My Autobiography
Bill Norin
Copyright 2011 by William Norin
Smashwords Edition
Preface
When teaching my genealogy classes I usually ask students how many wished they had asked their parents more questions before they died, almost all raise their hands. My kids haven’t asked me about my life (those ingrates) so that is why I am telling it here. I cannot recall anything prior to kindergarten so that shall be where I start, except that I show a couple early pictures.
Dedicated to Tom Norin
“You only live once but if you live right, once is enough”
Anonymous
WE ARE THE CHOSEN
“We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us, "Tell our story!" So, we do.
In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say.
It goes beyond just documenting facts. We do not judge our ancestors as we did not walk in their shoes, we are here to report facts and that is all. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying, "I can't let this happen." The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish, how they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family.
It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. Without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So, we do.
With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are they and they are the sum of who we are. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers.
That is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory or greet those whom we had never known before.”
Anonymous
Chapter I
My mother was born on a farm on the Central Coast of California. She had 13 sibs. Her father came to California from Nova Scotia in 1869 and her mom from Benicia, Ca. Her Gillis grandparents came from Prince Edward Island and prior to that from the Highlands.
Dad was Swedish on his dad’s side. His father came to the US in 1867 and his mom was Irish and was from County Cavan. In 1891 Annie's mother, who was a widow by this time, moved in with them at 544 1/2 Natoma Street where they had resided since their marriage (see picture below).
On April 6, 1895 Dad was born at Children’s Hospital in San Francisco. The family was living at 505 Sutter and Andrew’s residence was above his tailor shop. The following year the family moved to #10 Diamond Street at the eastern foot of Twin Peaks. Supposedly Andrew left his family in order to participate in the Alaska Gold Rush. I believe however this was a story Dad created in order to cover up his parents separation for the 1900 census showed him living in Marin County.
Andrew received his final naturalization papers on May 23, 1901. A year later Mary Toher, Andrew’s mother in-law died in SF at the age of 74. Like the rest of the family she was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in South San Francisco. In 1902 the family was together again living at 10321 ½ Folsom Street.
Natona Street
Andrew and Annie
Descendants of John F Norin
1 John F Norin
........2 Andrew Norin1854 - 1920
............+Annie Mc Caffery1863 - 1915
...................3 Edna Frances Norin1888 - 1969
.......................+Henry Reed
...................*2nd Husband of Edna Frances Norin:
.......................+Peter Sarsfield,1883 - 1965
...................3 Walter Emmet Norin,1895 - 1957
.......................+Mary Margaret Mc Donald,1892 - 1968
..............................4 Phyllis Norin,1925 -
..................................+James Barnes,1925 - 1992
.........................................5 Mark Barnes,1951 -
.............................................+Michelle Brewer
....................................................6 Nicole M Barnes
..............................................................7 Damian James Barnes,1998 -
.........................................5 Nancie Barnes,1953 -
.............................................+Tom Rouse,1955 -
....................................................6 Robert Rouse,1975 -
........................................................+Deanna Michelle Rae,1976 -
..............................*2nd Husband of Phyllis Norin:
..................................+Gordon Van Ness,1924 -
..............................4 William Walter Norin,1928 -
..................................+Patricia Kauffmann,1931 -
.........................................5 Thomas Jeffrey Norin,1957 - 1981
.........................................5 Steven William Norin,1960 -
.............................................+Jennifer Gusman,1962 -
....................................................6 Jeffrey Samuel Norin,1991 -
....................................................6 Mollie Michelle Norin,1992 -
.........................................5 Scott Robert Norin,1962 -
.............................................+Amy Lynn Baker,1969 -
....................................................6 Andrew Thomas Norin,1997 -
....................................................6 Abigail Ann Norin,1999 -
Dad was born in San Francisco and lived through the 1906 SF Quake. He recalled being shaken awake at 5:15 AM, the morning of April 18. He thought it was his parent trying to awaken him. They went up on the roof and watched SF burn and later they were taken out to the Presidio Golf Course and put up in Army tents. Later the family hiked home only to be confronted by Army troops who had barricaded the streets.
Here's a neat opportunity to enjoy some time travel. The film is from a streetcar traveling down Market Street in San Francisco, four days before the big earthquake/fire that destroyed the area. You can clearly see the ferryboat building at the end of the street at the Embarcadero wharf that's still there. The quality & detail is great, so be sure to view it full screen.
Note that the cars have either right or left side drives. I think it was 1913 before we standardized on the left side. Also note that everyone is wearing a hat, even the kids.
Click the URL below to see a really neat flick of the Quake: Be patient, it may take time opening:
http//www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k
Dad recalled cracks opening up on the cobblestone streets.
In 1901 the family along with hundreds of other city dwellers climbed nearby Buena Vista Hill in order to see Haley’s Comet on one of its rare visits. Our family saw it 75 year later in 1985.
Dad’s sister, Edna, lived in San Francisco and later in Marin County. She was first married to Henry Reed and later, Peter Sarsfield.
My dad was at sea most of his young life.
He is on the far right.
Dad often shared with Phyl and I a small hardtack biscuit in a shiny tin. The outer crust of the biscuit contained the signatures of nineteen sailors who had been the survivors of the torpedoed steamship Divinsk. An account of that vessel's travails follows:
“The Divinsk sailed from New York on May 10, 1918... carrying troops one of whom reached France in safety.
On the return voyage the convoy ships separated before reaching the coast and on June 18th the Divinski was torpedoed by an enemy submarine some 200 miles from her destination, Hampton Roads, Virginia. The captain ordered the engines stopped and the ship abandoned. No one was killed or hurt by the explosion and no lives were lost in abandoning the ship.
