Flannery Family History, Lake County, Colorado

Donated to the USGenWeb Archives by Kathleen Regina Minion 
<silverhair411@yahoo.com> on Oct 7, 1999.

An HTML version of this family history with photographs and cross-
referenced supporting documents is posted on the Lake County COGenWeb 
pages at www.rootsweb.com/~colake/flannery/flannery.htm

See the USGenWeb Copyright notice at the end of this file.

THOMAS FRANCIS & SARAH CATHERINE (BARLOW) FLANNERY FAMILY 
By Kathleen Regina Minion 

Thomas was born on February 11, 1873 in New York City to William Flannery 
and Mary Farrel.  He stood about 5' 6" tall.  His eyes were blue and hair 
black.  His build was slight.  It is known that he had an elder sister 
Julia, and mention was made of siblings, but little other is known of his 
family.  He came to Colorado approximately in 1885 and settled first in 
the San Luis Valley.  It is not known who he came with, but that he left 
New York City because it was feared that an accident there would be 
blamed on him.

In 1888 he worked for the railroad from Glenwood Springs to Leadville.  
It was there in that beautiful landscape in the mountains that he met 
Sarah Catherine Barlow, who lived in Oro.

Sarah Catherine was born May 7, 1877 to John Ernest Barlow Sr. and Sarah 
McMahon in Franklin Centre, Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada.  She was their 
second child.  As a child she was called Catherine, as an adult Kate.  
Her eyes were brown and hair black.  Her build was stout.

John Ernest was born in April 1849 to Richard Barlow and Margaret 
McNamie. Richard was born March 10, 1819 in Ireland and immigrated to 
Canada in 1842.  Margaret was deceased prior to 1868, due to the evidence 
of Richard's second marriage to Mary Kerry and their first child being 2 
years old on the 1871 Canadian census.  John Ernest was living with them.  
Both children of Richard's second marriage died about a year later. 
Richard and Mary were still living when the 1901 census was taken.

Sarah McMahon was born 29 May 1849 to Dennis McMahon and Sarah Bannigan.  
Dennis died February 26, 1873 prior to John and Sarah's marriage of June 
15, 1875 in the Saint Anne Church in Montreal, Canada.

John and Sarah's children were in order-Margaret Ann born November 27, 
1875, then Sarah Catherine, Richard Dennis born April 9, 1879, and John 
Ernest, Jr. on November 4, 1881, all of Franklin Centre, Huntingdon, 
Quebec, Canada.  They then moved to Leadville, Colorado in 1882 where 
Mary Jane, who was called Mae, was born on May 16, 1883 at the Blind Tom 
Mine on Iron Hill.  Their last child Ella Bertha, who was called Nell, 
was born on August 13, 1885.

John Ernest Barlow Sr. was a blacksmith at the Louisville Mines on Iron 
Hill and lived on Fryer Hill in 1887.  He and Sarah had a comfortable 
home in Canada when they moved to Colorado.  Sarah was not accustomed to 
pioneer life in a cabin, but settled right into being a pioneer wife.  
John worked hard and built a new house for her.

However, Sarah's enjoyment of life was saddened by the death of her son 
Richard Dennis on June 29, 1889.  His brother John, another boy and 
himself went to Adalaide Park, where there was a small lake, to collect 
evergreens for the July 4th holiday.  The boys began to dare Richard to 
jump into the water from a raft.  Richard could not swim, but, eventually 
took the dare.  As he began to drown, his brother John tried to save his 
older brother, risking his life also.  Mr. Barlow had been working at the 
Colonel Seller's mine on Iron Hill.

City directories dated after Richard's death show the family living at 
1007 North Hemlock in Leadville.  Grief stricken, Sarah visited Richard's 
grave almost everyday regardless of the weather.  It is believed she read 
her Bible there, as there are small pieces of pine needles and bark in 
the book.  Less than three years later, on March 17, 1892, Sarah joined 
her son when pneumonia took her life.

John moved to Oro up California Gulch, just a few miles out of Leadville.  
There is where they lived when Thomas and Kate where married on December 
10, 1893 by the Justice of the Peace in Leadville.  Without a baptismal 
date and place they could not be married in the church.  It appears that 
Thomas did not have this information, so they were married civilly.

Another marriage was to occur in the family about the same time period.  
That of Margaret Ann to Albert Appleby.  Since it was against John's 
wishes for her to associate with and marry Albert, he being a gambler, 
Margaret intended to elope.  John made it very clear she was not to see 
Appleby anymore and she asked to be able to tell him that she could not 
see him any longer.  This desire was granted and Margaret left the house 
to do so, but didn't return home.  On June 7, 1894 she was deceased, the 
death place believed to be Silver Plume, Clear Creek County, Colorado.  
Not much has been said about Margaret, or her death.  No marriage record 
has been found.

Nell was walking home from school alone when a pack of wolves came up and 
surrounded her.  She wasn't sure what to do and was afraid for her life. 
She decided that before the wolves had a chance to close in on her, she 
was not going to let them have her without a fight.  She picked up a 
rock, picked out the one she thought was the leader and threw the rock at 
him.  The wolf gave her an odd look, turned and ran away, with the pack 
after him.

Thomas and Kate's first child was John, who was listed on the church 
records as Thomas.  His life was but a half hour on this earth, that of 
March 13, 1895, in Oro.

It is said that John Barlow was a stern man.  Once when Nell and Mae were 
under the kitchen table they got to giggling and John got after them.  He 
was a hard working man.  He had much sadness at loosing some loved ones.  
But, even though he was stern, he still loved his family and on one 
occasion went all out to show his children a good time.  The occasion was 
in the winter of 1895\6.  An ice palace had been built in Leadville.  The 
family walked four miles from Oro.  They had quail-on-toast, banquet-
type, at the Saddle Rock Restaurant, danced and enjoyed the entire 
evening.  When the evening came to a close around 3 a.m., John capped it 
all off when he hired a sleigh "taxi" to drive them back home, warm under 
blankets that were provided.

In 1896 tensions rose over better working conditions and higher pay for 
the miners.  John Barlow, Sr. was a member of the labor union.  Nell's 
teacher was one of the militia, organized to help bring law and order to 
the mining area.  One day at school Nell did something the teacher didn't 
like and to punish her, he set her on a stool in the front of the room 
and placed his militia hat on her head.  She thought that was the worst 
disgrace he could have subjected her to, so she jerked off the hat and 
threw it across the room.

In order to support Kate while the strike was going, Thomas worked in his 
father-in-law's blacksmith shop.  This was considered to be scabbing, and 
a person could receive a deathly beating from those wanting a union.  One 
day Thomas was riding on his horse either to or from work when some union 
men came after him.  He said he hadn't ridden a horse that hard since he 
was a boy trying to get away from some Indians.

In 1887 there had been a Ute uprising in the north-western part of 
Colorado, who were trying to get their former hunting grounds back.  This 
could be a possible link to his statement above in his earlier years in 
Colorado.

Another son was born to the Flannery's on May 28, 1897.  He was 
christened Francis Keath Flannery on June 13, 1897 in the Church of the 
Annunciation in Leadville, as were his later siblings.  His Godparents 
were George A. and Avon Flettcher.  He lived just fifteen months, dying 
on September 6, 1898 in Leadville.  Thomas and Kate were living at 230 
East 2nd with the John Ernest Barlow, Sr. family.

Shortly thereafter Kate became pregnant with Thomas Stanley who came into 
this life on July 28, 1899.  He was christened August 13, 1899.  His 
Godparents were Barney and Belle Secomb.  He grew to be tall and slender.  
His eyes were blue and his hair auburn.

John Ernest Barlow, Sr's time here on earth ended on March 13, 1901 of 
Dropsy (Congestive Heart Failure), resulting in his children being 
without parents fairly young.

Then came the family clown on November 15, 1902.  Edward Ernest was 
christened December 14, 1902.  His Godparents were John and Catherine 
Boneoro.

Edward Ernest had a natural way of bringing laughter into the home.  When 
he was young, Thomas pulled a bear skin hide over his head, went to the 
house scratching and growling at the door, thinking he would scare his 
sons.  When Edward, who was about three years old at the time, realized 
it was his father, he said, "Damn you Papa!".

On the cold, wintry night of October 28, 1904 in Oro, Florence Regina 
Flannery came into the world as the fifth child and only daughter of 
Thomas and Kate.  Being a suburb of Leadville, where the doctor was 
located, Thomas hitched Dobin up to go get Doctor Elliot.  Doctor Elliot 
replied that he would be leaving soon, your wife is always in labor for 
some time before the baby arrives.  When Thomas arrived back home he 
found Florence had decided to make her entrance without the doctor, 
leaving her mother Kate to deliver her alone.

Thomas had wanted to call the child Florence and had asked Kate if the 
baby was a girl if they could call her that.  When he came home and found 
a little girl, Kate asked him what he wanted to call her.  He said he 
didn't care, we got our girl.  They lived in the last house in Oro, and 
he went to every home to spread the news of their new arrival.

Florence was christened November 20, 1904.  Her Godparents were William 
Loppin and Maggie Crandal.

Another family marriage occurred on November 30, 1904 in the family 
parish between Kate's sister Nell and Joseph Milton Borah, who was born 
August 7, 1882 in Antonito, Conjos County, Colorado to Milton and Matilda 
Catherine (Crews) Borah.  3They had been acquainted with each other since 
Nell was twelve years old.  During their late teens their friendship 
ripened into courtship.

An unfortunate accident occurred  to Stanley about mid-January.  He had 
just started his first year of school.  Some kid gave him a giant cap 
that is used to set off dynamite.  When Stanley set it off it took his 
left eye and fingers on his left hand.  The cap also damaged part of the 
school.  Her parents had planned on leaving Edward with a friend while 
they took Stanley to Denver, but he was so upset that they decided to 
take him also.  Later Stanley was fitted with a plastic eye.

Joe and Nell had their only child Hazel on December 27, 1905 and Hazel 
wrote: 

"Mom and Dad lived at Fortune Mine at Big Evans Gulch, where dad was 
hoist man, when I was born.  But I was born at the home of Mrs. Thompson-
222 East 5th Street in Leadville.  She was a practical nurse.  The Doctor 
was Dr. Sol Kahn.

On the day of my christening4 I was carried by my Dad and held by my 
Godmother-my Aunt Mae and Godfather-Uncle John and christened Hazel 
Catherine Borah. Aunt Kate was also at the christening.

Then the christening party went to Aunt Kate's for a big turkey dinner 
and the folks stayed at Aunt Kate's for about a week.  Aunt Kate lived at 
Oro.

Then across the deep snow, to the horses bellies, back to the Fortune 
Mine.

When I was about 11 months old the Fortune Mine burned and Dad had to 
look for new work.

Mom and Dad moved to Leadville and lived in the 300 block on West 4th 
Street and Dad went leasing the Little Johnie. He leased for about 9 
months and had to give up because he ran out of money.  Later John 
Cordelanie took over the lease and hit it rich and was known as 'The Dogs 
King'.  The folks then moved to about the 200 block on 9th Street and Dad 
worked at the Yak Tunnel in California Gulch."

Joe came to get Nell and Hazel to take them home in a sleigh.  5A rotary 
snowplow had cleaned off the railroad track but where it crossed the 
highway the snow was piled in high drifts.  These drifts hadn't been 
cleared out of the road when the family came along.  In order to get the 
team over the drifts, Nell got out in the snow and walked, carrying baby 
Hazel, while Joe worked with the team to get the sleigh across the 
tracks.  By the time they were safely back in the sleigh again Nell's 
skirts were wet almost to her waist, with the result of a very ill young 
mother and baby.

Mae was the last Barlow daughter to marry, which occurred on February 4, 
1906 in Leadville to a Louis Anderson.  He didn't like his birth surname 
Gelineau, so he changed it to Anderson.

During this time period the Flannery family moved to Leadville.  They 
were there until the fall of 1907.  Thomas found work atthe Empire Zinc 
Mine in the town of Gilman, located upon a mass of rock on Battle 
Mountain, at the elevation of 9100 feet.  Both the town and mine were 
owned by the Empire Zinc Company.  In the early years the ore was sent to 
a smelter in Leadville, until the company built one underground in 
Gilman.

Thomas left Leadville first; Kate and the children followed later.  
Florence remembered the morning they waited at the train station for the 
21 mile train ride to Red Cliff, where the train station was located.  It 
was early and she was uncomfortably cold.  Upon arriving in Red Cliff, 
she was almost hysterical when she saw her papa, began running and 
calling out to him. Because there weren't any company houses open in 
Gilman, the family settled in Red Cliff.  They made their home across the 
street from the school in a little house.  It had a front room, kitchen 
and bedroom.  This small lumber town supported two grocery stores, a dry 
goods store, a lumber company, a mill, a hotel and a mortuary.  Red 
Cliff, up in a little valley, is the only other town on Battle Mountain 
with Gilman.  Above it towards the west is the cemetery.  Thomas would 
walk each day three miles to and from work along the railroad tracks that 
ran between Red Cliff and Gilman.

One day Stanley was turning the wringer on the washer and Florence stuck 
her middle finger on her right hand in the cogs and the tip was cut off.  
Doctor Joseph Gilpin was called and he, fortunately, was able to sew it 
back on.  She said, "It looks a little queer".

Joe Borah went to Kokomo about October 1907 and sunk a shaft.  John 
Barlow went to live with Nell and Hazel for a couple of months in 
Leadville, and then the three went to Red Cliff to stay with Thomas and 
Kate.  Mae and Louis were expecting their son John.  They were now living 
in Victor.  Nell and Hazel left so that Nell could assist before the 
birth.  In the spring Joe returned to Leadville and not finding work 
joined his family in Victor.  John Clifford (Anderson) Gelineau was born 
June 22, 1908.

When Joe came to Victor to be with his family, he was hired to work at 
the Findley Mine on April 13, 1908 (Miners Card # 2006).  Later in life 
he became employed by brothers A.E. & L.J. Carlton.  Except for a short 
layoff with the Carlton's, Joe worked for them the rest of his life.  
When he moved to Colorado Springs he worked for them in the Pikeview 
Mine.   When the layoff came Joe went to work in Leadville for a couple 
of months and then came back to Victor where he ran a saloon for two or 
three months.

