In 1942, during World War Two when I was 7 and ready to start the second grade. Dad moved his family to Henderson, Nevada.
Henderson was a new town built near Las Vegas. I's purpose for existence was a factory that Daddy spent a year helping to build. The factory was to produce a new metal for war production needs. The new metal was called magnesium.
When we first moved there Henderson had the name of Basic. I was at the ceremony when the town was renamed Henderson after a local Military leader. I think he was a general, who had much to do with the inception of the town.
The homes were flat roofed and brand new. This new house we moved into had everything! We were so excited by the indoor bathroom and hot water as well as cold water taps.
Our home in Henderson was across the street from the school playground. I could go roller skating when ever I wanted. What a treat! In St. George we were 2 miles from school and had to ride the school bus.
Down the street a short walk was the middle of town. Among other shops it had a drugstore, grocery store, bowling alley and movie theater.
Deanna's Born
Then Deanna came. The beautiful angel who had blue eyes and rosy pink lips that always smiled! Everyone raved about her beauty and taffy white hair that Mom kept in ringlets.
As much as I adored Deanna, she was a thorn to my ego. I was 7 years old. No longer did anyone tell me I was pretty and want to pet me. I was replaced by this shiny fairy doll who always laughed ad made hearts light.
As much as I adored Deanna, she was a thorn to my ego. I was 7 years old. No longer did anyone tell me I was pretty and want to pet me. I was replaced by this shiny fairy doll who always laughed ad made hearts light.
Erik's Born - Sweat Peas
Even though I was only 4 1/2 years old on December 7, 1940, I remember the night when Daddy and we were listening to the radio and heard the frightful news that the Japaneses had bombed Pearl Harbor. We were at war. Mom and Dad talked about what this would mean to the country. It was a very frightening time. War!!!!
After a five year lull between babies, Mom was already expecting her 6th baby when war was declared in December 1940. Erik Lorin was born March 26, 1941
Deanna was quick to come next year on October 13, 1942. Deanna was given the middle name Vee, for Victory.
Mom said she had to listen to smug self righteous women talk about her behind her back saying, "Some people will do anything to keep her husband from being called into the service."
Erik was the last of the children born in Grandma Emma's bed. The town finally built a hospital and that was where Deanna was born.
Against Mom's earlier resolve, she was forced to swallow her pride and call on her mother for help when Erik came into the world.
I remember Mama went into labor and Elvin the 2 miles on foot to Grandma's for help. She and Grandpa came for us all in their truck. Of course Daddy was out of town and Grandma was grumbling. Dr. Reichman lived across the street from Grandma.
We children were told to stay outside and play in the shade on green lawn.
I knew my Mom was in trouble, I could hear her moaning sometimes. It seemed forever. I was worried and probably hungry when I went into the kitchen and saw the nurse there standing over a steaming pan of water on the stove.
The nurse assured me my mother was going to be all right as soon as the baby was born.
I asked her where the baby would come from.
The nurse whispered that I had to keep a secret. Of course I would. She said the baby would come from my mother's tummy.
Wow! The nurse hurried back through the closed door to Mom. I was left to ponder this revelation. I had a faint dark line running from my belly button down the front of my stomach. Since I was not to discuss the secret with anyone, for years I believed one day my stomach would get so fat that dark line would slowly stretch open, painfully. to let my baby out. It was a real surprise when I was 12 and got the birds and bees lesson in school. I found how wrong I had been.
Erik was the first baby I could remember. He was perfect. Mom took all of us for a walk past the Temple the following Spring when Erik was a one year old toddler. We went to visit Great Grandma Olena Larson who lived half a block beyond the Temple.
After our visit we stopped for a picnic outside the Temple fence on the green lawn. What a fun day! Mom took pictures as she often did. She captured one year old Erik in his new short panted lime green outfit as he tried to run on his wobbly legs. he was full of laughter and would not keep his little marching cap on his head. We had fun chasing him and replacing the hat to watch him throw it as far as he could again.
LaVerna and I both remember the love and peace we felt that day on the Temple grounds. Sun filtered through the shade from pecan trees lining the street. Sweet Peas were in bloom along the fence. From that day forward Sweet Peas have been a close runner with my Grandma Emma's Daffodils for being my favorite flower.
After a five year lull between babies, Mom was already expecting her 6th baby when war was declared in December 1940. Erik Lorin was born March 26, 1941
Deanna was quick to come next year on October 13, 1942. Deanna was given the middle name Vee, for Victory.
Mom said she had to listen to smug self righteous women talk about her behind her back saying, "Some people will do anything to keep her husband from being called into the service."
Erik was the last of the children born in Grandma Emma's bed. The town finally built a hospital and that was where Deanna was born.
Against Mom's earlier resolve, she was forced to swallow her pride and call on her mother for help when Erik came into the world.
