BAKE MENAGERIE

I always imagined that my Aunt Donna would be waiting for me in Canby, Oregon for a visit.  I always thought I’d be able to drive South, take the exit at Charbonneau and drive past Fir Point, a place she introduced to me, to get to her house.  When, I got there she would be working on a project, whether it be in her garden, her studio or her living room.  She be knitting socks, making a quilt for someone or planning out what she was going to try next in her garden.  She was absolutely full of ideas and when I was little we didn’t seem to waste anytime getting them started.  She would be knitting right up until we walked out the door to go on an adventure.  On our way driving somewhere, we stop and pick blackberries and a few hours later, her house would smell like blackberry jam.   She’d take me on field trips to learn things:  like where paper comes from.  We stop and read historical signs.  We’d go to farms and see creative ways to keep animals, such as goats in small areas.  We’d go to the fair or up the elevator in Oregon City or to the coast.  We’d never take the direct routes or the freeway, but the back roads.  As we wound around corners and drove up and down hills, she’d tell me stories about our relatives, about my great grandmas, about her dad, and my mom.  She’d tell me about her boys.  

When Nias, my son, was just a baby, she took us both to the Rockaway Beach.  Nias was tiny, but I wanted to show him the ocean as did she.  It was so beautiful there.  We stayed at her place and when the sun went down, she built a fire in a little ceramic stove on her deck.  We sat there for hours.  I am sure she was knitting and telling stories and I was holding Nias.  The next morning, she made pancakes for us.  They were silver dollar size and at first I couldn’t believe she’d made pancakes so small.  I’d never seen that before.  Since then, I have always made my pancakes small like that, in fact, when my mom and I received the call from Bill we were eating some Donna size pancakes I had just made.

One time, she sent me a picture of a Heritage rose called Eden.  It was the most beautiful rose I’d ever seen, so I got one.  I planted it and waited a few years, but we moved before it bloomed.   One day, I got a call from the new owner, who said I had to come see the rose.  I went over and it was unbelievable -covered with blooms.  It was even more amazing than any photograph I’d seen of it.  It had gotten big and over grown, like she always did with her roses and it was truly amazing.

Christmas was always special to my Aunt Donna.  We’d be at the beach in July and have to visit every Christmas store there.  I was sure those Christmas stores were there just for her.  Her house always said “Believe” on the front and she reminded us all to keep believing.

I told many of my friends about how she’d taken out all the grass around her house and planted trees and shrubs and roses.  I loved it back there.  There were little paths that led to benches to sit on, ponds full of Koi that ate out of your hand, a Myrtle tree with the most beautiful gray bark, overgrown roses.  And, how could you not have loved sitting by her warm fire in the winter, completely surrounded by stuffed animals including a giraffe, sipping hot chocolate, listening to stories of how she was planning to rearrange her house.  I’d gaze across at her turquoise wall, looking at Santa Claus’s, painting, old photographs and listen to her stories.  

She had wonderful ideas and a house and a garden full of them; it was bursting at the seams in fact, but all the things in there were her ideas and thing she planned to make for us.

Not always understood, well opinionated, my Aunt Donna walked her own walk.  She is someone who influenced my life in many, many more ways than I even know.  But, when I stop to think about it and look at the quilt she made me for Christmas in 1980, when I was eight years old, she foresaw my  life.  The quilt is covered with children, geese, bunnies, and flowers.  It is made perfectly to my eye and doesn’t have a stitch out of place.  I used on my bed for many years when I was little and last year declared it as our Christmas quilt.  

The goats I have now, I have wanted for years, ever since Donna took me to Fir Point and showed me the goats that could climb up into the trees on slabs of wood and pull their food up with a pulley.  I am working on creating that in my yard now.  I have cats and dogs and 2 geese just like on the quilt. I have a strange weakness for stuffed animals, I love to take back roads and I have even started to stop and read the historical signs along the way.  I have begun to plant my dream garden just as Donna did.  All my gardens have been full of roses, over grown plants and even some slugs that came with the plants she gave me.  I yearn to have a pond with Koi in it every spring and someday maybe my two sons can help me build it. I have ideas too, dreams, just like my Aunt Donna did and I too have more than I will every finish in a lifetime.  

Marilyn wrote on the back of these photographs and I will write what they say, below each one. This was in the 1970s at the Val de Sol Condominium in Ketchum, Idaho.

Wool just off the sheep. The dark wool in the foreground is wool sent from New Zealand. The white, coming out of the burlap bag, came from Oregon. Both I find better than the local Idaho wool.

It is sorted to color and length and then teased before carding.

The woman who printed these photos for me thought I was more important than the carding machine. Actually, the negative had a good shot of my carder (carding machine) in the form of a batt, then to be spun.

Spinning is magic. All you need to make magic here is time, energy, a spinning wheel (who is a good friend and often an enemy.) Some wool and plenty of patience in the beginning. Presto -hand spun gold.

The loom is strong & bold. It is set in its ways and one must abide by them. The loom and I work together to create.

It is seven feet wide and four feet deep. Main diet is wool, which it rapidly eats with its own feelings and desires.

May, 1980 was the last time I wore a mask. I had flown to Oregon to visit relatives. Mount St. Helens had erupted a week or two before I got there. I was staying with my Grandma Bake and my Aunt Buffy and Uncle John invited me to go to a movie. They picked me up at my Grandma Bake’s house and we put on masks and drove to the movie theater. There was a grey dust on everything. You could run your fingers over a car and you would leave a line through the ash. Some where, I think I have a picture of it.

