Catherine Sevenau

Opener of doors, teller of tales, family scribe.

1.005 Boucher Street, Chico

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In 1915 the Chatfields left Los Molinos and moved to the up-and-coming agricultural town of Chico, buying a fairly new two-story corner residence in the Chapmantown district, a working-class neighborhood near the Diamond Match Factory. In those days most people rented; few owned their own homes. … [Read more...]

1.004 My Mother’s Father

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Sep 30, 1915 • Red Bluff Daily News, Los Molinos, California ~ WOMAN ALL ALONE GIVES BIRTH, CHILD TAKES CARE OF IT. LOS MOLINOS. — When a baby girl was born last night to Mrs. C.H. Chatfield of this place, the woman, unaided except by some of her small children, rose from her bed, washed and … [Read more...]

1.003 Canada, Cuba, or Bust

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A letter from my grandmother Nellie (Chamberlin) Chatfield (age 30) to her younger sister Mamie Chamberlin (age 16). At the writing, Nellie had five children: Charlie Jr., Leo, Howard, Roy, and 6 month old Nella May. Two years after Roy was born, Nellie Mary "Nella May" Chatfield came along. She was … [Read more...]

1.002 Crazy Quilt

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1895 - 1915 • Nellie ~ My grandmother started her crazy quilt in 1895, the same year she started her family. Twenty years later, with the birth of my mother, Noreen Ellen "Babe" Chatfield, she completed them both. During Nellie’s first period of confinement (it was improper for pregnant and … [Read more...]

1.001 My Maternal Grandparents

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Dec 26, 1894 • Fruita, Colorado ~ In a ceremony in her parents' home, my grandmother, twenty-one year old Nellie Chamberlin, married Charles Henry Chatfield, a ranching man of twenty-four. Nellie was a no-nonsense Catholic girl and exceedingly religious, but she also had a mind of her own, and … [Read more...]

1.06 Chico and Grandma Chatfield

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1940s • Chico ~ Every summer Mom took the kids to visit her mother, Nellie Chatfield, who still lived in the two-story house on Boucher where my mother grew up. Chico was even hotter than Sonora during the summer, in the 100s every day. To cool off the family took daily picnics to Bidwell Park … [Read more...]

1.05 Summer Camping

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1945 • Pinecrest ~ Every summer the family spent a couple of weeks camping in Pinecrest, pitching a tent and sleeping under the stars at night, boating, swimming, and fishing for perch and bluegill all day. Dad came up on weekends. The kids were free as wild finches from dawn until dusk, Larry and … [Read more...]

1.04 Lucky Strike Girl

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1945 • Sonora ~ At five, Betty opened her first business. She admired the ads of the Lucky Strike girls wearing long gloves, short skirts, high heels, and satin pillbox caps. She particularly applauded the ingenuity of the lacquered trays they carried like a personal shelf supported by a strap … [Read more...]

1.03 A Chicken Named Blackie

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Mid 1940s • Sonora, California ~ Larry and Carleen went everywhere together. They were a year apart (he was born in 1934, she in '35) with the same dark brown hair and brown eyes. When he was four Larry wore an eye patch, and in first grade, glasses. He had a lazy eye, the only thing ever lazy about … [Read more...]

1.02 104 Green Street

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1943 • Sonora, California ~ My father first took a job as manager of the Sprouse-Reitz on Washington Street. Mom came in and helped out. Ten years younger, with jet-black hair like her mother’s and grandmother’s, she wore red lipstick and a wide smile. He was the boss, quiet-spoken, good … [Read more...]

1.01 Part I, Faded Snapshots, Sonora

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1943 • Sonora, California ~ Emerging from the crown of Highway 49 and a mile from end to end, the town of Sonora is tucked into the foothills and ravines of the Sierra Nevada, the gateway to California’s gold mining region. In the mid 1800s it was a whirlwind of change, a booming and often … [Read more...]

0.iii Prologue

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Audio: Prologue (click arrow to listen) My brother Larry was under the illusion that our mother was a good mother, but he had a different childhood than the rest of us. My sisters were convinced otherwise: Carleen complained Mom was thoughtless and self-centered, Betty resented her for abandoning … [Read more...]

0.ii Dedications, Billet-Doux, Credits

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Dedications To my siblings: this memoir is for them to Stephanie Moore: who directed her students with grace, gratitude, and courage and to Michael Naumer: who cautioned, "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you." Writing a book is not a solitary event, and this one would not … [Read more...]

Through Any Given Door: Web Serial

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What follows is what I’ve been told, what I recall, and what my family claims I’ve made up. Some stories I’ve never disclosed; some I’ve recounted so many times I can’t remember if they’re even true anymore. But do we ever recollect what actually happened? Certainly we remember our version—and what … [Read more...]