Dorothy: Partial Autobiography
Expansion of the outline
Priest Valley was a wide spot in the road rnidway between the oil fields in Coalinga and the tankers waiting to transport the heavy crude to the refineries in the Bay Area. My father, John Ramus was a fireman at Station 3H (a heating station), owned by Associated Oil Co. He was a handsome, tall , very amiable man who loved to dance. One night he was invited by Walter Duckworth, a Priest Valley native, to attend a dance at the local Grange Hall. My dad was attracted to a beautiful lady dressed in pink. He said to Walter, "See that lady dressed in pink? I'm going to marry her some day." "Do you want to meet her?" Walter asked. She's my sister." They were married in 1912. She was the oldest of 12 children and Dad was the 3rd of6.
Since Dad worked nights, Mama would go to the station and when he was on break they would talk and do handwork together. Dad became an outstanding partner in whatever they were doing. and they produced beautiful pieces of linen. Mama was a perfect seamstress and made buckskin gloves, purses, and vests.
After 3 years Mama became pegnant and had Alice Regina, a blue-eyed beauty with raven hair and fair skin. The first grandchild often gets the top rating, but her pictures are of a lovely, smiling child. Two years later, Albert Edward was born. He was typical boy, who considered himself to be a great trapper. He, his traps, and his dog had many interesting and sometimes fruitful hunts. Three years later Dorothy Louise arrived. She was a daddy's girl right from the start as she loved being rocked to sleep each night. From this point on I have no mental image of Mama, except for one where she was sitting out in the sun decorating a checked lavender and white dress for me. Nor do I have an image of Alice. The only thing I can remember was being frightened by a fire that was burning a bunk house on the Griffin property below our house. I still am in awe of fires. Mrs. Griffin was my idol. She had been a teacher so I decided then and there that when I grew up I was going to be a teacher like Mrs. Griffin and have the love she had for the profession. Another of my fears was snakes of any kind. This was caused by 3 incidents. The first was by a rattlesnake who was coiled and watching me sitting in a large wagon wheel rim as I played in the sand. I'm sure my fear was caused by the reaction of my parents to this terrifying venomous snake. The second was having a snake chase me downhill while we were gathering pine cones for the pitch and the nuts. My dad was suffering from a severe sprained ankle and couldn't walk so he was in the buggy. Horses sense when a snake was near so they were rearing and snorting and Dad yelled "run". When he gave a command it was followed immediately, but at 3 with short legs, tall grass, and scared by his tone, I wasn't real fast. He grabbed me by one arm and pulled me into the wagon and then killed the snake by breaking its neck with his whip. The third snake incident happed after school while I was waiting for Albert to walk me home. A beautiful weeping willow made a wonderful playhouse where the three first graders played while waiting to be walked home by older siblings. One afternoon I was crawling through the opening when I put my hand down on a snake that wrapped its body around my arm. I ran screaming into class and jumped into the seat with Albert who laughed at me because it was a harmless reptile. A snake is a snake as far as I was concerned. My fear was confirmed when I was taking a Nature Study class in college. Miss Reid announced that everyone had to handle the snake or a failing grade would be given. I didn't want a failing grade, but when it came to the person who was going to hand it off to me, I ran crying out of the room.
The teacher asked Dad if I could come to school some days and play with the 2 first graders. The teacher always knew best so he agreed. Alice had done a good teaching job with her little sister student so I knew how to read, spell, write, and do math. When I arrived at school, I crawled up in a desk and was ready to work. Because I was more advanced, she asked if she could enroll me. Three months later I was promoted to 2nd grade.
