Empty Nester

On September 15, 1934, Flonce was the first to get married to Maude Rankin and Alice soon followed on February 6, 1936, marrying Harold Hymas. On December 9, 1936 Grandma’s first grandchild was born. It was the son of Alice and Harold which they named James Robert, but when he was only four months old, he caught Pneumonia and died. Losing a first child was very hard on Alice and Harold and it was hard on Grandma too. They had been living with her at the time and she was very close to the baby. Some of the sting of losing the only grandchild was taken away the following month; however, when Maude and Flonce had their first child. It was a girl which they named Francis Marion after her father and great-grandfather.

In the next four years, all of Grandma’s children got married except Bob. Ralph married Jean Murphy, October 1, 1938, Walter married Geraldine Field, January 15, 1940, and Gordon married Leona Shingleton, September 30, 1940. It wasn’t hard to see that soon Grandma and Bob would be all alone in a very large house with still very little income. Grandma loved her home, her husband had built it, all her children had been born there, and her husband had died there, but she decided the time had come for her to sell the house and find a smaller one. The house was put up for sale but there was very little interest and no buyer. As the boys got married and the house didn’t sell, Grandma became more worried. She knew there wouldn’t be enough money to pay the utilities and still feed Bob and her. In January, 1940, Walter went to her and told her he and Jerry would stay with her and share expenses and upkeep until she could sell the house. This eased her mind and in the spring she was able to sell the house and move to Poplar Grove.

Soon after Bob was drafted into the service which left Grandma alone for a while until Gordon and Leona moved in with her to keep her company and share expenses. They stayed until the following year when Roy was born.

The following years Grandma was kept busy just caring for and keeping track of her many grandchildren. She loved her grandchildren, tended many of them regularly and never, ever forgot a birthday until the last five years of her life. She always knew what they were doing and kept careful records of where they were and how old they were.

In 1944 Bob came home from the army on furlough and fell in love with Virginia Stafford. It wasn’t long after he returned to California that she followed him and they were married on March 15, 1944. About a year later the war ended and Bob and Virginia returned home to settle in Salt Lake.

Although all of Grandma’s children were married now, all of them had stayed in Salt Lake and could visit her often. Jobs were hard to find in Salt Lake at that time; however, and salaries were much better in other cities. It was Alice and Harold who decided to leave first and go to Portland to work in an aluminum plant. Grandma had never been out of Utah so Portland must have seemed like a very long way. They stayed in Portland the rest of Grandma’s life but she stayed in touch by writing letters regularly. Grandma could always tell you what was going on in Alice’s family anytime you ask her. Soon after, Maude and Flonce took their young family to San Francisco which is where they settled and their family still lives today.

Many more grandchildren were born in the years that followed and in 1962 when Bob and Virginia had Wendy, the last grandchild, she was the twenty-third grandchild.

About 1946, Grandma became ill and depressed. She had always lived such an active life with many people around her and now she lived alone. She was very lonely so Walt and Jerry asked her to move in with them and sell her Poplar Grove house. It wasn’t long after moving in with a busy, young family that Grandma was back to her old self again. She not only helped with the cleaning, cooking, and caring for the children, but she also got a job at a rest home caring for the patients. I was very young then, but I do remember going down to the bus stop to meet her when she came home.

Grandma had a proud and independent soul and although she loved Walt and Jerry very much, this arrangements just couldn’t last. She needed a place of her own to care for. A place where she could have her own furniture, her own belongings, her own memories.

In the spring of 1949, Grandma found just the right place. It was a tiny green and white house on Downington Avenue. It had three small rooms, a big back porch, and a small yard to putter in. It was also quite close to both Bob and Virginia and Walt and Jerry so she could see the families when she wanted to. Grandma loved it and was happy there by herself for many years. She would play her records, work in her garden, or talk to her birds. Sparky was her first bird and when he died we gave her Jingles. She loved the birds and would sit for hours drinking a cup of tea and repeating a word over and over until they would finally learn it. She also loved plants. All of her window sills were full of them and she took great pride in how well she could grow them.

Every Christmas Eve, Grandma would come to our house to stay overnight. Usually, if she stayed overnight, I got to sleep on the couch in the front room, but on Christmas Eve she slept on the couch. I always put up a fuss. I wanted to sleep on the couch and watch Santa. She would stay Christmas morning for the opening of the presents and breakfast, but then she would hurry home so she wouldn’t miss her other children.

Next: The Modern World

Alice 1940 in front of

9th West House

Ralph, Jean, Jerry, Walt

Alice and Harold

Ralph, Jerry, Maude, Flonce

Sunday Dinner with Walt and Jerry

Walt, Leslie(Jerry's brother), Grandma, Jerry, Marianne

Alice standing in front of Downington Ave house 1963