Joan and Wayne Johnson
March 1954 • Montebello ~ Carleen and Chuck left Sonora and Chuck went to work for National Tapered Wings in Vernon with his cousin Wayne Johnson. They rented a one-story triplex in a pretty tree-lined Jewish neighborhood in Montebello near Wayne and Joan, a tiny Italian spitfire of a woman. Wayne and Joan married in 1951, and their first child Craig, was the same age as Debbie.
Chuck Albertson
On weekends the two couples spent a lot of time playing poker, partying, smoking, and drinking. A lot. It slowed down some when the babies arrived.
After living with the Guidicis in Tuolumne, Betty went to live with Carleen and her family; she didn’t want to be with Mom, and was still mad at Dad. There, she attended Sacred Heart of Mary, an all girls Catholic high school to finish out her freshman year. The school was next to Cantwell High, the boys Catholic school, and the closest the boys got to the girls were stolen glances through the chain link fence. Betty was still a mess from the kidnapping and attack, so she was glad not to be around boys. She confided in a fellow student about the incident in Sonora, and the story got back to the nuns. The school administration called Carleen to straighten it out. I don’t know what happened, but they didn’t kick Betty out.
At the end of that summer, Carleen and Chuck moved to Whittier. Around that time Betty moved to San Francisco to live with Dad.
Dad must have driven to Montebello with Claudia and me in March of that year, as there are two bound Kodak prints of us four sisters, six-month-old Debbie, and the Chevy Bel Aire we took to Minnesota. The packets also included photos of Claudia and me in San Jose where we were living with Mom.
The photos in the orange covered packets helped me figure out who lived with who, when, and where. Keeping track of all of us is like herding ants at a picnic.
to be continued…
© 2018. Catherine Sevenau.
All rights reserved.
Claudia, Debbie, Betty, March 1954, Montebello, California
Cathy (w/new perm), Carleen, Debbie, and the Bel Aire. Betty taking picture w/Dad’s Brownie.
Larry Clemens says
I have never seen these pictures. I liked the one of Chuck, he seems so proud of all the hard drinking.
Catherine Sevenau says
They were in Carleen’s photo album. Both Chuck and Wayne were heavy drinkers over the years… and proud of it.
Linda Troolin says
Those were the days. Not all good…
Catherine Sevenau says
Some believe it was idyllic. I suppose it depends on the family… or selective memory.
Deborah says
Wow. Unbelievable what happened to Betty at such a young age, and that anyone would even think of adding to that pain by ostracizing or rejecting her in any way instead of embracing and comforting her and welcoming her in. So very sad.