The lifeboats assembled together a few hundred yards astern of the ship and the sub approached keeping her two six inch guns and four machine guns trained on them. The U boat commander called all lifeboats about him and inquired about the name of the ship, her destination, cargo, tonnage and the nature of her duties. He made some effort to distinguish the captain and his officers, but they had concealed their identity by removing their hats and coats.
The sub then, without taking prisoners, steamed off a hundred yards and opened fire on the Divinsk. Most of the shots at this close range were effective, the ship listed heavily to port and at 11:15 and sank stern first, bow pointing skyward.
Dad was in the Naval Transport Service, San Francisco. He was discharged in 1921.
Notice the ancestral hairline with my grandfather. I never knew them. They died before I was born. Somehow she looks Irish but Dad doesn’t seem to resemble either. His Dad was a Tailor.
Dad courted Mom at Murphy’s on the Russian River. She lived in Oakland at the time with Aunt and Uncle Williford and worked at Schilling Co. in San Francisco.
My folks married in Oakland on Feb 24, 1921. They were both Catholics and tailors in SF. From the appearance of Dad, his suit could have used some tailoring.
Most of Dad’s later career was as a machinist at Mare Island Naval Yard in Vallejo. During WWII he worked at various shipyards in the Bay Area ( Kaiser’s, Hunter’s Point and Todd) as a maritime inspector. He spent the last years of his life in a Veteran’s hospital in Menlo Park.
Mom was a realtor in the later years of their marriage. Mom was a very sweet and attractive person.
Chapter II
Before School
I was born at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley on Jan 8, 1928.
I must confess that my unusual attire in the top most picture is similar to what today I call a cargo net in the trunk of my car. I remember the ocelot skin upon which I lied. We had that a long time. I am glad my willy doesn’t show.
Sis and I got along well for sibs and still do. We have traveled many places with her and Van, her second hubby.
At an early age I had my tonsils and adenoids removed at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, the hospital in which I was born.
The only two things I remember from the Great Depression were hobos begging at our backdoor and Pipe City in Oakland where families were living in discarded sewer pipes. These were sometimes called Hoovervilles or Misseryvilles. Dad kept his job at Mare Island so the depression didn’t affect us too much.
Our home in Albany was built in 1917. Dad bought it for about $5000. Today,2010) it would sell for $999,000 with monthly payments of $5000!!
Santa Fe Ave in 1921
Here is how it looks today in Google Earth Street View:
The house has been modified with a bottom floor having been added with the garage now under the house instead of being in the back and on the side.
Our appliances consisted of an ice box, a wood burning stove, and a washing machine in the basement. There was a cooler beside the sink that looked like a cabinet but with vents to the outside. The kitchen floor was linoleum and we had an ironing board that folded out from the wall.
We had a clothesline from our back porch across the yard and attached to a high pole on the far end. We had a delivery man who delivered ice if we left a diamond shaped card out front. We also had a bakery truck that came around. Coins were left under an empty milk bottle (all milk came in bottles then) on the front porch for Mr. Norvell, the Metropolitan Insurance agent.
Mom was convinced I had hay fever and burned an incense cure she found in Santa Cruz. I also smoked special cigarettes that were supposed to be helpful for my hay fever. My asthma/hay fever attacks were so bad that my cheeks would puff up and my eyes swell. Today I take once a month allergy shot and have no attacks but my current pulmonary problem may relate back to my asthma.
Our basement had a darkroom that dad built and a workbench for his lathe and drill press as well as a primitive washing machine which consisted of two cement tubs on a raised wooden platform with a ringer in between and an agitator in one of the tubs.
I vividly recall a large leather steamer trunk which contained old Roda Graveres and Life Magazines.
Our house heating came from a large gas heater in the basement. This flowed heat into the house through two floor vents, one in the front room and another in the back hall. Phyl and I used to compete to see who would get to dress over one of these.
We had a bathroom with no shower, only a bathtub on four lion’s feet.
We had a very small kitchenette where we ate breakfast and lunch. We had dinner in the dining room which had intricate frosted glass sideboard china cabinets.
Our living room had a pullout desk on the wall, fireplace and a mantle. In a corner sat our large RCA or was it a Philco Radio. Lighting came from floor lamps. The family would gather around the radio to hear Jack Benny, Inner Sanctum, Burns and Allen, or The Shadow (“The Shadow Knows!”). We never got a television until 1947 when they first became available.
We had horizontal wooden Venetian blinds and a Persian rug in the living room and a hardwood floor in the dining room. A piano sat in the corner and Phyl took lessons.
My bedroom was in the rear of the house and had a walk-in closet (this is considered a modern feature today). A window seat extended across the rear of the room. This had small pulls on it and there was storage space on the inside. Mom said I could have one side and Phyl the other. Phyl got busy and stored stuff in both so I couldn't get any of my things in it. Phyl argued that one down to Mom's saying I had to remove some of my things, important stuff like a sack of jacks (game), and she took out just a little to prevent me from having much space.
Phyl had a smaller bedroom (nya nya nya!) in the front of the house.
Phyl and I loved to cuddle in bed with mom. She would make up stories to tell us.
My parents’ room was on the second floor which they had added on to the original building. It had windows on all sides with views of the Bay and the Golden Gate as well as the Berkley hills. I used to spend hours up there during WWII watching for war planes.
Our garage was at the side of the house and in the back. There was a long driveway from front to back.