Their first home in Victor was behind the Washington School, their house 
facing Portland Avenue, in which house Hazel played cards with Laura 
Keller/Heller.  They moved to a little house on the same block on 
Portland Avenue, then Everett Lloyd took Hazel sleigh riding.  They 
collided with a bakery truck.  Hazel sustained a broken leg, resulting in 
spending Christmas and her third birthday in bed.  The doctor cast it too 
tight and it was as black as soot.  This caused her to limp for the rest 
of her life.

Hazel had her fourth birthday while living in a house on South 1st, that 
the Beach family owned.  Christmas was again spent indoors due to Scarlet 
Fever.  The family made friends with the George Davis family.  There was 
a dairy wagon accident at their home.  Their daughter Pearl  married 1.-
Tom Duncan 2.-Mr. Olsen 3.-Al Williams-making her a sister-in-law to 
Hazel.  Hazel spent her fifth Christmas in the Olcott House where cousin 
John Gelineau came to stay with them for awhile.

The Flannerys moved to 57 Water Street across from the depot in a  two 
story house .  A couple lived downstairs, the Flannerys upstairs.   
Florence was always falling down the stairs, but felt it was mild in 
comparison to her falling out of the window in her high chair.  She was 
sitting in a high chair that she maneuvered near a window.  She pushed 
her chair backwards, falling from the second story, out the window, 
landing in some dirt.  She didn't feel that she was hurt, but very 
surprised to find herself where she was and that it seemed her papa made 
it to the ground level almost at the same time that she did.  Eventually 
the family occupied the entire house.

While living there the Delee (DaLee) boys started throwing rocks at the 
Flannery children.  One hit Florence in the head at the hair line right 
where her hair parts, which left a visible scar throughout her life.  
Doctor Gilpin was called in to give stitches again, with the neighbors 
gathered  around.

Florence went to school with her brothers for a short time in Red Cliff.  
She made some friends of Anna and Ida Miller.  Their mother Beata died in 
1910 and Kate helped the undertaker dress her, taking Florence with her.  
Their father didn't feel that he could take care of his girls and work, 
so sent them to Denver to live with an Aunt.  She couldn't care for them, 
so put them in an orphanage.

Florence told of a mishap her "papa" had: 

  "One night my dad was late coming home.  I remember we were in the yard 
watching for him.  At work he had an accident.  He operated a jack hammer 
and it hit him in the mouth, knocking out his front teeth.  My poor dad's 
mouth was bleeding, down his shirt.  He got cleaned up and caught the #16 
train to Leadville.  He was back home that next morning.  Wasn't too long 
until we moved to Gilman.  While we were gone, some children came in and 
raided the cupboards."

About the first night after they moved, they heard a man's voice yelling, 
"Help, Help".  It was Jack Fuller, a little bit more than being tipsy.  
Sometime later, he and Thomas Flannery both over-indulged and they got 
into a fight.  Since this was a small community, when someone was hurt, 
the neighbors came over to see what happened and if they could help.  
Florence only remembers sitting on her father's lap saying, "My poor 
papa", as the neighbors looked on.

This move came just before Florence's seventh birthday.  Mrs. Thompson, a 
neighbor, baked cupcakes and when a piece was given to the birthday girl, 
there was a small, yellow and gold cup baked inside of it.  Written on 
the side in a white area was "A Present" in gold letters.  The cup 
remained a treasure throughout her life.

The families first residence in Gilman was in the Post Office.  The next 
was in a two story, white house.  Florence's favorite house was a two 
story log  house.

One of the few amusements in this small mining town was when someone gave 
a party.  Mrs. Thompson liked to give some.  She had a small keyboard.  
It was passed around and anyone who could play a tune on it would get a 
prize.  Florence was just itching to get her fingers on it.  When it came 
to her, she played Violet, Blue Violet, Bright.  Her prize was a pink, 
green and white cup, again this was also a cherished keep-sake.

Another pastime were the dances.  Thomas sang some of the old Irish 
songs, danced the Irish Jig and called the folk dances-Ladies to the 
right, Gents to the left and dosey do, etc.**  Sometime during the 
evening he took his little girl onto the dance floor.  Thus, dancing 
became her favorite pastime.

There were also picnic socials.  Thomas raffled off things made to 
collect money for charity and liked to juggle with whatever was 
available.** 

In the early years the town had just a Post Office and a Mine Office.  
Later came the grocery store, and Pete Doyle ran the dry goods store.  
One time a guy came in and asked for some bandages.  Pete came out with a 
box of sanitary napkins, thinking them bandages.  It didn't take too long 
until the entire town knew about Pete Doyle's bandages.

Kate made all of Florence's dresses.  During the winter white batiste 
aprons were made to wear over the warm winter dresses.  There was a clean 
one everyday that had been ironed the old fashioned way-by warming the 
iron on the stove.

Many pleasant memories were had by family and friends of this couple.  
One story was told of Thomas and Kate getting into a watermelon fight one 
night.  Both refused to clean it up.  Kate went to bed, as Thomas stayed 
up and cleaned.  The next day Kate delivered the child she was carrying.

During the summer Thomas worked in the mine while his family stayed on 
their homestead, where Thomas had built a cabin.  It was located up West 
Lake Creek about two miles or so from the town of Edwards, which had a 
store and a few houses.  During these stays, Florence remembered the only 
time her mother gave a spanking, she preferred the evil eye7 .  Stanley 
and Edward had done something wrong.  Stanley took his spanking right 
away, but Edward went and hid under the bed.  Kate moved the bed out and 
Edward rolled back under it.  This went on several times when Kate 
informed him if he didn't come out that his "licking" would be much 
worse.  So he finally came out to get his spanking.

Sometime during the summer Thomas hired a team of horses and a wagon to 
bring the Phillips and Davis families down for the day.  Florence sat on 
the porch and wait to see the wagon come around the corner.  When Thomas 
would got from the wagon she laughed, and then cry.

One summer cousin John Gelineau came to visit.  The children had a horse 
named Pet.  John had a most unwelcome encounter with the horse when he 
got kicked.

When the Flannery children were in Gilman, Ollie Graham was their 
teacher.  A program was being put on and Ollie had the boys lined up 
across the stage singing Yankee Doodle Dandy. Edward put his heart into 
it.  He really sang, eyes rolling.  He was so funny.  This man who was in 
the audience wanted to know who that boy was at the end of the line.  He 
got a real charge the way Edward was singing.

The first car ride Kate and Florence had was in the Desmond's (Dismant) 
car, driven by Ollie Graham.  Ollie lived with the family until elected 
to be the Superintendent of Schools in 1915.  Her father, Aaron Graham, 
owned and operated the mortuary in Red Cliff.  She and Florence shared a 
bedroom downstairs, where there was also a dining area and kitchen.  
Upstairs were two more  bedrooms.

It was at this young age that Florence listed her first crush as being 
that of Harry Evans.

The Borah's still lived in Victor, but had made a few moves.  They bought 
a small home on South 1st Street and lived there until the year of the 
big snow in 1913.  For a few months a Mrs. Reed and Nell ran a boarding 
house in the American House.  While living there Hazel had her first 
communion.  The family lived at the City Hotel and then bought a house on 
the corner of Spieer and 1st Ave.

The worst tragedy Florence remembered is when there was a fire in the 
Nesha's (Nisja) house on August 26, 1914.  The mother was preparing to 
make a trip to Pennsylvania to visit with family.  She was sewing and ran 
out of thread.  She went to the Post Office to put in an order, since 
Gilman didn't have supplies.  While gone, the house caught fire.  Inside 
were her children Stanley Goodson, Eugene Ivor and infant Helga Ann.  She 
ran into the house and grabbed the baby buggy, trying to save her 
daughter, but couldn't get it out of the door.  Her hands and face were 
badly burnt, but she lived, to suffer the loss of her children.

One night during a terrible blizzard and the family was just getting 
ready to go to bed, someone knocked at the door.  It was Louis Sights.  
His wife Nancy Jane was in labor with their 4th child.  Mr. Sights wanted 
Kate to go with him to help with the birth.  Kate did not hesitate.  The 
way to his home was along a path near the edge of the cliff there on 
Battle Mountain. Gilman was built on tiers due to the steep slope.  Some 
areas dropping directly off into the canyon.  As Kate and Mr. Sights 
walked the hardened path, each started to slip towards the edge and the 
one pulled the other back onto the trail.  Years later Mr. Sights was 
going to go to California with family savings to get a new start, but in 
going to the depot in Red Cliff, he got to gambling and lost all of the 
family savings.  When the family gathered some more savings and did leave 
Gilman on a train, they tried to abandon one of their children on the 
train.

If there was any sickness or death Thomas and Kate were always there to 
give assistance.  Money was never involved.

Kate's brother John Barlow met a divorcee Annie Owen while he worked in 
the mine in Gilman and she ran a boarding house.  John and Annie were not 
of the same faith, so they went to Salt Lake City, Utah on the train and 
were married July 6, 1915.  John raised her two children Florence, who 
went by Polly, and Walter as his own.  Her eldest son John C. was taken 
by her ex-husband Tom, who settled in Grass Valley, CA, where he put the 
boy to work in the mines.

Florence spent some time with Polly Owen, but there were many 
confrontations between the two.

One of these confrontations was when Florence was dating one of the young 
men in town.  There was a hayride and Polly was jealous because she did 
not get the attention that Florence did, plus Polly liked the boy also.** 

Before John married Annie it seemed a Viola Dumas didn't like Annie, as 
Florence remembered she was given a package by Viola to deliver to Annie.  
Inside was a dead mouse.

About this time the Flannery family moved to Kokomo.   It appears that 
Thomas came home by train, or possibly he now had a car, as he was still 
working in Gilman.   Florence found a friend in Freda Swanson, who had 
siblings Lillie, Roy and Gus.  It seems that she spilled some milk on 
Francis Tobin.  Florence received her first camera, which was used to 
take pictures of family and friends.

Around 1917 the Empire Zinc Company was bought out by the New Jersey Zinc 
Company.  The new company built more houses for their workers and the 
town began to boom.

Thomas made a visit to New York City in June 1917.  His sister, Julia 
Nett, came to Colorado. She was a widow. She worked in the company hotel, 
of which John Barlow was the assistant manager.  She stayed with her 
brother's family.  She returned to New York City in the fall of 1918.  
After loosing her daughter of just under 11 months to bronchitis in 1884 
and then her husband, she never married again.

Florence remembered two treasured pets.  One was her dog Rover.  One day 
he came home foaming at the mouth.  Someone poisoned him.  The family 
knew who it was.  There was a lady who was running for the County 
Superintendent that passed their way and learned about the loss.  She 
later came across a family whose dog just had pups.  Due to her visit and 
sharing the story, the owner rode his horse to the Flannery residence 
with a puppy for Florence.  This was her dog Snookums.  She enjoyed his 
company for many years.  He met her for lunch and after school.  She said 
when she was away from home that her Uncle John took him to his farm in 
Avon.  One day he left and never came back.  It was believed that he went 
off and died somewhere.  She had been heartbroken over Rover and sure did 
love her Snookums.

On May 5, 1918, in Cripple Creek, Kate's sister Mae married William 
Jinkerson8, a widower, born May 5, 1873.  He had five living children.  
After his wife died in March 1916 he was not able to take care of all of 
his children.  The youngest three were taken to Mooseheart, Illinois, 
where they were placed in an orphanage.

A teacher could not be found to teach school in Kokomo, so Thomas and 
Edward took Florence to Victor to attend school with Hazel.  Aunt Nell 
called her Peggy9.  Piano lessons were provided at the Borah's home.  
Before she left, Kate made her a yellow dress with thin green ribbon trim 
for her birthday10.  An identical dress was made for Hazel for her 
birthday.

Stanley, now grown and after a short time working in the mines from 
February 1918 in Victor (Miners card # 9411), listed as unemployed in 
Telluride September 12, 1918 on his WWI draft registration card, left on 
the train from Kokomo for Montrose, where he worked on a farm.  While 
working in Montrose, the flu epidemic hit and Stanley got it.  He was 
hospitalized, but quickly went into pneumonia.  The family was called, 
being warned that he was gravely ill.  Kate and Edward were able to catch 
the evening train to Montrose, but Thomas, was not able to leave until 
the morning.  Kate and Edward arrived at the hospital to see Stanley 
before he died October 30th.  By the time Thomas arrived the next 
morning, his son was deceased.

Arrangements were made for him to be buried in the family plot in 
Leadville.  While there, Thomas, Kate and Edward also caught the flu.  
Thomas refused to sleep in order to care for Kate and Edward.  He was 
seen on Harrison Avenue by his brother-in-law John staggering all over 
the sidewalk.  John thought he was drunk, but he was just sick and trying 
to care for his wife and son.  Kate died November 7th and Edward November 
9th.

Florence stated she got very little of her mother's belongings to 
remember her by.  Her Aunt Mae went to Kokomo and cleaned the house out 
while everyone was gone.  About all she had was the family Bible, a 
tablecloth her mother crocheted, some linens and some pictures.

Thomas met Mrs. Mary Chisham, who was alone, when he took Florence to 
stay with the Borah's.  They were married on April 12, 1919 in Leadville.  
He began working in a mine in the Victor area about mid-May 1919 (Miners 
card # 9884).  On the January 2, 1920 census, the census taker assumed 
that Mary was Florence's mother, giving Missouri (Mary's birth state) as 
Florence's mother's place of birth.  Their residence was at 227 South 
First Street.  Close by, at 101 Spieer Avenue, was the Borah family.

Florence made a lasting friendship with Agnes Melz, who married a Mr. 
Russell.  They stayed in contact with each other until Agnes died 
September 10, 1984 while on a vacation cruise in Mexico.

Thomas wanted Florence to have advanced schooling and she was sent to 
Scholastica Catholic boarding school in Canon City. There more music 
lessons were provided. She said of this school: 

"I liked this school, but I would cry at night after going to bed, as I 
missed my mother so very much.  Some times one of the nuns would sneak 
some candy to me.  I guess she felt sorry for me.

One night one of my friends and me decided we would crawl out the 
bathroom window and go in the orchard and get some apples.  This was in 
the days when we wore black satin bloomers.  So, we loaded our bloomers 
with apples.  On our return we heard a noise, started to run and of 
course I had to fall down and down came my bloomers, loosing most of my 
harvest.  I grabbed my bloomers, retrieved some of my apples and took 
off, crawling back into the bathroom.  So our friends had apples right 
off the tree.

