Memories of Raymond Sullivan

The Autobiography of RAYMOND SULLIVAN

Chapter I

I was named Raymond Clesson Sullivan, but I had Clesson erased, because I didn't like it, and put no middle initial since adulthood. At Baptism my middle name was Philip. I wasn't Baptized until I was in my early 20s at Crystal Falls, Michigan. A CCC Forestry man from Iron River, Michigan had me drive a truck to Crystal Falls to pick up cedar poles. He was Catholic and he wanted to make sure I was baptized.

I was born June 15, 1915 at Beaverton, Michigan. A mid-wife was in attendance at home. Father, Bert, was a barber. Mother, Mabel Goyette. My paternal grandfather was from Buffalo, New York. Paternal grandmother: unknown. Maternal grandfather was from Joliett, Illinois. He spoke French. He and maternal grandmother, Emily, lived in Baraga, Michigan. Emilys sister, Stella, married Pete Getzen and Petes sister, Betty, married Bill Hannah and they also lived in Baraga. Betty & Bill Hannah had fifty (50) grandchildren. We (Josephine and I) saw a great picture of all their family when we visited in Baraga, Michigan in 1984. We were sorry our son, Michael, was unable to join us on that trip as he was attending College (Oregon Institute of Technology) in Klamath Falls, Oregon. We did take our dog, Sergeant. Everyone in Baraga called me Raymond. I got my nickname during World War II when I was called Sully.

My mother, Mabel, was a Nurse in the First World War, 1914 to 1917, so Phil and Daisy Young helped take care of me in Oxford, Michigan. The Youngs were very special people. But sometimes I would stay around the Hospital when my mom was a nurse and I saw lots of soldiers. A doctor once said to me: you be good or Ill cut your ear off. I've never forgotten that. We moved to the country after the First World War ended and I went to school in Oxford, Michigan for Kindergarten, First and Second Grades. There was a pump organ in the home and we could play it and pull out knobs to make different sounds. We would make ice-cream in a big old-fashioned ice cream freezer by turning a crank and putting ice around the cylinder that went around and a custard with eggs was poured in with vanilla extract and we would try to keep turning it. We had a vegetable garden. Dad worked on a farm.


Chapter II

We moved to the city of Detroit and I went to many different schools, one was called Craft School. I was a good reader and gave book reports. We lived at 4140 Michigan Avenue It was a big flat and mother rented rooms in front and we stayed in back. Our home had an old-fashioned ice box and we would get ice delivered often. We fixed it so the melted ice (water) did have to be emptied, it went right down to the sewer. Around Detroit my dad drove a team of horses. He was a teamster and he hauled lumber. There were not many cars then. Old ladies drove electric cars, battery-operated. I rode in a buggy with one pony pulling it to my first school. I went with two girls whose last name was: Prince. Mother usually packed my lunch in a round lard bucket. She would put in a peanut butter sandwich and some fruit. At recess we would run around and play tag.

In Melvindale, Michigan I went to 6th Grade at Dasher School. It was 2 or 3 miles from the Ford Tri Motor factory and I would go watch them put together the Ford Fliver and the big Ford Tri Motors. The test pilot lost his life by trying to fly the Fliver between Florida and Texas, across the gulf. He would fly to work in his Stinson plane (made in 1933) and I would watch him land.

Once in a great while we would get to go see movies. A man would hang up a big screen and show movies. He would change the reel by hand. Tom Mix and his horse Tony were favorite movies. Ben Blue, Harold Lloyd were in movies. I would save money and buy powdered donuts I liked. A lot of kids would gather in a lot and we would play sandlot baseball. We had an old homemade crystal set radio and we could get Detroit WXYZ station until 11:00 pm. I belonged to a Boys Club in Detroit. Chester Smith was my friend and Harvey Ward whose parents owned a wall paper store. When I was in school in Detroit they sent me to a dentist. I got laughing gas and a bad tooth was pulled. You would wake up laughing and crying.

I always liked airplanes and cars. I would go to old car lots and take apart engines in the junk yard. One old car was a Jewel and one was called a Moon. So, I always dreamed of working with cars and to be a truck driver.

