I'm Back.....

After almost two weeks of battling computer problems and then photo problems, here we are back again reminiscing about our past. This is grandpa's turn and is talking about his elementary school days:

19 different elementary schools (followed by two high schools), show the moves the family made. Grade one was in two different schools in Delano followed by two different schools in Porterville, then yet another school (Keystone) in the L.A. area. Grade 2 was two more schools in the L.A. area (Torrence and Lameda) and the year finished out in two different schools in Porterville. 3rd grade was Delano again, and that started the 4th grade - but then on to Watts, Ripley and Pawnee Oklahoma. 5th grade was in Ripley, OK and then Dawson OK. 6th grade saw three more schools - New Britany, Oklahoma City in OK and then to Petaluma, Calif. 7th grade started in Petaluma and finished in Rich Grove. 8th grade had us back at Delano, where I started high school (9th grade) before finishing my education with 10th, 11th and 12th at Caruthers, Ca.

The First grade year started out a good one for the family financially. Dad had a good paying job, a new 1937 Pontiac, we had a great Christmas with lots of good toys, etc. The one negative during this time was I almost died of pneumonia. My parents even called a doctor (almost unheard of in those days). But the job ran out and we moved to Keystone. Out of work, the car was repossessed, Dad had to walk looking for work and one time we were down to our last meal. That night there was a knock on the door, but when we opened there was no one there, but three large bags of groceries. Things turned around after that and Dad found work and we moved to the Torrence/Lameda area.

But about four months into the second grade, that job ran out and we moved back to Porterville on the north side of town. Later moved to B street downtown and things turned sour again. There was little or no work and Bill and I covered the business district for cardboard boxes, then taking them to the bakery to get day old items just before they molded.

To raise extra money, Mom would bake donuts and I (known as little Dickie boy) would peddle them from door to door. A seven year old salesman made better money than the bigger kids.

Brother Jerry was born in a house one block from downtown and Aunt Edith came and helped take care of Mom She also helped financially. Grandpa Topper died at this time and my father felt badly that he could not return for the funeral but money was just too tight. Grandpa and Grandma Topper are shown in the photo above sitting side by side in the garden.

The third grade in Delano was a quiet 'normal' year. We paid no rent on the Mosier place, working the farm to offset it. We started the 4th grade there, but my mother had a strong sense that her 54 year old mother was dying. A hard working farmer's wife and mother of 13, they didn't live too long in those days. We all moved to Oklahoma . We arrived at Thanksgiving, at Watts Oklahoma where they lived (photo of their place is above). Also a photo of Grandpa and Grandma Craig. Grandma died within a few days of our arrival and we stayed for 3 to 4 weeks, then we moved to Ripley, Oklahoma - this was the area where both Mom and Dad had grown up and where many relatives still lived (see the group picture above).

Jobs were scarce so we moved up to Pawnee where my dad's brother Charles lived. To put food on the table and a roof over our heads Dad went to work for Uncle Charlie for $1.00 a day, sun up to sun down. Early summer saw us back in Ripley and Dad went north to the Dakotas to work in the grain harvest. The work started in the Dakotas and worked south, ending up around the end of July. He received his food, bed and $3.00/day - working from dawn to dark. But that was Big Money and Dad returned late summer with money left over.

I started 5th grade in Ripley Junior High, but late September dad got a job helping construct the Tulsa Bomber Plant. So off we went again, moving to Dawson, Oklahom (N. Tulsa). An 8 hour a day job and $1.30 an hour. WOW, we were rich!! For the first time I was able to get rid of the bib overalls and wear saddle pants. (See the photo of me above).

December 7th, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the US was in the war for real. Before this we were just giving aid to Britain and Russia. I started the 6th grade in Dawson (the above photo is of my cousin Howard and I at this time), but within a few weeks the bomber plant was finished and all the workers moved to the Oklahoma City area for the new bomber plant. We wound up in New Brittany, then moved into Oklahoma City. But in late October the decision was made that the whole family (except Dad) would return to California and Dad would follow later.

See you later with the rest of the story.................