My father, Clyde had many jobs as a young man. Working in the field harvesting crops in Walla Walla (onions) and outside Portland picking strawberries when he was a teenager. He worked with his father and brother hanging wallpaper and worked in a gas station for a while and then joined the army when world war II broke out. In the war he was an auto mechanic and when he returned to the states he was a truck driver. He later learned to weld in the shipyards in Portland, along with both his parents and his brothers Ernie and Firman. He later moved to Benton City with his new wife, Mary Theresa Muffenbier and their two kids, Edward and Angela. He spent the rest of his working life as a welder and pipefitter until retirement. He never worked for any Hanford Contractors but worked for small contractors (JP Head Mechanical and Thompson Mechanical) through Local Union 598, Plumbers and Steamfitters. He was always a union man and a Democrat.
My Mother, Theresa, worked in the strawberry field as a young girl and later worked for White Stag, a clothing manufacturer. She went to work in the shipyards during the war. After marrying Clyde she stayed home and was a full time homemaker, as were most of her friends in those years. Late in life she got a job in a hotel as a maid when Dad had retired. That lasted about three days. She didn't like making all those beds!
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Sunday, July 19, 2015
What memories do you have of your mother (her name, birth date, birthplace, parents, etc.)?
My mother was born with the name Mary Theresa Mufffenbier in Portland, Oregon on July 30, 1926. Her parents were Mary (Summers)Muffenbier and Joseph Muffenbier. My mother had to change her name to Theresa Mary Muffenbier when she was growing up because the neighbor girl's name was Mary and the mothers flipped a coin to see who would use the name Mary because the mothers would call their daughters to come into the house and both girls would come in becauses they didn't know whose mother was calling. So, Mom always used the name Theresa (her middle name). I didn't know this until I was grown.
Mom grew up in Milwaukee, Oregon with her seven brothers and sisters. She went to a Catholic school until 8th grade. She said the public school kids would call the catholic kids cat-lickers and the catholic school kids would call the public school kids pup-lickers. She said the nuns were mean to the kids. Mom had to stay home with her mother to help with the housework when she was out of 8th grade. Grandma Muffenbier didn't see any reason for her to continue her education. When Mom was high school age she and siblings would ride a bus to strawberry fields outside portland to pick berries in order to make money. That is where she first met the Feuerborn family. They were camped out there picking berries.
Mom eventually went to work at Jantsen Beach making clothing in a factory. She later went to work in the shipyards during the war.
Mom told stories of her and her friends walking around Portland and having men chase her and her friends. They would have to run and hide.
Mom grew up in the same house that her parents owned their entire lives. I have memories of sleeping with Grandma Muffenbier. She would lay in bed and play the game with your hands where you make a church, then show the doors, the steeple and then flip your hands and show all the people! I remember their bathroom was out on the back porch. Mom told about how they had to use the Sears and Roebuck catalog pages as toilet paper. I remember her telling of how the bums would bring oranges that were old or starting to rot to them. The bums would collect them from the back of grocery stores and bring them to grandma because she was kind to them.
My earliest memories of Mom was of her making feather pillows for us kids. She was sewing them together just before we moved to our house on 808 Ash Street. We moved when I was five years old, the summer before I started school. Mom was always busy doing the daily chores of maintaining a household of kids. She was pregnant a lot! We were always helping with cleaning out diapers. Mom did all the laundry, cooking, shopping, etc. The kids helped with doing dishes, vacuuming, dusting and on Saturdays I had two big baskets of ironing that I had to iron. We had a big carousel to hang the clothes on. Felt like it took 4 hours to do all that ironing. Nothing was permanant press back them.
I remember going grocery shopping with Mom one Saturday. She bought a 7-UP candy bar at the checkout stand. She told me that was her treat for the week.(She bought me a candy bar that week!) She always ate it before arriving home. We couldn't afford candy bars for the whole family. Her budget was $40/week to feed a family of 9.
Mom's only break away from daily chores was bowling. She joined a bowling league when I was about 10 and she bowled in a league for about 15 years. She was very good and had an average of about 188. Lots of trophies. That was her outlet.
Mom was a good sewer. She made a lot of our clothes, Wool skirts and vests, dresses for prom which were beautiful and summer sun tops. She was talented there. I sewed a few dresses after I took home economics but never got much of a kick out of it.
Mom and Dad went to parties up at the American Legion. That was their party scene I guess. They didn't hang out at any taverns but didn't miss the American Legion parties. I liked going up there the following morning. The smell of whiskey and old cigarettes was exciting. We used to drink some of the old drinks. Gross now that I think of it.