In the back of that car lot was a factory that enameled parts for stoves and I went back and saw that. There was a restaurant around there called the H & H and the owner asked me if I could get some sawdust for him, so I got sawdust for him from a box company that was not too far away.

My brother Frank was born in 1919, Jimmy was born in 1921 and my sister, June was born December 21, in 1924. June married Harold Merrick, A Canadian Mountie, in 1944. Frank married Arlene who was born 12/16/27 and she died in 1995.


Chapter III

I was the oldest and our mom died when I was 18, (1933). My mom signed so when I was 16 I was able to go in the National Guard (1931) and we all lived with the Wyands in Detroit (Mom and all of us) . It was the start of the Depression. The Wyands sons, Bob & Lloyd were around the same age as Frank & I. When our mom died I went in the CCCs (Civilian Conservation Corps.) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did the WPA deal before he did the CCC to help people. I was able to send $25.00 a month to help my brothers and sister and I kept $5.00 a month.

Grandparents, aunts and uncles were in Baraga and didn't visit when we lived in Detroit. When mom passed away in 1933 of a ruptured appendix, grandmother, Emily, did come to pick us up and took us to Baraga to live. Dad stayed in Detroit. Frank did not see his dad much at all because Frank was going to Ford Trade School.

When I was real small I played with a spool that had a button placed on one end and with a matchstick and rubber band wound up it would go on the floor. My best toy was a Tinker-toy set I received one Christmas and a friend got an erector set and we learned schematics and how to build. Our Christmas trees had candles that were lit for just a little while. We hung Christmas stockings and they were filled with oranges, apples, bananas and rock candy.

My mom liked to tell me stories and she read me from Mother Goose. My mother liked to sing and she sang: Sleepy Time Gal, I Love You My Peacherino, and also some songs in French. My mother was a jolly person.

My best birthday was my third or fourth birthday, before Frank was born, we had ice cream and cake. I got an American Flyer sled. I liked it and enjoyed it a lot.

My dog: At the Youngs in Oxford, Michigan a dog would come in through the window we would leave open and he would come in to sleep. Shep was his name. He was a great big shepherd dog. He got run over by a milk truck.

Chores: I had to go out and help clean out the chicken house and gather eggs and help weed in the garden. I would get pennies to buy penny candy once in awhile. One of my jobs was as a golf caddy when I was around 9 or 10.

Illnesses: Scarlet fever at about age 8 and had to go to Herman Keefer hospital in Detroit.

Sulfur and molasses was given on spoon if you didn't feel good.

When I was 4 years old I was crossing the street in the safety zone (yellow painted lines) and was hit by a car and my shoulder was broken and I had a concussion and was taken to the hospital. I was going across the street to the store.

Junes dad was Frank Burke and he would get after Frank and Jimmy with a little rubber hose and swat them on the fanny for taking off without asking. Frank Burke owned a beer tavern in Chicago. He lived next door to the Wyands and they had a player piano that was bought with the money my mother got from when I was hit by a car. Mom was still married to Bert Sullivan when she met Frank Burke. I would help Frank Burke make beer. He worked for a foundry making molds in sand, poured hot melted iron ore and he was a Grand Trunk Railroad detective in Detroit before he got the beer tavern in Chicago.

My mothers brother, Walter, got struck by lightening and died. He had a beautiful buckskin horse he bought after World War One with money he saved. He was in the Cavalry during the World War One war. He lived in Minnesota.

I delivered the Detroit Free Press, a 7:00 pm newspaper, which cost 3 cents. I was supposed to get to keep one-and-a-half cents for each newspaper.

During my teen years I tried smoking, but coughed. I got a job stripping wire off motors at a Cadillac Automobile factory. They would give me an ice cream sandwich if I helped clean up. I asked girls to Charleston with me and go to dances. The Girards, across the street, had 2 girls and 2 boys. I liked to read and would go to the Library and take out books like The Egyptian and cowboy books about mountain men and about a man that had one eye. I read books about Tennessee. First magazines I saw were called Liberty and Saturday Evening Post.

I learned to drive a Chevy hooked up as a semi with oversized 6 cylinders and a Model T-Ford by watching. Then I turned a crank to start it and tried backing up. I always had some type of job after school. Would buy hot dogs for 5 cents. For 25 cents you could 3 or 4 hot dogs and cokes and they had Verners Ginger Ale.