My Grandma Bake got me a necklace that had ash in it from the volcano. I still have it. Where were you when Mount St. Helens erupted? What do you remember? I will add the stories here.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/revisiting-the-1980-eruption-of-mount-st-helens/

Elizabeth Michels shared a story:

Mom (Audrey Bake) and I had gone to Seattle for the weekend. John was east of the mountains with the guys. Mom and I ended up in this motel with round beds with red velvet bed spreads and mirrors on the ceiling. We laughed so much. We both woke up, with a start, right at the time the mountain blew, but we didn’t know it had happened. Got breakfast and started home. Drove down I-5 and near Mount St. Helens mom saw helicopters and said those are military. We finally got to Longview where we got Portland radio and heard what happened. We must have missed the I-5 shutdown by minutes. They closed the freeway as a logjam was heading down the river toward a freeway bridge. The alternate route at that point was to the coast and up Highway 30. We went to PSU to the geology center and looked up the seismic info about the eruption.

Mike was telling Colleen yesterday about the guys trip home in ash. After they got home, roads were shut down that way for a while. They saw the ash plums were heading east towards them. I think they were in Yakima.

Robert Palmer shared a story:

I was working a grave yard shift at Burns Brothers Truck Stop. Trucks started coming in with ash all over them…..40 bucks per truck to hose ’em down. $$$…..I love a good natural disaster. The China Virus doesn’t count, but I luv the covid traffic….

Audrey Bake’s 100th Birthday

Today, would have been Audrey Bake’s 100th birthday.  As I have been writing down this family history and looking through photographs I realized how much I missed my Grandma Bake.  I lived far away from her, but I called her often and we would talk on the phone and I could tell her everything.  She wasn’t one of those people who you have to be careful what you said or told her.  You could be completely honest and tell her everything.  She would listen and give advise when needed, but she seemed to be supportive of most of my crazy ideas and all the choices I made in my life.  

After Nias was born, and he was about month old, I flew to Oregon and I stayed with her.  This is something a young mother might not have felt comfortable doing, but I didn’t really think twice about it.  My Uncle Donald and his friend were flying to Oregon in a small plane and I asked if I could go too.  

I stayed for over a month and I got to cook for my grandma.  I tried to make everything from scratch because I wanted everything to be healthy and I wanted and needed to learn.   My Grandma Bake laughed at me and said you know they have a pre-made mixes for that or easier ways to make things instead of from scratch.  But, at that time, I was determined to watch cooking shows and get really good at cooking.  Just as soon as we would sit down to dinner, Nias would wake up and want to eat.  My Grandma would laugh and say he could smell how good the food was.

When I put her cast iron pan in the dishwasher, she stayed calm and explained to me that those do not go in there.  I never had a dishwasher so I didn’t know.  But, I will never forget that.  Her kind way of telling me, made a lasting impression on me.  

She taught me things like how to spell Tualatin.  She said remember TUA -LATIN and I never forgot.

We loved to play cards.  Gin was our game and we would play different ways.  Sometimes on the kitchen table, some times on a T.V. tray in the living room.  We were both always up for a good game of cards.

When I was younger, I got to go on some of the lunches with my Grandma Bake, Aunt Harriet, and Beverly.    My favorite place we went was Tad’s for Chicken and Dumplings.  It was such  beautiful drive to get there and the soup was delicious.  Another time, we ate at Multnomah Falls.  Those ladies knew how to have fun and enjoy their retirement.  They would talk and talk and look forward to their next lunch date.

When my Grandma moved to Tualatin from the farmhouse, I got to bring my bike to her house and live in a neighborhood for a few weeks every summer.  This was really fun for me because where I grew up I only had one neighbor.  I got to meet neighborhood kids and play with them, and ride my bike around and explore.  

When, my grandma lived on the farm, I got to explore too.  I remember walking in the pasture below there and trying to find the frogs that were so loud, but quiet as soon as I tried to find them.  I remember getting knocked down by a sheep who came up from behind and rammed me.  I had no idea that a sheep would do that.  It came up so quietly behind me and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground looking up at the sun and the bushes around me.  I remember trying to fall asleep all alone upstairs in the farmhouse with the windows open and being scared.  I remember telling my grandma this and she’d let me sleep downstairs.

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons there, another luxury I didn’t have.  I remember the colorful eggs hanging in the basket in the kitchen and the delicious breakfasts we would have there.  

And, I remember floating on an air mattress in the middle of the above ground pool and getting attack by a swarm of wasps.  My grandma quickly put me in a cool bath full of baking soda and soothed my wounds.  

When I had my back surgery, my Grandma Bake came and stayed with us.  She made me toast and took care of me.  I complained a lot and was in pain.  She reminded me not to complain.  

In her house in Tualatin, she had a beautiful Dollhouse that she built the furniture for and decorated.  I loved it and it was so much fun to carefully play with and rearrange.  

She also gave me the job of cleaning out the cat collection once a year.  It was a collection that had belonged to her mother.  There were 4 shelves full of tiny glass and porcelain cats. Hundreds of them. I would take them out one shelf at a time and place them on the table.  Then, dust off the shelf and carefully put them back in.  This gave me a chance to look at every single one of them.  

When I was a tiny baby, born in December, she and her daughter Donna and her grandson Bill drove over in a VW bus with no heat or VW heat.  They made it through snowy weather and icy roads so that they could come and meet me. 