I remember Mama went into labor and Elvin the 2 miles on foot to Grandma's for help. She and Grandpa came for us all in their truck. Of course Daddy was out of town and Grandma was grumbling. Dr. Reichman lived across the street from Grandma.
We children were told to stay outside and play in the shade on green lawn.
I knew my Mom was in trouble, I could hear her moaning sometimes. It seemed forever. I was worried and probably hungry when I went into the kitchen and saw the nurse there standing over a steaming pan of water on the stove.
The nurse assured me my mother was going to be all right as soon as the baby was born.
I asked her where the baby would come from.
The nurse whispered that I had to keep a secret. Of course I would. She said the baby would come from my mother's tummy.
Wow! The nurse hurried back through the closed door to Mom. I was left to ponder this revelation. I had a faint dark line running from my belly button down the front of my stomach. Since I was not to discuss the secret with anyone, for years I believed one day my stomach would get so fat that dark line would slowly stretch open, painfully. to let my baby out. It was a real surprise when I was 12 and got the birds and bees lesson in school. I found how wrong I had been.
Erik was the first baby I could remember. He was perfect. Mom took all of us for a walk past the Temple the following Spring when Erik was a one year old toddler. We went to visit Great Grandma Olena Larson who lived half a block beyond the Temple.
After our visit we stopped for a picnic outside the Temple fence on the green lawn. What a fun day! Mom took pictures as she often did. She captured one year old Erik in his new short panted lime green outfit as he tried to run on his wobbly legs. he was full of laughter and would not keep his little marching cap on his head. We had fun chasing him and replacing the hat to watch him throw it as far as he could again.
LaVerna and I both remember the love and peace we felt that day on the Temple grounds. Sun filtered through the shade from pecan trees lining the street. Sweet Peas were in bloom along the fence. From that day forward Sweet Peas have been a close runner with my Grandma Emma's Daffodils for being my favorite flower.
Building a Home
From 9/1939 - 2/1941 President Roosevelt came to the rescue of the Country caught in the despair of the Great Depression.
W.P.A. programs were implemented that let unemployed fathers draw money for food while working on government projects. These projects include building roads, bridges, and probably that tunnel through the mountain at Zion Park. Roads and construction were done in all the National Forests giving training and help to many of the Nation's desperate families. These proud families were not just handed government welfare checks. They worked for what they received!
Working for the W.P.A. was when Lee Laub gained his dignity and learned to operate heavy duty equipment. He now had a job skill that was in demand.
This was also when he earned enough money to buy the 5 acres he could call his own. Our city folk may have thought Melba was to be pitied because she was taken to the edge of town miles from shopping and schools and no means of transportation. But this was land! Their land! Dad built us a home that was not grand by today's standards, certainly not by the standards of the day either. But it was home.
Today, with all the government red tape and building code regulations, a family starting out can no longer do what Lee Laub did. He built a 4 room frame house to get moved into then added two bedrooms later.
There was a potbellied wood burning heater for the front room where a big bed was placed for all 5 of us children to share. We were tucked in at nights with half the kids sleeping with heads at the top of the bed and the other half with their heads at the foot of the bed. We learned to not kick or pull overs off the next person.
Mom's and Dad's bedroom seemed to always have a baby in the crib that stood permanently in the corner.
After the 2 extra bedrooms were added to our small wood frame home, LaVerna and I shared a small bedroom that contained one double bed and chest of drawers and small closet.
The big bed room was a regular dormitory for the rest of the kids. I'm not sure where everyone was stacked. Elvin may have joined the Navy just to get his own bed!
W.P.A. programs were implemented that let unemployed fathers draw money for food while working on government projects. These projects include building roads, bridges, and probably that tunnel through the mountain at Zion Park. Roads and construction were done in all the National Forests giving training and help to many of the Nation's desperate families. These proud families were not just handed government welfare checks. They worked for what they received!
Working for the W.P.A. was when Lee Laub gained his dignity and learned to operate heavy duty equipment. He now had a job skill that was in demand.
This was also when he earned enough money to buy the 5 acres he could call his own. Our city folk may have thought Melba was to be pitied because she was taken to the edge of town miles from shopping and schools and no means of transportation. But this was land! Their land! Dad built us a home that was not grand by today's standards, certainly not by the standards of the day either. But it was home.
Today, with all the government red tape and building code regulations, a family starting out can no longer do what Lee Laub did. He built a 4 room frame house to get moved into then added two bedrooms later.
There was a potbellied wood burning heater for the front room where a big bed was placed for all 5 of us children to share. We were tucked in at nights with half the kids sleeping with heads at the top of the bed and the other half with their heads at the foot of the bed. We learned to not kick or pull overs off the next person.
Mom's and Dad's bedroom seemed to always have a baby in the crib that stood permanently in the corner.
