Part III
Another fun memory (for me!) was bluffing my way into being a good cook! Aunt Sidna, Uncle Roy and Granny Cummings had gone to visit some of the relatives in the area. They left, saying they would be home “about dark”. There was’nt much evident in the kitchen to eat and we were getting VERY hungry!! As usual, I was the “bluffer” and convinced Wanda and Evelyn that I could make some cornbread. Now….I HAD made cornbread, (with Mother directing most every step, and a cupboard pretty well stocked.) So I proceeded with the bluff, accompanied with a silent prayer or two…we were starving!!
I will have to say that to this day, we still agree that it has to be the BEST cornbread any of us have ever tasted!! We were a very close knit family and spent a lot of time in one another’s homes, visiting, working or playing, One of my most favorite aunts was Forella Lindley. She was my mothers mother’s sister. Her married name was Pritchett. She was a twin sister of Della Lindley Puckett. After my Grandmother Rainie, Uranah Alpha (Affire possibly) Lindley died, her sister Forella, sort of became a substitute parent along with Granny Cummins. My Mother adored Aunt Frill and as a result , so did we! We visited her often as she lived in San Jose ( maybe 20 miles from our home. Each time we visited her she would send us home with a small size bottle of apple jelly. It always seemed so special. Her twin sister, Della, would always send us home with a little perfume bottle.
One time Wanda, Evelyn, Merva and I took the train to San Jose to spend a week with Aunt Frill. We were fixing breakfast one morning and I was opening a jar of jam that had a paraffin seal. The knife went right through the wax seal down through the jam and out the bottom. I was humiliated. It seems like that sort of thing was always happening to me!
During the war her son went into the military. Orin had been sent overseas. Mother and Daddy more or less took responsibility for her. Getting her into the hospital was a real hassle. They had to prove that her son was overseas , the Red Cross was very helpful. She came to our home to recuperate and we really learned a special love for her. One afternoon I was sitting in the hall (doing a little eavesdropping I suspect), I could hear Mother crying and a little discussion that led me to believe a little spat between my folks had occurred. I think I heard Aunt Frill kind of close the discussion with the with the wisdom, “well, Non, if it ain’t bed bugs its piss ants.” I have thought of that a thousand times and come to believe it!
My grandfather, Chester Arthur Lee, was also a fixture in my life. He always seemed to live quite close to us. It seemed he always had a small trailer and He would park at the side of , or in the driveways of our house. He was a diamond in the rough…a very earthly man who didn’t like restraints. He wanted to be free to roam when he wanted to. He had married a lovely lady whose name was Pansy. They were very much a part of our lives. When Mother was in bed for that year with “milk leg”. Grandpa Lee and Grandma Pansy moved their trailer into our driveway and helped take of Belva and Me. My Brother Cal was born in 1943 and things began looking up somewhat. Mother and Daddy had purchased a beautiful building lot in East Oakland and began plans to build a new home. I was about 13 years old and excited, yet sorry to move what seemed like such a long way from Wanda and Evelyn. They were really closer to me socially and as confidants than Belva. We moved into a “young” ward…Elmhurst….and I kind of became a teen-ager of some popularity, which was great fun. This was also close to the Oak Knoll Navy base so there were always a lot of handsome, young men to build a silly young girl’s ego. It was a lot of fun going to dances and activities at mutual. We were able to get together and go to the Stake dances in downtown Oakland. That too, brings back wonderful memories to me. Occasionly we could convince Aunt Elsie to let Merva go with us …what wonderful memories! I believe that is one of the reasons that we have remained close as adults. Life has had a way of separating us all geographically, yet we stay in contact and remain somewhat involved in each others lives.
It was also during this period, in 1945, that My dad had a near fatal heart attack. He was out of work for months. Mothers frugal management was one of the reasons we were able to get by as well as we did. Mother, Belva and I would go out and pick peaches early in the morning, arriving back home about noon, then Daddy would get on the phone and start calling people to “sell” the peaches and by evening they would all be gone. We would have dinner, go to bed. get up and start all over again! It was a very rough time for them and as a young couple with a young family I can imagine their despair! Once again however, their hardiness and ingenuity would get them by!