My Grandma took me places.  She took me to the Oregon Coast, to Wild Life Safari.  When I was 8-9 took a longer trip with my mom and Brant to Disneyland.  But, it wasn’t just to Disneyland.  We also went to San Francisco and stayed in a really fun hotel and went to see the crookedest street in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and China town.  We went to Disneyland and stayed in the Candy Cane Inn, which is still there.  Then, we went to San Diego to Sea World.  Last, my Grandma who was very adventurous decided we should drive into Tijuana to see Mexico for my first time.  We drove around a bit and all I remember my Grandma saying was “What does ALTO mean?”  We got in line to go back into the United States and there were tons of people selling things to the people waiting in their cars.  My first real impression of Mexico.

We drove back home with no air-conditioning, windows down, I was in the back seat with Brant in  a pretty small car.  It was one of my favorite trips I ever went on.  

She, my mom and I went to Victoria and Butchart Gardens too.  It was fun.  We stayed in a wonderful place and had tea.  And then visited the garden.  

When I was in college in Olympia, Washington I would drive down for the weekend and visit.   I always felt welcomed at my Grandma Bake’s house.

She love Christmas and would decorate her home and have a big Christmas party.  A couple times we got to go, but it was always a hard time to leave our little cabin in the snow.  Pipes would freeze and the roads were bad.  Who would take care of all of our pets?  One year, we got to go and it was magical.  Christmas was at her farmhouse.  I remember walking up to the door.  It was dark outside and looked warm and bright inside.  A house full of people.  I looked up at the starry sky just before we went in and I am pretty sure I saw Santa and his reindeer flying by.  We went inside and Ray was on the piano playing Christmas songs.  Everyone was singing and laughing.  There was lots of good food.  

Later, it would be at her home in Tualatin and still just as fun and festive.  Ray would bring a little piano to continue the tradition.  My Grandma would set up a kids table and I would sit with all my cousins and meet new ones like Gregory, who I rarely ever saw.  We would do a gift exchange in the morning and crowd in the living room with everyone.  It was fun.

If we couldn’t make it to Christmas in Oregon, she would send a big box of cookies, party mix and buckeyes.  And another box with presents for all of us.   My birthday present would be in there too and my dad’s birthday present.  I would try to organize them under the tree by when they were to be opened.  

She made beaded bell ornaments, which I enjoy hanging on the tree still and she had a little Christmas tree that she loved to decorate and later she gave one to me.  

She did amazing work with her hands,  She could sew, knit, quilt, cross stitch, embroider and more.  She made the best slippers and I still have one pair.  She taught me how once and I hoping to be shown again.  She made gifts for babies when they were born, for anniversaries and birthdays.  The quilts on her bed were made by her and beautiful.  

My Grandma always had dogs.  When she moved from the farm to the house in Tualatin she brought a few with her.  One was name Pooper, but she had to change its name to Dooper so she could call it in the neighbor.  Things had to change a little when she moved off the farm.

She also had a St. Bernard that lived on the farm and she decided to give it to me, so she brought it to me one summer and that is how I got Baron and later Baron’s offspring from my neighbors dog.  That dog was name Spring.

My Grandma Bake was kind and generous.  She was easy to be around.  She was funny.  She cared dearly for all of her family and hoped that we would all stay together, all still have Christmas parties.  She met Raul and Raul’s family and she was so kind to them too.  

I think what I miss the most about not having my Grandma bake here any more is not being able to call her and talk to her.  To ask how she is and to tell her how I am.  I remember from a very young age I would call her and talk.  I actually remember telling her what my mom got her for Christmas.  She would get it out of me….until I finally realized it one year and stopped telling her.  

She used to French braid my mom’s hair and later she French braided mine.  She loved boys and knew what boys needed to grow up and be happy, but she also loved us girls and for a while it was quit fun to be the only granddaughter.  Later, she got more.  These are just some of my memories of my Grandma Bake.  She made each of us feel like we were the only ones in the world, but she loved us all.  I would love to hear more stories and memories that you have of Mrs. Audrey Bake.  

Elizabeth Michels said this about her mother, Audrey:

When I thought I had more or was better, she would say –There but for the grace of God goes you. She never failed in her belief we are all God’s children and created equal.

Household Normal? Bake Menagerie Includes Boa By: Joan Meehan Newspaper article found in box of photos.

Mrs. Audrey Bake, a member of the Marylhurst library staff for six years, has, by her own description, a normal household. It includes, however, five horses, a goat, four dogs, five cats (each of the little boys has his own dog and cat), rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, and a little boa constrictor.

Mrs. Bake, a widow, lives on a farm in the Tualatin area with her five children and her widowed daughter and two children. The Bakes lived in Lake Oswego before moving to the farm two years ago. They find life on the farm different, but enjoyable. Everyone has his own job around the farm and his own pets; they seem to find both rewarding.

The Bakes had monkeys and a big boa constrictor in the past. The large boa constrictor, which left the household just recently, was “really no trouble,” said Mrs. Bake. The boas are very quiet and cause few problems, except for the time the large boa was lost in the house. Mrs. Bake said her daughter found the boa one day when she was cleaning the Venetian blinds. Her daughter was rather upset at finding the animal unexpectedly. The other problem with the boas is that they will only eat live bait. This makes feeding them rather difficult, said Mrs. Bake. The bigger boas can eat small animals such as chickens.

Last May 5th the Bakes had a new addition to their animal menagerie. One of the horses foaled. It was an interesting experience for the family, said Mrs. Bake.

