Martha
Mini Memories from Martha.
With italicized comments by the typist!
My family was living on a farm just outside Martinsburg, PA. As I was told, on the morning of May 24, 1935, they were out at the barn, (I’ll bet Mama wasn’t in the barn! ) getting ready to plant corn, when someone went out and told them they had a new sister. Guess who that was? Of course, No. 7 — ME — Martha Lois. I was told that about a year later we moved across the road to another farm.
Papa had a little church at Vicksburg and was paid $17.00 a week and he paid $35.00 a month for the farm. I can still remember the layout of the farm — where the 5 cisterns were, and trees and pastures, and of course where the outhouse was. It sure seemed like a long ways from the house to the outhouse, especially at night or when it was cold. Of course we were prepared for that, with our own carry in/out pots with lids. They had to be emptied the next day.
I can remember the layout of the house too. The kitchen, with the pantry just off to one side; the cook stove where there are many memories; Mama’s big containers on top of the warming oven with yeast dough rising for homemade bread and rolls; and the stove reservoir that kept the water warm for the Saturday night baths. The baths were taken in the cold galvanized tub that was set on the kitchen floor. The oven door was pulled down for a little more heat.
We always had plenty to eat, as I remember. When it came to chicken, it seemed that everyone had a certain piece of the chicken that was always theirs. Papa always got the wish bone and breast. Jesse liked the neck (or at least no one fought with him over that piece ). Seems like James and Esther got the legs, and I would get a wing. Mama always liked the back and tail.
Mama had the biggest cast iron skillet I had ever seen, and I have not seen one bigger, since. I remember when butchering time would roll around, she would put it on the cook stove. We would hold out our hand and get the first bit of sausage that came out of the press, then run and put it in the skillet with whatever else we could get a hold of that was good to eat. Mama would sit down with a knife and a little board, scrape the intestines and clean them really well, then stuff them with sausage and can them.
You really had to be careful and be on the lookout while all the commotion was going. I know you had to watch Johnny, and I am not sure who else, but one time I ended up with a pig’s tail pinned on me with a big safety pin. I still have one of Mama’s canning books that tells what she canned one summer, and on one part of the page I scribbled my ‘stuff’ too.
Our stairway to the upstairs had two doors, one from the kitchen and one from the front room. The wood stove for the front room wasn’t too far from the stairs, and the stove pipe went up through the ceiling and through the room just above, and then on outside. That happened to be Esther’s and my room and this made our room a little warmer.
I can remember we came home from church one Sunday night, and the telephone rang. Someone told Papa that Grandma Humberd had died. He made arrangements to go home for a few days.
One time, on a cold snow-blowing night, there was a knock at the front door. Papa went to the door and there stood a bum. Not uncommon to see in those days, but this one was a little different. Mama always found something for them to eat. Since it was so cold, Papa let him in the door. The man was fed and Papa let him sleep in the room off of the front room, where he had his roll top desk and a daybed that was made into a bed. The next morning Mama fed him, and he said he must be on his way. Boy, we had quite a mess to clean up as there were little pieces of paper all over that floor. He had used newspapers inside his clothes as insulation to keep warm. We didn’t forget about that for a while.
Esther talks about her poems. Well, I remember we had a small building just outside our back kitchen door, called a summer kitchen. She would stand just inside that building and have me stand outside on the ground, then she would start in, “Would you come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly, ‘tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy … … .”
I remember when Johnny would tend to his bees. He would get gloves and what looked like a big lamp shade to me, with curtains on the sides. He would put some stuff in the ‘smoker’ to make the bees calm so he could get the honey comb, and make the new dividers for more. That was good stuff.
Esther also tells about her chickens. Boy, she would make me so mad sometimes. I would try to get to the chicken house when she did, or before she got there. If I waited until after she was in, there was no way I could get in. She would lock the door on me. I could hear her talking to the chickens. She had made pets out of them and when I did go in, they would all sit down in the way and want to be petted. Of course as would happen to us all, Papa would see that as an illustration for a sermon. To this happening, he told about the wise and foolish virgins.
