Chapter 49: 1948/49 • Sonora ~ Just three months after my arrival, my mother—along with losing her mind—lost her brother, Gordon Gregory Chatfield. He died in Letterman’s Veteran’s Hospital in San Francisco at the age of 42 from his WWII injuries (he fell off the back of a truck). Following the eulogy on Nov 23, 1948, my uncle was buried in the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California and except for his brothers Howard and Arden, the whole family was there for his funeral.
My mother’s ability to cope waxed and waned. There were times when she appeared “normal” and times she couldn’t deal with everyday life. I know this story feels disjointed (rather like my mother) but I don’t know what happened in the blank spaces.
I’m simply telling the stories as they were relayed to me, how they appeared in Larry’s diary, from the pictures and newspaper articles I have, and later, from my own experience. I’m trying not to make up what happened in between. Like life, it’s complicated.
After a six-month break, my brother resumed making entries in his diary:
March 1949 • Larry’s diary (age 15)
Mar 1 – 8 (no entries)
Mar 9 Joe Drabkin won Lion’s club speaking contest.
Mar 10 (no entry)
Mar 11 Second night of East Lynn, I went tonight and sat about in the middle of the auditorium with some boys.
Mar 12 (no entry)
Mar 13 Sunday: Carleen (age 14) had a birthday party with the whole class at the youth center, had hot dogs and danced to records from the store.
Mar 14 – 20 (no entries)
Mar 21 Miss Lutz wouldn’t let us back to English so Jim and I went to canteen and got a slip from Mr. Dawson.
Mar 22 A baritone sung in assembly. Boys tried to clip off hair with clippers at school. Rented out store downstairs for storage space.
Mar 23 Dentist was going to take tooth out but mom didn’t want it. Track meet at Oakdale canceled. Academy awards given out. Picture of the band in the paper.
Mar 24 Went to the Sophomore dance, Stardust, danced mostly with Barbara and Phyllis. Won baseball game with Tuolumne school.
Mar 25 Claudia (age 7) had a birthday party at the youth center but I didn’t go to it. Have got the whole weekend radio log on the wall.
Mar 26 Had my first driving lesson. I drove the car but not over 20 miles per hour. Went out past slaughterhouse.
Mar 27 Went to Oakdale for track meet but did not place in 880. Very windy there. Got stamps from Jamestown Stamp Co. and got $7.61 worth.
Mar 28 Went to the show and saw A Night at the Opera with 3 Marx Brothers and San Francisco which showed earthquake.
Mar 29 The band gave a matinee today for High School and Grade school students. We are giving the concerts to raise money in order to get new uniforms.
Mar 30 (no entry)
Mar 31 Gave concert tonight, auditorium was almost full. Late for typing so I got a seventh which I made up with Lutz.
To be continued…
Catherine Sevenau is a writer, humorist, and storyteller living in Sonoma. The stories in this series are excerpts from her book, Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir; the full memoir is available as a web series at Sevenau.com. A longtime Broker/Realtor at CENTURY 21 Wine Country, she can be reached at Csevenau@earthlink.net
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