A belated Happy Birthday, @Crane, and congrats on what sounds like a life well-lived.
Probably well before they approach your current age. My dad died earlier this year, not much younger than you are now. I heard lots of stories from him over the years about his life before I came along, but not much from before his time - and none of it written down. I’m only about 50 now, and I’d love to have the kind of documentation you describe. If you’re the custodian of what sounds like a very extensive written history of your family tree, then you’re holding something precious. Take good care of it, and with a nod to Whitman, contribute your verse and pass the book to the next generation when you’re ready.
I remember when you posted about your old Seattle address on Winona near Twin Tepees (where you lived in 1944-1945), and I drove past it to confirm that it is indeed apartments now. You mentioned to me that
It’s fascinating to think of you watching vaudeville performances. You’ve seen so much history!
Happy Birthday!
That was a wonderful post to read. Thanks.
I have a ways to go, I just turned 70, and am just starting to wonder what my early years were like. Fortunately I am the youngest of 4 kids so I still have people to talk to about what happened between those few early memories I have. Hearing from you gave me encouragement and confidence to look to the past while staying focused on doing well in the future.
Enjoy many more years of good health. And get that battery changed-you are going to need it.
Initially I was just going to figure out my own past. We lived in so many places and some of them didn’t fit. I started a notebook where I wrote down every address and date I came across. Then I searched the net for events I remembered like the earthquake the first night we were in Seattle, the big snow storm, Monarch Pass. That added accurate dates and background. Google Earth is fantastic. I have found addresses just by following remembered paths. So, I kept putting things in order and began matching old photos to the outlines. Then I filled in the narrative.
When my first wife and youngest son passed the genealogy and bound volumes were added to my collection of letters and binders. It just kind of grew, and as you point out, there is the need for real curation. Have to work on that part next.
That must have been the last gasp or vaudeville. It was always a movie and vaudeville together. I liked the acrobats and dogs best. . The most famous acts I remember were Mandrake the Magician and the Hilton Siamese Twins.
Crane, I hope your family and descendants really appreciate your efforts in recording the people, places and events of your life, but if they don’t, there will almost certainly be a historian - perhaps one as yet unborn - who will.
I’ve heard rumors that people get more interested in family history the older they get. So there’s still time for your grandchildren and great grandchildren to become fascinated. It certainly sounds fascinating to me.
Happy birthday Crane. You’re part of America’s greatest generation.
Not that anyone knew that at the time. People were busy serving in the military and building a career afterward. Start a family and create a better life.
Add me to the many who have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread, especially the OP and subsequent posts by the OPer. I recall reading your posts before @Crane, and never imagined you were 90 years old (well, I suppose you weren’t, at the time ). Keep going with the history - as others have said, it doesn’t matter that much of it may be ‘ordinary’. I have many happy memories of my grandfather when he was alive but I am also very glad that he spent some time writing down memories of his early life before he died, which was before I was old enough to really appreciate and be interested in such. I am very interested now.
My dad is fast approaching 85 and his memory has gotten so bad he’ll ask the same question 4 times in a half-hour conversation. Unfortunately, he has never been much of a tale-teller. But I did manage to get a few family tales out of him before his memory started to slip.
I’m pretty sure a lot of us are here because we like tales well told. So, by all means, share yours. I for one would love to hear yours.
That 's possible. The Pearl Harbor attack was 2 weeks before my 9th birthday. So, I have a sketchy kid memory.
We lived in Seattle. My father was a Navy aviator and mother was a nurse. Mother raised show dogs so we did lots of dog things. She gave presentations to local clubs on how to care for pets during an air raid. She’d lecture and I would demonstrate on some dog we’d brought with us.
Seattle had an area called Victory Square. It was down town. That’s where they had patriotic ceremonies, parade reviewing stands and bond drives. War bonds and saving stamps were big. I remember during one bond drive a Grumman Avenger flew low over the crowd and dropped hundreds of savings stamps from its’ torpedo bay. There were some $5 stamps in there but I was too short to catch any.
The national speed limit was 35 MPH. Everything was rationed. You had a sticker on your car windshield that indicated how much gas you could buy. You had a second sticker that was an automobile use tax. At the grocery store you had a ration book and ration stamps. When you purchased a controlled item, like sugar, you had to have enough stamps to cover the amount. Then you pasted them in the book as a record of what you had purchased. Moms would pool enough stamps to make a birthday cake.
Men in uniform were everywhere. If you needed to get onto a road where troops were being moved you could wait for hours. Same for rail road crossings. It seemed like everything was ‘off limits’. There were submarine nets across the entrance to Puget sound and net tenders that opened the gate for ships to pass in and out. Troops were stationed at most bridges. Sometimes you had to pick up an armed soldier to ride with you across a bridge or dam. Industrial facilities like Boeing had barrage balloons with trailing steel cables to catch low flying aircraft.
I remember noticing that used car lots had really old cars. Square sedans with wooden spoke wheels. Car production had stopped so they must have been selling whatever they could find. .My parents had bought a new 42 Ford. We had good tires and reliable transportation. As the war progressed the car became very valuable so they sold it back to the dealer.
The common phrase ‘after the war’ had universal meaning. It meant fathers would return home and everything would get better.
My father was born the same year as you, but in January. No matter how much we asked him, he would not share memories of his childhood or his time in the military (he did not see action, and was ashamed of that fact but I know one of his tasks was loading ordinance). I often wondered what his childhood was like during the WWII. My mother was younger and had little memory of it.
