1973 Trip to New York City via West Allis

August 1973 in on 82nd Street in West Allis, Wisconsin. Table now lives at Tom's brothers home. Beatrice Kemp, Me, Tom, our 1st daughter, Frank Jenske, Hazel Jenske and elbow of Elsie Wilson. Tom's parents and little sister and possibly youngest brother would also have been at this meal. The dress I'm wearing is from fabric that came from my Aunt Erma's trunk. Fabric that she had purchased when she lived in Hawaii.

The rest of the story: Tom graduated with his MFA in Theater from University of Oregon in the spring of 1973. We spent the summer in McMinnville, Oregon where he directed the summer theater. We were POOR - just out of college students. The theater housed us in peoples homes who were going on vacation.

We had a baby, a stroller a sewing machine and a crib. Everything else was in storage. (That included a small table and chairs, a treadle sewing machine and Grandma Krythe's library table. Not much else).

Viet Nam POW's were starting to be released - and the Watergate Scandal was revealed. I remember sewing costumes for the play Tom was directing (Finnians Rainbow) and watching all of this happen on the color t.v. in the home in which we were staying.

At the end of the play Tom needed a job and was applying everywhere he could think of. He decided to go to some National Theater meeting in New York City.

We packed up our car and headed out with gas cans tied to the top. (Gas shortage that year also). One was stolen at the motel in Boise. The plan was that he would leave our baby and I in West Allis and continue the journey on the plane.

We had a great trip. We drove through the Tetons. We visited Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. It was hotter and more humid the closer we got to Wisconsin.

I remember how hard the heat was on our 6 month old daughter. Mom Gill (Harriet) got her a little swimming pool. Dad Gill (Bob) would walk with her at night talking to her in his soothing deep voice. (She was also teething, of course).

Anyway - Tom came back to West Allis from his meeting with a chance to work at a University in the South and not much else. He received a phone call from a community college in Salem. They were looking for a Theater Teacher. Tom had dropped an application at the Dept. Heads home in McMinnville as we headed out of town. Tom was the man!!!

To Salem, Oregon we drove - not a sight seeing trip. I'm thinking we had Tom's youngest brother along and dropped him of in SLC, Utah. We moved in with my Grandma Maysel and Grandpa Dick. We found an apartment. Tom went to work and "life went on".

Easter 1973

This is one more Easter Picture for today (many follow).
This was April 22, 1973 in Eugene, Oregon.
Back row are Tom's dad Robert Gill with his Mom Harriet;
my Grandpa Dick and Grandma Maysel; Tom's sister, brother and sister in law.
Front Row Tom's "baby" sister, me and Tom's sisters roommates.

Our baby - born in February - is sleeping behind us.

Tom was finishing up his MFA in Theater at the University. He was working on a rock opera "The Survival of St. Joan" that was really quite remarkable! His brother was working at a Plywood Factory and his brothers girl friend (now wife) had come for a visit from BYU. Tom's sister was working as an Accountant at Rosboro Lumber in Springfield, Oregon.

Tom's dad had been laid off as a quality control person at Allen Bradley in Milwaukee, Wisconsin so took advantage of a little time and decided to ride the train with his wife and the "baby" sister out to Oregon to see the family and their first grandchild!

On this Easter Sunday we ate at Tom's sisters home that she shared with several roommates. My grandparents drove down from Salem to join us also. The main thing I remember is that it was a wonderfully warm April day and that Tom bought everyone water guns for Easter. We had a really fun time!!

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson Photo Album

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson's home(duplex) on 9th Street in Corvallis, Oregon.

I recently found a photo album of my Great Grandmother Cora Ann Butler. Sanderson More about Cora's birth etc. will be found in earlier blogs. During this time it appears that she must have lived in Corvallis. I'm not sure when she moved there.

Grandma Maysel and Grandpa Dick were married June 14, 1918. It was right after their graduation from Oregon State College.

Grandpa worked as a professor at Oregon State College - but sometime during that time he was shipped off to war as a part of a Calvary Troop in the Army. On his way to war - the ship turned around and he returned home as the war was over.

I know that he worked at Oregon State College - I'm not sure of how long. Then, he and Grandma Maysel bought a farm in Lakeview, Oregon where my Mom was born in 1923.

It could be that during the time that Grandma and Grandpa were in Corvallis that Great Grandmother Sanderson (Cora Ann Butler Sanderson) bought a home there to be close to them.

