CHAPTER 28 - AS TIME WENT BY

From Richard's memoirs, recovered from his original WordPerfect files

Over fifty years have passed since DeVonne and I were married and my previous chapter (7) of our courtship and marriage needs to be extended here to fill the gaps of the last fifty years.  There will still be some gaps in this chapter as I can't find any notes I kept between about 1963 and 1974.  I must rely on my memory.

1940

Coming home from Stanford in April of 1940 we took up residence at 1001 Mountain View in San Bernardino, California while I worked at the Colton Cement Plant.  We lived only about a block down and across the street from Mr. & Mrs. Herman Peterson.  Pete worked for Dad at the Plant.  In October of 1940 I registered for the Draft under the Selective Service Program.

1941

In 1941 I went to work for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company at their Southgate plant in Los Angeles.  We lived at 2470 Saturn Avenue in Huntington Park in a one bedroom duplex.  A fold up bed was located in our living room.  A small kitchen with a breakfast area, plus one bedroom and a small bathroom made up the rest of the house.  Our landlord lived next door to us and just behind them lived the Morrison's with whom we became good friends.  They had a young son about Dicky's age and they played together.

Ed Morrison talked me into joining the 20-30 Club, which was a young men's Service Club.  We had monthly meetings in a room in a downtown building only a few blocks from where we lived.  We also had a softball team and were in a small city league.  I enjoyed the games and DeVonne and all the other wives usually came out to watch us play.  I don't believe we ever had any real significant service projects.  There were probably some but as I look back upon it, it was primarily a group of young married men who like to spend some time together.

Ed and Jackie Morrison & DeVonne and I usually spent our Friday and Saturday nights playing poker either at their home or ours.  We had a very low limit on betting and no one ever got hurt financially.  The most one might win or lose was about $2.00 after playing for most of the night.  Sunday, 7 December 1941, Pearl Harbor Day, found us still in bed after a long night of poker as we heard on the radio of the attack by the Japanese.

We weren't active in the Church at the time, although our Home Teacher came to visit DeVonne on the nights I was at the 20-30 Club.  It was the only night he could make it.  It was probably just as well as I would not have been much interested in what he had to say.

Wayne Petersen, a member of the Club and an inactive Mormon, was a dentist and as I contemplated going into the Service he thought I should get my wisdom teeth pulled before I left to avoid any poorly trained military dentist doing the job.  My lower wisdom teeth were trying to break through but there really wasn't room for them.  Wayne pulled all four of them for me and only charged me $20.00.  He pulled the upper and lower on the right side one Friday and then two weeks later took care of the left side.  With the ones on the left he gave me laughing gas and Novocain.  He told me afterward that if he had pulled the ones on the left side first I probably would have never allowed him to pull the ones on the right.  My left bottom tooth was about twice the size of the one on the right and it took some doing to get it out.  The pain I had for the next few days, even with some pain killers was extreme.  Years later, after the war, I heard that Wayne Petersen was a Bishop in the Church in Arizona.

DeVonne would take Dicky in his Taylor-Tot downtown to do the grocery shopping.  She still looked like a little girl and sometimes the young boys would holler at her from across the street with:  “Is that yours?”, meaning that they thought she was probably walking her little brother.

Groceries were pretty cheap in those days.  We could get a loaf of bread for twelve cents and a pound of hamburger for nineteen cents.

1942

Reggie was born on 2 February 1942 in the Huntington Park Hospital and we still had room for him in our little duplex.  Dicky took the fold up bed in the living room and DeVonne and I the bedroom with Reggie in his crib along side of us.

In 1942 when I took my physical for the Army Air Corps, the Doctor who examined me took my blood pressure it was about 175 over I don't know what, but he made me lie down for a while and finally took it again while I was still lying down and said I was okay.  Since then, throughout my military service, they always found my blood pressure high.  I think it was mainly because I knew it would be high.  All they had to do was wrap the cuff around my arm and I could feel my blood pressure rise.  Just before I received my Commission in the Air Force we took physicals for determination who might be assigned to the B-29 group (the Atomic Bomb airplanes).  When the Doctor took my blood pressure he looked at me and said:  “You didn't want to go overseas anyway, did you?”

1943 - 1946

These years, for the most part, were spent in the Service during World War II.  Details are given in Chapter 8.

1946 - 1948

When I left for Boca Raton, Florida for my Basic Training I had moved DeVonne and the kids into her parents apartment where they remained for the duration.  Returning home in 1946 after some three years plus in the service, I went to work for Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation out of Los Angeles and roomed in a private home in Huntington Park, getting home to Colton and our apartment for weekends.  DeVonne was pretty tired of my doing so, as I had already been away from home for three years and now it seemed like we still wouldn't be able to live together as a normal family for some time.

1949

Coming out of the Service and having my haircut by civilian barbers for about three years made DeVonne finally decided, once when I came home with my hair butchered, that she could do as good a job as any professional barber could do.  She cleaned up the butchered job as best she could and has been cutting my hair now for over forty years.  She does an excellent job and the price is right.

After the Frequency Change job was finished in October of 1948 and I left Stone & Webster I finally got my job at UCLA with the Office of Architects & Engineers, starting 1 March 1949.  To begin with I roomed in a place on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica until we were able to find a place for the whole family.  Finally, we purchased our first home at 8780 Sylmar Avenue in Panorama City, California and moved in on 24 May 1949.  We considered a two bedroom home but decided we should go “all out” and get a three bedroom one for our family of five.  The three bedroom houses contained 1000 square feet.  We paid $10,950.00 and took out both a G.I. loan and a FHA loan.  Our payments amounted to $68.50 per month, including principal and interest, taxes and insurance, with the G.I. loan at 4% and the FHA loan at 4½%.  The loan was for 25 years which we paid off after that time and lived there another two years before moving to Westlake Village in Ventura County.

Our early neighbors in Panorama City, who moved in about the same time we did, were Bill and Val Resing next door, and across the street Harry and Esther Auth.  Bill was a good mechanic.  After many years, Bill had a stroke which left him paralyzed and finally bedridden for several years before he died.  Val became a beauty operator after Bill died and finally moved from the neighborhood.  Harry was a fireman and did TV repair work on the side.  After he retired from the fire department he opened his own TV repair shop.  Auth's also moved from the neighborhood before we did.

I chose the job at UCLA because it would be a 40 hour/week job and I would have time for my family and my Church duties.  Other jobs would have probably paid more money but also would require a good deal more than 40 hours/week, and being away from home, and I wasn't interested in that.  When I started working at UCLA in March of 1949 I was earning $400.00 per month, or $4800.00 per year.  I usually got a 5 per cent raise each year which only amounted to about $20.00 per month the first year.  I also had 7 1/2 per cent withheld from my paycheck for my retirement benefits.  At the time it seemed like a lot of money but in long term it really paid off.  It was later reduced to 7 per cent.

1950 - 1976

During these years I was highly involved in Church activity and with my work at UCLA.  There wasn't much time left for anything else.  We took a vacation each year and they are written up in other chapters.  My work activities are outlined in Chapter 7 and my Church work in Chapter 32.

1951

We began making contributions to the Church for the building of the Los Angeles Temple and, in addition, for building the San Fernando Stake Center.  That, with our normal contributions of Tithing, Fast Offering, Budget & Welfare kept us pretty strapped for about three years.  In 1953 the Temple was dedicated and our Stake Center was finished and we began to breathe easier again.

We purchased our first television set (black & white), a Hoffman, and at the time there wasn't too much to watch on TV.  The whole family liked to watch “Beanie,” with “Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent” and “Dishonest John.”  Harry Auth kept it in good repair for us.

Street improvements in the form of street lights for our street and neighborhood was assessed and cost us $192.21 for our share of the improvement.  We also replaced the roof of our home after 20 years.  It was composition with a rock topping.

Duke, our cocker spaniel, came with us from Colton to Panorama City.  As we moved into the house he was in and out, back and forth, following one of the kids or another, trying to figure out what was going on.  He was an excellent dog, especially for the kids.  I brought him home for the family in 1945.  He was a thoroughbred though I never got the papers on him.  We never kept him fenced in and he could roam wherever he wanted to.  Someone poisoned him in his younger days and in his latter years developed uremic poisoning.  He was very well behaved and caused no one any trouble.  The Vet said there was nothing we could do for him and he died at our home and I buried him in the backyard.  He was 9 years old when he died.

After Duke died Kandy wanted a cat and DeVonne found one advertized in the local paper.  We named her Cherie.  Shortly after that she got pregnant by a huge yellow cat that must have weighed forty pounds.  We got rid of the litter except one that we kept, and named Pierre.  No sooner had Cherie had the first litter when she got pregnant again and had a litter of mongrels.  We took them all to the pound.  That was enough of that.  Pierre was black with white markings and taking after his father became a huge cat.  We had him for about six years and then he got sick.  We took him to the Vet and found he had a serious kidney infection and he died at the Biltmore for Pets Hospital & Kennel.

Dicky brought home a baby crow one day that a friend of his had given him.  We clipped one wing so it couldn't fly.  Dicky named him “Heckel.”  For the most part he sat in our avocado tree just outside our picture window in the dining room.  One year, when it snowed at Panorama City, we let him come into the house and sit on the back of a chair and watch television in the living room until it wasn't so cold.  All the kids, and DeVonne, could have Heckel fly to them and land on their hand or shoulder.  I never could get him to do it for me.  However, if I laid down in the grass he would try to pick anything he could see in my pockets.  We had to be careful that he didn't peck at our eyes.

In addition, we had a turtle, naturally named “Myrtle” for several years. (We never knew whether it was a she or a he) One would not think a turtle had any feelings but Myrtle was actually jealous of Heckel.  If DeVonne sat on the lawn in the back yard and stroked Heckel, Myrtle would come over and chase the bird away.  Heckel would only fly a few feet away and then return on the other side of DeVonne.  Then Myrtle would come around to that side and take after Heckel again.

After about a year Heckel's wing grew out and he began to fly from one side of the yard to the other.  Soon he started roosting in the tall tree in our neighbor's yard.  Then he would be gone all day and only come home to roost at night.  Finally he took off and we never saw him again, except sometimes it seemed that we heard him cawing as he flew high over the house with some of his friends.

1958

On 13 January we went to Disneyland with DeVonne's parents.  We really had a ball - going on many rides, etc.  Ma and Pa acted like kids again, and so did we.

On 11 August DeVonne and I went to Laguna Beach and attended the Laguna Art festival and the “Pageant of the Masters.”

We attended DeVonne's Colton Union High School twentieth class reunion on 29 November.  Hers was the Class of 1938.

1959

On 24 April I met Bette at Burbank Airport and drove her to Colton.  We had to arrange to move my parents to Mill Valley where they could be near Bette.

Bob was in town on 31 October and he and I went to the football game between UCLA and Washington.  That evening Bob took DeVonne and me to dinner.

November 25th was Mother's birthday.  I took off work and DeVonne, Kandy and I drove to San Francisco.  We took Mother, Dad and Bette out to dinner.  Then we stayed all night at the folks.  The next day was Thanksgiving and DeVonne and Bette cooked a fine turkey dinner.  Friday we left the folks place at 8:15 AM.  We drove south on the Pacific Coast Highway route and tried to see the Hearst Castle but it was sold out for the day.  We drove on through Solvang and bought some Danish pastry.  We were home by 7:30 PM.

On Christmas Day we drove to Colton and Banning and spent the day with Lloyd & Shirlie and Les & June and the kids.  We drove back home the same evening.

On new Year's Eve we skipped the Church dance but went to a party at Don Brown's home, our Stake President, with Roger & Juanita Zierenberg.

1960

On 21 May an Earthquake hit Concepcion, Chile and killed 74 people.  Dicky was on his mission laboring in Concepcion but for that weekend he had been called back to Santiago for a Missionary Conference and was safe.  Upon returning to Concepcion he and his companion found some minor damage to their living quarters.

Kandy graduated from Robert Fulton Jr. High School on 17 June and our family had lunch at Taffey's Restaurant to celebrate.

DeVonne and I attended my Colton Union High School class reunion on 9 July (class of '35).  It was held in the El Ravino Country Club in Bloomington, California.  Our high school principal, Donald H. McIntosh and his wife attended, and George Ahler who was one of our shop instructors.  Ten of our classmates were deceased then.

On 17 August while on vacation DeVonne & Kandy and I went to Farmer's Market in the morning.  Then we picked up Reggie and all went to Disneyland.

On 13 September we purchased a new 1960 Chevrolet V-8 Impala from Courtesy Chevrolet in downtown Los Angeles.  Paid $2,225.00 plus trade-in of our old 1955 Chevrolet.

On 21 October Bob was in town and took DeVonne and I to dinner.  The following day he and I went to the Stanford-UCLA football game.

Shirlie & Lloyd and June & Les and families spent Thanksgiving Day at our house for dinner.  Nineteen were present.  The following day we drove to San Francisco and spent the balance of the day with Mother on her 82nd Birthday, and with Dad and Bette.  We stayed all night and left for home the next morning.

On the way home on 26 November we lunched with Pauline and Winn in Mountain View.  It was snowing on the Ridge Route coming home.  We arrived at 10:00 PM.

1961

I ordained Reggie an Elder on 12 March.

Bob flew in from Texas on 12 July and spent the evening with us.  He reported that Eddie had joined the Navy.

Returning from our Oregon vacation in 1961 we picked up Dad in Belvedere-Tiburon on 30 August as Bette was getting ready for a trip to Europe.  We drove on homeward the next day, picking up Pauline and Becky Jones (Shirlie's daughter) and arrived home around 6:00 PM.  Shirlie and June drove down the next day to pick up Becky and the four sisters went to lunch.

My family was pretty well spread out in October of this year.  Bette and Dura were in Paris awaiting a flight to Madrid, Spain.  Bob was home in Texas.  Mother was in Ohio visiting her sister, Daisy.  Dad was home with us in Panorama City.

