We hadn't been in Anaheim long when Dawn decided she wouldn't stay in Taft after all. She was giving up a very good job, but that didn't seem to bother her. She went to Voit Agency and found a good job with Bectel as a Secretary. Her work place wasn't far from the house so it worked out very well for her.
It was the move into Anaheim that I wanted to tell you about - it was crazy. As I said, we thought Dawn was going to stay in Taft, so we hadn't move much into the Anaheim house. We were waiting for it to clear escrow and then we would move our things down. All we had was a small ice chest to keep things in, and two camp cots for sleeping. Dawn had come down to help get things ready in the new house. We had gone to dinner and returned to the house quite late. We were tired and with nothing really in the house, we went straight to bed. Now in all the time
we had looked at the house and after buying it, we were not at all aware of the closeness of Disney Land. We had purchased the house in the summer time. Dawn had just graduated, as I told you. When we went to bed it was probably about 8 o'clock. We were asleep when all of a sudden it sounded like the Third World War had started in our yard. We both jumped up and were stumbling around in the dark in fright. You guessed it, the Fire Works at Disney Land were going off. We could see them from the front yard. Disney Land was within walking distance of our new home. Oh, we got use to the noise. We didn't go to bed until after 9 after that.
When we made the move, we decided it was time to get new furniture. All we kept was the bedroom furniture and Jays Lazy Boy. Shopping for new carpets and furniture were the order of business. First came the carpet. We had it laid and then shopped for furniture for the living room. Dawn helped us pick it out. The end result, we went French Provincial. We got lamps at the Orange County Swap Meet one Saturday. I don't think we realized what a chore it would be to carry something that heavy that far to the car, but we didn't make that mistake again. We added a couple more chairs and felt we had things pretty well under control.
I wasn't in the Anaheim Ward long when I was called to teach Seminary. I had taught one year
in Kearn County, and felt pretty capable as it was Church History that year, and I had spent the better part of 17 years in deep study of the subject. I however had not spent that time in the scriptures. So with the teachers manual, I learned how the Doctrine and Covenants fit into what I had learned. I enjoyed teaching. When the Stake President interviewed me he said his one
request was that I agree to teach for 4 years. The Students had a right to know who they would be having from year to year. I would start teaching the Freshman. Now this was a pretty good sized Stake. It had three High Schools within the boundries, so there was a good bit of rivalry that had to be dealt with. For some hair brain moment, I agreed, and accepted the call. It was not until I reached my car I realized I had not spend time in the scriptures and would have no idea what I was doing. I nearly passed out. It was there and then I dedicated myself to begin doing my scripture study. Better late than never!
Again I was blessed. The subject was Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants. I believe
I learned a great deal that year. Enough so that I found at the end of the year, I had the job of getting better acquainted with the Book of Mormon. As teachers we were given our materials in June and that gave me all summer to get a head start. I loved the challenge. By the time the new semester started I had read the book through once. I promised the students if they would meet me by reading the book once during the year, I would read it another 9 times for the count of 10 times. They took me on. They read along with the class and made it through one full time. I found at the end of the year, with diligents, I had read it 13 times. I found the greatest thrill was to read the last verse of Moroni and then start with; "I Nephi, being born of goodly parents". I like Sister Stout learned then, each time I read it so much more had been added. Or like President Grant taught: "not that the subject changes, but ability grows." I have marked up so many volumes that if they were all joined together I suspect that every verse would be colored in or underlines with notes along the margin of something I had learned. What a great experience.
Over the years that I taught, 17 in all, I have learned the greatest thing to teach is the Old Testament. It and the Book of Mormon have been my most taught scriptures. Doctrine and Covenants and New Testament the least, but not one wit less interesting or worthwhile. I was asked to teach Institute, which I did for 5 more years. That pressed me into the Pearl of Great Price and greatfully into The Lectures on Faith. I am so greatful for the time I have spent learning so that I could teach with understanding. Love of the Scriptures should be one of the things we all develope in our life time. Time well spent!
Paul came to live with us again following Dawns marriage to Gregory Slane. His marriage to Jan had ended in divorce. He worked for awhile in Orange County and then returned to Bakersfield to work as a Glaser. During the time we were in Anaheim he married two more times. He was not to find a lasting relationship in either of these marriage either.
Jay continue to work in Orange County, but found at times it was necessary for him to take the truck further to find long term employment. One of these was in Helendale, CA. A small place in the desert where he again joined with Mac McCann in sharing an appartment. It was a miserable place, but the work was steady and the company friendly. When possible I would go out and spend a week-end with him. I don't think I was ever as cold as I was in that apartment.
I have no idea how those two men handled it. There was only one place to eat, and I don't believe it was the best. I guess you do with what you have. That tour lasted for 6 months. He
was called out there a couple times more, after that, but it wasn't for long either times.
We lived in Anaheim for 8 years. Jay had some interesting jobs during that time. He was called to be a Clerk in the Ward we lived in and this became his re-entry as it were into activity in the Church. It was during this time that his Mother Itha Zimmer had a stroke and was hospitalized
until she passed away. She was in Yuma, Arizona so it ment we made a number of week-end trips to visit her. A couple of times LaMar and Ruby, Jays brother and wife went with us. When she passed away we had her body returned to California and she is buried in our family property at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, CA. More of that later.
