Chapter 12: Boucher Street, Chico, California ~ In 1915 my grandparents left Los Molinos and moved to the up-and-coming agricultural town of Chico, buying a two-story corner residence in the Chapmantown district, a working-class neighborhood near the Diamond Match Factory. In those days most people rented; few... Continue
Rude Awakenings
Chapter 11: My grandfather Sep 30, 1915 • Red Bluff Daily News, Los Molinos, California: WOMAN ALL ALONE GIVES BIRTH, CHILD TAKES CARE OF IT When a baby girl was born last night to Mrs. C.H. Chatfield of this place, the woman, unaided except by some of her small... Continue
Chapter 10: Crazy Quilt 1895 – 1915 • Nellie ~ My grandmother started her crazy quilt in 1895, the same year she started her family. Twenty years later, with the birth of my mother, Noreen Ellen “Babe” Chatfield, she completed them both. During Nellie’s first period... Continue
Chapter 9: Backstory, my maternal grandparents -- Diary of Charley Chatfield (age 17), the oldest child of Charles and Nellie Feb 24 Warm and clear, chopped wood. Got a new baby sister. (Ina) May 23 Warm and clear. Went to Forsyth in an automobile. May 25 Warm and clear.... Continue
Chapter 8: Backstory, my maternal grandparents -- Dec 26, 1894 • Fruita, Colorado ~ In a ceremony in her parents’ home, 21-year-old Nellie Chamberlin married Charles Henry Chatfield, a ranching man of 24. Nellie was a no-nonsense Catholic girl and exceedingly religious, but she also had a mind of... Continue
Chapter 7: Mid 1940s, Chico — Every summer Mom took the kids to visit her mother, Nellie Chatfield, who still lived in the two-story house on Boucher where my mother grew up. Chico was even hotter than Sonora during the summer, in the 100s every... Continue
Chapter 6: 1945, Sonora – At five, Betty opened her first business. She admired the ads of the Lucky Strike girls wearing long gloves, short skirts, high heels, and satin pillbox caps. She particularly applauded the ingenuity of the lacquered trays they carried like a personal... Continue
Chapter 5: Mid 1940s, Sonora. Larry and Carleen went everywhere together. They were a year apart (he was born in 1934, she in ’35) with the same dark brown hair and brown eyes. When he was four, Larry wore an eye patch, and in first... Continue
Chapter 4: 104 Green Street -- A long linoleum hall led to the staircase and wood banister that the kids rode halfway to the bottom when our parents weren’t in sight. I got down the stairs by falling. In the living room, white antimacassars and... Continue
Mid 1940s • 104 Green Street -- Chapter Three. My father first took a job managing the Sprouse-Reitz on Washington Street in Sonora. Mom came in and helped out. Ten years younger, with jet-black hair like her mother’s and grandmother’s, she wore red lipstick and... Continue