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.
Monday, May 26, 2008
trip from Venezuela to Uruguay, 1943
In November, Dad was transferred to Montevideo, Uruguay. As usual, he went first with the rest of us following after. I can appreciate more now what my Mom went through, always traveling alone with a bunch of kids. We went through Barranquilla, Colombia again, staying at the same lovely hotel and again not getting to swim in the beautiful pool.
It was still wartime and things were not normal. We had to fly to Bogota, not in our original plan, and had to stay there for four days before continuing on our journey. The city is very high and cold and we had packed all of our cold-weather clothes and sent them on by boat. We stayed in bed most of the time to keep warm. At every meal we ordered hot consomme to warm us up. Our last day we braved the cold and walked around the town a little. We next flew to Cali where we stayed three days. This was much warmer and the hotel was larger and nicer. Gina and I roamed around the halls taking Freddy and Nancy on walks to keep them entertained. There was a statue of a lion in one of the halls and it had fake jewels embedded in it.
We stayed overnight in La Paz, Bolivia again, but didn't feel quite as sick as we had the first time. There was no room in the hotel so we stayed in a small place across the way. I remember we had to put the toilet paper in a box and not flush it away. I thought that strange. We then flew on to Argentina where our adventures were not yet over. The airplane had to fly through a mountain pass to get to Salta, Argentina, but it was clouded over. I can remember the pilot trying several times to make it but couldn't, so we landed in a cow pasture near a sugarcane factory, where we spent the night. The pilot was exhausted after landing as it had been a very harrowing time. All the passengers clapped for him. We could not take any of our luggage off the plane, it had to remain on board since this was not a port of entry with custorms. I think Mom was permitted to take a few diapers for Nancy.
When we didn’t land in Buenos Aires as planned Dad was a little frantic. The airline couldn’t tell him where we were but, when Dad told them that he was an employee of the United States Government and needed to know where his family was, one of the officials pointed to a place on the map and said that that was a nice place to visit so Dad knew just where we were. The next morning we were able to take off and continue to Buenos Aires. We were finally reunited with our Dad; spent one night in a hotel then took the boat for Montevideo, Uruguay.
It was still wartime and things were not normal. We had to fly to Bogota, not in our original plan, and had to stay there for four days before continuing on our journey. The city is very high and cold and we had packed all of our cold-weather clothes and sent them on by boat. We stayed in bed most of the time to keep warm. At every meal we ordered hot consomme to warm us up. Our last day we braved the cold and walked around the town a little. We next flew to Cali where we stayed three days. This was much warmer and the hotel was larger and nicer. Gina and I roamed around the halls taking Freddy and Nancy on walks to keep them entertained. There was a statue of a lion in one of the halls and it had fake jewels embedded in it.
We stayed overnight in La Paz, Bolivia again, but didn't feel quite as sick as we had the first time. There was no room in the hotel so we stayed in a small place across the way. I remember we had to put the toilet paper in a box and not flush it away. I thought that strange. We then flew on to Argentina where our adventures were not yet over. The airplane had to fly through a mountain pass to get to Salta, Argentina, but it was clouded over. I can remember the pilot trying several times to make it but couldn't, so we landed in a cow pasture near a sugarcane factory, where we spent the night. The pilot was exhausted after landing as it had been a very harrowing time. All the passengers clapped for him. We could not take any of our luggage off the plane, it had to remain on board since this was not a port of entry with custorms. I think Mom was permitted to take a few diapers for Nancy.
When we didn’t land in Buenos Aires as planned Dad was a little frantic. The airline couldn’t tell him where we were but, when Dad told them that he was an employee of the United States Government and needed to know where his family was, one of the officials pointed to a place on the map and said that that was a nice place to visit so Dad knew just where we were. The next morning we were able to take off and continue to Buenos Aires. We were finally reunited with our Dad; spent one night in a hotel then took the boat for Montevideo, Uruguay.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Life in Venezuela, 1943
In Venezuela we went to the city of Maracay to live where Dad was working. It was not in the capital city Caracas but to the west of it. We lived in the Hotel Jardin, a big rambling place. It looked Arabic with a long porch with arches the length of the building. It was a fun place for children but I don't think Mom was too happy living there. There were some American soldiers and sailors living there training Venezuelan pilots. They also flew missions looking for German submarines in the Caribbean. Gina and I sort of adopted them, or they us. They were very nice to us, helping to teach me to swim, play pool, and let us ride in their Jeeps to the beach every week.
