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Family Stories

Some of my fondest Memories

 Monday, December 23, 2024

Just before waking up this mornning, I dreamt that I was walking with my Father in the forest where our family cabin at Lake Tahoe is. The forest trees and brush were thick and in beautiful colors of green. It was a wonderful dream and I woke up feeling immensely happy.


Of course today is a very Special Red Letter Day in our family. December 23rd It is Nana Hansley's birthday. Evelyn Hansley or Nana Hansley born on December 23, 1885, would have been 139 years old today. She passed away in 1976 at the age of 91. Evelyn was one of the last heirs of the Doyle Estate in Kansas. The Doyles were one of the last Pioneer Families in the area. Evelyn inherited almost a million dollars in the early 40s from the Doyle Estate. She was a very generous great grandmother. We had a wonderful family life.

Every year on Nana's birthday we went out for a fabulous family dinner at a fine restaurant. We dressed up in our fanciest clothes. Nana Hansley alway wore a beautiful corsage made of fresh flowers. Nana looked as beautiful as the flowers in her corsage.

The picture above was taken at a Nana Hansley's birthday dinner that was celebrated in the mid 60s. And the party continued because the day after Nana's birthday was December 24th Christmas Eve. Every year my Mother arranged a magnificient Christmas Eve Party at our house. Delicious gourmet food, festive drinks and we exchanged presents. Christmas Day we first went to Grandmother Fulton's house and then went on to Nana Kirsten's house. Santa always left presents for us kids at each house. Nana Kirsten made a wonderful Christmas Day dinner for all. Life was awesome!


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I and my 3 siblings (Sue, Mike and Jerry) grew up in Stockton, California. Betty and Bill, our parents also grew up in Stockton, so we had lots of nice family in the area. From Stockton you could easily travel by car to lots of interesting places. And we were very lucky that our parents absolutely loved going to fun places and taking us with them.


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 4th of July

I always looked forward to the 4th of July holiday every summer. Besides the 4th of July, my Dad (June 23), my Mom (July 19) and I (July 17) all had birthdays in the summertime. Nana Kirsten hosted many awesome parties at her house (about 2 miles from our house in Stockton). There was a large patio in her backyard where we had yummy barbeques. The backyard was full of pretty flowers and also had an Apricot tree, an Orange tree and a Plum tree. The grassy area in the center of the backyard always had a little wading pool for us kids (and sometimes the adults) to play in.


When I was about 4 years old I remember that I got a little too excited at Nana’s house one time. Nana was anxiously waiting for the one purple bulb on her allium plant in the garden to bloom. She was very excited. SNAP For some reason I went over to the plant and snapped the bulb off. I immediately realized that I had done a bad thing. Nana was pretty upset but forgave me and still loved me!


Every year the 4th of July fireworks were shot off over the small lake at American Legion Park. I always called this Yosemite Park because Nana and Jack Kirsten's house was on Yosemite Street half of a block from the park. We watched the fireworks from Nana's beautiful backyard. Sometimes we would walk over to Yosemite Park and spread a blanket out to sit on and watch the fireworks display.


In the mid 70’s, the fireworks show was moved to the stadium at the University of Pacific. Lucky for us, my Grandmother Fulton lived about 2 blocks from the stadium on Grange Avenue next to the train tracks. We always could park in her driveway.


Sometimes after 1967, we spent the 4th of July at our cabin at Tahoe Vista in Lake Tahoe (about 180 miles from Stockton). We could see the fireworks going off all around the lake. Pretty cool!!!


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 Memorial Day Weekend

At the start of many Memorial Day weekends, I remember our parents piling us 4 kids into Mom's car and then start driving. Mom's car was usually the larger car and we could all fit nicely in - like a station wagon, or a Studebaker. Dad always listened to the Indianapolis 500 on the car radio on Memorial Day. I listened to my transistor radio.


Sometimes we headed east 180 miles over to Reno. We would stay at a hotel/motel with a swimming pool. My parents loved to gamble in the casinos. We kids usually hung out on the sidewalk in front of a casino. If we were lucky, there would be a casino that had rooms with lots of games, snacks and a movie to entertain the kids while their parents gambled.


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 Yosemite National Park

Sometimes in the summer, Dad would go to the army surplus store in Stockton and rent a couple of tents and buy all kinds of items needed for a fun camping trip. Then we would drive east about 98 miles over to Yosemite National Park and camp for a few days! Yosemite National Park was heavenly. Lots of the mountains to hike around on with beautiful waterfalls. The rivers and streams were ice cold and clean. Zeke our black Labrador Retriever loved swimming in them. Sometimes he would even catch a fish in his mouth. A couple of times bears came close to our tent probably looking for food. It wasn’t too scary – just a little.


I do remember seeing the original Firefall at Yosemite on the 4th of July a couple of times. The original Yosemite Firefall was discontinued on January 25, 1968.


   for more info about Yosemite:


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 Lake Tahoe

Sometimes we would drive to South Lake Tahoe which was about 160 miles east of Stockton. Before 1967 when Grandma Fulton bought the cabin at Tahoe Vista (Tahoe North Shore), we usually camped in a large campground on South Shore that was right across from El Dorado Beach. A lot of kids and their families also camped here. It was lots of fun. At night a big campfire was built for everyone to gather around - and even roast marshmallows. El Dorado Beach was perfect for swimming, boating and just lying on the beach. South Shore Lake Tahoe had many fantastic buffets and restaurants. One of my favorites was the Swiss Chalet Restaurant!


