After returning to the States from Uruguay, we stayed a while with my Aunt Bessie in South Gate, California, then moved into our home on Dorothy Ave, also in South Gate. I attended South Gate Junior High, attending from January until graduating from ninth grade in June of 1946 and then had one year at South Gate Senior High. What a contrast to Crandon! We didn’t wear uniforms and there were boys in our class! From 7th on up in Crandon, boys went to the equivalent of the Uruguayan school system and we followed the American system.
Nancy and I shared a room and Gina and Freddy shared another. I would take the kids to the movies on Saturdays; we saw a lot of westerns. I really loved them and Freddy did too. I had a little
boot on a chain that I wore on my Levi's and would let him borrow it sometimes. One of Freddy's problems when young was that he would get sick when he went to the movies. Nancy would put newspapers down by his bed for when he got sick. I don't know why he didn't use a bowl. When Nancy was little, she would hold my fingers over her eyes making a gap between two of them and when a scary part came she would close up the gap. This was one of the few times Gina and I weren't good friends, I guess I was too involved with girls my own age; Joyce Slack was my best friend. I had my 15th and 16th birthdays here.
I enjoyed going to Mutual; my first experience with the full program of the Church. I sang in the stake choir and Jay Welch, who directed the Tab Choir for a while, was our director. In my Junior year of Mutual, I represented the ward as the Princess at the Stake Junior Ball. My escort was Don Guynn; I had had a crush on him so this was quite a thrilling experience. I think he gave me my first kiss. I have seen him several times in later years; no thrill!
Dad was the Stake M Men leader and when he took the Stake M Men and Gleaners on a temple excursion to St. George, I got to go too. I was baptized for the dead about five times. We also went on a side trip and visited Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam.
One fun experience was serving the tables at a banquet for the High Priest and their partners. There was a dance afterwards I danced with several of the High Priests and enjoyed it very much.
Every once-in-a-while we would drive down to San Diego and visit Mona, my favorite aunt. Her husband Byron was a Pennys Manager and before we returned home on Sunday evening, he would take us to the store, which was closed, and let us shop. It was nice having the store to ourselves. It seems like it was always foggy on the drive home as the highway went along the ocean. I enjoyed the drive but I’m sure it was harrowing for my Dad.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Trip from Montevideo to the U.S., 1945
Towards the end of 1945, when WW II was over, Dad resigned and we prepared to return to the U.S. He thought it time for his family to return to the States, to be with family and experience the full program of the church. We had been gone seven years, not counting the months in Nogales, AZ.
Freddy broke out with chicken pox just before we left. The doctor thought it would be a couple of weeks before the rest of us would get it so we went on to Buenos Aires to catch the boat. But only after a day or two the rest of us started scratching and breaking out. My parents tried to get us on board but the captain wouldn't allow it, he was afraid his crew would all get sick, so we had to stay at the Mission Home with President and Sister Young. They were serving as Mission Presidents a second time in Argentina. Their son Carlitos, now a young man, was serving as a missionary. There were two others: Elders Fletcher Memmot and Harvey Call, from the colonies in Old Mexico. What a blow to my fourteen-year-old pride to come down with chicken pox! I was literally covered while Nancy had about one. Greta gave up her bedroom which was turned into a sick room for the four children and there we stayed. Carlitos gave me a book to read but I was so embarrassed to be seen all covered with scabs that I almost didn't accept it. The smell of rubbing alcohol brings back those memories.
By the time we were well another ship was available to take us home; this was the S.S. Cuba Victory, a Merchant Marine ship. The war had just recently ended but the ship still had her guns, with two Navy men assigned to take care of them. The sailors were very nice to us, always treating us to candy and gum. They taught Gina and me to play cards; one of the games was called "Coon Can". All of us children had a wonderful time but I know my parents worried a lot about us, especially little Nancy. I even worried about her! We found her once, sitting on the edge of the ship with her legs dangling down; she could have so easily slipped through to the water below. There was a race horse on board which we liked to visit. It was in a stall on one of the decks. The whole family stayed in one cabin; it had been the gunner's quarters and had many bunks in it. All the crew was from the South except one; he was from Iowa, and he was the only one that talked like we did.
