CALIFORNIA

Dad was working but things were pretty tight. We had a spring vacation and I planned to work during the break. There was a men's store down in Redlands. I'd been in there a time or two buying things. I went in there and was talking to the fellows there and told them I was going to work out in the orange patch. They got the biggest kick out of that. Well, you have berry patches but orange groves! I'd gotten a job in the orange grove and told them I was going to work in the orange patch. I worked in the grove for Mr. Parks and earned enough money to buy my graduation suitÄa dark suit but white flannels for baccalaureate service.

Mother and Dad had an apartment rented in Joe Clapp's parents' apartment house, and I lived with them. Somehow, Addie Clapp complained because I made too much noise. The other people in the apartment house were old bachelors and they complained because I slammed doors and talked too loud. So we had to move out.

Milla and Hunter lived in the southwest part of town a couple of miles away. We moved into their house. They had a spare bedroom for Mother and Dad and a one-room basement with a stove. Mother cooked for us there.

When I moved to Redlands, of course Peg wasn't there. She was back in Puyallup. Twice a week I got a letter from here and she got one from me twice a week. That helped a lot.

We went to church at San Bernardino, about ten miles away. There were a lot of real nice girls over at church and they were real friendly. A bunch of us young folks, a half dozen to a dozen would bum around together and have big times. But, I was never interested in any of the girls. I remember my dad got real disgusted with me and bought Barbara Wixsom home with us for Sunday dinner. Barbara was a nice girl, but I just wasn't interested in her. I worked the summer I got out of high school for Maurice Clapp in the tire shop, retreading tires. His shop was right next to the apartment house that I got ousted from.

I remember taking Dad's Model T sedan to a church conference at Central Church in Los Angeles. I had a whole car load of young folks, Charlie Landon, Lawrence McCauley, Dora, Wilma and Frances Dexter; I think it was. We got to the city limits and I said, "Okay, some of you folks tell me where to go."

They didn't have any idea of the address or anything about where I was supposed to be taking them. So I drove around. I drove up to a service station and inquired. He didn't know but he said, "Now, just down there a block lives the pastor of the Methodist Church. He's pretty well acquainted. You go ask him."

I went and asked him and he told me right where to find it. We went and had a big time. But I was just astounded that none of the folks knew the address of the church.

On July fourth, Maurice and I went down to the beaches; Laguna, Newport and Balboa. I wasn't used to spending money. I put fifteen dollars in my billfold and hid some more in one of my pockets. We got there and I was fishing around in my billfold.

Maurice said, "Is that all the money you've got?"

I'd spent about all of the fifteen dollars. I said, "No, I've got some more."

He replied, "You'd better have."

We rode a lot of rides. There were amusement parks along some of the beaches. It wasn't anything special but it was my first experience at the beach. I was working for Maurice Clapp then.