MY PARENTS.

MEETING

So mom has a friend Bertie San Felipo who happened to be mad at her boyfriend one night and suggested they go up to San Francisco for a night on the town. They ended up at Fisherman's Wharf and noticed some of the local fisherman having a ball at one of the bars. They decided to join in on the fun. It wasn't long before a couple of those fishermen hit on the girls and while they had fun at first, decided they weren't interested and after having them take them to their hotel to change they ditched them out the back door. Making their way up town and finding a very popular, packed bar they squeezed their way in and soon had the attention of Mr. Freddie Boracchi and his friend Vic . This time they were interesting guys and phone numbers were exchanged. Freddie and Vic asked what they were doing the next day and were told they were going to the zoo. They said they would take them but Mom and Bertie didn't really believe them. The next morning they showed up at the hotel and called up before they were even dressed telling they will be taking them to the zoo! Freddie ended up dating Bertie, while Vic and Mom had a few dates. Mom was not interested enough and soon gave him the brush. Bertie and Fred continued seeing each other and wanted to fix Mom up with another of Freddie's friends. They asked Mom if she would like to go out with this guy who was supposed to be good looking and really funny. She said no way, not interested and left it at that. Freddie brought this friend over anyway and after briefly meeting Mom, the friend went out with Freddie and Bertie. A few days later Freddie asked Mom if after meeting his friend would she now like to go out with him? Because the man was charming and good looking she did not turn him down this time. I bet you can guess who the friend was!

Well of course it was Donald Leon Ashley and he told Fred the night he met her, "I'm going to marry that girl"! Well of course they did on October 27th, 1956 to be exact. Eight months later I was born (Don't do the math!), and we were on our way to Alaska. Grandpa Jack had told them of work up there at the Northern Commercial Company(NCC). Dad took off first while Mom got the house packed up. We followed him up there and initially lived with Grandpa and Grandma Murphy. By the time my sister Tiva (Pam) was born in the Alaska Territory October of 1958 (Alaska became a State 3 months later), we lived in a townhome at 1513 Kinnikinnick Street. One of my earliest memories happened there. I vaguely remember at 2 years old trying to tell my Mom I had done something wrong. Not having the english language down yet, Mom still knew something was wrong and went to investigate. She soon found Tivas legs sticking out of the heater's floor duct. I guess I had removed the grate and Tiva had crawled in! Trying to get rid of the competition I guess. Grandpa Jack being the outdoorsman that he was and Alaska being so wild, we did plenty of outdoor activities such as camping, fishing and hunting.

Click on picture for larger image

CONRIGHT'S

Dad continued moving up in the NCC, first in the Men's Department and then eventually Manager of the Appliance Department. He was entitled to live atop the NCC in apartments provided for managers. The apartments took up half the third story and the other half was open roof which was our play ground. Besides the abundance of riding toys, there was a green house where I can still remember the smell of fresh tomatos and a laundry room that had the old kind of washing machines with a roller wringer to dry the clothes. Another early memory was being held up to look over the edge as President Eisenhower's motorcade passed below us. I do remember running away one day. I made it down to the bottom of the stairs at street level before being found.

Father ended up working for Conright's Furniture and Appliance store next. The "Place to Buy at 5th and I". We moved to a house on Tulik Drive and began school at Turnigan Elementary. I have plenty of memories during that time period. Some from the Conright's store such as the fake food in the refridgerators (facinated me), the matteress stacked to the ceiling, the sugar cubes in the break room and the state of the art Sulvania console stereos. On March 27th I was watching "Davey and Goliath" a puppet show on TV when suddenly the picture began to break up. The house began shaking and my Mom called for my sister and I to run to the kitchen doorway as we did during all of the many earthquakes we had up until that time. Only this time the earth continued to rumble. The cupboards flew open, we could hear things popping and breaking outside, and Mom began talking to the Man upstairs about this being the end. The quake lasted nearly 4 minutes, 38 seconds and then silence. No electricity. My being just over 6 years old I can only tell you the high lights. The neighbors accross the street had camping gear and soon had lanterns and soup going on their Coleman stove for the neighborhood. Dad made his way back from work to join us there and took us out to the Cousin's house on Campbell Station Road. The Rappe house was huge in my memory and we had a blast living there with them while things were worked out following the earthquake. Our house was unlivable until fixed and Mom used this time to get away from Alaska for awhile. This was my first trip on the AlCan Highway and cousin's Don and Brad along with Mother Ellen followed us down as far as Seattle where they branched off and went to Yakima and we headed to Sacramento.