After the 2 extra bedrooms were added to our small wood frame home, LaVerna and I shared a small bedroom that contained one double bed and chest of drawers and small closet.
The big bed room was a regular dormitory for the rest of the kids. I'm not sure where everyone was stacked. Elvin may have joined the Navy just to get his own bed!
Childhood Fun and Friends
Things stand out in my memory as happy days were summer days when it was Mom's watering turn for the pasture. We kids would swim and splash in the water ditch. It seemed vary deep and swift. After growing up and looking at the shallow ditch it disappointing to realize how small it really had been.
There were early Spring wild flowers that grew at the head of the ditch LaVerna and I called snow balls because of their white color and shape created from the many tiny white blossoms. The Snowballs had a very sweet scent. She and I searched eagerly for them each year. I have never seen them again in any other spot.
I graduated from the little watering ditch as we grew older and boys began to roam and make friends with the farmers in the fields below our house.
When Mr. Frei had a watering turn for the big fields, now that was a ditch! We would go there for a cool dip and spend the day. We'd get an old piece of wood and float under the bridge that barely had room to keep our heads above water. If only our mother knew the dangerous things we did!
The fields were a wonderful place. Along the canal banks grew wild asparagus. Mom was always happy when we showed up with a big bundle we gathered for her. We weren't always pleased when she cooked it for our suppers, but it was a taste that grew on you. We ate lots of creamed asparagus over slices of home baked bread.
From the fields we graduated to early morning hikes to the Virgin River a few miles further from home. We would take a lunch and disappear for the day. There came a point along the way where we could walk the big black water pipes that followed the road to the river.
The river was not deep, but wide and usually not very full. We would chase minnows and catch Boney fish to cook over a fire. We had to be ever on the alert for quick sand. We drank out of the river until we found a dead and bloated cow up stream from us once. It was after the cow incident that I lost interest in the river. Mom finally convinced me that was not a safe place to play.
Dad had a drinking buddy named Clyde Rosenbury who lived just beyond the bridge to the fields. He had kids in our age range and we enjoyed hiking to their home for a day.
On night Dad came home from the Rosenbury's and was really upset with his friend to prove to Dad just how much his children loved him. Clyde would slap a child across the room them tell him to come and give his Dad a Kiss. then he'd slap the weeping child again and demand further proof of devotion with another kiss.
Daddy had been disqusted with the show. those poor babies! No matter how much dad had to drink, he would never have slappped his children!
The twins and their boy friends from the neighborhood continued their games at the river for years. They would climb trees and leap out into the tamarisk bushes and give a Tarzan yell. They were GOOD!
I can still hear those two brothers in the evening as they gave the old Tarzan yell and their friend Fen Jessop and the Walters brothers, from homes two blocks away both East and West, would give the answering call.
There were early Spring wild flowers that grew at the head of the ditch LaVerna and I called snow balls because of their white color and shape created from the many tiny white blossoms. The Snowballs had a very sweet scent. She and I searched eagerly for them each year. I have never seen them again in any other spot.
I graduated from the little watering ditch as we grew older and boys began to roam and make friends with the farmers in the fields below our house.
When Mr. Frei had a watering turn for the big fields, now that was a ditch! We would go there for a cool dip and spend the day. We'd get an old piece of wood and float under the bridge that barely had room to keep our heads above water. If only our mother knew the dangerous things we did!
The fields were a wonderful place. Along the canal banks grew wild asparagus. Mom was always happy when we showed up with a big bundle we gathered for her. We weren't always pleased when she cooked it for our suppers, but it was a taste that grew on you. We ate lots of creamed asparagus over slices of home baked bread.
From the fields we graduated to early morning hikes to the Virgin River a few miles further from home. We would take a lunch and disappear for the day. There came a point along the way where we could walk the big black water pipes that followed the road to the river.
The river was not deep, but wide and usually not very full. We would chase minnows and catch Boney fish to cook over a fire. We had to be ever on the alert for quick sand. We drank out of the river until we found a dead and bloated cow up stream from us once. It was after the cow incident that I lost interest in the river. Mom finally convinced me that was not a safe place to play.
Dad had a drinking buddy named Clyde Rosenbury who lived just beyond the bridge to the fields. He had kids in our age range and we enjoyed hiking to their home for a day.
On night Dad came home from the Rosenbury's and was really upset with his friend to prove to Dad just how much his children loved him. Clyde would slap a child across the room them tell him to come and give his Dad a Kiss. then he'd slap the weeping child again and demand further proof of devotion with another kiss.
Daddy had been disqusted with the show. those poor babies! No matter how much dad had to drink, he would never have slappped his children!
The twins and their boy friends from the neighborhood continued their games at the river for years. They would climb trees and leap out into the tamarisk bushes and give a Tarzan yell. They were GOOD!