Some things I remember on my own, and of course there are others that I remember from being told the story, over and over.
Mama told a story about my brothers wanting to go to a ball game. She told them no, as there was house cleaning and chores to be done. As was the custom, she would put the rugs on the clothes line so they could be ‘beat’ with a large wire rug beater. She told them to put the rug on the line and ‘beat it.’ They did just that, but didn’t beat the rug, instead they ‘beat it’ to the ball game. I don’t remember if I was told what happened after that. HA!
For some reason, I can remember the older brothers and sisters doing different things outside the house, but don’t remember what went on, or where they slept inside the house. I remember Paul putting me up on one of the horses. We had two horses, named Topps and Prince. One was white and it seems the other was brown. I remember one time James and Esther went for a ride and started back the lane that led to the woods. After going through the woods, there was another field beyond. I was walking, trying to keep up with them. They were on the edge of the field when all of a sudden the horses took off running. I found out later that they had walked through some big ant hills.
This is the same woods where Papa would cut wood to bring back to the house to burn, so we could cook and keep warm. He would hitch the horses to a big wooden sled, and bring the fire wood to the wood shed. Also, over to one side of the field, just before you get to the woods, was a line of trees. Papa and I would go there to get some sassafras roots for tea.
On the other side of the lane was another field where I remember seeing deer running around. Papa and I went out to the corn field and he started to cut the corn by hand. I had to hold the first stalks until they could stand by themselves, so he could make a corn shock. It was always a big surprise when he would husk the corn and find a red ear of corn.
I remember Jesse working in the print shop in the garage. He taught me where the individual letters were kept, and would let me get words ready for him. In later years, I did a lot of type setting and helped finish the books that came along.
I remember when Mary and Harold got married. Seems like I sat almost in the front of the church.
So I don’t forget this part, I remember when their first child was born. Joyce Elizabeth. They were in Martinsburg at Harold’s parent’s house. James and Esther and I were given permission to walk there and see the new baby. Mama had given them a nickel to get a treat when we left there. After we visited for a little, we started home and went into a store on the corner, and they ordered root beer. I didn’t know what that was, but I remember thinking it sounded bad to me and was afraid we would be in trouble.
I remember being at Harold’s folk’s house different times and there would always be furs hanging everywhere in the back building. One time I went behind the building to see a bear hanging from a tree.
One time Johnny had a job driving a small panel truck for a dairy. He had a route where he delivered milk. I asked him if I could go along. He said, “OK, but you will have to get up at 5:00 AM,” and I thought that would really be something. What a treat, he stopped and bought me some RITZ crackers and I had chocolate milk to drink out of a little glass bottle.
I can remember the cows had names, like Daisy, Buttercup, etc. There was a small room built in the back of where the cows were kept, and in one corner of the room, Papa would put the baby calves when they were taken away from their mothers. I asked if I could see if I could teach one of them to drink out of a bucket. Papa put some milk (fresh from the cow) in a bucket and helped me get in there. I stuck my little hand in the bucket and got some milk on it, and held it up so the calf could see what was in the bucket. I thought I was going to lose my whole hand. I tried something different after that.
Esther also talks about picking potatoe bugs. I don’t remember doing that, but I do remember when Papa planted potatoes in the whole field across from the driveway. (Maybe west of the house.) When it came time to dig them, he did it all by hand, then hitched up Topps to the sled with all kinds of crates on it, and away we went. I asked if I could ride on the horse, but Esther got to ride the horse, at least that time, and I had to pick up potatoes. There were plenty to pick up too.
We had cherry trees, apple trees, and just about everything else you can think of. Mama would can and can - meat, fruit, vegetables - for winter. We also had a fruit cellar just across from the barn in the hillside, that kept apples and potatoes etc., from freezing.
On one side of the house (I’m going to call it the east side) there was a big garden. And on the other side was the driveway. It led, of course, to the garage, but you could open a big gate and go back to the barn. Also just inside the gate to the right were 3 or 4 little buildings and then our ‘3-hole’ outhouse. Of course that was a popular place to have Montgomery Wards or Sears Roebuck catalogs for ‘readin or wipin’.