At 16 I was in the National Guard. Mother divorced and we moved to different neighborhoods around Detroit and so I met many people.


Chapter IV

1933 to 1938: CCCs sent me to classes every night. I took up many mechanics classes and electrical classes. I was sent to Fort Brady. I drove doctors who would check meat people would eat and I would earn more money then and was able to get my first Model T Ford. I was paid a dollar a day plus extra for going to meetings ($12.00 every three months) and $32.00 for attending Camps. Early in 1940, I attended Yakima College - studied airplane electrical and also went to school in Denver.

When I got out of the CCCs I drove in Detroit for Browns driving from Pontiac into Detroit. Wildcat drove for H & R International Trucks. Also drove liquor delivery trucks with three lanterns on back. I belonged to the Teamsters Union. I met Jimmy Hoffa and he spoke to me. Jimmy Hoffa called me the kid - I looked younger than I was. I would see Jimmy Hoffa around the docks and he told me there was a strike at Chicago, so the big Mac snubnose H I was driving would pull a load at 50 mph all day. I would pull into Milwaukee and go to a restaurant called Spanglers in the 1930s. During winters I worked for different Electrical Companies in Detroit. I was on a crew hooking up electrical motors, putting in contractors, and switches and relays. I bought a 1936 Dodge which I had until I went in the Service.


Chapter V

War years: I was drafted to go to World War II in February of 1942 and was first in Company B 125th Infantry 32nd Division called Rainbow Division then was sent to Airforce and Tucson, Arizona and Yakima, Washington, J.M. Perry Institute to learn airplane engine mechanics. I was shipped to Africa on B-24, came back and went to Denver Lowrey Field for machine gun and bomb operation school as well as Smokey Hill Army Air Base in Salina, Kansas for B-29 training. Then went on B-29s as tail-gunner under commanding officer, Major Schonlaw. Maxwell Malone was a tail gunner with me. John C. Sullivan was our flight engineer. He made Lt. Colonel, stayed in the service all of his life. My rank was Staff Sergeant, Serial No. 36-169-784.

My grandmother passed away while I was in Salina, Kansas and the Red Cross saw to it that I got back to Baraga. Jimmy was still there and that was the last time I saw my brother, Jimmy.

I was assigned to 421st Army Air Force Base Unit, 20th Airforce, Squadron 793 as flight engineer, but at times served at gun positions. The planes captain was a doctor, so the B-29 was named What's Cooking, Doc?. Enroute to Calcutta, India via the Atlantic route, one engine malfunctioned in Tel Aviv. There was a wait over for a new engine and then on to join the squadron. The first missions were delivering bombs and fuel to a base in Northern China and this meant flying the hump - over the highest mountains in the world.

Once complete, Zero airplane factories in Manchuria were bombed, I saved the bomb pins. And from India, where I got to see the Taj Mahal at Agra, India, runs were made on Bancock, South China, Navy bases in Japan, in all some 40 missions. I was credited with one Zero and a possible on others. Our B-29 was severely shot up several times and one time were nearly downed in Mukden, Manchuria. We landed in Vladivostok, took warning from other B-29 crews as to the treatment by the Russians, hurried fuel from damaged planes and made enough repairs to be airborne before the Russians grounded us. The Russians were officially allies, but in practice it was something else. Mukden was a big center for Zero and other production and was a real hot spot. Thus, airborne, our plane made it back to China (Wall of China) and more fuel from a fighter base. Our crew walked on the Wall of China. B-24s were hauling in fuel so the B-29s could go to Japan. With more fuel, we were after the Japanese Navy headquarters because Japan had the English floating dry dock in Singapore. They repaired their ships there.

I was Flight Engineer on B-24, but tail gunner on B-29 and I liked being tail gunner better than being in front flipping switches. We already had a good Engineer, J. C. Sullivan, who ended up being a Colonel as he stayed in the Service. My military occupational specialty was Airplane Mech. Gunner and I was a Qualified Marksman M1 Carbine as of 11/21/1943. Following combat in Palembag, Sumatra I was sent to Hospital. I was very nervous. I wrote home to friends, Marie & Ed Steen and enclosed money from China and India.

After a week in the Hospital, I got back on a crew.

