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.
  When 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.*

Child Extortion

 

  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.

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.”

How many people can one house hold?

 

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

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.                                           

Grandma Millie

 

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

Millie 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.