Mrs. Bake finds farm living beneficial in many ways but admits that it has certain disadvantages. Being without water for a whole month while the new well is being drilled is one of them.

Students working in the library say that Mrs. Bake makes delicious cream puffs and that tales of her adventures liven the day. Mrs. Bake, however, was forced to bring proof when she told of a hen that laid tinted eggs. Even after she brought a couple of blue eggs to work, some thought that they had been painted.

Having had no pets as a child, Mrs. Bake decided to let her children try taking care of pets for a while. When asked if they had any plans for more pets Mrs. Bake replied “I hope not,” but one gets the feeling that one more animal would not be noticed.

Over Thanksgiving, Mrs. Bake’s children were all together (except for Donna) laughing and sharing stories. They looked through some boxes of photographs, which brought back many memories. No one was quit sure what to do with all of the photographs and who should keep them. That was when the idea for this blog came to life.

This blog is a place where we can post stories and select photographs and everyone in the family can have access to them. I am hoping that people will share stories and memories with me either by email or phone and I can add them to this Blog. My perspective is as a granddaughter to Grandma Bake, a niece, and a cousin. I did not grow up in Oregon, but I did visit every summer and stay with each of my relatives.

I also have heard many stories from my mom, Marilyn’s perspective, but I would love to hear more. If you have your own story or memory to share please do. I look forward to learning more about the Bake Menagerie.

This was written by Audrey Bake:

Donna suggested that when I had time, I should sit down and write some things I remember about the past. Well right now all I have is time, so here goes.

I was thinking that you would like to know a little about your father (Jon Bake). Especially you Donald and Buffy as you were both so young when he left us.

Your dad was born on January 14, 1918 in Fullerton, Nebraska. He had an older brother Franklin, a younger sister Lucille and a younger brother Volcott. Fullerton was a small town something like Newberg. When Lucille was about seven or eight she was accidentally shot in the leg by a neighbor. It took a long time for her to recover and she was afraid of loud noises. The whole town gave up fireworks for the fourth of July. Now that is a town.

(Jon Bake’s father was Clarence Bake, mother Willmath Opal Pancoast Bake, older brother Franklin Bake, younger sister Lucille Bake, younger brother Volcott Bake.)

I heard many times about when your Grandmother Bake got a new car and told the children not to get into it —-guess who did and drove it out the back of the garage and into a stove that was back there—-your dad. They had a real pretty stove in the living room that heated most of the house. Your dad had a morning paper route. In the winter he put his boots and jacket by it so they would be warm in the morning. Volcott would go down early and lace the boots and put knots in them.

Your dad and all the Bakes did well in school. Your dad and his best friend Drexel Nixon were Valedictorians of their high school class. Don’t know too much about your Grandfather Bake because he died in his sleep when we had been married three or four years. Your grandma bake came from a large family–many brothers and sisters. Maybe ten? Funny about their names. Her maiden name was Pancoast. Everyone had a middle name that started with an O. I met Charles and Carol–they lived in California, Her first name was Willmoth and second was Opal.

Your Grandfather Bake had an insurance agency. There were a lot of wealthy farmers in the area and he owned some farm land that he rented out. Your dad went to the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. He did well and I’m sure he had a good time. When he was in his third year, they had what they called the Dust Bowl in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas, etc. People packed up by the thousands and moved to California. The insurance agency went belly up and they lost everything. Your dad stayed in school, worked several jobs and was able to finish. He then got on a train to go to Seattle and make his fortune. But first he stopped in Portland. Don’t know how he made it into my neighborhood, but he did. He had met a fellow his age who lived in the same apartment as I. His name was Merton Vaughn (He was the Best Man at our wedding) I used to usher at the State Theater (now called 21 ave I think). Your Dad came to the theater a couple of times with Merton, then 5 or 6 nights in a row. He finally asked me to out with him on a Saturday night. I said I couldn’t as Evelyn was coming down from Seattle. He said bring her along. So my first date was with your dad, Evelyn and her friend Robie!!! We went to Oaks Park and we went roller skating!!! Guess what. Your dad never got to Seattle.

We had lots of lending libraries in the good old days. They were mostly new books. Well we had one up the street from us. Your dad used to go up there a lot before we were married. Before long he went to work for the owner and then he bought the business. Then, he went down to Kelly Springfield and went to work there. When we first married we lived in an apartment on 22nd and maybe Johnson. Then, we moved into a nicer one just off of 21st on Flanders. We got in there because a couple on the same floor had a baby. We became very good friends of Wino and Christinson. We had such good times together for years. From there we went to the house that is now a freeway. It was a nice little house, two bedrooms, full basement on a junior half acre. Your dad painted and wall papered everything. He put up wallpaper in the kitchen eating area and cherries were hanging up! We had a lot of fun with that.