The hotel dining room had no walls, just the roof on some pillars and was all open to the air. Birds could fly right in and get crumbs from the table. The swimming pool had a family of frogs living in it and the water was drained every week. When you swam, you had to push the frog eggs away. I learned to swim there. There were beautiful flowers growing all around. There was a park right across the street from the hotel and every Sunday morning, early, the army band would play.
The folks rented a house in the city, wanting their family to themselves, and here I had my first room all to myself. I had the walls papered with pictures of movie stars. We had no hot water, just cold, and the kitchen was detached from the house. There wasn't an American school in this town so Mom had to teach us at home, using the Calvert System. What a time she must have had with the four of us! I had a book about Greek Mythology and quite enjoyed it. I don't remember much else about it, except it was fun. Mom taught me and Gina, gave Freddy something to do and had to keep Nancy entertained too. We never could put her down on the floor because of the danger of hookworm. She was just one year old. We gave the maid special shoes to wear while working in the house; the shoes were kept there, not taken home, so she could not bring in hookworm. The walls of the house had little black dots on them that turned out to be ticks. The previous owners had had large dogs. I think the folks used kerosene to get rid of them.
In our second house, polliwogs would come out of the tap when you turned it on. We had to use a strainer to catch them. Wasps had made a nest in the house and I would catch them and put them in boxes. I thought I was very brave for doing this. I never got stung, either, I had my twelfth birthday here. My room, all to myself still, had a private bath with shower; cold naturally. I also had a vicuña rug for a bedspread; soft fur, much softer than llama. I thought this the height of luxury. I loved to lie on the fur and read. I still loved to read and did so whenever I could. I discovered Zane Grey about this time, also Nancy Drew; what fine times I had.
Some little creature made a two-toned sound that we could hear while eating. The notes were the last two from a popular song "St. Louis Blues." We would sing "My Mama done...." then the two last notes "told me" would come from whatever was making the sound.
Mom started Gina and me singing with her in trios and what problems she had! We would end up giggling every time but it was the start of a wonderful experience. Our first trio was "Calm as the Night" not an easy song! She would sing with Gina, then my part with me until learned, then put them together with her singing the third part.
We loved the weekly excursions to the beach. All the Americans in the hotel would go too and we really made it a day. It was so lovely on the beach and the water so warm you could swim all you wanted without getting cold. Palm trees came down to the water's edge and the sand was white and fine. Gina and I rode in the Jeep with the soldiers. The road went over jungle-covered hills where the foliage was thick and green with bright flowers and birds. You could see little waterfalls but Dad said you couldn’t put your hand in the water because of all the microbes that were present. For Easter, we colored eggs and took them to the beach to hide. When it came time to eat them we found they were spoiled so we threw them into the ocean. Next week, when we came back, we found that they had washed ashore and some little boys were collecting them. They thought some exotic birds had laid them. We tried to tell them that we had colored them but they didn't believe us.
Dad's work moved its headquarters to Caracas, the capital, so we moved there too. Our house was called Quinta Bina. In Caracas, the houses didn't have numbers and the streets didn't have names! We found that the houses, street intersections and the neighborhoods or areas had the names. It was very difficult to find an address; you had to take a map with you to find a place.
Our school was a delightful, different experience. The American colony had grown tired of teaching their children at home, so they banded together and started a school using the Calvert System from Maryland which had been used individually in the various homes. It was called "Campo Alegre" Happy Field. The classes were very small; there were only about seven in my fifth grade class. My teacher was an Englishwoman who taught us fractions. That is the only math I have every enjoyed or understood in all my school years! She also read to us. One thing she read was "Canterbury Tales". I thought she said the author was "Choza" and believed this for many years until I realized she was saying "Chaucer". She also read many poems, among them "The One Hoss Shay", "The Eagle" and many others. One day, a vegetable cart came by and she left the class to go outside to buy some brussel sprouts. It was all very casual. We had a Spanish class about once a week but I didn't need it after Argentina. It was very elemental Spanish to help the American children learn. We also studied Greek history that year and I loved it. Gina's teacher was also an English woman, Mrs. DeCoopcrank. Her class sang "God Save the King" every morning! At recess we played jump rope, that was the big thing. This was the most fun school I've ever attended.