Then one night, I just had something to tell my friend that was down 
about four beds.  In our dorm there was a bed, night stand, bed, night 
stand, etc. down the entire room.  Each was curtained for privacy.  Open 
them all during the day.  So I rolled under the beds and on my return 
trip a couple girls on the other side of the aisle said my feet kept 
popping out on my return trip.  They thought for sure the nun who was 
assigned to our dorm was going to catch me, but I made it back just in 
time.

I get a chuckle when I think of my face loaded with freckles and two big 
braids, one over each shoulder."

When Thomas came that summer to get Florence, whom he always called Pet, 
he asked, "Pet ,do you want to come back next year"?  She replied, "No 
Papa, I want to stay with you".  Florence was very homesick.

Their home was at the top of Gilman's main street.  A hundred feet uphill 
from the house was the school, where she completed her education in the 
1920/21 school year.  She was pleasantly surprised to see her childhood 
friends Anna and Ida Miller.  Their father had been able to get his 
daughters back and brought them home to Gilman.

Florence had many fun times with them and kept in touch over later years.  
One of these times was when they wanted to get a peek at the Tabor 
legend.  Florence and the Miller girls decided to see her home.  They 
drove to the mine and peeked into the cabin where they saw a stove, table 
and chairs.  "Baby Doe" was not home that day.  Florence often wondered 
if "Baby Doe" might have had relatives somewhere in Colorado or her 
native state.

Florence and the Miller girls built snowmen together and dressed up for 
Halloween.  Ida as a clown, Florence and Anna as witches.  They then went 
to the school were they played on the school yard equipment.

The Borah's moved to Colorado Springs in January 1920.  Florence lived 
with them from September 1921 through May 1922 on Arcadia while attending 
Blair's Business College.  She worked at Woolworth's.  She dated Lloyd 
Fender and made a friendship with Ida Cox.  Florence also dated Jimmy 
Wright.  One of these young men tried to get her to elope.

Florence was 16 years old when Thomas took her  to see The Cave of the 
Winds.  He took a picture of her standing at the edge of the river on a 
rock.  She wore knickers for the first time and felt uncomfortable in 
them.

It is not known when Thomas and "Mrs. Chisham" parted company, only that 
the marriage did not last long.  Thomas didn't marry again.

Sister-in-law Mae Jinkerson married Harry Player Allinson on October 23, 
1922 in Pueblo.  Harry was born April 18, 1894 to James and Millie 
Allinson in Washington, D.C.  He was living with his parents in Teller 
County between 1910 and 1920.

Joe and Nell were having marital difficulties and separated.  Nell 
divorced Joe11.

Florence enjoyed herself by attending dances and socials in Gilman, Red 
Cliff, Minturn and Leadville.  Thomas was involved in helping with a 
dance in Gilman.  At one point the music started when there wasn't anyone 
on the floor.  Hopping, skipping and jumping Thomas went down to dance 
with his daughter.  In the beginning she felt uncomfortable on the dance 
floor with her father, as no one else came out to dance.  Soon she 
realized she was with her dear father and forgot about her uneasiness.

She met several young men, but had became very fond of Dave Holden when 
she was 18 years old.  One of her favorite pastimes was to dance, and he 
danced well.  She also found him to be a good conversationalist. However, 
a layoff came to the mine.  The first men to go were the single. He 
decided to leave town to find work.  Florence remembers crying when she 
said good-bye.  Through her tears she watched him as he walked down to 
the corner and then watched between the houses as he walked up the other 
street.

John and Annie Barlow bought a ranch in Avon.  Thomas and Florence went 
there for awhile, helping to pack lettuce.

I have a story and tidbits of information that I've not been able to 
place in chronological order.  Before leaving Florence's youth, I would 
like to include them.

After Florence's mother passed away and she returned to Gilman to live 
with her father, she decided to make him a pie.  She had not had 
instruction on how to make a crust.  Neither did she have a recipe.  
After serving a piece to her father she noticed that he was doing a lot 
of chewing.  She asked him if the pie was good.  Not wanting to 
discourage her, he said that it was good.  But when she tried it herself, 
she found that the crust was very "chewy".  She learned that she had put 
in too much lard.

Mentioned in her notes, but her stories lost to history are:In Gilman-
sick-cupie doll, sleigh riding, took an eraser from school; In Victor-
first Christmas after mother died, safety pins Hazel and Florence saved; 
In Gilman again-Danes/Club house and Leadville train wreck.

While at a dance in her home town of Gilman, Florence met Leo Joseph 
Jones.  They began to date and soon he was introduced to the remainder of 
the family in Colorado Springs.

Florence's Aunt Nell and Hazel moved back to Victor.  Florence and Leo 
attended Christmas Mass at Saint Victors with them on December 25, 1923.  
Also that day, Florence married Leo, who was born on September 6, 1898 in 
Gladstone, Clackamas County, Oregon to Roxena Belle Flint.  They made 
their first home in Victor.

Hazel went on a date with Nathaniel Roy Williams, who was engaged to be 
married.  Some of their friends dared them to get married.  They took the 
dare and did so on May 8, 1924 in Cripple Creek, to the grief of his 
intended.

Leo and Florence had their first child Patricia Marie Jones, who was 
called Pat, on June 28, 1924.

Anna Miller married Lincoln Blakey on August 24, 1924 in Leadville.

In Victor, Nell Borah was joined in marriage with William Vincent Nolan 
on December 24, 1924. They made their first home in Lake City.

The mining industry was declining in Colorado.  Leo left Florence and Pat 
with Thomas Flannery while he went to California to repair track for the 
railroad.  He was hired by Jack Kayser of Fresno, California, the husband 
of his half-sister Pearl.  He then sent for Florence and Pat, landing 
them in Tracy, California.  This little family lived in a box car, which 
traveled with Leo's job.  While in the Layton area, outside of Tracy, a 
hobo was looking for shelter.  Not realizing that the Jones' car was 
living space, he walked in, to the shock and fear of Florence.  Luckily, 
the hobo just wanted shelter and stammering apologies backed out.

They ended up in Oakland, California, where Leo's mother, Roxena 
Schubert, was living at 2712 Grove.  They moved in with her, and shortly 
thereafter she moved to 665 1\2 29th.

Across the bay in San Francisco lived Roxena's sister Pearl and her 
husband John Triantfil, who lived at 439 26th Avenue, just off of Geary 
Boulevard.

In Victor, Colorado cousin Hazel bore her only child, Bruce Allen 
Williams on February 3, 1926.

Florence's memories at this time were not good of Roxena, who was also 
called Ena.  Florence stated that her mother-in-law was always "picking 
at her".  One such instance was when Leo's half-brother Milford Richard 
Shallenberger, who went by Bud, came to visit.  He went to the Grove 
address and found Florence.  She told him where Roxena was living.  He 
invited her to come with him to the house.  Florence declined, as she 
didn't feel welcome.  He talked her into going to his mother's house with 
him.  She was to go to the door and knock and he ducked down behind her.  
Upon Roxena answering the door, she said, "What do you want?" in a 
sarcastic manner.  Milford popped up from behind Florence.  Roxena almost 
squealed, "Milford, come on in", putting her arm around him, she led him 
in and looking back glared at Florence.

Florence finally decided that she had enough.  She had never been treated 
this way, her family had been so kind and loving to her and in their 
contact with other people.  She packed up and returned to Gilman, 
Colorado with her two year old daughter to be with her father.  Shortly 
after Leo joined them there and worked in the mine.

In 1927 the Big Tooth Dam was being built on the east face of Pikes Peak 
halfway between the summit and the base of the mountain.  The reason it 
was named Big Tooth was because when looking at the reservoir outline 
from the air, it looks like a molar.12  Nell was cooking for the workers 
who were building the dam.

While living in Colorado Springs, Nell also worked for the Baldwin and 
Bradley families, who were millionaires.

John Barlow was now spending most of his time at the ranch near Avon.  
Due to failing health from miner's consumption (tuberculosis), he left 
the mines, and was trying to gain his health back. In December of 1928 he 
had a setback in his health and went to the hospital in Glenwood Springs.  
While there he believed his health was recovering and wrote his family 
that he would be home for Christmas.  This did not occur, as he died 
December 21st of that year.  At his request he was buried at the hillside 
cemetery above Red Cliff, "in nature's beauty spot".

In Gilman Leo and Florence had their second child, Barbara June Jones who 
was born on June 1, 1929 in the company hospital.

Sometimes Thomas stopped to have a drink with his friends before going 
home.  Florence sent Pat to tell Thomas it was dinnertime.  Pat didn't 
like the smells coming from inside, so she stood at the door and yell, 
"Grandpa, come home for dinner".  Occasionally, Leo and Thomas went 
drinking together.  They came home loudly laughing and singing. * 

After Pat started school and Barbara was under six months old, the family 
was on the move again.  This time to Southern California.  Leo and a 
friend went first to find work.  He found work at the Standard Oil 
Company as a welder building tanks.  He learned his trade very quickly.  
He was going by the Standard Oil Company and watched a man welding.  He 
came to the conclusion that he could do this also.  After being sure he 
understood how to weld, he went to the employment office and applied for 
work.  To get the job he was required to do some welding.  He left that 
day with a job.  He then sent for his family.  They moved into a house in 
Gardena.

At work Leo happened upon an old friend, Arthur Davis.  "Art" invited the 
family to come and visit he and his wife Amelia at their home in 
Longdale, insisting they come that very night.  At an April Fool's Party, 
that occurred in Gilman, lemonade was being served.  The men knew that 
"Art" liked to have a LOT of sugar in his lemonade.  Knowing that he 
would come to their table, they dumped the sugar out and replaced it with 
salt.  One big gulp and "Art" knew the trick that had been played on him.  
Being a fun loving person, he took the joke well.

During the winter of 1929/1930 the Nolans were in a mining camp nine 
miles from Leadville. Aunt Nell was the cook for 12 miners.  She noticed 
a stranger one Sunday, but didn't question who he was.  She soon learned 
he was a reporter for the Herald Democrat.  Her excellent ability to cook 
resulted in an article being published about her in the Herald Democrat 
and then was picked up by the Denver Post. The meal served that Sunday 
was chicken with huge snowy dumplings, creamy mashed potatoes, baked 
squash, homemade bread and cherry pie hot from the oven, golden butter, 
fresh celery and tea.

Like most mines and people who live in isolated places, this mine company 
had put in a good supply of provisions for the winter, and was prepared 
when a big storm came and they were snowed in.  The mine closed down 
because of the market crash, but still the miners had to be fed.  The 
spring had frozen up, so the miners kept several large barrels of snow 
behind the stove making enough water for all their needs.  Horse-drawn 
sleds were used to bring in additional supplies during the winter.  Nell 
recalls the drivers always carried boards to lift the telephone wires so 
they could drive their horses and sleds under the wires.  The roads were 
packed by the sleighs, but if horses stepped out of the beaten tracks 
they went out of sight in the snow.

Nell didn't see another woman's face for three months and said although 
the miners were nice boys she sure got tired of looking at their faces. 
Her first trip out to Leadville was in a big ore wagon pulled by six 
horses.

Leo and Mr. Dutton, a neighbor, were selling punch door to door for 
awhile to earn money to support their families.  This was the depression 
and times where hard for the families.  When Leo had a good day selling, 
they celebrated by having ground beef.  When times were lean, they took a 
sack and help themselves to the vegetables in the garden of a Japanese 
family.  While out one day, the men saw a flock of turkeys.  They planned 
to go out at night, take one of the turkeys and have a feast.  The 
families were excited to have the opportunity to have a good meal.  
However, when they went to the lot, the turkeys where gone.  Florence 
said, "The owner must have smelled a rat".** They ate potato soap that 
night, which was frequently eaten, sometimes with bacon added.

After the Duttons moved out, a family with a boy Pat's age moved in.  Mac 
and Doris McWilliams became good friends.  They all piled into the Jones' 
1926 Chevy and went to the beach.  The families had a lot of fun 
together.  They stayed in contact throughout their lives.

The Jones' stayed in Southern California about a year and a half when 
they moved to Oakland again.  This time they went to Jess and Pauline 
Haynes at 3123 64th Avenue and asked to rent their little house on the 
back of their property for a couple of weeks.  They ended up staying 
there for a little over a year.

Their only son was born on June 1, 1931 in Highland Hospital.  Florence 
was pregnant with him for ten months.  He delivered in the breach 
position.  At birth he was named after Leo's half-brother Milford Richard 
Shallenberger.  Before he was a year old, the couple didn't believe the 
name suited him.  Thus, his name was changed to Leo Thomas Jones, who was 
called Sonny, to reduce confusion between he and his father, until he 
reached his teen years.

Florence's joy of bearing a son was soon to be cut short just 25 days 
later upon receiving a message from Colorado.  Florence's father Thomas 
was working outside on the flume leading from the zinc mill to the 
settling pond on the old Bolt ranch three miles away, as he was 
recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia he had in the spring.  He 
fell from the high trestle near Rex, breaking a rib that punctured his 
lung.  He was rushed from the medical ward at the mine to the hospital in 
Salida, where he died the next morning, June 26.  Florence took her 
colicky son on the train to take care of funeral arrangements. Thomas' 
obituary attests to his being a well loved member of his community.  Many 
from the community attended the funeral, taking the time from their jobs 
to travel to Leadville.

The loss must have been very great for Florence.  She loved her father so 
very dearly.  She often thought that after she left his home after 
Barbara's birth that he must have been lonely. She knew his thoughts were 
with her.  The depression was such a hard time for them.  There were 
times when there wasn't any food in the house and she had a hungry 
family.  The Lord blessed them with neighbors who dropped by with a dish 
of food and the mail brought money from her father when it was most 
needed.  She realized he must have sacrificed a lot in order to support 
himself and send her money also.

The Jones' moved into a house on 80th Avenue behind the house of Oscar 
and Gladys Dahlstrom, a couple they knew in Colorado before any of them 
were married.

Leo was working in Richmond for an oil company at a place called "Tank 
Farm Hill".  He was riding to and from work on a motorcycle.  When 
leaving the side road to the main road he hit some gravel or dirt and 
crashed, resulting in a skull fracture.  He was taken to Highland 
Hospital in Oakland, where he wasn't expected to survive.**  His mother 
insisted on bringing the children to the hospital for one last visit with 
their father.  She was informed that children were not allowed in the 
hospital.  Being a strong-willed woman, she informed a nurse that she 
would bring them up the drain spout if she had to, but THEY WERE GOING TO 
SEE THEIR FATHER!  The nurse met them after hours and brought them up the 
back stairs of the hospital.