Volcott came to live with us there. I had not been around boys before and I didn’t know how to feed them. I’d fix what I thought was a big dinner, and he would clean up everything and then go to the little grocery store a couple blocks away and get a quart of ice cream and a bag of cookies. Also, I did the washing on a washboard. I had never done that before. I was not a happy camper the Saturday I was washing diapers and had a big pile of clothes to do. Your dad came home with a big pan of cherries Bong—that set me off. Pie cherries are little and must be pitted–Volcott wanted his clothes clean so he could go to Portland, Donna needed diapers—-I picked up that pan of cherries and tossed them as far as I could—went to my neighbor Jeanne’s house and then came home a few hours later. On the kitchen table were two beautiful pies. Our next door neighbor Gladys had made them. WE had a nice evening with cards and pie. The good part was the next week a washing machine and a dozen roses were delivered. Does this sound like one of my sons? Did any of you wonder why I have two washboards and take them with us when we move? It makes me feel humble when I look at them and reminds me never to act like that again…

The owner decided to sell the house and gave us first chance. $2,500 was way too much. We moved to 25th a block south of Hawthorne. Volcott had gone to California and then joined the Navy. We liked the place. It was a duplex and we lived upstairs. An older couple probably in their late sixties lived downstairs. They were so nice to us. They always had a dish of lemon drops by the door for Donna. The duplex was great and the rooms large. We had half of the basement and we were upstairs. Nice big living room with a fireplace. Off of that was a room that held a piano that Will gave us and a desk and a chair that Donna has. Stairs from that room went up to a finished attic. It was a grand place for kids to play. When Donna joined the Brownies, I was the leader and we had our meeting up there. Then, we had a nice dining room with a big buffet with lots of room and a kitchen with lots of room–and three bedrooms and bath. We liked it a lot and were very comfortable. Rent $37.00 a month. Also it was a nice neighborhood. The Superintendent of schools was across the street and a senator a few blocks away..Across the street and up a ways was Holman’s Funeral Home. The grounds were beautiful. When a funeral wasn’t going on Donna and her friends would take their dolls up there and play “house.”

Your Grandfather Bake had died in his sleep, and your Grandmother Bake came to live with us. Your dad was now working in the shipyards as World War II was upon us. I also went to work out at the Oregon Shipyards it was in St. Johns. I worked on a switch board in the nursery. It was a beautiful place built just for the children. It had nurses and a doctor 24 hours a day. My mother would take Donna once in a while (we were working shift) and we would go out to eat and go to a show. A lot of theaters were open 24 hours!! Then Marilyn was on her way so I quit. (1944)

Then, your Dad got notice that Uncle Sam wanted him to play ARMY! We bundled up the girls and took them to stay with your Grandfather Ebert in Kirkland. Oh, yes, Irma too. We left them for three days and went to Vancouver, B.C., came back, picked up the girls, got home and he was gone. He went up to Tacoma for a while and then Texas. He didn’t care for that part of Texas but he went through basic training. A couple of months later he had a bad case of the flu and all of his buddies went to Japan, but he couldn’t go. When he was better they transferred him to Ft. Devens, Mass. Around the first of December he got noticed that he could have two weeks leave. The was was over and he worked in the dept. that the boys came to when they were coming home. Called separation Dept. Well, he got home and the week flew by. In the middle of the next week we decided we would go back with him. Grandma Bake would stay in the house and we would pay rent, lights, etc. We had an almost new two door Buick that Mr. Caulfied had given us (that is another story) We called his base and got a few more days before he had to report for duty. We put the mattress in the back of the car and took off for Mass. in December!

We got back there in time, but it was hard driving in some places. We landed in a town called Shirley. It was close to the base and about thirty miles from Boston. We had another BIG duplex and we were on the bottom —it had four bedrooms. Nice people above us. Christmas was different. Not many presents, but the girls didn’t seem to care. It was good to be together. It wasn’t long before your Dad brought home a real nice fellow and his wife and a little boy Donna’s age. They needed a place to stay while he was in the Army. We all got along just fine.

YOUR Dad used to make some extra money by giving the boys rides to Boston. They would come to Ft. Devens by the bus load and then get the paperwork done and have to wait around a day or two to go to Boston to get their train home. So your dad would take them in for $100 a piece if he could get a car load.

To my DEAR CHILDREN WHOEVER MAY READ THIS:

JUST COULDN’T FINISH THIS AT THIS TIME—TOO MANY TEARS—TOO MANY MEMORIES—HOPE TO FINISH THIS NEXT YEAR

Love you all,

Mom

(I will add photographs to this soon)

In 1944, Agnes Gray had a fortune teller come into her beauty shop and she read Agnes’ future.  The fortune teller told her that she would be married within 6 months.  At the time, Agnes was living alone and the owner of her own beauty shop. She had raised her daughter (Audrey Bake) on her own, worked long hours to do so and she loved “fixing people’s hair” as she called it.

Frances, a friend of Agnes, who had just gotten married and was headed to California came into the beauty shop a few days later to have her hair fixed as Agnes said. In the front window of Agnes Beauty Shop at 9888 Atwater in Portland, was Agnes’ cat collection. She had over 100 porcelain and glass cats that people had given her over the years. She numbered them and wrote down who they were all from in a small leather book.  Frances had forgotten the cat she had for Agnes’ collection and was very upset about it.  Since she was heading out of town,  she arranged to leave the cat at the home where she was staying and the man there would get it to her. 

Will Royal, the man who now had the cat from Frances, called Agnes to arrange to get her the cat.  Agnes said she wasn’t available until Saturday night.  The story goes that instead of bringing Agnes the cat, Will made up a story that he had a client who had a house with a view of the city.  His client had said it would be ok for him to take Agnes up to see it.  They went and looked at the view and then Agnes said “Let’s get out of here, they might come back.”  He didn’t tell her that it was his house until a few days later.  Will sent her notes by special delivery everyday.  They had met in April and were married in July.  The fortune teller had been right.    But, the real question is, did she ever get the cat from Frances?  Is it written in the little leather book and in the collection of cats. Which number is it or was there never a cat from Frances?