In Venezuela I learned about trick-or-treating from the American kids and the candy one could collect on Halloween night. I had not been familiar with this before.
There was a splendid view of Mount Avila from our home. Caracas was in a valley surrounded by mountains. This mountain was covered by lush jungle growth and had lots of waterfalls that sparkled in the sun, especially after a rainfall. The clouds sometimes covered it or just passed over the top; truly a beautiful sight.
I received my first roller skates here and taught myself how to skate by rolling down our driveway and stopping by running into the gates. All our drinking water had to be boiled so every night Mom put two big kettles of water on to boil, then they would cool overnight. Even with this precaution Nancy caught dysentery, and was very sick. Freddy had it too but not as severely. The treatment consisted of practically starving her; we almost lost her. She would cry bitterly when she could hear us eating, she was in another room. After a few days, she could eat a small amount of very green bananas and very watered-down milk. I can remember washing out her soiled diapers in a stone washbasin the back yard. They think she caught it by sucking on the washcloth in the bathtub. The doctor who treated her had lost his little son to that same dysentery just a few months before Nancy caught it.
The hotel dining room had no walls, just the roof on some pillars and was all open to the air. Birds could fly right in and get crumbs from the table. The swimming pool had a family of frogs living in it and the water was drained every week. When you swam, you had to push the frog eggs away. I learned to swim there. There were beautiful flowers growing all around. There was a park right across the street from the hotel and every Sunday morning, early, the army band would play.
The folks rented a house in the city, wanting their family to themselves, and here I had my first room all to myself. I had the walls papered with pictures of movie stars. We had no hot water, just cold, and the kitchen was detached from the house. There wasn't an American school in this town so Mom had to teach us at home, using the Calvert System. What a time she must have had with the four of us! I had a book about Greek Mythology and quite enjoyed it. I don't remember much else about it, except it was fun. Mom taught me and Gina, gave Freddy something to do and had to keep Nancy entertained too. We never could put her down on the floor because of the danger of hookworm. She was just one year old. We gave the maid special shoes to wear while working in the house; the shoes were kept there, not taken home, so she could not bring in hookworm. The walls of the house had little black dots on them that turned out to be ticks. The previous owners had had large dogs. I think the folks used kerosene to get rid of them.
In our second house, polliwogs would come out of the tap when you turned it on. We had to use a strainer to catch them. Wasps had made a nest in the house and I would catch them and put them in boxes. I thought I was very brave for doing this. I never got stung, either, I had my twelfth birthday here. My room, all to myself still, had a private bath with shower; cold naturally. I also had a vicuña rug for a bedspread; soft fur, much softer than llama. I thought this the height of luxury. I loved to lie on the fur and read. I still loved to read and did so whenever I could. I discovered Zane Grey about this time, also Nancy Drew; what fine times I had.
Some little creature made a two-toned sound that we could hear while eating. The notes were the last two from a popular song "St. Louis Blues." We would sing "My Mama done...." then the two last notes "told me" would come from whatever was making the sound.
Mom started Gina and me singing with her in trios and what problems she had! We would end up giggling every time but it was the start of a wonderful experience. Our first trio was "Calm as the Night" not an easy song! She would sing with Gina, then my part with me until learned, then put them together with her singing the third part.
We loved the weekly excursions to the beach. All the Americans in the hotel would go too and we really made it a day. It was so lovely on the beach and the water so warm you could swim all you wanted without getting cold. Palm trees came down to the water's edge and the sand was white and fine. Gina and I rode in the Jeep with the soldiers. The road went over jungle-covered hills where the foliage was thick and green with bright flowers and birds. You could see little waterfalls but Dad said you couldn’t put your hand in the water because of all the microbes that were present. For Easter, we colored eggs and took them to the beach to hide. When it came time to eat them we found they were spoiled so we threw them into the ocean. Next week, when we came back, we found that they had washed ashore and some little boys were collecting them. They thought some exotic birds had laid them. We tried to tell them that we had colored them but they didn't believe us.
Dad's work moved its headquarters to Caracas, the capital, so we moved there too. Our house was called Quinta Bina. In Caracas, the houses didn't have numbers and the streets didn't have names! We found that the houses, street intersections and the neighborhoods or areas had the names. It was very difficult to find an address; you had to take a map with you to find a place.