The Dahlstrom's bought a grocery store at 1944 90th Avenue, which was on 
the corner at Olive.

With the money Florence inherited from her father's estate, she and Leo 
bought the store from the Dahlstrom's about October 1932.  On the main 
floor was the store, kitchen, 1/2 bathroom and combination bedroom/living 
room. Upstairs were a couple of bedrooms and full bath.

Their last child Constance Lee Jones, who was called Connie, was born on 
April 14, 1933 at Merritt Hospital.  Doctor William's delivered Connie.  
Florence was anemic, so the doctor told her to drink a glass of wine a 
day.  When she started to look forward to dinnertime, the time of day she 
drank her wine, she gave up the wine.

In July 1933, after Bill and Nell Nolan moved back to Leadville, a friend 
called to Nell and asked if she wanted to see "Baby Doe".  Nell didn't 
remember any of the Tabor family from when she lived in Leadville as a 
child.  On this warm summer day, Nell's neighbor pointed to an old lady 
crossing the street two blocks away.  Dressed in a beautiful black plush 
cape, the famous beauty, turned recluse was on one of her infrequent 
trips to town from her miner's shack a mile and a half from town.  She 
was no longer toasted for her beauty, she was a broken old woman.17 On 
March 8, 1935 she was found frozen to death in her cabin.

Florence had a washing machine and a couple of tubs in the kitchen. While 
she was washing clothes, Barbara climbed up onto the high chair and 
yelled, "Watch Me!  Watch Me!" She jumped off, hitting her eye on the 
corner of the washing machine, which caused the biggest black eye a kid 
could have.  For quite awhile afterwards when Florence was looking for 
Barbara, she only needed to ask, "Did you see a little girl with a black 
eye?" ** 

A visit was made in Lake City, Colorado were the Nolans were living. Leo 
and Connie rode a pony.  Their stay in Lake City was cut short when Bill 
decided to throw the visitors out of his house.  Florence spent some time 
in Leadville.  It was the family tradition to visit the family plot at 
the cemetery whenever in the area.  She saw one of Dave Holden's sisters 
on Harrison Avenue in Leadville and asked how Dave was doing.  She was 
told that when Dave found out that she had married, he was heart broken.  
He went into the mountains to pan gold, never marrying, got sick and 
died18.

Florence had been writing to her Aunt Julia Nett in Bronx, New York; 
first at 512 Jackson and then at 833 East 165th.  Florence had written of 
Connie's birth.  Thereafter, only a letter or two was received from her 
Aunt.  Florence presumed she passed away.  However, Aunt Julia lived 
until October 9, 1935.  She had developed Arteriosclerosis and Nephritis, 
which resulted in uremia.  She died at her home located at 1066 Jackson 
and was buried October 11, 1935 in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, 
New York.

Times were still hard to meet, so Leo went to Nevada City to work in a 
mine, while Florence kept up the store.  She stated: 

  "It was quite a job with four children to care for.  I had a schedule 
made out for all household duties, certain days to clean the store, make 
up lists of groceries to be ordered and to be put away after delivery.  
Pat was about eleven years old and a wonderful help."

When putting orders together and delivering small orders, Barbara 
assisted also.  She was playing dress-up when a customer wanted a quart 
of milk delivered to their home.  She was wearing an "awful get-up" when 
she arrived at the customer's door and rung the door bell.  The husband 
answered, started to laugh and called his wife.  She came to the door and 
they both continued to laugh.  The man gave her a dime for delivering the 
milk.  Later, the wife told Florence her husband didn't like children.  
That was the first time a child had done something that resulted in him 
laughing. ** 

The family went across the bay on the ferry boat before the Bay Bridge 
opened November 12, 1936.  They usually went to the zoo or picnicked at 
Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  Leo fished in the lake.  
Many times Uncle John and Aunt Pearl Triantfil joined them there with 
meals large enough to feed an army.  John was a cook in a Greek 
restaurant and accustomed to cooking food in large quantities.  Uncle 
John and Aunt Pearl also met the family at Neptune Beach in Alameda, 
until the military took over and closed the beach. Uncle John was Greek.  
He liked to cook and invited them over for dinner.  They were such a 
loving, kind couple; going all out for them and showed them much love. ** 

Aunt Pearl loved children.  She had a child out of wedlock earlier in 
life and gave it up for adoption.  She and Uncle John were not able to 
have any.  Aunt Pearl attended the sewing bees at church.  The ladies met 
weekly to sew on quilts.  Aunt Pearl made several beautiful quilts and 
gave one to Barbara.** 

When on the ferry Connie liked it when her father gave her a ride on his 
shoulders.  The trip was never complete until he held her up to an 
opening where she could see the engine room.  She was fascinated with the 
machinery below!****  On one of these trips, Barbara and Sonny were too 
short to see over the railing, so put their hands on the railing to pull 
themselves up to see.

This resulted in them getting dirty in sea gull droppings.** 

Sonny was about five years old when his father was having a confrontation 
in front of the store with another man.  Sonny wanted to assist and 
charged outside, in the nude.*** 

In Colorado, Aunt Mae Allinson died on August 5, 1936.  She was buried in 
the Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs on August 7, 1936.

Webster Grammar School on 81st was the neighborhood school.  Barbara was 
enrolled in Mrs. Murphy's class.  She would loose her temper, sometimes 
striking the students and tearing their clothing.  Barbara went to school 
wearing a brand new dress.  That day Mrs. Murphy got angry and tore her 
dress.  Barbara went home crying and told her mother.  The next day 
Florence went straight to the Principal's office to have Barbara changed 
to another class.**

Her teacher for the remainder of the year was Mrs. Page, whom Barbara 
dearly loved.  On the last day of school Barbara gave her a "Big Bear 
Hug".  Mrs. Page told Florence sometime later Barbara about choked her.  
Barbara was strong.**

Pat, Barbara and Leo helped themselves to the candy, as they believed it 
was there for them. However, Florence didn't have the same belief and 
prohibited them from helping themselves.

So, Barbara decided she took her money and walk to a smaller store near 
her school to buy her candy.  When Florence learned of this, she called 
the woman and told her she was not to sell the candy to Barbara unless a 
permission note was sent with her.  Well, Barbara showed up with a note 
that she had scribbled, saying it was from her mother.  The woman got 
such a kick out of it, she gave her the candy and called Florence to tell 
her about the note that Barbara had written.

Thereafter, Barbara didn't travel those nine blocks very often.**

Connie has several memories of this home, as follows: 

"In the back of the store was our kitchen and a sitting room.  In the 
kitchen, I remember a jar, containing water, that had flecks of "shiny 
yellow stuff" in it.  We were told it was gold dust. Oftentimes, I would 
shake the jar just to watch the pretty "yellow stuff" float to the 
bottom.

We had a piano in the sitting room.  On one memorable occasion, a dog (I 
don't remember if it was ours or a stray), was running around in a 
circle.  Someone said it was having a "fit".  I was told to climb on the 
top of the piano so the dog couldn't bite me.

As you entered the front of the store, off to the right, behind the 
counter, was our private bathroom, consisting of a commode, and a wash 
basin.  Vividly, I can remember there being a grate, approximately 5 to 7 
inches in diameter, imbedded in the front sidewalk.  Under the grate was 
a sewer pipe that had a hole in it.  When flushing the toilet, it became 
a game to run as fast as I could, stand over the grate, and watch the 
"poop" go by.

The bedrooms and a full bath was located upstairs above the store.  The 
only thing I can remember about the upstairs is the long staircase and a 
fan at the top of the stairs.  I was deathly afraid of the fan, as I 
thought it would suck me in.

As a young child, I was subject to nightmares.  My mother had to be V E R 
Y careful what movies she would let me see.  NEVER, will I forget the 
movie, "The Cat and The Canary".  My mother mistakenly thought it was 
about a bird and a cat.  WRONG!  It was a spine-tingling mystery centered 
around a castle, a beautiful young woman, and a  monster that lived in 
the bowels of the castle, containing many dark tunnels.  In one scene, 
the beautiful woman was running up a spiral staircase, with the "monster" 
hot on her trail.  Her long gown got caught on the staircase.  She 
grabbed and tugged and tugged at her gown, finally ripping it to free 
herself.  The monster would watch her through the eyes of a portrait 
hanging on the wall.  Another time, the woman thought she heard a noise 
in the night and sat up in bed to listen.  A panel behind her head 
opened, a hairy hand appeared and as it got close to the back of her 
head, the woman layed down, the hand withdrew, and the panel silently 
closed.  After the movie, my mother could not get me to sit against a 
wall. I was convinced the wall would open and the monster's hand would 
encircle my throat."

Cousin Hazel's son Bruce became ill and was taken to Colorado Springs.  
On February 2, 1937, the day before Bruce was to be 11 years old, he died 
of Rheumatic Heart.  The D.F. Law Mortuaries of Colorado Springs, Victor 
and Cripple Creek, whom Hazel worked for by doing the hair and make-up 
for the deceased, took care of the funeral arrangements.  Bruce was 
buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Colorado Springs.  This left Florence 
and cousin John Gelineau to be the only Barlow grandchildren to have a 
living posterity.

In the back yard Leo fixed a cross bar on the support post of the stairs 
leading upstairs to the tenants by the surname of Brown.  Barbara was 
playing on the bar when Connie came out from the store, picked up the 
pitchfork and without knowing the danger, held it with the prongs 
pointing skyward. As Barbara turned on the cross bar, Connie said 
something and scared her.  Barbara fell on the pitchfork, the handle 
hitting Connie on the head.  Florence, hearing Connie's crying, came out 
to find the pitchfork stuck in the front portion of Barbara's groin.  
Florence called for the police department ambulance, labeled "the Black 
Mar-ia".  The neighbors began to report her dead, but Barbara fooled 
them.**  ****  19 

The family stayed in the grocery business for five years and then sold 
out, moving to 1529 92nd Avenue.  They rented the upstairs of a two-story 
house owned by Clarence and Ida Murphy, who lived downstairs. The Jones 
family met the Murphy family when they lived at 2008 90th Avenue.

Florence worked at the Ball Cannery in Oakland. **She arranged to work 
hours that made it possible for her to return home by the time her 
children came home from school.

Pat and Barbara shared a room. The two had opposite ideas of how the room 
should be kept.

Pat liked to have the room clean and orderly.  Barbara liked to toss her 
clothes on the bed.  So Pat drew an imaginary line through the room.  
This didn't stop Barbara from invading Pat's side of the room.  When 
cleaning day came on Saturday, Barbara's clothes were found under Pat's 
bed.**

The Murphy's dog had a litter of pups.  From this litter came their 
"beloved" Fluffy, a devoted fox terrier\spitz, who was to become a one-
family dog.  He let  Barbara and Connie dress him in clothing the family 
had outgrown.  Barbara laid him on his back and give him a doll bottle 
with either milk or water in it, which he tried to suck.  Connie wheeled 
him down the street in a doll buggy.  Unconditional love is what he 
offered all of them.  He was kept in a pen surrounded by a six-foot 
fence.  Unbelievable as it may seem, this little rascal jumped up high, 
and literally climb the fence to liberate himself.  A man, whose house 
was directly behind theirs, cut through the yard and teased Fluffy, 
resulting in him barking and growling.  Leo and this man had some verbal 
encounters, in which the man claimed the dog was vicious.  However, Leo 
saw this man teasing Fluffy and informed him that he was not to cut 
across the yard anymore.** ****  20 

The garage behind the house had three sections.  The middle section was 
turned into a horse stall, where Buck Anderson stalled his horse.  
Barbara wanted to ride the horse, which she was sometimes allowed to do 
in the yard.  She also went into the stall with the horse to clean.  The 
horse acted nervous, as it wasn't use to Barbara. **

Once a week a farmer came to the neighborhood to sell fresh produce he 
had grown.  His wagon was pulled by a horse.  Connie liked to pet the 
horse.  On other days the Ice Man delivered ice to those houses 
displaying a diamond shaped "Ice" sign in their windows.  The children 
waited until he left the truck to grab some ice chips.  Sometimes he came 
out and chipped some off for them.**** 

Barbara had been asking for a two wheeled bike.  Her feelings were REALLY 
HURT when Pat received one instead.  One day Pat left her bike in the 
front yard unattended.  Barbara got on it, but hadn't learned how to ride 
well.  Pat came out of the house furious that Barbara was on her bike and 
began to chase her.  Barbara could see that Pat was going to catch up 
with her, so she "baled off" the bike, which crashed to the ground.  
Florence scolded Barbara for having tried to ride the bike.  As a result, 
Barbara didn't get a two wheeled bike of her own for two years.**

Connie tells of a couple days of her life there: 

  "One warm sunny day, using mud and twigs I tried to make a bird's nest.  
My thinking was, if a bird can do it, so can I!  I soon discovered the 
bird possessed a skill I would never master.  Then, I heard a terrible 
crash!  The truck that had just passed our house, collided with a car at 
the intersection.  The driver hadn't closed his sliding door, and when 
the truck flipped on its side, the driver was thrown under the truck, and 
crushed.  I remember the fire truck coming, and the firemen spraying foam 
on the pavement.  I've never forgotten this odor, it reminds me of death.

As the tow truck began pulling the truck upright, the police asked all 
others to take their children home and all children were to leave.  They 
didn't want us to see the driver.  This was one time I didn't like being 
a kid.  When I heard the driver was crushed, I was curious as to what he 
looked like.  I envisioned him "flat" as a pancake, as if a steam-roller 
had rolled over him.

Then, there was the episode of the "scary" man who lived in the house on 
the corner.  He had a lot of loquat trees planted in the "parking strip".  
All of the children in the neighborhood were afraid of him.  We were very 
daring one day, when some of us climbed his trees to pick his loquats.  
My brother was in the tree when the man came out holding a BIG knife.  I 
was scared and yelled at my brother Leo to get out of the tree!  One day 
I found a stray kitten.  My mother said I couldn't keep it and told me to 
see if I could find who it belonged to.  I went from house to house in 
the neighborhood.  As scared as I was, I rang "the man's" doorbell.  When 
he came to the door, I asked him if the kitty was his.  He invited me to 
sit down on the front porch.  I did.  I don't remember the details, but I 
knew something was wrong.  I don't remember if he exposed himself, or if 
he wanted me to touch him.  I was scared.  When I went home, I told my 
mother what  happened.  I guess my parents called the police.  All I 
remember is going for a ride, walking into an office and sitting on the 
other side of a VERY LARGE desk, and a man was asking me a LOT of 
questions.  I was uncomfortable and had the impression what the man did 
was nasty."

