Catherine Sevenau

Opener of doors, teller of tales, family scribe.

3.09 The Amana

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1959 • La Habra ~ Carleen had this thing about never running out of food. Her cupboards were loaded with bags of pasta, rice, and beans. Boxes of Cheerios, Wheaties, Trix, and Kix were lined up next to loaves of Wonder Bread, rolls, and buns. There were Twinkies, Oreos, HoHos, and Snowballs. There … [Read more...]

3.08 KRLA and KHJ

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1959 • La Habra ~ Cruising Whittier Boulevard, we took a spin to the A&W for frosted mugs of root beer or to Tastee Freeze for fried taquitos and banana splits with extra chocolate and whipped cream, Debbie and Randy in the back, Carleen and me in the front, riding low in the seat with the … [Read more...]

3.07 Saving Grace

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1959 • La Habra ~ Along the rear side fence I planted three huge sunflowers, a patch of blue lupines, and vines of sweet peas. I loved the sweet peas; they were Dad’s favorite flower. And that’s what Carleen called me, “Sweet Pea.” My sister was my sun and my saving grace, and along with my … [Read more...]

3.06 My 1954 plain

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1959 • La Habra ~ I had the two coin collections Larry gave me when I lived in San Jose with Mom. The Album for 20th Century COINS of the WORLD was a large, green, four-paneled book with plastic strips sliding over 144 holes which held the coins in place. I had forty-seven holes filled with coins … [Read more...]

3.04 Nana

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1959 • La Habra ~ We had a boxer named Nana. Debbie wanted a puppy and when a guy at Chuck’s work brought in a passel of puppies he brought one home for her. Debbie got to name her. Nana was good with us kids but rambunctious, jumping up and knocking over the little kids. She wasn’t allowed in the … [Read more...]

3.03 Sierra Vista School 1958

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1958 - 59 • La Habra ~ I knew the way to Sierra Vista Elementary; up our street two blocks, left at the corner, then six blocks up the hill. My grades improved and I became a “B” student in Mr. Powell’s fifth grade room. He had a way with kids: when any of the boys disrupted class, he’d … [Read more...]

3.05 A Mother’s Instinct 1959

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1959 • La Habra ~ Mom moved back to California soon after I did, and upon her return stayed with us for a short time. Taking me shopping, she had me try on a blue and white ruffled one-piece bathing suit, flowered shorts, matching crop top, and Capri pants. Then she had me put my own clothes … [Read more...]

3.02 Orange Groves and Crackerboxes

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Late 1950s - early 1960s • La Habra ~ In 1956, Orange County, once acre-after-acre of orange and lemon groves, was transformed into row-after-row of identical single-story crackerbox houses sold on the GI Bill to young families with lots of kids. Chuck and Carleen bought one in 1957 for $12,950: a … [Read more...]

3.01 La Habra 1958

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June 1958 • La Habra, Orange County, California ~ I had my picture taken with our neighbor Renie, said goodbye, then Mom boarded me on a plane for California to stay with Carleen for the summer. Having traveled alone on buses I wasn’t afraid to fly by myself. I knew as long as I got on the right … [Read more...]

Through Any Given Door, Part II (in full)

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the mid-story… Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir Part II Torn Pictures San Jose, San Francisco, Hawaii 1954 – 1958 by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau ~~~~~~~~~ 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 … [Read more...]

2.39 Kakaroach

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1958 • Oahu ~ Claudia and Mom stayed in Hawaii for four months after I left, walking the beach, sightseeing, going to movies, swatting mosquitoes and smashing cockroaches. No matter how carefully my sister cleaned, how much she sprayed, or how many she nailed with a magazine—from tiny … [Read more...]

2.38 What Did I Know?

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1958 • Honolulu ~ I remember a Friday afternoon soon after what happened with Bobby: a girl and I were playing the cigarette game on our way home from school, racing and keeping score of who stomped first on the empty packs of Kents, Kools, and Lucky Strikes flung from car windows and littering the … [Read more...]