In 1925 tragedy struck our family as Mama died of arsenic poisoned water from the mountain spring that provided us with water. Dad and I were the only ones to escape becoming ill as we drank milk. Can you imagine a man who had 3 members of his family in 3 different hospitals at the same time? Mama was rushed to San Francisco, Alice to King City, and Albert to Coalinga. Grandma Duckworth took me while Dad tried to work, was worried out of his mind because he couldn't visit, and was scared to death he'd lose his lovely Mae, which he did. I remember Alice and I got new hats for the funeral, but I wanted hers because it was bigger. The wind blew it off as it sailed through the cemetery. We had no idea that we would be back at the same cemetery as a result of Alice's death 10 days after Mama's. Dad almost lost it as he was so devastated. Albert went to stay with his mother and I to my mom's mother. The Duckworth family was so good to me that I wasn't aware of what was to follow.
Dad was completely incapable of taking care of Albert and me so a housekeeper was hired. One day I discovered a pistol under her pillow so I told Dad and it was cause for immediate dismissal. The next housekeeper was Minnie who had a son, Stanley. I was scared to death of him as he was a brat, a word well deserved. In 1926 Dad moved us to Metz, to a property he already owned, and since he and Minnie were going to get married, she designed a house that she would like. There was no school at Metz so Dad collected a petition and took a neighbor and drove to San Francisco to request that transportation be provided to the many students on the route to school in Soledad. When he was right, he didn't give up easily, and before he left that day he was assured that we would have a bus! Who was going to drive this bus over a dirt road with rough terrain? The Soledad School Board hired the local drunk. For a man who didn't drink, can you imagine he'd allow such a thing to happen? Not on your life. The School Board quickly learned that you don't make "Jack" Ramus mad. When they told him if he didn't like their choice he could do it himself, he did and continued to do so until Albert graduated from 8th grade and went to King City High School over roads even worse. He drove the bus for 25 years. He had rules and they were kept with only a look. We all had learned to monitor the rear view mirror when someone was fooling around. His objective was safety.
These things forced us to be very frugal so we could get through the Depression. Dad worked from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m. to keep the small dairy ranch and his job going. Hard work was to be my destiny. Since I was growing, I never had any clothes that fit as there always had be room to "grow into it". I can remember putting paper in my shoes so I didn't had to get new shoes. He didn't have a compassionate wife or a well-behaved step-son. Marriage wasn't completely the solution to meet his needs, or ours. I longed to be like others, but no one ever knew. I lived a lonely life.
Soledad was our elementary school. I was in 2nd grade, Albert in 4th. The trauma he had felt over the loss of his mother and sister caused him to stammer. His teacher had a hostile attitude toward him because he wouldn't answer her questions, so she failed to promote him even though he could get all of the written work. You're rig ht, he lost all interest in school. During the next school year a speech specialist came to town and cured him. The only time he ever stammered after that was if a really stressful situation would come up, but that lasted his entire life. I learned that he would protect me one afternoon while I was waiting for the bus. I was sitting on a glider reading. An older boy came up behind me and gave the glider a hard enough push that I didn't have time to grip my knees so I slid into the bar holding the glider, caused terrible pain so I couldn't walk, and a big old bloody knee. Albert got so angry he chased the kid until he caught him and fought with him. They both ended up with bloody noses, but my hero won-no doubt in my mind.
In 1928, tragedy struck again. Stanley had to have a car to get back and forth to high school. He insisted he have a lock on the steering wheel so no one could start his car. Dad told him that they weren't safe and could lock unexpectedly. He wanted it so he whined to his mother who said he could have it. You're right, it failed as he was coming down the grade near the tunnel and the car ran off the bank, turned over and killed him. When Minnie saw the overturned car, she suffered from guilt. Not long after the funeral she had a severe heart attack and was rushed to the same hospital where my mother had been. Dad wasn't assured that he would get her home alive, but she survived to become a semi-invalid. Maybe you don't think my life became a hell then, it did. I could never do anything to please her. Being a child who would do anything to please anyone, I cried a lot, but no one ever knew. I couldn't read so I'd hide in the closet with a flashlight and hope I'd not get caught. She was quick to slap or blister my butt. Dad never knew any of this, because when he or anyone else would come through the door, she was so drippy sweet and loving, my stomach would turn.