The Tony and Mary Roberts family, whom were Portuguese, lived next door 
at 1537 92nd Avenue.  Their son Ray climbed up to the kitchen window and 
talk to the family during dinner.  He was very out going and had a great 
sense of humor.  It appeared he had a special interest in Pat, who was 
too reserved to show if she had any interest in him.

The William and Ellen Kelley family, whom were Irish, were their other 
next door neighbors at 1521 92nd Avenue.  Mr. Kelley stayed in Oakland 
most of the year, while Mrs. Kelley and the girls stayed only in the 
summer.  The rest of the year they stayed in San Francisco.  Katie had 
been a "blue baby" and was friends with Connie.  Carol and Barbara were 
pals.  When they lived in San Francisco the Jones family crossed the San 
Francisco Bay and take the trolley up Market Street, through a tunnel, to 
where they lived.  Mrs. Kelley was a heavy set, jovial woman, whom the 
family loved.**

Uncle John and Aunt Pearl Triantfil continued to meet the family in San 
Francisco.  After the Golden Gate Bridge was completed on May 27, 1937, 
they crossed the bridge to Marin County where there was a park with 
different kinds of "kiddie rides".  The Triantfils continued to bring 
enough food to feed an army.**

The family toured the Tom Thumb exhibit in the Sutro Building.  
Afterwards, they watched the people swim in the pool and others ice 
skating. **  **** 

Florence must have been pleased to have Cousin Hazel move to 391 Valencia 
Avenue, Apartment 218 in San Francisco.  However, one of those trips 
wasn't as pleasing to Hazel, who invited THE FAMILY to dinner.  The 
Jones' brought along a couple of their pets, Fluffy and Henrietta the 
chicken.  They took the elevator to the Williams' floor and knocked on 
the door.  When Hazel answered the door she was speechless.  When she 
found her voice she hollered to Roy to go get a box from the basement for 
the chicken.  "Chicken!  What chicken?!" he replied as he walked into the 
hall, his eyes about popping out of their sockets.  Fluffy was good and 
stayed in the kitchen, but Henrietta didn't want to stay in the box.  All 
future invitations excluded the pets.**

Hazel was interested in metaphysical teachings and was studying to become 
a minister. **

The Jones children attended the Catholic Church at Bancroft and 80th 
Avenue while living on 90th Avenue.  When they moved to 92nd Avenue they 
became dissatisfied, as they didn't understand the Latin spoken services.  
They attended every church in the neighborhood before they found the 
Unity Church in the Fairfax area.  Leo and Florence attended the Unity 
services with them.

Lake Merritt was an enjoyable location for picnics.  While the family was 
enjoying one of their picnics there, Sonny was blowing a whistle that 
sounded like a police whistle.  Soon, a Police Officer was headed in 
their direction.  He was directing traffic and the motorists were 
becoming confused, as they heard the two whistles.  Sonny thought for 
sure he was going to be taken to jail.  The Officer just wanted him to 
quit blowing his whistle. **

The San Francisco World's Fair was held on Treasure Island in 1939.  
Treasure Island was man-made for this occasion.  Leo and Florence took 
their children to the fair.  They saw Johnny Weismiller swim and dive; 
Sonja Henie and her review skate.  Barbara was impressed with the 
enormous height of the statue of Sun God in front of one of the 
exhibition buildings.  It sent chills down her spine when she saw the 
detailed carving of the Last Supper in a Mother of Pearl.**

Barbara loved Sonja Henie, who was also in movies.  Barbara dreamt the 
playground at school would be frozen over and she could do jumps, twirls 
and spins.  She was the STAR of her own dreams.  At the ice rink in 
downtown Oakland21, however, she wasn't that graceful.  She had on a wool 
skirt her mother made her, tried one of the fancy moves and fell, sliding 
about 2/3rds the length of the rink.  Her bottom was sore and her skirt 
was soaked, which SMELLED TO "HIGH HEAVEN".**

The family visited the Kaysers in Newman.  On one of these trips the 
children decided to have a mock wedding.  Everyone had a part to play.  
Pat was the minister; wearing a brown corduroy jacket, slacks, a shirt 
and tie.  Sonny was the groom; wearing a suit, white shirt and tie.  He 
frequently stretched his neck against the tightness.  Betty Ann Kayser 
was the bride; wearing a fancy dress and white lace veil.  Barbara was 
the crying bride's mother; wearing a makeshift lacy dress with curtain 
veil. Connie was the flower girl.  The adults wore various outfits.  
Chairs were set up by the large fish pond in the backyard for the guests 
to sit on and to give the bride an aisle to walk down.  Large dragonflies 
flew overhead.  The cameras were brought out to film this special 
event.**

When returning home after one of their visits with the Kaysers, Leo was 
chewing on an olive.  He spit the pit out the window, the wind caught it, 
sent it through the back window where it lodged in Pat's nose.*** 

The Jones family spent some good times with friends they met in earlier 
years.  Jess and Pauline Haynes lived across the street from a cemetery.  
The children went there at night and told scary stories.  Of course, 
Connie was subject to being scared easily.  The stories involved ghouls 
and the dead rising which resulted in the children running out of the 
cemetery SCREAMING!**** 

Gladys Dahlstrom's husband Oscar died and she married Carl Reynoldson.  
At their home the children learned Carl liked children.  When they had a 
party, the children were welcomed and taught how to dance the schottische 
and the polka.  When the doctor told Carl he had to give up drinking or 
it would kill him, the parties stopped.  They had MANY "friends" until 
the parties were no longer given.  Many of these "friends" disappeared, 
but not the Jones'.**** 

The Granada Movie Theater was on East 14th Street between 89th and 90th 
Avenue.  After cooking up enough popcorn to fill large brown paper 
grocery bags, Barbara, Sonny and Connie went to the theater's Saturday 
matinee, which lasted 5-6 hours.**

Leo and Florence cut their clothing expenses by learning some skills.  
Leo resoled shoes when they were worn out. The children's new shoes were 
worn for church and school.  The repaired ones were used for play.  
Florence sewed all of their clothing, except for underwear and socks.** 

Some typical Sunday meals at the Jones home were chicken with either 
noodles or dumplings, lamb curry over rice, or a pot roast with potatoes 
and carrots.  Sonny didn't like carrots.  He snuck his portion under the 
table to Connie, who ate them for him.**  *** 

At Christmas time many of the gifts were hand made and placed under their 
Christmas Tree that was decorated with homemade ornaments.**

Roy and Hazel Williams moved to Huntington Park in Southern California.  
At Christmas time gifts were exchanged between them, the Jones family and 
Aunt Nell in Colorado.  At the Jones home, the children were allowed to 
open one gift from either the package from Aunt Nell or the Williams as 
soon as both packages arrived. **

Roy worked for the City of Los Angeles and Hazel worked in an exclusive 
store that served people of the upper class. **

In sixth grade Barbara was taught by Mrs. Kollenberger.  It seemed the 
teacher took a disliking to Barbara and a fellow student, Freddie Raines.  
Barbara needed extra assistance learning her math lessons and found it 
difficult to get the teacher to give her the attention she needed.  Due 
to missed math concepts she found it hard to learn her math lessons 
afterward.  The school brought a wooden Marimba into the class for her to 
play.  She had a talent of being able to "play by ear".  Then a xylophone 
was brought into the room also for her to play.  Barbara stayed in from 
recess to play them.  Her teacher appeared to hate this practice.  At the 
end of the school year the Marimba was given to her.**

Pictures were infrequently taken by the Jones family.  They were usually 
taken during special occasions, especially in the warmer months of the 
year.  When Aunt Nell came to visit for Easter the family made sure to 
take advantage of their camera.

Barbara believes she was in her latter years of grammar school or just 
beginning junior high when her father was working one summer for Pacific 
Gas and Electric near Trinidad, California, at a place  called Little Red 
Hen Auto Camp.  They stayed one summer at the owners home across from the 
motel.  She shares: 

  "Mom and Dad went up to Orick to play Wrest and one night they won a 
small pig.  They  brought it back and put it into the big chicken pen.  
One day the pig got out and everyone ran all over the beach trying to 
catch it-Talk about a greased pig.  Daddy finally caught it.  They left 
the pig with the owners when we finally drove home.

The town held dances at the grange hall on a Saturday Night and Daddy 
danced with me.  I danced backwards in a one step down the side of the 
dance floor, we made a complete turn and dance back down the dance floor 
again.

We went blackberry picking all over the area which included a pasture 
where we had to climb a sty over a fence.  We were getting stung all the 
time by thistles.  Mom made delicious cobbler. Y U M ! 

One day Daddy took us for a ride to Trinidad to get fresh crab.  For some 
reason he pulled over to the right and "stopped" in a drop off the road.  
We thought we were going to roll down the steep mountain side.  We got 
out and Daddy was able to get the car back on the road.  What a scare we 
had! When the family was to head back home, Daddy, myself and either Pat 
or Connie rode in the company truck.  Mom, Sonny, either Pat or Connie 
and Fluffy rode in the family car.  Daddy took the lead.  When we came to 
an area between Eureka and Sacramento, near a lake and in a mountainous 
area, a tire on the car blew out.  Mom said she used a little break to 
try to slow the car down but not enough to make her spin.  Then a little 
gas to keep it moving in a forward direction.  She knew that there was a 
drop off she had to avoid, but the dust was so heavy that she couldn't 
see where she was going.  When the car finally came to a stop, she found 
the car had stopped against the cliff wall, the drop-off being on the 
other side of the road from the direction they were traveling.  Daddy had 
not seen the family car behind us and pulled off the road to wait.  When 
the family car did not catch up with us he turned around to see what had 
happened to them.  Upon arriving at the scene, we found a rather unnerved 
group.  Fluffy was jumping from one passenger to the next to make sure 
everyone was all right.  Sonny's freckles stood out like "shiny pennies".  
After Mom had a chance to calm down a bit, she got back in the car and 
drove on to Sacramento where Daddy was to deliver the company truck.  No 
doubt a Guardian Angel sat on Mom's shoulder that day."

Pat attended Castlemont High School.  The school looked like a castle, 
without the moat.  She was quiet and attended few of the school's extra-
curricular activities.  The friends she made there created relationships 
she held for a long time.  She celebrated her graduation at this 
school.**

When Pat turned 18 she and a friend joined the USO to dance with the 
military men.  To join the USO, the agreement stated they couldn't date 
the men, which they kept.**

In December 1942 Leo and Florence took the money from the selling of the 
store and what she earned from working at the cannery and bought a home 
at 158 Euclid Avenue in San Leandro.****   From East 14th Street, Euclid 
Avenue ran east one long block, until it reached the schoolyard, then 
turned south to Dutton Avenue.  The house, on the north side of the 
street, faced south.

Connie shares her memory of that moving day: 

"On the day we planned to move, it rained.  A friend of my parents owned 
the moving truck and assumed we wouldn't want to move while it was 
raining.  My mother told him we were moving rain or shine!  After the 
first load was in the house, I begged my mother to let me stay.  She was 
apprehensive about leaving me.  I told her I'd keep the doors locked.  It 
wasn't until later I learned she wasn't as concerned about someone coming 
in as she was about my getting into mischief.  After exploring the house, 
OUR VERY OWN HOME, I started looking for something to do.  Part of the 
first load included a fashionable chrome dinette table with four 
naugahyde covered chairs.  I was with my mother when she bought it and 
was impressed when the salesman told her the seats were fireproof.  Being 
bored and curious, I found some kitchen matches and decided to test his 
claim.

I put one on the seat and lit it with another.  Swoosh! went the match on 
the seat when it ignited, burning a hole in it.  Oh...No!!  I'm in BIG 
trouble.  What am I going to tell my mother?  What kind of accident can I 
tell her I had so I wouldn't be punished?  My brain was working overtime.   
I could tell her I struck a match, it flew out of my hand and landed on 
the seat.  Yeah!...that's what I'd tell her.  Oh Boy...she wouldn't 
believe that story!!  She'd want to know WHY I was playing with matches.  
Finally, I figured out I'd better tell the truth.  If she knew I was 
lying, I'd REALLY be punished!!  She gave me a good scolding.  What a 
lesson I learned!!"

Barbara was attending Elmhurst Junior High. Instead of transferring 
schools in the middle of the year, she continued at Elmhurst.  She rode 
the "Red Train" round trip, getting off at Bancroft and 80th Avenue, 
which was a couple of blocks from her school. **

This train continued to San Francisco by crossing the Bay Bridge on the 
lower deck, where truck traffic also traveled.  Cars traveled on the 
upper deck.*** 

During the lunch hour the basic steps of dancing were taught.  Barbara 
didn't find the boys to be much help in the learning process.   She went 
to movies that had dancing in them.  At home she practiced the steps in 
front of the mirror.  Florence caught her, getting a "big kick" out of 
it. **

Fluffy, who was Barbara's dog, still wanted to make 92nd Avenue his home.  
Barbara rode her bike back to their former home, where she found him and 
brought him back to their new home.  On the way back she was to stop at 
the bakery at East 14th Street and 94th Avenue to get freshly baked 
sliced bread.  YUM!** 

Sonny and Connie shared the back bedroom.  Sonny had the upper bunk.  He 
would sometimes sleep-walk.  Usually he was heard and steered back to bed 
while still sleeping.  Florence heard it could be extremely traumatic to 
wake a sleepwalker.  On one of these occasions Sonny walked to the front 
door, unlocked it, went outside and down the stairs.  He walked down the 
sidewalk towards the east.  Florence caught up with him, gently turned 
him around and told him to go back to bed.

Florence worked that December until May as a stocker at Montgomery Wards 
in Oakland.  Sometimes the children took the bus and Leo came after work 
to meet her there after she got off work.  They went to the Cafeteria to 
eat together.  This was always a special occasion.

