Her boyfriend was Bob Kranich. They eventually graduated from Santa Cruz High School. Nancy went on to San Jose State to go to school. Bob went to San Luis Obispo, to Cal Poly. It was back and forth writing and talking. It was too much for him anyhow. During the, I guess the first year after his college, they were married. They moved to San Luis Obispo. where Bob was going to school. And they lived in a place there, Logan Apartments, and Nancy got a job as the secretary at Santa Cruz High School. So she also, she went to school there and finally graduated from the junior college. And Bob was working or going to school. Finally he got to work, extra work after school on Saturdays at a grocery store that had a small meat market. He worked in that for a number years and then he had the opportunity to buy in the half interest so he did that with their bankers help. Who was the banker I guess? I think it was us. And anyhow after a length of time they moved out to a new subdivision by Laguna Lake and uh, Nancy was, I guess she about that time that she had Karen, no, Keith. And not too long after that, Karen came along and then she got a job with the uh, Police department down there.
So, it went on until Bob graduated from Poly and an enthusiastic, fantastic affair out on the football field. Some of these kids that thought they were big shots and working and graduating as farmers had their steps in the hats on trying to show off you know so anyhow that's where it left them and Bob confined most of his business from then on to the meat market. But in the meantime, he was looking ahead to see what the prospects were and where he might land a job. And his professor told him, "Now Bob, if you get answers to your letters before you do anything, I would like to see the letters." And, uh... That'll I don't think that they had even written to Safeway Stores, but this man, this professor, suggested to him that he go and see a certain fellow or contact him anyhow, that was with Safeway Stores. And I have a feeling that this professor had had it all fixed up beforehand with this safe way man to give job above the job or a job.
So eventually or not soon after that he got a job at Stockton, Safeway store at a small meat manufacturer in place where they manufactured sausages and sliced meats and webinis and all that kind of stuff and Bob got a job as the manager. So we eventually had a chance to see what was inside there and they were living there in Stockton and then they decided to move to Livermore and Bob would drive back and forth which was a long drive I thought but anyhow that's what they did and it was a poor setup in in the long run because it was always something going wrong at the plant which necessitated Bob being there late at night or maybe working all night.
And I don't think he was working on machines. I think he had something else in mind all the time because eventually they were divorced. And it was a lady that was a bookkeeper there in this meat business that he had fallen for. And anyhow they eventually were married, Nancy the divorce, and a number of years after that And Nancy became a queen that was John Geiger, who was a construction man. And some jobs he was superintendent of the jobs. He was, it all depended on how things worked out. So after a year or two John retired. They got married first. What? They got married. Oh yeah, they got married, all right. In the Presbyterian Church in... Yeah, it was at the President's during church at Pleasanton.
And we were there, taking the occasion. So time goes on. That's close to the day, at least ten years ago. And Nancy continued working and is still working. And now this is the third day of February. By the way, this is the sixth anniversary of Shirley's death. Today is the anniversary.
So I'll go on with Bob and Nancy. John had a lot of knee trouble and he was all tripled up. So we went to one doctor that poked holes in his knees and did this and did that. Supposedly it was a great orthopedic. And it didn't work out that way for John because it just got worse and worse. And finally he went to another doctor and they had the doctor install a new knee. Just how that's done, I don't know. But it was a quite a long time recuperating. And now he doesn't use crested or walker or anything. He just holds on himself. And although he does have to watch what he's doing so that he won't sprain or injure his leg, but at the present time he's just coming along fine. He takes care, he still has to hire somebody to do the lawns because of all the walking, But he'll get back to that one of these days. And they have done a great deal of work at their place.
And Sean has torn off the answer. Mary has asked me that. Consider some of the things that happened years and years ago, whether it was business or pleasure or what.