When I was in the middle grades, I learned the joy of being a volunteer. Mrs. Brown, the lunchroom cook would always ask for me to be her helper. Someone liked my work and praised me! I began to feel better about myself and when I reached 7th grade, my teacher Elma Baetschen, loved me and I loved her. She encouraged me to reach my goal of becoming a teacher. Graduation from the 8th grade was a special occasion as I was chosen to be an American Legion medal winner. I had to write and deliver a speech. This was really hard for an introvert, but I did quite well, and feel proud when I see my lovely bronze medal.
Was high school an escape? Sort of as I had some loving and understanding teachers who accepted me as the good student I was. Since we lived 12 miles from school we did not have an opportunity to participate in anything but intramural sports and the occasional concert. Albert was the souza phone player in the band, and I played 2nd violin in he orchestra. I loved music so it was the joy of my life. Freshman English class had 5 Dorothys in it. Confusion? Not really as one of was sure to know the answer when a question was asked. We became known as the "Quints" as that was the era of the first quintuplet in North America that we knew about--the Dionne quintuplets from Canada. Geometry was a different situation all together. "Pops" Warner, the teacher, disliked girls because they couldn't learn the geometry HE taught. One day I made the mistake of asking him for help. When I didn't get his first muttered explanation, he asked me, "How old are you?" When I answered "13" he yelled out,"What was the matter with your mother starting you in school so young? No wonder you don't know anything ." That night I tearfully told Dad what had happened. The next morning Dad was knocking on Mr. Warner's door demanding he step outside. Wish I knew what he said as Mr. Warner was a changed man when he came back to class. I passed with a B, but it wasn't until I started teaching geometry that I understood it. Later Dad had a run-in with the Principal because Mr. Weibel wanted him to bring him donuts, etc. Dad's morals were offended and Mr. Weibel never forgave him for being dressed down by a blue collar worker! Dad taught us by example: if you don't want you kids to drink, don't drink or swear, but he did smoke and I loved to watch him roll those perfectly formed cigarettes from his cigarette papers and Bull Durham bag of tobacco. He only smoked a few cigarettes a day as he was safety minded. Our family always helped anyone in need-even hoboes who came for something to eat. They always had to do some work first, then he had a meal. We never locked a door as some friend or relative might come and need something. He took in Minnie's niece and nephew so her brother's divorce wouldn't put the kids in a foster home or separate them. The niece, Mae, only made life harder for me as she wouldn't do her jobs and I'd get blamed for them. Minnie's father lived in a small house that was built for him to live in during his later years of life. I hated taking his dinner to him as he was a nasty, stinky old man who always had chewing tobacco juice in his chin whiskers and he always wanted me to stay and keep him company. He'd complain to Dad, but Dad never made me do anything but deliver his food. Thank you, Dad. Jan.1935 tragedy struck a 3rd and 4th time. Grandma Ramus died. She was the most devout person you would ever meet. Thank heavens she was praying for us all the time as we all needed it. She was telepathic where her boys were concerned. One night she made Dad go to the train depot to call Uncle Bill as something was wrong with her Willie. She was right, he almost died from a ruptured appendix. I missed her very much as she taught me a lot about cooking and easier ways to do things. We always made noodles. While Grandma was alive, she paid her way by selling Dad her share of the Upper Ranch which she and her sons had homesteaded. My mother had a homestead there, too. In June Minnie died from another heart attack. She and Stanley are buried in King City.
Graduation from High School was coming. No one told me I was the Salutatorian and expected to make a speech. Three days-I must be dreaming! I can't. .. 1 don't know how",1 don't know what to write. Panic for 2 days and then I got busy and wrote on "What America means to me." I don't know who my guardian angel was, but I spoke in a loud, clear voice, walked a few steps, gestured, watched Mr. Webb stand with folded arms in the back of the gym and nod his head in agreement with what I was saying, and put on a real speech. When I got back to my seat my knees started to shake uncontrollably, and I could hardly breathe. Thank heavens that was after and not before. Another hurdle was cleared. What was I going to do about leaving Dad to go to college? Beth came to the rescue and married Dad. Thank you, thank you, Beth. She was the good step-mother.
