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.
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