Catherine Sevenau

Opener of doors, teller of tales, family scribe.

Isaac and Eliza Chatfield

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Isaac Willard "I.W." Chatfield: 1836 - 1921 Ohio to California ~ Isaac Willard Chatfield, my paternal great-grandfather, was born in 1836 in Middlefield, Ohio, the first of four children of Levi Tomlinson Chatfield and Lovina Mastick. Isaac married the young Eliza Ann Harrington on May 20, … [Read more...]

A Love Story

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Sweet Scoops ~ While waiting by the register for my sundae at Sweet Scoops, a pint-sized child walks up next to me to where the paper napkins are. He’s not quite tall enough to reach them, and I catch the wire container just before he flips it off the shelf. “May I help you with a napkin?” I … [Read more...]

Emily and Those Hoy Boys

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As rivers cut canyons through Rockies to bays, the Hoys traveled westward in pioneer days. They fought for the Union (Frank, wounded in battle), then homesteaded Brown's Hole where they branded their cattle. They were ranchers and farmers and bull-whackers of yore, horse breeders, schoolteachers, … [Read more...]

Toss of the Cosmic Dice

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Why bother? I mean really? ~ They’re dead. Who cares about the past, and what difference does it make? But here’s the deal, sometimes we do something for its own sake, other times because we want to. And then, if for no other reason, just for the fun of it.  There was a five-year period … [Read more...]

Bloodlines (original version)

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This tale is a history, a fable, a prayer; of those gone before me, now gathered with care. Can’t start in the middle—too confusing, not clear, can’t start at the end—will be over I fear. So I’ll start from the first as far back as I can and nudge you along ’til you’ve met the whole clan. When you … [Read more...]

My Impending Demise

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A Time to Dance, A Time to Mourn ~ We think we have time. The question is, how much? That leads to other questions. Will I be satisfied with how I lived my life? What am I compelled to complete before I die? What legacy will I leave? When I attended my 81-year-old cousin’s funeral, her son said, “I … [Read more...]

A Bereavement

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Natalie Rose Sanford Sep 21, 2000 - Dec 22, 2018 In Memory of Natalie Rose Sanford ~ She struggled to find the imaginary light at the end of the tunnel, and now, so are we. When someone this age takes her life, we wonder why. Was it genetic, passed down through the generations? Was it … [Read more...]

That’s All Folks

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Through Any Given Door/A Family Memoir has come to a close. Some of you have expressed disappointment that it’s ended. I imagine others are as happy to be done with it as I am. Though I’ve been asked to continue our story, I can’t (or won’t) for the following reasons: Many of my sources have … [Read more...]

Post Memoir Sketches in full

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Ten final stories as to how our later lives shook out... 4.01 Unleashing the Flying Monkeys Through Any Given Door ~ I imagine it’s no coincidence that my writing began when I was 53, the same age my mother was when she called it a day. Nor that it took me five years to write our chronicles, the … [Read more...]

4.10 Larry’s Later Life

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Gordon Lawrence "Larry" Clemens 1st of 5 children of Carl John Clemens and Noreen Ellen "Babe" Chatfield Born: Jan 14, 1934, Chico, California Married: Jun 16, 1956, Marian Louise McLellan, Upland, California Two children Gordon (Larry) and Marian, by Marian Clemens ~ In 1952 Gordon Lawrence … [Read more...]

4.09 Lore, Libel and Lies

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Larry, Marian, and Catherine (me), 2006 ~ My brother, his wife, and I just returned from our fifth road trip of gathering family history: searching through county records, newspaper archives, and historical museums hunting for birth and death records, local articles, pictures, deeds, wills and old … [Read more...]

4.08 Cutty Sark and Carleen

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Carleen Barbara Clemens 2nd of 5 children of Carl John Clemens and Noreen Ellen "Babe" Chatfield Born: Mar 13, 1935, Watsonville, California Married: Mar 15, 1953 (at age 18), Charles Evans "Chuck" Albertson, Sonora, California Three children Carleen and Chuck ~ Chuck died in 1996, … [Read more...]

4.07 Final Migration

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Elizabeth Ann "Betty/Liz" (Clemens) Duchi 1939 - 2004 My sister Liz knew everything about everything—and what she didn’t know—she made up. Her library was lined with books from architecture, antique lamps and art nouveau to tomes on history, the human body and Henry VIII. She also had every … [Read more...]