2.37 Let. Me. Go.

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April 1958 • Hawaii ~ I remember that Saturday afternoon. I don’t know where Mom and Claudia were, probably off to the commissary for groceries or cigarettes, so Bobby and I were alone in their apartment. He was propped up with pillows at the head of the bed. I sat on the bottom corner, … [Read more...]

2.36 I Remember Bobby

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1958 • Honolulu, Hawaii ~ I have other memories of Hawaii. I remember Bobby. He was blonde, tan, and handsome, a Georgia cracker with a slow Southern drawl and a boyish, white-toothed smile, a swabbie in bell-bottoms of pressed blues or crisp whites. He was nineteen and in his third year in the … [Read more...]

2.35 With Open Arms 1958

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1958 • Whittier, Southern Californa ~ On February 1, 1958, Betty married Tony Duchi, the handsome admirer she’d met at Kinney Shoes the prior summer. The first time she laid eyes on him she fell in love with this man who was her measure, who adored her, and who would protect … [Read more...]

2.34 Christmas Eve

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1957 • Honolulu, Hawaii ~ I remember that Christmas Eve. I wanted us to have a tree, so I made it from a beautiful branch of dark wood I found near our house earlier that day. At each tip where its small thorns crooked out I stuck a sugared gumdrop, then carefully bow-tied the mid stems with colored … [Read more...]

2.33 Come Hell or High Water

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Nov 29, 1957 • Honolulu ~ I remember the Friday afternoon the hurricane hit. I was walking home with a girl from school who’d invited me to her house, me doing a small skip alongside her, happy to have made a friend. I heard it before I saw it. I turned my face to the sky and felt the insistent air … [Read more...]

2.32 Worrisome Prayers

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1957 • San Francisco ~ Letter from Aunt Elizabeth to her brother, my father: March 13, 1957 Dear Carl: Just now writing the date, I happened to remember that this is Carleen’s birthday. If it weren’t so late, I would call her. We are having Mass on Wednesday evenings during Lent and with a … [Read more...]

2.31 Needs Improvement

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October 1957 • Honolulu, Hawaii ~ Once again I was in a new school. There were four other haoles (mostly the white children of Navy families from the States stationed in the area) in my class and the rest of the kids were locals of mixed heritage, Chinese, or Japanese descent. The locals … [Read more...]

2.30 Manoa Valley

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1957 - 1958 • Honolulu, Hawaii ~ Mom and I settled in upper Manoa Valley, a trolley ride from Honolulu. A valley with a higher elevation than sun-drenched Waikiki, it squatted at the foot of a tropical rainforest shrouded in low rain clouds. When they passed, brilliant rainbows broke through, … [Read more...]

2.29 Off to Paradise 1957

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October 1957 • San Jose to the Islands ~ A year and a month into Bobby and Claudia's marriage, Bobby was transferred to Barbers Point, a naval air station about 20 minutes from Honolulu. My mother got the notion that she and I would move there too. Mom wanted to be near Claudia, she and Ray had … [Read more...]

2.28 Gaggle of Girlfriends 1957

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1957 • San Jose ~ Things were bad between Betty and Mom. My sister wanted to do what she wanted to do, and Mom couldn’t control her.  Betty moved out in her senior year and took over Claudia and Bobby's San Jose apartment when Bobby was transferred from Moffett Field to a naval air … [Read more...]

2.27 Year of Change 1956

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A year of family comings and goings ~ January 1956 • My maternal grandmother, Nellie Chatfield, at the age of 82, died in Chico, California. She outlived her husband by 14 years along with two of her ten children. Gordon, her sixth child, died in 1948 (the year I was born) from injuries … [Read more...]

2.26 Lovebirds

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1956 • San Jose ~ Claudia was secretly relieved when Mom said she’d have Bobby shipped out. She didn’t know how to say "no" to him, even though it hurt so bad to have sex. She would marry him when she was older, after she’d finished school, when she'd gotten a job teaching junior high. But Bobby … [Read more...]

2.25 The Great Pretender

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1956 • San Jose ~ Betty was part of the older crowd and on Saturday nights she and her girlfriends ice skated at the El Camino Skating Rink. All the cute boys were there, circling the arena, showing off to the girls and skimming across the frozen floor backward to the music of "Rock Around the … [Read more...]