In our backyard we had large apricot tree and a small plum tree as well as an elevated cage in which housed a chipmunk. In the picture below in the back row are Cousin Gay, Phyl?, and Fran Halstenrude. Front row are me, Gary Hacker and Jan.
My dad commuted to work at Mare Island with a group of men and every night, religiously, he and mom had a small fruit glass of port wine (ug!). I got “sipsies”. I was responsible to buy a jug of port wine for them when they ran out. I was given a note that I took up to Yenne's mom and pop grocery on the corner.
ALBANY
Early Settlers: Albany's heritage is intertwined with its location along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, its temperate climate and its unique natural features. This environment supported the City's first known residents, a tribe of Native Americans known as the Costanoans (coast dwellers) or Ohlone, who lived at the base of Albany Hill along Cerrito Creek. Shell fragments and grinding rocks found at Creekside Park serve as a reminder of these people who lived in the Albany area until the early 19th Century, when the Spanish land barons arrived in California.
In 1820, the King of Spain granted a large portion of the East Bay to Don Luis Maria Peralta, who then divided the land among his three sons. Jose Domingo received the northern portion, which included the area of Berkeley and Albany, and used the land for cattle farming.
Gold and dynamite: The discovery of gold and the entry of California into the United States brought many settlers to the west, ultimately ending the land grant economy. The Peralta land was divided into small parcels and sold as farms or homesteads.
Gold mining created a demand for dynamite, and Albany became home to a number of powder plants at Fleming Point, which is the present site of Golden Gate Fields Racetrack. This industry died out in 1905 after a series of explosions and fires. In 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake and fire occurred, resulting in a large migration of families from San Francisco to the East Bay. This significantly impacted development in Albany and other nearby jurisdictions.
Albany Hill
This shot is similar to the view from the top room of our house
In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their community. Armed with two shotguns and a twenty-two-caliber rifle, they confronted the drivers of the wagons near what is now the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Buchanan Street. The ladies told the drivers of the horse-drawn garbage wagons to go home, which they did quickly and without complaint. Shortly thereafter, the residents of the town voted to incorporate as the City of Ocean View. In 1909, voters changed the name of the city, primarily to distinguish the city from the adjacent section of Berkeley which had previously been named Ocean View. On a vote of 38 to 6 the city was renamed in honor of Albany, New York, the birthplace of the city's first mayor, Frank Roberts.
Recent History: After several failed attempts in the late 1920s to annex to Berkeley, Albany firmly established its independence, and by the 1930s had begun to create its own high school.
I attended Marin Grammar School which still exists but in a newer building. Kindergarten was the most easterly building on the campus. It had its own separate playground which was surrounded by a high wall. I recall the classroom naps, and graham cracker and milk snacks. I also recall katchina dolls we made from round Quaker Oatmeal boxes. Some of the boys who started K and went all the way through high school with me were, Dick Young, Bob Young, Ross Mc Kellar, Ed Litsinger, Willie Acardo, Norm Lewis, George Sutton, Bill Mc Graw and Dick Murray (there may have been others).
I had asthma and hay fever real bad. My folks tried all kinds of quack meds, including asthmadore cigarettes which supposedly were a cure. I recently read that they were taken off the market for containing marijuana. I should have enjoyed the while I had them.
The teacher in the picture below was Mr. Ventor and the good looking babe up a row and to the right of the guy with a patch over his eye was Bev Martin, a real looker. She was the first date I ever had. We went to a Demolay dance in Oakland and I didn’t dance with her because she was totally occupied by the older guys. Second from the right on the second row was Jackie Moore, a tough guy. Notice the slouch stance. His twin, Jerry, was 4th from the left on the second row. Although twins, they were vastly different. Jerry was mellow and Jack was wild. I am the guy with bangs just behind Jerry Moore (checkered shirt) in front row. Dick Young, just behind the guy with the eye bandage, was our classes’ star athlete from as far back as I can remember.
I loved it when carnivals came to town. We would ride the Ferris wheel and see the freak show. We also threw balls in order to win gifts.
Also Barnum and Bailey would visit. They were a great entertainment.
One day after being promoted to 1st grade some pals and I stood outside the K window and chanted “kindergarten babies”. There happened to be a PTA meeting going on in the room at that time and we were forced to go into her room by Mrs. Segar (we called her Mrs. Cigar) to apologize to the mothers. Boy was that humiliating!
I recall that while in a later grade I was in a school play in the auditorium. Mom wanted to see me in it but I was embarrassed to have her there but she snuck in anyhow and observed from the rear unseen.
It must have been in the fourth or fifth grade that my teacher, Mrs. Brubacker, started a stamp club. I still have that red stamp book.
I was a Cub and Boy Scout. We used to meet in the basement of Marin School. I attended one camporee and achieved Second Class.
I took electric guitar lessons and was a snare drummer in a VFW marching band. We performed in parades and at the SF World's Fair. I also took Hawaiian guitar lessons
I had a couple pairs of boxing gloves and I used to spar with my buddies.
One of my greatest joys in elementary school was being a member of the Junior Traffic Patrol. We wore red coats and carried metal shields on the end of seven foot poles. We kept our gear in the school basement. At the sound of the captain’s whistle we would march out in the street and halt traffic on the corner of Santa Fe and Marin Avenues. A greater thrill was being able to wear bright yellow slickers on inclement weather days. As a group we would go to the Cal football games.