On 7 October, DeVonne, Kandy, Dad and I drove up to Colton.  DeVonne and Kandy stopped off at Shirlie's while I took Dad around to see some of his old sites.  I took him over to see Ernie Hendrickson, who was the plant superintendent when Dad retired from the Cement Plant.  They had a nice visit for about 30 minutes.  Ernie retired after 53 years at the Plant so he and Dad could go back, even before I was born, talking about old times at the Plant.  Then I drove Dad out to the plant so he could see the changes that had been made since he left.  I drove right up to the electric shop so Dad could go in.  Then we drove in to Colton and looked over the town.  Dad said he couldn't see much change except for the new City Offices on the old Lincoln School grounds.  We stopped at Gage's Market on North 9th Street.  The Gages had sold out but the folks there knew Dad.

We then drove up the hill near the San Bernardino Valley College to look at the old homesite at 1248 Jefferson Place.  They had built a new building that extended almost onto our old property.  The house, of course, was gone but the Jacaranda tree and the Redwood were still standing, also the east wall and the fence that Dad built when he and Mother first moved there.  Then I drove over on the other side of the College where they had relocated the Folks' house.  Dad took me right to it and insisted that I drive by slowly so he could have a good look.  We drove on into “Berdoo” and found the Harris Company Department Store still there.

As we passed the Augustine Hotel on Third Street, just past the Sante Fe Depot, Dad remarked that he stayed in that hotel the night before he and Mother were married.  When we first got into Colton and arrived at Shirlie's, she had a huge pan of fried chicken awaiting us, which we “made do” for lunch.  Then later in the day we had a choice of six different flavors of ice cream to choose from as a snack before leaving for home.  Dad put on about twelve pounds while staying with us for a couple of months.  He would eat about a pound of candy a day.  The doctor said at his age it wouldn't hurt him.

On 6 November a fire broke out in the Santa Monica Mountains and destroyed hundreds of homes.  It started burning at 8:15 AM and continued to burn for several days.  Bel-Air Estates are directly across Sunset Boulevard from UCLA and many homes were lost there.  Even in those days those individual homes were worth a million dollars or more.  I went up on top of the Medical Center (10 stories) where I had an excellent view of the Bel-Air area.  It was unbelievable.  I watched home after home literally explode as the fire swept through the area.  All the canyon roads were closed and I came home from work via the Hollywood Freeway.  The fire continued to destroy homes the following day.

We spent the day in Banning with June and Les on 24 November, the day after Thanksgiving.  Kandy and Lee went bowling in the afternoon.  June, Les, DeVonne and I went to dinner in the evening at the Red Lantern.  Les 7 June treated us.  We played “Rakko” afterward and went to bed.  The following day we left and drove to Shirlie's and then on home.

On 29 November DeVonne started working at Mode-O-Day for the Christmas holidays.

Bob came out for dinner and drove DeVonne and me over to South Pasadena to look at a house he intended to lease for a year at $225.00/month.  He wanted DeVonne's opinion of it as Dura wasn't with him.

On Christmas Day we drove up to June's for the holiday.  Ma and Pa and all four sisters and their husbands and all the kids were there except Dicky, Reggie and Vicki.  We drove home in the evening.  The next day Pauline and Winn drove down from Colton and we went to dinner at Phil Ahn's Chinese Restaurant.  Pauline, Winn and four kids stayed all night.  I took the day off from work.  They left the following morning.

Bob, Dura and Judy arrived in Los Angeles on 28 December.  They drove out in a Volkswagen for a few days.

1962

I spent New Year's Day at home watching the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game on TV.  Ma and Pa spent the day with us and we had a turkey dinner.  They left the following day for Pauline's.

On 25 January Dicky and I went to the Los Angeles Sports Arena and watched an Ice Hockey game between the LA Blades and Calgary.  Calgary won 4 to 3.

Bob, Dura and Judy came over on 27 January and took us all to the Red Barn in Panorama City for dinner.

On 20 February Colonel John Glenn orbited the Earth three times.

Dicky took his physical for Selective Service and Kandy got her driver's license on 5 March.

DeVonne started working for General Insurance Company (Safeco) in Panorama City on 12 March.

On 25 March, Dicky had an auto accident in our car.  It wasn't his fault but the other party claimed it was Dicky's fault.  We took him to Small Claims Court and won our case.  It was settled on 29 May and we won a judgment of $76.11 plus $4.75 for costs.  The Judge was George B. Ross.

DeVonne, Kandy and I spent the weekend of 7 & 8 April at Colton and Banning.  Saturday at Shirlie's, I went to General Conference radio broadcast meeting in San Bernardino with Lloyd.  We stayed the night at June's and went to Sacrament Meeting in Banning.

Cherie, our cat, had four kittens on 17 April.

On 24 April I had lunch with Bob at the Union Oil Center in downtown Los Angeles.  His office was in the building at the time.

Scott Carpenter orbited the Earth three times on 24 May and landed safely.

I joined Bob, Dura and Judy in meeting Mother and Dad at Burbank Airport on 25 May.  The folks stayed with Bob for two weeks while Bette went to the World's Fair in Seattle.

On 4 June, DeVonne & I drove over to Bob's in the evening and visited with them and the Folks.  The following Saturday Mother and Dad came over to our house with Bob, Dura and Judy and the Folks stayed the night with us.  The next day I took them to the Airport for their return to San Francisco.

Kandy & Roddy went to Roddy's High School Graduation and then by bus to an all night party at Disneyland on 15 June.  Kandy came home from Disneyland Saturday morning and left at 8:00 AM for a week at the LDS Girls Camp.

On the Fourth of July, DeVonne, Kandy and I went to Zuma Beach.

Saturday, 14 July, DeVonne, Kandy, Roddy and I spent the day with Bob, Dura, Judy and Frank (?) at Pacific Coast Club in Long Beach.  Bob's Los Angeles Athletic Club membership entitled him privileges at the PCC.

We bought a 1956 Belair Hard Top Chevy Coupe on 20 july for Dicky.  Cost $700.00.  We took a note at the bank for $400.00 which Dicky had to pay off in 12 months.  I put up $200.00 and Dicky put up $100.00.  He paid me back my $200.00 in due time.

June and Shirlie drove down Saturday 21 July in the morning and stayed all night, leaving Sunday afternoon before Church.  Shirlie took Reggie's bike home for her son, Lloyd Alan.

On 27 July, Bob picked me up at work so I could take care of his Volkswagen while he went on vacation.  I returned it to him on 18 August.

On 31 August, DeVonne, Kandy and I drove over to Bob's and visited with them and Bette, who was down for the weekend.

On 1 September, DeVonne, Kandy and I drove to Mountain View and stayed with Pauline and Winn.  Marc was baptized that day.  Sunday we drove on up to the Folks and spent an hour and a half with them.  We met Mary Fischer for the first time.  She was a Registered Nurse who was looking after Mother and Dad.  We returned to Mountain View and I assisted Winn confirm Marc a member of the Church.  We had dinner at Ming's Restaurant and spent the night at Pauline's.

On 3 September I picked up Jerry Mann and visited Dan Lott at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View.  We took him home for an overnight visit, stopping on the way at Pauline's to pick up DeVonne and Kandy.  We visited with Dan and Ruth, then on to Jerry and Joyce's for lunch.  We stopped by to see Lyman and Nicki Speakman and then drove home.  Arrived about 1100 PM.

DeVonne's birthday on 6 September was celebrated by Kandy fixing dinner and baking a birthday cake.  In the evening the three of us went to the movies.  We saw the “Interns.”

Bette called on 7 September to say the nurse, Mary Fischer, was leaving the following Friday and Bette felt she would have to do something by then as she felt Mother and Dad couldn't be left alone.  She called again on the 9th and said she thought the Folks should go to a rest home.  She said Dad would prefer the Colton or San Bernardino area.  We decided the Los Angeles area would be better as it would be closer to Bob and me.  On 20 September I drove to Colton to check on rest homes and found nothing suitable in Colton.  There were a few in San Bernardino but mostly sanitariums.  I contacted the County of Los Angeles Central Registry of Sheltered Care Facilities for Adults and received a letter back from a Mrs. Marion T. Pratt, Counselor, which listed several places within a reasonable distance from our home in Panorama City.  Among them was Hillhaven Manor at 10230 Hillhaven Avenue in Tujunga with Mrs. L. Nichols as Manager.

Mrs. Pratt included a listing of Hospitals, Homes and Related Facilities Licensed by the Bureau of Hospitals of the California State Department of Public Health that covered the whole State of California.

Bette arrived with the Folks on 22 September and we drove them to Dura and Bob's.  Bette and I visited the Hillhaven Manor in Tujunga and agreed to place the Folks there.  Bette spent the night with us.  The following morning Bette and I drove to Dura's and picked up Mother and Dad and took them to the facility.  We stayed until the Folks had lunch and then I took Bette to the airport for her return to San Francisco.

I visited the Folks on 25 September and took them a fan.  Mrs. Andrews, the assistant manager, said they were adjusting well.  Dad had hardly eaten for a few days.  Mother thought the food was good but Dad said it was not so hot.  On the 28th I picked the Folks up and took them to Dr. Tatkin for a check-up and for him to get acquainted with their conditions.

Sunday, 7 October Bob, Dura & Judy brought the Folks over to our house for dinner.  We got the Folks to sign a Power of Attorney for Bob and I and had it notarized.  Dad also signed his War Bonds.  I had Bishop Morris, who worked for the Bank of America, sign Dad's bonds and I put the money ($5,623.48) in a savings account at the Panorama City Branch of the Bank of America.

I took the Folks to the Doctor's on 13 October and got them their Flu shots.  I also gave the Doctor the forms from the Colton Cement Plant Insurance Program.

On 20 October I took the Folks to the Doctor.  Mother had a chest X-Ray that showed her breast tumor removal had healed in good shape.  The Doctor said Dad need not come back for a month.  I took the Folks to dinner at Bob's that evening.

DeVonne and I visited the Folks on 24 October and again on the 27th.  I took Mother to the Doctor and Dad rode along.

On 26 October, DeVonne, Dicky, Kandy and I all got our first Sabin Oral Vaccine for Polio at Chase Street School.

I went on a two day field trip with the Southern California Gas Company on 2 & 3 November.  We spent the night in Needles, California and flew to the Apple Valley Inn for lunch the following day.  The trip was to show us some of the company's desert installations.  We flew back to LAX that afternoon.  I visited the Folks in the evening.

On 10 November, Bob took Mother to the Doctor and DeVonne & I went to Colton and on to Banning where we stayed overnight at June's.  We returned home Sunday afternoon and went to Church in the Van Nuys Third Ward.

On 13 November, Dura took Mother to the Doctor.  She had a sore leg that the Doctor thought might be a blood clot.  It was much better, however.  I visited the Folks that evening.

I took Mother to the Doctor on 17 November.  She was to continue hot packs on her leg and wear an elastic bandage.  I trimmed Dad's moustache and gave him a haircut.

For Thanksgiving Dinner we all went to June's in Banning.  Dicky took Judie Jacobs.

Saturday, 24 November I took Mother to the Doctor.  The following day was Mother's birthday and we had Mother, Dad, Bob, Dura and Judy all over for Turkey Dinner.  Mother was 84 years old.

I went to the USC-Notre Dame football game on 1 December as a guest of Bob Phillips of Carrier Corporation.  I visited the Folks on 4 December and took them to the Doctor on the 8th.  They were both in good shape and the Doctor said they did not have to return until January 12th.

I visited the Folks on 11 and 15 December.

Clark Muir, a member of our Ward who worked for Holmes Tuttle Cadillac Agency in Beverly Hills, tuned up our car on 15 December.  I always told him that when the car began to make funny noises I just turned up the radio and thought nothing of it.

On 21 December we left on our Mexican trip for Mazatlan.  See Chapter 10.

I got the car greased and washed after our Mexico trip and DeVonne and I went to see the movie, “Music Man” in the evening, to celebrated New Years Eve.

1963

On 4 February, DeVonne's parents and Pauline, Mila & Shawn arrived and spent the night with us.  The following day DeVonne and I took Ma & Pa to Bob & Dura's to celebrate Bob & Dura's 25th Wedding Anniversary.  Pauline and the Folks left for Colton the next day.

On 28 May, DeVonne and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary.  I bought her a diamond ring set.  We lunched at the Kirkeby Building in Westwood and went to a show in Hollywood and saw “The Ugly American” with Marlon Brando.

1964

Our net dog was “Bruno” who was mostly Weimaraner.  We got him as a puppy from DeVonne's sister, Shirlie in 1964.  He had a smooth, dark grey coat and was somewhat smaller that a full blooded Weimaraner.  He was still more than enough dog for DeVonne to handle.  He grew up under the tutelege of Pierre and, believe it or not, Pierre taught him to purr.  Bruno was really my kind of dog.  I could play roughhouse with him and he enjoyed it as much as I did.  We played “neckbreaker.”  I would sit beside him and say “neckbreaker” and he would sit there and just wait for my next move.  I would slowly put my arm around behind him and finally with a quick move lock my arm around his neck.  I would only hold him for a moment and he never really got upset about it.  When I let him go he would be ready to do it again.  He was a great watch dog.  Anytime anyone came to the door he would charge the door, barking his head off.  DeVonne would go to the door and hold him by his collar and open the door.  Any salesman or peddler who might be there would back away without attempting to make a sale.  After we invited anyone in to the house it was okay with him and he made friends quickly.

Our first Grandchild, Corinne Roxanne Clarke, was born on 3 August 1964 in the Van Nuys Community Hospital in Van Nuys, California, the daughter of our son, Dicky and his wife, Judie.