Early 1945, our crew, and this time a new plane, transferred to the Mariana Islands for bombings of Japan. More missions, more Zeros, and the end of the War in July 1945. I was at Murock Army Air Base now called Edwards in the Mohave Desert and was discharged 9/4/45 at Fort MacArthur in California. I was a civilian on September 9, 1945 with two Distinguished Flying Crosses with Oak Leaf Cluster added to one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals , Presidential Citation, and more medals.

Went to Detroit and drove 1937 Ford from Detroit to California then got a 1939 Ford. I tore the 1939 Ford all apart and repaired it. I put new rings in it. It was an 84 horse-power. I really wanted a 95 horse-power which was called a Ford/Mercury at the time.


Chapter VI

My mental picture of the kind of person I was looking for in a spouse: Since I had already been married, I did not want to fall into the same category. I saw Jo cutting the grass at her home and asked a neighbor I knew, Smiley, who she was and he said Jo lived with her mother and that he knew Jo's uncle pretty well because he was an ex-boxer. So, I felt Jo would be a spouse I could trust and that is what was most important.

We met for the first time outside Jo's home. I asked her out at Democratic Club meeting (Jo was president of the Club). We went out for dinner in South San Francisco.

My first impression was that Jo was bow-legged and walked in such a way as to try to hide it. I was glad she liked the Irish. President Kennedy had just been killed and Jo was wearing a lot of black clothes. (November 1963). I liked that Jo had never been married before and that she was looking for an Irishman.

Jo and I had friends-in-common: Councilman, Tony Giammona, who was also a basketball coach for Westmoor High School. Bob St. Clair, from Daly City was running for Democratic State Senator and Jo and I both worked on his campaign. Attorney Solomon and Vince Cauchi both told us about one another before we met. Attorney Solomon was a very good Democrat and was a friend of the owner of the Dry Cleaner, Jack Friedman. We would go to the Westlake Lounge in Daly City for Irish Coffee. We were both good Democrats and we were both Catholic.

I proposed to Jo in early December 1963 and she accepted. She knew I had been married before. The first persons we told of our engagement were Peggy & Dave Cantwell. I got Jo the most expensive beautiful engagement and wedding ring set I could afford. I had to wait six months longer before my divorce was final. I had not been living with my ex-wife for a long time. She was living with a cop. We eloped to Reno, Nevada on July 31, 1964, the day after my divorce was final. A Justice of the Peace in the Washoe County Court House married us. We exchanged wedding rings. We stayed at the River House in Reno for three days. The girls from my work gave us a beautiful quilted Satin King size bedspread and sent a bottle of Champagne and two beautiful glasses to our room in Reno. I won on the slot machines, so then we went to the Oregon Coast for several more days and The Dalles, Oregon. We watched the ships and saw different Falls. On the way back to California we had to stop at an Inspection Station. Jo asked me what they were looking for. I said, Oh, they inspect all new brides! Jo panicked a little, then I told her I was joking.


Chapter VII

We lived at Jo's home, 261 Verano Drive, Daly City in the St. Francis Heights area. It is near the Hospital and later a big shopping center called: Serramonte, with Macys and lots of other stores. While we were on our honeymoon, Jo's mother moved out and to her sons home. We purchased a bedroom set made in Brazil of Brazilian wood and also a Danish modern dining room set. I sold my dining room set and Captains chairs.

We both worked. I worked a lot of overtime and extra jobs. Sometimes, after work at the Jefferson High School District, I would stop at the Silver Moon owned by Gino and his brother Frank Ratto. It was on School Street, right by the railroad tracks and the school bus garage where I left my utility truck with all my electrical parts was around the corner. Jo would call the Silver Moon and they would tell her I was sitting there with a blonde and get me in trouble! They made the best Salami sandwiches on french bread and Minestrone soup and once in awhile they would make Polenta over deer meat. Many policemen stopped by the Silver Moon. The TV Football commentator, John Madden would be at the Silver Moon also. He was a football coach then and was in a plane crash with the whole team. He was one of the only ones saved and so he wont fly again. He gets to football games in his motorhome.