The driveway also had a turn-around that went up to the house, and beside that was a huge tree. My swing was on that tree and I could really swing high. Then on the other side of that tree we had a hammock that was fastened from the house and to the tree. Just out from that was our outside water pump. James and Emmy now have that pump at their place.
Once a year, I believe in the fall, the folks would invite the whole church to our house for oyster soup supper. Everyone would bring food and we would set up tables outside, if weather permitted. One night after that supper, one of the girls from the church (Sissy Wertman), Esther and another girl and I went to the outhouse. There was a light on the pole beside the outhouse, and we had to go through a little gate and walk up a board walk to get there. Sissy went out first and I followed, thinking she had gone back to the house. Esther and the other girl were coming behind me. As I walked through the gate and turned on the sidewalk to go back into the house, Sissy jumped out from behind the tree and scared me so bad. Mama said I would not go back there at night, and was always afraid after that.
I remember, as Esther calls it “Bean Hill,” or Morrison's Cove High School. (The school actually was perched right on top of a hill that did in fact look like a giant bean laying there!) I used to think it was so pretty driving up to the school, with the trees lining the roadway. They used to have what they called “Farmer’s Week.” We went one time and took our lunch. I remember Esther singing in a choir. They had capes that were blue and white. They wore them with the blue side out, with the white edge turned back, and stood sideways when they sang.
Then it seems like she was in something where she had made a pinafore of white, edged in red. It had big ruffles over the shoulders. Maybe she made this in sewing class, I don’t know. Then came time for the ‘Toy Maker.’ Johnny was in the front of the stage with a table of broken toys, and he was doing a skit about fixing toys.
I went to Martin School, that I remember was close to an airport. There were 4 rooms with 2 classes in each room. Between the two rooms on each side of the hallway, there was a stairway to the basement. That is where we would go and practice for our little rhythm band, with our little instruments. In each room we had a cloak room where we hung our coats and hats on hangers (the kind that screw into the wood) that were all around the little cloak room. I believe we probably had our lunch boxes in there too.
Well, one day I came home from school and something was really feeling strange on my head. Mama discovered that I had head-lice. What a time we had. It was of course in the winter, it and very cold. She had me lay on the couch beside the wood stove in the front room, and every once in a while she would pour kerosene on my head and wrap it completely up in a turban. Then she would unwrap it and take a very small toothed comb (teeth on both sides) and start slowly combing my hair. Every once in a while she would take her thumb nail and mash the lice onto the comb. I don’t remember how long that lasted, but nearly all the kids in my room got them from one of the boys. When he hung his hat on his hanger, the lice just started crawling to every hat, in both directions.
I remember when we would hear the sirens from town that meant there was an ‘Air Raid.’ That would mean to turn off the lights. Papa had some black covers that he had fixed to put over the windows in the front room, then we would have on a very soft light. He would sneak outside to see if he could see any sign of light around the windows. I remember it happened one time while we were coming back from church on a Sunday night. We were going through town and had to pull over to the side and turn off the lights and wait for the ‘all clear’ siren.
There was also meat, food, shoe, and gasoline ration stamps that had to be used. I remember when the folks would go to the gas station, they had to use ration stamps for so many gallons of gasoline. Seems that we had stamps for sugar too. I remember Mama fixing up sugar bowls for each of us. We would get only so much sugar for our cereal, until the next ration stamp was ready to be used. But of course, Papa always seemed to get his filled more often than we did.
I sure remember our dog Rover. Seemed like she always had lots of puppies. I remember sometimes I would get inside of the dog house with her and her puppies. There was always plenty of room.
I had a little dog named Fido. Some in my family liked to tease me, and called her Pido just to get me stirred up, and it usually worked. Mama liked to tell, over and over, how one time Johnny was sitting in a chair and had Fido’s tail behind his legs and was holding onto it with his one hand. He called me in and asked me what was wrong with my dog, as she was trying to get away and couldn’t. Mama said that I just said, “John-n-ie” because I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with my dog, it was him. I used to put doll clothes on her and put her in my doll buggy and push her around.