4.06 I Must Have Lied

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Liz and Catherine ~ When I finished writing the first half of this book, I sent copies to my family and had a few friends read it. They all liked it enough that I wondered if I actually had a “book,” so I ran it by Andy at my bookstore and he referred me to a retired New York editor living in … [Read more...]

4.05 My Sister Liz

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Elizabeth Ann "Betty/Liz" Clemens 3rd of 5 children of Carl John Clemens and Noreen Ellen "Babe" Chatfield Born: Dec 3, 1939, Watsonville, California Died: Oct 8, 2004 (age 64), Sacramento, California; lung cancer Married: Feb 1, 1958 (at age 19), Anthony Leo "Tony" Duchi, Jr., Whittier, … [Read more...]

4.04 Elegy to My Father

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Carl John Clemens (my father) 8th of 13 children of Mathew Sylvester Clemens & Barbara Nigon Born: Sep 25, 1905, Rochester, Minnesota Died: Sep 16, 1986 (age 80), Santa Rosa, California; prostate/bone cancer Occupation: Farmer, construction laborer, iceman, record store owner, dime … [Read more...]

4.03 Letter from Liz

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My Sister Liz (Betty) ~ A letter from Liz (Betty) to Lorna Harrington, her childhood friend: 4-12-2003 Dear Lorna, It is so great to connect with you. We have lived (more or less) in Fallbrook since 1985. Before that we lived in San Clemente, before that in Vista, before that in Huntington Beach … [Read more...]

4.02 Letters From Claudia

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Claudia Clemens 4th of 5 children of Carl John Clemens and Noreen Ellen "Babe" Chatfield Born: Mar 28, 1942, Vallejo, Solano Co., California Died: Aug 21, 2011 (age 69), Escondido, San Diego Co., California; lung cancer Married: Sep 16, 1956 (at age 14), Bobby Milton McDaniel, Sparks, Washoe … [Read more...]

4.01 Unleashing the Flying Monkeys

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Through Any Given Door ~ I imagine it’s no coincidence that my writing began when I was 53, the same age my mother was when she called it a day. Nor that it took me five years to write our chronicles, the same amount of time I lived with her when I was a kid. I have a suspicion she’s had a hand … [Read more...]

Through Any Given Door, Part III (in full)

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and the final third of the story… Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir Part III Home Movies La Habra and San Francisco 1958 – 1968 by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau ~~~~~~~~~ June 1958 • La Habra, Orange County, California ~ I had my picture taken with our neighbor Renie, said goodbye, then … [Read more...]

3.46 Sin and Prayer

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Epilogue ~ My parents were like black and white, oil and water, sin and prayer. My father, not one to boil over, married a kettle of emotions. If he could have loosened his grip and if my mother hadn’t completely unraveled, perhaps my childhood would have been different. But it was what it was. … [Read more...]

3.45 A Kind of Holiness

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Full Circle ~ Over the decades my mother has been following me around, showing up in my stomach, my bones, and my dreams. She used to be a dull ache inside me, but not so much anymore. She wasn’t cruel or abusive—there was no sliver to take out, no bullet to remove, no thorn to pluck. In the five … [Read more...]

3.44 No Flowers

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November 1968 • La Habra ~ When my mother died, what remained of her life was packed in her small Hillman, now parked in Carleen’s driveway. The front bench-seat held her clothes, small feather pillow, and jewelry; the back bench, her black and gold Singer, button collection, and sewing box. In the … [Read more...]

3.43 Rainbows and Red Devils

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Fall of 1968 • Whittier ~ Over the years Mom managed to get along. She worked for room and board with a small monthly salary for clothes, her car, doctor bills, and prescriptions. By the end, she couldn’t hold a job, couldn’t care for herself, the hospitals wouldn’t keep her anymore, and family … [Read more...]

3.42 Positively Haight Street

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Haight Street ~ 1968 was the year to spread my wings. Dad couldn’t pay me more than he paid the girls (who were all making $2.00 an hour) so after seven summers and five Easter and Christmas vacations working in his store, I flew across the street and got a teller job at Great Western Bank for … [Read more...]