1965

Our second Grandchild, Lorraine DeVonne Clarke (nicknamed Sissy), again the daughter of Dicky & Judie, was born on 31 October 1965 - Halloween - at Kaiser Hospital in Panorama City, California.

1966

This must have been a good year.  I can't find any notes to remind me of what went on for us in 1966.

1967

Our third Grandchild, and first Grandson, Adam Richmond Clarke, was born on 21 November 1967 in Van Nuys Community Hospital, Van Nuys, California, the first son of Dicky & Judie.

1968

Our fourth Grandchild, and second Grandson, Rodrick Clarke Zierenberg, the son of Kandy & Roger was born on 7 July 1968 in the Utah Valley LDS Memorial Hospital in Provo, Utah.

We got “Toby” from June Beal in 1968.  His mother was a pedigree miniature Poodle and his father a Bichon.  Surprisingly to us as he aged he became as wide as he was long.  Still, when he was properly washed and groomed he was a most attractive dog and received many compliments on his looks.

1969

On 20 July we watched, live on television, the 1st manned lunar landing from Apollo 11.  The Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility and Neil Armstrong took the first step for man - “A Giant Step for Mankind” - on the moon.  Edwin Aldrin accompanied Armstrong while the Command Pilot, Michael Collins, remained in lunar orbit.  It was a thrilling sight to watch, even on TV, and I felt like I was right there with Neil Armstrong when he stepped down on the moon.

Two more Grandsons were born in 1969.  Russell Lionel Clarke, nicknamed “Rusty,” our fifth Grandchild and third Grandson, to Dicky & Judie on 31 July 1969 at Kaiser Hospital in Panorama City, and Jason King Zierenberg, our sixth Grandchild and fourth Grandson, to Kandy & Roger on 28 August 1969 in the Van Nuys Community Hospital.

We attempted to sell our home in Panorama City in 1969 and put it on the market.  We found a new house to our liking in the Calabasas area of the San Fernando Valley.  It was just a few blocks off Valley Circle Drive and near the Woodland Hills Chapel of the Church.  Our house went into Escrow five times and each time the buyer couldn't come up with his loan.  Finally after the fifth time I told DeVonne it just must not be the time for us to sell and move, so we stayed there another seven years.

1971

Zion continued to grow.  Kathrine Andrea Zierenberg, our seventh Grandchild and third Granddaughter, was born on 9 October 1971 at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, to Kandy & Roger.  Natasha Ann Clarke, our eighth Grandchild and fourth Granddaughter, was born in Rexburg, Idaho on 2 November 1971 to Reggie & Liz.

1972

Our ninth Grandchild and fifth Grandson, Kourt Neilen Clarke was born on 14 September 1972 in Van Nuys Community Hospital, Van Nuys, California to Dicky & Judie.

1973

Our tenth Grandchild and sixth Grandson, Trevor Reid Zierenberg was born on 6 May 1973 in Maywood, Illinois to Kandy & Roger.  Our eleventh Grandchild and fifth Granddaughter, Erinn Holmes Clarke, was born on 21 November 1973 in Granada Hills Hospital, Granada Hills, California to Dicky & Judie, the same day of the month as her brother, Adam.

1974

We celebrated Spence Hatch's 50th birthday on February with a dinner party at June's.  DeVonne & I, Shirlie & Lloyd, April & Spence, Jim & June all were there.  Prime rib dinner with beautifully elaborate valentine decorations on the table.  June went all out.  On the way home DeVonne and I saw an accident on the Freeway.  A car swerved into the center divider and the driver was thrown out of his car.  We stopped to help and waited until the ambulance and police arrived.

Our twelfth Grandchild and sixth Granddaughter, Sonya Ruth Clarke, was born on 19 September 1974 in Seattle, Washington to Reggie & Liz.

1975

Our thirteenth Grandchild and seventh Granddaughter, Samantha Mae Clarke, was born on 5 March 1975 in Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, California to Dicky & Judie.

Our fourteenth Grandchild and eighth Granddaughter, Heidi May Zierenberg was born 7 November 1975 in the Loma Linda Hospital in Loma Linda, California to Kandy & Roger.  This is the same hospital where Kandy was born 29 years earlier.

1976

Our fifteenth Grandchild and seventh Grandson, Jeffrey Peter Clarke was born on 16 April 1976 to Reggie 7 Liz in Melbourne, Australia.

DeVonne and I went to a Stake Presidency and High Council and wives dinner and social at Jim & Donna Conkling's in Sherman Oaks.  It was a farewell party for me about to leave the Stake Presidency.  I was presented with two books by Spencer W. Kimball and a gag scout trophy plus a pin and badge.  They tried for years to get me to wear a scout jacket at some of our scout meetings and had never succeeded.

In 1975, while I was serving in the Stake Presidency, we took a vacation trip (see Chapter 13) to Hawaii.  I told President Morris that when we returned we were going to put our house up for sale again and move out of the area.  After living in Panorama City for some 26 years the old neighborhood just wasn't what it used to be.  They were buying up old houses in the area and building apartment complexes all over the place.  This brought in a lot of transient renters to the area.  Mostly it was low income Mexican families, but also some blacks for the first time.  Not only were property values starting to drop but, the crime rate was increasing.

We returned from our vacation and cleaned up the house with painting, yard work, etc., and put it on the market with Forest E. Olsen, Realtors on 26 January 1976, listing it at $36,500.00.  I came home from work one day and found three different Real Estate salesmen and their prospective buyers in our living room waiting for me.  We took the best offer which was at our listed price and went into Escrow with Landmark Escrow Services, Inc., on 4 February 1976 with Dennis and Margery Duggan.  The Escrow was for 60 days and that meant we had to find a new home in a hurry.

Devonne and I shopped around the West Valley, down in Orange County and finally came out to Westlake Village and found a furnished model of the house we liked on 14 February 1976.  We put down $1000.00 as a deposit on the house under construction at 894 Hartglen Avenue, Westlake Village, California with the stipulation that our offer was subject to the close of Escrow on our home in Panorama City.  The selling price of our new home was $65,500.00 and we agreed to put down another $24,000.00 when the house was ready for us to occupy.  That left us with a mortgage of $40,500.00 at 8 3/4 per cent interest.  Our payments for 360 months (thirty years) amount to $320.00 per month.  The Mortgage is held by First Federal Saving & Loan Association of Santa Monica.

Our Escrow closed on 29 April 1976 and we received a check for $33,542.32 which was our net sale price of our house in Panorama City.

Dale Poe Development Company, the builder of our tract of homes in Westlake Village, assured us when we signed up that our house would be ready when our Escrow closed on our old home.  This did not prove to be realistic.  We had to move out of our home in Panorama City and have Mayflower Moving Company store all our household good in their yard in Van Nuys until we could move into our new home.  DeVonne took the dogs and went to Colton and stayed with her Mother and I took up lodging at the Holiday Inn in Sepulveda for one week, then another week at the Holiday Inn in Westwood Village.

After two weeks of waiting for Dale Poe to finish our home I advised the job superintendent that we were going to move in on 17 May 1976 whether he was ready or not and he would have to finish it after we had moved in.  I arranged for Mayflower to make their delivery on the 17th and I drove one car with Bruno and some of our personal belongings in from Colton while DeVonne drove the other car with Toby and additional personal items.  I arrived early, around 7:00 AM and the carpet layers were just arriving to lay the carpet.  Mayflower arrived about 8:00 AM and started moving furniture in as fast as the carpet layers could complete an area.  It finally worked out okay but I think that if we hadn't moved in when we did, they would have taken their sweet time to finish our house.

Mayflower had put all our goods in about seven large wooden crates and sealed them up for moving and storage.  After the movers finished their job the driver told me that when they unloaded the crates in their yard the forklift truck hit a soft spot in the blacktop pavement and dropped one crate.  They had taken everything out of the crate and checked the damage and repaired or restored everything they could.  We still found a few things that will never again be the same.

We were the first family on our short block when we moved in at 894 Hartglen Avenue.  There was a vacant field across the street which Dale Poe started to develop and build houses on within about six months after we moved in.  We ended with six houses on the block, three on each side of the street.  Our first neighbors were Jim and Joan Chao, a Chinese couple, who bought the house to the right of us.  Bill and Vivian Jarchow bought the one on the left but didn't move in until about six months later.

When the houses across the street were finished, Richard & Rhoda Reiner bought the house directly across from us and Liba Khairandish (Iranian), who was a student at University of California Santa Barbara, bought the one on Reiner's right hand.  Liba purchased the house for her father, Housan, I believe.  He moved in later.  He was a widower and left Tehran before Khomeni came into power.  He left behind and automobile agency in Tehran in the hands of someone who took most of his money out of it.  I don't think Housan ever got much of his money out of the country after Khomeni took over.

We never got acquainted with the family that moved in on the other side of the Reiners.  They weren't there very long and seemed to have a lot of trouble with their creditors.  After they moved out they sold the house to Kurt & Edith Maehler who were members of the Church.  Maehlers have since moved and Ron and Joyce Bodekeimer now occupy the house with their small children.  The Chaos moved out soon after they bought their house and rented it out and we have had several temporary families living there ever since.

The Jarchows divorced and sold their house to the Folkesons who are very nice neighbors.  Housan has his house up for sale now as it is really too big for him.  He has been here for about ten years and still hasn't learned to speak English.  He is a very nice guy but I have a difficult time communicating with him.  The Reiners are a Jewish family with two daughters, Michelle and Karen.  They are our oldest neighbors and very nice and neighborly.

We found the soil in Westlake Village to be much different from the kind we had in Panorama City.  There it was a rich, sandy loam and easy to dig up and cultivate.  In Westlake Village the soil is about 95 per cent shale rock.  It is impossible to remove the rock from the yard.  I hauled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of it out of the yard and dumped it across the street in the vacant fields where construction had not yet started.  I had about three loads of topsoil, which proved to be lake bottom soil, brought in and spread it around the front, back and side yards but is was only enough for about a 3 to 4 inch depth.  I put sprinklers in both front and back yards as I didn't want the trouble of hand watering as we did in Panorama City.

We found that even with the rocky soil, with proper amount of water we can grow about anything.  We put in a buffer of juniper plants along the sidewalk in the front yard, planted a magnolia and an oak tree, and later a redwood tree.  The Modesto Ash that the city planted in the parkway area was similar to the one we had in Panorama City and sheds leaves like crazy in the winter time.  This one got some kind of disease and after calling the city to do something about it, which they didn't, I took it out and filled in the spot with junipers.

In the back yard we planted a navel and two valencia orange trees, one lemon, a pineapple guava, a loquat, a peach and a pomegranate. All have been successful in bearing a much fruit.  We also tried an apricot and a fig tree but finally took them out.  The apricot got almost as big as the house and we were lucky if we got a dozen good apricots off it each year.  The fig did about as poorly and we took it out.  We replaced the apricot with a Beverly Hills apple tree which bore fruit for the first time this year, yielding about one dozen apples.

We tried a Haas avocado tree but the fruit would never mature.  I found we had the son of the Haas man who developed the tree living here in Westlake Village.  When I talked to him about it he said to take it out that they will not do well at all in Westlake Village.  We put a dwarf nectarine in its place and now after about three years it is beginning to bear decent fruit.  Next year we should have a good crop.

On 22 June a brush fire started in the hills across the street from us.  It eventually burned down to within a couple of hundred feet of our house.  I got on the roof and kept the wood shakes wet with a garden hose until I felt it was safe.  Two houses up the street from us had flying embers settle on their roofs but the fire department put them out quickly.

With Dicky and Kandy and their families, as well as ourselves, all living in the Conejo Valley - Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Westlake Village - we continued celebrating our Christmas Eves at our home.  We had a big Christmas Tree in the living room and everyone would bring presents.  Kandy's children, in costumes, would act out the Nativity story while the rest of us would recite it as found in the New Testament.  Kandy always had one child young enough to be the Christ child.  Then we would sing Christmas Carols and finally have a festive buffet before we opened our presents.  Most of the presents for the little children were saved to be opened on Christmas morning in their own homes.  Reggie and his family usually lived too far away from us to join in the celebration.

1977

DeVonne and I had a two weeks vacation from the 15th to 27th of August where we made several short visits to nearby sites.  We went to Zuma Beach about three days, drove to Lake Cachuma and on into Solvang, visited Andersen's Split Pea House in Buellton, visited Forest Lawn and my parent's graves and saw the “Crucifixion” and “Resurrection” paintings and the stained glass “Last Supper.”  We drove to San Diego and spent about six hours at Sea World and enjoyed the day.  We went on all the rides and saw the shows and exhibits.

On 22 October we bought a beautiful chandelier for our dining room, relegating the original one that came with the house to the family room.

Our sixteenth Grandchild and ninth Granddaughter, Ginger Dee Zierenberg, was born on 13 November 1977 in Westlake Community Hospital to Kandy & Roger.

We enjoyed a fine Thanksgiving dinner at Dicky & Judie's in 1977, attended by Kandy and Rod and their children and Ray & Dorisse Jacobs, Judie's parents.  Christmas Eve was celebrated in the usual manner at our home.

1978

On 29 April DeVonne & I with Ma, Kandy and her daughters, Kate and Ginger, visited the King Tut exhibit at the County Art Museum.  It was very interesting and enjoyable.

On 25 September we traded in our Datsun on a new 1978 Toyota Corolla hatchback.  I used the Datsun and then the Toyota for driving to work at UCLA each day and left the 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix at home for DeVonne.

On my birthday, 30 September, DeVonne held a party for me at home with Bill & Helen Bassett, Bob & Mary Ellen Meyers and Willard & Nadine Tate joining us.  DeVonne made a super dinner plus a Chocolate Mousse for dessert.  It was also the weekend for General Conference with the Priesthood Broadcast at the Stake Center and the Sunday Sessions on TV and Radio at home.