Mom loved playing cards. She was always up for a game of poker. Her family played penny-ante poker with pennies or beans when she was young. The Feuerborn family liked poker so she played with them and usually suggested a game of poker on family get-togethers during the evening. She was a gambler and played a lot of Bingo after retirement and then started going to the local indian casinos when they built a couple about an hour away from her house. She played a lot but never let it turn into a problem. You could see her sitting at her machine with a smile on her face.
Mom died of colon cancer at the age of 79.
Mom grew up in Milwaukee, Oregon with her seven brothers and sisters. She went to a Catholic school until 8th grade. She said the public school kids would call the catholic kids cat-lickers and the catholic school kids would call the public school kids pup-lickers. She said the nuns were mean to the kids. Mom had to stay home with her mother to help with the housework when she was out of 8th grade. Grandma Muffenbier didn't see any reason for her to continue her education. When Mom was high school age she and siblings would ride a bus to strawberry fields outside portland to pick berries in order to make money. That is where she first met the Feuerborn family. They were camped out there picking berries.
Mom eventually went to work at Jantsen Beach making clothing in a factory. She later went to work in the shipyards during the war.
Mom told stories of her and her friends walking around Portland and having men chase her and her friends. They would have to run and hide.
Mom grew up in the same house that her parents owned their entire lives. I have memories of sleeping with Grandma Muffenbier. She would lay in bed and play the game with your hands where you make a church, then show the doors, the steeple and then flip your hands and show all the people! I remember their bathroom was out on the back porch. Mom told about how they had to use the Sears and Roebuck catalog pages as toilet paper. I remember her telling of how the bums would bring oranges that were old or starting to rot to them. The bums would collect them from the back of grocery stores and bring them to grandma because she was kind to them.
My earliest memories of Mom was of her making feather pillows for us kids. She was sewing them together just before we moved to our house on 808 Ash Street. We moved when I was five years old, the summer before I started school. Mom was always busy doing the daily chores of maintaining a household of kids. She was pregnant a lot! We were always helping with cleaning out diapers. Mom did all the laundry, cooking, shopping, etc. The kids helped with doing dishes, vacuuming, dusting and on Saturdays I had two big baskets of ironing that I had to iron. We had a big carousel to hang the clothes on. Felt like it took 4 hours to do all that ironing. Nothing was permanant press back them.
I remember going grocery shopping with Mom one Saturday. She bought a 7-UP candy bar at the checkout stand. She told me that was her treat for the week.(She bought me a candy bar that week!) She always ate it before arriving home. We couldn't afford candy bars for the whole family. Her budget was $40/week to feed a family of 9.
Mom's only break away from daily chores was bowling. She joined a bowling league when I was about 10 and she bowled in a league for about 15 years. She was very good and had an average of about 188. Lots of trophies. That was her outlet.
Mom was a good sewer. She made a lot of our clothes, Wool skirts and vests, dresses for prom which were beautiful and summer sun tops. She was talented there. I sewed a few dresses after I took home economics but never got much of a kick out of it.
Mom and Dad went to parties up at the American Legion. That was their party scene I guess. They didn't hang out at any taverns but didn't miss the American Legion parties. I liked going up there the following morning. The smell of whiskey and old cigarettes was exciting. We used to drink some of the old drinks. Gross now that I think of it.
Mom loved playing cards. She was always up for a game of poker. Her family played penny-ante poker with pennies or beans when she was young. The Feuerborn family liked poker so she played with them and usually suggested a game of poker on family get-togethers during the evening. She was a gambler and played a lot of Bingo after retirement and then started going to the local indian casinos when they built a couple about an hour away from her house. She played a lot but never let it turn into a problem. You could see her sitting at her machine with a smile on her face.
Mom died of colon cancer at the age of 79.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
What memories do you have of your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, etc.)?
My father, Clyde Anthony Feuerborn was born in Ottawa, Kansas on October 25, 1925. His parents were Theresa (?) and Ernest Martin Feuerborn. I don't remember much about their history but I do have a memory of living behind them in Benton City.
My father came to the northwest when he was about ten. The entire family arrived in Walla Walla, Washington from Kansas. They lived outdoors in a tent and hoed onions to make a living. The reason they left Kansas was because the parish priest told Ernie and Theresa that they should leave Kansas because there was too much family around and the kids might start falling in love with relatives.
I am not aware of why they picked the Northwest area to move to. They left Walla Walla after the onion harvest and went to the Portland area. While they were there Ernie and his family did many jobs, including picking strawberries, running a gas station, hanging wall paper and they owned a tavern for a while. Anything to make money. All the kids say that Grandma Feuerbon made Coney Islands and served them in their tavern, which was called the "Coney Island". She was known to use horse meat, which was cheaper than beef and gave the coney island sauce it's slightly sweet flavor.