Agnes sold her shop then because Will didn’t think it would be right to have the wife of a lawyer working in a beauty shop.  She would have liked to have continued working there as she expressed in her writing.   I loved beauty work, I used to work from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. at night some times.  I had nurses from the hospitals near my shop come in at 9 p.m. for a permanent wave.  I would be on my feet all day and never seemed to be tired, it was my own business and it was really fun for me.  

Agnes’ father, John T. Gray, came to Portland in 1944.  He had lived in many different places due to his work in the Electrical Power industry and to accommodate for his wife’s health issues. When Agnes was little, they had lived  in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Big Fork, Montana; Seattle, Washington; Great Falls, Montana.  After his daughter was married he lived in Minneapolis again, Aberdeen, Washington; San Fransisco, California and then Portland, Oregon.  When he arrived to Portland, he was not well.   He stayed with his daughter Agnes for a few weeks and then with his daughter Harriet and her husband Al.  When his health did not improve, they took him to the hospital where he later passed away.  Her father was buried in the River View Cemetery next to where her son Donald Ebert had been buried on February 3, 1927.  River View is a very pretty Cemetery on SW Taylors Ferry Road in Portland, Oregon.  You can visit or search their burial records here:  http://www.riverviewcemetery.org/services/search-burial-records/  John T. Gray had worked in the Electric industry for companies like the Seattle Power, Montana Light and Power Company, and the Federal Light and Power company.  In his spare time he studied telephone devices and he holds three patents on high line phone equipment according to an article in  P.S.E.A News from October, 1924 on page 9.  You can view one of his patents from June 11, 1918 here:  https://www.google.com/patents/US1269425  He had to go to Washington D.C. to submit his idea and get the patent.   The other one from August 11, 1918 is here:  https://www.google.com/patents/US1379557   Power and telephones were a big part of the growth going on in the country at that time.  

In 1923, Fray Ebert, his then wife Agnes, her sister Harriet, their daughter Audrey and their baby Donald drove from Bismarck, North Dakota to Portland, Oregon. This according to the back of the photograph. It also says that they camped most of the way and Donald was in the back seat in a basket.

Fray Ebert and Agnes Gray met in a music store in Great Falls, Montana.  She had bought a victrola record player and wanted to get some records for it.  She had gone into a music shop and the sales man, Fray, asked her “Anything I can do for you?”  She replied by saying “Yes, have you got a little bit of heaven?”  That was the name of a popular song then. Here it is being played on a victrola: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GGlZqFLla4)  He laughed and said “I think I have.”    They got to know each other and then were married.  Shortly after, they went to Spokane, Washington where they would live and Fray would work in an office on an Indian Reservation in Wiponet, Washington.  He found this job from an ad in the newspaper.  Here is an excerpt from what she wrote about her life on a type writer in 1976:

They gave the employees a nice little house furnished, a nice tennis court out in front, horses to ride, etc.  Mother came to visit and she was heart sick to see no rugs on the floor, a little wood stove in the kitchen.  We had had an electric stove at home.  The Indians were wonderful.  One day, I made cookies and an Indian came to the door with a little bird in his hand to show me.  I offered him a cookie, I had them on a plate, he took them all off the plate and put them in his pocket.  Another time, Fray and I was going horse back riding, an Indian came along, and said I shouldn’t ride that horse, it wasn’t safe.  Fray said I shouldn’t pay any attention to him.  That Indian followed us all the way, because he thought that horse wasn’t safe. 

Eventually, they moved back to Minneapolis because her mother found Fray a job there at a music shop.  Her mom was living there then and wanted to be close to her daughter. This was in 1919.  This was the year the war was over.  I remember we went downtown and there were so many parades, etc.

Audrey Louisamet Ebert, was born February 2, 1920 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Agnes’ mother was worried about her daughter being pregnant, so she went to stay with her.  She asked her How do you believe a baby is born? I said mother don’t worry, all they have to do is cut you open from the belly button down and take the baby out.  She looked at me and sighed.  No one had ever told me. 

Audrey used to tell me the story about how she was kidnapped when she was a baby.  Agnes wrote this about it.   When Audrey was nine or ten months old, I used to take her to the park across the street from the apartment and I put a little blanket under her on the ground, and she sat there and I was reading, a man came along and picked her up and ran.  I ran after him, a couple men in the park ran after the man and got her for me.  Sure scared me, so you see they did do those things in those days.  (1920)

A couple years later, Fray wanted to move to Bismark, North Dakota.  He had a job lined up in a music store there.  Agnes had her second child, Donald, in Bismark.  She also had taken in her younger sister Harriet to live with them because her mother had passed away.  They were not in Bismarck long when they decided to go to San Francisco or Portland. 

They stopped in Portland first and although her husband Fray went on to San Francisco to see what it was like, they ended up staying in Portland.  They lived on 42nd and Madison and in 1925 they moved to the St. Francis Apartments on 21st Avenue.  

As I read what my Agnes had written about her life,  I noticed a blank in the story.  May be she chose to edit this part out.  I know that several things happened in that time.  Her son Donald became very sick and passed away, she divorced Fray and the manager of the building she was living in offered to let her have a beauty shop downstairs.  Agnes who had gone to business school in Great Falls, Montana, had also gone to beauty school when she had lived on 42nd, so she started Agnes Beauty Shoppe in 1926. Although she stopped working there in 1944, it was still there 50 years later in 1976.  She worked very hard there for  more than 18 years and was able to raise my grandmother and take care of her younger sister Harriet with her own business.  