Christmas found us off the island of Trinidad. We had bought presents ahead of time and the folks had purchased a very small artificial tree in Brazil. The electricians rigged some colored lights over the tree for us. Instead of hanging up stockings we had pillowcases and the sailors filled them with gum and Life Savers. Mom and Dad went to the galley and baked a cake, a very large cake, I don’t know how many times my Dad multiplied the recipe. Everyone thought it was great. Many of the sailors complimented Mom on it and said they had saved an extra piece to eat on watch that night. The cooks on board were not very good so the cake was a very special treat for the crew. Gina and I went swimming over the side of the ship with the folks after they decided it was safe. The sailors had been swimming all day and, since no barracuda and sharks had appeared, they thought it all right. Freddy and Nancy had to watch.
We landed in New Orleans the morning of January 31, 1945, New Year's Eve, and the family caught a train for the west that night with Dad going to Washington D.C. to finish up his work. It was a good thing that it was New Year’s Eve as the town was crowded with people for the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day and everything would have been booked up with people going home on Jan. 1st.
Freddy broke out with chicken pox just before we left. The doctor thought it would be a couple of weeks before the rest of us would get it so we went on to Buenos Aires to catch the boat. But only after a day or two the rest of us started scratching and breaking out. My parents tried to get us on board but the captain wouldn't allow it, he was afraid his crew would all get sick, so we had to stay at the Mission Home with President and Sister Young. They were serving as Mission Presidents a second time in Argentina. Their son Carlitos, now a young man, was serving as a missionary. There were two others: Elders Fletcher Memmot and Harvey Call, from the colonies in Old Mexico. What a blow to my fourteen-year-old pride to come down with chicken pox! I was literally covered while Nancy had about one. Greta gave up her bedroom which was turned into a sick room for the four children and there we stayed. Carlitos gave me a book to read but I was so embarrassed to be seen all covered with scabs that I almost didn't accept it. The smell of rubbing alcohol brings back those memories.
By the time we were well another ship was available to take us home; this was the S.S. Cuba Victory, a Merchant Marine ship. The war had just recently ended but the ship still had her guns, with two Navy men assigned to take care of them. The sailors were very nice to us, always treating us to candy and gum. They taught Gina and me to play cards; one of the games was called "Coon Can". All of us children had a wonderful time but I know my parents worried a lot about us, especially little Nancy. I even worried about her! We found her once, sitting on the edge of the ship with her legs dangling down; she could have so easily slipped through to the water below. There was a race horse on board which we liked to visit. It was in a stall on one of the decks. The whole family stayed in one cabin; it had been the gunner's quarters and had many bunks in it. All the crew was from the South except one; he was from Iowa, and he was the only one that talked like we did.
Christmas found us off the island of Trinidad. We had bought presents ahead of time and the folks had purchased a very small artificial tree in Brazil. The electricians rigged some colored lights over the tree for us. Instead of hanging up stockings we had pillowcases and the sailors filled them with gum and Life Savers. Mom and Dad went to the galley and baked a cake, a very large cake, I don’t know how many times my Dad multiplied the recipe. Everyone thought it was great. Many of the sailors complimented Mom on it and said they had saved an extra piece to eat on watch that night. The cooks on board were not very good so the cake was a very special treat for the crew. Gina and I went swimming over the side of the ship with the folks after they decided it was safe. The sailors had been swimming all day and, since no barracuda and sharks had appeared, they thought it all right. Freddy and Nancy had to watch.
We landed in New Orleans the morning of January 31, 1945, New Year's Eve, and the family caught a train for the west that night with Dad going to Washington D.C. to finish up his work. It was a good thing that it was New Year’s Eve as the town was crowded with people for the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day and everything would have been booked up with people going home on Jan. 1st.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Life in Montevideo, Uruguay, 1943-1945
We lived in Montevideo, Uruguay; it was towards the end of 1943. Our first home was in a pension or boarding house across the street from Pocitos beach. We ate our meals at a restaurant across the street and I ordered flan, a type of very sweet custard, for dessert every day. We then moved into a house on Cololó street where Mom almost immediately fell sick with typhoid fever. She was completely worn out with first taking care of Nancy with tropical dysentery and then the hard trip from Venezuela. There was an epidemic in the city. She was in the hospital for five weeks and was very sick part of this time. In fact, there are three weeks of which she has no memory. Dad gave her five blood transfusions. She was so sick she couldn’t even say her prayers. She asked Dad to pray for her, her prayers not him praying for her. She was not with us for Christmas but the wife of the American Ambassador, William Dawson, and some other official’s wife remembered us and sent us presents. I received "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens which I still have.