Interesting note - I know that Great Grandmother Sanderson was in Klamath Falls during the time Grandpa Dick went to war as Grandma Maysel returned home; took her maiden name; and taught Home Economics at the High School. As a married lady she would not have been able to teach.

She also involved the girls in making care packages and bandages for the soldiers.

Now - for the photo album.

Cora Ann Butler Sandersons Photo Album 1927

Jean Ann Richards Sanderson 4th birthday
Canyonville, Oregon

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson Photo Album 1926

Jean Ann Richards, Betty Salinger and Eleanor Jeanette Richards
Jean Ann Richards and Eleanor Jeanette Richards
(note the bloomers. Grandma Maysel and my mother always
made bloomers to go under dresses that matched the dress!)
Jean Ann Richards
Eleanor Jeanette Richards and Jean Ann Richards
Jean Ann Richards Miners Shack in
Canyonville, Oregon. 3rd Birthday

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson Photo Album 1925

Jean Ann Richards
Canyonville, Oregon 1925

Cora Ann Butlers Photo Album 1924

Jean Ann Richards 1924 in Salem, Oregon
at Grandma Margaret Richards Home.

Eleanor Jeanette Richards born 1 June 1924 in June.
This picture was taken in September

Eleanor Jeanette Richards, 1924, in her buggy.
Gray with blue fabric lining.
Maysel Ellen Sanderson Richards with
daughter Eleanor Jeanette August 1924.
Cora Ann Butler Sanderson with
Granddaughter Eleanor Jeanette Richards August 1924.

1923 Photo Album of Cora Ann Butler Sanderson

Jean Ann Richards with Collie Dog Bob
Lakeview, Oregon May, 1923

Jean Ann Richards 8 months old

Double Exposure of Jean Ann Richards taking a bath.
A prized photo of my Grandparents!

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson with Jean Ann and her son Lawrence.
I'm guessing that Lawrence drove his mother Cora (Great Grandmother Sanderson)
to Lakeview to see Maysel and Dick and the new baby!

Jean Ann Richards 8 months old
(writing by her mother - Maysel Ellen Sanderson Richards)

Cora Ann Butler Sanderson with Jean Ann Richards

Gayle Sanderson, daughter of Lawrence,
granddaughter of Cora and cousin of Jean Ann.
Gayle was born in November of 1920

I'm thinking this is a picture of Dick and Sandy (Maysel)
and their daughter Jean Ann. The car is a Hut mobile owned by Cora.

Hot Cross Buns

Me on Christmas Morning 1968 in West Allis, Wisconsin

Shortly after this picture was taken Tom and I moved to Shorewood, Wisconsin. We found a "flat" close to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and not far from Lake Michigan. Tom had been laid off from Allis Chalmers where he worked as a Chemical Technician just before Christmas and decided to go back to school to earn a degree in Theater. I was working in the recreation department of a nursing home.

My sister Ruth had moved out from Idaho and was living with us . She had a job working as a secretary at a t.v. station and also did some modeling.

It was Easter and I was in the baking, plus Good Neighbor, mode. I made, for the first time ever, Hot Cross Buns. Wonderful yeast rolls with a cross of frosting on the top.

I took a pan down to our neighbors and knocked on the door. No one came to the door so I left them outside the door on the porch. The buns stayed and stayed there. No one took them in.

It was later I found that our neighbors were Jewish and that hot cross buns were NOT something they wished to have.

A learning experience.

So - enough Easter Stories for one day I am thinking - I need to go walk my dog! Karen

"Dude" ate the eggs

Picture Jean Ann Richards Griggs and Eleanor Jeanette Richards Bateman
1926 in Canyonville, Oregon.

(In this true story I call the mom and dad Grandpa Dick and Grandma Maysel because they are my grandparents - but during this time they were not grandparents yet but parents of two little girls - my mom Jean Ann and her sister Eleanor.)

By 1929 my mom, Jean Ann Richards, and her family had moved to Bozeman, MT where my Grandpa Dick worked for Montana State University's Agriculture Dept. I am not sure of all that he did. I do know that he traveled the state a great deal on the train, starting and supporting 4-H clubs and working with the Extension Service. It was during this time that the famous "Dude" incident occurred. I heard the "Dude" incident every Easter I was with my Grandma Maysel.

On a business trip in Montana once Grandpa Dick took his car and also his family. They had gone for dinner and were walking back to the hotel when they passed a pet store. In the window was a little Boston Bull Dog. Anyone who has been with children can well imagine the scenario.