What college should I apply to? San Jose or San Francisco. It was San Francisco as a long-time family friend and her husband were willing to rent me a room cheaply. They had no children but I was a quiet roomer and they tried hard, but wasn't sure when Ralph, my Spanish class buddy, came over. He passed the test. Lacy lived 10 blocks from me so we would walk and get on a streetcar together in the morning. She never got to graduate as she had pernicious anemia and didn't live long. A NYAjob @ 37 ~ cents Ihr was available on campus, and during holidays and breaks I could work for my cousin, Myrtle, who was head of the Emporium's Billing Dept. would hire me part-time. She took the chance of not being caught hiring a relative as nepotism wasn't allowed. I would never get on the elevator on the 5th floor where we worked, but after I had been there over 3 years, I got on their elevator on the 3rd floor and Mr. Circa said, "If I didn't know better, I might think you are related." Did he know? If he did he never did anything to fire me, Myrtle, or both. She was a valuable employee and he knew it. My free room and board was coming to an end. What would I do? To work for my room, board, and $10/month seemed my only way to go. A talk with Dean Ward set me up with a family who had 2 small children. The man of the house tried to take advantage of me one night when his wife was out. Never have I been so thankful for my height and strength as I was that night as he finally left in a huff. I called Ralph and he came over and stayed with me until the wife came home. The next morning Dean Ward took me to their house to get my belongings and she sent me to a home on Nob Hill. It was a family with two lazy teen age girls, and a demanding mother. The baseball field below was where Joe DiMaggio, and his two brothers practiced, Another girl and I were standing at the fence watching one night and they asked us if we wanted to play. What a dumb question, but all they wanted us for was to play outfield and shag balls for them. Little did they realize that we were pretty good players and not afraid of their hard balls. They had mitts so off we went. They were amazed when I caught one of their flies and threw it in to the pitcher, and so was I. I began to get their respect and so did the girl who played shortstop. We were invited to come back the next day, same time, same place. I had to get to work and so did she. We both looked forward to our games which didn't last too long as Joe was already a well-known slugger and he had to report, too. That job didn't last but one month as the girls wanted me to do their homework for them and the mother wanted me to be her personal maid, along with other housework jobs. Dr. Thompson hired me to work on campus transcribing photostatic copies of letters from Simon Bolivar to the Queen of Spain. It was difficult because there was lots of eye strain reading poorly written in a script difficult to read and contained abbreviated script that was unknown to me. I loved the job as I had to have a History of Spain class for my Upper Division major. I worked for him for 3 years and he would allow me to take the documents home over summer and keep track of my hours. Will the 3rd housekeeping job be the charm? Yes. I hired on to work for a lovely couple who had a 3 yr old. They were so kind and good to me I fell in love with each one of them. My hours were 6-8 a.m. and 4-10 p.m., 40 hrs/wk for room, board, and $1 O/month. I was off Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday. I was a sophomore and Ralph was a Junior, but he always came to visit every Friday night and sometimes other nights. We were just good friends. He went on to Stanford and received a MBE in School Administration. Never had my dad said much about how he felt about my going to college, until after I walked across the Opera House stage in San Francisco to receive my diploma. That night he told me how proud of me he was and how no one would ever be able to take what I knew away from me. It was gratifying to me to be the first college graduate on either side of the family! I made it and
From the time I started SF State, school was intense as I had to start off with 18 units. Some semesters I had 23 units as practice teaching was 4 hours/day lab and 2 hours covering the subject matter that it took to complete our major in education. I had a double major and minor-Education and Spanish, and the minors were Social Science and P.E . In the spring of my senior year, I developed an abscessed left ear that Mrs. Greenlee got an appointment for me with Dr. Morrison, a world renowned ear specialist. At the time I didn't know he was so famous as I knew that if I lost my hearing I wouldn't get my credential that I had worked so hard for. For a while he wasn't so such that I could cure it and save my hearing, but he did. When I knew my release was soon to come, I wrote to Uncle Charlie Ramus to see if he could loan me some money to make a down payment, at least, on my bill. He sent me $1300, which staggered me, but I felt that I could handle repayment. At our final meeting, he bragged on me and what I had accomplished and wished me luck. When I asked him how much lowed him, he responded $5.00. Really, how much did lowe you? $5.00. I have lots of wealthy patients that will take care of your bill. You deserve a break, and it makes me happy to be able to do this for you." I left in tears because no one had ever done so much for me before, and now I could return Uncle Charlie his check. It is so wonderful to know so many kind and generous people. I'm a lucky woman. At the end of 4 years, my accounting was off 2 cents. It has always made me wonder what happened to that 2 cents.