Dad had an Argentine girl whom we had known from our Mission days, Teresa Brandi, come over and stay with us while Mom was in the hospital. She taught us songs from Spain, her parents had been born there, and we danced a lot. Then she caught typhoid fever but she was not as sick as Mom had been.
Nancy was in my charge at this time. I would sing to her when I put her to bed in the evenings; her two favorite songs were "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Happy Birthday". Before morning came she would be in bed with me. She was about 18 months old. Gina and I would sing a lot at night too before we went to sleep. I was 12 and she was 9 years old.
Lis, a mulatto, was our maid for the two years we lived in Montevideo and she was very good to us. She called Nancy "Nelci". We had boarders also during our stay: James Graves, whom my parents had known in the U.S., and Glen Brewer, one of their former Argentine missionaries. He taught me how to dance.
The folks had some very nice parties at our house and Gina and I got to participate. A room was cleared for dances and we learned them all: the tango, rhumba, conga, milonga, samba, waltz and foxtrot, etc. I can remember dancing with the chief of party, a Dr. Lucchesi, the chief-of-party. When he danced with me, I had to hold up his hand. It got very heavy. I was 12 and 14 years of age here. One Halloween party I'll never forget; Mom had arranged a tunnel for people to crawl up to get into the house. It was like an obstacle course and we thought this the most fun ever.
Gina and I went to Crandon Institute, a private American School. We wore uniforms that consisted of a navy blue pleated wool skirt, a white, short-sleeved middy blouse for warm weather and a long-sleeved navy blue middy for cold. We wore a black sailor tie, also coats and sweaters were navy blue; our shoes were black and socks white. We were allowed no make-up, which didn't bother me at the age of twelve but did when I later returned to Crandon at age sixteen.
I was in the sixth and seventh grades at Crandon and look back on those years with pleasure. There was a more relaxed atmosphere there than in Buenos Aires where you had to speak only Spanish in the morning and only English in the afternoon. At Crandon, a class would be taught in English one year and in Spanish the next; Math, for an example. One year we started the chemistry class in English and then that teacher quit and we had to have the class in Spanish but our book was in English! I discovered a girl in my class who was the daughter of the teacher I had had in the fourth grade in Argentina, Mrs. Wood. I hadn't really cared for that teacher, very strict, but her daughter, Gladys, became one of my best friends. My sixth grade teacher was Mrs. Ros, an American who had gone to Uruguay when just a young girl. She had lived so long among the English that she had acquired an English accent. She had beautiful, long red hair. When Gina had her as a teacher, she became one of her favorites too. The school was a three-story brick building with classrooms on all floors as well as in the basement. It had a gym and an auditorium too.
It was in Montevideo that I discovered ballet. My parents took me to see the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo several times and I was enchanted. They let me take ballet lessons and I was in seventh heaven. I danced the part of an angel, a medieval angel, in a dance recital.
Dad checked out books from the Artigas-Washington library for me and introduced me to Ben Hur, a favorite for years. My Dad introduced me to many good books; I'll always be grateful for this. I still loved Zane Grey too; every time the folks went on a trip to Buenos Aires they would bring back one of his books for me. I had quite a collection.
We held Primary, Sunday School, and Sacrament Meeting in our home and Dad taught the kid's class on Sunday. Mom led the singing and Dad was the Branch President the two years we were there. The young men who worked in the embassy or other government offices also attended. One Sunday, My Dad and another ex-Argentine missionary were to bless the Sacrament but got the giggles. Mom was very put out! Mom taught Dad the tenor part of the hymn "Secret Prayer", the only one he ever learned but he could sing it during singing time in Sunday School. Dad loved music but was not a singer. He was the trio’s greatest "hincha" supporter.