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 Santa Cruz

Many, many times – too many to count, we would drive south 100 miles or so to Santa Cruz. Of course, we always stayed at Nana and Bob Hansley's home. Their home was built on the cliffs along the east end of Santa Cruz on South Palisades Avenue in Pleasure Point.


Nana always without fail greeted us each time with a huge smile and a cake. The cake was either a white cake with mixed fruit jelly as a filling and frosting or a yellow cake with yummy chocolate filling and frosting.


Nana and Bob's home in Pleasure Point was spectacular. It was probably built in the late 30s in the Spanish style with white stucco walls and terracotta roofs. The dining room and living room looked out at the sea. On clear days you could see across to Monterey. Around the bay on the left you could see the Moss Landing Power Plant and all the green fields of broccoli, brussel sprouts, strawberries and flowers.


The living room had sliding glass doors that opened out to the lovely backyard. There was a brick barbeque on the patio. The backyard was filled with beautiful fuschias, hydrangeas. begonias and other pretty plants. Stepping stones led across the green grassy area to the goldfish pond.


There weren't many people in Santa Cruz in the 40s and 50s. Most of the people were older and retired. A great place for grandparents to live in. Nana and Bob were my Great Grandparents. A lovely lady named Emily lived across the alley. Emily always invited us kids to come over to her house for a visit. She would have yummy treats to eat. I remember she had a nice little vegetable garden that also had pretty flowers. She sometimes let us help her in her garden.


Interesting Fact: On December 20, 1941, a Japanese submarine was spotted 20 miles off the coast of California at Cypress Point in the Monterey Peninsula. The submarine fired 14 artillery shells at a passing merchant ship. The Japanese Imperial Navy had sent submarines to attack ships off the coast of California. There were also 12 other Japanese submarines stationed along the California coast. During this time and until the end of the war May 1945, Santa Cruz and all coastal residents and businesses were required to use blackout curtains. When I was a young girl I asked about the blackout curtains that remained in the house and this is what I was told. Although blackout curtains were no longer required they were only very slowly coming down.


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 Santa's Villagae

In 1958 the fabulously fun Santa's Village opened near Scotts Valley on Highway 17. We always had to pass it on our frequent drives to and from Santa Cruz. It was only 6 or 7 miles from Santa Cruz. What fun it was to go to Santa's Village!! I think that our parents loved Santa’s Village also - because we stopped there quite frequently!


   for more about Santa's Village


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 Drive Down to Disneyland

One evening on our drive down to Disneyland, we stopped at a Swedish Smörgåsbord. This was new for us. it was really fun and great food! I've never been able to remember where this restaurant was after that. I know it was off of Highway 99 - because that is the highway we always drove on from Stockton to Disneyland in Los Angeles.


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 Santa Monica

I remember we stayed at a great motel in Santa Monica for a few days once when we were on our way to Disneyland. The motel had a pool and was just across the street from the beach. Pacific Ocean Park - POP – was just down the street. POP was a nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica. It was a blast!


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 Disneyland

Disneyland opened on my 4th birthday July 17, 1955. Our first trip to Disneyland was 4 or 5 years after it opened. From the first visit, we were hooked. Mom always insisted that we each buy a hat from The Mad Hatter on Main Street to wear every day. It was so much fun.


The rides were spectacular! The Jungle Cruise and the Sleeping Beauty Castle among many more opened on the first day July 17, 1955. The Monsanto House of the Future ran from 1957 to 1967. The Monorail and the Matterhorn Bobsleds opened June 14, 1959. Just to mention a few of the good times.


I remember the trip to Disneyland in the groovy summer of 1966. It was magical! The hippie movement was alive. There was tons of wonderful music to listen to on my transistor radio. California Girls by the Beach Boys, I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher, Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones and much more wonderful music played everywhere. We felt pretty special staying at the awesome Oriental Gardens section of the Disneyland Hotel. It was perfect!


After Disneyland we drove down to San Diego and stayed a few days due to car trouble. Then we continued south for about 90 minutes on down through Baja California to Encenada.


Encenada was very interesting in the 60’s. We stayed at a motel on the beach. There weren’t many tourists. We kids slept on the tile floor which was not a problem. During the day there was swimming at the pool and beach and shopping at the little tourist shops. We also rode horses on the beach. This is where I learned to love one of my favorite meals - grilled cheese sandwiches and mashed potatoes.


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 Grand Canyon

One summer we drove down to Disneyland and spent a couple of magical fun filled days there. Las Vegas, Nevada was our next stop. Lots of swimming at the hotel pool and we even toured the impressive Hoover Dam. We then drove over to the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and camped on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for a few days. After camping at the North Rim we drove up to Utah’s Zion National Park. The campground had a pool and there were many families with lots of kids to play with. There was also a small river next to the campground that was great to also swim in. Next we drove over to Salt Lake City, Utah. We eagerly looked forward to swimming or floating in the salt lake. However, this was a bad idea. After all the camping we each had lots of little cuts on our bodies. The salt in the lake got into our cuts and it was terrible torture on our bodies. Luckily, there was a bathroom with showers using normal water – not salted water! After Salt Lake City, we drove over to Reno where we stayed one night and then the next day we drove home to Stockton.


I remember one time we were in Las Vegas and it was almost 115 degrees. We stayed in the hotel swimming pool until almost midnight. It was that hot!