1979

I came home from shopping on 11 January, while DeVonne was at a Church meeting, and found two young teenagers in the house in the act of burglary.  I was so surprised, at first thinking they must be some of my grandchildren, that I didn't know what to do.  I saw the first one standing in the doorway to the den and I asked him or her (I wasn't certain which sex) “What are you doing in my house?”  She immediately bolted down the hall and into the front bedroom.  I followed her and as I got to the closed door I was standing in front of the bathroom where I saw a young man standing in the doorway.  I asked him the same question and he pushed past me and ran to the family room outside door, unlocked it and ran out, jumping over the wall into the neighbor's yard.  Then I went back to the bedroom and found that the young girl had broken the window and escaped.

They must have been in the house only a few minutes before I arrived.  I hadn't been gone too long as it was.  They apparently came in the front door as we only had the one original lock.  I found afterward it could be opened by pushing a credit card between the double doors and pushing the bold back.  Bruno and Toby were lying on our bed in the master bedroom and the intruders closed the door so the dogs had to stay there.  Bruno was so hard of hearing he probably never heard them at all, as well as crippled with arthritis, and Toby would bark but not really challenge anyone.

I found the girl had been going through my desk in the den and the young man was apparently looking for drugs in the bathroom.  The girl carried my hand calculator from the den into the bedroom and left it on the bed, with her flashlight, when she broke the window out with a somewhat heavy empty glass horse figurine that had contained cologne.  Actually, by staying out of the master bedroom, there was not a lot to be had for their purposes.  We had the window glass replaced the next day and about a month later, Ed Mountain, who worked for me at UCLA Hospital, came out and put a deadbolt lock on the front door to supplement the lock we already had.  He also adjusted the doors so there was not so much space between the doors.

Bob and Dura visited with us from 28 January to 1 February before going up to Bette's and then came back to stay with us from 7 February to the 10th.

On 27 March we were guests of Lee Moorer at the Dinah Shore show in Hollywood.  Lee was an Operating Room Nurse at the UCLA Hospital who I had become well acquainted with during construction alterations of the Operating Room area.  She had been a long time friend of Dinah's and finally gave up her nursing job at Dinah's request to become her personal secretary.  Before she left the Hospital she told me anytime I wanted to visit the show to get in touch with her.  We had excellent seats and enjoyed the show.  Ronald Reagan was a guest on the program while we were there and he was just beginning to campaign unofficially for Presidency of the United States.  Vernon Barker, an architect and one time member of our A & E Staff at UCLA, died today.

DeVonne and I visited the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena on 25 May.

John Wayne, motion picture actor, and one of my all time favorites, died of Cancer in the UCLA Hospital on 11 June.

Our seventeenth Grandchild and tenth Granddaughter, Amber Lyn Zierenberg, was born on 25 June 1979 in Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks to Kandy & Roger.

Toby continued to grow fatter and fatter and developed a skin disease that was incurable.  We talked it over and decided to have him put to sleep.  I took him to the animal shelter in Oxnard on 14 July.  It nearly broke DeVonne's heart.

On 8 December while DeVonne was visiting her sisters in Colton for Shirlie's birthday I shopped around and picked up Corky” who was one half Yorkshire and one half some type of Terrier.  He was born on 27 September, weighed two pounds when I got him and was so cute.

Christmas Eve was spent in our usual manner with Dicky and Kandy and their families (14 grandchildren at this time) at our house.  DeVonne had a sumptuous buffet to eat after our usual activities and before opening the presents.

New Year's Eve in 1979 was spent in a manner we have come to make about our standard.  We spent the evening at home, played dominoes in the early evening, went to bed early and got up at midnight to have a non-alcoholic Cold Duck grape juice drink to celebrate the new year.

1980

Bob & Dura stayed with us from 28 January to 1 February before going to visit Bette in the Bay area.  They returned on 12 February and left for home in Midland, Texas on the 13th.

Willard & Nadine Tate invited us to spend the 18th and 19th of April with them at their beach house at Port Hueneme.  We played cards in the evening, walked on the pier, had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, walked on the beach and gather rocks and sunbathed.  We enjoyed the pool and spa at their beach complex; had dinner at Alphy's and returned home.

On 25 April we traded in our 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix on a new 1980 Buick Regal that DeVonne thought was gorgeous.  On 3 May we bought our first Microwave Oven.

On 19 June, DeVonne and I went to the Pantages Theatre and saw “I do! I do!” with Jane Powell and Howard Keel.  We enjoyed watching and listening to our long time favorite singers.

Friday, 1 July found us going to the Tate's beach house for a week with Shirlie & Lloyd and June & Jim.  June and Jim arrived a day late on Saturday.  We went to Church in Oxnard Sunday, spent our time on the beach and then in the pool and spa Monday.  We visited the SeeBees Museum of Marine artifacts from WW II and later.  It is right in Port Hueneme.  Thursday we drove to Solvang for lunch and shopping and were back to the beach house at 5:00 PM.  June & Jim left Thursday to get home for Dawna's birthday Friday.  Shirlie & Lloyd and DeVonne and I got away about 11:15 AM Friday and we were home before noon.

Carl C. McElvy, the original head of the Office of Architects & Engineers, and my top boss for several years, died of a heart attack on 13 August.  He was living at the time in Fair Oaks, California, near Sacramento.

On 14 August I wrote a letter to Aaron Lohr, Deputy Director of the UCLA Hospital stating that I was retiring and he announced it in our Hospital Management Committee Meeting the same day.

I took Bruno to the Animal Shelter on 15 August to be put to sleep.  His arthritis was so bad he could barely walk at times.  He would have been 16 years old on 18 October.

On 16 August DeVonne & I drove to Colton and picked up Ma and brought her down to stay with us for a month or so.  She brought her dog, Happy, along and on Labor Day, 1 September, we all went to Zuma Beach, including Corky and Happy.  We took her back to Colton on 20 September.

On 21 October, Eileen (Heskett) and her husband, Don Norling, stopped by our home for two and a half hours for a visit in the evening, coming down from Bette's on their motor trip from Ohio.  Eileen is my step cousin and I hadn't seen her since I was five years old.  Her stepmother was my Aunt Daisy, my mother's sister.  Eileen brought me some pictures of my mother and her family and we reminisced of when I visited Ohio when I was five.

I spent from 5 November until 18 November in the UCLA Hospital recuperating from a Pulmonary Embolism but that is written up in Chapter 16 on Health.

My last day of work at UCLA Hospital was 19 December.

After I retired in 1980, DeVonne and I started playing tennis.  I played golf for a few months after I retired, mostly at the Westlake Village course, but I couldn't interest DeVonne in the game so I finally switched to tennis to play with her.  I also started swimming in the Village Homes Club Pool.  My best golf game was played on 30 April 1981 when I shot an 85 for eighteen holes.

DeVonne had played tennis off and on for several years and, of course, had been on the tennis team in high school.  I had played for a short while when I was in high school but not with any team.  I played mostly at the Colton Park in the evenings after swimming.  As a result DeVonne nearly always beat me at tennis.  It was only when she began to tire and I began to get warmed up that I could beat her.  I took a six week course in tennis at our Village Homes Club tennis court.

1981

In January I enrolled Corky in an Obedience School for nine weeks.  It was the best thing I ever did.  I wish I had done the same thing with Bruno.  Corky did very well, except the long sits and long lie downs.  The instructor hadn't told me about them and I had only trained Corky to stay in one position for a short time before I called him to come to me.

Bob and Dura arrived in February and spent about five days with us before going on up to visit with Bette.  The 5th was Bob & Dura's 43 Wedding Anniversary and Bob took us all to the Velvet Turtle for lunch.  DeVonne and Dura went to the Relief Society Homemaking Meeting and dinner in the evening.  Bob and I had Big Macs and came home for Ice Cream.

In March I was interviewed by Dorothy Pier of the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle newspaper regarding my 32 years at UCLA.  She was supposed to interview me about my receiving the Golden Bruin Award also but seemed to have missed it.  They put a nice write up about me in the paper a few days later.

In April, following my retirement, we took a short vacation trip to Utah to visit Reggie and his family and then came home via Bette's home in Terra Linda.  We had a fairly new 1980 Buick Regal and traveling was fine.  Corky was our only pet at the time so we took him along and found that he was an excellent traveler.  We spent our first night in St. George, Utah at the Lamplighter Motel and sneaked Corky in with us.

The next day we arrived in Orem, Utah and found Reggie's home around noon.  The kids and Corky got along fine.  The next day was Sunday so we went to Church.  I found that I had forgotten my suit pants.  (I assumed they were on the hanger under my coat.)  I wore a sweater with a light pair of pants, shirt and tie, and felt awkward for a Sunday meeting.  After Church we all drove up Provo Canyon and viewed Bridal Veil Falls.  Monday we baby sat for Reggie and Liz so they could go to a show together.

Tuesday I took Liz to the Warehouse Market (something like our Price Club) and stocked her up with staples.  We took the family to Burger King for dinner which seemed one of their favorite haunts.  Wednesday DeVonne and I drove to Park City.  We got caught in a speed trap coasting downhill toward Salt Lake City and got a ticket for doing 65 in a 55 mile per hour zone.  Back from Park City to Summit City we visited with Liz's parents, David & Hilde, for an hour or so and enjoyed a light snowfall during our visit.  Then we drove through Salt Lake City and on to Winnemucca, Nevada and stayed at the Bull Head Motel for the night.

Thursday we drove through Reno to California and arrived at Bette's about 3:00 PM.  We had dinner at Bette's.  Corky and Bette's dogs, Penny and Terry, got along fine together and had a great time throughout our stay.  On Good Friday Bette had to work and DeVonne and I loafed around the house with Betty Oxley all day.  Saturday we took Bette and Betty to dinner at the Monk's Inn in San Rafael.

Sunday was Easter and we missed Church.  I phoned about 8:30 AM and found there were only two wards and they started at 9:00 AM which was too late for us by then.  Kate Oxley and Marion Read came over to Bette's for Easter dinner.  It was also Kate's 74th birthday.  Monday Bette took me for a drive around Point San Pedro.  There were nice homes in the area.  Tuesday we shopped in San Francisco with Bette.  We visited the US Mint and Pier 39.

We left Bette's Wednesday about 10:15 AM and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to highway 280 to Atherton.  We picked up Al Horn's wife, Ruth, at their home and drove to the Stanford Campus where we met Al and John Dern and his wife, Dagmar, at the Faculty Club for lunch.  Al picked up the tab.  After lunch Al showed us some familiar places around the campus plus some new ones since my school days.  Then we went back to Al's home where we had left Corky tied to a tree in the yard.  Left Al's about 7:00 PM and drove to Salinas where we stayed at the Hiway Center Lodge overnight.  The following morning we breakfasted at a nearby Denny's restaurant, where the food was very good, and were on the road again by 10:00 AM.  We got home at 3:00 PM and found everything in order.

Our Bishopric was changed on 24 May with Richard C. Smith sustained as Bishop and Ken Sansom and Vance Kirby as counselors.

On 13 June, Cardington, Ohio (Mother's home town) was struck by a tornado and heavy rain.  It destroyed the center of the business district and 127 homes.  Four people were killed and many injured.  I phoned Eileen and found that she and her sisters, Dorothy and Erma were okay.  Eileen later wrote the music, with Foster Levering who wrote the words, to a song about the tornado.  It is entitled:  “Tory, The Tornado.”  All the proceeds from the sale of the music was to be used to aid the victims of the tornado.  I have a copy of it.

Our eighteenth Grandchild and eleventh Granddaughter, Summer Lee Zierenberg, was born on 3 July 1981 in Los Robles Hospital to Kandy and Roger.

In August DeVonne and I spent six days at Tate's Beach House in Port Hueneme with Shirlie & Lloyd, June & Jim and Pauline and Spence.  Pauline & Spence arrived about four days after the rest of us got there.  We left Corky with our friends the Ottosen's and Corinne took care of our yard while we were gone.

During September and early October I laid Mexican Tile on our Lanai.  It turned out pretty well for a never before experienced tile setter, and DeVonne loves it, which is what really counts.

I picked up a Llasa Apso from Rudy & Barbara Lang on 20 October.  He was born on 27 August and we gave him the official name of Tai Khan.  DeVonne decided to call him “Cup-Cake” and that has been his common name ever since.  He has been an expensive dog.  We paid $200.00 for him and then have spent a few dollars on him keeping him in good health.  He also needs grooming about every 3 or 4 months and that costs us $17.00 each time.  At this writing he just had an eye operation to remove a small tumor inside his lower left eyelid.  The cost was $168.00.  He is still a good dog though.  He is feisty and quite independent.  I gave him the obedience lessons the same as Corky had but he never took to them as well as Corky, except walking on a leash, at which he excels.

Thanksgiving Day was spent at Kandy's with Dicky and his family, with DeVonne's Mother joining us.  We had 22 people in all.  We celebrated our usual Christmas Eve at our home with Dicky and Kandy and their families, and had Devonne's Mother with us.  Reggie continued to miss most of these as he had his family somewhere else.  For New Year's Eve, DeVonne woke me up at midnight (both of us in bed) and we watched TV and celebrated the New Year with non-alcoholic champagne.

1982

I usually watch all the bowl football games on New Year's Day and 1982 was no exception.  I watched the Rose Parade, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl this year.  That was enough football for me for the season.

On 25 January I was hospitalized for nine days at the Kaiser Hospital in Panorama city, again for a pulmonary embolism. It is written up in Chapter 16 on health.

On 31 May we bought a Baldwin Fun Machine/Spinet Organ, Interlude 155, which has brought me considerable pleasure.  I had a very small electric organ that they allowed me to trade in at a value of $500.00.  So I got the new organ for $2,438.00.  I had already been buying the Readers Digest songbooks that are written for a layman to play either a piano or an organ.  Since getting the organ I have continued to buy them and have the entire series.  My two years of piano lessons have paid off in this regard as I find I can play any piece in these songbooks with little trouble.  Playing it is great for relaxation and enjoyment, and DeVonne likes to hear me play.

