Upside Down

Hmmm. What happened to Jesse? What happened to Julia?

Well, as I heard, Jesse and some male friends decided to fly down in a private plane to the Andes in South America in the mid-50s for some hunting and fishing. While down there, Jesse became ill. Heart attack I think. He was flown home to Hanford and died in the hospital several days later. He had bought small travel gifts for Judy and myself - small folding leather coin purses. They were sent to us. I had mine for a couple of years and it fell out of my pocket one summer day during a Saturday movie matinee with a twenty dollar bill in it. Leona was upset by the lose of the money. I went without movies and the mobile vendor's ice cream treats for the rest of that summer.

Jesse had tied up all his estate (land and stock holdings) into a trust fund in Hanford (Kings County), California. The trust metered out an annual salary to Stan and protected both Stan and Betty from any potential law suits from either Julia, Joan or Lena (Stan's second wife). Stan worked with the superior court judge to administer the trust.

Some time in the late 50s, early 60s, Stan divorced Lena and then shortly thereafter married Margeret. He and Margeret had a daughter named Catherine Elizabeth Newton in the early 60s.
After Julia divorced Jesse, she moved back to Oceanside and years later was in a care facility until her death, sometime in her 90s.

One of the stories that Lena told about Julia was her wish to hide that Jesse's mother (or grandmother) had been a native Californian (Pomo Indian?). There had been a photographic portrait of this women and Lena had it made into a nice sized picture and hung it on the wall in her new Lemoore house. According to Lena, as long as that picture hung in the house, Julia would not come into the house.

Another of the stories floating around was about the covered wagon trek in the 1860s. The small baby Jesse (father or grandfather to my grandfather Jesse) fell out of the back of the wagon and the wagon rolled over him. Miraculously, he was not seriously hurt. These early California settlers came to the state via Texas and settled into the Oceanside area. Primarily the Newtons of Oceanside and of Stratford, California are related to us.

Leona lived with Frank Plummer on North Griffith Park Drive in Burbank for many years. The street dead ended at a rail line leading onto the Lockheed plant. Leona was admired and liked by everyone on her block. She gave treats to the neighborhood children. Gave the children odd jobs and small coins. She was fair and friendly.

Because Frank left during the week in his truck, Leona had no way to drive to the store or for doctor visits. She had had a heart attack at 39 and had 'hardening of the arteries' which made it hard for her to walk long distances. Her neighbors would often stop by in the evenings to visit with her, to play table games or just to sit and talk in the swing on her front porch. They often offered to pick small things up for her at the store when they were out.

She would sew or crochet piles of clothes for new babies born on the block. She made quilts, and gave baby and bridal shower parties. She embroidered sheets and pillow cases as gifts for new brides. Her work was beautiful and treasured by those who received it.

Frank retired when his partner died and it became just too difficult for him to climb around on the high-rise scaffolding doing his ornamental iron work. I think he sold his business for about $100,000 in the late-50s. This was their 'capital'. Frank and Leona lived off the interest from this money, paying annual property taxes, occasional home improvement projects and monthly living expenses. They lived frugally.

Both Leona and Frank were heavy smokers and many nights Frank would rise and sit on the side of the bed coughing from his emphysema. Finally, one night in the late 60s he coughed so hard he had a stroke. He quietly died in a coma several days later in St. Joseph's in Burbank. This was a hard time for Leona. Learning to get along without Frank and to depend even more heavily on her neighbors was hard. In 1971, one summer day, she went out to hang her laundry on her clothes line. She collapsed and died on the grass in her backyard. She was found that night by a neighbor.

Frank Plummer was a confident strong man. He had served in both the first and the second world wars. He was originally from Kansas, but when he served in the first war, he had been sent to the California desert for training. He had been exposed to mustard gas in WWI and it contributed to his emphysema later in life. He had come back after the war to California, joined the iron workers union and made that his career.

Leona had been one of fourteen children in her family. Many of her sisters had died. However, she kept in touch with Alberta and with her sister Catherine. Her sister Catherine had had colon cancer and had a colonoscopy bag. My grandmother was always afraid that cancer could be her own fate one day. Luckily, she was wrong. However, cancer did attack her daughter Joan. In 1976, Joan was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died of it in January 1983. Harvey died 8 years later.

One of the things that Leona did everyday was the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. She credited this practice with keeping her mind sharp and improving her vocabulary. She was witty and a good conversationalist. She loved playing card and table games like Yahtzee. Adults and teens on her block often came over in the evening and played with her. There was a signal that she used -- if the shade on her main front dining room window was raised, she was looking for company. If it was down, she wanted to be alone.

She played bridge, eucher, canasta, pinocle, and a very mean poker. She was fun. Sometimes the first liquor that a young one had was a sip of their parent's beer at Leona's house.