After the strike of 1935, and the birth of Darlene, Lovell saved diligently for a trip back to his natal home in ND-MT with his new daughter. But at his wages of $0.50 per hour, it was not possible to drive there in the summer of 1936. Also, apparently, paid vacations were not yet a part of mill workers’ benefits. That must have come a few years later, possibly after another strike. So Dad insisted that Mother and Darlene go by train. The round trip, adult fare was $64.00 – quite a chunk of change in those days, but somehow they managed it.
At Dad’s insistence, Mother accomplished a reconciliation with her parents, and visited them at their home in Savage, MT.
Pictured above are Reatha, sisters Esther and Leah, and Darlene.
Also according to Lovell’s wishes, Darlene was baptized in the little church at Skaar, ND.
For the return trip to Longview, some more Larson’s participated. This detail is not too clear on the tapes, but it seems that Uncle Vernon, fresh out of high school, bought a new 1936 Chevrolet for $750, and drove to Longview with Reatha, Darlene, and Uncle Ivan. The vehicle may have looked something like the one below. Possibly, Vernon bought the car for Lovell, as it was also in a 1936 Chevy that Mom, Dad, and Darlene made their first road trip to the homelands three years later. It is unknown where the $750 came from; one may speculate that Lovell had some remaining livestock or other assets that were liquidated at that time.
Once in Longview, both Vernon and Ivan stayed at Mom and Dad’s for an extended period. Vernon attended Lower Columbia Junior College (its first year in existence), while Ivan attended his freshman year of high school. Mind you, they all lived in a tiny mill-workers’ cabin. Vernon and Ivan shared the back bedroom, through which the others had to pass to use the outhouse! [Note in the comments below that Uncle Ivan remembers this quite differently.] After that one school year, Ivan returned to Sidney, and Vernon transferred to Willamette College in Salem, Oregon.
In 1937, the family moved to another rented house (owned by the mill), this one on 20th Ave. It was somewhat larger, but the big upgrade was that for the first time, their home had a bathroom. As Mom put it, they were really “coming up in the world!”
Two years later (1939), Reatha and Lovell bought their own home on 15th Ave. What frugality it must have taken to save up a down payment, on a mill-worker’s wages! By this time, Uncle Walt and Aunt Irene had moved to Longview with their infant daughter, Lois.
It was not until about 1946 [it was really around 1941, according to Ivan] that Isaac sold his ND farm and moved to Longview. He bought a small dairy farm near the present site of Robert Gray school, but poor health soon forced him to retire to a smaller place with only one milk cow, a vegetable garden, and a small orchard, which he maintained almost until his death in 1969. [Again, it seems that Mother was not remembering the events and dates quite correctly — there was apparently no other Longview farm than the one-cow operation I remember.] In 1949, my parents moved to the familiar place at 4316 Pacific Way, where my sisters and I grew up, and where Mother lived until 2000.
I hope you have enjoyed this series, taken largely from those cassette tapes Bonnie made almost 15 years ago.
Next: The mystery of Philip Myers’ parents.
Lois Larson Hall
May 27, 2010
George, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all these latest posts with your mother’s recollections through the years. Bonnie, it was a stroke of genius to have a tape recorder going while you and your mother were traveling! Every post on olelarsonsfolks blog has something new whether it’s about our ancestry (people we can never know personally)or posts like these about those of our own generation, the ones we do know, but we learn so much about them that we weren’t aware of before.
For example, I had no idea that our Uncles Vernon and Ivan had lived with your folks in Longview for a school year, or that Grandpa Isaac had bought a dairy farm before he bought his place on 48th Avenue. Why that doesn’t ring a bell I don’t know as I was about 9 years old when Grandpa moved to Longview, but I can’t conjure up any memory of visiting him anywhere but in the house on 48th. Wake up brain!
Uncle I
May 27, 2010
I, too, have enjoyed your posts of those early years. Brings back many memories. Some of the dates in your latest posts are incorrect but that is immaterial. I went to Longview to attend my Freshman year in 1936. At that time Lovell and Reatha lived at 602-15th Avenue. I remember that as it was my first experience with indoor plumbing. Isaac moved to Longview in 1942 just before I entered service.
Anyway, You have done a terrific job and it is much appreciated.
George
May 27, 2010
Yes, Mom’s memory was not too keen even in 1995. But it is odd that she thought they had not moved to 602-15th until Darlene was about four. Their previous house on 20th (1937-39 in her recollection), she said was their first with indoor plumbing. But in 1936, when you rode to Longview with Vernon, Mom, and 1-year-old Darlene, and stayed for a school year, she thought they were still on 17th. Less surprising that she missed Grandpa’s arrival in Longview by a few years. Do you recall Isaac having a dairy farm prior to his 1-cow operation on 48th?