My brother, Bob, died at midnight on 1 March in Midland, Texas.  See Chapter 19 for more detail.

In May and June I poured concrete curbing around the planter areas in the backyard and south side of the house.

Willard and Nadine Tate moved into our ward and we began playing regularly with them three days a week, beginning in 1982.  We played tennis, and cards (Rook games), until they moved to Lake Arrowhead in 1988.  We really miss them!

Bette and Betty Oxley arrived Tuesday, 21 September, for a short visit.  They had spent the night before in Pismo Beach.  We had fried chicken for dinner, and DeVonne's seven layer salad which is scrumptious.  The following day the girls watched DeVonne and me play tennis.  Betty Oxley hit a few strokes with me and seemed to like it.  The Bettes and I played nine holes of golf at the Westlake course.  It was really too hot to play and we were glad we only went nine holes.  We had tostados for dinner and watched the Dodgers on TV.

The next day we all went to Zuma Beach and strolled in the sand and lay in the sun for about two hours, getting a little sunburn on our faces.  In the afternoon we visited Kandy's with her horses, rabbits, trampoline, etc.  Then we visited Dicky and Judie.  We saw Dicky for a few minutes only as he was working in Evan Payne's gas station.  Evan, a counselor in our Stake Presidency, was dying of Cancer and members of the Church were helping to keep his station running.  The following day the Bettes left for home, planning to stay near San Simeon Castle that night and get home Saturday.

DeVonne and I played tennis on the new courts at Triunfo Park on 24 September until the rain stopped us.  The courts are very nice and they are only a couple of blocks from our house.

On 20 November our Granddaughter, Corinne, was married to Kenneth Miller in our home by Bishop Douglas Horne at 11:30 AM.  There were 39 family members and close friends present.  Kenny is a returned missionary, having served in the Australian Adelaide Mission.  He is employed as a fireman for the County of Los Angeles.

Thanksgiving Day found us again at Kandy's with 22 people enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, including Corinne & Kenny.

DeVonne's Mother died in our home in the early hours of Sunday morning, 5 December.  See Chapter 22.

After many years of celebrating Christmas Eve at our home, DeVonne finally decided it was too much for her, so we spent our first Christmas Eve away from home, celebrating at our son, Dicky's home, with Kandy and all the kids.  We still followed the usual pattern of reciting the Christmas story and Kandy's children acting it out and our singing Christmas carols.

1983

The first four months of 1983 DeVonne and I spent four or five days going to Colton and helping her sisters sort out Ma's belongings, disposing of what we could and dividing up things among the four sisters.  It was quite a project as Ma was one who liked to save nearly everything.  I think it taught DeVonne and me a lesson in that we hope to get rid of as much junk (“treasured possessions”) as we can before our children have to do the same thing.  We were pleased to get Ma's refrigerator that is still running good, a bar stool I use to sit on when DeVonne cuts my hair, a blender, her diamond wedding ring, and much more.

In May I started working on DeVonne's Doll House.  I had bought the kit for her for Christmas 1982 and finally got around to putting it together.  I finally finished it sometime in June.  The last part was to put each individual shingle on the roof and that was tedious work.  Later we bought wall paper, carpeting, etc., to furbish it.  DeVonne had been collecting doll furniture for some time so she had a good start in furnishing it.  She continues to buy additional pieces and we attend doll shows two or three times a year where she picks up a piece now and then.

Our first Great Grandchild, and first Great Granddaughter, Kamrine Nicole Miller was born on 28 May 1983 at Los Robles Hospital to Corinne & Kenny.  She is my hope for presenting me with my first Great Great Grandchild (five generations) before I die.  She will be 18 years old in the year 2001 and if then she married and has a child in 2002, and if I am still living at the ripe old age of 85 I will ge to see him or her.  Why not?

DeVonne and I attended an Arabian Horse show at Santa Barbara on 29 May where Kandy and Rod's horse, Nazkaro, took First Place.

DeVonne took off for a week at Big Bear with June and Pauline Monday, 1 August.  Shirlie couldn't make it.  DeVonne came home on the following Saturday.

On 20 June, for Father's Day, Dicky & Judie and Kandy & Rod outdid themselves in taking DeVonne and me to dinner at the “Moonshadows” Restaurant in Malibu.  The dinner was delicious and it was so enjoyable eating and watching the ocean waves and the moonlight on the water.

On 24 June, Valene (Ottosen) and Derek Loyola stayed the night at our house, having just returned from their honeymoon in Hawaii.  They could not stay at Ottosen's as the youngest daughter, Janae, had an unknown illness that seemed to make her allergic to almost everything, including people.  I am not certain but it seemed to me to be something like AIDS.  She must have gotten it through a blood transfusion or something like it.  Her immune system was totally non-functioning.  The family finally had to leave our area, move to Colorado and build a special house to eliminate particular types of construction materials that she was allergic to.  The last time I heard from them Janae was somewhat improved but she still had a long way to go to get back to leading a normal life.  She was a very talented little girl and it is a shame she has had such a life.  The Loyolas stayed for breakfast before taking off for San Diego.

In October we bought a Jacuzzi Spa for the back yard.  I poured a concrete slab for it, with Dicky's help.  The Spa has been nice.  It cost $3,950.00 and now after six years we have only spent about $160.00 on it for repairs.  The main problem now is that the wooden structure surrounding the Spa is rotting away and I must replace a portion of the top.  I'm not sure just how to handle it so I keep putting it off.

Right after the Spa was installed and checked out we left to visit Bette.  We left Westlake Village on 12 October at 9:00 AM and arrived at Bette's home in Terra Linda at 4:30 PM.  The following day we shopped the Terra Linda Mall and in the evening we taught the Bettes how to play “Pound the Table” and they taught us how to play “Corner.”

The next day I had to buy a new front tire and get the front end aligned as the old tire was showing the steel belting.  While we waited for the car, Bette and I window shopped at Macy's.  On the 15th Bette took us to the Marin County Headlands, overlooking the Golden Gate and the Bridge, and out on the ocean side.  We saw many old fort bunkers, etc.  Kate & Marion came for dinner.

We found out that San Rafael Stake was holding Stake Conference Sunday and there were no Sacrament Meetings being held so we missed Church that week.  We took Bette and Betty to dinner at “Sabella's of Marin” in Tiburon.  Monday morning we left Bette's and arrived home at 4:30 PM and found the dogs and house all well.  Michelle Reiner, our 15 year old neighbor girl took care of the dogs while we were gone.

On 18 October I started up the Spa and took my first “plunge.”  It works very well and can get the temperature up to 100 Deg. Fahr.  Boy, does that feel good!

On 23 October I started as Block Captain for the Neighborhood Watch Program but after several months with nothing happening and no information coming down to me from the top I gave it up.

Our nineteenth Grandchild and twelfth Granddaughter, Brandi Rae Zierenberg, was born on 12 November 1983 in Los Robles Hospital to Kandy & Roger.

Thanksgiving found us again at Kandy's.  Reggie and family were living in Northridge and DeVonne and I picked them up and took them to Kandy's and then I took them home afterward.

Our entire family was present for Christmas Eve, except Corinne & Kenny and Kamrine.  It was the first time we had Reggie and his family with us since before he married Liz.

On 30 December DeVonne & I drove to Banning in the morning to spend the night at June & Jim's for our New Year's celebration.  Shirlie & Lloyd and Pauline & Spence did not make it.  We played cards in the evening, a UNO game, had lunch and dinner at June's and got to bed about midnight.  Up the next morning we had a sumptuous breakfast and left about 11:00 AM.  We stopped by Shirlie & Lloyd's and left some clothes and presents for Becky's children and a jogging suit for Susie.

1984

On 5 February our Dining Room window crystallized and crumbled into a million pieces on the dining room floor.  I thought at first the boys next door had hit it with something but we finally surmised that it was from the constant heat from the summer sun on it.  I had it covered on my home insurance so I didn't have to pay to replace it.

I picked up Judy Clarke, my brother Bob's daughter, at the LAX air terminal on 2 March.  Dura was supposed to meet us at the airport coming in from Midland, Texas but she had a bad cold and cancelled her flight.  I spent the following day shopping with Judy, then Dicky and his family came over in the evening to see her.  The next day I took her over to Reggie's in Northridge and then to Kandy's ranch.  Later DeVonne and I drove her down to Leisure World, Laguna to Ted & Lois Maxwell's.

On 3 March the Southern California Mormon Choir performed at our Stake Center.  Dicky, who had sung with them for several years, was in a quartet that included the conductor.

On 21 March we bought a RCA VHS Cassette Recorder from Muntz TV for $499.95 and have been taping TV programs and shows ever since.

David & Hilde Paranian celebrated their 50 Wedding Anniversary on 23 May.  Their daughter, Vicki, and her husband, Jack Schillen, invited them down to their home in Corona for a celebration on the 26th.  David & Hilde flew down from Salt Lake City and DeVonne and I picked up Reggie and his family in Northridge and took them to Vicki's.  We had a nice dinner and a friendly visit afterward.

Our second Great Grandchild and first Great Grandson, Kenneth Cheyne Miller, was born on 24 July 1984 at Los Robles Hospital to Corinne & Kenny.

DeVonne left for Newport Beach for a week with her sisters Saturday, 19 August and returned home the following Saturday.

Our Caribbean Cruise started on 28 September.  See Chapter 14.

On 18 December, DeVonne and I went shopping at the May Company in North Hollywood and saw Jane Wither's doll show.  She has literally thousands of them, representing several nations, etc.  afterward we visited Beverly Carter at her home and saw her collection.  Beverly not only collects dolls but she makes them as well.

Christmas found DeVonne and I both down with the Flu.  DeVonne first came down with it on the 19th of December and I caught it on the 21st.  We skipped Church Sunday the 23rd but I was feeling well enough to pick up Reggie and his family and take them to Dicky's for Christmas Eve.  Dicky took them home afterward.  DeVonne stayed home in bed.  I left early around 9:00 PM for home and DeVonne.

DeVonne and I got up late on Christmas morning and had breakfast and then opened our presents.  Bette called to thank us for her gifts and to tell us that Dura's brother, John, had a massive heart attack and stroke.  He died the day after Christmas.  We missed Church again the following Sunday due to the Flu.  New Year's Eve we still had it but I stayed up until midnight, woke up DeVonne, who had gone to sleep at 10:00 PM, and we had a grape champagne drink to celebrate.

1985

Eileen's husband, Don Norling, died of Cancer on 27 March.  Eileen is my step-cousin.

Our twentieth Grandchild and thirteenth Granddaughter, Wendy Ann Zierenberg, was born on 2 March 1985 at Los Robles Hospital to Kandy & Roger.

Easter, 7 April, we went to Dicky & Judie's for an Easter Buffet at 3:30 PM after watching General Conference on TV.  Ray & Dorisse Jacobs were also there.  In the evening we went to Kandy's for a piano recital by Kate, Heidi and Ginger.  Roger and Juanita were there too.

Tuesday, 23 April, Bette and Betty Oxley arrived for a visit.  They drove in from Pismo Beach as usual.  I gave them the hot tub treatment in our Spa which they enjoyed.  The following day the Bettes and I went to Disneyland.  DeVonne stayed home as she had a bad cough and chest congestion.  Thursday we took them to the Getty Museum.  Then I took Bette to Kandy's ranch and to Reggie's in the late afternoon.  Bette met Liz, Sonya and Jeff for the first time.  Natasha had gone to a circus with her school class so Bette missed her.  Friday Bette & I visited Dicky and Judie and saw all the kids but Erinn and Corinne.  Saturday, 27th they left us, planning to make Monterey to stop for the night.

On 1 May, Don Brown celebrated his seventieth birthday with a dinner party at Sorrentino's in Burbank.  Included in the party besides DeVonne & me were:  Don's brother and his wife, Ed & Betty Rolapp, Lee & Audre Openshaw, Roger & Juanita Zierenberg, Lott & Verona Hess and Eugene & Alice Jean Morris.

On 1 June, DeVonne & I went to June's for her birthday.  Afterward we came back to Fontana in the evening for my 50th High School Reunion of the Class of 1935.  It was an excellent dinner party held at Salvatore's Restaurant in Fontana.  The program was as follows:  I gave the Invocation.  The Starlighters, including Rita Miller, Dorothy Preece Hubbs and Phyllis Preece, with Lois Pierson as Accompanist sang a few of our vintage songs.  Mildred Crilly Kaynor gave a talk entitled:  “And with us . . ..”  Donald H. McIntosh, our High School Principal, gave an outstanding address for a man in his nineties.  Prizes were given out and a Class Picture taken.

A High School Reunion is the best kind as the friends you knew in high school were those you grew up with, for the most part, from your early elementary school classes.  I saw some classmates I hadn't seen for 50 years and it was wonderful to greet them again.  Even our girls' gym instructor, Ada Culross, was there.  An old friend of mine, Jessie Cline, came all the way from Florida to be there.

My cousin Eileen had a total hip replacement on 7 August.  She recovered well.

Rae Rogers died on 18 August in Santa Monica.  Al Rogers called me to say there would be no services held.  In her will, Rae left me $500.00.  I am certain she was not capable of putting it in her will.  Her Brother-In-Law, Al Rogers, I believe did it as a courtesy for many things I had done for both Rae and Glenn.

On 21 August, prior to Reggie and his family leaving for Guam, DeVonne& I, Dicky & Judie and Kandy & Rod took Reggie and Liz to dinner at the Black Angus Restaurant in Ventura.  We had a good time and came back to our home for cake, ice cream and melon.  On the 23rd I drove Reggie and family to LAX in Kandy's old VW Van for them to catch their flight to Guam.  They took six bags of luggage plus seven boxes, including two bicycles.  The rest of their belongings, including Liz's Grand Piano, were to be shipped by boat.