All my hobbies have been collecting things. I won’t tell you what Freud said about that. First there were stamps and then war birds. During the war I kept a record of all the war planes that flew over our house. Later I took up coin collecting. I still have most of those, coin books, mint sets, proof set and a valuable double die penny in “fine” condition that Steve found in a roll. He claims I "stole" it from him for a couple bucks in the 70’s. Today a 1955 Double Die cent is worth at least $500, and in un-circulated condition it could be worth from $1000 to $15,000. Shame on me!
After numismatics I took up metal detecting and I found a lot of silver coins as well as other kinds. I liked to build model airplanes, both solid balsa models and flying models. Finally, in adulthood, I took up collecting license plates and dead relatives (genealogy). I currently have over 7000+ relatives in my genealogical software. I also tracked currency with Where’s George.
Click on URL below (or paste it into your browser) to see my genealogy web page:
Another grammar school teacher was Mrs. Van Meter, wow, was she mean!
I recall Mr. Ventor, my 7th grade teacher in the picture above. He was my first male instructor. One time he booted me out of the room and I had to stand outside the door. He then proceeded to forget I was out there until he opened the door for the next recess. I would guess I was out there for at least an hour.
Although I played most sports in elementary school, my favorite was Chinese handball which used a kickball and a very large backboard.
One of my finest memories was when our class took a field trip to San Francisco where we boarded the Matson Liner Mallolo which sailed between San Francisco and Honolulu.
I believe there were no airlines to the Islands at that early date. I was awestruck that a ship would have a deck-side pool. This field trip, the only one I ever took in school, influenced me to take my classes on such trips. In fact I recall taking my 4th graders on a cargo vessel in SF where I ran into one of my AHS classmates who was a crewman.
Our neighbors on Santa Fe Ave were the Nicholsons, Nickersons, Costas, Zahns and others I cannot recall.
Most of my free time was with the kids on our block, Ray Laurant, Skippy Kissner, Ethel Nickerson, “Peanut” Nickerson, Egon Zahn, Sis, and Billy Koch whose parents owned the bakery at the corner. It was a mixed group of all ages. We played seasonal games and sports: kites, tops, yo yos (Duncan) hide-and-go-seek, one foot-in-the-gutter, and kick the can. On Saturdays we always went to the Oaks Theatre on Solano Avenue where we saw serials, i.e. Tarzan, Tom Mix, Tim Tyler, and Buck Rogers.
On my birthdays my parents had a birthday party at the theatre. We all sat in the lodges and got free Hershey bars, wow! Movies were double features and were always preceded by newsreels.
When we walked to the Oaks Movie House at the top of Solano Avenue we would tip over newspaper stands and kick the Dentyne gum machines in order to get money for the show.
I loved comic books. I recall Action Comics I believe I once had the first Superman Comic Book (one recently sold for a million $). I followed the adventures of Batman and Wonder Woman.
I also liked to sketch comic pages. I had a good eye for this and what I sketched could be put over the original and it was almost a perfect match. I also liked the Sunday funnies with the Katzenjammer Kids, Buck Rogers, Tim Tyler’s Luck, Blondie, Prince Valiant and Popeye. Blondie may be the only one that has survived.
Our neighbor was Kathy Zahn. She was extremely controversial for she was litigation crazy. She sued Art Linkletter and Standard Oil among others. Her family came to America from Danzig, Germany just before the outbreak of WWII. She was city mayor for a few months but then was recalled. It was rumored that the Zahns had German Bund parties at their house with swastikas on the wall.
Our family always took summer vacations, in spite of the depression which didn’t seem to hit us very hard. Unlike others, my dad hung on to his job as a machinist at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Our summer trips were usually to Twain Heart which is just above Sonora.
Yosemite, the redwood highway or below Capitola, near Santa Cruz.
Yosemite’s Glacier Point (what’s in the box and bag?)
We often got together with our aunts and uncles and their families on holidays and other times. Mom was very close to her sisters, many of whom lived in Oakland near Lake Merritt . We spent time with our cousins.
Shyrl, Patty and Helen
During the depression Mom bought a pair of shoes for someone in our block and Dad got mad and they had a big blowup.
Mom and her sisters were also helping Aunt Bessie (my favorite aunt) who had children, Jan and Gay, and no job and scarce alimony. She hid it from Dad.
We had several dogs, mostly terriers but I do recall a collie that we once owned. He died of tick fever.
I had an Elgin bike and I used to attach playing cards to the spokes to make a flapping noise when I rode. My buddies and I used to ride into Berkeley and Oakland. I used my bike for my Sunday paper route, with my papers slung in a bag across the back of the frame. People would leave $ under the mat. I also delivered a shopper.
The kids on our block had different play seasons. There were yoyos, kites, tops, and various games such as one-foot-in-the gutter, tag, and kick ball. We spent a lot of time playing in the vacant lot on our block. We chose by calling eeny-meany-miney-moe and oly-oly-oly oxen free meant you could come home in the game
Some of my favorite toys were my Lionel Train (my very best favorite), an erector set, Lincoln Logs and dozens of lead soldiers. I would assemble my train on the dining room table and make tunnels out of shoe boxes.
Our dial telephone had a word prefix: Landscape 54539
I was raised as a Catholic but eventually lost my belief. Had my catechism at Saint Ambrose in Berkley, a rather dark and forbidding place with dark and forbidding nuns.
Dad and I went to the wrestling matches at the Oakland Auditorium on Friday nights. They were as phony then as they are now.
I had an interest in airplanes from the time I was quite young. I acquired this interest from my dad who had seen many of the early fliers. We hung out a lot at airports in Alameda and Oakland. We went to the air races. He gave me rides in biplanes from some of the barnstormers of the day. We saw Amelia Earhart land in Oakland after a record breaking flight in her Lockheed Vega from Hawaii in 1935 and “Wrong Way” Corrigan at the SF World’s Fair.
