While in Bakersfield I had the opportunity to look through some of Great Grandma Clara's albums. There is a lot I don't know about Great Grandma but she is pretty much the only Grandma I remember while growing up. Her second husband Grandpa Floyd was the only Grandpa I knew. These are all cellphone pictures of pictures so sorry for the poor quality!
Wettelosheim is where Great Great Grandma Josephine (Clara's mother) lived. The children learned German, French and English in school. English was a standard subject but they taught both German and English because the town switched regularly between being part of Germany and France so the language shifted with each change of "ownership".
Great Great Grandma Josephine grew up in Wettelosheim sharing a back fence with Great Great Grandpa Alphonse.
Great Great Josephine's family.
Great Great Grandpa Alphonse chose to serve America in World War One as opposed to much of his family who ended up fighting with the Germans. When the war was over and done he went back to Wettelosheim to get Josephine and bring her to America as a "war bride".
Great Great Grandma Josephine and Alphonse settled in the Mojave desert in California outside of Barstow. This is the house Great Grandma Clara grew up in. Great Great Grandpa Alphonse planted alf-alfa around the house because it helped cooled the house. When the breeze ran through the green alf-alfa it cooled as opposed to blowing in over the hot desert sand. They made their own rootbeer and kept it in the cellar. On occasion the bottle of rootbeer would explode! While growing up here Great Grandma Clara and her brother Bob would collect tortoises from the surrounding desert. They had a pen for them. Sometimes during the night the tortoises would dig out from the pen but once the day got hot they always came back! They sold the tortoises to travelers on the nearby highway (before it became illegal).
Great Great Uncle Bob and Great Grandma Clara
Great Grandma Clara and her siblings, Mary, Barbara and Bob
Mary, Great Grandma Clara, Barbara and Bob swimming in the reservoir
Mary, Great Grandma Clara, Barbara and Bob
1930: Great Grandma Clara is the first on the left in the center row
The school was all grades in one school. A lot of the students were kids of the farmers so Great Grandma Clara and her siblings were some of the few white kids in the school. Apparently as Great Grandma Clara grew she was given her brother's hand me downs (she grew up during the depression). The only problem was that by the time she outgrew them they were worn out so her younger sister Mary got to have brand new GIRL clothes which were then passed down to her youngest sister Barbara.
1932: Great Grandma Clara is third from the right in the center row
1933: Great Grandma Clara is second from the left in the center row.
1935: Great Grandma Clara is fourth from the right in the center row
1936: Great Grandma Clara is third from the right in the center row
This is where she lived while attending school for nursing. She attended UC San Francisco and live in Parnassus Hall.
This is her graduation from the nursing program. Great Grandma Clara is the front right. This group of ladies continued to get together for reunions for decades after graduating.
Great Grandma Clara is fourth from the left on the top step.
Second row, right side, aisle seat.
The is the ship Great Grandma Clara and two other nurses worked on to Japan, in Japan and back. She went there twice. Her last trip was supposed to be to Hawaii but she fell ill and was unable to go!
Great Great Grandma and Grandpa are in the center row on the left. Great Grandma Clara is standing tall in the back.
Her first wedding to Great Grandpa Angus. They got married during the second world war. They were married in Seattle where they worked at Fort Lewis. He was a ambulance driver and she was an RN who outranked him. Madigan Hospital at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington is still standing today.
This pictures is so beautiful!
She served on the army for 23 months much of which was at Fort Lewis in Washington.
Great Grandpa Angus and Great Grandma Clara had five children: Barbara, Grandma G (Karen), Mary, Theresa and Denise. They stayed married until after Grandma G was married to Papa G. They divorced and both ended up happily remarried.
In 1985 she married Great Grandpa Floyd. Together they moved from Bakersfield, CA to Salmon, ID.
Their home was located along the salmon river, they had cows for some time and then hay was grown in the fields. I remember spending one summer walking along behind the hay baler. There was a cliff on the other side of the river where we hiked with Papa G and even chiseled out some rocks to take home. We went there every Christmas. It got quite cold with a lethal array of icicles hanging from the eves! The river would even freeze! I remember one year along the edge of the river, where the ice was smooth, Papa G threw us along the ice alongside the river. (Parallel to, not into!) It was wonderful fun and I remember wishing I was smaller in years to come so we could repeat it. We would go for rides on their quads down the road and see some of the creepy little shacks along the back roads. It was rattlesnake country and I remember being constantly terrified of them. I would skitter down the stairs to the river as fast as my legs would carry me for fear there were snakes hiding beneath the treads! We played many games of croquet, played with their dog fancy and played mountain climber on the loose rocks behind the barn. There was even an old typewrite we used to play with in the barn. For a while Great Grandpa Floyd collected old farm equipment which of course we would climb on and play. I remember being fascinated watching the HUGE sprinklers get moved on their giant wagon wheel type wheels. We played atari there and snuggled around their wood stove in the middle of their family room. Santa was quite the sneak seeing as we would occasionally sleep sprawled out around that fireplace on Christmas Eve. There was one summer a bird flew into their window. We tried so hard to rescue that little bird but I think its neck was broken and we ended up burying it instead. We swam in the river, we played with their dog Fancy (who eventually decided she wanted to be a working dog and ran off to live with a rancher down the road) and made many wonderful memories. Great Grandma Clara and Grandma G would climb into the river in the summer to unplug the water pump and end up toppling down into the water. To this day Great Grandma Clara gets jerky from there to send everyone for Christmas! Daddy is in love with it and it may be his most anticipated gift at Christmas time.
When I got a guitar for Christmas (which I never did learn how to play) Great Grandpa Floyd tried to teach me a little before he went home. He was quite the guitar playing cowboy. Grandpa Floyd died when I was about 10. Grandma Clara chose to move back to Bakersfield at that time. She still came up to visit us every year but we definitely missed their Salmon home.
Great Grandma Clara has spent the years since then living in this lovely home. She grows her Christmas cacti, made her beautiful knit and crochetted creations and volunteered way more than full time hours at the local gleaners and senior bingo. She is weak right now due to congestive heart failure and is still recovering from her bout with pneumonia. She is getting stronger thank goodness!
Great Grandma Clara has once again taken to keeping tortoises. They are currently hibernating tucked into a bed of newspaper.
She sold Great Grandpa Floyd's truck to a neighbor so we got to see it on our way to Great Aunt Mary's for dinner.
Great Great Uncle Bob and Great Great Aunt Barbara
Great Grandma Clara was incredibly patient and talented with any form of sewing. I am blessed to have a collection of beautiful things that she made just for me.
Each of the dresses on this quilt is made from fabric that was used to make dresses for Grandma G and her sisters.
Great Grandma Clara loved my old fashioned fancy bedroom set so much that she thought this overlay would be perfect. It is patiently awaiting the day that it can safely go back on the bed it was made for.
Kayda's baby blanket
Carson's baby blanket
Dillon's baby blanket
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