On 12 September, DeVonne and I both had our eyes checked for new prescriptions for glasses at Kaiser Clinic.  Neither of us really needed new glasses yet but Doctor Gordon gave us each a new prescription.

DeVonne was experiencing double vision in her right eye, especially when she first got up in the morning.  She had an appointment with a Neurologist on 3 October and a Cat Scan of her head and back at the Panorama City Hospital on 22 October.  The Cat Scan results came out negative and no problems were found.  It apparently hasn't been too serious and she has learned to adjust and live with it.

Sunday afternoon, 27 October, Willard & Nadine Tate picked us up and took us to their beach house at Port Hueneme for two days.

Monday we played an hour and a half of tennis on the courts near the beach house before breakfast.  Ate breakfast and lunch at the beach house.  Spent time in the pool and spa and had dinner at Loop's Restaurant in Ventura.  Back for cards in the evening.  Tuesday we were up at 8:00 AM and had breakfast and a walk on the beach.  Then we returned to the beach house and packed up and came home, arriving about 1:30 PM.  Great time!

On 15 November we bought a 1986 Pontiac Firebird for $14,005.00.  We parked it in the garage and started our second Caribbean Cruise on 17 November.  See Chapter 15.  I sold the old 1980 Buick Regal to Bryan Grover, Stan Rotz's Son-In-Law, for $4,000.00.

On 5 December, Eulis Hubbs died.  Eulie was an old friend from Colton.  He and his wife, Dorothy, took us and our children to St. George, Utah when we were sealed in the Temple there.

DeVonne and I went to Shirlie's for her birthday on 7 December.  Lloyd and I had lunch in Highland.  The sisters picked up their checks for the sale of Ma's house from Shirlie.

Sissy & Jeff Huffman were married by our Stake President, Grant R. Brimhall, Saturday 21 December at his parents home in Agoura, California with a reception following.

Christmas Eve was spent at our home with Dicky and Kandy and their families all with us, including Corinne & Kenny and two great grandchildren.  Sissy & Jeff, still on their honeymoon, did not make it.  Reggie and family were in Guam, of course.  We had a great time.

On New Year's Eve, DeVonne and I went to the Agoura Ward High Priests' progressive dinner as guest of the Tates.  We ended playing cards at Tate's home (just the four of us) to ring in the New Year.  DeVonne and I got home about 1:30 AM.

1986

I transferred from Kaiser Panorama City Hospital to the Kaiser Woodland Hills Hospital as it was much closer to Westlake Village.  My new Doctor I am assigned to is Doctor Victor Lewin.  I like him!

DeVonne went to Panorama City Hospital to see Dr. Pawlowski, an Ophthalmologist, regarding her eyes.  Then on 13 February she went in for an Ultra-Sound check of her Carotid Arteries (in the neck).  The technician told her she didn't see why DeVonne had come in as she had never seen Carotid Arteries in such good condition.  On the 26th DeVonne went in for a Cat Scan of the eye area.  She never did get any satisfactory answer for what was wrong with her eyes.

On the same day I cut my finger with the pruning shears.  Doctor Maizels sewed it up with 4 stitches.  He removed the stitches a week later.

We bought DeVonne and Mink Stroller and Fox Fling at a Robinson's sale at the Marriott Woodland Hills on 8 March.

On 14 March we went with Tates to Lupe's Restaurant for dinner in the early evening and then played cards at our house until about 9:30 PM.

On 14 April we left home to visit Bette in Terra Linda.  On the way up we stopped in Arroyo Grande and visited with Betty (Mowers) Kray and her husband, Al.  Betty is an old high school friend of DeVonne's.  We spent about two and a half hours with them and they served us a light salad lunch plus fresh Strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar.  We finally arrived at Bette's about 8:30 PM.

The following day it rained and we took it easy and rested up from our drive.  On the 16th it was still raining but Bette took us down to Tiburon to visit Kate and Marion.  The next day Bette and Betty Oxley took us for a drive out to Bodega Bay in the morning, expecting to lunch there.  We never found the place but we found out later that we didn't drive quite far enough.  Bette promised me that the next time we came up we would make it.  I bought lunch in Petaluma (the home town of Charles Schultz - creator of Charlie Brown and Peanuts) on the way home.  Bette took us all to dinner at an Italian restaurant near her home in the evening.  The food was excellent.

Friday, 18th, we left Bette's and drove to Monterey, arriving about 12:30 PM and visited the new Aquarium for a couple of hours and lunched there.  I was somewhat disappointed with the Aquarium, it was not nearly as good as Marineland here in Palos Verdes, but the Monterey one was not completely finished so it probably will improve.  We drove on to Pismo Beach and spent the night at the Spyglass Inn.  We were given a large room that was designed for the handicapped.  Nothing wrong with the room, it was just oversized in every way.  We ate supper in the room with deli food.

Saturday we left Pismo Beach around 10:00 AM and drove through Solvang, passing Lack Cachuma and into Santa Barbara.  We stopped for lunch at the “Big Yellow House” but walked out after waiting for 45 minutes for our meal.  We were home by 1:30 PM.

The Tates left for Europe on 27 April and returned on 27 May.

On 27 May I picked up my Corona Personal Computer that Dicky had recommended to me and he spent about eight hours programming it and giving me a little instruction.  Cost for the computer and the Citizen Printer was $2,460.00.  I purchased it locally, here in Westlake Village from Commercial Micro-Systems, Inc.

On 4 June I had a test for hearing and they recommended a hearing aid for my right ear.  On the 20th I picked it up and started wearing it.  There is some improvement in my hearing but I don't think the hearing aids are as good as they advertize.  Of course my biggest problem is letting the battery go dead and then it is useless.

DeVonne and I went to Ventura to a Doll Show at the Fairgrounds on 28 June.  We lunched at the Lobster Trap in the Channel Islands Harbor.

On 5 July we bought a new Whirlpool Refrigerator at the Broadway for $1,200.00.  We received a refund of $25.00 from Southern California Edison Company for giving our old one to the Salvation Army.

Our third Great Grandchild and second Great Granddaughter, Jessica Lauren Huffman, was born on 20 July 1986 at Los Robles Hospital to Sissy & Jeff.

DeVonne and I went to Solvang on 21 July.  We stayed at the “Solvang Castle Inn” and saw “Funny Girl” at the Theatrefest in Solvang that evening.  It was our first time at the Festival Theatre and it was an excellent performance.  The following morning we breakfasted at the Belgium Cafe and had Belgium waffles, etc.  We shopped in Solvang for about 2 hours and drove home.  Solvang is about a two hour drive from Westlake Village and just over 200 miles.

We bought new “Yonex” tennis racquets on 25 July 1986.

On 13 August, DeVonne & I took Dicky & Judie to dinner at Charlie Brown's in Thousand Oaks.

DeVonne took a bad fall on the tennis court and sprained her right ankle and left wrist on 15 August.

Monday, 18 August, I picked up Dura in South Pasadena and brought her home to spend a few days with us.  The following day Dicky and Kandy and families all came over to see her and she got acquainted with most of our grandchildren.  Wednesday Dura treated DeVonne and me to dinner at Bodega Bay restaurant in Thousand Oaks.  Thursday I drove Dura to LAX to catch a 2:00 PM plane for San Francisco.  Bette was to pick her up at the airport in San Francisco.

Devonne and her sisters left Saturday, 23 August, for Tate's beach house to spend a few days.  They returned Thursday.

I had a hernia operation on 5 September at Kaiser Hospital in Woodland Hills.  Doctor David Dean was my surgeon.  I was released the same afternoon and had staples removed from my belly seven days later.  DeVonne had a cast put on her left wrist up to her elbow the same day of my operation.  Her wrist bone was fractured from the fall on the tennis court.  DeVonne went to Corey Zierenberg's wedding at the Westlake Plaza Hotel the next day and we both went to a party at Ken & Carla Sansom's that evening.  DeVonne's cast was removed on the 16th and they gave her a velcro fastener wrist support to wear for two weeks.

Kandy and Rod left on 11 September for a trip to Hawaii.  Rod's brother, Jared and his wife, Terry, went with them.

On 18 September, I replaced our hot water heater in the garage.  The old one lasted for ten years and four months.

DeVonne and I went to a rock and mineral show in Newbury Park on 18 October.  DeVonne's Uncle Mac, Martin McPhie, died the same day.  His funeral was held in Colton on the 23rd.  We attended.

In October (October seems a good month for us to buy things.)  We bought a Grandfather's Clock.  Actually we call it Grandmother's Clock because we bought it for DeVonne.  It is a Ridgeway clock built in Ridgeway, Virginia with a movement imported from the Black Forest Region of West Germany.  We bought the clock at Ted's Clock Emporium in the Oaks Mall for $952.94.

On 11 November I started painting our Master Bedroom before refurbishing.  I finished it on the 22nd.

DeVonne and I went to a Doll and Miniature Show in Santa Barbara on 8 November and lunched at the “Big Yellow House” on the way home.

Pearl Milner died on 17 November.  She was 75 years old.  DeVonne and I had known her and her husband, Jim, for many years, going back to the days we lived in the San Fernando Valley.  Her funeral was held on the 20th in our Ward Chapel.

DeVonne was on Jury Duty for the week of November 24th.

On 2 December we laid new carpeting in the Master Bedroom and we ordered window valences, drapes and curtains.  After several problems they were finally installed correctly on 5 March 1987.

Tuesday, 30 December, Stewart & Dorothy Burton took us to Santa Barbara.  We visited the Santa Barbara Court House, then lunched on the pier at Moby Dick Restaurant, had a yogurt dessert and drove home.  It was a nice day.

1987

Waiverly Azzoni phoned on 16 January to tell me that her husband, Henry, died the night before.  Henry had worked at UCLA since 1954 and was a very good friend of mine.  He died of Cancer, having four brain tumors.  His body was cremated and we held memorial services for him on the 21st.  I conducted the services.  We had many people in attendance and had to set up extra chairs in the Mortuary Chapel at Valley Oaks in Westlake Village.  Several men from UCLA came to the services.

Lloyd & Shirlie came to visit us on 16 January.  We went to dinner at the Waterlot Restaurant in Westlake Village and then to a show at the Moorpark Melodrama Theatre and saw a spoof comedy of Sherlock Holmes.  The following day we took them to see Kandy and Rod's ranch and Rod showed them around a bit.

I took my Grandson, Trevor Zierenberg, to Channel Island National Park at Ventura on 27 February.  He needed to visit a National Park and report on it for his Scouting Citizenship Merit Badge.  We also stopped by the SeeBees Museum at Port Hueneme and then had “Big Macs” at the McDonald's Restaurant on the Base.

Our Grandson, Adam Clarke, received his Eagle Scout Award at a program held in his Ward Building on 7 March.  We had lunch afterward in the Cultural Hall.

DeVonne and I visited Percy Hooton, a distant relative of DeVonne, In Downey, California on 21 April and got a bit of genealogy from him.  From there we went to Pauline's in Huntington Beach and got a bit more from her.

On 1 May, I started a weight control program of walking everyday and eating according to the SyberVision - “The Neuropsychology of Weight Control.”  At the start I weighed 240 pounds and my waist measured 45 inches.  By 1 July I was down to 225 pounds and my waist measured 42 inches.  I kept up my walking until about the middle of October and got my weight down to 215 pounds and maintained it even after I went off the diet.  As long as I continued to walk I was okay.  However, once I got away from walking regularly my weight began to come back and I am now back to 240 pounds again.  One of these days I will get back to the program and get down to where I belong again.

Bette and Betty Oxley arrived on 12 May and spent a few days with us.  We took them to the Waterlot Restaurant for dinner and to the Moorpark Melodrama Theatre to see “Sleeping Beauty.”  They left for home on the 15th.

On 2 June 1987 we drove up to visit Don and Shirlie Brown in their new home in Thousand Oaks.  They are only about 5 miles from us.

On 5 June we drove up to Shirlie and Lloyd's in the afternoon and stayed overnight.  June & Jim and Pauline & Spence joined us.  We went to a Black Angus restaurant for dinner and all had breakfast at Shirlie's, except Pauline and Spence who went home the night before.  We returned home about 12:00 Noon.

We went to lunch at the Sea Lion Restaurant in Malibu with the Burtons on 16 June.

On 16 July, DeVonne and I took Stewart & Dorothy Burton to see “Hans Christian Andersen” performed at the outdoor theatre by the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA) Theatrefest in Solvang.  We stayed at the Dannebrog Inn and had a smorgasbord dinner at the Danish Inn that evening before the show.  We breakfasted the next morning at the Belgium Cafe and then visited the Santa Inez Mission and drove home.  We stopped in Santa Barbara to the see “Big Tree” and were home by noon.

Our twentyfirst Grandchild and eighth Grandson, Derek Rand Zierenberg, was born on 17 June 1987 in Westlake Village Community Hospital.  I anticipate Derek will be the last of our Grandchildren.  We have no way of imagining how many Great Grandchildren we will finally have.

Stan & Mary Anna Rotz took us to dinner at Marie Callender's in Camarillo on 7 August as a farewell evening before they permanently left for Mareno Valley.

On 25 August our new neighbors, John & Barbara Folkeson and their children, David and Karen moved in.  They bought the Jarchow house.

I took the written test for my Driver's License renewal before my seventieth birthday on 8 September and passed it with a 100 per cent score.

On 16 September David Paranian, Liz's father, died in Salt Lake City of liver Cancer.  Liz had been forewarned of his condition and tried to make it home before he died but was a day late.  The whole family came over from Guam.  Reggie had an appointment for a job interview at Valley State Community College in Van Nuys and Liz and the children flew from LAX to Salt Lake City.  Reggie flew up on the 19th.  The funeral was held on the 21st and Reggie and the children left for Guam on the 23rd.  Liz stayed on with her mother for a while and then flew to Guam via San Francisco.