I've graduated, it's 1940 and time to try to find a job. Bad climates, droughts, and inability to market their products had caused a huge professional migration to California. Among them were lots of teachers which was why we didn't have any choice in jobs. I had one interview in Soledad at the school I had attended for 7 years. The list of applicants was so long, and the experience so impressive, that the Board didn't want to consider a young. inexperienced one. Fortunately, one of our neighbors, Herb Wilkinson, father of 6 boys, spoke on my behalf by asking, "You mean you will hire someone you know nothing about instead of Dorothy who we have known since she was a little girl? We know what she is made of, and I'd take my chance on her any day!" With that the Board reconsidered and offered me a contract for $1 01/month and glad to get it, but I had to take charge of ordering and returning library books to the County Library, and to be in charge of a Girl Scout Troup. I had been a 4-H member, but I didn't know a thing about Girl Scouts and neither did anyone else I knew. Ignorance is bliss so I went merrily about keeping 60 5th to 8th grade students happy, I taught them how to sew and we even put on an operetta. Girls played boys' parts, we had a professional piano player who helped with the singing, our artists painted sets, parents built a set, and the custodian helped me hang the background paintings. Soon all was ready for the production of "The Sunbonnet Girl". We sold tickets for 25 cents and we had a disappointing turn-out. Luckily we didn't destroy our backdrops as Monday morning I had a committee meet me to ask if we would put it on the next Friday night as they had no idea it would be so outstanding. I couldn't refuse as I knew the girls were so proud of what we had achieved. The 2nd production was played to a full house-even my principal and his wife came.
"Just remember Pearl Harbor" became a cry in 1941 and war was declared against Japan. There were no Japanese in Soledad, but there was a huge migratory labor force from the Central States e.g . Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Arkansas that worked doing stoop-labor in the fields. With them came an influx of students. They would be in school for 3-6 weeks before moving on. Fitting 44-48 students into one classroom made moving around difficult, but teaching was almost impossible. I felt the 36 regular year-round deserved to move forward and the part-timers could work from the pages that they brought with them from the last school they attended. Individualized instruction! I have never felt that bright students should have to teach slower ones, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. I always had to sit next to the troublemaker and help him/her, and if they didn't cooperate, I resented wasting my time because I could use it more wisely. It was like being punished.