Here’s another version of “A Little Bit of Heaven” for my Great Grandma Agnes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3hIf9dTxOM

 

In 1976, Grandma Royal typed up these stories of her life. I have written them word for word the best I could. Using the internet, it is fun to look up images and more of the history of these places. I have included a few links and photos from the internet to add to these stories. Words in Italic and Bold are written by me. Enjoy.

Younger Years:

I can remember some things from the time I was four or five years old. We lived in Minneapolis, Minn. four or five blocks from Grandma Christie’s house on 4th street. She lived at 1803 Clinton Ave. (If you google that address it looks like it might still be there) She had a large house on 18th and Clinton and two other houses on 18th street. Grandpa owned a barber shop down town. (the inspiration for my Grandma Royal to start her own beauty shop maybe) When they moved there Grandpa had to cut his way through the rough woods to his shop. There was a lovely apartment across the street from them a half a block long and 1 story high. It was a brick building. (Looks like 1800 Clinton is a brick apartment building) Grandma’s house had 13 rooms, I remember one room was called the parlor. We were never allowed in there unless we had company.

In the summer we used to go to Lake Minnetonka, where they had a lot and took tents and stayed for a month or so. Grandpa used to catch fish in the lake for breakfast. One morning when he went fishing, he dropped dead in the boat. I was 4 or 5 years old then. In those days, when one passed away they had the coffin in the home, instead of the funeral parlors. One day they found me on a stool trying to open Grandpa’s eyes.

I remember when going home from Grandma’s, Dad used to carry me on his back and John in his arms.

Grandma Christie, I believe had 13 children, some died before I was born. I can only remember Aunt Lucy, Retta, Emily, Elizabeth, Margaret, Uncle Jim and Uncle Will.

Grandma Gray lived near Grandma Christie. She never took care of us like Grandma Christie did. Grandpa Gray died, I believe, before I was born. Grandma Gray had Dad, Uncle George, Roll and Aunt Mamie.

When I was six or seven (I know I was in school) Dad decided to come West. I remember my teacher thought it was a terrible idea that we were going way out west among Indians. We were going to Big Fork, Montana. The only thing I can remember about Big Fork was that one day we all went down the river, I fell off a pier and nearly drowned, Dad carried me home and I was soaking wet, guess that’s why I never wanted to swim.

We were in Big Fork for a year or two, then Dad went to work at the Power Plant in Seattle. Uncle Will lived with us there, until he married Aunt Minnie. I do remember telling Mother that I had a girl friend in school whose folks gave her a piano and I cried and wanted one too. One day when I came home from school, mother told me to go in the living room and get some thing and there was a piano. Oh, I was so happy. Mother got Harriet Stanchfields to give me lessons for about a year. The teacher was a German Professor and one day she told mother “She don’t like me or she don’t like music. I give her up.” So that was the end of my music career.

Later on we moved to a house on 23rd Ave. Grandma Christie’s sister Margaret Morrison from Scotland lived with us here. Grandma Christie sold her three houses in Minneapolis and lived among her children, they all wanted her to live with them. If she stayed longer with one, than there was trouble. She got along with them all beautifully. We lived in the house until I was 16. Harriet was born in that house. Aurthur and Alex Jeffery and John Stanchfield took me places rather than a girl friend to football games, etc. I told them I didn’t know anything about football, they said here is a cow bell and you just ring it when we tell you to. I never did learn anything about football. Aunt Retta and family, Uncle Will and family, Uncle Charly and family, Aunt Maggie and family, Uncle Roll and family, they all lived in Seattle. We all had dinners together at times.

When Harriet was born, the doctor told dad we had to move to higher climate. Mother was not a bit well. Dad got work at the Montana Power Co., in Great Falls, Montana. The climate was higher there and she did fine. I went to Central High School in Great Falls, Montana and graduated. (Central High School in Great Falls is now the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art. Read more about it on Wikipedia. Here is some information about it’s construction.click here)

After high school.

Then, a few months to business college, that was only a few months that you had to do in those days. I worked from 8;00 am til 8;00 pm for a Vet (the t was not there so I am not sure about this) $30 a month, 6 days a week. Paid $2 a week for room and board at a home, car fare was 5 cents, bought things at the store for Harriet and mother. Dad wanted me to work at the Montana Power Co. I did for a while. I was offered a good bookkeeping job at a Gas Co. I worked over there. I remember we worked sitting on high stools at a high counter. One time at noon the boss came in and I was sitting on the high counter. He said What are you doing way up there? I said there is a mouse down there and I won’t come down until you chase it away. (I remember her daughter Audrey, my Grandma Bake, was really afraid of mice too)

Well, I worked there for a while. Mother was ill and Dad was going to Washington D.C. to get a patent. We had no way to get in touch with him so I quit the Gas Co. to take care of Mother. I took care of the house, John and Harriet, Mother was in bed all the time. The Dr. who took care of Mother wanted me to go to New York and take up nursing, he said it would be two years training, that I would be a good nurse. I did a fine job with Mother while Dad was away.

Fray Ebert and Munson Barnard.

