(On the occasion of Tom and Dessie Pritchard's 50th wedding anniversary, 1978. Names of the children have been changed.)

My parents lived and worked in the San Fernando area in their early married life. I was born in San Fernando.

I remember that my parents both worked some of the time at the San Fernando cannery. At the time of my birth, they lived very near my grandparents, Fred and Elizabeth Beebe. In fact, the back yards touched.

My father worked for a ranch in the Chatsworth area during my younger days (I don't remember the years). My sister Lucy was born in July 1934. We were living in San Fernando at this time. Lucy was born in the Los Angeles County hospital.

My father's two sisters, Ella and Cordie, lived in San Fernando when my parents lived there (1928 - 35). I remember them coming to our house, and us going to theirs. Aunt Ella had a Model A Ford with a rumble seat. She used to take Mother and her two daughters (at that time) around in it. We had same good times with Aunt Ella. There was a time when Dad, and Aunt Ella's husband Harry, went to Arizona to see Dad's folks, when I was five or six, There was a car accident, and Aunt Ella took Mother to see about it.

When I was about 5 years old (1935) we lived in Pacoima, which is very near to San Fernando. I don't know where my father worked. At that time work was hard to get, so he worked for the WPA and on other jobs to make ends meet. I remember that the neighbors around this place got together and went to the Weber bakery in Burbank to stand in line for day-old bread and other bakery goods. We also had to stand in line for other government food, clothes, and medical needs. My parents raised goats for milk and chickens for eggs. This also helped with the supply of fresh meat

My folks had an old Maxwell touring car about that time -- I don't remember when they got it. While we lived in Pacoima we also got a Model T Ford -- it was great fun. Before my folks moved from Pacoima, they got an old Chevy car-like truck from a friend of Dad's named Mr. Selby, who ran a gas station. We used that Chevy when we moved to Norco and Beaumont.

Around 1936 or 1937 my parents moved to Norco California. Uncle Frank Beebe also lived there then. I went to school there, but we only stayed about 6 or 9 months. Uncle Frank was helping build a dam for the Metropolitan Water Company. My father got a job with the same company, but his job was in Beaumont. Dad was away working in Beaumont while we lived in Norco.

In 1937 Dad found a house for us and we moved to Beaumont. This was a fun move -- just like from Pacoima to Norco. We had our household goods, pets, and animals (goats, chickens, and ducks) in the old Chevy car-like truck. When we left Norco for Beaumont we were loaded up, but good. I am sure we were an interesting sight to see. As I recall, the family car got a bit warm from the load and the climb out of Riverside to Beaumont.

When we got to Beaumont it was late afternoon. The house we were moving in to was small, but very nice. As Dad and Mom were unloading the household goods, Dad was letting down a chest of drawers and somehow Mom managed to get under it as it dropped, This really scared Dad, and shook Mom up a bit. Bill was on his way to join the family at the time. It didn't seem to hurt either Mom or Bill. When it came time to fix dinner, there was no electricity on yet in the house. So Mom did her best, as usual. With candles and a little heater like a blow torch (but I don't think it was a blow torch) Mother cooked up a warm meal for her family. She fixed up an eggplant casserole. As you might guess, eggplant was not one of her two daughters' favorites. Mom is one who never lets anything get her down -- she knows how to make do,

Dad worked on building one of the water tunnels bringing Colorado river to Los Angeles. This was near Beaumont and Banning. My brother Bill was born in Beaumont in February 1938.

My parents worked hard here, and were able to get ahead financially. They bought a 1932 Ford, in almost new condition. Boy, were we all proud of this car. We would get up before daylight (as is my father's custom) and go to visit Grandmother Beebe in San Fernando. It was always a fun trip and real great to see Grandmother.

My other grandparents, Pritchards, and Dad's four brothers all lived in Arizona. They came to visit often as they passed by to see Dad's sisters in San Fernando. It was fun to have them.

Near Beaumont there is a place called Cherry Valley. This area, as you might guess, had lots of cherries, but also peaches, apricots, pears, and apples. Needless to say, Mother did a lot of canning. The folks had some friends named Taylor who lived in Pacoima. They used to come and can cherries too. The family had some happy times in Beaumont.

While we lived in Beaumont, in late 1938 or early 1939, Aunt Nellie and Uncle Al Carpenter came to visit us. Uncle Al had been working in Arabia. It was exciting to see them. They told us stories of their travels They gave each of us a gift from foreign lands. Lucy and I still have the dolls they gave us -- mine was from Greece, and is still very pretty. (My daughter Bill have it one day.) Lucy's was real cute too; it was from Ethiopia. All of us were laughing when they came to visit us.

Besides raising goats, chickens, ducks, etc. while we lived in Beaumont, Mom and Dad bought a baby heifer calf. We brought her home in a burlap bag, and we named her Betsy. The folks raised her up, then put her out on pasture until she had her first calf. Dad was very proud of her -- she was a beauty.

Late in 1939, Dad's job building the water tunnel was finished. The folks decided to put their household goods into storage. They took the family to Arizona for a visit with Dad's parents and brothers. We stayed there for six weeks or more.

Then it was decided that we would go back to California. Dad was not working. We stopped by the storage place in Beaumont to check things out, but left our things there for a while longer. We stopped to see the man who had the young heifer Betsy in pasture, but we left her for a while longer also.

We went to Grandmother Beebe's in San Fernando. From there Dad took the family up to the Fresno area. At that time Friant Dam was being built. The family stayed in the area while Dad looked around for two or three weeks. Work was hard to find in 1939. Dad and Mother took their three kids back to San Fernando. We stayed with the Taylors in Pacoima and lived in a house near Olive View hospital.

