Monday, April 30, 2012

Long Beach Earthquake '1933`

 I was playing tennis when the 1933 earthquake hit.  I didn’t know what was happening but I knew it was something terrible.  I was playing tennis and ran across the street. Dad was shouting for everyone to get outside, Mom was trying to shut off the gas so the house wouldn’t burn down.  The ground shook as we huddled together in the center of the street, wondering what was going to happen next.  My Mom was terrified until all of us kids were home.

    We were lucky.  The center of the quake was at Long Beach and the damage was terrible.  115 people killed and 40 million dollars of damage, which was a hug amount then.  My Mom said“ Our home was safe and I was glad I hadn’t washed the dishes and put them away.  The dishes that were in the cupboard were all broken as they fell to the floor, but the dishes on the table, didn’t even slide off.”

  Some people would not go back into their houses for weeks, but we slept in our home that night.  Aunt Elva was too terrified, “She said she would sleep on the floor but not go home alone.”  A few days later Dad took us to Long Beach to see the damage.  It was terrible to see the collapsed buildings and the huge cracks in the highway and even in the earth.  Mom said, “I was always grateful that we had been protected.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-longbeach_1933earthquake-pg,0,3546233.photogallery




Sunday, April 29, 2012

Where Did Frugality Come From?








My Patriarchal blessing told me that I would become a frugal and competent household manager.  Some think I am cheap but to understand why I can’t see anything go to waste, you need to know of my childhood.

In 1931 Grandpa Lake had several hundred acres and the combine he had, was pulled by twenty-four head of horses.  When Grandpa harvested the wheat, it was worth $.30 a bushel delivered in Newdale,   No trucks every thing was hauled by wagon pulled by horses.  That was a long haul from the Elbow of Moody.  Grandpa said the grain wasn’t worth cutting and hauling so he just cut the best patches and the largest part of the wheat was left uncut.  Max remembered big sacks of wheat dumped off in the field.  Both grandpa Lake and Grandpa Atkinson quit dry farming at this time.

In 1945 and 1970 wheat was $2.00 a bushel and 2012 it is between  $6.00 and $7.00.

The Suttons had a bunch of pigs they were fattening, planning on using the money from selling them to pay the mortgage.  They couldn’t sell them.  No one had any money and they couldn’t keep feeding them.  They drove then up the lug way and run them off the steep cliff to their death.

Lillis said he would never mortgage the farm again.  The collector would come and hound them and scare them that they would take the farm away from them.  They had no money and no way to get any..

At this time you could charge your groceries and then pay, when you got your pay check.  Imagine the embarrassment of being sent to the store for something and the owner of the store telling you. our family couldn’t charge any more, until we paid our bill.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Church in California

In El Segundo there weren't enough members for a ward, just a branch, but that is where I gained my testimony.  There were many different churches in our town and I wanted to tell them, our church was the true church.  One teacher treated me as her pet but when she learned I was Mormon, she ignored me.
Most of the members were related and from Idaho.  There was a special closeness as families struggled economically.  The depression was terrible at that time.

We didn't have a church house to meet in, our meetings were held in the American Legion Hall.  A public dance was held there, every Saturday night.  Sunday morning, Uncle Joe would get my Dad and they would go early, sweep up the ciagarets and beer cans and set chairs up for church. The building smelled of smoke but our meetings were spiritual.  We held Primary and M.I.A on Tuesday.  All of our parties and programs were held in that bluilding.
When I was 8, Uncle Joe took me and another girl to the Hollywood Stake Center, where another man baptized me and Uncle Joe confirmed me..  I don't remember why my mother didn't go,  but I felt all alone.
40 years later I saw the building again.   After his mission Tom took us to Calif. to meet the people he had converted.  I recognized the building immediatley.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

So that's Why Grandma loves to Swim!

DSC_0156
     I love to swim and even at 87 I try to swim 3 times a week.  I learned to swim at an early age.  Grandpa Randall, Joe's Dad, was the manager of the school swimming pool and it was just across the street from our house.  We swam every day in the summer.  I still savor the thrill of wimnning my first race, for my age group.  I swam over and back. before anyone else even swam across the first time.  Grandpa Randall who had been teaching me, just glowed.  He put his hands on my shoulders and told me I had the style of an olympic swimmer.

   Max was an excellent swimmer.  At one of the grade school awards assembly, Max and I were awarded all three first place ribbons in our age group.  The three awards were for racing, diving and diving for objects.

    One day Grandpa Randall had Max and I race the lenght of the pool  I knew Max was stronger than I was.  I also knew I would be tired and slow down at the end of the pool.  I decided to swim underwater as far as I could.  Then I wouldn't slow down at the end of the race.  After diving in, Max realized I hadn't surfaced, he kept looking for me.  When I did surface, I swam as fast as I could and won.  I gloated over winning that race for a long time.  I never did challenge Max again to a race in the wateer.
DSC_0153DSC_0154 Just think Grandma could have won an Olympic Medal for swimming, but instead moved back to Idaho where the only place to swim was the ice cold canal. 

