Here is a picture of my mother in front of her house in Helena, Montana. The fat baby is me. My mother was born and raised in Modale, Iowa. When she graduated from High School, she left for Chicago. She had started to go into Nurse's training but she got ill and did not finish. My mother then went to work at as a housekeeper for a very wealthy man in Chicago, who had lost his wife. My mother married him but found that he was a very cruel person. She got a divorce. They did not have any children.

My mother went to work as a housekeeper for a family in Chicago.--She was just about to become a Mail Order Bride--My mother saw an ad that my dad had put in the Chicago Paper looking for a wife. My dad was living in Helena, Montana. In his ad he said he was a Disabled Veteran and that he owned his own home and business. My mother answered his ad and my dad sent her the money for a railroad ticket from Chicago to Montana. When my dad met her at the station he said"If you don't want to get married, I will pay your way back to Chicago" and my mother said, "As long as I'm here, we just as well get married." Their marriage lasted 35 years until 1960 when my dad died.

After they got married (must have not been any waiting periods) my mother said my dad took her to his house and he said he would be back for dinner. He went back to work. The business he owned was a Shoe Shop in Helena, Montana. All the shoes and boots were handmade. He made shoes and boots for the Governor and members of the Legislature. He knew Gary Cooper and his family. They had a big ranch. He made boots for the family. He made boots and shoes for a lot of the ranchers. My mother said he made my sister and I shoes too, but I don't really remember of the shoemaking.

Anyway, back to my mother's first day as a bride. My mother said she went ahead and started dinner. She wasn't used to stove, of course, and she burned the biscuits. She said she was really upset and started crying. When my dad came home, he told her not to worry about it. My dad was a very good man and very kind. My dad had been married once before too. He told my mother his first wife was a fiery red-head and he couldn't do anything to please her. They did not have any children either.

My dad loved Montana but his Asthma started getting worse. His doctor told him he had to get out of the cold climate. They sold their house and his business and had decided to go to California. I was 5 and my sister was 3. I barely remember a little of the trip.

It was the Summer of 1932 when we started out in a brand new Chevrolet. We stayed in cabins along the way. I remember one place we stayed overnight, my mother was happy because the water faucet was right by the door. There was no indoor plumbing in the cabins.

My mother could not tolerate the heat well. Going through Idaho and Eastern Washington it was so hot, she could hardly stand it. My dad told her that they would stop at the first cool place we came to. We got into Seattle July 4, 1932 and it was raining.

My parents found a house to rent in Clearview, WA (which is outside of Snohomish) until they could find a house with some property to buy.