Should I continue to teach or should I be Rosie the Riveter in the S.F. shipyards and make lots more money, or should I teach at Fort Ord where soldiers had to have at least a 4th grade education to earn another stripe? Dad didn't want me to teach at Fort Ord because he said you never know what the person was like when they were all dressed the same. He was probably right, so I took the job of driving the school bus north on Hwy 101 to the end of our district and turn around and go back to Soledad with much time spent at the turn-around because it was illegal to interfere with a convoy. I could be sure that produce trucks and up to 3 trailers would be right behind the convoy so wait some more. My riders were great because we sang, played games, I read to them, and we'd eat graham crackers when I could buy them-remember food was rationed. Sometimes a mother would send home-made rolls or fresh fruit or vegetables for us to eat after school. It was so great for the hungry little ones. I had to awaken many primary children who would fall asleep after their long, hard day. I did that for 3 years. My last year at Soledad was so terrible that I resigned along with 9 others, leaving only 4 left on the faculty because we had a new and terrible principal. We were spoiled because Mr. Tipton retired. I was never going to teach again, but after a couple of months I decided I need to find a job. Where? Why not Montecito, the prime location just south of Santa Barbara? Sorry, no vacancy. I started home when the radio in my car said that peace had been declared and the service men were coming home. Happy day. Going home I had no luck as there was nothing on my way north until I came to Santa Maria. A drop in at the office of Bob Bruce, Superintendent, told me that he had a buddy 8 miles away who needed a 5th grade teacher. He phoned Frank Johnson, and was hired over the phone. I'm up to $120/month now! When I arrived in Guadalupe I thought I had never left Soledad as it, too was an agricultural area but there weren't the migratory workers there. The Johnsons were a lovely family. Mrs. Johnson owned a lot of land and they were very common in their way of life. I stayed with them a few nights until I found a room I could rent. It wasn't long before one of Mrs. Johnson's cottages became vacant and I set up housekeeping with orange crates, a second-hand couch and iron from Pete and Martha's 2nd-hand furniture store, a bed, linens, dishes and cook ware that was gleaned from the ranch . I finally received a radio-clock for Christmas so I was happy. I began buying records because I didn't want a record player and nothing to play on it so it made sense to me to get records first and then the player. Life was fine-I survive quite well alone. Little did I know that Pete and Martha knew the ex-service man, John Clemmens, who worked next door in the radio shop, They decided that John and I should get together. Their idea not ours, so we took every opportunity to avoid each other. They finally wore us down so we agreed to go to the motorcycle races in Lompoc with them. Since Pete's car was a coupe and so was mine, I said I'd take Martha, and Pete could take John. It was such a cold day that I got my wool blanket out of the car and shared it with John who was also freezing. Martha was very pregnant so she had to leave early. That took care of my riding arrangement, but I no longer cared as he was turning out to be good company. On the way home from the races John asked me to go and have a Chinese dinner with him. Sure. It wasn't too late and we were still getting along fine so I asked him if he would like to go to my house and have a cup of coffee or something. His hotel room had no heat so he was quick to answer yes. In the course of the conversation I told him about records but no player. He offered to go to the shop and borrow one so we could listen to what I had. He liked every single record he played and at 2 a.m. the local cop who lived two houses from me knocked on my door with his club and told John he better go home. As he left he asked me if I was going to cook the next night or were we going out to dinner. Knowing that he wasn't flush either, I decided I would cook. John was known as the man on a bicycle with a pack of dogs following and barking. I heard him round the corner with his barking dog parade. I met John in October, we were engaged in December and married on March 28th,1947. John's old maid aunt, Auntie Anne, wondered why he wanted to marry "a Portagee Peasant". Was she in for a surprise. Blessings followed in 1948 with the birth of Darlene, who was not an easy baby, for someone who knew nothing about babies, to care for.
She arrived early because I had forgotten to put gas in the car before our first family Thanksgiving, and John wasn't happy when he was stranded on a cold winter night on the Mesa and he had to walk and finally hitch a ride home. Instead of waking up his father to go back and try to push the dodge home, I volunteered to go, A chenille bathrobe isn't warm , but as we were getting stuck with the dodge, I began to lift and push never thinking about being careful. By the end of the week my doctor put me on a 1 quart liquid diet because my blood pressure was over 200, and my water broke soon after, I called Dr. Nelson and he told me to come to his office the next morning at 10:00. When John called my neighbor because I was having contractions she told him I had to get to the hospital in Santa Maria right away. Could he leave without shaving? Heavens no. Why couldn't he get the car started-nervous maybe? Finally the neighbor started the car for him and off we went about 15 mph. Doris kept urging him to hurry so by the time we were half-way there we were up to normal speed. As soon as Dr. Nelson examined me, he ran down the hall to the delivery room and told the nurses to hurry and prep me. Since she hadn't dropped or anything, he had to use forceps to birth her. When I saw this bruised, weird-shaped headed, red baby I knew she was scarred for life. How relieved I was when he found his tearful patient crying needlessly. He assured me that she would be normal in a short while. She became a beautiful little girl that everyone loved. She was born Dec. 6, 1947. Brother John arrived Jan. 31, 1949, a beautiful shade of yellow. His yellow was a jaundice caused by the RH negative factor I had. Now the factor is no problem, but then it was treated by a saline flush. He was kept at the hospital for 5 days to get him cleared of the antibodies. The nurses at the hospital fought over who got to hold him, rock him, and to feed him. He was the cuddly one who melted into your arms and it was so nice to have him so mellow and contented. One each sex was perfect. They were always easy to raise, and I can truly say they were a joy to take places as they were always welcome wherever we went.