That reminds me of Christmas time. I don’t know who had the most fun, but Papa sure worked hard at it. He would write little notes and have us running all around the house - up and down and around. We would find one note and another, and so on until we finally would locate our present.
I followed the notes one time and ended up in the dirty clothes basket where, under all the clothes, was a very pretty doll. I remember one time Mama and I were in a store, probably in Altoona, and she asked me if I wanted to talk to Santa Claus. I wasn’t sure, but I first had to go into a little room behind him, then come out and sit on his lap and talk. I couldn’t figure out how he knew so much about me. I figured out, some time later, that while I was in the little room, Mama gave him all the information.
We would make yearly visits back to Indiana to see the family. Seems like we would leave about 3:00 AM and drive a long while. I remember one time, when we were headed back to Martinsburg, we left Grandma Black’s house at 3:00 in the morning. We thought we would sneak out, but she knew we were leaving. I was told that at least on one trip, there were so many kids in the car that my diaper bucket had to be fastened on the running board.
I remember going to Grandma Humberd’s place in Flora. I remember she had a little teakettle that would whistle when the water got hot. Years later, for about a year and a half or so, Don and I lived in the same half of the house where Grandma had lived.
Not so sure about this, but it seems like I can remember, when I was going to Martin School, that this is when James got hit in the head with a ball. I remember one time he was tending to the horses and was in with them, and got kicked and knocked back against the wall. (Well, now the secret is out! That explains it all! )
I remember a lot about the old barn. I remember where the stalls were for the cows, and the drop door just above in front of them, where the hay could be dropped from the haymow above. The horses were kept on the other side of the barn, with the stairway in between. You could see the horses from inside of the barn as you were walking to the stairway, when the top doors were open. One time I remember starting up the stairs, and in a little room in the back corner of the barn, I heard a terrible noise. I soon learned there was a mean old bull in there, and I did not want to see him.
Well as you would get upstairs, there to the right were bins for feed. Above that was a place to put straw, and in the middle a place to put the wagon as the boys and Papa brought in the hay. In the field, I remember that I got to drive the horses a little bit, as they threw the hay on the wagon. It sure did get high in the air when the wagon was loaded with hay, and we would head for the barn. Then they would have to throw the hay into the haymow.
I can remember Mama telling several times, how the older kids in the family learned their Bible stories from Papa. He would be lying on the floor, with a row of heads on each of his outstretched arms. Well, Papa used to take me, on a moonlit night, and we would head for the barn. As we would walk around to the back of the barn up an incline to the door. He would tell me, “Always walk with your hands out in front of you when you are walking in the dark, then your hands will stop you from running into something.”
We would go in and get some burlap bags then walk up the hillside behind the barn and lay the bags on the ground. Then we would lay down and he would tell me stories, and show me where the big dipper and north star were.
At least one time, I don’t know who all went, but seems like there were several of us together. Someone had taken big sheets of galvanized steel and fastened them together, then bent the front end up and around. Big ropes were attached, and the sharp corners were covered. We all pulled this to the top of the hill in the moonlight, then slid down the hill. After we had slid down that hill for a while, we moved over to another of our hills and slid down some more.
Mama liked to tell me that since Papa couldn’t wait until I got big enough to walk and go outside with him, he would get a crate and a blanket, pack me in there and put me in the wheelbarrow and take me out with him to pick fruit.
I always thought the pasture was really a neat place to go. There were raspberry bushes scattered around from here to there and on one side of this pasture there were several rows of small trees on the hillside. I remember Esther and James would slide down the hill and would try to catch a tree to stop them, before they would get to the bottom of the hill and run into the fence. The pasture was hilly and grassy with clumps of bushes, weeds and flowers all around.
I can remember Papa was always afraid that my legs would get cold in the winter, when I started school. He made Mama put those awful long heavy brown stockings on me, but nobody else at school had to wear them, and they always made fun of me. Mama told me if I promised to remember to change before I came home, she would let me take some anklets to put on when I arrived at school. That sure made a difference, at least during the school day, as I had snow pants to wear on the long bus ride home.