Our school was a delightful, different experience. The American colony had grown tired of teaching their children at home, so they banded together and started a school using the Calvert System from Maryland which had been used individually in the various homes. It was called "Campo Alegre" Happy Field. The classes were very small; there were only about seven in my fifth grade class. My teacher was an Englishwoman who taught us fractions. That is the only math I have every enjoyed or understood in all my school years! She also read to us. One thing she read was "Canterbury Tales". I thought she said the author was "Choza" and believed this for many years until I realized she was saying "Chaucer". She also read many poems, among them "The One Hoss Shay", "The Eagle" and many others. One day, a vegetable cart came by and she left the class to go outside to buy some brussel sprouts. It was all very casual. We had a Spanish class about once a week but I didn't need it after Argentina. It was very elemental Spanish to help the American children learn. We also studied Greek history that year and I loved it. Gina's teacher was also an English woman, Mrs. DeCoopcrank. Her class sang "God Save the King" every morning! At recess we played jump rope, that was the big thing. This was the most fun school I've ever attended.
In Venezuela I learned about trick-or-treating from the American kids and the candy one could collect on Halloween night. I had not been familiar with this before.
There was a splendid view of Mount Avila from our home. Caracas was in a valley surrounded by mountains. This mountain was covered by lush jungle growth and had lots of waterfalls that sparkled in the sun, especially after a rainfall. The clouds sometimes covered it or just passed over the top; truly a beautiful sight.
I received my first roller skates here and taught myself how to skate by rolling down our driveway and stopping by running into the gates. All our drinking water had to be boiled so every night Mom put two big kettles of water on to boil, then they would cool overnight. Even with this precaution Nancy caught dysentery, and was very sick. Freddy had it too but not as severely. The treatment consisted of practically starving her; we almost lost her. She would cry bitterly when she could hear us eating, she was in another room. After a few days, she could eat a small amount of very green bananas and very watered-down milk. I can remember washing out her soiled diapers in a stone washbasin the back yard. They think she caught it by sucking on the washcloth in the bathtub. The doctor who treated her had lost his little son to that same dysentery just a few months before Nancy caught it.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Return to the U.S. and life in Nogales, AZ 1942-43
Soon it was time to leave Argentina. There are so many wonderful people I remember and so many happy times. The people I remember best are Greta, of course; Euridice Turano; Bro. and Sis. Gianfelice and their family; Bro. Domingo; Sister Escudero; and Sam and Clara Boren. The missionaries were always so good to Gina and me. The ones I remember best are Ben Allen, in later years our family doctor; Rolf Larson; J. Donald Earl; Marion Vance; and my cousins Clement Williams and Lawrence Janson.
Pres. and Sis. Barker came to preside over the Mission. We were to go home by plane because it was not safe to travel by ship; World War II being in progress. Nancy was about six months old and traveled in a basket. Fred was two and one/half and was dressed as a little gaucho and carried a little toy Ferdinand the Bull Aunt Lucy had sent him. Many members came to see us off at the airport but we had to wait all day because of fog, then late afternoon the flight was postponed until the next day. I can’t remember where we spent the night, the mission home or a hotel. When we went to the airport the next morning, only a few saw us off.
There were two rows of seats on the plane, two seats on the left side and only one on the right. Mom and Dad, holding Fred, sat in the very front so that Nancy's basket would fit on the floor in front of them. Gina and I sat on the right side, one in front of the other. When we flew up high we had to take oxygen by mouth from a little tube attached by our seats because the cabin was not pressurized. The weather was very rough and I think everyone was airsick except Mom. She would point out the beautiful clouds to Dad and he would not appreciate it at all. He didn't even feel like pushing his own oxygen button but had Mom do it. We kept the purser busy bringing paper sacks for us to use.
We only flew by day, staying at hotels in different countries by night. When we landed that first night it was at La Paz, Bolivia, we could hardly do anything. It was so high there that, until you got used to the altitude, you would just drag around. All I can remember is lying around on the bed with no desire to get up whatsoever. Dad's former missionary, Elder Larson, was working there and visited with us. We also stayed in Guayaquil, Ecuador; Panama; Guatemala, and landed at Brownsville, Texas. It seemed strange for everyone to speak English after living for four years in a Spanish-speaking country. From Texas we took a train to Arizona, where we stayed with my Aunt Mona in Nogales. Dad went to Washington, D.C. where he found work with the government, The Institute of Inter-American Affairs. He was the business manager at the two offices he worked in South America.