When dad came home, they sent me down to Aunt Beth’s on a farm in Iowa for a rest. There I met Munson Barnard, Aunt Beth’s brother in law. I was only there for a month. Later, he came to Great Falls, and asked me if i would marry him and gave me a diamond ring. In the meantime, I had gone to work at Crown Jewelry Co. I dressed the windows, did bookkeeping and waiting on trade. I decided to buy a Victrola and one noon I wanted some records. I rushed into the music store next to the jewelry store and ran up to the balcony. The salesman (Fray) said “Anything I can do for you?” I said “Yes, have you got a little bit of heaven?” (a new song in those days) He laughed and said “Yes, I think I have.” We both laughed. We met at the water faucet in the back of the stores, which we both used. And, one day, he asked me if I would go to a movie. I said no. Then, I wrote to Munson and told him about Fray and if it would be alright if I went out with Fray to a show. He wrote back and said yes it would be alright. So I did. Aunt Grace was staying with us. Munson and I had planned to be married on his birthday, January first. In December, Aunt Grace saw Fray downtown and told him and he told her that we would never live to get out of town. I was so surprised and scared to death. I sent the ring back to Munson. So Fray and I was married at the ho…? and left for Spokane. He answered an ad in the newspaper there for a government job on an Indian reservation, in the office at Wiponet, Washington. They gave us employees a nice little house furnished, a nice tennis court out in front, horses to ride, etc. Mother came up to visit and she was heart sick to see no rugs on the floor, little wood stove in the kitchen. We had an electric stove at home.

The Indians were wonderful. One day I made cookies, an Indian came to the door with a little bird in his hand to show me. I offered him a cookie. I had them on a plate. He took them all off the plate and put them into his pocket. Another time Fray and I was going horseback riding, an Indian came along and said I shouldn’t ride that horse. It wasn’t safe. Fray said I shouldn’t pay any attention to him. That Indian followed us all the way because he thought that horse wasn’t safe. Mother took the Minneapolis paper and sent it to us. Fray answered an Ad in it. It was for the manager of the Victrola Dept. at the Metropolitan Music Co. in Minneapolis, and he got the job. When we left Winopet about all the Indians on the reservation were at the Depot to see us off. I think the Indians were wonderful.

In Minneapolis we found a nice apartment one block from the Asbury Hospital, a nice park across the street and walking distance from town. This was in 1919. (Minneapolis 100 years ago: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/minnesota/mn-100-years-ago/)

This was the year the war was over. I remember we went downtown, so many parades etc. Fray had the flu and nearly died. I was lonesome for Mother, I wanted to go home and see Mother. Fray said I could go home, but I had to get some new clothes first. I did. I didn’t want to tell her I was coming home, I wanted to surprise her. I bought a new suit ankle length, etc. Well I went home and when mother saw me at the door she nearly had a heart attack, thought I had left Fray I guess. I would never surprise anyone again like that.

Audrey.

This all happened I guess, lonesomeness etc. because I was pregnant. I expected Audrey in January so Mother came before Christmas. She brought Harriet. Dad was home without Mother that Christmas. Audrey didn’t come until the second of February. Mother was worried about me. I kept saying Mother don’t worry. One day she said to me, how do you believe a baby is born? I said mother don’t worry, all they have to do is cut you open from the belly button down and take the baby out. She looked at me and sighed. No one had ever told me. Well, Audrey was born at 9:00 am on the 2nd of Feb., in the Asbury Hospital only one block away.

Dorothy Christie, Uncle Jim’s daughter, used to come over and stay with Audrey when we went out. She was 12 or 14 years old then. When Audrey was nine or ten months old, I used to take her over to the park across the street from the Apartments. I put a little blanket under her on the ground, and she sat there and I was reading. A man came along and picked her up and ran. I ran after him, a couple men from the park ran after the man and got her for me. Sure scared me. So you see they did do those things in those days too. We were in Minneapolis about three years and Fray wanted to come west. He wrote a music store in Bismark, N.D. I am getting a head of my story. Lets go back.

Mother and Dad lived in Aberdeen, Washington now. and mother took awful sick. Dad wrote to me about her. I decided I was going to take Audrey and go out there and take care of her. Fray said it was alright, so I went. Harriet was about 12 years old I think. I was there about a month and Mother was no better, so Fray moved out of the apartment into the YMCA for a while. I cannot remember the date Mother passed away, but I was out there a couple months or more, Uncle Al came down to Aberdeen from Seattle and went back with us to Minneapolis. In the meantime, Fray had rented an apartment for us. Every night after dinner, we went out to the cemetery. Dad thought Harriet should stay with us for a while. The hardest thing in my life was losing Mother, everything that Mother said and did was just right in my opinion.

Now it was about a year later we decided to go to Bismark, North Dakota. Fray had a place all lined up in a music store. It was in Bismark that Donald was born. Now there was Harriet, Audrey and Donald. We were not in Bismark very long, Donald wasn’t a year old and we decided to go to Portland or San Francisco.

We drove and stopped in Portland. There was a vacancy at the Sherman Clay in Portland. I believe we stayed in Portland, rented a house here and Fray went down to San Francisco to look around. Dad was down there I think by now, anyway, we ended up in Portland, must have been in 1923 or 24. We lived on 42nd and Madison, in a house. About 1925, we moved to St. Francis Apartments.

Here it looks like Audrey may have filled in a blank area in Agnes’ story. She wrote the following: Donald passed away, Aunt Maggie and Aunt Retta came down from Seattle to be with me. Mr. Meisner the manager of the apartment told me (after I had my divorce that I could do beauty work in the apartment downstairs, I had been doing marcelling in the hall of the apartment I was in. I had gone to beauty school when I lived on 42nd. The neighbors out there all wanted me to do their work. I was allowed to do their work in my bedroom out there. It was fifty years in April since I opened my shop in the St. Francis, and they still call it Agne’s Beauty Shoppe.