Early Times

(Note from Dee: I found this entry that has much of the same information as already posted, but it may also express some of it a bit differently, so I thought I'd include it as well. and besides, these are the things he likes to remember and retell!)

Early Times

Like Nephi of old I was born of goodly parents, grandparents, and great grandparent. They were all middle class, hard working families whose greatest asset was the family. I think this is an important part of my heritage for that is really what is most important to me. My wife and children and their children—and life goes on and on, family to family, each with their challenges and problems, but the names remain and the old members go to another place. The family continues. I won’t go into the family history, most of it is documented in genealogy records. Suffice it to say, mother and dad were always my good friends. They were as good as any parents could be, and I’m very glad they were mine.

I was born in Monrovia, California, July 8, 1926 at home. Dad worked for Safeway Market as a meat cutter. Mother, to my knowledge, after marriage never worked anywhere but at home. Sometime later she taught piano to children for the LA Conservatory of Music. She liked the little ones best. Mother tried to teach me, but to my regret later in life I never learned more than the scale and a few simple melodies. Dad worked long hours, and we seldom ate together. I remember mother often saying, "We will keep his dinner warm and put it in the oven until he comes home."

During my early years we moved a lot. Dad would open a new Safeway market and work there until they got a good start, and then move on. I remember Delano was very hot with lots of flies. And Green River, Wyoming, very, very cold and had to be bundled up with heavy coat, hat, mufflers, etc. to go outside. At Pomona, California I was in the first grade and the town was very smoky with smudge. Sometimes we didn’t even go to school, it was so smoky. In Palms, California, I got my first bike, a two wheeler. It was great. In the summer we seemed to go to Fairview, Utah to be with grandmother. There was a time when mom and dad lived on the Indianola Farm and raised turkeys. I don’t remember much about it. I’m not sure how come we spent so much time in Fairview. Perhaps it was when Kathy was sick.

Kathy had arthritis as a very young child. Maybe two or three years old. It was a very trying time for all of us, but particularly for mother. She was determined to do all she could, and she tended Kathy tenderly for years. I, too, was a worry for when I was eight or nine, while living in Palms, California, I contracted scarlet fever. This was before we had anything to treat it with. I developed mastoiditis and pilo nephritis. I was a very sick young man for quite a while. I was sent to LA County Hospital for several weeks,. I recall a time mom and dad came to visit. Usually I was up in bed, but this day I was tired and laying down as mother walked in. She thought I had a relapse, and she fainted and fell on the floor. It scared me--I never wanted to do that to mother again.

We moved to Avenue 43 and Figueroa when I was in the fifth grade. I think it was Latona Street School. I recall that it was an experimental school, and I was sent to the Opportunity Room, a special room for achievers. We didn’t do a lot of study. We made puppets, put on plays, did individual study assignments on the books we read. I always felt it was a wasted year, as I never was one of the Achievers again The house we lived in was in a court of six or eight houses. There were some kids there to play with. There was a girl there who was a good friend. She died suddenly. It was my first experience with death, something I didn’t understand.

To get to school we had to cross the Arroyo Seco. There was a bridge, but it was more fun to cross the stream. This was long before the Arroyo had cement walls and there was just a stream with pollywogs and even fish. Now and then, a great place to play. We damned it up and made a pool, three to four feet deep to swim in. Along the bank huge rocks were piled to protect the railroad tracks--between the cracks we made our clubhouse with candles and pictures. It was great fun. We never thought of it being destructive. We were just having fun. Up to that time we had never owned a home, now we were going to get one.

Dad took a job at Boys Market in Highland Park. Grandfather Christensen got the money to buy a place at 6015 Monte Vista. The house no longer stands as it was taken over by the Catholic church next door. This was mother’s dream home. It seemed large at the time, but by today’s standards it wasn’t. It had a large lot, though I thought planting with the folks we might have an archery range, a croquet ground, fruit trees, and roses. It already had a fish pond in the back yard. It had two bedrooms, one bath, a front room, dining room which served as either mine or Kathy’s bedroom with a daybed. It had a kitchen with a breakfast nook. We were finally home!

Kathy was still somewhat crippled, and we carried her everywhere. When she got old enough to attend a school, she attended a school for the handicapped.

I spent the rest of my single years in this new home for us. It was a happy time. I enrolled in Monte Vista Grammar School in the 6^th grade and there met some lifetime friends, and, of course, my faithful wife, Pat.