I can remember we had the old telephone that our line was owned by about five people that we built and did the whole thing, installed it. You had to install your own telephone? Our particular number was 1-O-F-4. Uncle Donald's was 1-O-F-3. And I think that the Travers was 1-1. But anyhow, if anything went wrong, we had to chase the telephone lines down and make the repair work. So it was better than nothing. And then in later years, they put in different more lines and different telephones. And so it was very much better.
When I was working, weekends, we used to, well during the week, we would, maybe one night of the week, my brothers and I and the Traylor kids, we would drive up to Morro Bay to go skating, roller skating, and it was lots of fun. We used to get out on the highway and skate way up, putting into a toro point and back again, and I guess we were never caught. I don't think we were supposed to be out there because we were just ruining the wheels on the skates. But then, as we got older, and I think that skating rink finally closed out. But we would go down, maybe, to the Modern Woodman of America.
It was a lodge which I belonged to in San Luis Obispo. And they had one in Arroyo Grande. And in Arroyo Grande, much to raise money they used to put on dances. So every Saturday night there was a dance at this hall, it was a modern woodman dance. And then the ladies of the lodge would have part of the room was taken over. There was a division in the room anyhow. And they would have sandwiches and cakes and coffee, all that. During the half when the music shut down, everybody could go and buy something to eat or drink. And it was just a lot of fun. And And there was also a great deal of fun dancing with those women because most of them are mature women that were really good size. And I'll tell you, when you put your arms around one of those, it was like putting your arms around the elephant or some of them. So we enjoyed it for what we called the old Paul Jones or something and square dances and all that kind of stuff. And of course there was a few nights with the gales who used to come there too.
Question: Did everybody go single or did they come with dates? Everybody was single?
That's what it seemed like. Maybe two girls would come together, you know. But anyhow, we went to that for a long time, and then the modern women decided it was just too much work for them to be running this dance all the time. Because somebody had to take care of it. So they gave it up. And by that time, work was getting pretty tough. It was fine as in. And lots of businesses were closing, and it was soon after that that the company I was working with closed the stores.
Question: And what else did you want? Do you remember when you got your first car or your first radio?
I can remember way back in the radios. I don't know where or came from or anything about it, but there was a radio there at the house. And I remember Stuart Free being out there, because he had been fooling with the radio for a long time upstairs in their home. And so he came out to the house and he worked for that thing and worked for that thing. And maybe all of a sudden we'd hear a voice somewhere. And of all the excitement that was around us, just think that we'd hear a voice on the radio. And we heard a lot of this Morse code and that kind of stuff. But that wasn't what we were after. So eventually we got a radio that we could really pick up stuff with and understand. So then, years afterwards, we move on up to the TV and...
Question: What did you listen to on the radio when you listened to the radio?
Just whatever we could get. There weren't special shows that you... No, no. All later than we had special shows that you could listen to. But, uh... Oh, let me see. 1929. I went into the Ford garage. I told my wife to buy a car. They looked at me as if to say, "Well, kid, what are you talking about? Car costs money." "That's all right. It doesn't cost money." I wanted by a car. So I ended up with a Model A four-door sedan. And I was for four silver cars. And I drove that for years. I drove it back and forth from San Luis Obispo to San Jose when I used to look to see Shirley and then we had it here in Santa Cruz. I don't remember now what ever it became of it or I guess I just turned it in on something else.
Question: When you would go to see a mother, what kind of dates would you go on? Did you go to the movies or did you just sit around and talk or for dinner or?
hugging each other and all that kind of stuff. Oh yeah, we went to the show and things like that. You just went out in the car and made out? Well, I don't know what you're going to make out, but... Hugging and kissing instead? Yeah, and then I know one on Saturday. I drove up this is Friday night and then Saturday. We went over to, oh I forget the name of the creek, where there's a nice stream running down there, and there were just people all the way along having picnics. At this little place that you know you'd have picnics, and that's on the creek. Well, maybe it'll come to me. I can't think of it now. But where the train comes down from Pleasant and loops around and goes down this canyon. Like Niles Canyon. Niles Canyon. That's the one that's where we did. And in other places that we ride around San Jose and because I always have to start back early.
