1956 • San Jose ~ By third grade I was in my third school and had lived in over twice as many houses. It made me anxious, moving all the time. It seemed that as soon as I’d figure out how to get back and forth to school or to the dentist or to church, we’d move. I spent a good part of my time … [Read more...]
2.15.1 Grandma Nellie’s Demise 1956
Jan 2, 1956 • Chico ~ Freely extending her opinions and judgments of her ten children (and anyone else in the family), my grandmother never kept secret the litany of sins she held against them, and the lot of them feared her wrath and what she would say. Nellie Belle Chatfield died at her … [Read more...]
2.14.1 From Larry to Gordon 1955
1955 • San Jose ~ Occasionally Larry made the hour drive from San Jose up to San Francisco to take Dad to a show. They went to the Cinerama at the Orpheum Theatre on Market Street a couple of times. Dad was impressed, even though he was never much of a moviegoer. The year before, Larry took him … [Read more...]
2.16 Bless Me, Father
1956 • Willow Glen ~ It doesn’t take much Catholic upbringing to instill one with guilt, especially if the Church gets its hands on you while you’re young. The nuns prepared me for my First Holy Communion, teaching me to be thankful I’d been baptized so I wouldn’t have to spend eternity in … [Read more...]
2.15 Gimme a Bromo
1955 • San Jose ~ He called us Daughter Number One, Daughter Number Two, and Daughter Number Three. Betty figured he called us that because he liked having daughters; Claudia figured it was because he couldn’t remember our names. Mom met Mr. Wonderful in a bar and married him soon after. … [Read more...]
2.14 Mr. Wonderful
August 4, 1955 • San Jose, another letter from Mom to her sister: Dear Verda: Hope you and your family are well as we have been (most of the time). I was married last Sunday in Carson City to Ray Haynie. No, I know you don’t know him but that’s the name. He is a grand person and the kids are crazy … [Read more...]
2.13 Mean Girls
April 1955 • San Jose ~ In April, Claudia came to live with Mom and me, and sometime after she arrived, Betty showed up on the doorstep. Mom wasn’t expecting her as she had chosen to live with Dad after we left Tuolumne. Betty stayed with him in a motel in Castro Valley for six weeks, … [Read more...]
2.12 Jefferson Elementary
1955 • San Jose ~ Jefferson Elementary was like all grammar schools, filled with the noise of kids screaming, whistles blowing, and bells ringing. I paid careful attention to my teacher, Miss Harrison, but when she started writing too many numbers on the blackboard, which was green, my mind … [Read more...]
2.11 Canned Peas 1955
1955 • San Francisco ~ My dad taught me to sew on a button, how to thread the needle and not make the thread too long because it would knot itself and catch in the fabric. He showed me how to wrap the white thread around the end of my finger and pull my finger and the thread through in one … [Read more...]
2.10 The Clue in the Diary 1954-1955
1954-1955 • San Jose ~ On my knees in my flowered flannel nightgown, my blonde head bowed, I leaned against the bed, hands folded together, and said my nightly prayers. Reciting the Our Father and Hail Mary, I ended with “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned...” scanning each day, from … [Read more...]
2.09 Toy Soldiers
1954-56 • San Jose ~ Mom was seldom around, and when she was, she wasn’t really "there." She escaped into sleep, her black eye mask blocking out the world, her small feather pillow hiding her head, and her rounded body buried beneath her blanket. The pills she took didn’t help her either, lined … [Read more...]
2.08 “Sprouse as in House”
1954 • San Francisco ~ "Sprouse as in house, Reitz as in right" was the slogan used by the company my dad worked for. Nobody said Reitz right; they rhymed it with Pete’s. I always corrected them. Sometimes Dad drove to San Jose and picked me up to spend the holidays with him, and other times Mom … [Read more...]