Flying into Panama was interesting. Since it was war time, the steward blocked all the windows before we landed so we couldn’t see anything as we came in. When we were on the ground we could see barrage balloons flying everywhere and we were told that no lights could be shone at night. We stayed at the home of some friends. One of the daughters gave me a paper doll, one of the prettiest I've ever had. She took me to see the canal and pointed out the wreck of a ship in the water. She said it was an old Spanish ship; who knows.
I enjoyed living in Nogales. Mona had two children, Kay and Mona Lue, and with Gina and me, we had quite a gang. Kay was 9, Gina turned 8, I was 11. We went to the movies every Saturday; it only cost 10 cents, and we watched all sorts of movies and the serial "Gangbusters" and then "Spy Smasher". We would come home and act out our own spy smashing drama. We climbed the hills that rose behind the houses across the street and explored the area. I had not known this much freedom in Argentina. I learned to ride a bike there. Byron, Mona's husband, put me on Kay's bike, gave me a shove down the road and off I went. All went well until I stopped down the road a bit and tried to get started on my own to come back. It seemed like forever until I got it going again and made it back home.
Gina and I had our Patriarchal blessings in Mesa from Bro. Nash. Grandmother Williams was present for them and Aunt Lucy took them down in shorthand. Gina turned eight and was baptized in the Mesa Temple. I also sang my first trio in Nogales. I had sung a duet with Mom in Argentina, "Days of Summer Glory" but this was my first experience with trio work. Mom, Mona, and I sang "Silent Night" at church. Church was held in an upstairs room over some business, just a small branch.
I attended fifth grade in Nogales and learned the songs "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" and "Grandfather's Clock". I liked those songs very much. We had arrived in Nogales in the late summer time and spent much time with the many books Mona had bought for her kids. At the beginning of school, when we reported on the number of books we had read that past summer, the teachers wouldn't believe me and I had to bring a note from my mother. Each week we would bring money to buy war stamps and paste them in a little book. When the book was full you could exchange it for a war bond.
The Christmas spent in Nogales was the first one I didn't get a doll; I had mixed feeling about it. Mona gave Gina and me rings; I thought they were so beautiful. Gina's had a green stone and mine was blue. I also received my first watch from her, her old one. There was just a dusting of snow on the ground, something almost unknown to us.
Mona had a service porch with a tub and she would wash my hair in it for me every Saturday. She always ended on a cold rinse! Nancy would have her bath in the tub. She learned to hum "Happy Birthday", not quite one-year-old. Mona would let me look through her jewelry box which I enjoyed very much. One Saturday, Byron let me earn some money. He was the Penney's manager and hired me to walk around in the basement to keep an eye on customers and make sure they didn't stuff items into their clothing. I never saw anyone shoplifting, just wandered around, folding up sweaters and such. I felt very important.
Pres. and Sis. Barker came to preside over the Mission. We were to go home by plane because it was not safe to travel by ship; World War II being in progress. Nancy was about six months old and traveled in a basket. Fred was two and one/half and was dressed as a little gaucho and carried a little toy Ferdinand the Bull Aunt Lucy had sent him. Many members came to see us off at the airport but we had to wait all day because of fog, then late afternoon the flight was postponed until the next day. I can’t remember where we spent the night, the mission home or a hotel. When we went to the airport the next morning, only a few saw us off.
There were two rows of seats on the plane, two seats on the left side and only one on the right. Mom and Dad, holding Fred, sat in the very front so that Nancy's basket would fit on the floor in front of them. Gina and I sat on the right side, one in front of the other. When we flew up high we had to take oxygen by mouth from a little tube attached by our seats because the cabin was not pressurized. The weather was very rough and I think everyone was airsick except Mom. She would point out the beautiful clouds to Dad and he would not appreciate it at all. He didn't even feel like pushing his own oxygen button but had Mom do it. We kept the purser busy bringing paper sacks for us to use.