Our Grandson, Jason Zierenberg, came over to our house on 19 September and washed our windows as a birthday present for DeVonne and me.  Heidi, his sister, came with him.

On 7 October I had the first serious trouble with our Pontiac Firebird.  I came out of the Temple and the car would not start.  I had it towed to Shaver Pontiac in Thousand Oaks where I bought it.  The towing charge was $135.00 and Shaver found the fuel pump needed replacing, at a cost of $266.22, including an oil change.  Later I found that the fuel pumps were under the power train warrantee and I got back $560.00 for some of my charges, including towing. Eventually they changed the fuel pump three times and did several other things to the car.

I was towed in about 5 or 6 times and finally became so disgusted with the car and Shaver Pontiac, as well as the Pontiac Michigan Customer Service Office and the local Zone Office that I took the problem to the Better Business Bureau of the Tri-Counties of Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo, and asked for Pontiac to take back the car and return all the money I had paid them for it.

We went to arbitration and the arbiter ruled in my favor and eventually I turned in the car to the Pontiac Zone Office in Thousand Oaks and received a check for $13,049.81 which was the full amount I had paid for the car new, less the Sales Tax and License Fee.

At the time of the Arbiter decision I had owned the car for over three years and put 22,536 miles on it.  So now I was free of it with the above cash in my pocket to buy a new car.  We put $7,000.00 with it and bought a new 1989 Chrysler New Yorker with a seven year, 70,000 miles warrantee on the power train and a five year, 50,000 miles on the rest of the car.  No other car manufacturer even comes close to giving that kind of warrantee.

Stewart & Dorothy Burton took us to San Diego for an overnight outing on 9 October.  We lunched at Antonys on the Bay Front, took a two hour cruise of the bay on the schooner “Invader,” had supper at the “Old Spaghetti Factory” at 5th Avenue and “K” Street.  We stayed overnight at the Circle Budget Motel with the room cost at $34.88.  The next morning we had breakfast at the Hungry Hunter, then walked through the Balboa Park Science Building, visited the Rose Gardens, etc.  We drove back toward home, stopping at Dana Point to lunch at Cannon's restaurant overlooking the Marina with some friends of Burtons, Frank & Lela Kimball.  Frank is a cousin of President Spencer W. Kimball.  We were home by 5:00 PM.

On 23 October Judie had her automobile accident.  See details in Chapter 23.  Sunday, 15 October Dicky spoke in his Stake Conference and told of Judie's accident.  He has it on tape and it is well worth hearing.

Thanksgiving was held at our house with Dicky's family, including Rusty from BYU who came in to surprise his mother.  Sissy was in Los Robles Hospital awaiting the arrival of our fourth Great Grandchild and second Great Grandson, Buckley Gorden Huffman, who was born the next day by Caesarian Section.  Jeff went back to the hospital rather than stay for turkey.  Kandy and her family stopped by in the evening on their way over to Rod's parents' home for their Thanksgiving dinner.

We enjoyed a Christmas breakfast on 12 December at the home of Richard and Norma Smith.  It is an annual affair and I believe we have been invited every year since we have lived in Westlake Village.  That evening Don & Shirlie Brown had an open house and our High Priest Group held a party at the home of Garry & Madeline Robinson.

Our Christmas Eve family party was held at Kandy's on 21 December as too many things were happening the week before Christmas.  We made it a Family Home Evening Christmas.  Jeff & Sissy and Rusty were absent.

DeVonne and I spent a peaceful Christmas day at home opening our presents and taking it easy.  I ran over to Dicky's for a few minutes with a letter for Judie that had been mailed to our home, plus a final gift for Dicky and Judie.

The following day Shirlie & Lloyd and June & Jim visited us for about six hours, coming up from Pauline's.  We had a good visit and DeVonne fixed a light lunch for us.  DeVonne and I spent a restful New Year's Eve at home.

1988

Stewart & Dorothy Burton invited us over for a light luncheon with Ken & Carla Sansom on New Year's Day.

On 6 January we lunched with Stewart & Dorothy at Sergio's Cantina in Westlake Village and then went to the Getty Museum in Santa Monica.

We enjoyed a Chili dinner at Burton's on 23 January with Cy & Marge Davis, Dave and Carolyn Barber, Don & Louise Tanner, Richard & Diane Dyatt, Jim Milner, La Vaughn Call, and Florence North.

We had breakfast with Burtons on 27 January at “Eggs and Things” in Thousand Oaks.  Then we visited the Adamson House and Malibu Lagoon Museum, and the Sierra place on the hilltop above the Museum.

On 30 January DeVonne & I went to a Doll Show in Pasadena.  Beverly Carter was there working in a booth.

Nadine Tate's birthday was 10 February.  We had the Tates and Burtons over for an excellent breakfast prepared by DeVonne.

On 24 February, with the Burtons, we visited the Huntington Library and Museum, followed by lunch at Denny's in Pasadena.

Rhoda Reiner's Mother's funeral was held on 4 March.  Rhoda is our across-the-street neighbor and DeVonne helped serving relative and friends at Rhoda's home after the funeral.

DeVonne & I went to “Miniatures by the Sea,” a miniature and doll show, in Ventura Saturday, 19 March.

We went to “Ports of Call” in San Pedro and then to Olivera Street in Los Angeles with the Burtons on 23 March.

Stan & Mary Anna Rotz were in town and DeVonne and I took them to Sergio's Cantina for lunch on 19 April.

I wallpapered the Master Bath and Dressing Area on the 26th and 30th of April.

Reggie and Sonya arrived at LAX from Guam on 15 May and I picked them up at the airport and brought them home.

Stewart & Dorothy Burton took us to lunch in Malibu at Gladstone's 4 Fish Restaurant for our 50th wedding anniversary on 19 May.

On 21 May we attended DeVonne's 50th High School Reunion held at the Red Lion Inn in Ontario, California.  We sat at a table with Virginia, nee Smith, and Bob Hallanger.  Virginia was a close friend of DeVonne's in high school.  Bob and I had worked at the Colton Cement Plant at the same time.  Afterward we drove out to Mareno Valley and visited Stan & Mary Anna Rotz in their new home.

Our Golden Wedding Anniversary occurred on 28 May 1988.  See Chapter 29 for details.  Bette and Dura stayed over a couple of days and on 30 June we took them around the Westlake area.  We visited Westlake lake, Lake Sherwood, drove through Hidden Valley and lunched at Sergio's.  For supper we had grilled hamburgers on Onion buns.  The following day Bette and Dura took DeVonne & I and Reggie & Sonya to dinner at the Westlake Inn.  Everyone came home with us for cake after dinner.  The next day Bette and Dura left to visit Ted & Lois Maxwell in Laguna Leisure World.

Dawna Brower was married on 4 June in the LDS Church in Banning to Michael Lee Ellis.  We drove up for the occasion.

On 9 June Liz, Natasha and Jeff arrived from Guam and joined Reggie and Sonya at our house.

Willard & Nadine Tate took DeVonne & I to breakfast at Denny's after our tennis game on 13 June to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary as they were unable to attend our celebration on the 28th of May.

DeVonne & I went to Sycamore Beach with the Burtons for a picnic lunch on 15 June.  It was overcast and we came home early.

On 4 July, after our tennis game, we took the Tates to breakfast at Carl Junior's to celebrate Willard's Birthday that was on 24 June.

We went to Merle Norman's Classic Collection of Vintage Cars in Sylmar on 8 July with the Burtons.  Had a quick lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank and then went to a funeral at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills as Stewart had to speak at the graveside service.

Reggie & Liz left our house on 9 July for their apartment in Northridge.  They picked up their children at Kandy's, where they had been staying for a couple of weeks.  We didn't have room in our home for a family of five besides DeVonne and me.

We picnicked with Burtons at Port Hueneme on 4 August.

On 25 August I sold our 1978 Toyota to Best Used Cars for $300.00  I was surprised I could get that much for it.  Since then we have been a single car family again, and it seems to be working out all right.

On 6 September, DeVonne's birthday, we went to dinner with the Burtons at Bakers Square Restaurant.

Dicky & Judie celebrated their Silver (25th) Wedding Anniversary on 12 October.  We gave them a silver pitcher.

We drove to Port Hueneme on 14 October with the Burtons and walked out on the pier and had lunch at Wendy's.  On the 18th we had a picnic on the beach at Port Hueneme with Burtons.

I painted our family room, beginning on 27 October.  We ordered a print border for the top that didn't come in until November 18th.  The exposed beam ceiling in our family room goes up over 15 feet high and I didn't like to paint that high so I painted only eight feet high and then added the border that is quite attractive.  Above the border is the original paint that looks fine.

George Bush and Dan Quayle were elected President and Vice-President respectively on 8 November, beating the Democrats Dukakis and Bentsen.

We breakfasted with Burtons on 9 November at “Eggs and Things” and then took them to Kandy's to see the progress on her new home.

DeVonne & I drove to Santa Barbara to attend a Doll Show on 12 November and stopped by Kandy's on the way home to drop off a birthday present for Brandi.

Thanksgiving Day was celebrated at Kandy's with Liz and her children coming out from Northridge. Dicky and his family were there but Reggie was in Saudi Arabia.  We had a fine meal and a good visit with everyone.

On 30 November, coming home from the Ventura Mission Office, we had a late lunch with the Burtons at the Sizzler in Camarillo.

On December 4th we went to the First Presidency Devotional at our Ward Chapel and to Burtons afterward for clam chowder and pumpkin pie.

DeVonne & I drove to Colton on 6 December to celebrate Shirlie's birthday.  We took her and Lloyd to lunch at a Mexican Restaurant.  Afterward Lloyd drove us to the San Bernardino Mission Office and we visited with Nadine Tate for a few minutes.  Willard was away from the office at the time.

On 10 December we got new carpeting in the family room, the hall, and No. 2 bathroom.

On 17 December we attended the annual Christmas breakfast that Norma and Richard Smith serve in their home.  It is always a delightful affair and we feel privileged to be invited.

With Don & Shirlie Brown, we attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary party for Dick & Beth Johnston, on 19 December.  Dick & Beth are long time friends still living in the San Fernando Valley.  All their children were present and we had time to visit with each of them.

On 22 December we attended a Christmas Party held by Don & Louise Tanner in their home.  The Tanners are new members of our Ward, coming from Sante Fe, New Mexico where he was Stake President for several years.

This year we moved up our family Christmas Eve party to the 23rd as Christmas fell on Sunday.  We held it at Kandy & Rod's with all our family there again, except Reggie.  We had a light dinner, sang carols, and retold the Christmas story.  DeVonne and I opened our presents on Christmas Eve.  Dicky & Judie came over to our house for a couple of hours Christmas evening.

Dorothy Burton's birthday was on 26 December and we took her and Stewart to lunch at the Sizzler.  Lloyd & Shirlie and June & Jim came in about 6:00 PM and had dinner with us.  They left about 10:15 PM.

1989

After watching the Rose Parade and about six Bowl Games on January 2nd we settled into our missionary call and began driving to Ventura Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.  This drastically changed our life style pattern from that we had become accustomed to following my retirement in 1980.

We found one inch of snow on our property when we got up in the morning of 8 February.  Dicky had four inches at his place.  It rained heavily all day and the wind blew in Ventura!

On 11 February we had a late breakfast with Burtons at Bakers Square and then drove up Decker Road to the Mulholland Highway and visited Carlos & Lucy Laguna's home.  The Lagunas had just recently moved into our ward.  Carlos was away but Lucy showed us through the house.  It is kind of ranch style home and quite isolated.  They have three burros on the property that keep the grass and weeds down.

Our fifth Great Grandchild and third Great Granddaughter, Kathryn Lorraine Miller, was born on 11 February 1989 at Kaiser Hospital in Woodland Hills, California to Corinne & Kenny.  She weighed 7#-10oz and was 22 inches long.

Our Grandson-In-Law, Kenny Miller's Mother, Kathryn, died on 13 February of Cancer.

We attended a fortieth Wedding Anniversary party for Lee & Audre Openshaw on 15 February in the Van Nuys Stake Center High Council Room.  Audre's mother gave it for them.  Her mother was afraid that she (Audre's mother) would not be around for their fiftieth and she wanted to see them celebrate their fortieth.  Audre had long been plagued with Cancer and she died Sunday, 11 June 1989.

On 10 March we turned in our 1986 Pontiac Firebird to the Zone Office in Thousand Oaks.  Kandy loaned us her Isuzu for a week until we picked up our new 1989 Chrysler New Yorker a week later on the 17th.

Willard & Nadine Tate came over about 5:00 PM on 11 March and we went to dinner at the Sizzler and then came back to our house and played cards until about 9:15 PM.  The Tates were down from Lake Arrowhead for a funeral in Thousand Oaks.

On 14 March we went with Burtons to Sycamore Cove beach and sat on the sand for an hour or so.  Then we drove home via Kanan Road stopping at Jack-In-The-Box for Lunch.

Kandy & Rod rented a beach house in Ventura on 20 March for a week and invited Kandy's side of the family up for a couple of days.  All the available Clarke tribe was there.  After we had left Rod's side of the family came up for the next few days.

On 4 April we took Burtons in our new car to the Los Angeles County Art Museum to see the paintings of Georgia O'Keefe and other works.  I was disappointed in the works of Georgia.  We had lunch on Wilshire Blvd at Bob's Restaurant and drove home via the Pacific Coast Highway and Kanan Road.

April 5th was Dicky's 50th birthday.  Rod & Kandy, Kenny & Corinne, Jeff & Sissy, and DeVonne & I took him and Judie to Charlie Brown's in Thousand Oaks for a Prime Rib dinner.  Back at our house we had a Baker Square French Silk Caramel Pecan Pie for dessert.