During this time aunt “Frill” Forella Lindley Pritchett, who was a twin sister of Della Lindley Puckett and a sister to my mother’s mother Uranah Alpha (Affire) Lindley, came to live with us. Aunt “Frill” was very close to my mother. I remember that when we would go to visit her (before her illness) she would always send us home with apple jelly. She was an excellent cook. One of her specialties was tapioca pudding. My dad had bought a 50 pound sack of tapioca and during this time we would beg her every day to make us some tapioca pudding. She would always say “run out to the fruit pantry and get me a cup of tapioca and I’ll make us some tapioca pudding”. I’ve eaten a bit of tapioca pudding since then but have never tasted any to equal that.
My mother’s father, Chester Arthur Lee was another very important figure in my life. He was everything a grandpa should be….and then some! He gave me my first sip of coffee, my first taste of beer and even a sip of whiskey one time! He was actually the only grandparent I knew since “Mama and Papa Loe ” lived in Arkansas and only visited twice that I can remember, once in California and once in Oregon. Grandpa Lee wasn’t completely dependable but he was always “there” when he was needed. Kind of a drifter, he didn’t like schedules or to be “pinned down” in anyway. I could almost say He was “led by the spirit” except he wasn’t a very spiritual man! But somehow he managed to show up at the right time in the right place. He didn’t give Birthday cards or Christmas gifts but he did give hugs and kisses!
Mother was a marvel! She could make a meal out of anything and usually have enough for company. I remember that we seemed to always have a lot of visitors. Mother and Daddy’s home was always open, people loved to be there. I think that is one great quality that I hope I have inherited from both of them. They were never too busy to be gracious or to be hospitable. I realize now what a comparatively short period of time they had been away from their cousins and family that they had been close to in the south and what a joy it was to see them all again. We seemed to have a lot of company from the Lindley’s and the Lindley’s. What wonderful memories!
Today as I remember some of the things they laughed at and about I get a better understanding of how far they had come from their own childhoods. My Mother had spent a great deal of her young life with Granny Cummings. Grandpa Lee would send her there to Gilmer, Texas to stay during the planting time while he and the brothers would go plant crops, then send for her when the harvest time came, to cook and work for the kitchen crew. Granny lived in a very primitive house in Gilmer, Texas and she was a real fixture….and character! She loved to drive fast in the car and asked if any car she was driving couldn’t go any faster than 50 miles an hour Given her age and the condition of the dirt road she was on was pretty gutsy! She dipped snuff and carried a small can and a spoon with her all the time. When Granny reached her 85th birthday Grandpa went to live with and take care of her. He decided to do some remodeling, including putting indoor plumbing. She wrote to the family in California complaining about Chester putting a “shit house” in her kitchen! Many of my memories seem so strange and wonderful as I think back at the mix of “cultures” in our home. Visitors from the South bringing their accents and colloquialisms, seeing and tasting things for the first time. As I write this today it almost seems impossible that there was that much difference between a “northerner and a southerner!” We always had a wonderful sense of bonding…Mother was a wonderful hostess and our home was always open and lots of wonderful food! She was an excellent cook and could stretch a pound of hamburger into a banquet. Several times my own children have complimented me for much this same trait.
Another unusual pattern that was part of our family life was the staying together. I’m certain that a huge contributing factor was the marrying of two brothers and one sister to two sisters and one brother! They loved each other without question…it really was “one for all and all for one”.
After my Father had his heart attack in 1946 he was told that he would never work again. He was terribly depressed and Mother and Daddy struggled financially. Mother had bought war bonds during the war and slowly they had to begin cashing them in. That summer Mother, Belva, Cal and I would get up at daybreak and go out to pick peaches. When we returned in the afternoon Daddy would get on the phone and start calling people to sell them to. They would come to the house and pick them up. I realize now as I am older, what a difficult and frightening time that must have been for all of them.
The move to Oregon was indeed a change of life for all of us. We became “back to the earth people”…..Mother planted a huge garden (which she loved to do and always had done), they bought a cow which Belva learned to milk…..Cal helped!!! My responsibilities always concerned the house cleaning. Mother always did all the cooking, she was an outstanding , creative cook…always taking over that responsibility for all the BIG family dinners.
I need to back track a bit and insert that following the typical pattern of the Lee’s and Loe’s, where one went, they all went! Within a years time, Uncle Barney and his family, Uncle Ted ‘s family and Grandpa Lee had all followed the trek to Oregon. They all located somewhat close for a while. Uncle Ted eventually located in Springfield and Grandpa Lee bought acreage in Creswell so we continued our tradition of family get-togethers. Generally frequently, but always, always on Holidays, birthdays and other special occasions. We certainly looked for reasons to get together and enjoyed every minute. We never seemed to get into the two against one mode, we enjoyed and loved all the cousins equally!