In the thirties and forties while some kids claimed Tom Mix or Buster Crabb as their hero, I most admired Tex Rankin, the world famous stunt pilot. In 1939 Tex housed his plane at the Alameda Airdrome from which he took off for his daily aerobatics over the new Bay Bridge and World's Fair. Here I am below after I tried an unsuccessful outside loop on my Elgin.
Tex's career spanned several decades during which time he performed many feats. He barnstormed around the country, served as a Hollywood stunt pilot in such classic aviation flicks as "Wings" and “Dawn Patrol” and ran an aviation school where he trained thousands of Air Force Cadets including Major Richard Bong, Congressional Medal of Honor Winner and the man who shot down 40 Japanese aircraft in the South Pacific. Tex held many world records including 6o consecutive outside loops. You can find out more about him from a link on my web page:
http://www.Noringenealogy.com/BlackCats.html
Roscoe Turner, another aviator of that time, and a Hollywood hero, carried a lion cub in his cockpit. Stunt pilots were a flamboyant bunch. Tex had his black cat, #13, at his side while in the air.
With my interest in aviation it was natural that I would take an interest in making model planes both solid models out of balsa wood and flying models with rubber band propulsion.
Speaking of the San Francisco Exposition, that was an exciting adventure for our entire family. It took place on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in 1939 and 40. Among my fondest memories were The Cavalcade of America, the Boardwalk, the big bands, Billy Rose’s Aquacade with Esther Williams, and Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch (my mean parents wouldn’t let me go in there), and the lagoon where the China Clippers took off on their Pacific flights.
See the Exposition on U Tube by pasting this into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_GsXNNG0GM&feature=related
We went to San Francisco a lot. Phyl and I would lie down on the rear floor of the car and cover ourselves with a blanket so that the ferry boat toll taker wouldn’t charge for us. I loved playing the ferry’s claw machine. Once in SF we visited the homes where Dad had lived (boooring!), Aunt Edna’s in the Marina, Golden Gate Park and then had dinner at Lupos in North Beach. They had great pastries and a six course meal.
At Xmas time it was a real treat to go to Oakland and view the Christmas Scenes in the department store windows. Some were even animated.
My grandparents lived in East Oakland and the aunts and uncles used to take turns visiting them. I remember the stereopticon they had that we would look through. That was the TV of those times and it kept us from being too bored.
I attended Albany High School for grades 8-12. When we entered AHS we met the other incoming freshman from Cornell Grammar School.
When we entered AHS we kept old pals and added new ones. The little guy sticking out his chest in the bottom row was Eugene Stanford who we called “Puke” or Pudge. He was diminutive and feisty but one of my best buddies. He later quit high school to join the merchant marine.
Albany was a city of two classes, middle class above the Santa Fe Tracks and slightly lower middle class below the tracks. There really wasn’t much of a difference. The town was lily-white with no blacks, few Hispanics and one Asian family. Finally, Cordinices Village which was low cost housing opened up and had some African American residents. I recall, with little pride, that I tried to blackball the acceptance of a black boy into the High Y.
My best pals from Marin were Bill Shyvers, Bud Mc Kellar, Ed Litsinger Bill Mc Graw, and Orv Nelson. To that group I added from Carmel, Puke, Bill Jacks, Don Forrest and Jim Snowden.
The war broke out in 1941. I remember the day of the Pearl Harbor raid. I was laying on the floor at a friend's house reading the Sunday comics.
My dad was a block warden and occasionally we had trial blackouts. I remember the searchlights crisscrossing the sky looking for enemy airplanes. We never knew whether they were real or trial blackouts. I recall antiaircraft guns in a small park in Berkeley, parallel to Bay Shore Highway.
Left to right: Jim Snowden , Shyvers, Jacks, Me and Don Forrest. This was part of our training program to become pickpockets.
Swimming in Lake Anza in the Oakland Hills was a favorite pastime for many of the teens. It was such a favorite activity that often Mr. Feeney, the AHS VP and disciplinarian, would drive up to see how many of us he could catch. We would all duck under water.
At the coffee shop we had table side juke boxes
During our senior year several of us published an underground newspaper called S.N.A.F.U. We had printed it in the school print shop unbeknownst to Mr. Flynn, the teacher. Poor soul he was in the bathroom a lot during class time so that is when we ran it off. We were rather cruel to the faculty. We had an overweight history teacher by the name of Jessie Williams and in referring to her in SNAFU we said, “It must be Jessie ‘cause ja don’t shake light that”
After the first edition was published the editorial staff was summoned into Mr. Feeney’s office and that was the end of S.N.A.F.U. (our rights had been stomped upon!).
I have always been a sports fan. In high school I went to a lot of Oakland Oaks games in the old Pacific Coast League. Later I attended several 49er games.
SNAFU
Ron Vier was also a close friend in high school and after.
AHS was a strange organizational pattern with 8th graders integrated with 12th graders. I was mostly a B- student. I took an academic track with four years of English, two years of Science and three years of math, including solid geometry and trig. Dad felt strongly that boys needed a lot of math.
I took a lot of mechanical drawing classes because I liked to heckle the teacher, Coach John Ryan. I wrote a column in the school paper about “Inspector Ryan”, a bumbling detective. He finally got tired of my classroom pranks and booted me. I had to take Glee Club, even though I could barely carry a tune.