Friday, 12 May we left at 8:30 AM for my Stanford Class of '39 Reunion.  We arrived at the Holiday Inn at 3:45 PM where we spent the night.  That evening there was a dinner/dance at the Faculty Club on Campus at 7:00 PM.  Old Classmates Al Horn and his wife Ruth, Delphine Joy and her husband Irv Wilde, Shelby Leasure and wife, and John Brahtz were among those I recognized and remembered.  I found that more of the classmates I knew had died than were present that I knew.

Saturday we attended a luncheon at which the President of the University, Donald Kennedy, spoke to us.  He gave a good talk on the problems that face, not only this country, but the entire world regarding our environment and how we are destroying the earth.  He was over zealous in his approach to my way of thinking.  I don't think things will ever get as bad as he predicted unless the Lord is ready to allow it to happen.

We left Stanford around 2:00 PM and drove to Bette's in Novato and had broiled beef for dinner.  This was the first time we had visited Bette since she moved to Novato.  She and Betty Oxley have a very lovely home there and they are spending a lot of money improving it.  I thought it looked fine just the way we saw it, but they made so much money on the sale of their old home and other moneys that they can well afford to do just about what they want.

Sunday, Mother's Day, Bette served Cracked Crab just for DeVonne.  DeVonne is crazy about it.  I can take it or leave it myself - mostly leave it.  The next day Bette drove us up to Bodega Bay, which we couldn't find two years before.  We had lunch at the Fornaio Italian Restaurant with a window seat right on the boardwalk at the bayshore.  The Clam Chowder was excellent.  For dinner that evening we had meat loaf.

Wednesday, 17 May, we left Bette's and drove to Pismo Beach, stopping for gas and lunch in Salinas, and stayed at the Sea Venture Hotel, recommended by Bette.  We got in about 3:00 PM.  It is right on the beach and a nice place to stay.  Our only problem was that we were on the second floor and directly above us was the electric pump for the spa that ran all night, it seemed.  I didn't sleep too well because of it.  We went into town to a Marie Callenders for dinner.  The next morning we left Pismo Beach around 8:30 AM and arrived home by 10:50 AM in time for DeVonne's Soaps on TV.  We found the house and dogs fine.

Our sixth Great Grandchild and fourth Great Granddaughter, Nicole DeVonne Huffman was born on 20 June 1989 to Sissy and Jeff.  She weighed 7#-8oz.

On 22 June we went to Port Hueneme with the Burtons.  Took a walk on the pier and had lunch at Wendy's.

On 6 July Reggie arrived home from his year's sojourn in Saudi Arabia teaching the Arabs how to speak English.

Stan & Mary Anna Rotz took us to dinner at Marie Callender's in Camarillo on 7 August and we drove home via the Pacific Coast Highway beach route.  Stan & Mary Anna moved to Mareno Valley, California and I helped them, with Cloyd Rotz, Stan's 92 year old father, load the truck Stan rented.  We loaded it up on 8 July and then he returned in a few days and we loaded him up again on the 15th.  The finally load was on the 26th of August.

We went with the Burtons to Laguna Beach on 17 July to see the Pageant of the Masters Festival of Arts.  We left home at 11:00 AM, lunched at Jack in the Box in Laguna Beach, had dinner at El Pollo Loco before the Pageant.  The weather was perfect to sit outdoors and enjoy the show.  We got home about 12:30 AM the next morning.  Seats for the show were $25.00 each.

Thursday, 17 August, DeVonne and I took Dicky & Judie to Solvang to see “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Solvang Festival Theatre.  We arrived around 2:30 PM and did a bit of window shopping before having dinner at the Mollekroen Restaurant before going to the theatre.  We enjoyed the show which was excellent and stayed over night in the King Fredrick Motel (Best Western) that was right down town in Solvang and only one block away from the theatre.

Friday morning we had a continental breakfast in our rooms and then went to the Belgium Cafe for a real breakfast of Waffles, etc.  We walked around town for an hour or so and watched them make fudge at a candy shop.  It was expensive but I bought some anyway.  It is only about a two hour trip from Westlake Village to Solvang (about 210 miles round trip) and we left at 11:30 AM and were home by 1:30 PM.

The rest of our office force in the Ventura Mission Office, including the Severinsens, Tidwells and President and Sister Oswald and two of their daughters, also attended the show.  They went back to Ventura the same evening.

On 22 August, Cupcake had a small tumor surgically removed from his lower left eyelid.  It healed up fine.

To celebrate DeVonne's Birthday (69th), the Burtons took us to the beach on 5 September via the Los Angeles Wilshire District as Stewart had to get some papers signed at the Columbian Consulate.  We had lunch at the Mexican Restaurant, El Cholo, on Western Avenue where DeVonne had her picture taken wearing a Mexican Sombrero and was presented with a dish of sherbet with a single lighted candle on top.  The waitresses sang Happy Birthday to her in Spanish as Stewart and Dorothy joined in.  They speak Spanish fluently but I don't speak it at all.  Then we drove out to the beach at Santa Monica and up to Malibu.  We walked out on the pier at Alice's Restaurant and then came home via Malibu Canyon Road.

On 15 September we took the Burtons up to Port Hueneme that is a favorite of all four of us.  We walked out on the pier, lunched on the grass back of the sand, and stopped at “Simply Yogurt” in Westlake Village for a treat before going home.

DeVonne and I attended the Ward Beach Party at Cabrillo Beach on 22 September.

Saturday 23 September we drove up to Lake Arrowhead to visit the Tates.  Don and MayRene Goul, our old friends from the San Fernando Valley, now living at Lake Arrowhead, came over to the Tates for lunch in the afternoon.  Nadine also fixed supper for the four of us in the evening and we played cards for a couple of hours before retiring.  The next day was Fast Sunday and we went to Church with the Tates at the Lake Arrowhead Chapel.  It is a beautiful chapel, nestled among the pine trees.  There are three glass windows behind the stand and the congregation can look out upon the greenery.  We saw Mel Pierson from Colton Ward attending and Sister McGregor from Thousand Oaks.

After Church we drove on down the hill to Shirlie and Lloyd's home in Colton.  They knew we were coming and Shirlie had fixed a great lunch for us.  We arrived home about 8:00 PM and found everything in order.  It is about a two and a half hour drive from our home to Lake Arrowhead, and 253 miles round trip.

On 29 September, Bill Maxfield, our Home Teacher invited DeVonne and me over to his bachelor's apartment for dinner to celebrate both of our birthdays.  He fixed an excellent dinner.  Bill is a FBI man and, as DeVonne says, the FBI is his mistress - he will never marry according to DeVonne's prediction.

For my seventy-seconded birthday, 30 September, the Burtons invited us over to their home for Brunch, after which we watched the afternoon session of General Conference on TV from Salt Lake City.  Dicky & Judie and Kandy & Rod came over to our home in the evening for my birthday.  Unbeknown to me, DeVonne had invited them.

On 14 October DeVonne and I attended the first of this year's series of “Know Your Religion” held in our ward chapel.  The speaker was Brother LeBaron from BYU and he spoke on the Church in Africa.  He had several slides and made a fine presentation showing the rapid growth of the Church in Africa.

DeVonne is the Visiting Teacher for Merlene Smith of our ward.  Her husband, Seth, is not a member.  They live by the Westlake lake and had just purchased a new boat this past month.  They invited DeVonne and me to take a boat ride on 17 October and it was very enjoyable.  It was the first time we had ever been on the lake and it is much larger than it appears as you view it from the shore, as compared to boating from one end to the other and going around the island in the middle of the lake.  Seth is a retired Doctor who took his internship in surgery at UCLA Medical School and Hospital.  He knew several Doctors that I was well acquainted with during my tenure at the Hospital.

Tuesday, 17 October was the day of the big earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area.  The quake registered 7.1 on the Richter Scale.  It struck at 5:04 PM when traffic was quite heavy as people were leaving work and heading homeward.  The death toll, which hasn't officially been registered, will exceed 60.  An upper section of the Oakland-Bay bridge collapsed and fell on the lower level which put the bridge out of service.  The Nimitz Freeway, Highway 880 on the Oakland side of the Bay, a double decked roadway, had about a mile and a half of the top level crash down on the lower level crushing many cars and people.  I am writing this just two days after the quake and they are still planning how to raise the heavy concrete pavement and columns up and off the lower level without causing the whole structure to fall down, and I hope without causing any more harm to whoever might be alive in their cars.  The outlook is very poor.  A fire broke out in the Marina area and burned up about a city block of apartments and homes.

The third game of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics was scheduled to start at 5:30 PM but following the quake, which caused severe panic but apparently no structural damage to Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the game was cancelled and the area cleared.  Some 50,000 fans were in the park for the start of the game.  It was fortunate that the structure withheld the force of the quake and no one was seriously injured.  They are now checking for any structural damage and hope to resume the third game next Tuesday, 24 October.

The quake centered about 20 miles northeast of Santa Cruz, near Aptos, and caused considerable damage in Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, Hollister and San Jose.  Stanford University suffered some cracks in the Hoover War Library tower and damage to the Engineering building.  My sister, Bette, living in Novato in Marin County to the north of San Francisco felt the quake strongly at her home but had no damage.

Wednesday, 18 October, DeVonne & I took Don & Shirlie Brown to Santa Barbara to see a stage play of “Sound of Music” at the Lobero Theatre.  We had dinner at the Presidio Restaurant in Santa Barbara before attending the show.  The play was well done and we all enjoyed it very much.  The Lobero Theatre is a small theatre, holding a maximum of 600 people, and there is really not a bad seat in the house.

Tuesday, 30 October, we took the Burtons with us to Ventura and visited the Marina and had a luncheon of fish & chips on the waterfront.

For Thanksgiving this year we were invited to Dicky and Judie's for dinner.  Judie had a beautiful table setting and, as usual there was much too much food.  DeVonne baked two pumpkin pies and a yam casserole.  We brought one whole pie home with us and about a third of the casserole.  Dicky's entire family was present, except Rusty who is still on his mission in Spain.  Included were Corinne and Sissy and their husbands and their six children, three each respectively.  Judie's parents had been invited but her mother, Dorisse, had a stroke a day or two before and they stayed home,  Dicky and Judie took a Thanksgiving dinner over to them later in the afternoon.

Kandy and her family went to Roger's parents home for their Thanksgiving dinner.  DeVonne checked Reggie by phone and found that they were having their family dinner by themselves.

Two events were noted on Thanksgiving Day.  We met Adam's Fiancée, Cheryl Lester.  They began going together shortly after Adam returned from his mission in Ireland and are planning their wedding for sometime next May in the Los Angeles Temple.  Cheryl is a BYU graduate and a Registered Nurse.  I presume they have put off the wedding date until they can save some money as they are planning to move to Provo, Utah after the wedding with Adam enrolling in BYU to complete his schooling and Cheryl finding a job in the vicinity.  We found Cheryl a very attractive, intelligent and outgoing young lady, and we are very pleased to have her become a part of our extended family.  Adam will have about three years and a half to complete his schooling and graduate.  He seems interested in Sound Recording and associated fields that are prevalent in the TV industry.  He also has a great love and talent for music that he can ply for his enjoyment as he pursues his course of study.

The other event was Sissy's announcement that she is expecting her fourth child in July of next year.  This will give her four children all within four years of each other.  Judie said some time ago that she knew Sissy would have lots of children as she loves babies so much.  Looks like she was right.

We also received the announcement that our niece, Mila Mitchell, who is Pauline's daughter, would be married on 24 November 1989, the day after Thanksgiving, in the Salt Lake Temple to E. Douglas Clark.  He is the son of Mr. & Mrs. Robert S. Clark of Provo, Utah.  They had sent out announcements a little over two years ago, planning to be married on 5 September 1987 but a week later they sent a note stating that the wedding would not be held as planned.  We don't know why they called it off but assumed that they were being rather cautious and considered it a very important step in their lives and wanted to be certain of their commitments.  We understand that they have continued to date and maintained a good relationship that has now culminated in their marriage last week.

With the Burtons we went to our local theatre on the 24th and saw the motion picture, “Dad,” with Jack Lemmon.  It was a good picture with lots of appeal to those of our age group.  Whereas we had expected a comedy we found that primarily it centered on an aging father who developed Cancer and how his wife and children reacted to it, including bringing the family closer together.  It made you laugh, also cry, and proved to be a worthwhile show.  It was the first time we had been to a movie theatre in well over a year as we have found very few films that appeal to us.  For the most part we can find plenty to enjoy at home on television.

Sunday, 26 November, our Bishop read an important letter from the First Presidency of the Church indicating that we would no longer be required to pay budget funds to the Church.  Budget items will now be covered out of the tithing funds of the Church and administered from the headquarters in Salt Lake City.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

This is a chapter that could continue until the day I die but I will stop it at this point with the thought in mind that if I should live for several more years and anything of importance happens in my life I will supplement this chapter later.

For the most part this has ben a recording of events, many of them trivial but it will serve the purpose of providing answers to the question:  “Where were you on the night of . . .?”  It doesn't record every day in my life but still lets one know something of where I have been and what I have been doing.

I will be serving on Jury Duty in Ventura on the week of December 11th.  DeVonne and I have tickets for three more shows at the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera Theatre.  One in December, one in March and one in June.  We are taking the Burtons with us in December, Kandy & Roger in March and Dicky & Judie in June.  That is about as far as I can see ahead at this time.

I am writing this last bit on 27 November 1989.  I have 44 sessions at the temple to finish to complete my goal of 1000.  I can do that before the end of 1990.  That with completing this history should put me in good shape to bring my life to a close if the Lord is ready for me.

One last thing, however.  I am still looking forward to living into the next century and hope to stay long enough to have at least one Great Great Grandchild.