2.07 I Could Be Wrong
April 1954, Easter Vacation • San Francisco, California ~ I sat next to him on the #7 Haight bus as it wove through the city to the corner stop near his house. He lived just a block from the five-and-dime he managed on Haight Street, a red fronted Sprouse-Reitz. Together, we read every word in … [Read more...]
2.06 Southern California
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. … [Read more...]
2.05 Extra Prayers
1954 • San Francisco ~ I loved visiting my dad. We played Old Maid and gin rummy. He sang Three Little Fishies or German songs he remembered from his childhood, told me corny riddles, recited limericks, and magically pulled quarters from behind my ear. I even liked playing Five Little Piggies, … [Read more...]
2.04 Uncle George Day
March 1954 • San Jose ~ Word reached Mom that her sister's husband, George Day, died in Chico on February 17th. He too, like Mom, was high strung, and also like Mom, had suffered a nervous breakdown. March 23, 1954 • San Jose, a letter to Verda from Mom: Dear Verda, … [Read more...]
2.03 Small Talk
1954 • Sonora to San Francisco ~ Dad found a flat on Belvedere Street in the Haight and settled in San Francisco. He made one last trip back to the town that had been his life for the past decade. On a visit to the Davises, where Claudia was finishing out the eighth grade, he asked for some … [Read more...]
2.02 Blackened Toast
1954 • San Jose ~ Mom still cooked and cleaned house for the priests. While she dusted and vacuumed the rectory, I starred in my own variety show, singing and doing the Hokey Pokey on the back patio where no one could see me. I had a red plastic portable record player and a record collection of … [Read more...]
2.01 Torn Pictures, San Jose 1954
San Jose, San Francisco, Hawaii 1954 – 1958 1954 • San Jose, California ~ I’d reach up and rap the doorknocker twice. I’d say, knock, knock. She’d say, who’s there? I’d say, Cathy. She’d say, Cathy who? I’d say, Cathy me, silly, your daughter! Wouldn’t we … [Read more...]
An Indoor Girl
Look, I hiked the Cinque Terra, rode a donkey up the cliffs of Crete, and waterskied down the Colorado River. I trekked through the Mayan jungle and climbed Tikal. I hiked the pine forest above Rio Caliente, scaled Nevada Falls, and climbed rickety ladders to peer into ancient painted caves in New … [Read more...]
Through Any Given Door, Part I (in full)
Through Any Given Door a Family Memoir by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents Front Matter 0.i Teller of Tales, Clemens Family Line 0.ii Dedications, Billet-Doux, Credits 0.iii Prologue (w/audio) Part I Faded Snapshots (1.01 - 1.91) Sonora, … [Read more...]
1.91 Private Matters, 1953-1954
End of 1953 ~ Along with everything else, Dad’s store was having financial difficulties. Trying to keep his head above water, he worked all day running his store, then in the evenings worked at Ben Franklin up the street. Adding to his misfortune, the Pickering Lumber Mill, the largest industry and … [Read more...]
1.90 Larry’s Diary, Misc Entries 1953
1953 • Larry’s diary (age 19) Jan Took Marian to movies many times Jan Night class, square dance. Church orchestra. Montalvo (private artist retreat) in Saratoga with Marian, May, and Jim for Rudolf Serkin piano concert. Feb Took Marian to Santa Clara University concert, dance, … [Read more...]
1.89 Pick-Up Stix, Sep 1953
Sep 1953 • Tuolumne ~ Our family scattered like a drop of Pick-Up Stix. Mom was now living in San Jose. Larry returned to college. Carleen, Chuck, and the baby would soon leave Sonora and move to Southern California. Claudia stayed with her best friend JoAnn Davis to begin the eighth grade. … [Read more...]
1.88 From Betty’s Best Friend
Letter to me from Lorna Harrington, Mar 18, 2005 Dear Cathy: When we last talked you were surprised when I said that Betty didn’t have other friends that I was aware of. While trying to give you an idea of what our (Betty’s and mine) lives were like during our Sonora grammar school days I didn’t … [Read more...]
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