How many of you learned how to swim from Grandma Gwen?

Monday, April 23, 2012

Millie’s Philosophy

I never fully appreciated my mother, Millie,  until I wrote my mother’s history..  I marvel at all her struggles and yet I don’t ever remember tears, or that my mother felt sorry for herself.
  Millie2When Millie was 7, a kerosene lamp tipped over and exploded,  spilling kerosene all over her.  She was ablaze and ran from the house, but her sister Velma caught her and doused the  flames with water from t he horse trough.  The pain was terrific for months .  Her hair all grew back except one spot over her ear and top of her ear was paper thin.  She never mentioned it except to say how thankful she was that her hair was thick and hid the problem..  The scarred arm was never a problem for her, she just wore long sleeved  dresses.

  That was Millie’s philosophy.  What has happened, happened, just make the best of it.  I wrote about all the people who lived with them and none of them had any money .  When Max was 6 months old we left California and went back to Idaho.  We lived in a sheep camp on the dry farm and she cooked for all the men.  The bad thing she didn’t have any thing to cook.  Att’s Dad came once a week and brought things from their garden and we had a milk cows but no meat.  Dad’s brother Morris (13) came to live with us and lived with us most of the time from then on.

       Mille said, “Winter time came and we moved in with my parents.  Next summer was hard.  I cooked for all those men and had two small children and only water from the ditch.  That winter Att wasn’t happy, so he just took off  and didn’t tell anyone where he was.    When he had a job, he wrote and we went to California.

  We had a good life for a few years but heart ache also.  Att loved to gamble and drink.  He would stop at the bar after work and on pay day he would gamble most of his check away.  Mom finally would meet him at the gate, of where he worked, to get the check before. he went to the bar.  Dad was furious at her.
  When we moved back to Idaho in 1935 it was horrible.  Mom couldn’t bring furniture only basic things, she begged Dad not to go.  I never heard one word of complaint, after we started on that long long four day trip.

   Millie would say ," You can’t change it, make the best of it.  Don‘t cross your bridges before you get to them .  We always had people living with us and when any one said anything negative, about anyone, she would say,”  There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us."
 
  I will always remember standing out side the front room door and things were horrible.  Dad had taken off for the winter and never wrote or sent any money..   I ask my mother, “How can you stand it?”   She looked surprise and said, “It is as bad as it can get, it can’t get any worse.”
 
  After Dad died, Mom had to quit driving, she moved to an apartment in Rexburg,  How did she accept that?  Make the best of it.  She tried to help the elderly, where she now lived.*

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Child Extortion

 

Max toddler  Max was  already very smart when he started kindergarten Because of all the extra tutoring he received from Grandpa Lake, and all the people who lived with them.

He often had to prove his intelligence.    From Grandma Millie's history she writes ;

“I thought it was good of my brother Oren to take Max with him in the afternoons when he got off work.  I thought it was because Oren didn’t have any children that he wanted to take Max with him.  It wasn’t until I was writing my life story that Max finally told me what actually occurred.  Oren would take Max to a bar, sit him up on the counter, then have the other men ask him questions about baseball or math problems and then bet that Max knew the answers.  Max did know the answers and this was a great sport for Oren.  If I had known at the time I wouldn’t have let Oren do it but I guess no great harm was done.” 

Visitors

 

Gwen says, “We always had someone living with us when we lived in California  When Mom's baby brother, Rulon,  was 16, he was expelled from school so he was shipped to California for Mom to take care of.  He arrived in downtown L.A. at midnight, New Years Eve and it was pandemonium.  Rulon thought California. was always like that and was terrified.

Gwen 004

Picture of Rulon, Max and Gwen

Dad's brother Delore came home from his mission and couldn't find work in Idaho and lived with us for a along time.  Another brother Orville came to live with us in 1927   Three other boys from Newdale and Sugar City came to look for work as well.  They came and took Orville out for the evening,    They were in a horrible car wreak.  Orville and two of the other boys were killed. 

Once a family with 3 kids came and lived with us for a month.  When the Dad couldn't find work they moved back to Idaho.  Many single men came and lived with us.  My Mom did all the cooking and washing for all these people.  There was always someone sleeping on the couch.  Usually us kids.  Often men would just lie down on the floor and put their jackets over them.  There wasn't enough bedding for everyone.

When Mother's brother Oren Lake, was divorced.  They cleaned out the garage and he moved in there.  He had to come to our house for the bathroom and to eat but spent a lot of time in the garage.  Oren had more money than most and he was always giving us kids, nickels and candy.
We loved him and this made Dad jealous.

