Irene 1956
1956 • San Francisco ~ When they married, Dad was renting a small place on Clayton Street in the Haight. He moved into Irene’s fancy two-story Victorian just two doors up from the flat where he first lived on Belvedere. Her place had soaring ceilings and velvet ottomans, a step up from the Formica dining table and single box spring he’d gotten accustomed to. He now lived amid carved antiques and Persian carpets, oil paintings and gilded mirrors, and Waterford crystal and filigree lamps.
Carl Clemens Nov 1956
In November, I stayed three days with Dad and Irene. I was eight. I had to be careful not to walk fast or bump into anything. I was especially not to go into the cold storage room she had built between the living and dining rooms for her two walls of full-length minks, silver fox stoles, and black sable jackets with the end portion of built-in shelves from floor to ceiling, stacked with fancy round hat boxes. My only recollection of Irene was her catching me going through her steamer trunks stored in the basement, and the pungent odor of mothballs. I intended to simply look at her carefully packed away clothes. Well, maybe I did take some out and hold a couple of them up to me to see how they looked. Okay, so I tried one on. She was furious. As I was there three days too many anyway, I was no longer allowed to come and stay.
Irene was gracious to Larry and Marian but didn’t bother to hide her jealousy of her husband’s daughters. When Carleen and Chuck drove up for a weekend visit and had dinner at Alioto’s in Fisherman’s Wharf, Irene kept her back to Carleen at the bar. She never spoke to my sister the entire evening, didn’t even look at her. Not once.
to be continued…
© 2018. Catherine Sevenau.
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Susan Dalberg says
Didn’t draw a better or worse mother card, girl. Amazing thing is dad didn’t say anything to her before he married about having these wonderful children!!!
Catherine Sevenau says
He wasn’t much of a talker…
Linda Troolin says
Jealousy is such a damaging feeling.
Catherine Sevenau says
Especially when it gets splashed around.
Kay R says
She was jealous of his daughters? That is strange. My grandfather had all his sisters minks. By the time we got our hands on them they were very old. We used them in dress up.
Catherine Sevenau says
Jealousy is a funny thing. Once it takes hold, it’s hard to undo. Appears she had a bad case of it.
Louise says
Oh, she sounds like a real pleasant person, NOT!
Catherine Sevenau says
He had a tendency to marry women who reeled him in, hook, line, and sinker. Easy to do, speaking from my own experience.
Barbara Jacobsen says
I’ll be interested in seeing how long that marriage lasted!!
Catherine Sevenau says
Stay tuned…