Leo's mother, Roxena, and her Alaskan Huskie Rex came to live with the 
family.  The children called her Gram.  She had the most beautiful white 
hair.  She rinsed her hair with diluted laundry bluing, which kept her 
hair from turning a dingy yellow. **

She boiled horse meat for the dog to eat.  She left a little cereal and 
milk in her bowl for Rex to eat.  One of the children wrote on the bottom 
of the bowl with nail polish- REX AND GRAM.  Roxena was very offended by 
this and moved into the unfinished basement to sleep on a cot.  Due to 
the upset, she moved out.**

The family planted a vegetable garden.  The potato patch was behind the 
garage.  Just to the east of it was an English Walnut tree that was 
grafted to a Black Walnut stump.  Sonny and Connie, who were close 
buddies all the years they lived together, climbed as high as they could.  
Sonny always climbed higher, as he was taller and could reach up past an 
area that had a little further distance between the branches.

Sonny taught Connie to play softball.  On one occasion she went to the 
school and found kids playing.  She asked to play and to her sorrow was 
told she could not.  Upon inquiring why, they stated that she hit the 
ball too hard, which made her feel good.**** 

Florence worked at Hunts Cannery in San Leandro for the first season 
after they moved to San Leandro.  Then she was able to realize her desire 
to stay home full time with her family and not work out of the home. She 
did choose to work in the summer to make some extra money.  Leo sometimes 
had to go out of town to work, being away from his family.

Leo, Florence and Pat went to Southern California to visit with Roy, 
Hazel and their friends Mac and Doris McWilliams.

Florence and Pat started attending Farm Bureau meetings to learn more 
homemaking skills, such as clothing pattern making.**

Pat was working at the Naval Air Station in Alameda in the tool and die 
section.  She operated a turret lathe making parts for airplanes.  She 
and other employees had skating parties at the Diamond Roller Rink in 
East Oakland.  The entire Jones family attended these functions.  All did 
well, except for Florence.  As she tried to skate her legs just couldn't 
seem to stay under her body as they should.  Leo and Barbara got on each 
side of her to hold her up.  When a fella fell in front of her, Leo and 
Barbara lifted her over his body as Florence also attempted to jump.  
That was about all she could take and ended her days on the roller 
rink.**

Harry Marvin Weed, Jr., a fellow worker, brought bottles of Coka Cola to 
Pat.  She told the family about him doing this and described him as a 
funny looking man whose hair stood on end like an Indian's.  Pat began 
dating Harry who was born on 27 November 1916 in New York State.  He 
stood about 6'2" and is 1\4 Indian of the Iroquois nation.  They were 
married on December 4, 1943 and made their first home on 28th Avenue in 
Oakland.  For their honeymoon they went to National Park.  Harry went out 
to get wood for the fireplace.  Suddenly, Pat heard Harry yelling, "OPEN 
THE DOOR, OPEN THE DOOR"!  She opened the door, Harry came flying through 
yelling, "CLOSE THE DOOR, THERE'S A BEAR OUT THERE"!  When Harry reached 
the wood pile, the bear was there waiting for him.  This became a subject 
of laughter in later years.**

Sonny became enamored with Faye from school.  He bought her a wooden "F" 
pin.  She accepted the gift, but when she got home her father told her to 
return it to the giver.  Heartbroken, Sonny took it home and offered it 
to his mother.  Florence, knowing the pin had been bought for Faye, 
accepted the gift graciously.*** 

Leo put in a new lawn in the backyard. In the northeast corner of the 
yard was a palm tree where Fluffy went to relieve himself.  As he headed 
across the newly planted yard Florence yelled, "FLUFFY, YOU GET OUT OF 
THERE".  Fluffy quickly scurried off the planted area to the side of the 
yard.  He learned quickly to make his path around the planted area.**

When Barbara went to visit the Nelson family, who lived across the street 
in a southwest direction, Fluffy went with her.  He liked to chase cats.  
However, Mrs. Nelson's cat had kittens.  Barbara and Fluffy had gone 
three quarters of the length of the driveway when mama cat saw Fluffy 
coming down the driveway.  She jumped on his back and rode him to the 
front sidewalk as Fluffy ran from the property.  He never went down that 
driveway with Barbara again.**

Fluffy never took food from anybody but the family.  Not even from close 
friends.  His one fault was leaving when a female dog was in heat.  He 
never returned from one of these trips.  Florence called the garbage 
department and street sweepers for a long time trying to find him.  
Barbara cried for a long time over the loss of her pet.**

The Unity church moved, holding it's meetings at the Mason Lodge near 
East 14th Street between Oak Street and Harrison Street in Oakland.  Leo 
and Florence attended the adult sessions.  Barbara and Connie joined the 
"Youth of Unity".  They took the bus to get to their activities  They had 
a lot of fun with the group, which held activities such as going to the 
Chinese Restaurant after church, progressive dinners and Sadie Hawkins 
dances.

When Barbara turned 15 years old in 1944, Florence was able to get her a 
job at the Ball Cannery in Oakland.  This was against union regulations 
because a child had to be 16 years old to work in the cannery.  However, 
Florence was friends with the union representative.  Barbara found it to 
be hard, dirty work but good pay for a "kid".  She first canned peaches 
and then tomatoes.  She was working the canning machine when the machine 
behind she and Florence jammed.  Leo, the mechanic, came to fix it.  He 
bent down to pick up some cans that had fallen to the ground.  As he 
stood up, the handle of the screwdriver went up Florence's leg.  She let 
out a blood curdling scream.  Leo was embarrassed and ran.  A couple days 
later he came back to apologize and gave Florence a can of freshly canned 
tomato juice.**

The following year Barbara worked in the cannery again.  When the season 
for tomatoes began, she broke out in a rash.  She left there and went to 
work for Hunts in Hayward.**

The Kayser family moved from Newman to 1779 Union in San Francisco.  
Milford Shallenberger was a merchant seaman.  He stayed with his sister 
Pearl's family when in port.  When the Jones children went to visit, 
Milford fell asleep.  Barbara set his hair in pin curls and curlers.  
When he woke up, he left them in.  They had a lot of fun with him.**

On one occasion when he was in port he stopped by the Jones', didn't find 
Leo and Florence home, then talked Barbara into riding with him to 
Stockton to bring a male friend back to the bay area.  Milford drove at 
top speed, which thrilled Barbara.  Upon returning her back home, 
Florence told him he was NEVER to take any of the children with him again 
unless he first got permission from she or Leo.**

Fun times were had at Playland at the beach in San Francisco.  There was 
a maze of mirrors to go through upon entering the funhouse.  Leo was 
excellent at finding his way through them.  Along the front windows was a 
path of pivoting floor pieces, padded barrels that revolved and blasts of 
air that lifted the women's skirts.  Florence was talked into going into 
this area, not aware of the blasts of air.  She yelled when she had a 
skirt raising experience.  Sonny was a master at staying on his feet as 
he went through the rolling barrel.  He also was able to stay on the 
spinning turntable until it stopped.  Barbara and Connie linked arms 
while on the turntable and sometimes were able to stay on until it 
stopped.  Other mirrors distorted the figure to look very fat, thin, 
short, tall or detached.  Up a few stories of stairs was the top of a 
slick, bumpy wood slide.  The rider went down it on a burlap sack.***** 

When friends came from out-of-town, they were taken to San Francisco to 
Golden Gate Park and they rode down Lombard, a crocked street made with 
bricks.  They also rode the cable car.  The men ringing the bells on the 
cars had competitions among themselves for the most unique bell ringing.  
This was always entertaining for the riders. **

Nell Nolan divorced Bill Nolan, due to his alcoholism and heavy hand.  
She moved to live with the Jones family.   She was working at the 
Chevrolet Plant at 73rd Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland.  She 
came home one evening, went into her bedroom and came out dressed in 
BRIGHT RED long underwear that opened at the back, singing, "I'M THE GIRL 
FROM HASTING'S CORNER".  Her eyes twinkled with devilment as she turned 
around and ran for her bedroom.**

One of the family jokes involving Aunt Nell was when she made her 
DELICIOUS cinnamon rolls.  They were always light and fluffy.  She stated 
they didn't taste as good because she had to use canned milk.  The rolls 
were as good as always.**

She then made a living by doing housework and cooking for families.  One 
family in Oakland were very interesting.  Aunt Nell was living there.  On 
weekends Barbara and Connie were allowed to stay overnight.  The husband 
had been a Fire Chief.  He liked to collect things.  He had two balls of 
string about two feet in circumference.  There was also newspapers 
stacked and other things the girls considered to be without worth.**

After she left their home, Nell went to work for Smith and Mabel Wagner 
in Lake City, Colorado.  They owned a resort.  Nell cooked for their 
workers most of the year.  During the winter months she accompanied Mabel 
to California, where Nell took care of her needs.  Mabel was in poor 
health and needed to be away from the cold winters in Colorado.  Mabel 
died April 9, 1946.

When World War II was over, the family turned the garden into a patio 
with chimney bar-b-que.  Leo scavenged large pieces of concrete for the 
patio floor.  The bar-b-que was built from blocks that came from the 
commercial glass furnace.  The entire family was involved with this 
project.**** 

Florence went to work at the Ball Cannery on San Leandro Boulevard in San 
Leandro.  She brought home June, a younger co-worker, on several 
occasions.  While Florence was in the kitchen, Sonny had some necking 
sessions with June in his parents' bedroom.*** 

Barbara assisted when Leo repaired the car.  She held things in place 
when he repaired the brakes and crank shaft.  At other times she pumped 
the brakes to bleed the air from the brake lines.  She learned to change 
a tire.  This knowledge came in handy, as the parking lot of the Ball 
Cannery had many nails, screws and other sharp things.  Florence and 
Caroline, the floor lady, assisted Barbara.**

When the house needed to be painted, Leo, who wasn't afraid of heights, 
put up scaffolding.  Barbara assisted him in painting the house.  She was 
afraid of heights and became scared when her father bounced the board 
they were standing on.  She was painting the east side of the house when 
she needed more paint.  When Leo was on the ground he filled a bucket of 
paint for her and left if at the bottom of the ladder.  Barbara didn't 
see it as she was coming down and stuck her foot into it.  Luckily, she 
didn't spill much of the paint.**

Leo made a few changes to the house. When entering the front door, a 
hallway extended to the bedroom at the back of the house.  This room was 
originally a back porch that was turned into a bedroom by a former owner.  
To the right were doorways into the frontroom and dining room.  On the 
left were doors into the bedrooms.  The lath and plaster wall between the 
hall and frontroom was knocked out.  Where the hall continued parallel to 
the dining room, the space was walled up at the front room.  The opening 
between the frontroom and dining room was broadened into an archway.  
From where the hall was walled up at the front room to a couple of feet 
from the doorway into the dining room, another wall was erected, creating 
a small coat closet.**

In the east wall of the front room was a small window high on the wall.  
It was boarded up and insulated.  Grooved wallboard was placed over the 
entire east wall. **

Florence did her laundry in the basement with a wringer washer.  It was a 
nuisance to go out the basement door, up the outside stairs and through 
the house to use the bathroom.  Leo put in a toilet in the washing area, 
that was partitioned from the rest of the basement, and then built a wall 
around the toilet area for privacy. **

On November 6, 1945, Leo was initiated into the International Association 
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union, Grand Lodge number 1546.  Leo 
went to the union hall to find work as a welder or mechanic.  Barbara 
always gave him a kiss on the cheek when leaving for work or the hall.  
On one of these occasions, she had red lipstick on.  Leo didn't realize 
the marks of her lips had been left on his cheek one morning.  Right 
after he entered the hall, the men began to laugh.  Leo thought someone 
had just told a joke.  A man Leo knew well came up to him and told him 
about the lipstick kiss on his cheek.  Leo began to laugh and stated, 
"That damn kid of mine kissed me as I was leaving the house".  From then 
on Leo was cautious of kisses from "the kid".**

Leo always called Barbara kid, unless she was in trouble, then he called 
her Barbara.  When she was younger and had done something Florence didn't 
like, Florence told Leo to do something with that kid.  In later years 
when Leo wasn't completing Florence's honey-do list, Barbara told him 
what needed to be done, and request they do it together.  He replied 
back, "O.K. Kid".  Thus, Leo did something with "the kid".**

Barbara and Connie rented horses up near the foothills on 106th Avenue in 
Oakland.  They rode southwest across town to the beach at the west end of 
Davis Street in San Leandro.  Half-way they stopped by their home.  
Barbara was given a skittish horse on one occasion.  She was riding on 
the sidewalk in front of a food store and received a written warning from 
a policeman.  Leo and Florence were required to take her to city hall 
where she was reprimanded.

Aunt Pearl Triantfil went to church services as usual on March 17, 1946.  
However, on this Sunday, she died during the services.

The Kayser family moved to Monterey.  Roxena lived nearby in a trailer in 
Seaside.

Sonny taught Barbara to drive in the families Dodge.  Part of her second 
lesson was to drive into the driveway.  Barbara thought, "Driveway, 
DRIVEWAY"!  She went up the driveway past the pillar post and came to a 
stop on the neighbors lawn.  As challenging of an experience this may 
have been for them both, she did get her driving permit, then license.

In 1947 Pat and Harry Weed took Pat's siblings Barbara, Sonny and Connie 
in their 1941 Chevrolet to Lake City, Colorado to visit with Aunt Nell.  
Barbara, Sonny and Connie stayed a good portion of their summer in this 
high, Rocky Mountain town. **** 

The cabin where they stayed didn't have any modern facilities.  The water 
was obtained from a well just outside of the kitchen door.  Oil lamps 
were used to light the indoors and the heat came from logs that had to be 
cut and chopped.  Since there wasn't any indoor plumbing, the outhouse 
was used during the day and chamber pots at night.  Clothes were washed 
in a large wash bucket using a wash board and a bar of soap.  Their 
bodies were bathed in a steel, galvanized pan every Saturday night.  No 
matter how hot it was, Aunt Nell ironed the clothes with three flat 
irons, which were rotated on the stove, depending on which kind of fabric 
was being ironed.  Music was played on a wind-up Edison phonograph.  
"I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" was the youths favorite. Connie 
decided that her first daughter would be named Kathleen. **** 

Harry and Sonny built a waterwheel about 18-20 inches in diameter, 
cleared the rocks, making a channel and diverted part of the river down 
the channel, turning the waterwheel.  Connie thought they were very 
clever.  As the river dropped, the teenagers were kept busy keeping the 
channel open so that the water-wheel worked.**** 

Before Pat and Harry left, Harry was taking pictures and caught Aunt Nell 
walking from the barn to the log cabin.  When Aunt Nell spotted the 
camera, she spun around and ran for the barn.**  She didn't like her 
picture to be taken unless she was dressed in her Sunday best.  It became 
a life-long challenge to get a picture of her in her working clothes. She 
usually wore a "housedress".  Laughter wound erupt when someone caught 
her and get the picture.  This was rare, due to her ability to see the 
camera person first and she could move quickly.