Mom's brother Ezra lived with us after he got married, they came and lived with us until they could find work and a place of their own.   The list goes on and on but these I remember most.”

Monday, April 16, 2012

How many people can one house hold?

 

house

One of Grandma Millie’s wonderful qualities was her *generosity and compassion. Att and Millie seldom lived alone. The first 6 months of their marriage they lived with Joe, Vera, and their two kids. When they finally could rent a house of their own people from home started coming to California to look for work and would stay with Att and Millie. The first were two boys from Newdale. Att had a great time with them. They laughed and talked about the good all days in Newdale, or they played cards. Some nights the three of them just got in a car and went someplace, leaving Millie home alone. She was sure glad when they didn't find work and went back to Idaho. That was the worst time she ever had with someone living with them.

Millie always gave so much of herself*. She would do all of the cooking, cleaning and washing for her guests. Sometimes they were sick and Millie had to nurse them back to health. She says, “I wonder now where everyone slept. I know the davenport was always had someone sleeping on it. It was usually the kids. We didn't have a lot of personal belongings then, only a few clothes. So no one had a large quantity of things to move and store. We just had the basic necessities. I cooked for so many different people that I got used to it and didn't worry about it. In fact so many people came to live with us that I don't even remember all their names.” Gwen said that since they lived in California at least they didn't have to have blankets for everyone because it was so warm. They always had someone living with them even when they moved to Idaho.

*Qualities passed down to Gwen

Friday, April 13, 2012

Att and Millie: From Baseball Diamond to Matrimony

 

Millie writes “On July 24, 1922, I went with Joe and Vera (her sister and her husband) to Newdale in a white topped buggy for the Pioneer Day celebration. A baseball game was part of every activity during the summer. Each community had their own team and Att Atkinson was one of the best players on the Teton team. His favorite position was shortstop and second base. He was quick, aggressive and anxious to win. He was always happy and joking with the other team members. After the the game was over, he threw his saddle in the back of Joe's buggy and tied his horse to trail behind. Our courtship had begun.”

Att and Millie both worked hard in the harvest that year, but they still found time for courting. After work, they would sit around the table and visit, go on walks, and go dancing every Saturday night.

In October when the fall work was all done Joe and Vera decided to go to California to look for work. Att wanted to go but wanted to marry Millie before he left. Millie was three weeks away from being 18, and thought she was old enough. They were married September 30, 1922 in the Rexburg Court House. Att's folks gave them a wedding dinner at 2:00. By 4:00 they had started for California in a 1914 Ford with Joe, Vera and their two kids.                                           

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Grandma Millie

 

To Become a person like Gwen, it helps to have a Saint for a Mother, which in my opinion, she did.

MilleMillie Lake was born to Prudence Matilda Smith and Lawrence Barnabas Lake, October 23, 1904, at Fairview, Idaho. She was the sixth  of eight children. She experienced many trials in her life, and handled them with a positive attitude as Mom says, with

Patience Personified, which is the title of the history Mom wrote about her.   It is easy to see that she passed down many of her wonderful traits down to her daughter Gwen.

From her history Millie tells this story. When I was about seven, my mother was away and Velma (sister) was caring for me and another girl. Velma lifted the girl to set her on a table.  When she set her on a leaf of the table it tipped and the kerosene lamp slid off the table.  The lamp hit my arm and exploded, spilling kerosene all over me.  The kerosene ignited into a ball of fire setting clothes and hair ablaze.  I ran out of the house terrified.  Velma caught me and put out the fire by throwing water on me out of the horse trough.  Her quick thinking saved my life.  When the doctor from Preston came and saw how badly I was burned he said my arm would have to be taken off.  My Dad said he would not let him cut off my arm.  In the little town of Lewiston, which is not far from Preston, was a Dr. Parkinson who had treated burn patients during the great Chicago fire.  Dad immediately sent for him.  He said there was a chance the arm could be saved.  Mother was to grate potatoes and make a poultice and completely cover my arm.  The poultice had to be changed often and the neighbors came to help grate potatoes.  The pain was terrible. 

I went to the doctor every day at first.  We usually rode the streetcar to Logan, but sometimes we took the white topped buggy.  As my arm healed we went less but I enjoyed the trips for about a year.  My hair all grew back except one spot over my left ear.  The tip of my ear never got a top on it and was always paper thin.  I was grateful that my hair was thick and the spot on the top of my ear never showed. 

My arm healed but it had shrunk and I could not bend my arm away from my upper body.  The therapy for that was to carry a bucket of rocks.  Every morning Mother  would take some goose oil on the tip of her fingers and insert it just a little into the bend of my elbow.  The arm had grown so close that at first she could only insert a little oil.  She worked to keep the skin soft.  I carried a bucket of rocks, tied to my hand, every day all summer.  Gradually my arm straightened and I had complete use of it.  My badly scarred arm was never a problem.  I just wore long sleeved-dresses.