Our next major hurdle was to get John talked into enrolling in college before his GI Bill ran out. It took a lot of talking as his old maid aunties had convinced him that he wasn't smart enough to go to college and trade school was his best bet. When they told me that I was wasting my money sending him to Cal Poly my hackles rose and so did my temper as it didn't take a genius to know he was far more intelligent than either sister. He hadn't been in a class for a long time and he was 33 so maybe he wouldn't make it. Think up a new story , honey, as I don't buy any of that rubbish. To get me off his back, he agreed to try. He enrolled in electronic engineering. I accepted a job in a one teacher rural school, 3 miles south of San Luis Obispo. Baby sitting was a problem, but before long Doris Metz, mother of 3 children, asked me if she could take care of them. She lived on a ranch near by so it was perfect. Darby was in first grade at a Catholic school because she missed public school by 5 days so Doris would pick her up and take her to their house where she and Charlotte, Doris' daughter, could play together. Perfect.
What about my job? I had 34 students, some in each grade, no published kinds of material to use to individualize work for each child. I thought I would self-destruct if something didn't happen soon. The students had run off 3 teachers the year before so they thought they were ready to send me packing, too, but discipline was a strong suit so I came out the winner after I sent one boy home for throwing rocks at the other kids on the playground. I was responsible for those kids from the time they left home until they returned home in the afternoon so I had to decide what to do. I phoned the father and told him to come pick up his son as he had thrown rocks at the children on the playground, and that could not be tolerated. An angry father arrived in about 15 minutes, red faced and serious. I never asked what happened, but that was the last of the rock throwing. I had showed the class my paddle that I would use if necessary. One noon a large Mexican boy started swinging a baseball bat at the other children so I confronted him and told him to give me the bat. Now he is mad at me so he started swinging at me. I kept walking toward him with prickles running up and down my spine, (I then knew what they meant by saying one had a yellow streak down his back), and I was talking all the time to him. When I got close enough that I didn't know if he would stop or not, he did, so I grabbed the bat in one hand and him in the other. It took all my strength to drag him into the classroom where I got my paddle, turned him over a desk, and gave him a good spanking. My dad used to say if you are going to spank someone do a good job so you never have to do it again. I remembered that so that is what I did. He was right. I was a nervous wreck as I had never touched a child before. I was sure I'd end up in jail so I called the President of the school board to tell him what I had done and got full backing, as I did from the Supt. of Schools for the County and my Supervisor. Would I get the backing from the child's parents? I never heard a word from them, but Manuel became the best behaved, peace maker I ever had. He stayed with me until I left after 4 years there. Now my discipline was taken care of, but I wasn't teaching every child. How could I accomplish this? One family had 5 boys and a father who knew teachers didn't like any of them. The kids were fine, but the father took issue with everything. It was time to prepare a Christmas program. Every child had a part in the variety program and play. All the parents attended and it went off well. When I saw the father approaching me after the program, I wondered what he'd take issue with now. To my surprise he said, "You don't dislike my kids, do you?" "Absolutely not." "This is the first time any of them have ever performed. Thank you." Another hurdle crossed as he became a much needed friend. What could I do to accomplish my teaching scope and sequence? My brain got in gear and ideas began to formulate but there was no materials on the market that could be used. John, do you think you would have time to make equipment for me? He was always so helpful and willing to ease my frustrations so I'd tell him what I needed, and he would build it. First was a tape player with a jack and a "thing" the ear phones could be plugged into so several children could hear me teach and give my instructions for the lesson and stop it so they could respond, etc. (equipment in every room after they saw he