Question: Where did you stay? Where did I stay? I think I stayed in the in a hotel. Yeah, one time Fred Traver went with me when I was going to Santa City and my Ford car was brand new and we went into his aunt's place at night in the dark and stayed there at night. Well the next morning I was going to go down to see Shirley so I got the car out and the trees were just hanging over the roads all along fruit trees because they had gone right in and built all these homes in the orchards. And I had only gone about a block from their house when the road went up just a little bit of a rise. But I didn't know on the top of that rise was the railroad tracks. And I just got it up on that when here the electric train came out of the trees and whammed me. Well, I had to leave the car there for two or three weeks until it was repaired and then I guess I took a bus to get back up there that gets a car. But that was terrible.
Question: So, uh... And you didn't get hurt? No, I did not get hurt. But we've had a tremendous car one time. I had one car I can remember having a lot of trouble with it and I was in the garage and having some work done on it. One of the mechanics is I see you got old ladies so-and-so's car. I said, "Yeah?" "Yeah." I said, "It was just about ruined in a big accident." And so in talking to him, I found out all these things had been done to it, because this guy had worked on it. And I'll tell you, I was mad by then, and these people telling me in the garage where I bought the car, that it was the first class condition and all. Well, anyhow, it turned that thing in on a new Chevrolet. And then when the Chevrolet had its miles on it, I bought a Pontiac and then we had... You had two Chevrolets. You had two Chevrolets. Two Chevrolets. A 41 Chevrolet? The black one? And then you had the Sahara beige? And then you got the Pontiac, I think. And yeah, we ended up having three or four Pontiacs in a row.
And one of them, when Mary graduated from high school, we had planned on taking a trip around the United States. I got some things to fit it on the top of the bodyguard so we could push stuff up there and tie it down. And we had the idea that we were going to set up a tent at night. Here or there? Well, it was so darn hot on the trips that we never did put a tent up or anything else. And by the time that we got home, about two and a half months, all those clothes in there and the sleeping bags absolutely ruined from Ilju. So they just all went into the dump pile. But we had quite a trip. We went along to the, I'd call them Southern states and up through Oklahoma. All places in there, on up to New Jersey, where we visited with a cousin of Shirley's. And then from there, we went on up right through the center of New York. I can remember that because it was a good day to go there. It was on a Sunday.
And all these kikes were out trying to sell you something. Somebody trying to, well, stop us right on the coming out of a tunnel under a river, I can remember. And he wanted to drive us across the town, clear across New York for so much money. Well, we finally got rid of him. But we went across New York and then up through the East Coast states, clear up to New Brunswick. And we visited there at a little church where the folks used to attend and they had a Bible on the front of the church was a gift from one of my relatives long time past and then we met a lady in the there's a house a home that had a front room was a little store and we met her and she gave us a lot of information and over across the road down the low was the old home place where my dad was. Now the old barns and things were still there but the original home and a second home had burned down so we didn't bother those people at all but we saw the location and everything.
Then from there we came on up. I don't know if it was a river or a stream or what, anyhow. To a city. And from there, we started going up, you'll follow this river, up this canyon. And by the time we got up through the canyon and up on the ridge, It was a motel there, so we stayed there that night. And from the motel you could look down, right down and see the Sarensen St. Lawrence River. But this motel I never forget. Something happened, so there was no electricity. And I don't remember if there was any place to eat there or not. I doubt it. So, early in the morning, we got in the car and we dropped down right down near the river and then went up the river, followed up the river. It was just good. Always little farms, the houses were set way back from the road and their acreage was out in front. And we went up there to, we crossed the river into Quebec.
Question (Mary): Do you know that that's the year the St. Lawrence Seaway opened?
