My dad's mom and dad left Iowa in 1931 in their 1929 Dodge with a mattress on the roof, their two daughters in the back seats and whatever clothes they could carry, headed to California to look for work. Grandpa painted houses for a while and ended up building nearly a hundred houses in Stockton, and when he was killed in a traffic accident in 1944, Grandma was quite wealthy. But she was always very humble, and a devout Christian. The last time I saw her I was maybe ten years old, in 1963, just before my mom divorced my dad. I loved her so much! They were salt of the earth people.
I wonder how many people we have like that any more. There are lots of them here in Fresno but it seems most of them are older.
My dad’s mom and dad left Iowa in 1931 in their 1929 Dodge with a mattress on the roof, <<<
Bill and his family did the same, left Iowa, had approx 6 or8 kids, [10 total], but settled in Portland.
They got to Redding, California, had car trouble, ran out of money and Bill a young boy was looking at the pea gravel in the driveway at the garage and found a gold nugget, his dad sold it and they went on.
We were in an old Buick, when we came, chickens tied to the running board and 3 kids, the other 2 girls are Californians.
We stopped at a burned out home, on a knoll about 60 miles from Yuma.
They killed the chickens and cooked them, and mom cleaned and dressed all of us, in our best flour sack clothes, as she was not going to California looking like a fruit tramp, LOL, as if that could be hidden.
Over the years, we stopped at that fireplace on the knoll several times and later I stopped as an adult, always drawn to it.
And then one day, there was a photo of it in a treasure magazine, someone stopped with a metal detector, searched the inside of the fire place and went away with jar of gold and silver coins. There were photos of it.
I never stopped there again.
Few people are hard workers today, my brother and I always had troubles at work, as we were hard workers and went to work to work, not just for the check.
Some how the New Orleans mentality has spread all over America.
If you ever get/find the tapes of Dr. Bill telling of his work at New Orleans during the disaster, you should listen.
Did you know that those people in the stadium could have been free, with a five mile walk, and would at the most need to go a short distance in ankle deep water, to cross a creek.?
And they waited for a bus to come to the front door.