Uncle I
May 28, 2010
No, I do not remember of him having a dairy farm. As I recall he went to work for Long Bell after he arrived in Longview. However, I was gone in the service for three years so am not sure what transpired during that time.
Lois Larson Hall
May 28, 2010
Aha, I remember now that Grandpa worked at the mill, and that was before we moved to Castle Rock in 1944. Another memory about working at the mill, my Aunt Vera worked there too, not sure for how long, but it was during the war years when women were put to work in men’s jobs because of manpower shortage while so many men were serving in the armed forces. (Sort of a Rosie the Riveter job, except dealing with lumber and not airplane production.)
George
May 28, 2010
Wow, Lois, I didn’t know your Aunt Vera ever lived in Longview. And, Uncle Ivan, I too think Mom was mistaken about the dairy farm. She must have meant his place on 48th. He did sell milk from his one cow (at some point he may have had two). I had heard of him working at the mill, but it must not have been for very long. Maybe it was in approx. 1946 (shortly before I was born) that he retired & took up his mini-farm, rather than moving to Longview at that time.
Lois Larson Hall
Jun 3, 2010
Vera came out to Longview I THINK in 1942. I don’t have any recollection of how long she worked at the mill but can remember her leaving the house in her coveralls with her lunch bucket in hand. She must have lived with us in our little house on 15th at least for a time. By the time we moved from the 15th Ave. house in Longview to Castle Rock in the summer of 1944 she had been hired as a teacher at the junior high school in Kelso, and lived upstairs over the Orr Furniture Company (Orr Apartments.) She taught 8th grade in Kelso until the end of school year in 1950, when she returned to Williston and went into business, opening Treasure Island Gift Shop, with my mother’s other sister, Jessie.
George
Jun 3, 2010
Thanks, cousin. Like, Vera the Riviter 🙂 Do you remember your address on 15th? Was it near Darlene et. al. (602)? I drove by that house earlier this year, after a comment from Darlene. It still looks about the same as in pictures from the 1940’s. You don’t suppose that the Orr Apartments and Orr Furniture were in the same family as Mom’s arch-nemesis on Pacific Way (Walter, I think)?
Lois Larson Hall
Jun 17, 2010
I’d thought of that same phrase, “Vera the Riviter,” as she was one among many women who took over men’s work when the men were serving in the military. Our 15th St. house was in the 400-block, 456 maybe, but I’m not sure that house number is correct. Anyway, it was just a block + a few houses away from 602 15th, easy walking distance for a little kid back when it was safe for a little kid to walk alone. My folks rented there, then moved to Castle Rock in 1944 and until 1947 (also in a rented house), then they bought the place on Beacon Hill.
The Orr Apts. were above Orr Furniture Co. in Kelso, same owner. What’s the story on your mother’s acquaintance with a member of the Orr family? It’s something I guess I never heard about.
On another subject, now a few weeks have passed and my brain has mulled over some earlier information. I do remember a place Grandpa Isaac had before he bought the little house where he lived in the upstairs apt. I’m pretty sure the earlier was on 48th Ave. too, just a little further in toward OB Highway, a big old fashioned boxy house. There was a smaller house there too and I’m pretty sure Lorraine & Glen lived there for a time as I remember being part of a “chivaree” the family/extended family had for them. Somehow I also have a memory of Vernon & Audrey living in that house at one time too, about the time Joyce was born. Memories can be tricky so I hope someone out there can verify some of this. The part I know for sure is that Grandpa did have that earlier place. His intent may have been to have a small dairy farm there after all.
George
Jun 17, 2010
Wow, cousin, keep thinking. We are on a good scent here. On the tapes, Lorraine and Glenn were part of that earlier “dairy farm” story. Either they loaned Grandpa money for the place, or he loaned them money. I had to look up “chivaree,” and that makes good sense. I would love to find out if that was an actual dairy, or just a potential one. Very possible that Vernon and Audrey lived there at some point.
On a more controversial note, Walter (? I think) Orr bought the land on the east side of 4316 after Dad died. Mom was very bitter about some of his actions, including bulldozing a driveway that killed some trees along the property line. There was also a dispute about the line itself. I never met Mr. Orr, and do not completely believe all Mom’s assertions, but it did seem he was quite heavy-handed. When Mom moved out in 2000, he bought the property under a bit of subterfuge.