In my senior year I became vice president of the student body. During one of my campaign speeches I assured the student body that mine would be a democratic regime. While I was speaking a heckler stood up and booed me. I then blew a whistle and two of my henchmen dragged him out of the auditorium.
I took most of the school's math classes at my Dad’s insistence. I had English from Mr. Nathan who taught me a lot about English, I enjoyed the lab part of chemistry and the charts in trig. The rumor was that Mr. Nathan was booted from the staff at UC because of a drinking problem.
I was active in school. I was the class clown. I was vice president of the student body and editor of the feature page in the school newspaper. I participated in a lot of skits including a parade in downtown Berkeley before an Albany/Berkley football game.
I was deeply disappointed that I never earned a letter for that was a supreme status symbol at AHS.
In 1944 President Roosevelt visited war plants in the US. On this tour he drove in a big Packard convertible through Crockett, California. My Dad was a big FDR fan. I had the thrill of seeing him from the sidewalk. In later years I saw President George H. Bush in Kennebunkport and Bill Clinton in Ontario California, when he was running for president.
I had many jobs during vacation time. Men were in the service so jobs were plentiful. Some of the jobs I recall were a Sunday newspaper route, a shopper route, Standard Oil Refinery, Gill Agricultural Tract, Hinks Department Store, Kleinhammer’s Pharmacy, Albany recreation Department, Armico, Heinz Cannery, UC, a nursery, and I am sure a few others.
I used to go to the Oakland Oaks’ games. There were no major league teams on the west coast then. This was the old Pacific Coast League which was triple A. Games were in Emeryville and we often went to double headers. We saw many future and past major league stars on their way up or down. One of the most notable was Manager Casey Stengel who went on to lead the Yankees to 10 pennants and seven World Series wins.
I worked in the VP’s office and had access to his note pads. I would forge his signature and get my buddies out of class. We would get bakery and deli goods to eat and hide out on Albany Hill.
Shyvers and I went fishing for smelt off the Berkeley Pier a lot. We also would take his inboard out on SF Bay where we fished for striped bass.
My very first car was a 1913 Model T. which Don Forrest and I purchased for a total of $20 it originally sold for $550. It had to be started with a crank so it had to be built before 1919 when electric starters were first introduced.
We bought it a month before I went into the Army. One day while driving around with buddies I got pulled over by a cop. I was guilty of numerous violations, no license, bad brakes, no registration, etc, etc, etc. He said I had to report to city hall a week later. I told him I would if “the Army would let me off….” He let me go!
I graduated from high school in January 1946. Albany being a small town we had only 60 in our graduating class. I am third from left in the second row. Because of the war several of the guys, including my friend Pudge, had left high school early to serve in the merchant marine.
Click below, or enter the URL into your browser, to see the Albany High School Web Page:
http://www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~norin/AlbanyHSClass1945.html
CURRENT DEMOGRAPHICS OF ALBANY
Do you know how many people live in Albany? How many are Asians and other ethnic groups? What’s the percentage of Albany residents that have a graduate degree? Check those things out here:
According to the United States Census Bureau, there were 16,444 people, 7,011 households, and 4,269 families residing in the city of Albany in the year of 2000.
The city’s population was 61.3 % White, 25.1 % Asian, 8.0 % of the population were Hispanic or Latino, 4.1 % African American, 3.17 % from other races, and 5.83 % from two or more races. The biggest ethnic group is Chinese, which accounts for 13.5% of the city’s total population.
Nearly one third (28.9%) of the population were born in a foreign country. 15% of them entered the United States between 1990 and March 2000. 11.0% were naturalized citizen, while 17.9% were not a citizen.
63.9% of the population spoke only English at home, while 36% spoke a foreign language, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, etc. 14.2% of residents didn’t speak English very well.
Average household size was 2.34, and average family size was 2.92. There were 7,011 households out of which 33.1 % have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.0% were married couples living together, 12.6 % had a female householder with no husband present and 39.1 % were non-families. 29.2 % of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7 % had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.9 % under the age of 18, 7.1 % from 18 to 24, 34.9 % from 25 to 44, 24.1 % from 45 to 64, and 11.1 % who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 87.4 males.
The population had relatively high education. 64.0% of the city’s residents has a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 34% of them had a graduate or professional degree. 93.8% were high school graduates or higher. In terms of employment, 64.1% of the labor force had management, professional, and related occupations, 31.6% among them work in educational, health and social services industries; 21.2% had sales and office occupations, and 6.8% worked in service industries. The government was the biggest employer, and 25.3% of Albany’s labor force were government workers.
The median income for a household in the city was $54,919, and the median income for a family was $64,269. The per capita income for the city was $28,494. 7.9 % of the population and 6.4 % of families were below the poverty line. 8.0 % of those under the age of 18 and 8.2 % of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
The city had 7,011 occupied houses, about half of the houses (50.6%) were occupied by owners, and the rest (49.4%) were rented.
The principal shopping street in Albany is Solano Avenue, which cuts across the city from west to east. Another important street is San Pablo Avenue, which travels from north to south. There is a newly-opened big Target store in Albany’s Eastshore Hwy. Pacific&East Shopping Mall and Ranch 99, which is at the foot of north Albany Hill, is the place where most of the city’s Chinese population goes for groceries.
The city has a total area of 5.5 mi². 1.7 mi² of it is land and 3.8 mi² of it is water. The Golden Gate Field near the Bay is said to be one of the largest thoroughbred racetracks in the United States. Albany Hill is another landmark of city, which faces the waterfront of the Bay. There is also a University Village, a 58 acre complex with 760 apartments for UC-Berkeley’s graduate students with families.