DON RYAN

After George's passing Jeanette went to work for the Crystal Creamery in Sacramento, CA. She met life long friend Fina Boyd working there and one night they decided to go to a popular bowling alley that just opened a dance floor. Of the men that came up to them to dance, one she had turned down twice came up a third time before she said yes. After one dance he asked for her phone number. Jeanette told him "you don't even know my name!". Don Ryan had come with his friend Larry Wicky and Jeanette and Fina danced with them a few more times before Don and Larry suggested they follow them over to the Sacramento Inn for some dining and drinks which they did. After that they went over to their new house for a night cap and ended up exchanging phone numbers before leaving. Jeanette knew he would be calling her the next day as they had hit it off but no call came. No call came for over a week to her surprise and had assumed that was that until Don called and asked if her and Fina would like to go on a double date. Thank God he got up the nerve because they did end up getting married and made a great team!

Donald's Grandfather Michael Patrick Ryan was born in Ireland in 1843. He served in the civil war as a Union soldier serial number 1362723. After the war he worked his way to the West coast and Colusa, CA. I believe he was a bit of a drunk as all good Irish men were at the time. In any event he met and married Alice Elliot and had two sons William and John before Michael dying after falling off of a wagon in 1879. It looks like Alice moved back to Illinois with her two sons. I found William (Donald's Father) in the 1900 census living and working there as a farmers helper. In 1909 he married Lillie Lohse and in the 1910 census was still living in Illinois but was now a barber. As of this writing, I don't know why or how but by 1920 they are back in Coulusa County, CA living in Maxwell. In 1923 my Uncle Don was born and shows up in the 1930 census. Living rural as Maxwell is, he had a great childhood, hunting, fishing, swimming in the irrigation ditches (summers were hot) and all the things you can do during the depression as a kid. Donald enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and served on the survey ship Bowditch. He worked in the engine room and they went in and surveyed the islands and anchorages before the landings. In fact they surveyed Okinawa's landing areas before Kathy's Uncle Jack landed with the 1st Marines. In 1946 the United States tested atomic weapons at the Bikini Atoll and Don was there to experience it. He was discharged in 1949 and by 1950 started his career with Pacific Bell bringing us up to the time he met and married Aunt Jan and us visiting from Alaska.

TEMPORARY CALIFORNIAN"S

So after arriving back in Sacramento from Alaska (we had visited before the earthquake in 1961), Mom's sister Jeannette was still living at the 1705 G Street Apartments with her husband Don Ryan that they managed. (They ended up buying them!) Mom ended up renting an apartment there and Tiva and I attended Washington Elementary School. We made great friends with some of the neighbor hood kids such as brothers Manuel and Joey. Family friends the Wicklands gave me my first Frisbee while living there. (I still have it). Dad continued living in Alaska and since there had been no major earthquakes since we had left, in 1965 we headed back up to Alaska. This meant driving our 1963 Dodge Lancer to Seattle, Washington and putting it on a ship back North while Mom, Tiva and I got on a plane and flew back. (Dad had already returned prior to our leaving California.)

BACK IN ALASKA

When we landed in Anchorage, Dad picked us up and we went to the house he had rented and waiting for us on St. Elias Drive just 2 blocks over from the house we had gone through the earthquake in. Our welcome back present that first night was another earthquake! Soon we settled in and returned to Turnigan Elementary. My friends and I had great fun in playing in the torn up world that had once been part of the Turnigan Neighborhood. Creeks, railroad tracks, Turnigan inlet were all great memories. We also spent alot of time with our Cousin's out on Campbell Station Road. This is where I learned to ride a bicycle, perfected my ice skating and did lots of exploring with cousin's Donny and Bradley. Dad was still working for Conright's and Jack Conright Jr. and he made TV commercials for the business and even showed up on the local morning show. They played off of each other for comedy and one of the commercials had them and two others dressed up like the Beatles while another had my Dad put inside a heavy duty dryer. Professional Heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston came to town in 1966 (after he had lost to Cassius Clay) for some promotions. On the morning show he did some jump roping exhibitions in his boxing attire and when done Dad came out from the wings in his boxing trunks walked up to him and put him on his knees when he shook his hand. (Dad was 5'10", 160lbs to Liston's 6'1" 215lbs) Corny but funny. That same night he took me out where Sonny was doing his promotions and jump rope exhibition then afterwards came and sat at our table. Being 9 years old I listened to all the guys talking as I sipped my Shirley Temple! Conright's also did radio spots and they made the mistake of putting me on the air asking what I thought of my Dad and all I could come up with is "He's goofy"! By the summer of 1966, my Dad's health was deteriorating and he did not want to go through another Alaska winter. So it was back to California for the Ashley family.