I remember Dilling’s store in Martinsburg as it seemed so strange to see a store shaped like a “V” with streets going on both side of it.
I remember when James stayed home from school with the mumps. On the day he was to go back to school, Mama was standing in the doorway of Papa’s study close to the front door. She took hold of my arm and said, “You’re not going anywhere, young lady, as you have the mumps now.” I can remember that I had them only on the left side, as that was the side where Mama was standing that morning. I also got the whooping cough at the same time.
Papa went to town almost every day, and when he came home he would come upstairs to my room (where I had to spend all my time). I would see the door open a crack, and would see part of an arm. The hand holding a little sack, would toss it to me on the bed. Inside I would find chocolate covered ice cream on a stick. The neat thing was to see if it had the word ‘free’ stamped on it, after it was licked clean. If so, I could get another one free. This made having the mumps and whooping cough a little better, at least as long as the ice cream lasted.
It seemed like every year that we lived on the farm I would be playing and would somehow manage to fall and bust my knees open. I still have scars still from that. One year Papa had put cinders on the driveway, and I fell on them too. One summer Mama said, “Well, you have almost made it through the summer without busting your knees open.”
Not too long after that, I was coming back from the barn towards the house, and was about at the boardwalk in front of the outhouse. I heard a terrible buzz and looked back and there was a swarm of bees right behind me. It seemed that which ever way I would zig or zag, they would too. I was getting scared and didn’t know what to do next, and while I looked back to see how close they were, I arrived at the end of the boardwalk, tripped and down I went and busted my knees open again. The bees kept going to a nearby tree and stayed there until they could be gotten and moved.
One other time Johnny and I were walking around the barn and a big bumblebee hit me on one of my eyelids and stung me. Johnny took out after it but couldn't catch it. My eye swelled up and was hard to see for a while. I have been scared of bumblebees ever since. Of course it isn’t the same bee that is after me now, but I think they must have passed the word down through their relatives to keep after me, because they always keep me moving, when I see one. I am always told, “Stand still and they won’t hurt you.” Then I say, “No, if they are going to get me, they are going to have to work at it, because I’m not going to stand still and let him get me.” HA! So far it has worked!!
Mama always told me that when I was little, not yet big enough to get up on the piano bench by myself, I would go to the piano, and using one finger, I would play a song. I would keep working on it until I had it right. Later I took piano lessons from a lady in town who would put pennies on top of my hands to try and keep my hands curved properly. I had to use only my fingers, but keep the pennies from falling off. (Editorial comment from the typist: Although I was gone from home by the time she reached her prime as a piano player, I have been assured by those who know, that she was, and is indeed, an excellent pianist! )
I remember Mama taking a First Aid course and learning how to tie bandages, etc.
Time came for us to leave the farm. I don’t remember anyone but the folks and me, who moved to the house in Altoona. It was a BIG house, with a big house on each side of us. As you went up on the porch, there was a big front door with fancy glass in it. Once inside, it took your breath away. So many times I have seen old movies or TV shows with big houses like this, and always picture this house. I say to myself, “I used to live in a house like that.”
When you stepped inside, it was like an entry, with a beautiful open stairway off to the left. There was a table beside the stairway where the old telephone sat. It was an old fashioned tall phone, with the mouthpiece at the top, and with the receiver hung on the side. Straight ahead was the kitchen. To the right you could see the back of bookcases with very large pillars going to the ceiling on each side. You walked in between these pillars, into the living room.
Across to the middle of the wall on the left was another large doorway that went into Papa’s study. His roll top desk was on the right, and behind this on the opposite wall, was a huge old-fashioned fireplace with gas logs, that Papa like to burn.
To the right was a door to the kitchen. You could go out on the back porch to the backyard, or turn left and go back to the foyer, past the door that led to the basement. Upstairs, there were big bedrooms and the bathroom. Beyond a door above the open stairway, was another set of steps that led to still another floor. At the top of those stairs, there was a room that went completely across the house. The ceiling slanted on both sides of the room, and under one side were 3 doors for storage. On the front side of the house there was a door that when opened, led to a little room with 3 small windows out the front of the house.