The most significant demographic change in Albany between the year 1990 and the year of 2000 is probably the increase of Asia population, whose percentage grew to 25% in 2000 from 19% in 1990.
Chapter III
YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW
Upon completion of high school the boys in our class were confronted by the reality of the draft for WWII had only ended a few months before we graduated. (If Harry Truman had not had the A Bomb dropped on Japan I feel sure I would have been involved in the invasion of Japan.)
I was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, for eight weeks of basic training. We lived in wood heated tarpaper barracks which had housed Italian POWS during the war. We used weekend passes to go into Spokane and Olympia. I struggled to qualify with a rifle for I flinched when I pulled the trigger. Finally, a young second lieutenant was sent with us to get us qualified. The guys in the 'pits' who marked the hits on the targets hated to get interrupted from their poker games so they made a deal with him that if we missed the targets altogether they would mark them as hits.
The culmination exercise at the end of basic training was a 20 mile hike with a full field pack and rifle, ouch!
Following basic I had leave at home and then took my first airline ride ever. This was to New Orleans, Louisiana. From there I was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana where I served in the Corps of Engineers—a hell hole with extreme heat, water moccasin snakes, and armadillos. On occasion I was given stockade guard duty and had to accompany prisoners outside of camp. I was told if one escaped I would have to serve his term. I don’t know if this was true but it sure motivated me to watch them carefully.
While at Fort Lewis and Camp Polk I made some good buddies, the Partipillo twins, and Oscar Seline, who was in the Swedish Merchant Marine and joined the US Army in order to obtain his citizenship. I recall I brought Oscar home on leave and once at dinner he asked, “Villie, vat is a hot rod?” (the crazy stuff I remember!). I also palled around with Smoky and Paul Salvatore both of whom are pictured above. Paul had been a member of Tony Prima’s brother’s orchestra.
After that I was sent to Japan where I worked in an enlisted men’s club near Tokyo’s Sinjuko Bullet Train Station. This was the 64th Engineers Topographical Battalion.
The 64th Topographic Engineer Battalion undertook its last mission before being deactivated at the beginning of the 70s. This may have been the last major traditional mapping mission undertaken by the U.S. Army and the Army Map Service in the 20th Century as advanced satellites became available and could do much of the work with more efficiency than the traditional survey battalion.
Most of the work done was surveying to provide the data for the map makers back in the U.S. Before this could be done, the U.S. Air Force sent its special squadron to fly missions to create the aerial photographs needed to produce the maps and to aid the surveyors in their job. The soldier surveyors often moved into the field using old and inaccurate maps based on data from as far back as the time of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia.
To read more about the 64th click this link:
http://www.ethi-usmappingmission.com/179410/index.html
They had made all the maps for the Pacific Theatre. That was nice duty. I had a class A pass, was billeted in a department store and saw much of Tokyo. On one occasion I saw General Mac Arthur (“Dougout Doug”) come out of his office in the Daichi Building and get in his chauffeured black Packard limo with the golden eagle radiator cap and go for lunch. They said that if the crowd wasn’t large enough he would go back in and come out later.
I was in Japan only a few weeks, however, and was discharged. I had served a total of thirteen months but got 4 years of college from the State and Fed. GI Bills.
Chapter IV
My Time in Yosemite
Before starting college I spent that summer working in Yosemite Valley. It was the first of five consecutive summers. That first summer I worked in the general store and the “Greasy Spoon” restaurant in the old village. Later I became president of the employees association. I hitched hiked up to the Valley the first year and had a car after that.
The next four summers I worked for Curry Company in the Grill restaurant. Those were great times with beach parties, volleyball, a softball league, street dances, sunbathing and day off trips to Bass Lake, Reno and Tahoe. We would take girls up to Mirror Lake to see the “submarine races”.
I am in the middle behind the guy in the gray suit
I met Pat in the Valley. She was a tourist.
Chapter V
College Days
I enrolled at San Francisco State College the fall after I got out of the service, the same school as my sister attended. The campus at that time was at the west end of Market Street, by the old US Mint. Classes were held all over town. I was an education major. The first new person I met was Ken Tye and we became long time buddies (we roomed together, both worked in Yosemite, met our wives there, best man, both got our doctorates from UCLA , both worked in San Diego and both worked in the La Verne doctoral program). Part of our time rooming together was at The Rock, a State owned dorm. Most of the boarders were ex GI’s. I will always recall the time that we went to the pub down the hill from us and they refused to serve us because we had a black student with us. That was similar to Yosemite when a fellow ice cream scooper from Old Miss wouldn’t serve a black. Fast forward to today, a week from whence we might elect our first black president. We have come a long way, baby.
Ken and I still see each other once a month or so.
I can’t say I had much of a social life at State because at first I commuted across the Bay. Ken and I were pledged into a fraternity. Weekends I spent in local Albany bars, such as the Mallard and the It Club. I played a lot of poker and drank a lot of beer with the guys on weekends. For a few months I lived with my sis and bro-in-law.
Chapter VI
My Educational Career
My first teaching job was at Bay Point Elementary in Port Chicago, Ca. I taught 5th grade for two years, then 4th for two years and then 2nd. My principals were Jim Moore at BP and Tony Scafani at Gregory Gardens in Concord. The teachers at Bay Point were fun to work with. Ethel Cox was a character. I taught for five years. At this time I attended SF State College and got my masters and administrative credential and then went into administration as a curriculum supervisor in Alameda County. My “milk run” of small schools were Sunol Glen, Warm Springs, Alviso and Niles.