Our second home was three stories high, with a grand piano in the living room. My bedroom, all to myself, was on the third floor and my window overlooked the sidewalk. I had a supply of small pebbles on my window ledge, and on warm summer nights I would drop them on people walking by. My walls were decorated with pictures of couples in love, embracing or kissing, mostly from ads from Community Silver stating "Back Home for Keeps" showing servicemen back from the war greeting their girlfriends. One time, Pres. & Sis. Young and Carlitos, who were serving in Argentina again came to visit. Carlitos had my room and I was embarrassed for him to see the pictures. I was 14.
Gina and Freddy shared a room next to mine and Nancy had her own room on the same floor as the folks. Freddy started Kindergarten and Gina and I would get him ready in his little green short-pants suit; kindergarten children didn't have to wear the uniform. We would plaster his hair down with Gomina, a kind of hair dressing, which gave it a slightly pink tinge and made his hair as hard as cement. Whenever I gave Nancy her bath, I would drape her in the huge bath towels that came with the house and pretend she was Arabian or one of the Hebrew children. Gina and I took piano lessons; that was the last time for me.
We went to the beach a lot in the summer, going with our neighbors. The lady, Mrs. Nery, had a theory: one swam immediately upon arriving at the beach, then changed into a dry bathing suit under a draped a towel, then swam one more time just before going home. We weren't used to such rigid rules at the beach, besides we only had one bathing suit. We did try to follow her rules as much as possible. Her daughter's name was Jennifer Ann Patricia Nery. the mother English, the father Uruguayan.
We went to a lot of movies in Montevideo, Gina and I, It was our favorite thing to do. Occasionally we would go to a theater that just showed short subjects and news reels. The whole program took only about an hour. We rode the bus everywhere we went. One time I took Freddy and Gina to the dentist and they got on a crowded bus or street car, I can't remember which, but I didn't make it on. I yelled at them to get off at the next stop then ran to catch up with them. It was frightening to have them go without me.
Towards the end of 1945, when the war was over, Dad resigned and we prepared to return to the U.S. He thought it time for his family to return to the States, to be with family and experience the full program of the church. We had been gone seven years, not counting the months in Nogales, AZ.
Dad had an Argentine girl whom we had known from our Mission days, Teresa Brandi, come over and stay with us while Mom was in the hospital. She taught us songs from Spain, her parents had been born there, and we danced a lot. Then she caught typhoid fever but she was not as sick as Mom had been.
Nancy was in my charge at this time. I would sing to her when I put her to bed in the evenings; her two favorite songs were "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Happy Birthday". Before morning came she would be in bed with me. She was about 18 months old. Gina and I would sing a lot at night too before we went to sleep. I was 12 and she was 9 years old.
Lis, a mulatto, was our maid for the two years we lived in Montevideo and she was very good to us. She called Nancy "Nelci". We had boarders also during our stay: James Graves, whom my parents had known in the U.S., and Glen Brewer, one of their former Argentine missionaries. He taught me how to dance.
The folks had some very nice parties at our house and Gina and I got to participate. A room was cleared for dances and we learned them all: the tango, rhumba, conga, milonga, samba, waltz and foxtrot, etc. I can remember dancing with the chief of party, a Dr. Lucchesi, the chief-of-party. When he danced with me, I had to hold up his hand. It got very heavy. I was 12 and 14 years of age here. One Halloween party I'll never forget; Mom had arranged a tunnel for people to crawl up to get into the house. It was like an obstacle course and we thought this the most fun ever.
Gina and I went to Crandon Institute, a private American School. We wore uniforms that consisted of a navy blue pleated wool skirt, a white, short-sleeved middy blouse for warm weather and a long-sleeved navy blue middy for cold. We wore a black sailor tie, also coats and sweaters were navy blue; our shoes were black and socks white. We were allowed no make-up, which didn't bother me at the age of twelve but did when I later returned to Crandon at age sixteen.