Sometimes Mama would buy me some black licorice sticks. I would climb all the steps to my little room and stare out the windows. It seemed like I was up in the clouds, so high off ground, and then I would eat my candy very slowly. We didn’t live there very long, before we moved to Akron.
(Supplied by the typist, from Papa’s diaries: A rather traumatic year. On December 31, 1943 the folks were notified they had to move from the farm near Martinsburg. On February 16, 1944 they opened a book store in Altoona, bought a house, 1012, 23 Ave., and moved there in April. In May 1944 they decided to move to 1581 Hillside Terrace, Akron, Ohio. They closed the store, and sold the Altoona house on July 10, 1944, for $4,350. On June 5, 1944, they bought a house in Akron. On December 1944 they decided to leave Akron, and that house was sold in March 1945. On Jan. 29, 1945, they bought a house in Flora., Indiana. The furniture arrived in Flora on March 14, 1945.)
The moving truck and all the furniture arrived OK. When we got to Akron, the house was a pretty bungalow, but it was painted dark brown. The folks painted it white before long. In the living room there was a fireplace, with book shelves on each side. The stairway that went up from the living room, was open but without fancy dark wood like in Altoona. Bedrooms were on both sides of the hallway, with a bathroom at the end, on one side. There was another set of steps that brought you down to either the kitchen on the left, or straight outside the back door.
I think I finished 3rd grade there and 1/2 of a semester of the 4th grade. I remember that Esther worked at a place that made aircraft for the war. She would bring me home little cutouts from the metal, to play with. I remember going to where she worked and seeing the huge door open, and watched the huge Goodyear Blimp come out. And also the Rubber Bowl (Stadium) I think was near there.
James played in the school band at Akron, and his uniform was burgundy or wine, with gold trim. I remember one time the folks took me, and we went to a ball game where they played (of all things) football. James marched in the half-time celebration. (I played the drums, not football! ) I think the other team was Barberton or something close to this.
Our neighbors on one side had 2 daughters. One time they were going to, I believe it was called, Summit Beach where they had rides etc. They asked the folks if I could go along. I took my first and last ride on a roller coaster. Everything was sure different than any thing I had ever seen.
Speaking of this Summit Beach reminds me of a place in Penna. called Lakemont Park. Just don’t remember too much about it, but remember there were two sisters (Irene and Mary, perhaps) that the folks would go and visit. We would have picnics, and one time we got to ride on boats that were on big arms that would swing back and forth. It was just one of their rides.
I don’t know where along the way I picked up the name of ‘Nuisance.’ I think some of my brothers and sisters started this. Mama said I would run through the house yelling, “Here comes Nu-Ne.” I thought about this a few years later when, I believe in the 6th grade, we were to write a letter to someone, and mail it after the teacher graded it. Johnny was in the Service at the time so I wrote to him. I had to go and ask the teacher how to spell ‘Nuisance’ because this is how I signed my letter.
I just happened to think about another ‘bee’; incident. One time the folks and I were traveling somewhere, and I was in the back seat. Papa had his window rolled down and all of a sudden a big bumblebee (is there any other kind?) flew in the window. Of course it had to get in the back window behind me. Not for long though, as before I could think twice, I dived between the folks head first, and came up on Mama’s side. Papa had started to slow down, but started to laugh. He laughed so hard he had to pull over to the side of the road for a little while.
Usually every time we would go on a trip, Papa would stop, sometimes more than once, and would buy a pint of ice cream. Mama would get out 3 spoons, and we would eat it right out of the carton.
Since the folks were from Indiana, there came a time when they decided to return. Papa had gone to Flora to see if there were any properties available. It turned out there were 2, and he had just 1/2 hour to make up his mind which one he wanted. He bought the one beside Uncle Orman and Aunt Madge Zinn, on the Flora Bringhurst Road. We moved there, and I started the 2nd semester in the 4th grade in January of 1945, at the school in Flora.