we used it although I had to sign a waver when John put one in an East Whittier phonograph that said I would assume all responsibility for the job he would do). That was a first big step as I now could group students. Next I wanted self-grading materials. Could he come up with some idea where I could put answers on one sheet and questions on a another and there could be a way to know if the answer was correct. He came up with the idea of electric boards where a light would go on when a correct answer was selected by touching bolts that had been screwed into a framed board. Brilliant as this involved instant answers in any subject and the class would chart their own scores. One quick look at their chart and I knew what had to be retaught, or what to teach next. He made sliding charts for math where all you had to do was slide in a clean sheet of paper, write down your answers, pull on the answer sheet and compare your answers to the master sheet. He came up with the same idea that is now scantrons. For the first graders he made lots of manipulatives to teach shapes, sizes, colors, numbers, and everything else I could think up. At that time children didn't go to preschool and kindergarten, nor did they have Sesame Street as there was no television in the homes. Each day each child logged in what he/she had done in each subject listed and what the homework assignment was. Monitors were appointed to check their group's entries and let me know if they were able to leave for home. With responsibility comes accuracy, and they were tough on slackers. We were developing a well-run classroom using a minimum amount of student time helping the teacher. I didn't have time to baby-sit, but if you had a problem I was always available. I have always been able to multi-task so I always had a group at my station where all teaching and testing took place where you might find several children sitting on my lap reading to me, one needing a word spelled, or tending an emergency. No child ever had to ask to get drink or go to the bathroom, they clocked out and clocked in on a chart, and we had no bells for recess, lunch, or time to go home. It was common to hear someone ask, "Mrs. Clemmens, did we have recess this morning?" My response was, "Why don't we do it now?" Since we received big round kegs of cheese and apples or other fruit in season from the government, I would carve the cheese and the children wash their fruit and run out to eat a snack and play. They and I loved the unstructured time-outs. In class a timer would ring a bell when it was time to change stations. I found that 5, but mostly 6 stations was the most efficient use of my time. It was often 6 as I had 6 grades. Until children were remediated, it was rarely all one grade level at a station.
John was finally released after Christmas vacation from his constantly helping me. He was an angel even then. It taught both of us how well we could work together, so now we could think about building a house. The first project was to build an oversized garage so we could live in it while we built the house. It was partitioned into 2 rooms with sleeping in one half, and living in the other. We were cozy and knew that if we were tired we could work or not. Since John had a drafting class, he used our house plan for his class project, His dad was a plumbing contractor so he knew all about plumbing, and he had worked with an electrician at the radio shop in Guadalupe so he had learned about wiring, volts, etc. There was a lot he didn't know but he would jump on his motor scooter and find a house at the stage we were and he would watch, ask questions, and come home and do it. The inspectors loved him as they never had to ask him to redo anything-he was exceptionally thorough and competent. We hired out the things that make a house look professionally built like the fireplace, the stuccoing, the plastering and the hardwood floors. It took 3 Y:z years to finish the house and we lived in it 6 months.
At Cal Poly John made friends with Jim Zajicek who also had 2 young children and a wife who stayed home as she had no particular career to pursue and they received help with their bills so he didn't have to work. They studied together and ate lunch together every day. They would study at our house because it was quiet and could work wel l. What loyal friends they became, and I'm still in tOLich with them to this date. The first year was successful so maybe we could build a house on the lot we had purchased in San Luis Obispo not far from the College. We would build it on a pay as we can afford it plan.