A horse wrangler rented part of the barn for his tack and corral for the 
horses.  He rented out the horses for day pack-trips or for pleasure 
riding around town.  Sometimes the wrangler turned out all of the horses 
at night.  Oftentimes he left one in the corral to use in rounding up all 
the others in the morning.**** 

When all were turned out Barbara and Connie got up early in the morning 
and listen to hear the sound of their hooves and snorting.  Then they 
knew the horses were down by the river or up towards the canyon.  Barbara 
took the bridle and Connie a pan of oats. Connie coaxed "ol' Baldy"  with 
the oats and Barbara slipped the bridle on him.  "Baldy" was Barbara's 
favorite.  Connie's favorite was "Squaw", a buckskin mare.  "Squaw" could 
"stop on a dime", and frequently did.****  They assisted in rounding up 
the horses and bringing them back to the corral. **

One day the wrangler used "Blackie", who spooked easily, as a pack horse.  
After the wrangler got the pack on and loaded with gear, "Blackie" reared 
back, breaking the reins and took off.  He ran down several back alleys, 
spreading pots and pans everywhere.  By the time he was caught, there 
wasn't much in the pack.  The wrangler had to retrieve what he could find 
and he was VERY angry.  He put "Blackie" in the corral, got a whip, and 
proceeded to whip him unmercifully.  The horse was "screaming".  The 
teenagers felt this was wrong.  They went to Smith, who told them to stay 
out of it.  They felt the wrangler should have known better than use 
"Blackie" as a pack horse.  Barbara stormed out of the cabin, confronted 
the wrangler and gave him a tongue-lashing he probably never forgot.  She 
succeeded in stopping the abuse.**** 

While out exploring one day, they were caught in a daily thundershower.  
They quickly took shelter under a tree.  Being from the city, they didn't 
know the danger.  When Aunt Nell heard of this, she educated them in a 
hurry.**** 

Sonny went hunting with his 22 rifle.  Seeing a rabbit, he aimed and 
fired.  He climbed the hill to see if the rabbit had gotten away.  When 
he came down the hill, he exclaimed in tears, "I KILLED THE RABBIT"! ** 
The only other time he shot his rifle was back at home in the back 
bedroom.  He draped a coat across a chair and shot at it, believing the 
bullet would be stopped.  The hole through the wall proved otherwise. *** 

Sonny and Connie liked to go exploring together.  After they explored 
Lake City, they decided they needed a new adventure.  They told Aunt Nell 
they'd be back later and headed for the road where Sonny decided to 
hitchhike.  Sonny stuck out his thumb, with no luck.  So Connie decided 
to stick her thumb out. Sonny said, "Girl's don't hitchhike!  Put your 
thumb down."  He eventually got them a ride, getting off at the Ramsey 
Mine.  They hiked up the hill where they found the entrance to the mine.  
As they entered, the shaft went back about 12 feet, turned left for a 
short way, then turned right.  At the right turn, it...was...DARK and 
SPOOKY!  They couldn't see ANYTHING!  Connie stopped.  She was afraid!  
Sonny walked down the darkened shaft.  Connie could hear water dripping 
and was afraid of a cave in.  She called Sonny, "Come back!  It might 
cave-in!"  No response.  She called him several times to come back; he 
was scaring her!  Then, she could hear his footsteps as he approached and 
was glad to get out of there.**** 

Outside, they found an ore car sitting on the track.  The track ended 
high above a tailings pile.  When they found they could actually push 
this car, they decided to push it as close to the entrance of the mine, 
then, together, pushed forward, gathered speed and sent the car off the 
end of the track into the tailings pile.  It tumbled end-over-end, going 
way down the hill.  They thought it was exciting!  They then toured the 
cabin, claiming an old broom and a 5-gallon can with a little oil in it 
as souvenirs.**** 

When they got back with their treasures Aunt Nell asked them where they 
had been.  "The Ramsey Mine."  "Is that where you got the broom and the 
can?", she asked.  "Aaaah...(looking at each other) yeess."  Aunt Nell 
wanted to know if these things belonged to them.  If not, it was the same 
as stealing.  She said, "Smith...you take these children back to the 
Ramsey Mine so they can return these things, EXACTLY where they found 
them."  They weren't about to tell her about the ore car.  NO WAY could 
they drag IT up the hill.**** 

Another pastime for these two was to play on road working equipment.  One 
day Connie came back with black grease all over her play smock.  Aunt 
Nell asked how she got so dirty.  After telling Aunt Nell how this came 
about, Aunt Nell said, "The way to get grease out, is to fight grease 
with grease."  That didn't make sense to Connie.  Aunt Nell got some 
hardened bacon grease and told her to rub it on the black grease.  Connie 
was amazed when it worked!**** 

At a dance, Connie met Doug, who lived in a house on the hill.****  Ten 
pin bowling was played by the family.**

Florence and Leo came to get their children.  On the morning that they 
were to leave, Smith drove his truck up the gorge and caught a bunch of 
rainbow trout.  Aunt Nell made hot biscuits that were light, warm, and 
tasty, served with butter and honey.  It was a GREAT breakfast.  Connie 
never has forgotten how good it was.**** 

Before leaving, Barbara went to get a drink from the well.  She had the 
only car keys the family owned and dropped them into the well.  Using 
caution not to stir up the bottom Leo was able to retrieve the keys by 
using Smith's fishing pole and a safety pin.**  **** 

Aunt Nell married Hemin Smith Wagner August 27th, 1947 in Aztec, New 
Mexico.  Aunt Nell saw the loving care Smith had given his invalid wife 
and thought this would be her opportunity to have some rest from hard 
work.  However, it was apparent Smith saw his new wife as a healthy, 
strong woman who could join him in running his business.

A few years later Connie traveled with Florence on the California Zepher 
to Colorado.  After spending two weeks there, Florence returned, leaving 
Connie to spend a couple more weeks.  She was taken to Lake City where 
she was profoundly disappointed with the changes in the city.  Where 
there had been a HUGE lot, where they galloped the horses she loved so 
much, now stood many log cabins.  Each log was painted alternating bright 
colors of orange, red, yellow and green.  The boarded sidewalks were 
replaced with concrete and the hitching posts were gone.**** 

A girlfriend of Barbara's introduced her to LeRoy Hunt and they began to 
date.  Barbara invited LeRoy to spend a Sadie Hawkins Day with her.  
Barbara went to his home to pick him up.  He put on her camel hair coat, 
that he had given her, and she put on his jacket and hat.  As they 
boarded the bus, LeRoy got on first and Barbara paid the fare.  She also 
paid for the movie.  Afterwards, LeRoy escorted her home.

Barbara was attending Bancroft Junior/Senior High School.  She took a 
business course and majored in music, taking several choral classes 
involving acappella and voice from Mr. Dean.  She also took seven years 
of piano lessons.  Florence sat in the front room and listen to her sing, 
as she enjoyed Barbara's talents.  Barbara attended the dances that were 
held during lunch and after school.  Mr. Hostadtler, the boys coach, was 
a good dancer.  He danced with Barbara several times.  She became very 
good in her musical pursuits and dancing. She graduated in January 
1948.**

Uncle John Triantfil's health became poor.  Jack and Pearl Kayser moved 
him to Monterey to live with them. He caught pneumonia and died on 
February 6, 1948.  Leo believed his Uncle had been treated poorly, which 
led to his death.  He confronted his sister and husband.  It resulted in 
a rift that Pearl never wanted repaired.

Leo and Florence were having marital difficulties.  He told Sonny and 
asked him to take care of his tools because he was going to Saudi Arabia 
to work on the pipeline.  Sonny was so upset he just lied in the front 
seat of the Dodge after he was told.***Leo and Florence had their picture 
taken on the way to his place of deployment.

That summer Sonny turned 17 years old.  He wanted to go to work for the 
cannery, but had to be 18 years old to do so.  He altered his birth 
certificate, giving his birth year as 1930.  He was assigned to the night 
shift.  One night, another worker decided to pick a fight with Sonny.  He 
hit him across the head with a flat of Apricots.  Sonny laid into him and 
the guy ran.  Sonny went to the company nurse, where he got himself 
cleaned and bandaged.*** 

He was at work when he received a call from home.  His father had come 
home.  He got permission to leave work for awhile.  When he arrived home 
he found that his father was darkly tanned.  Leo brought home an 
embroidered cap for Sonny.***  22 

When Leo arrived in Saudi Arabia he was put to work as a welder building 
barges.  After being there for several months, he stepped back too far 
from his work and fell to the deck below, hurting his hips.  He was sent 
home and was assigned to work in the shipyard in Alameda. **Sometimes his 
injured hips hurt so badly he could not walk.  Although he rarely 
complained of the pain, sometimes he needed to stay home from work.

Barbara worked that summer in the cannery.  In the fall she enrolled at 
Merritt/Peralta College, taking a course in business machines, including 
several printing machines.

Sonny and Connie went on double dates together.  On a warm summer night 
they went to Niles Canyon where they pulled off the road and parked next 
to the creek.  Being a warm night they had all four windows rolled down.  
Suddenly, they heard a weird noise.  It sounded like an animal.  The 
girls were scared and rolled their windows up, leaving them open just 
enough to continue hearing the noise.  They began to scare each other 
with their speculation of what was making the sound.  Finally, they 
decided they'd better leave.**** 

The winters in Lake City, Colorado were harsh.  Smith and Nell Wagner 
were finding it difficult to stay there in the winter.  They bought a 
ranch near Cedaredge to stay at during the winter months.

William Vincent Nolan was having some hard times.  Leo and Florence took 
him into their home for awhile to help him.  When he left their home he 
moved to the slums of Denver, Colorado.  He was at his residence when he 
drank himself into a drunken stupor.  He lost his balance, fell down the 
stairs and broke his neck.

After spending a school year at Merritt/Peralta College, Barbara went to 
work for Orinda Willows in Orinda performing various office jobs, 
including designing and printing the weekly menus.**

Barbara was still seeing LeRoy Hunt.  They began to talk of marriage.  
However, when Leroy got into some trouble with the law, Barbara decided 
to end the relationship.

Charlene Hathaway taught ceramics classes.  Florence signed up and began 
to make her own decorative plates and vases.  Ida Campbell was a friend 
taking the class with her.  After awhile, Florence bought her own kiln so 
that she didn't have to pay the cost of firing her greenware.  After 
having a few years experience, she made some vases as prizes for Pat's 
baby shower.  Barbara won a couple of them.

Sonny was to graduate in 1949.  However, Miss Shoemaker flunked him in 
the class in which she taught him.  He and some buddies decided to 
celebrate anyway by going to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  When they 
headed back home, Sonny soon learned his car didn't have enough 
compression in forward drive to make the climb back up the grade over the 
Santa Cruz Mountain road.  Knowing that the car would have more 
compression in reverse, he turned it around and backed the car up over 
the winding mountain road.  He returned to school in the fall, completed 
the class and graduated at the new high school in February 1950. *** 

After graduation, Sonny went to work as an office clerk for E. C. Cooley 
Company. *** 

Barbara left Orinda Willows to work for Jackson Furniture as a customer 
service clerk.  Outside of work, she and the other gals spent time 
together.  Sometimes they went dancing.  Occasionally afterwards, they 
went out to breakfast before returning home.**

The California Zepher began to run in 1949.  Smith and Nell Wagner came 
on it to visit in San Leandro the following year.

Leo was inspecting the house at the roof level, as there was a leak.  The 
bougainvillaea vine was the cause of the damage.  Florence and Barbara 
were inside the house.  They heard a crash and ran outside to see what 
happened.  Leo had fallen off the ladder and landed on his back on the 
ground.  Barbara asked him if he could move his legs.  He said he 
couldn't.  Florence yelled at Barbara to call an ambulance.  Barbara 
phoned the San Leandro Police Department for an ambulance, which arrived 
in minutes.  Leo was transported to Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro and 
then transferred to Permanente at Mac Arthur and Broadway in Oakland.**

When Florence and Barbara arrived, Leo was in the hallway of the 
emergency department.  Florence and Barbara sat for some time, watching 
to see if anyone was attending to Leo.  They were concerned his back may 
be broken.  Barbara told a nurse about the fall and wanted to know when 
someone would be looking at her father.  The nurse told her someone would 
look at him when they could.  Barbara sat back down, fuming that so much 
time was going by without anyone checking on her father.  She got up to 
see how he was doing.  He was getting very drowsy.  Barbara returned to 
the nurse and in a loud voice told her if someone didn't see to her 
father in five minutes, she would be heard up to the fifth floor.  She 
declared she wanted the doctor to see her father NOW!  THAT GOT SOME 
ACTION.  Leo didn't have a broken back and was able to go home that 
night.**

Connie graduated January 24, 1951.  She went to work in San Francisco for 
a short time before being hired at Howard Terminal in Oakland.

Sonny worked as a production worker for Del Monte Cannery in Oakland 
during the 1951 season.  He went to work as a laborer for Willy Motors 
Incorporated for a few months then enlisted in the United States Navy.  
Mr. Candelario across the street gave him a sailor's suit.  Leo was 
assigned as a storekeeper on a destroyer that patrolled the waters of 
Japan and Formosa.  Their ports were Yokuska and Sasebo. *** 

Barbara went to work for Pacific Telephone on Franklin Street in Oakland 
handling long distance phone calls coming into Oakland.  She attained the 
position of assistant telephone verifier.  It was her responsibility to 
monitor operators to make sure they were handling the calls effectively.  
She learned to handle outgoing long distance calls, which required timing 
and clocking of each call.  Another board handled calls placed by 
soldiers stationed in Pittsburgh at the Army camp.  These boards were 
never monitored.  Some of the soldiers were broke and so lonely, they 
called the operator just to talk.  The operators were warned to NEVER 
meet them at any time.**

Barbara increased her attendance at the dances.  She and Barbara Becker, 
a former schoolmate, met Mac and a friend of his at the Sands Ballroom. 
The men were stationed at the Alameda submarine base.  Due to Barbara's 
love of dancing, Mac took dancing lessons.  They had fun dating until Mac 
was shipped overseas.**

Sonny returned home from his South Seas tour and was assigned on a ship 
that patrolled the waters off of Korea.  Their port was in Hong Kong.  
Before he left, the family got together to take pictures.*** 

Smith Wagner's health began to deteriorate, so he and Nell decided to 
retire from running the resort and sold their ranch near Cedaredge.  They 
bought a cabin at the outskirts of Cedaredge on the main road entering 
town.

