My Dad

In the mid thirties, my dad was no longer able to farm out his 25 acres due to the onset of arthritis and later, blindness. He rented it out to farmers to grow melons, poppies and sunflowers. He had begun to have an interest in real estate and insurance to support our family of three boys and two girls.
We spent the summer of 1937 when we went to the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco to try and find out what was causing the arthritis. We lived on Stanyan Street across from Golden Gate Park and near Kezar Stadium, future home of the San Francisco 49ers. One day, a bully chased me home. He was throwing matches in through the mail slot and I was stamping them out as fast as I could. I guess I saved San Francisco from another great fire!
We spent the summer of 1939 in Paradise to escape from the valley heat. He was in a wheel chair at that time. I had to leave Smokey, my cat, in Live Oak with the people who took care of our place.
A neighbor kid, Jack Griffin, and I used to ride up to the old Magalia store for ice cream cones often. When I moved to Magalia in 1999, the trail, just off the Skyway, was still there. Jack later became mayor of Paradise and later Butte County supervisor. I got a chance to visit with him about two months before he died.
In Live Oak, Dad used to give me 10 cents for every yellow hammer (flicker) that I could kill. They were pecking holes in the second story under the roof line. I got a lot and even killed one with a dirt clod that was flying from Uncle Oscar’s house to our house. I also killed a lot of magpies who used to wake me up around 5 AM with their cawing. One morning, I took my .22 rifle (using short shorts), went up to a window that was on the landing going to the second floor and slightly raised the window. I got eleven of them and they never came back.
I took care of my Dad when Mom would go to Marysville on the Gibson Bus for her appointment with her podiatrist. The bus picked her up at out front gate (we were about a half mile from the station in town) and dropped her off in the afternoon.
Dad and I listened to the radio with all the old radio programs, like Fibber Magee and Molly and Lum and Abner. We also used to listen to all the news broadcasts with H. V. Kaltenborn, Lowell Thomas, Sam Hayes and other newscasters. During World War II, it was exciting when a program stopped and the words “We interrupt this program” and an important event in the war would be broadcast, such as D Day, as I knew George would be there. He dropped paratroopers into Normandy at 11:30 at night on June 6th.
Also, I would play the 78 rpm records of “Talking Books” provided by the State for the Blind. Big cases would arrive in the mail, we would both listen to them and then, mail them back. I remember “Gone with the Wind” took 80 records. I also enjoyed “Wayfaring Stranger” read by Burl Ives. He also sang “Blue Tail Fly” and “Jimmy Crack Corn”.
By the way, Mom took me out of school to go to Marysville to see “Gone With the Wind”. Because Clark Gable said the “d” word to Scarlett O’Hara, she was drummed out of the Live Oak Women ‘s Club.
Dad did pretty good in his real estate and insurance business. We all had the opportunity to go to college. Donald went to Herald’s Business College, Shirley, George and I graduated from Yuba College and Dorothy graduated from UC Berkeley. He made over $16,000 in 1946, blind and laying flat on his back. Other realtors were after him for selling a place to a Hindu. This man, Chanchl Singh, was a leader in the East Indian community and directed other farmers to Dad to find places for them to settle down. At my Dad’s funeral , Mr. Singh was there weeping copiously.
He got along well with other realtors, but once I saw an unscrupulous one from Gridley, Roy Bray, in operation.. Dad was talking with a prospective buyer. Bray came to the screen door and motioned for the guy to come outside. They drove away together. Dad didn’t know he had left until I came in and told him. That made him cry.
Every month, a Fireman’s Fund insurance man came around to answer questions that agent would have. This man was “Stoney” Dorn. After business stuff, they would talk about other things. Once, “Stoney” told Dad that he had been on the University of California track team. Dad told “Stoney” that he had been on the Stanford track team (he was Pacific Coast Conference 880 yard and 2 mile champ).
It turned out that they had competed at the Big Meet between California and Stanford in Berkeley. Dad was on his way to winning the 880 when he was bumped off the track and out of contention. In further talking, it was “Stoney” who had done it.