Jo made a budget for us. We liked to go to movies and then for Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista in San Francisco and we also saw live entertainers: Johnny Mathis, Engelbert Humperdink, Sergio Franchi at the St. Francis Hotel and at the Fairmont Hotel, Nat King Cole. We liked to go to Fisherman's Wharf, Sabellas for dinner dancing. We also entertained at home.

Our first quarrel was during our third year of marriage. I wanted to go out and had been drinking. Jo called the cops and as I opened the garage door, there were two big uniformed cops, that I knew for years since they were in High School, and they asked me: Where are you going? I said: to bed and quickly closed the door.

After our son, Mike, was born Jo's mother came back to live with us. There were three bedrooms in the home.

The happiest moments in our marriage were the birth of our son and all of his childhood. We changed Pediatricians soon after Michael was born as the first one drank a lot and made Mike cry. We got the best one, Dr. Zoger, Chief of Children's Hospital and Shriner's Hospital in San Francisco. Dr. Zoger used to tell Mom not to put so many clothes on him!


Chapter VIII

If we had a boy, I got to name him: Michael Patrick Sullivan, just because I liked the name. He was born June 17, 1965 around 5:30 p.m. at St. Marys Hospital in San Francisco. He was 7 Lbs. 7 Ozs., 21 inches long with lots of black hair.

We bought a crib and received crib sheets, etc. as gifts. I painted his bedroom light blue. I drove Jo to the hospital around 1:00 p.m. I was very excited because her doctor was on vacation, so a Jewish Intern, whom we had never seen before, had to deliver our son. Mike was born with the cord wrapped around his neck, but the Jewish Intern took care of him right away. The Nun tried to calm me down and said they had never lost a father yet. I got to hold Mike first. I called Bill Lewis first of all. Mom and Mike had to stay in the hospital three days.

When Mike was one year old he sang: da-da-da when we were at St. Andrews Church, as loud as he could at the top of his voice.

He learned to ride a bicycle at Burney Falls campground and park. The park Rangers son and Mike rode around there.

Mike played basketball for PAL (Catholic Police Athletic League). We would drive the team and mom would keep score. When we bought our Open Road motorhome, I took the team camping with their fathers. It was quite a trip. We went to Star Trek conventions. First went with Clara & Larry Johnson, our neighbors. Clara worked for NASA. When Mike was 13 we moved to KRCE in Hornbrook. We had visited and camped there for many years prior. Mike graduated from St. Thomas More and we moved right after that. Mike drew the plans so we could get approval to build. Only a few trees had to be uprooted right out from the roots. Mike ran our tiller and picked up rocks to help on our property, even though he didn't like to do that. I became a Charter member of Post 403 American Legion in Hornbrook as well as joined the Elks Lodge #1980 in Yreka. Mike went to High School in Yreka. He rode his bicycle a lot. When he was 15 he got his drivers permit. He already knew how to drive because when he was 12 I took him in our red Chevy. pickup to the Westmoor High School parking lot in Daly City and taught him how to drive a stick shift. Armando DeVescovi was the audio-visual man for the Jefferson Union School District and he gave Mike an electronic set and Mike liked to learn from him.

When Mike was 16 we found a red 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser which we bought in Ashland and would let Mike drive it to High School instead of riding the school bus.


Chapter XIIII

Our first camping trip was to OBrien inlet, near Mount Shasta. Mike was almost 3. The trains nearby were noisy. We saw Shasta Dam. There were many deer, little chipmunks, and squirrels all over the place.

We went to Disneyland May 4 to 12, 1967 and stopped at Santa Barbara and went on to San Diego. Mike wasn't tall enough to be allowed on some of the rides. I got a speeding ticket on the way to Disneyland. We were in our red l966 Chevrolet Impala.
In 1968 we went to Disneyland via United Air Lines and then on a Helicopter where we landed right on the platform at the Disneyland Hotel where we had reservations. I made good overtime and moonlight jobs, so we were able to travel. We went to Disneyland again in June of 1969 and in October we went to the Klamath River.