While Leo and Florence were on vacation, Barbara moved into an apartment 
in Oakland.**

Francis Marion Ames, who went by Bud, lived three houses west of the 
Jones home.  He was an ambulance driver.  He and Connie fell in love and 
were married October 19, 1952 in Reno, Nevada.  In the late spring of 
1953 Connie became pregnant.  The relationship deteriorated and she 
returned to her parent's home.

That fall, Leo, Florence, Barbara and Connie went in the Nash on vacation 
to Colorado.  They visited with Aunt Nell in Cedaredge.  Upon arriving 
and giving Aunt Nell a hug, it was a race to the kitchen to get a drink 
of cold mountain water out of her tin pot.**

Aunt Nell had other visitors come also.  Each time someone else came to 
stay the night, Aunt Nell practiced "musical beds".  A person felt lucky 
to sleep in the guest cottage at the back of the property.  Upon 
entering, there was a small entry room with an alcove to the left to hang 
dresses and coats.  Continuing straight back was the sleeping room with 
two roomy beds.  Windows on the back wall opened to a babbling brook.  It 
brought with it a cool air and lulled one to sleep. **

However, if assigned a bed at the front of the house, sleep was 
interrupted.  Early summer was the time for sheep to be brought through 
town heading for open range in the higher pastures.  Their bleating and 
bell tending to wake the city dwellers. **

Arrangements were made to visit with Aunt Nell's friends, the Carpenter 
family, who lived in Texas and vacationed in Lake City.  The Carpenters 
invited the family to go with them to Lake San Cristobal.  The Carpenter 
boys took part of the family for a motor boat ride.  Leo took pictures 
with a movie camera. **

When they left the Wagner's to continue their trip, they went to Salida 
then to Leadville to check on the graves in the family plot.  In town 
they walked on the old board walk and did some shopping.  Afterward they 
went up to the Matchless Mine to peek into the shack to see what they 
could see, which was just a chair and table.  They continued their 
travels that day by going to Red Cliff and Gilman, sharing recollections 
that were made in the buildings they visited.  Their travels took them to 
Glenwood Springs where they stopped for ice cream.  Leo asked for whipped 
cream.  The attendant got confused and thought he wanted shaving cream.  
They erupted with laughter.  Afterwards Barbara and Connie swam in the 
mineral pool.  Leo filmed his daughters swimming. **

When the film was shown at home, the family was surprised because Leo 
double exposed the film.  His daughters were seen swimming alongside the 
boat they rode in on Lake San Cristobal.  Leo's film making resulted in 
other movies that had similar results.  Many laughs resulted.

A few other souvenirs of their trip were gathered.  Florence's nostalgia 
about her past and places she visited was remembered in other ways than 
visiting those places and taking pictures.  She gathered colored bottles 
from the abandoned homes in the towns she visited.  She also brought home 
rocks for her flower garden.  Leo found her cache of rocks in the car 
when he was cleaning out the car to load the suitcases for their trip 
home.  He took them out and threw them aside.  When Florence learned of 
this, she and Barbara unloaded the suitcases, loaded the rocks far inside 
of the trunk and then reloaded the suitcases in a manner that would hide 
the rocks.

When they arrived home and Leo was unloading the car, he became angry 
when he found the rocks.  Eventually, Florence's gathering of rocks and 
how they were hidden became a family joke.

Sonny returned home from the Navy in October of 1953.  In December he 
hired on as a shipping clerk for Willy's Motors.*** 

Smith Wagner's health began to deteriorate, so he and Nell decided to 
retire from running the resort and sold their ranch near Cedaredge.  They 
bought a cabin at the outskirts of Cedaredge on the main road entering 
town.

Two new pets made their way into the Jones' home.  Snuffy the dog and 
Snowball the cat.  They got along well.  They had a game they played.  
Snuffy would chase Snowball along the sidewalk to the east for a few 
houses.  Snowball would come to a quick halt, turn around and chase 
Snuffy back to the house.

Now that Pat had her own home, she and Florence were taking turns having 
the extended family meals at their homes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  
Pat had Thanksgiving in her home this year and Christmas dinner was at 
the Jones' residence. ***  The holiday dinner was usually Turkey with 
oyster dressing, candied yams, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, jelly 
salad, a relish tray, whole and jellied cranberry sauces, rolls with 
butter, pumpkin and mincemeat pies topped with old fashioned whipped 
cream.

On February 25, 1954 Connie delivered a daughter in the East Oakland 
Hospital.  While in the hospital, "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" was 
played over the intercom.  Connie remembered hearing this song played at 
Aunt Nell's when they visited the summer of 1947.  She remembered her 
decision to name her first daughter Kathleen.  Her baby daughter was 
named Kathleen Regina Ames. *** 

Florence took care of Kathleen during the day while Connie worked.

On June 15, 1954, Claranna Mary Gelineau was born to John Clifford and 
Wilma Gelineau, who were living near Detroit, Michigan.

The Jones household and extended family members went on a camping trip to 
Yosemite National Park July 17th and 18th.

In the fall Leo's mother Roxena came to visit.  A four generation picture 
was taken of Roxena, Leo, Connie and Kathleen.

When Christmas came, the tree was placed on a cardboard fireplace to keep 
Kathleen away from the ornaments.  Florence also needed to keep a watch 
out for her so that she wouldn't empty all the pots and pans out of their 
drawers and bother Snowball.

Lakeside Unity Temple was built at 144 Athol Avenue in Oakland.  Kathleen 
was christened there on March 27, 1955 by Miss Alma M. Morse.  A booklet 
was provided with this charge: 

  Charge to Parents and Sponsors Beloved, remembering that before coming 
to you this child was God's child and is still God's child, you brought 
your little one to this service.  This little one came to you endowed 
with infinite possibilities of good.

It is your privilege to teach, guide, and bless this child. Guard well 
this trust.  Through this christening service you express your 
willingness to accept this trust and seek God's blessing.  We have faith 
that you are worthy of this charge to rear in grace and Truth this little 
one committed to your care.

Sonny had an operation for a detached retina in December and stayed home 
recuperating until March.  He then hired on as a double seamer operator 
with the National Can Company in San Leandro.  That fall he enrolled in 
classes, majoring in engineering, at San Jose State College.  He moved 
into the dorms for the school year. *** One evening after dinner, 
Florence was washing the dishes; Connie was drying and putting them away; 
Kathleen, who was 18 months old, was sitting on the kitchen counter; and 
Leo was sitting at the end of the table blowing cigarette smoke rings.  
Kathleen, speaking her first big word said, "Cigarette".  She was 
fascinated with the rings of smoke.  Astonished, Florence and Connie 
tried to get her to say it again, telling Leo to keep blowing them.  
Kathleen wouldn't say it again because she didn't understand any reason 
for her to say it again.

On the afternoon of November 1, 1955 Roxena Belle Schubert died of a 
heart attack in her trailer at 823 Kimbal in Seaside.  She willed her 
trailer and most of it's contents to Leo.

On February 11, 1956 Sonny met Sherry Ann McDonald on campus at Blackmore 
Hall.  He brought her home to meet the family.  For the summer Sonny 
worked at AAA Export Company in Oakland, working for Richard Douglas 
McDonald, brother of Sherry. *** 

Florence had a few challenges with two year old Kathleen. In July 
Kathleen found a bottle of Campho-Phenique and drank some of it.  
Florence rushed her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped.  Kathleen 
wandered from the back yard around to the front yard and played in the 
flower bed.  When Florence went out to get her, she saw that Kathleen had 
taken off all of her clothes.  Somewhat startled, Florence exclaimed, 
"Kathleen"!  Kathleen, believing she was in trouble, jumped up, ran 
around to the backyard, up the back steps, through the house and hid 
under Florence's bed in the front bedroom.  Florence chased after her.  
When she found Kathleen, she tried to coax her out from under the bed.  
Kathleen slid further under the bed.  Eventually, Florence convinced her 
she wasn't in trouble and Kathleen crawled out.  Kathleen's clothes were 
then safety pinned day and night, as she took her clothes off at night 
also.

Harry and Pat bought a new G.M.C. passenger truck.  They sold their 1941 
Chevrolet to Leo and Florence.  Florence was running an errand in the 
Chevrolet.  Kathleen was leaning on the armrest.  The door hadn't fully 
latched when it was closed and opened.  Kathleen fell out of the car.  
Luckily, the driver in the other lane quickly swerved and stopped to 
block traffic.  He jumped out and picked Kathleen up, taking her to a 
grateful Florence.

Leo Thomas Jones married Sherry Ann McDonald on August 11, 1956.  After 
honeymooning at Ricky's Studio Inn in Palo Alto they stayed at the Weed's 
home while they were on vacation and on Euclid Avenue in September.  When 
Leo returned to San Jose State to continue his education they lived in 
the trailer that had belonged to his grandmother Roxena. *** 

At the wedding, someone gave Kathleen spiked punch.  She was giddy and 
kissed a little boy about her age while dancing.  Every afternoon for a 
month afterward she threw up.  Florence would liked to have given a piece 
of her mind to the person who gave her the spiked punch.

A few changes were made in the frontroom.  The louvered blinds were taken 
down and replaced with Pricilla curtains and retractable blinds.  A 
braided rug was bought for the floor.

Connie bought a new 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.  On 15 May a call was 
received from Cedaredge, Colorado.  Smith Wagner had died.  Leo, 
Florence, Connie and Kathleen packed up the new car and headed out that 
night.  They stayed in Reno, Nevada, completing their trip to Cedaredge 
the next day.  Smith was buried May 19, 1957 in the Garnett Mesa Cemetery 
in Delta, in the plot where his parents were buried.

On the way home from Colorado, Connie was driving with Florence in the 
front seat with her.  Kathleen was asleep, her head in Leo's lap, who was 
sitting behind Connie.  A car with a couple of teen-aged boys whizzed by 
so quickly that it woke Kathleen up.  Shortly thereafter when they 
cleared a rise in the road, they could see a cloud of dust.

They were the second car to arrive at the location where they saw the 
cloud of dust.  The teens decided to pass a semi-truck.  As they did, 
they realized they didn't have enough space to complete the pass, as 
there was an east-bound semi-truck coming towards them.  The teens veered 
off the left side of the road in front of the east-bound semi-truck, 
which quickly turned across the path of the west-bound semi-truck to 
avoid hitting them.  The east-bound trunk landed off the road with his 
outside right rear duel tire coming off of the trailer.  The teens car 
landed off the road on the opposite side of the road.

Connie quickly took out her medical kit from the glove compartment and 
rushed to the teens car.  She found the passenger covered with oil and 
believed it came through the firewall from the engine.  He was dead.  She 
was about to go around to the driver, who was lying outside of the car.  
A man, who was the driver of the first car to arrive at the scene, told 
her not to go to the other side of the car.  She couldn't do anything for 
him.  As she walked back towards the highway, she heard the "death 
throttle" come from his throat and knew he had died.

She checked to see how the driver of the east-bound truck was and learned 
he was unharmed.  Another motorist told her the driver of the west-bound 
truck had a cut over his eyebrow.  Kathleen accompanied Connie to his 
truck.  When the east-bound truck crossed his path, he slammed on his 
brakes, hitting his forehead on the visor.  Connie gave him first-aid, 
returned to her car where it was decided nothing more could be done and 
the family continued towards home.

At home, termites were found in the front stairs.  They were torn out and 
replaced with a cement staircase with wrought iron railing.

Missionaries from The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints 
discussed the beliefs of their religion with Hazel Williams.  She 
accepted what she was taught and was baptized October 12, 1957.  She 
filled out referral forms for her mother, Nell Wagner and her cousin, 
Florence Regina Jones.  

On November 18, 1957 Florence was in the kitchen doing dishes while 
Kathleen was in the bathroom cleaning the sink.  Kathleen decided she 
didn't feel well and helped herself to the orange flavored Saint Joseph's 
aspirin for children.  Luckily, the bottle wasn't full, as Kathleen 
finished the aspirin that was in the bottle.  Another trip was made to 
the hospital to get her stomach pumped.  While a police officer talked to 
Florence, the nurses took Kathleen into a surgical type of room, placed 
her on a table, covered her with a blanket and strapped her down.  They 
pushed a tube into her throat and told her to swallow.  They both went 
into an adjoining room to count the aspirin as the fluids from her 
stomach emptied into a basin.  Back at home, a lock was placed on the 
larger medicine cabinet so that this would not happen again.

On Christmas Day each family opened their immediate family gifts at home, 
then they all met at the Weed's home for dinner and exchanging of 
extended family gifts.

Vaughn and Ruth Elkington, missionaries from The Church of JESUS CHRIST 
of Latter-Day Saints, taught the missionary discussions to Leo and 
Florence.  They accepted the teachings and were baptized April 12, 1958 
in the Walnut Creek ward building.  The custodian wasn't notified there 
was to be a baptism until shortly before it was to happen.  For the water 
to be warm, he drew hot water until it turned cold.  He waited for the 
water heater to warm up more water, then filled the font.  Due to the 
lack of time to use this method, he turned on the hot water to fill the 
font, but there was much more cold water that filled the font.  Thus, Leo 
and Florence were baptized in cold water.

The building in which they attended their meetings was at 250 Juana 
Avenue, about a mile and a half from their home.  Florence joined the 
Relief Society, a woman's organization.  Homemaking classes were taught 
monthly.  Some of the lessons Florence took advantage of were in using 
spices to add more flavor to foods and how to make quilts.  She was able 
to share some of the things she learned from the Farm Bureau classes.  
She was asked to be involved with teaching skills to others, which she 
did.  **As a result, she didn't spend as much time participating with Pat 
in the Farm Bureau classes.

Kathleen was taken to Sunday School and participated in Primary, a youth 
organization for children through eleven years of age.

At first, Aunt Nell wasn't as receptive to the teachings of this 
religion.  She was devout in her observance of the Catholic religion.  
Eventually, she too accepted the teachings and was