One winter the weather was horrible. It rained for the better part of 30 days. Which ment that Jay was out of work. It was during this time that we found the "As Is" at Sears in Santa Ana, CA. We continued to haunt the place at least a couple of times each week. The furniture that came in had to have some repair work done to it. Just what Jay needed to keep him busy. As
it turned out, Dawn and Greg had bought a new home on Lobos in Atascadero. There family
had grown and they needed furniture for Kearas new bedroom. A lot of white and gold French Provincal bedroom furniture came in. Jay picked over the best and bought it for such a rediculous price that he was thrilled to fix it up and have it ready for Keara. Then he found a dining room table that really needed some work. He put his heart and soul into fixing it and in the doing found chairs to match that he fixed as well. Then a small chest of drawers came in that matached that he put the drawers back together and made a side board for the new dining room. There was a hutch bottom and top that came in and when they were repaired looked great and made the set complete. I can't remember in total just what all he worked on, but the finished product of each purchase was outstanding. He found a beautiful hutch that would work in our home, along with a table and chairs. The table was a Duncan Fife. Unfortunately the chairs were not a match, but they have worked well for over 25 years now. The hutch had a corner broken off. He was questioning how it could be salvaged when another gleaner who looked at it told him he could cut the break off on a diaginal and then do the same on the other side. It worked perfectly and I have loved it. The top part was not that bad, so we ended up with a great buy, and a show of Jays handi work as well. I cannot tell you how much money he spent, or just how much his purchases saved, but he had a successful down time, and it was great therapy for him as well. He always took such pride in what he did, I wish some of that handiwork was still around to share with the younger generation coming up. It would be a great chance for them to see what their Great Grandfather was able to do.
Well as always, time passes, and we were in the throws of retirement. Jay had arthritis so bad that lifting the heavy shoots on the truck and wading in all the water was becoming too damaging. He decided to sell the truck and retire. I wasn't sure what he would do, but he needed to get out of the business.
While I was up with Dawn when she had her fourth and last child, I heard of a new developement in Paso Robles that interested me. I drove up one day and looked it over. I was impressed enough to go back home and talk to Jay about it. He wasn't interested in making a change. Selling and buying with another move did not "turn him on". We had a number of heated discussions on the matter and I was pretty set that we not stay in Anaheim, but move closer to our Grand Children. They would grow fast enough and we wouldn't have a chance to enjoy the things that would make up their lives. My only concern was that we not live in the boundries of the same Ward. That way the children and grandchildren would not have us looking down their necks, as it were. The end result was, Jay went with me to look at the property and with his usual careful way, he sat down and figured out what we would have to do to make the move. He was always like that. Never bought anything, or made a move without figuring all the angels so to speak.
When he finally decided the move was a good idea, he called a Realtor who was quick to tell us that nothing in our area had sold for 6 months. She asked Jay what he wanted for the house and when he told her she just laughed and said he would never get that much for a house in "this area". Jay said he would either get that amount or he would not sell. She said she would put it on the market for us, but had little or no hope of selling it. Jay said he would need about 2 months to paint and fix the place up. So she could put it on the Market in April.
He painted the outside of the house. I guess I should tell you that he had taken the sliding glass door out of the kitchen and replaced it with the regular window from the back bedroom. He had opened the wall in the back bedroom and installed the sliding glass door from the kitchen. He then took the air conditioner out of the wall in the kitchen and cut it down for a regular size door.
The house had a covered patio around the side and back of the house. It was attached to the
garage wall which led into the wash room. Making it great in any kind of weather for doing the laundry. Outside the back bedroom he then made walls for a cabana room. It was very nice.
We had planned on placing a elongated window on the other outside wall, but never got around to that. Jay had remodeled the kitchen a couple of years earlier and put new cabinets in and replaced the old appliances that were avacado green. With a new floor and electrical that was
put in for a Microwave (which were pretty new at the time) it was a knock out of a kitchen. Not at all like what it had been in the beginning.
The papers were signed and the house was to go on the market at Jays asking price. The Realtor was to come by an put up the sign. She called and said she had been held up by getting her Income Taxes ready for filing on the 15th so she would be by in the A.M. to put it up and the Open House would be that day - the 15th. As both of us would be at work, that was fine with us.
When we got home that evening, there were some cars still there. We lived in a Culdesac. The
Realtor came over to us and asked us if we could go to dinner, there was another Realton that had some people he wanted to show the house to. We agreed and after changing went out for the evening. We returned home, everyone was gone. We had hardly entered the house when the phone rang - no knock at the door this time - the Realtor was on the other end and said the other Realtor would like to talk to us. He couldn't be there until 9 would that be O.K. We said it would. When he came in, he quickly told us that he would not concider one of the houses in this tract because he had watched them being built and thought the kitchens were awful. When he came in and saw what Jay had done, he was impressed. He explained the house was in such great shape he could not find one thing wrong with it. He therefore wanted to make an offer with one stipulation. We would have to take the property off the market for 24 hours and then re list it for $1,000.00 more than we were asking because he wanted to use another lending firm and it would cost that much more to finance the property, which he was willing to pay. He was
buying the house for his Daughter and her Husband.
Once again the hand of the Lord was apparent. How else could we have sold so quickly. I went to Church that Sunday and told one of the other Seminary Teachers what had happened and said quite candidly that I wondered what this move had in store for me. I was amazed when he replied: "this one isn't for you Eileen it is for Jay". I knew him to be a very sincere person and one with discernment. He was so right.
We had to move into an apartment on Olive St. until our house was built. It had two bedrooms and we were able to store our furniture in the large living room and that extra bedroom. There was a small storage shed in back which held our washer and dryer. Worked out very well. It was during this time Jay spent his days down at the property on Laurel Road helping Greg build the house they now live in. At night we would visit our property to keep and eye on what was going on there, but that is another tale in itself.
We moved to Paso Robles in June 1985. Mother had passed away in August of 1984 so we had
no reason to stay south. I will tell you more about our adventure in building here in Paso Robles in another "Rambling Rose." Until then -
Written this 4th day of May, 2009
by: Eileen C. Rosenberg
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