July 1970 we went to Disneyland for five days with Mikes cousin, Maureen Mo. We saw Jo's childhood friend, Doraldine as well my brother, Frank.
October we camped at Klamath River Country Estates campground and spent two days in Medford, Oregon. 1971 we stayed at a motel in Yreka February 12-15 then from June 19 to July 1 we camped at Klamath River and toured a lumber mill in Ashland , Oregon. Rode on a rubber raft in the Klamath River. In July we took Mo to Disneyland and stayed at the Farm de Ville also saw Busch Gardens. I went on a fishing trip to the Klamath October 8 to 14 with Louie Caviotto. 1972 we spent Easter at the Klamath River. Then we bought our Open Road Motorhome and went to Frank Boskeys in Sonoma. They lived across the street from people raising St. Bernard dogs. July 28 to August 25, 1972 we took the motorhome to Canada via Idaho where we stopped to see Early Logan and when mom went to the motorhome, there was a great big bear right by our motorhome. We saw Lake Louise, Jasper, Vancouver and on the way back saw George Trappen and Darlene and Bob Simerly in Idaho. In September we went to Bodega Bay and Petaluma where we visited the Kargaards, whose rubber boat we had rode on in the Klamath River in 1971. Oct. 20-24 to Fort Bragg via Pt. Arena Highway l. November 24-26 to Klamath River. April 20 to 26, 1973 we went to Disneyland. July 15 to 30: Oregon Cascade Lakes including: Diamond, Cultus, Lake of the Woods. Oct. 19-22 and Nov. 21-25 to Klamath River. April 11-21 1974 - Trinity Center, Wyntoon Park and Weaverville. May 22-27 - Burney Falls. July 31 to August 11 - Las Vegas where we visited moms friends Joan and Tony Ponticello and they arranged for us to get to see Johnny Cash. We went on to Zion in Utah, Grand Canyon in Arizona where Mike signed us up for an early morning ride down the Canyon on mules, Bryce in Utah, Calico Ghost town. Nov. 29 to Dec. 1 took Rei Brown, Mikes friend to Klamath River.

June 11 to July 28, 1975 was a great trip of the Southern U.S.A., Washington, D.C. where we toured the White House, the FBI building and the Senate as well as the Smithsonian. Took a picture of President Ford which turned out superimposed on a picture of the Hope diamond taken at the Smithsonian. Saw all of Florida: Daytona Beach where we drove the motor home on the sand, Florida Keys where we took a glass-bottomed boat to the reefs and could see Cuba in the distance, saw Ernest Hemingways home and the places he liked to visit. Looking back today, May 19, 2003, I feel this time was the best part of my life, going up Florida one way and returning back down the other side. We also went to Kissimmee, Florida to Disney World.

November 1975 at Klamath River with our dog, Sarge. April 16-18, 1976 Klamath River. July 16 to August 6, Klamath River, Portland, Yakima, Penticton, B.C., Canada, Winthrop, Washington, North Cascades, Seattle, Astoria, Lincoln City, Florence and Klamath River. November 24-27 Klamath River with Charlotte & Bob Lewis, Stan & Ruth, and Bill & Rita Ponig. Bill Lewis was living near Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.

April 7-17, 1977 went to Klamath River and talked to Mr. Meek regarding drilling our well. Visited Conrads and Mohrs. Shopped in Medford. July 9-31 to Klamath River with Jack & Ila Friedman. November 23-17 Klamath River met Erik, Trudy, David and Steve Liskey.

March 24-31, 1978 - Klamath River to get permit to build garage and visited Yreka High. April 8-9 to Reno. June 10 to July 9 to Klamath River with David Halversen, Mikes friend, then two nights at Wyntoons. August 16-30 at Racoon Drive in Hornbrook. September 15-17 at Bill Lewiss in Santa Rosa. October 14-15 to Reno. November - Racoon Drive. March 4, 1979 took Aunt Paz to Santa Rosa. March 24-26 took Marshall Longs trucks to Racoon Drive. April 8 - I went alone to Hornbrook with pick-up and came back to Daly City on Greyhound bus. April 13-22 to put down payment on our mobile home for Racoon Drive in Hornbrook. July 3-7 took pick-up and trailer to Hornbrook. July 10 again with Mark Piznal. August 28-31, 1980 went to Occidental and ate at Negris. August 11 went to Napa for Tim Conrads wedding.