Dad met my mother while picking in the strawberry fields. Mom rode a bus out to pick berries with her sisters and brothers. Dad and his family were living there in a tent. They knew each other while teenagers but parted, meeting later when Dad had returned from the Army after WWII.
They married when Dad was 24 and Mom was 23. They were married in October, 1949. Ed was born the following August. Angie (Me!) was born two years later and when I was one they moved to Benton City, Washington, where Dad found work as a welder and pipefitter.
Dad initially found work as a truck driver and would drive loads up to the Tri-Cities on occasion. Later he moved up to the Tri-Cities and found work because Hanford was booming. His father and brother, Ernie, also moved up here to work. Grandma, Grandpa and some of the sons had learned to weld in the shipyards of Portland. Everyone said that Grandma was the best welder because of her steady hand.
Clyde was a good father in that he always provided, didn't drink too much, went to church with the family and had a steady hand at handling a family of 7 kids. Things weren't always easy. Clyde wasn't the type of father to go outside and play with his kids. He went to work Monday through Friday, came home at approx. 5:00, we had dinner on the table about 10 minutes after he came through the back door and put his lunch bucket on the kitchen counter. He would wash his hands in the utility room, take off his boots and sit down for dinner. After dinner he watched the news on tv with Mom, and the kids would do the dishes. There was always a little hollering from Mom to get us moving. You will see pictures of Angie on an apple box washing dishes and Ed standing next to her with a dish towel to dry them.
Saturdays were housework for the kids and I suspect Dad was doing yardwork in the summer. I cannot remember what Dad did during the winter on Saturdays. Sundays was 9:30 mass and then a big breakfast of hash brown potatoes and scrambled eggs. Dad liked to fry the hash browns. Sometimes we got bacon or sausage. Then Dad would read the paper and go about his day.
After retiring Clyde did not have any hobbies so when Angie introduced him to Volksmarching he took to it like a duck to water. He traveled the Northwest with Angie and her family and Margaret Johnson (Mark Johnson's Mother). He loved to travel and loved to walk.
Clyde had a heart attack at age 52, had a bypass surgery and returned to work. He had his second bypass 18 years later at 70. He had a pacemaker put in two years later and at 75 died of a heart attack. He had just finished his daily walk and came in the back door. He collapsed walking through the kitchen. He died November 3, 2000, at the age of 75.
My father came to the northwest when he was about ten. The entire family arrived in Walla Walla, Washington from Kansas. They lived outdoors in a tent and hoed onions to make a living. The reason they left Kansas was because the parish priest told Ernie and Theresa that they should leave Kansas because there was too much family around and the kids might start falling in love with relatives.
I am not aware of why they picked the Northwest area to move to. They left Walla Walla after the onion harvest and went to the Portland area. While they were there Ernie and his family did many jobs, including picking strawberries, running a gas station, hanging wall paper and they owned a tavern for a while. Anything to make money. All the kids say that Grandma Feuerbon made Coney Islands and served them in their tavern, which was called the "Coney Island". She was known to use horse meat, which was cheaper than beef and gave the coney island sauce it's slightly sweet flavor.
Dad met my mother while picking in the strawberry fields. Mom rode a bus out to pick berries with her sisters and brothers. Dad and his family were living there in a tent. They knew each other while teenagers but parted, meeting later when Dad had returned from the Army after WWII.
They married when Dad was 24 and Mom was 23. They were married in October, 1949. Ed was born the following August. Angie (Me!) was born two years later and when I was one they moved to Benton City, Washington, where Dad found work as a welder and pipefitter.
Dad initially found work as a truck driver and would drive loads up to the Tri-Cities on occasion. Later he moved up to the Tri-Cities and found work because Hanford was booming. His father and brother, Ernie, also moved up here to work. Grandma, Grandpa and some of the sons had learned to weld in the shipyards of Portland. Everyone said that Grandma was the best welder because of her steady hand.
Clyde was a good father in that he always provided, didn't drink too much, went to church with the family and had a steady hand at handling a family of 7 kids. Things weren't always easy. Clyde wasn't the type of father to go outside and play with his kids. He went to work Monday through Friday, came home at approx. 5:00, we had dinner on the table about 10 minutes after he came through the back door and put his lunch bucket on the kitchen counter. He would wash his hands in the utility room, take off his boots and sit down for dinner. After dinner he watched the news on tv with Mom, and the kids would do the dishes. There was always a little hollering from Mom to get us moving. You will see pictures of Angie on an apple box washing dishes and Ed standing next to her with a dish towel to dry them.
Saturdays were housework for the kids and I suspect Dad was doing yardwork in the summer. I cannot remember what Dad did during the winter on Saturdays. Sundays was 9:30 mass and then a big breakfast of hash brown potatoes and scrambled eggs. Dad liked to fry the hash browns. Sometimes we got bacon or sausage. Then Dad would read the paper and go about his day.