In the year 1945 Aunt Sidna and Uncle Roy moved to Eugene,Oregon, The second world war and just ended and the work in Oakland, California was not good. With the men coming home from the military and Daddy not having much education in addition to recovering from his heart attack, things were pretty hard for them. Uncle Roy had heard through some contacts he had that things were better in Oregon. The men went up to investigate the possibilities and made the determination that the opportunities were much greater there than in California. In a week or so the men called and told the wives to sell the houses and start making preparations for a move to Eugene, Oregon. Of course being a teen age girl this was pretty devastating! I had gone into Mutual (now called Young Women)..the organization in the Church which was geared to socializing for the young people. I had made a lot of good friends in the Elmhurst Ward of the Church in Oakland and felt that the end of the world was looming for me. I couldn’t even imagine making new friends and making a place for myself in a new location.
I think also, that it must have very difficult for Mother. They had only been in their new home in Oakland about a year or so. It was a beautiful home on a hillside overlooking the city, you could see the Oakland Bay Bridge, all the lights of the city….a very beautiful setting. But Daddy’s health had changed and I’m sure the opportunity of starting a new business, especially with the health problems he had recently developed, made it extraordinarily appealing. They went to Eugene, Oregon on a “scouting” expedition, bought a logging truck and rented a house!
A short word about my Father’s personality. He was average height, and a fairly average build. His grey-ish eyes were mild and friendly. He was a very out-going person, and certainly met the standard of “never meeting a stranger”.
The challenge of getting his life back after suffering that near fatal heart attack was one he met “head on”!! He set out to earn a living logging and soon was running a fleet of log trucks.
Mother and Daddy bought a very small two bedroom house on Oak Drive in Eugene, Oregon. Daddy tackled finishing the garage and makeing sort of a “family room” which doubled as my bedroom. It was really cramped when my Dad’s sister Jewell and her son Alfred Gene came to stay with us. They didn’t stay very long as they didn’t like the country life very much after having lived in the big city! They soon returned to Oakland so our home was once again adequate for a while.
It was while we were living there I had my first real experience being “in love”. I had met a boy from Louisiana who had an accent as thick as molasses. He was cute…with reddish blonde hair! Having lived in the city with all the bright lights reflecting in the sky I guess I had never really paid much attention to the stars. Especially how bright they were without street lights shining anywhere to dim them! I had been on a date with a boy named Gene Simpson , we were walking down the long, dark lane to our house, which was without any street lights, when a meteor shower started and it frightened me, literally, almost to death. I had never seen anything like it. I started running and crying and saying “ the end of the world is coming , you don’t understand…. “the end of the world is coming!” I was almost hysterical. He ran to the door and started knocking, saying “Mr. Loe, “Something is wrong with Anita’…… she is hysterical!!.....you’d better come”. I can’t remember that I ever had another date with him!
We were received in the Eugene Ward of the Church as though we were royalty! We were (modestly) pretty, talented and fun. Wanda Loe, my cousin, had gotten her drivers license so we were really flying high! There were no boys our age in the ward so we started inviting those we met to activities at Mutual. Soon we had a wonderful group of kids attending. Several of them joined the church, so we were in teen age heaven. As it turned out, Mirial was the only one to marry a local boy. Wanda and Evelyn both went to BYU and met their future husbands there. About the time we moved to Eugene another family came…Hazel Brooks Adams. She had two daughters, Phyllis and Vivian and two sons Loren and Royal. Vivian and I were immediately drawn to each other and became fast friends. She kept telling me that when her Brother came home from the Army she was going too make us get married so we could be “sisters”. As fate would have it that very thing did happen and we loved each other dearly all of our lives. My Mother-in law, Hazel Vanessa Gibson was a most wonderful person. She took me under her wing and treated me lovingly as a daughter from the first moment that I met her. She worked hard all of her life to raise her family alone. She and Mr. Brooks divorced when her children were quite young and she was the “bread-winner”, Mother, Friend and all that you would want a Mother to be. I loved her dearly as did our children, she was very good to all of us, helping out when things were “tight”…as they often were on student earnings and a large family. Because of her work schedule and Roy being in school, our contacts with her were limited. But never did a birthday, anniversary or special event occur without her sending a card, a dollar or some other gift. She was a wonderful, loving and caring person. I would love to be able to emulate her example as I deal with my “in-law” sons and daughters.
(To be continued)
RHB