Then the folks decided to buy a half-finished house in Canoga Park. This turned out to be very unpleasant, because with the winter rains came rising water. This same developer had more "finish yourself" houses in Reseda, so the folks traded the wet one for Reseda.

Dad had a hard time keeping work, as a lot of people did then. He would work at any kind of job he could find. Some of it was W.P.A. work. For a while he had to get up at 3 A.M. to go and work for a dairy, cleaning out the pens where the cows were kept.

While we lived in Reseda, my sister Dorothy was born (June 1940), in the Los Angeles County hospital.

We had some interesting times in this place. The house was finished on the outside, but the inside was only open rafters and open walls and cement floors. The walls were supposed to be finished with wood, but were only covered with paper.

We had no cupboards in the kitchen. So the folks got a nice little temporary cupboard to put the dishes in, and Dad made some shelves for the other things, One day Lucy, who was not over 7 years old at the times, climbed up on the dish cupboard for a look, and down came the cupboard, Lucy, and all. She wasn't hurt, just scared to death. But every dish was broken. So for a few days we ate out of pans and tin cans. Our friends and Grandmother Beebe looked around in their things and shared with us. So as time went on, the folks bought more dishes and we were fixed up again.

Before Dorothy was born, Mother did not feel too well. We had a lady who worked for the W.P.A. come to help Mom some.

Besides the house being unfinished, the roads were not paved in the tract, so when it rained the people had to park their cars about two blocks away and walk in. One rainy day, Mother was out visiting a neighbor, and she had Dorothy with her. She was walking near the house with Dad's boots on, and got stuck in the mud. Needless to say, she got a bit upset. Dad and a neighbor man finally heard her calling for help. When they came they were laughing so hard that at first they didn't help much, except to take Dorothy from Mother's arms. The other 3 of us were looking out the window and enjoying what we thought was funny. Well after it was over, and Mother got in the house, and got warm and clean, she too laughed a bit. Our family always had lots of laughs.

While living at this place, we got another cow. She was a nice old girl with horns that stuck straight out by her ears.

Also we got a dog named Duke. He belonged to someone else, but he liked us and kept coming to our house. So in June of 1941, when the family moved to Mira Loma, the people who owned Duke told us we could take him along. We kids were thrilled, and the folks liked Duke too. He was part of our family until about 1953.

This move to Mira Loma was a happy one for us kids. Our aunt Ruth Clason lived there also -- she was a dear. We moved into a house on Frank Street in Mira Loma. Dad was still working in the San Fernando area, on Hansen Dam. So he stayed in San Fernando with Grandmother Beebe, and came home to Mira Loma on week ends (75 miles) until that job was finished.

It was not long after we moved to Mira Loma that the U.S. entered World War II. Dad studied welding and learned to be very good at it. He got a job in Cucamonga, making pontoons for floating bridges.

In 1944, my folks bought the house at 6462 Frank Street, next door to where we were living. It was a small house on an acre of land, with a lot of fruit trees and out buildings. When we moved in, there was no indoor plumbing. Later the house was remodeled to have three bedrooms, a large living room and kitchen, and a bathroom. This was the family home until October 1969.

In the 1940's, the family joined in many community activities and responsibilities. Dad was on the local school board. Mother and Father always made their children's friends and their own friends feel welcome and comfortable. We had a houseful of friends on many a Sunday afternoon. We would make ice cream and play games.

After 1946 we vent to church in Corona. In 1948 it was decided that here were enough people from Mira Loma going to Corona, that a new church could be started in Mira Loma. After many work parties and pot luck suppers, this new church got well under way. At one time or another, Mother was the Sunday School superintendent, teacher for the Junior class, and church treasurer.

My sister Sally Ann was born in October 1947, in the Riverside Community Hospital. We were all old enough to enjoy watching her grow. She was a great addition to our family.

There was an empty lot (one acre) next door, which Mother and Father bought. They used it sometimes for gardening. It kept them busy finding ways to feed their five growing children, without going broke. Dad raised pigs, so we could eat the pork, and he sold some to help with the cost. By this time the heifer Betsy was providing our milk and butter. We all grew wide from drinking so much rich milk. Mother also had some extra milk and butter to sell. She did a lot of canning too, and Dad enjoyed helping after work. Mother did lots of sewing. We kids were well dressed and well fed.

Mother took a job as caretaker of the small school we went to. There were three rooms and a small kitchen to care for. This was in 1946-47. The whole family joined in to help after school. It was a lot of work, but it could be fun at tines, After 1947, Mother had enough to do with Sally Ann, so she gave up the school job.

In the 1950's, Mother and Father enjoyed the fellowship of a small group in their neighborhood who got together about once a month for an evening of fun.

After the war ended in 1945, Dad went to work for L.A. Young Spring and Wire Co. in Corona. He worked there until he retired in 1969.

In 1953, Mother went back to work; this time helping get squabs ready for market. She worked while the older children were in school, and Sally Ann went with her and kept busy playing. It was at a small pigeon farm, run by the Kennedys.

After that, Mother worked at a Mexican restaurant, in the school cafeteria, and at a turkey farm. She went to work in the kitchen of Park View hospital in Corona (around 1955 - 56? Then she went to work at Circle City and to a hospital in Riverside? Ask Sally Ann.)

In May 1961, Grandmother Beebe moved to Mira Loma. The family was mostly grown by then. We all enjoyed her very much. She enjoyed going shopping with Dad, and he liked taking her. Dad, Mother, and Grandmother had good times together. By this time there were quite a few grandchildren.

Mother and Dad moved to Terra Bella CA in November 1969. Mother worked in the school cafeteria for a short while, in Terra Bella. Dad busied himself in the yard and with his car. They did lots of canning, and went fishing at Lake Success. Dad took lots of pictures with his movie camera.