My Mom was the youngest of a large family. The only member of her family born out of the State of Ohio. She was born in the small town of Springhill, Warren County, Iowa. The family did not stay there long after she was born. Her Dad James Madison Hall got into some trouble.
Apparently Grand Ma Hall wanted the family away from any scandal so took them back to Ohio to await "Jim" to get things straight and join them there. Luther and Simon stayed with their Dad to settle up the business of selling the farm and ranch along with the live stock, etc. When the business was settled he took the two boys to the train, gave them their tickets to Ohio and pressed one silver dollar into their hand and sent them on to their Mother. He was never seen nor heard of again.
Mom was raised without a Dad and felt robbed. All her brothers and sisters had had a Dad. Her friends and acquaintences had a Dad and she never had one. It stayed with her throughout her life. It effected her in a way that I don't think any of us realized. Her Mother had to work hard, so did all the kids. Grandma Hall ran a boarding house to make ends meet. That would have been quite a chore with 8 kids of her own to house. Where did all the room come from? Mom told of standing on a milk crate at the tender age of 8 making pies to feed the boarders and family. Eight pies at a time. No wonder she was a great pie maker! She was never allowed to cry because: "It will upset Mom". To be the youngest and never allowed to show an emotion, that was a real tough up bringing. Grandma Hall was a "confinement nurse" and "midwife". She would be away for days on cases. The girls had to take over the care of the house and meals while she was away. The boys were all busy at jobs in the potteries so were not available to take care of things at the house. Eunice was the oldest girl and got married and left home so
Olive and Mom were the ones to do the work, as I suppose. Finally it was just Grandma and Mom then Mom went into the potteries at the age of 13 to help with finances. One of the stories that I remember her telling is how, when they would go to church on Sunday, or school on the week days, they would go barefoot until they were in site of the Church or School then they would set down, wipe their feet and put on their shoes and stockings. This was so they would not wear out their shoes. Like pants for the boys and dresses for the girls were always passed down, so were their shoes. Mom had the harder time as she wore a "b" width while Olive wore "a". Mom always had corns from wearing shoes that were too tight. Mom met Dad on a blind date when she was 18 and they had a very short courtship. When they married they lived with Grandma Hall until they could get their own home which was just before Ralph was born in 1920. The folks always took care of the needs of Grandma Hall. She finally got rid of her house and spend time living with one of her children or the other until she passed away in 1938. I have written elsewhere about Mom and her bad health so I won't go into it again, but when we moved to California it was a separation from her family. She would wirte, and some of them came to California to visit, but she only made one trip back. That trip was by Greyhound Bus in the summer of 1938 - just a few months before Grandma Hall passed away. I think she was always greatful that she went back then. This trip was to allow Dad the time and space to find a home
with care for Carrie, Dads Step-mother. She had become a handful, and too much for Mom to deal with. Dad found a state facility that was inexpensive that could take care of Carrie. She was moved to another place when she went blind. She passed away finally in 1939. I had a three year run here. Charles Smith died in 1937, Hannah Anna Gill Hall in 1938 and Carrena Maybell Bowman Smith in 1939. These were very hard years for Mom. She loved her father- in-law and her Mom. Mom struggled through the Second World War with her sons in the service and her husband working 12 and 14 hour days in the War effort building airplanes and helping dream up new and better ones. She made great meals from very little during the War years when Dad would invite some of the "boys" home for a good home cooked meal. It was always a treat for me as well. Having someone at home for a little while.
After the War Mom was busy with PTA and other interests. She was always busy with something. She would crochet and finally learned to knit. I guess keeping busy was one of those things that she had to do when she was young, and something she never outgrew. I don't believe that she and I had a great relationship. Maybe she was a bit jealous of my having a Dad and our being so close. We did develope a closer relationship after Dad was killed. She was hurt and
took a long time to get back on her feet. She stayed with my family during this time, and began to be exposed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Missionaries contacted her after she went to her own home. When she was ready for baptism she called Jay to do it, and from then on, her and I did a great many things together pertaining to the Church. It was great fun. When the City of Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California took her home to build condominiums in 1983 she moved into a Senior Apartment Complex not far from where we lived in Anaheim, California and she and I were busy until she had a stroke and passed away in 1984. Ron and I had planned a trip to Hawaii for her for her birthday in February that year. She had such a great time - she and Dad had gone in the '70s and she had always wanted to go back. While on a tour the day of her Birthday the bus driver, tour guide and folks on the tour got her the biggest pineapple I have ever seen and gave it to her when we entered the bus following one of the stops, while they all sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She was so thrilled. She was 83.
We carried that darn thing around with us even had it packed for the plane ride home. She had it cut into pieces and shared it with the other tenents in the Apartment Complex she lived it, it was a real treat for everyone there - real pineapple from Hawaii. Mom was a hero for the day.
Mom had been an Ordinance Worker in the Los Angeles Temple for 10 years and had just finished her weekly assignment there when she had the stroke and was gone in just a few hours. Again I was so blessed to have her friends from the Church and Temple give such loving and sweet testimonies of her that my sorry was eased greatly. My parents are side by side at Forest Lawn, Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. The family has a living memorial set up for them so that floral tributes are placed on their cripts during the year. Mother was so faithful to go and decorate everyones graves during her lifetime, we felt she would like us to do this for her and Dad. written this 10th day of January 2009
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