No. How'd you know that? I just know that. Did they open so we could go through? I don't know. No, thank you. But anyhow we came on further up, one place or another, I can't remember all of them, and then down and we crossed, as I remember, through a tunnel into Detroit. And we stayed there one night, and I know we were upstairs in the second stories, some sort of little hotel or something. And then we went out to a Ford factory. And it was the joyous place I've ever been. They made their own steel. And we were up on that with a group of people they were taking through. We were up on a sort of a deck affair. So we could look down. And we could see them come in with these scootmobiles. and pick up one thing and then another and come in and just shoot it right straight into those big furnaces and it was just red hot in there and then when the stuff came out it came it took it out when it was hot and it was in the just in round cylinders. And they had those put up on big metal racks and these things would roll over on the metal racks and there was fellas there with big tongs. They grabbed the end of those things and pulled them over to start them going down through a thing that started flattening them out, hammering on them. And it goes down to the end, and the guy down there with his tongs would grab them and turn them around and start them up the old other way again. And they did that until they got the metal down to the thickness that they wanted. And then they'd take another bar and start in. But I can remember that terrible noise.
And we went up and worked our way around up to, I think it was Muskegon. That's the name of that place. We had to wait for a long time, but it was by far the shortest way to get from over to Milwaukee where we were going. And we had to wait four or five hours to get on this ferry. And I learned one thing. The first people on are the last people off. At least on this ferry it was because we finally came in to Milwaukee about 11 o'clock tonight. And here we were waiting and waiting and waiting. And then it's when we found out, 'cause they turned the darn ferry around. And the last people on, by the first people off. So we learned a good lesson there and we finally found a motel of what was kind of late at night. We stayed there that night and then we, Next, we went on up to some of Shirley's relays that we met. We went to the Miller High Life brewery, and you had so much to drink, you couldn't even drive the next day. What? We went to a beer brewery. Oh, yes, we inspected it. And you got sick. Miller Brothers and another beer, they said, factory. Of course they were not operating, being on a Saturday when we were there, but they were washing these immense copper cooking utensils. They were the biggest things that I ever seen. They were just massive. So, start that going.
Okay. Well, we had a nice time up there, and we were over in Wisconsin. And then we came down through the states, wound around here and there. And finally we went towards the, holding towards the north part of the United States. And we came across from Montana, Wyoming, and Dakotas. And that is the way we went in our way home. There was a long trip, a tiresome trip, but we enjoyed it and I'm ready to go back again. But I don't imagine by now I could stand it.
Which one of these things do I turn? So you want to go back? Yeah. Like on any rent, there are always accidents or a need for a doctor or a nurse or somebody. Well, my dad was the best doctor that you could ask for, for that type of thing. He could take care of burns. I'm talking about small things. I'm not talking about really big deals where you'd have to go to a hospital like, I mean, Phil and Jim did when they got burned. but, uh, sprains, cut fingers, cut hands, and all that sort of stuff. If we didn't have the medicine in the house to take care of it, he would go out to the stables where he kept his supply for his horses. And he had material there that he could tell when the horses' legs were strained or sprained. And we used what we called gum balls. And it was a good product, too, real good product. And then he had other stuff that sort of saves that would go on the horse at the next, where the collard fitted down. And those would get to be terrible sores and bad for a horse so that he just couldn't work. But ordinary things, even in the house when any of us was sick, dad would be there at the bed to check on us. Mother was a nurse, and they seemed to work out fine. If it got really something that was real bad, like we always call Amy, that was Mrs. is that Bradbury or Dr. Bradbury himself. And they would come out and take care of our family. -
Question: You said something about Jim and Erv getting burned.
Yes, I did. I mentioned that before. - I don't think so. and the many things went on at our home. Stewart was always the inventor working with something or other. And he had a nice little steam engine that had been given to him. I don't know where it came from. But he could get that thing cranked up and go on off steam. And he had schools over the fences and some of the wood shed and all. And he'd have with the strings for belts. And those things would be just a humming from the steam that he could produce.