Mike spent a Summer at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Oregon with Kevin Dodd and decided that that was the College he wanted to go to. April 1981 we visited Al Lewis at Sutherlin, Oregon. Thanksgiving at Aunt Pazs and Jerry & Zona Ludvigson took care of Sarge for us. 1982 Mike and mom went to see Aunt Paz in August. March 8-9, 1983 we had to go back to San Francisco for funerals of Aunt Adela and her son-in-law Fred. March 29-31 we went to Lincoln City via I-5 to Salem. June 20-23 Mike and mom went to San Francisco. Then Klamath Falls where we bought Mike a little home (trailer) near the OIT campus and a Honda Civic. Mom cried a lot, but we had to let him go at 17-1/2. Our dog, Sarge, missed him a lot too. Aunt Paz came for Mikes High School graduation and gave him $10,000.

August 2-5, 1983 mom and I went to Reno. The three of us went to San Francisco in our pick-up December 26-30 and we left Robert Crawford, Mikes friend, at our home.

April 12-23, 1984 we went to Los Angeles in our motorhome for Doraldines son, Tony wedding. We saw the Blue Goose and the Queen Elizabeth in Long Beach and also Frank Sullivan and family in Thousand Oaks and then went on to Solvang and to Klamath Falls to see Mike. May 26 we went to Maureens wedding. June 8-28 we decided it was time to visit what family I had left in Baraga, Michigan. Mike did not want to miss College time and was working for a landscaper also. This was our first trip without Mike. We travelled through a lot of places in our motorhome on the way to Michigan. In Wisconsin we parked at a motorhome park and awoke surrounded by cows. In Minnesota we parked very near Lake Superior. The lake was all red as they carried iron ore to the Ford factories. We also travelled a lot, so we wouldn't worry about Mike. In Baraga, Michigan we saw Uncle Pete and Aunt Stella Getzen. We also saw Bill and Betty Hanna. Bill was a great ice-skater. They had 50 grandchildren, ten children. Aunt Stella had taken up painting and gave us one she painted on birch bark. I put up a security light Uncle Pete wanted outside his home with a photocell on it so it would come on at night. I had to jury-rig the electricity for the security light. Uncle Pete was very happy. Our dog, Sarge, got along very well with their dog and enjoyed running all over their 80 acre farm. There was about 30 acres of birch. On our way home we saw parking meters for sale in a small town and decided one of those would make a nice gift for Mike. Many weekends we would visit Mike at OIT and park our motorhome next to his place and hook onto his T.V. cable line. Mom continued to work to get help Mike at college. Mike got another job in Klamath Falls at an Apple Computer store where he met Ray Jeff who gave him a job in Bend, Oregon.

July 22-30 mom went to visit Aunt Paz in San Francisco alone. August 11-18 Mike went with us to Penticton, B.C. and we stopped at Culver, Oregon at the Pliskas, Mikes friends. September 7-9 mom and I went to Reno. December 26-20 Mike went with us to Aunt Pazs and Robert Crawford stayed here to house sit. On February 27, 1985 Sarges and Tashas puppies were born. October 5, 1985 Mike went with us to our cousin, (Aunt Adelas grandson) Robbie Walters wedding in Palo Alto. November 9, 1985 mom and I went to Aunt Concha Grellmans funeral in Walnut Creek.

Early in 1986 we sold our Motorhome. August 16-18 to San Francisco. 8-19 to Fort Bragg @ Seabird. 8-20 Trinidad to see Jerry & Zona Ludvigson then to Crescent City. 8-21-22 to Brookings and Bandon. 8-23 past Coquille River to Klamath Falls to visit Mike.

4/28/87 my brother-in-law, Vincents funeral in San Rafael. Stayed at Pazs. Paula house sat for us. 7/14-18 to Al & Shirley Lewiss at Sutherlin, Oregon then to Bandon and Crescent City. 10/24/87 = Mike & Paulas wedding at Klamath River Country Estates Campground by the River under the trees. My sis, June & Harold came and helped us. 11/25-27 to Pazs. Marci Busselin house sat.

2/6-8/88 to Bend, Oregon to see Mike & Paula. 3/28-30 to Reno with Jack & Lillian Conrads. Decided to go to Disneyland 6/9 stopped at Santa Nella and also went to Solvang again. 6/25-26 went to Sawyers Bar, stayed with Don & Marge Osterhoudt at their log cabin.

