Sharing Memories: My Second Home - Hi Pass, California

Another surprise photo was a picture of the HiPass  General Store that my parents bought in 1952.   It's not the greatest photo, but you can get the idea.  I'm not sure exactly when they bought it, but I remember as soon as school was out we moved up there that year.  The store included a Post Office - my Dad became Postmaster; a library branch, a gas pump, and living quarters.  It also came with cabins - can't remember whether there were 6 or 8 of them.  At various times we lived in two different ones that were larger than the living quarters.  

There was also an old feed store building to the left of this picture.  I vaguely think we may have sold some feed and hay, but I'm not sure.  This was close to the end of HiPass' life span - not sure when it was removed from the map.  In the early 20th century, it was a popular get away for people from El Centro where it was extremely hot.  With the advent of Air Conditioning in the late 1940's and early 1950's it became economically unfeasable.   It was a fun place to live though.  I loved the horned toads and even the lizards.  I remember coming upon an at least a 4ft long Rattlesnake sunning itself on a wood pile next to the feed store.  That scared me.  I walked away and went to my Mother who told me to go to my Dad.  He was working on the pump up the road and I ran.  I remember my legs quivering after that adrenaline run.  Think the snake crawled under the building - he was gone by the time my Dad got there.

There were lots of life lessons for me to learn in this location.  Our school house was a one room school - one classroom at least - with 11 students.  Our teacher was a widow who had been forced to retire from LaMesa Spring Valley district because of her age.  I think she was 65 yrs.  I liked her a lot.  I was the only student in 4th grade.

We had tenants in some of our cabins.  I remember one woman who I seem to remember helping to teach me to sew.  She was older, on assistance or Social Security, and an alcoholic.   The man I remember was also those three things.  It was my first exposure to Alcoholism.

There was an Indian Reservation fairly close to our town and we had one Indian boy in my school.  Think he was in 7th or 8th grade.  I remember my mother trying to encourage him to stay in school and think she even attempted to get him an interview with the artist Donal Hord, because he was an excellent artist.

 The Indians often tried to buy Alcohol.  It was against the law at that time, and there were quite a few car accidents and sometimes they would be under the influence when they came in the store.

My parents put the property back on the market the next year.  I returned to Bostonia Elementary for 5th Grade.  My Dad had to commute for several months, before the property sold.  Mom and I returned to our home on Hwy 80.  We had rented it out.  I remember some of Mom's things that were stored there walked off with the tenants.  At least they didn't trash the place.

Sharing Memories: My First Home

Sharing Memories: My First Home

I remember my first home fondly.  Actually, it was technically my second home.  My parents purchased the house on nine acres before I was born, but it needed a lot of work.   So, I was told we continued to live in a house on 35th St in San Diego for six weeks after I was born.

This is the view from the Hwy 80 side.  I believe that the Interstate 8 Westbound Lane probably goes straight through this house location.  I remember this front porch as being solid concrete.  This photo looks like wood - so that must have been part of the renovations.  My parent's bedroom and the bathroom were, in the end, facing us.  My bedroom was next to it, and I had to go through their room to the bathroom.  There are two doors onto the porch - one behind the tree opened into the living room, and the one behind the first porch support opened into my parent's bedroom.

This view is looking east.  The living room was a large room in the front part of the house.  I don't remember a porch on this side of the house.  It was all enclosed, and the kitchen was in the back, adjoining the living room.  I do remember the front being elevated like that, and that area was enclosed and used for storage.

This view looks southwest towards the back of the house.  That looks like a wood stove exhaust pipe, but I don't remember a wood stove.  I believe a cement slab was added along the left portion of the building and it was screened in.  There was a door from the kitchen (about where the window was) which entered the screened porch.  There was a hillside not too far back.  They built a lath house most of the length of the left side of the house.  Had a fish pond at the east end of the lath house.   Off to the right and back a couple of 100 ft, we had a chicken house.

This is the way I remember our home.  I would guess this was taken about 1947.  You can see our water tank up the hill directly behind the right side of the home.  The small building to the right was my Brother's Bedroom.  No bathroom.  John was 13 years older than me, and he joined the Navy at 18 years old, so he was gone from home by the time I was six years old.

This is a shot of a Google earth map of where our home was.  The blue line is supposed to represent our property line but is probably way off.  The cut-out in the bottom left was a one-acre parcel we didn't own.  So... it was probably smaller, and the whole thing may not have been quite that wide.   We owned 9 acres, and it really did look like an upside-down Utah.

Found another picture of a home I lived in, but that will be for another day.

A Brick Wall Falls - Hooray!

I've been a member of ancestry.com for many years, but I've never been able to find my mother and my half brother in the 1930 census.   About a week ago I finally found them, listed as Freeman.    Although my Mother said she was married, I was never sure.  She used the father's name on the Birth Certificate and here on the census.  and my brother John is listed as Frank Jr.

Six degrees of separation or less

My cousin's son. Just found this video. I don't know this side of the family very well. California to Mississippi was just too far when I was a child and as a young family. Made contact through my genealogy research. Don't think he is competing these days. This was almost 7 years ago, but his fame lives on.

The Carothers Carolla - Memorable X Games Moments  This didn't work 10/2018

The Caraothers Carolla - Memorable X Games Moments

Brick Walls have been falling.

One of my "cousins" had a cemetery listed for my great-grandfather. I'd looked on findagrave before, but could never find him or his first wife, my great grandmother. So... I checked out the cemetery and was looking at the other Strunk's because George and Dillie weren't there. Then I saw a headstone in the background that I could almost read. I emailed the contributor - she checked and created memorials for me with a good photo attached. YEAH!!!!

Remembering Mother

I loved my Mother dearly and she was an affectionate, loving mother. Her early life was good until her father died when she was 13 years old. I don't think she had a really hard time financially, but emotionally there were scars. Her mother was ill and her sisters (9 & 12 years younger) went to live with Grandparents in a different state and she went to a boarding school.

My brother was born when she was 17 years old and she was a single mother. She trained to be a nurse (her Dad was a Dr and there were other Dr's in the family). She became a Practical Nurse (todays LVN).

In 1933 she, my brother and a cousin traveled to Southern California where she met my Dad, a Sailor, and they married after a whirlwind courtship. I wish I had asked more questions about their trip across the USA.

Top Row: George Ramsey and Ellen Toomey Sievers Middle Row: Elbert Chitwood and Elsey Strunk Ramsey (not sure if they were married when this was taken), Front Row: ? and Verda Strunk Weddle Jeffers ( I believe original had 4th young ladies name, but I can't find the original right this minute. Wasn't on my original ancestry.com post)


Ellen Toomey was Verda and Elsie's Step Sister. George Ramsey and Elsie married on 27 Oct 1912. Elbert Chitwood's mother was a Strunk although pretty distant relation to Verda and Elsie. Elbert's Maternal Great Grandfather Isham Strunk b 1817 was the youngest son of Daniel Strunk and his second wife, Abigail. Verda & Elsie's Grandfather was Daniel Strunk, b 1822 son of the first Daniel and his third wife, Honor Pennington.

Daniel Strunk was a very prolific ancestor. Divorced his first wife apparently (no children) and fathered at least 34 children between his other 3 wives.

(I just found that I posted this photo on deadfred.com and there I apparently identified the unknown young lady in front as Cindy Hayes. Don't think she is a relative.)