I can still hear those two brothers in the evening as they gave the old Tarzan yell and their friend Fen Jessop and the Walters brothers, from homes two blocks away both East and West, would give the answering call.
Childhood Games
By the time Erik and Deanna came along, there were enough of us to always have a good game of Work Up Baseball. that of course was baseball played with only one team and you had to get someone out and work up to batter.
One game we played was called, Annie, Annie Over. Two teams were chosen and each took a side of the house. Someone took a ball and yelled, "Annie, Annie Over", then threw the ball over the hose. If someone caught the ball before it hit the ground, the team would sneak around the house and try to hit an opponent with the ball. whenever got hit had to join the other team. (The game was best when hot played with a hard baseball.)
After Mom and Dad moved the family to Las Vegas, Kathryn was on one side of the new, taller house. She tested to see if she could still throw over the top as in St. George. She picked up a rock and threw as hard as she could. Unfortunately for Jeff, his head happened to be on the other side of the house in the exact spot where the rock landed, he swears to this day that Kathryn deliberately tried to kill him.
One game we played was called, Annie, Annie Over. Two teams were chosen and each took a side of the house. Someone took a ball and yelled, "Annie, Annie Over", then threw the ball over the hose. If someone caught the ball before it hit the ground, the team would sneak around the house and try to hit an opponent with the ball. whenever got hit had to join the other team. (The game was best when hot played with a hard baseball.)
After Mom and Dad moved the family to Las Vegas, Kathryn was on one side of the new, taller house. She tested to see if she could still throw over the top as in St. George. She picked up a rock and threw as hard as she could. Unfortunately for Jeff, his head happened to be on the other side of the house in the exact spot where the rock landed, he swears to this day that Kathryn deliberately tried to kill him.
Childhood Mischief
If LaVerna was particularly bossy with me, I could always get her upset if I rolled my eyes up so all she could see was the whites. It always pleased me to freak her out this way. She was born clever though. all of her tattling could not make me stop this perverse pleasure. One time after a particularly great white eyeball roll that was sure to bring the look of horror on her face, she said, "You know, Cleo, some day you will do that and your eyes will stick. You will look like that for ever." I was cured instantly.
When we first moved to our home in St. George, electricity was not to had out that far from town. We used kerosene oil lamps for light at night.
When electric poles were finally being placed out our way, big holes were dug along the roads waiting until the poles could be placed into them.
Mom was walking home from town when the twins were about 5 and found one of them in the bottom of a hole about 2 blocks from in front of Elfreida Jones house. Willard was in the bottom crying and Wayne was trying to figure how to get him out.
The twins, playing on their way ad happened upon the hole with a tiny mouse in the bottom. Willard jumped in to get the mouse and it had run up his leg under his pant leg. He was screaming and Mom couldn't decide who was teh more frightened, Willard or the mouse.
The twins had the most distinctive laughs. They would burst forth with a loud motor starting sound. If I was at local theater watching a movie I could always tell when the twins were in darkened house. Their laugh was so odd the audience would laugh for the funny parts of the movie then again because of the Twins' laugh.
In one of Mom's letters to Dad after the twins were born she told him she had had a terrible day. All of the kids were crying except for LaVerna. Mom said she gave LaVerna a smack so she would cry too. Then Mom sat down and cried with all 5 of us.
With 5 children coming to Mom so quickly and not enough money to feed herself properly. Mom's health suffered. Her teeth lost their calcium to the babies she bore. She had to have them pulled and wore false teeth by the time she was in her early thirties.
When we first moved to our home in St. George, electricity was not to had out that far from town. We used kerosene oil lamps for light at night.
When electric poles were finally being placed out our way, big holes were dug along the roads waiting until the poles could be placed into them.
Mom was walking home from town when the twins were about 5 and found one of them in the bottom of a hole about 2 blocks from in front of Elfreida Jones house. Willard was in the bottom crying and Wayne was trying to figure how to get him out.
The twins, playing on their way ad happened upon the hole with a tiny mouse in the bottom. Willard jumped in to get the mouse and it had run up his leg under his pant leg. He was screaming and Mom couldn't decide who was teh more frightened, Willard or the mouse.
The twins had the most distinctive laughs. They would burst forth with a loud motor starting sound. If I was at local theater watching a movie I could always tell when the twins were in darkened house. Their laugh was so odd the audience would laugh for the funny parts of the movie then again because of the Twins' laugh.
In one of Mom's letters to Dad after the twins were born she told him she had had a terrible day. All of the kids were crying except for LaVerna. Mom said she gave LaVerna a smack so she would cry too. Then Mom sat down and cried with all 5 of us.
With 5 children coming to Mom so quickly and not enough money to feed herself properly. Mom's health suffered. Her teeth lost their calcium to the babies she bore. She had to have them pulled and wore false teeth by the time she was in her early thirties.
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