2/5/89 Aunt Paz fell and firemen called us. From then on it was many many trips to San Francisco. 4/6 Paz passed away and all of the rest of 1989 was many many trips to San Francisco. It was hard on mom. In April of 1990 we celebrated Ken's birthday. In June we took a Wind Spirit cruise to Alaska from Seattle. It was a wonderful trip. Our grandson, Nick, was born 2/19/91 and we stayed six happy days. From then on there were many trips to Bend, Oregon.

In May of 1991 Mike & Paula moved to their new home in Bend. June of 1991 Mom and I went to Reno and got to see the Smothers Brothers.

In 1992 I had eye cataract removal surgery in Medford 4/20.

June 25, 1992 we flew from Medford to Portland to Cincinnati, to New York Kennedy airport then to Nice, France where we boarded the Wind Star for a cruise which took us to Monte Carlo, Monaco where we saw the beautiful Church where Princess Grace and Prince Raineer were married and many beautiful gardens as well as the Jacques Cousteau museum. Toured other villages and the island of Capri. August 11-16 was our first of many trips to Yachats, Oregon and the Adobe Inn. Then to Bend in August where I went powder gun shooting. Bend in November and December too and Easter 1993. Our granddaughter, Elisha was born 12-23-92.

In 1994 we decided to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, Jackson, Wyoming, Pocatello, Idaho, Burns, Oregon and back to Bend. In August we were lucky to see whales at Yachats and then Mike & Paula gave us a 30th anniversary gift of a stay in Neskowin with them and Nick & Ellie.

In 1996 we went to Branson/Springfield, Missouri and stayed with Ann Cooper, aka Shirley Tomb. We had to run at airports to catch connecting flights, but had a wonderful time seeing many good shows at Branson including Andy Williams and some of Lawrence Welks stars. In February of 1998, 1999, and 2000 we have gone to Reno on the Elks bus with Jack and Lillian.


Chapter X

I was divorced from Barbara in 1964. I was married to her in Angola, Indiana when I was 28. She was living with somebody else while I was away during the War. We moved to Portland and Marie and Ed Steen were our friends. I was driving for Consolidated. My first wife was going out with Alex, who was actually a friend of mine in the Service. We moved to California in the 50s with a 1937 Ford and a 4 x 8 trailer loaded with all our household goods. We had a dog called Beauty, but no children. She could not have children. She had a cyst and was operated on while I was in the Service in Tucson. I had just come back from China and India. In California she got to drinking more than ever and I would never know where she would be. She started going out with a cop and she wrote a letter to his wife and to the part-owner of the Globes (a bar) wife from Colma. I had started working as Electrician/bus driver at the Jefferson Union High School District. Dick Snell and his wife and Frank and Lynne Boskey got after me and told me to get a lawyer and dump her. So I got Attorney Putzkey and had to pay him $300. The Attorney said to wait until he had evidence. She got mad and wrote letters because the cop she was going with was going with someone else. Then the divorce was final after six months. Her parents wrote me a nice letter and they stopped to see mom and I on their way to Hawaii. We took them to the airport. When mom, Mike and I were in Texas we went to visit her parents. They were happy for us. She passed away of an over-dose of drugs and alcohol and Marie Steen obtained a copy of her death certificate for me.

I told my friend, Vince Cauchi that there were no good women and he introduced me to mom. Also Walter Kent told me mom was a good Democrat! Mom and I did a lot together. My ex-wife would go off on her own alone. I liked my new mother-in-law very much, Mamacita and I would have long talks. Mamacita would tell me about when she was a girl and how she would ride horses in Mexico and how Pancho Villa came and took their large Rancho and killed her father. Her mother, Abuelita which means grand-mother, got on a boat June 14, 1918, leaving everything they owned in Mexico, and took her seven (7) children - (one, the eldest son, Henry, Enrique in Spanish, stayed in Mexico as he was already a State Senator, and the boat, called S. S. Governor Forbes of the South America-Pacific Line took them to San Francisco. It sailed from Manzanillo, Mexico on June 14, 1918. Mamacita was in her 20s and had to go to work to help support her mother and brothers and sisters. She worked in a cigar factory making cigars for awhile, but that hurt her hands too much. She found a much better job designing embroidery patterns as she could draw nicely.