remember that Mother was ever concerned about my coming home. I guess she knew I was just playing. People were not afraid of people as they are now. We wandered the neighborhood and never had problems.

My first bike was a "beaut" a blue Schwinn. I got it new and it was special, big balloon tires a special front fork for comfort. It must have cost a lot--it was super. I probably had it for a few months before it was stolen. I thought my world was ended. I had a Saturday

job at the Franklin theater and I had parked the Bike near the Box office of the theater while I worked at scraping the gum off the floor and seats for passes to the show. When I finished, the bike was gone. We couldn't afford another for awhile but I finally got a second hand one from a rental bike place out by USC. We bought it, and I rode it home. It lasted for a long time and served me well for my paper route and a way to school all the time in junior high.

Of course when I was old enough for high school (Franklin) I was too old to ride a bike, 'cus nobody else did, so I walked. While in Franklin I signed up for the ROTC. There was news of possible war, so Paul and I decided to put on the uniform. We both did well in the unit. I was made commanding officer and Paul was the assistant commander in our senior year. We had to go early to school, 7 AM for extra drill time, and had to keep our uniforms in inspection condition, buttons polished etc, but we had rifles to shoot and a very good drill team for special occasions. I guess it paid off for when we went into the Navy we already knew how to do the drills.

I didn't have an active social life other than Paul, Bill, and Burton, then Burton moved to Rriverside, and there were just the 3 of us. We didn't seem to have much to do with girls, I guess we were too shy, so we had fun together. We came to Big Bear a couple of times. Bill got a 33 Chrysler 4 door that we tinkered with and tried to keep running. I worked most of the time after school at Boys' Market first as a Box Boy for 25 cents per hour, then as a warehouse stock clerk. I was always big and fairly strong so they put me unloading trucks and trains and stacking cases of stuff. I would fill the orders for the floor also and bring it up from the basement to put on the shelf. After awhile I also became the night and Sunday security guard. I think then I got 75cents per hour. I had a good relationship with the owners and they wanted me to continue in the grocery business after I came home from the service, but I chose Pharmacy instead. I often wonder how my life would have been had I made a different choice. Pat was going to USC and that is where the pharmacy school was so everything worked out as it was supposed to be.