From Texas we traveled to Roswell New Mexico. At that point, my stepfather left and went back to Oklahoma. I think he went back to his girlfriend in Oklahoma City.

We got a great big house in Roswell that fall. Meanwhile, my brother died she, who was only five years older than me, was working as a bricklayer in Oklahoma City. He loved my mother, so he came out to Roswell.

My brothers thought they would hold a dance.

Times were tough to my mother was tough to. She had lived tough.

At the dance there was a guy who was making some trouble. My brother Dodge told the guy: “if you don’t stop that and get out of here a minute hit you right between the horns!”

But Dodge said: “do you know what? That guy hit me between the horns and there I was lying on the ground!”

Ray was the band’s fiddle player, and his family was in California already.


We get the Best of a Greedy Farm Boss

We got as far as Blythe in the California desert. We got another job picking cotton. But this cotton was tall, not like the short cotton we were picking in Texas.

Ray and Fats were going to leave Earl. At this cotton picking camp, they gave us a tent to live in. about this time my mother became very, very ill. The guy who ran the cotton operation was like Simon Legree. After the pickers passed through he would inspect every plant, and if you left one little wisp of cotton, he would raise the devil.

None of us were feeling very well because the water wasn’t very good, but we all picked cotton. One time the boys were out ahead of me. I realized that I had dysentery also.

I just had to go. I took some of the cotton and I put it all over the mess. When Simon Legree came through he got furious and said “what’s this? You’re wasting my cotton?”

He picked up a big a handful of that cotton and you should’ve seen the look on his face! That made our day!


We Change Plans and Return to Phoenix

At this point, we had to turn around and take my mother back to Phoenix because that was the closest hospital.

My sister got a job as the maid at a very nice home in Phoenix.

We rented a house but we didn’t have any furniture so the boys got boxes and made do. I was eleven years old at the time, and it was Christmas.

So the people next door threw away their Christmas tree, so we took it in and put it in our house. We had a late Christmas.

On the way to Phoenix, in the White Mountains, our car broke down. My brother Dodge could fix anything.

So the boys went on to Phoenix to get the part, while Frankie and John and I stayed there. It was nice; they had a river running and we would go down to it.

One time, an Indian came up to us. He must have been part of the reservation. He was riding a horse, and he asked us what we were doing.

What we were doing, and that we would be leaving as soon as the car was fixed. That Indian scared us to death. When we left Oklahoma City, they told us to watch out for the Indians. We thought we were going to be scalped

We stayed in Phoenix for four years.

My sister Pearl was working as a nurse, and she sent me to the Los Angeles academy in Phoenix. While I was in school during this time, the country voted to select our national anthem. I voted for the right one!

When we left Phoenix for California. We lived in a house; we had half of a duplex. I went to work for a family, where I was making $5.00 per month. I took care of the children, did the washing and ironing, and a bit of cooking.

But at this job, the wife was not very nice to me. One time I asked the wife for a bit of money so that I could buy some sandwiches for school and she said no.


I Buy a Beautiful Gift for My Mother: A Pair of Stockings

So I started looking for another job and I found one with a family who had one child. They were so good to me! They did everything for me! Plus, this family lived closer to the school so I didn’t have to ride the streetcar which saved me money.

So I saved enough money to buy my mother a pair of stockings. She had never had stockings before. My mother was so thrilled!

She used you say: “I never had anything so beautiful in my life!”

My mother and my brother found a place to live. They lived in the back house, and took care of the front house. This is where she passed away. The people on this property were trying to sell the front house, so they paid my mother to keep an eye on the place.

In this place they had a piano, and she used to go over there and play. During this time I wasn’t living with my mother. I went to school and I lived with this other family.

Meanwhile, ray went and lived with his family. His niece was about the same age as me, and we were very close. At this place, they had a big dance hall, and my mother love to dance.

When we went to the stance my mother only made one rule and that was this we wouldn’t leave the dance hall without her. She told us: “when we leave, we leave together. Nobody goes out the door without me”

I Lose My Son in a Terrible Accident

My son died while fixing some bad brakes. He finished one brake, but had not put the chocks underneath the wheels. While he was working on the other break, his foot got caught. The truck ran over him, and killed him right in front of his wife. My son’s name was Jack, and my husband was also named Jack.

Jack and his wife had two little girls. Carol, his wife said that she would never change her name. Jack was killed in August of that year. In October of that year Carol turned 29. They were the same age. Carol has never remarried, and she has never changed her name.

We Buy Property for a Dream Home: “The High Point of My Life”


We used to go horseback riding out near Woodside. I always wanted to live in Woodside. I had a friend who was in real estate who moved over there. Her husband was a builder. My husband Jack told me to go and see if I could find some property there. We put a down payment on a piece of property, but it turned out that the real estate people had already sold it!

It turned out to be the best thing that happened, because Muriel’s husband was the inspector for San Mateo County. The property needed a septic tank. He went out and tested the ground to see if it was suitable to build a septic, and he said: “you’ll have to blast this tank into the ground. This isn’t a good place for a septic tank!”

It turned out this was the best thing that could have happened. Joyce found some property in Woodside that was part of the Folger estate. It was covered in prune orchards. There were 37 acres. We were looking at a piece that was just less than three acres. Later, they required properties to be three acres or larger.

One young couple bought five and a half of the cars and began to build their house. The man was using a plumber’s stove and it blew up, burning half his face. He had to sell off his part of the property.

Joyce invited me out to take a look at this piece of property. Just took me Through the Folger the state which was for sale for $45,000. The gatehouse was for sale for $10,000.00. The property was all gated. It was spectacular, and there were also beautiful, tiny, little details such as each child’s height marked in a doorway.

The house had two kitchens and a dumb waiter. It was quite interesting for me to see this level of wealth.

I went back and told my husband how beautiful the property was. Of course he had a building materials supply company. The piece of property I was looking at cost $8,500.00. My husband said: “we can’t afford this.”

I told him that we could sell the house that we had just built. But my husband said: “I don’t believe in buying something we can’t afford. It would take everything that we’ve got.”

Needless to say I was very, very disappointed. Whatever I wanted, I usually got.

So I thought I was finished looking at property. But then we bought the property, and my husband made deals with a lot of his business partners to supply us with building materials.

My husband made good money at the Casey Company, but a lot of things were donated to us so that we could build our house. We built a beautiful house in Woodside.

This was the high point of my life.

We moved into this house in 1952, in the rain, on Halloween night. The workers made a mess of my house! Women don’t like mud in their house.

The low part of my life was when my son was killed. He went to Portola Valley School, and to Woodside high school.

When he died I just wanted to get away. I just felt like running away. We had a small house in Aptos, but it was too small for me. So Jack said: “Well, go find a house.”

At that time, Joyce was here in Santa Cruz, and we found the house in which I currently live. Jack loved this house. He loved this house more than any of the three houses that he built me.

When Jack walked in and saw all the trees he said: “I like it! It’s like living in a tree house!”

Well, I hated this kitchen. In Woodside, we had a big kitchen, a swimming pool, and my daughter and I both had horses.

But everything worked out for the best.

My husband Jack loved to fish, and he wanted to go to Mexico on a fishing trip. He wanted me to go but I told him that I didn’t think it was a good idea with the kids and everything. So he said: “OK, we’ll take a vote.”

Jack lost!

We had a swimming pool built instead. The pool was fun for the kids.