So one day he thought, I'll really make a bigger, very rat trap. So he took a three-gallon coffee can with a type of lid that shoves in, like a carot-corn syrup can would, and or even a paint can would do that. And I forget just what all the detail, but he took, we had a lot of brick around there. He took a built-up little furnace and had this can full of water sitting on top of that, and on the side he had put a hole in the plug. And after a while he thought, well, I would be getting up some steam. I don't know what he could do. There was no way he could use the steam after he got it, because there was no sort of attachment on where he could capture the steam and then use it. But anyhow, he pulled that plug out, the boy that was out of steam started to come out. He shoved it right back in, and when he shoved it back in, that whole end of this boiler blew out and Stewart, James and Philip.
Of course, everybody had been sitting around that place watching what was going on. And they were in bed for a long, long time with terrible and they were fed through glass tubes and they were in the bed downstairs with no covers over their body from their waist up. That's the part that was burned so badly because you just couldn't stand to have anything on you at all. It took a long time before those burns got well enough where they could have some weight on them. I remember after that Jim was in school one day at the grammar school and they were playing. They were running on run sheep or on they were well it's a game where you're running back and forth and try to get tagged or try to tag somebody but anybody somebody and all he was in misery and because they caught him on these burns and the teacher they took him over to the school building took off his shirt and she was just astounded at the burns on his body on his chest and all so he was not accepted in the service.
Phil was not accepted. Of course, Phil had had the bad knees anyhow. He was born that way and had any number of operations on one use. There's a little bit of a kid.
Well then another time Jim had a friend from the school who came out and I used to I cut shinny sticks down in the willow trees. So, uh, there was some kid up there with an axe, and he dropped the axe, the slips out of his hand or something, and hit her, uh, gym near just back to the ear a little bit, and he had a bad wound from that.
The time that my dad had taught Stewart how to use a shotgun and how to load it and all. So Stuart used to use his gun god. We had a bounty on squirrels at that time of ten cents a squirrel tail. So he had the privilege of going out with that gun. One day it was a quarter of a misty day. He wasn't there, but he had loaded this gun up and used some other powder that he found around the place. And so Jim had that gun and I took Jim's 22. And we went over across the fields and down past Travers and then Fred Travers took his little guy and he came along too. Well, we went down to the old Parsons field and the lure squirrel chasin' around on a, oh, a very rocky piece of ground. So Jim sneaked up behind a hay shop and to get up closer. And when he fired at the thing, that's a squirrel, a darn shotgun blew up right where his left hand would take the hold of the barrel. And this powder would have every day only was so powerful or something, blew the gun pieces. So I picked up what was left of it.
Jim grabbed his wrist and started for home, which was three-quarters of a mile away. I'd say it was a mile. And he grabbed his wrist and started running. The blood was coming out to beat the band. And then Fred came along too. But I tried to keep up with Jim, but I couldn't do it. Because the harder he ran, the more the blood was being pumped out. And then after we got there, they had to call the doctor, wait for him to come out from town. and it had just split his left hand wide open, right down, sort of cornered ways, and blew off the ends of two fingers and broke his wrist.
So that was another long experiment on Stuart's part. But anyhow, they finally got a cab over that, in good condition once again. And there was probably something else to follow that up, I don't remember right now, but that's the way it went at our house.
Question: What was the time that you and Erv got dragged by the car? What? Didn't you and Irv get caught by a car on the bumper or something? It got dragged along?
Well, Mary is asking about Irv and I being dragged by a bumper, but what's happened was I was the chairman of the youth group on this particular evening. And we were walking in Broad Street, going down to Headford Church. And the next thing we knew, both of us, was when we came to the hospital a few days later. But anyhow, where we had been walking, somebody came along in the car and struck us. And the vettists were dead and went on. And the car came by a man his wife who lived just down below us. He was a work for the state of California, I think, who was a repair foreman.