From there I went to San Diego where I also served as a County Office Curriculum Coordinator. I served a lot of small schools, Miramar, Warner Hot Springs, Julian, and Poway. I also became president elect of the San Diego County Administrators Association. Pat and I played a lot of bridge with other County Office folks. We lived in Pacific Beach and later moved to Poway.
From the County Office I went to Poway as the Director of Curriculum, my boss was Dan Predovich and I had a lot of good friends who were principals: Bill Paulo, Tom Fine, Frank Green and Willie Nielson.
In the district there was a lot of political unrest resulting in recall elections. The John Birch Society was active. One night they left bloody Voo Doo Dolls stuck with pins on the doorsteps of PTA ladies and school administrators. They were a sick bunch. There were never many quiet moments. At one time, Max Rafferty, State Supt. of schools had the district inspected because he had been told that Dan was a commie. But it was exciting to work in a district that was on the cutting edge of innovation. We tried all kinds of new ideas, modular scheduling, Individualized Reading, The Language Experience, Approach to Reading, multi-grades, and non-traditional report cards.
I got involved with encounter groups and one of those was a session with Carl Rogers as the facilitator.
While in San Diego I took classes which lead to my doctorate at UCLA in 1964. Pat, my sis and bro-in-law and Mom came to the commencement.
Pat and I met in the Yosemite Valley, she was a tourist and I was an employee. Later she moved to the Bay Area and worked for Union Oil in SF. We married in June of 1954 in an Episcopal Church in Oakland and lived in El Cerrito and later Lafayette, Poway, Walnut and eventually, Claremont.
Early in our marriage I worked as a camp counselor at Camp Gualala up on the Northern California Coast.
As a family we took vacation almost every summer. Most of these trips were to Pinecrest, an idyllic spot on Strawberry Lake about 20 miles above Sonora. We spent most the days sunning on the beach and fishing in the lake which was planted with trout twice a week. The boys loved it and still would like to go back.
Notice Who Has the Fish
Chapter VII
In my lifetime there have been four major wars, WW11, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq and the only one I feel was justified was WW11.
If it weren’t for the atom bomb ending the war abruptly I undoubtedly would have ended up in an invasion of Japan.
Neighbors in Poway built a bomb shelter under their front lawn.
I missed the Korean War by enrolling in college and not joining the reserves.
As for Vietnam, I participated in a demonstration against that conflict.
When in Poway Tom and I became Indian Guides a friend (?) named me Chief Bald Eagle. The YMCA Indian Guide program was later disbanded for being racist.
Not My Tribe!
In 1869 Aunt Edna died. She left Phyl and me half of her estate (several K) and the other half to the Catholic Church.
After Poway I got a job as assistant superintendent in the Charter Oak Unified School District in L.A. County.
The superintendent, Frank Kittinger, hired me because my philosophy was so different than that of the rest of his cabinet, I being liberal and he and they, conservative. I always admired him for that.
While there I became Region 15 president of ACSA (Association of School Administrators). Region 15 encompassed all of LA County. I was in Charter Oak from 1970 until retirement in 1987.
I participated as a school accrediter in several schools. The highlight of my accreditation experiences was when I was chosen to help accredit two schools in Guam.
I have always been a collector, in elementary school it was stamps. Later in life it was coins, then license plates, dead relatives (genealogy), metal detecting, and finally “Where’s George” hits.
Steve and I went salmon fishing in Alaska. We stayed in a nice cabin with great accommodations and snagged a few salmon and halibut. I don’t wish to brag but my fish was bigger than Steve’s.
(Not really me)
Ah yes, the day finally came but instead of using my rocking chair I went to work part time at the U of La Verne, administering the second tier of the administrative credential and teaching a doctoral cluster. This was a good staff to work with, Tom Harvey, Bill Paulo, Don Clague, Jim Cox, Barbara Peterson and others.
Our family had three dogs: Chino, a Dalmatian, and Mandy and Tammy
Mandy was a great Frisbee catcher.
Tammy (in the middle) is our most current and we have outsourced her to Steve’s family.
Tennis became a big part of our lives when we moved to Claremont. We joined the Claremont Tennis Club and both played doubles regularly. A group of about 7 couples played tennis every Fri night followed by a potluck dinner at different houses. Our group consisted of the Caffeys, Moehrings, Biannes, Lairds, Krolls and others. We entered various tournaments and I became a member of the Geezers, a bunch of old guys (70s and 80s) who played three days a week. Some of the members were, Leonard Munter, Bob Haas, Jim Miller, Paul Simonian, Mac Robinson, Glen Rankin, John Maddox, Ken Vetterli and others.
We bought a condo in Sea Bluffs, San Diego County with the Beals and spent many weekends down there. I loved surf fishing back when the ocean wasn’t fished out. I caught corvina and croaker. I also fished while in Albany. Bill Shyvers had an inboard and we used to fish in the bay for striped bass. Another fishing spot was the Berkley Pier where we fished for smelt. We used gang hooks and would catch several fish at a time.
Corvina
Croaker
I also enjoyed boogie boarding as did the boys. We all used the tennis courts. Bobby Riggs had a condo across the street from us.
We always watched for the “green flash” and finally saw it one evening. If you don’t know what this is Google it.
After five years the Beals moved to Coronado so we sold the condo.
For awhile I was a runner and participated in three 10 K runs. I also exercised regularly at the Claremont Tennis Club.
We traveled to many lands: U of K, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Mexico and Canada.
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