No matter what, Grandma and Grandpa were positive they could not afford the dog. Back to the hotel. But, as they thought about it, there was the money they were saving for a new suit for Grandpa Dick - one that he needed for work. He could probably go a little longer without a new suit.

Next day the girls were owners of a new little Boston Bull Dog that someone in the family named Dude!

Now - jump forward a year or so to Easter Sunday Morning. The eggs had been colored by the Eleanor and Jean Ann the day before. Grandma Maysel was up early and outside. She hid the eggs all over the back yard. She did NOT notice that Dude was outside also.

When the girls got up they ran out to find their Easter Eggs. Tears came as they couldn't find a single one. Not one egg.

When Grandma looked - she found Dude - nearly passed out - totally rounded tummy! Dude had followed her and eaten all of the eggs as she hid them.

The End!

Easter Lamb Cake

It was the 2002 Easter Sunday. During those years I traditionally made an Easter Lamb Cake - pound cake in a lamb mold. Frosted and the decorated with a licorice jelly bean eye and a pink jelly bean nose.

We had guests for dinner. They brought an amazing cheese cake. My Easter Lamb, uneaten, was covered and put into the refrigerator.

The next morning my oldest daughter called and I settled in to have a wonderful visit - to hear about all that she and her family were doing and what they had done for Easter.

As we talked I kept thinking about that lamb cake and thought that maybe I should just have a bite of the tail. YUM!! And cream cheese frosting!! YUM YUM!!

As we talked I slowly ate my way (a piece at a time of course) up the cake.

By the time we concluded our conversation only the head was left.

It was then that I remembered the words of my Weight Watcher Leader - she said - Eat with Dignity!

And so - I put the head on a plate - poured a big glass of milk - sat down at the table and finished off the Lamb Cake.

Karen

Easter Sunday

Warren, Oregon 1953 my sisters and I with our Grandma Maysel at the Joe Fisher Hereford Ranch. Our Grandfather was the manager. Grandma's Iris collection. These dresses look like dresses Grandma Maysel probably bought for us. They don't look homemade!

1953 my sisters and I (I'm the tall one in the middle) at our Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rex's ranch on Geckler Lane in LaGrande, Oregon. Same dresses as above!

1954 Salem, Oregon My sisters and I and new chicks!

The new chicks under the heat lamp. They lived awhile in our kitchen.

It is April 3, 2010. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday - the celebration of the possibility of eternal life for each of us because of the Saviors sacrifice and for the fact that He was able to rise from the tomb. I am so thankful for that!!

In my growing up - and in my life as an adult - that has always been central to the holiday for me!

But, I am thankful also, for the traditions - the dressing up, the baby chicks and eggs and bunnies - all the signs of spring - of beginning! Celebrations of life!!

One of my clearest memories of Easter was a rainy Easter morning in Central Point - it would have been in about 1956. We were up early to go to an Easter Sunrise Service. We were members of a Pentecostal type of Church.

As we were getting ready to go the television was on and the music was by a wonderful choir called The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

It is interesting to me that I have that clear memory as now I am a member of the LDS Church and I start every Sunday morning listening to that choir!

I bought whisks yesterday. I read in the April Issue of Family Fun Magazine that one can put an egg in a whisk and it is a really easy way to dip the eggs in the dye.

I bought vinegar and Easter Egg dye and someone will get to dye eggs with me today! Even at 63 I love coloring on them with crayon and dipping them in the dye! Mine usually are covered with daisies.

I think of those days so long ago - taking my Saturday night bath - sitting on the floor by the couch with mama covering my head in pin curls - tying a scarf around them and then sleeping all night on those hard lumps!

I think of years later when I was a young Mom - getting Easter clothes ready for each of my 5 children - usually home made! I loved making their clothes! I remember the year of Cabbage Patch dolls. I made my daughters dresses for themselves and their dolls to match!

I remember making arrangements with the Easter Bunny so that he would arrive at our home on Saturday morning instead of Sunday. Then we would have ALL DAY to get that sugar out of our systems so that we could sit still at Church. I always loved it when he left licorice jelly beans!

And so - as I have this remembering time - I am SO thankful that most of all that I do remember that I am a Child of God and that because of Easter and our Savior Jesus Christ I can look forward to living with Him and with my family forever! Happy Easter - Karen