This is Dee's own story of her life
Leaving Oklahoma
After a good crop in 1935 disaster hit. The horse Old Blue died, a tornado tore down the garage and part of the barn. The cow panicked and broke her neck trying to jump the fence. The 1936 crop only yielded 50 pounds of cotton. With the family in dire straits, Daddy wrote to his father, who had moved to California, saying "If you can send use $50 we will come to California." The money came by return mail.
In the spring of 1937 Dad and Mom loaded the 5 kids, two mattresses and a trunk into our 1926 Chevy sedan and headed west. Mama's folks begged them not to go. "I wouldn't start to Mangum on those tires", Grandpa Thompson said. In Texas, tow of Mom's relatives and $6 were added to the already over crowded car. Memories of that trip west, flat tires, rain storms, flat tires, sleeping on the ground, flat tires, cooking on campfires and more flat tires. "At the California border they will take away your mattresses", everyone said. So we brought our two worst mattresses. They didn't take them away.
The Dentist
When I was about six or seven years old I had a bad toothache. My parents decided I would have to go into town and see the Dentist. He looked at the tooth that was hurting and told my Dad it would have to come out. Since it was a baby tooth it didn't hurt and I made no fuss. Then the dentist said "the tooth next to it needs to come out too." Well for some reason I started to cry and say "oh Daddy don't let him pull it" while flinging my arms about. My Dad had no patience with me. He held my arms down and told the dentist to pull it. I was angry with him all the way home. As soon as we got home I told my Mother what had happened, hoping that she would be angry with him too. Instead she just had me lie down for a while. By dinner time I was pretty much over it.
Elementary School Days
From the 1st grade through part of 4th grade I attended Grandville Elementary School in Sanger, California. It was a country school that was two and one-quarter miles from my home. We walked to school and walked home. In the fall we would look forward to picking pomegranates from the trees that lined a long drive to a house along our route. We would pick one and throw it on the asphalt road to break it open. The red sweet juice was wonderful. In the winter when it was cold and foggy my older brother Lester would get his bicycle and he would ride with my brother Weldon on the bike for a little way. Then he would let Weldon off and come back and get me and ride past Weldon a ways. Then I would get off and he would go back to get Weldon, and so on until we were all at school. I remember once some man stopped by the house and told my mother that on rainy days he would be glad to take us to school. My mother wasn't sure about it but finally said okay. I only remember one time riding in his coupe. The three of us, my brothers Lester, Weldon and me squeezed into the seat with the man. It was great to not have to walk that two and a quarter miles in the cold rain.
Learning to Ride a Bike
I never had a bicycle of my own and no opportunity to learn to ride until I was in the Sixth grade. My brother Weldon who is two and a half years older than me had some how gotten himself an old bike without any fenders. One day I decided I was gong to learn to ride it. So every afternoon I would come home from school, get his bicycle, prop it up against the curb and get on it. Our house was on a corner at the end of Johnson street hill. It had a slight down grade to it. I would head the bicycle down the hill and get on it. I just went a short distance. Then one day I stayed on it. What a sense of accomplishment! I remember skinning my knees several times when was learning to turn around in the street. I got proficient enough to ride down hill with no hands, all of this on my brother's bike.
High School Fashion
I was in High School during the late Forties. We were the Bobby Sox Generation. Saddle Shoes and Bobby Sox. The war had just ended and we loved Pea coats and Sailor tops. Long plaid tight skirts & sweaters were also part of the "In" fashion. Dresses with Peplums, Cap Sleeves and Key hole necklines.
How I learned to drive
When I was in High School I had several people that gave me a start. At first it was just starting the car while sitting next to a date. Then as a Senior in High School we were require to take Driver's Education. It was in a 1950 Chevy Sedan. As I recall I had already been behind the wheel of my married girl friend's car. She had the habit (which I learned) of speeding up before coming to a stop sign, putting in the clutch and then coasting to the stop sign. My Drivers Ed instructor quickly gave me good reason to stop doing that. My Dad would take me out driving in the country (we lived in a small town in Northern California). He was not visibly nervous and did not make suggestions as a rule. One day when I made a right turn I went completely into the left lane. It was in the country and there were no other cars around. After I made the turn and got back into my lane he very softly and gently said "if there had been car coming you would of had an accident." I don't believe that I ever made that mistake again. I never had a car of my own until I was in my Forties. It was a 1978 Toyota Celica, which I loved until its dying days.
Going to College at BIOLA
I graduated High School when I was Seventeen. That summer I worked packing preserves and cutting grapes to earn money for College. I had been accepted at BIOLA. So in August my Pastor's son and I took the train to Los Angeles. I had never been in the downtown part of a big city and was in awe. It was so exciting. I was thrilled with everything! My best friend, who live in a town about 16 miles from me, was my roommate. Our dorm was an old 13 story hotel in downtown. In the room was a sink, attached to the wall, two desks, a dresser and bunk beds. There were two windows with pull down shades. The floor had linoleum. The closet was small but it was okay since neither my roommate or I had many clothes. A few weeks before Christmas vacation I became so homesick I could hardly keep my mind on anything, except going home.
At BIOLA Dr. Vernon McGee taught a class which all Freshmen were required to take. It was an overview of the Bible, starting in Genesis. Dr. McGee had such a way of making each of the Chapters come alive that no one wanted to miss a single class session. His Texas drawl and sense of humor kept us all riveted to our seats. I have heard many wonderful speakers since then, but none that held my attention any more than Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
First Time Home Owner
We bought our first house on 180th place in Torrance, California in 1958. It was a two bedroom, one bath, one car garage home with a slab floor. One wall in the kitchen was a sliding doors which opened to a laundry tub and a place for a washing machine. There was a lard back yard with a chain link fence. Our first child, David, was seventeen months old. We moved there from an upstairs apartment in Glendale. I remember it took a while to get over cringing when someone would bang something or make a loud noise, until I realized no one lived beneath us. We planted a large garden in the backyard and gave away bags of tomatoes. I enjoyed fresh corn on the cob. We loved having out of town visitors so we could take them to the beach and then come home and barbeque. We lived there about a year and a half until a realtor bought our house to be used for a parking lot to a Jack In The Box restaurant. We rented the house from the realtor for less than we had been paying before until we found another home.
*
*