I was in the sixth and seventh grades at Crandon and look back on those years with pleasure. There was a more relaxed atmosphere there than in Buenos Aires where you had to speak only Spanish in the morning and only English in the afternoon. At Crandon, a class would be taught in English one year and in Spanish the next; Math, for an example. One year we started the chemistry class in English and then that teacher quit and we had to have the class in Spanish but our book was in English! I discovered a girl in my class who was the daughter of the teacher I had had in the fourth grade in Argentina, Mrs. Wood. I hadn't really cared for that teacher, very strict, but her daughter, Gladys, became one of my best friends. My sixth grade teacher was Mrs. Ros, an American who had gone to Uruguay when just a young girl. She had lived so long among the English that she had acquired an English accent. She had beautiful, long red hair. When Gina had her as a teacher, she became one of her favorites too. The school was a three-story brick building with classrooms on all floors as well as in the basement. It had a gym and an auditorium too.
It was in Montevideo that I discovered ballet. My parents took me to see the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo several times and I was enchanted. They let me take ballet lessons and I was in seventh heaven. I danced the part of an angel, a medieval angel, in a dance recital.
Dad checked out books from the Artigas-Washington library for me and introduced me to Ben Hur, a favorite for years. My Dad introduced me to many good books; I'll always be grateful for this. I still loved Zane Grey too; every time the folks went on a trip to Buenos Aires they would bring back one of his books for me. I had quite a collection.
We held Primary, Sunday School, and Sacrament Meeting in our home and Dad taught the kid's class on Sunday. Mom led the singing and Dad was the Branch President the two years we were there. The young men who worked in the embassy or other government offices also attended. One Sunday, My Dad and another ex-Argentine missionary were to bless the Sacrament but got the giggles. Mom was very put out! Mom taught Dad the tenor part of the hymn "Secret Prayer", the only one he ever learned but he could sing it during singing time in Sunday School. Dad loved music but was not a singer. He was the trio’s greatest "hincha" supporter.
Our second home was three stories high, with a grand piano in the living room. My bedroom, all to myself, was on the third floor and my window overlooked the sidewalk. I had a supply of small pebbles on my window ledge, and on warm summer nights I would drop them on people walking by. My walls were decorated with pictures of couples in love, embracing or kissing, mostly from ads from Community Silver stating "Back Home for Keeps" showing servicemen back from the war greeting their girlfriends. One time, Pres. & Sis. Young and Carlitos, who were serving in Argentina again came to visit. Carlitos had my room and I was embarrassed for him to see the pictures. I was 14.
Gina and Freddy shared a room next to mine and Nancy had her own room on the same floor as the folks. Freddy started Kindergarten and Gina and I would get him ready in his little green short-pants suit; kindergarten children didn't have to wear the uniform. We would plaster his hair down with Gomina, a kind of hair dressing, which gave it a slightly pink tinge and made his hair as hard as cement. Whenever I gave Nancy her bath, I would drape her in the huge bath towels that came with the house and pretend she was Arabian or one of the Hebrew children. Gina and I took piano lessons; that was the last time for me.
We went to the beach a lot in the summer, going with our neighbors. The lady, Mrs. Nery, had a theory: one swam immediately upon arriving at the beach, then changed into a dry bathing suit under a draped a towel, then swam one more time just before going home. We weren't used to such rigid rules at the beach, besides we only had one bathing suit. We did try to follow her rules as much as possible. Her daughter's name was Jennifer Ann Patricia Nery. the mother English, the father Uruguayan.
We went to a lot of movies in Montevideo, Gina and I, It was our favorite thing to do. Occasionally we would go to a theater that just showed short subjects and news reels. The whole program took only about an hour. We rode the bus everywhere we went. One time I took Freddy and Gina to the dentist and they got on a crowded bus or street car, I can't remember which, but I didn't make it on. I yelled at them to get off at the next stop then ran to catch up with them. It was frightening to have them go without me.
Towards the end of 1945, when the war was over, Dad resigned and we prepared to return to the U.S. He thought it time for his family to return to the States, to be with family and experience the full program of the church. We had been gone seven years, not counting the months in Nogales, AZ.
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