After retiring Clyde did not have any hobbies so when Angie introduced him to Volksmarching he took to it like a duck to water. He traveled the Northwest with Angie and her family and Margaret Johnson (Mark Johnson's Mother). He loved to travel and loved to walk.
Clyde had a heart attack at age 52, had a bypass surgery and returned to work. He had his second bypass 18 years later at 70. He had a pacemaker put in two years later and at 75 died of a heart attack. He had just finished his daily walk and came in the back door. He collapsed walking through the kitchen. He died November 3, 2000, at the age of 75.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood, and the town you grew up in.
July 7, 2015
I was born in Portland, Oregon. September 18, 1952. I spent my first year in Portland with my parents, Clyde and Theresa Feuerborn and my older brother Edward Martin, who was 2.5 years older than me. I moved to Benton City when I was one year old so that my father could work in the Hanford area, where his father and brother, Ernie, had also found employment. We lived in a couple of different houses, one of which was two houses down from my aunt and uncle, Maxine and Ernie. When I was five we moved to the house where I would spend all of my growing years, leaving when I was 18, to move to Richland. The address was 808 Ash St. In later years they changed the street addresses and my new address was 1108 Ione St. My PO Box was Box 243 and my phone number was 588-3573. I will never forget that information. When we first got our phone we were on a party line with my grandmother, Theresa Feuerborn (and grandpa, but he never talked too much on the phone) and Helen and Slim Sjostrum. Mom hated it because she swore that every time she was on the phone, grandma would pick it up and listen. You knew when somebody had received a phone call because the phone would click. If you picked it up you could listen to other people talking. If you talked too long the other people on your party would click the phone to let you know to get off!
Our neighborhood was great. Lot of kids to play with. We always went outside to play. You generally were not allowed to to into other kids houses. You knocked on the door and asked if your friend could come out and play. If they were busy for a little bit you would sit in the front yard and wait for them. We played softball, work up, kick ball and other games in the fields. We built forts, went on long hikes around town. Walked down to play on the toys in the park. When my cousin Shelley got a horse I would borrow Doc Allen's horse, Lady, and we would ride for hours around Benton City. We would collect empty beer bottles and pop bottles. We took them to the back of the tavern and sold them for their deposit value and then took the money to the grocery store and bought creme sodas, cheetos and Hostess Berry Pies.
The rest of my siblings were born while we lived in Benton City. Most in Prosser hospital.
Benton City was a town of 1500. Small then and small today. The same businesses buildings that were there in 1952 are still there today. The business have changed but no new buildings have been built. No growth at all. Just some new houses. 50 years and no new business buildings.
I was born in Portland, Oregon. September 18, 1952. I spent my first year in Portland with my parents, Clyde and Theresa Feuerborn and my older brother Edward Martin, who was 2.5 years older than me. I moved to Benton City when I was one year old so that my father could work in the Hanford area, where his father and brother, Ernie, had also found employment. We lived in a couple of different houses, one of which was two houses down from my aunt and uncle, Maxine and Ernie. When I was five we moved to the house where I would spend all of my growing years, leaving when I was 18, to move to Richland. The address was 808 Ash St. In later years they changed the street addresses and my new address was 1108 Ione St. My PO Box was Box 243 and my phone number was 588-3573. I will never forget that information. When we first got our phone we were on a party line with my grandmother, Theresa Feuerborn (and grandpa, but he never talked too much on the phone) and Helen and Slim Sjostrum. Mom hated it because she swore that every time she was on the phone, grandma would pick it up and listen. You knew when somebody had received a phone call because the phone would click. If you picked it up you could listen to other people talking. If you talked too long the other people on your party would click the phone to let you know to get off!
Our neighborhood was great. Lot of kids to play with. We always went outside to play. You generally were not allowed to to into other kids houses. You knocked on the door and asked if your friend could come out and play. If they were busy for a little bit you would sit in the front yard and wait for them. We played softball, work up, kick ball and other games in the fields. We built forts, went on long hikes around town. Walked down to play on the toys in the park. When my cousin Shelley got a horse I would borrow Doc Allen's horse, Lady, and we would ride for hours around Benton City. We would collect empty beer bottles and pop bottles. We took them to the back of the tavern and sold them for their deposit value and then took the money to the grocery store and bought creme sodas, cheetos and Hostess Berry Pies.
The rest of my siblings were born while we lived in Benton City. Most in Prosser hospital.
Benton City was a town of 1500. Small then and small today. The same businesses buildings that were there in 1952 are still there today. The business have changed but no new buildings have been built. No growth at all. Just some new houses. 50 years and no new business buildings.
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