I remember, though when we moved from Altoona to Akron, Ohio, the moving van was parked outside and the only two things not yet on the truck were my bed and the folk’s bed. Again I don’t remember where Esther and James were at this time, but remember that Johnny showed up. Mama said, “I wonder where you can sleep tonight.” I said, “You can sleep with me.” And Johnny looked at me and said, “You better get on your side of the bed and stay there.” Well, that scared me, so I crawled up near the pillow on my side, as far over as I could get, and stayed there all night, afraid to move.
Papa was writing books, Mama and I were setting type for the books. We also had a page folder, a paper trimmer and 2 different staplers, which were used to finish the books. One time, when Papa was getting ready to reprint The Card With the Red Border, I set the type for the whole book. I wanted a bicycle and Papa ordered it out of the catalog. I had picked out a real fancy one and with freight and all, it came to over $65.00. Papa paid me 2¢ a line for setting type and that is how I paid for my bicycle.
Time goes so fast and what seems important to one maybe doesn’t, to another. Nevertheless, you can’t take away the memories that have stuck in my mind over the years.
Jesse and Laura stayed with some of us in Martinsburg, while the folks were gone on a trip. Another time, when the folks were on another trip, I went to New Carlisle, Ohio, when Jesse and Laura and girls lived there. I stayed for a short time, and got on a train to Logansport. The folks met me, and we drove to Chicago where Mary E. and Harold and girls lived at the time. I stayed there for a while. One time, after I graduated from High School, I went to Dallas, Texas where James and Emmy and Ron lived (Linda on the way) and came home a little later. (She left Flora for Dallas at 4:15 AM on May 28, 1954 and returned to Flora on June 28, 1954, but then who’s counting? )
Lived with Mary and Harold and girls, for a while, after they moved to Flora. Their home was right beside the school, where I graduated in 1953.
I was married to Don Allbaugh in 1954, and in 1955 Rex was born. Don was out of work for 9 weeks, and went all over the state looking for work. Esther and Gus and kids, lived in Chicago at the time and told us to pack up and come up there for a while. So we did and Don got a job at Hotpoint. We stayed with them for about 3 months or so. We came home to sign for unemployment, and Don got a job with a Contractor. We went back to Chicago and picked up our things and came back home. At that time our home was in the house that Grandma Humberd owned, and where she lived years ago, at the time of her death.
After we were first married though, the folks were traveling most of the time until April 1955, so we stayed at their home until we got an apartment. We moved a month before Rex was born. Mary was born in 1958, and Ron was born in 1959. We had moved to Delphi, and were renting a house when we bought our property and built the basement. We moved to our “house” in August 1959, and lived in the basement for about 5 years. During two of those years, we built the house.
While the folks traveled so much, starting when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, I spent time with many people. Some from church, some relatives, some friends. A couple of different times while I was staying with Carl and Mable Flora from church, Paul would come and get me on Friday evening and I would stay with them over the weekend.
One time the folks sent me a hamster from California. It was supposed to come by mail, but some how came by train. I took it out to Paul’s with me. I kept it in a cardboard box. The next morning when I went to play with it there was some pretty blue fuzz in its box. Some of the living room carpet! I was lucky it did not made a hole, but maybe he had just got started. I had to find a metal box. Mable gave me an old flower box to use.
I am sure there are many memories that one could tell about. But during all this time, my family has grown. Rex married Robin and they have 3 sons, Kyle, Ben and John. A second marriage for Mary is to Ray who has 2 children of his own - Autumn and Brad - who come to their home about every two weeks. Mary has two children from her first marriage, Matthew and Monica. Ron married Janet and they have 2 children, Nelson and Holly.
This is the end of my rambling. This is the way things were, according to my memories. If any one thinks it was different, it probably was, at least in your memories.
Again, I don’t know why I can’t see faces inside the house at Martinsburg, but I can see the kitchen table with several family members around it. It always made me think of it whenever I would watch the Walton's on TV and they would gather around on their bench at the table.
(Well, she did forget to mention that she and Don came to California, about 15 years ago, to visit with Gus and Esther, and Emmy and the Typist. )
Tidbit by Jim and Emmy HumberdSimilar tidbits in: Humberd Chronicles, Travel Tidbits
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