We only flew by day, staying at hotels in different countries by night. When we landed that first night it was at La Paz, Bolivia, we could hardly do anything. It was so high there that, until you got used to the altitude, you would just drag around. All I can remember is lying around on the bed with no desire to get up whatsoever. Dad's former missionary, Elder Larson, was working there and visited with us. We also stayed in Guayaquil, Ecuador; Panama; Guatemala, and landed at Brownsville, Texas. It seemed strange for everyone to speak English after living for four years in a Spanish-speaking country. From Texas we took a train to Arizona, where we stayed with my Aunt Mona in Nogales. Dad went to Washington, D.C. where he found work with the government, The Institute of Inter-American Affairs. He was the business manager at the two offices he worked in South America.
Flying into Panama was interesting. Since it was war time, the steward blocked all the windows before we landed so we couldn’t see anything as we came in. When we were on the ground we could see barrage balloons flying everywhere and we were told that no lights could be shone at night. We stayed at the home of some friends. One of the daughters gave me a paper doll, one of the prettiest I've ever had. She took me to see the canal and pointed out the wreck of a ship in the water. She said it was an old Spanish ship; who knows.
I enjoyed living in Nogales. Mona had two children, Kay and Mona Lue, and with Gina and me, we had quite a gang. Kay was 9, Gina turned 8, I was 11. We went to the movies every Saturday; it only cost 10 cents, and we watched all sorts of movies and the serial "Gangbusters" and then "Spy Smasher". We would come home and act out our own spy smashing drama. We climbed the hills that rose behind the houses across the street and explored the area. I had not known this much freedom in Argentina. I learned to ride a bike there. Byron, Mona's husband, put me on Kay's bike, gave me a shove down the road and off I went. All went well until I stopped down the road a bit and tried to get started on my own to come back. It seemed like forever until I got it going again and made it back home.
Gina and I had our Patriarchal blessings in Mesa from Bro. Nash. Grandmother Williams was present for them and Aunt Lucy took them down in shorthand. Gina turned eight and was baptized in the Mesa Temple. I also sang my first trio in Nogales. I had sung a duet with Mom in Argentina, "Days of Summer Glory" but this was my first experience with trio work. Mom, Mona, and I sang "Silent Night" at church. Church was held in an upstairs room over some business, just a small branch.
I attended fifth grade in Nogales and learned the songs "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" and "Grandfather's Clock". I liked those songs very much. We had arrived in Nogales in the late summer time and spent much time with the many books Mona had bought for her kids. At the beginning of school, when we reported on the number of books we had read that past summer, the teachers wouldn't believe me and I had to bring a note from my mother. Each week we would bring money to buy war stamps and paste them in a little book. When the book was full you could exchange it for a war bond.
The Christmas spent in Nogales was the first one I didn't get a doll; I had mixed feeling about it. Mona gave Gina and me rings; I thought they were so beautiful. Gina's had a green stone and mine was blue. I also received my first watch from her, her old one. There was just a dusting of snow on the ground, something almost unknown to us.
Mona had a service porch with a tub and she would wash my hair in it for me every Saturday. She always ended on a cold rinse! Nancy would have her bath in the tub. She learned to hum "Happy Birthday", not quite one-year-old. Mona would let me look through her jewelry box which I enjoyed very much. One Saturday, Byron let me earn some money. He was the Penney's manager and hired me to walk around in the basement to keep an eye on customers and make sure they didn't stuff items into their clothing. I never saw anyone shoplifting, just wandered around, folding up sweaters and such. I felt very important.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
work history of my Dad, F S Williams
A granddaughter asked about my Dad having trouble getting a job in the U.S. It was during the depression when it was very hard for people to obtain work. The first time we went to S. A. Dad was called as a mission president. The Church paid a living allowance, not a whole lot. Living in Argentina took all of their savings because Gina and I went to a private school so we could keep our English. The second time, it was during WW II and the US Govt. paid him then; that was a good salary. When we returned in 1945, my Dad worked for his brother-in-law in California in a construction company. Dad worked in the office. When we went to Uruguay in 1947, it was as a mission president again. After I was married, my folks went to Peru where my Dad managed an airline. Several plane crashes ocurred and the company folded so they returned to the States. My Dad's last work, in California, was teaching English as a second language teacher. He really enjoyed that. He was also a carpenter and worked as a realtor.
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