1952-53 • Sonora ~ Carleen met Chuck at the end of her junior year when she was seventeen. He’d graduated four years ahead of her at Sonora High and was 21 and pumping gas on the corner at Paneros 76 station when he took a shine to her. In April of her senior year, he told her he loved her and asked her to go steady.
She broke up with Paul Raggio, her boyfriend from Angels Camp, and every day thereafter, she wore Chuck’s green letterman sweater: Sonora High, Class of 1949. His class ring shared the gold chain necklace with her crucifix. She’d hop in his car after her candy counter job at the Sonora Theater and they’d be off to swim at Parrott’s Ferry in Columbia or to the Mountain River Lodge downstream from Jacksonville.
Chuck, senior year 1949
They attended her Senior Winter Ball. Carleen made her gown from daffodil yellow taffeta covered in tulle and her shawl of rich black velvet. Like Mother, she sewed beautifully.
Chuck’s mom, Esther, worked for years at JC Penney and his dad, Ernie, was a gold miner who never had a job or found much gold. Chuck’s younger brother Odie, a nice quiet kid who graduated in 1954, could be seen walking the halls of Sonora High with his guitar strapped to his back. His sister Nancy was a year behind Betty at the grammar school.
Odie Albertson
Before he met Carleen, Chuck enlisted for a six-year stint in the National Guard, was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for radio school, then to Alaska, then was next stationed near home at the Columbia National Guard Armory, 164th Field Artillery, Battery B. He was a Supply Sergeant Radioman, laying communication wire. After returning to Sonora, he worked for Pickering Lumber and as a fireman for the railroad during the summers.
At the end of January 1953, Chuck proposed to Carleen in the front seat of his black Hupmobile. They drove to Stockton to Rogers Jewelry Store for rings, where he bought her a beautiful heirloom diamond mounted in a 14-carat gold setting for the goodly sum of $220. Under the circumstances, it was a formality for him to ask Dad for her hand. My sister was pregnant.
to be continued…
© 2017. Catherine Sevenau.
All rights reserved.
Janet Sasaki says
Reminds of my high school years! Enjoy every little detail! Even the photos. Maybe I will share my photos someday!
Jim Chatfield says
Chuck was a nice looking young man and Carleen looks like a princess.
Susan Price says
Waiting for the next installment… I’m hooked.
Catherine Sevenau says
Every three days…
Cheryl W. says
Odie is a good friend of ours. We live in the same, small community of Chinese Camp. He is a very sweet guy and a character. The world can be so small at times. You, Catherine, are a very awesome writer.
Catherine Sevenau says
I saw Odie last year when I was in Sonora for a book event. He is a good man. And thank you. Please give him my love.