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from my perspective . . . Sunday morning, 9:00 and all is well . . . I know that because I just heard the church bells ring from the little Catholic Church here in Etna . . . a real 'synesthesia' moment (when a colour/symbol/design/sound evokes an ancient memory or distant dream or other type of sensory experience). That is one thing I miss about Cheeseville . . . the sound of the bells wafting through the woods from the Convent of St. Elizabeth on Sundays or late evenings on Monday. There is obviously something in my DNA that softens when I hear church bells. And speaking of DNA/ancient memories, I would add 'things we have been told growing up'. I can't tell you how many times Mother told me, 'You can always get a job as a school teacher'. After graduating from Ohio State in 1968 with a B.S. in Elementary Education and moving to California in 1969, I certainly proved that theory wrong! That was the year there were soooo many teachers out of work. The thought of going back to school for another year and then taking a test for a California teaching certificate when I never really wanted to be a school teacher anyway was not high on my list of things to do! And the 'no pain, no gain' theory has never been anywhere near or in my field of thought! Now, 'you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink' had merit . . . until Eb's dehydration episode yesterday. He's probably had more water in the last day than in the last 3 months!
When I got the idea to write down stories to go with the old photos, one of my first segments was going to be about the couples I have seen over the years holding hands as they walk downtown. Immediately Mary (Stephens) Waller and her husband Ray came to mind. So I snapped this as they walked by the house that same afternoon!
It was only last Sunday that I visited with Mary and she shared a lot of photos from her albums. I began with the Stephens Store in my July 25th post, and had planned to continue on toward 'present times' when the mention of the Observation Posts in my July 24th post flooded the inbox with stories that were too good not to post right away! Sooooooo now we go back where I left off . . .
Note the brand new mailbox!
That sounded good to Mary, so she followed that course. After graduation, Mary taught in Petaluma for 8 years and Antioch for one year. Then she decided she really didn't want to be a teacher after all (Sound familiar???) She moved to Sacramento and took a job working for the government. A fellow worker and friend told her about an upcoming class in Programming and went on and on about how lucky they were to have this class offered by a man who was an 'expert' in that field. Soooooo Mary signed up for the class and had all sorts of images in her mind of what this 'grand teacher' would look like. One that came to mind was Einstein. Now these are Mary's words: "On the first day of the class, in walks this 'child' with dark hair, mustache and a big long cigar. All I could think of was . . . I sure wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley." And you guessed it, this grand teacher's name was Ray Waller!!!!!! The class progressed and Ray asked Mary to meet him for a drink one night after class. Women's Lib was just becoming popular and Mary thought she had better be sure she had money to pay for her own drink. She looked in her purse and had no money. So after class she raced home (at quite some distance) and gathered money together and raced back to meet Ray. She was so late that he figured she had stood him up and was about to leave. I asked her if she had to pay for her own drink that night and she smiled and said 'no'. In August, 1961 Mary and Ray married . . . (wow, that's 50 years this month of August. We should have a celebration!)
Mary gave me the rundown on their many moves following Ray's job transfers: Began in Sacramento, then San Francisco, San Jose area, Los Angeles. In 1964 Ray left Univac (Systems Analyst) and took a job with the State of Alaska in Juneau. Their sons Charley and Harry were born in Alaska.
Once the boys were out of school, they went to Phoenix, Arizona where Mary pictured a nice little place where she could just walk out her door to her mailbox. They ended up with 2 acres in the desert and a walk of 1/2 mile to the mailbox! I asked Mary if that was why she was so proud of her new mailbox out in front of her house . . . she smiled that same smile at not having to pay for her own drink! About 1991, with her father reaching over 100 years, Mary and Ray moved back to the little house in Etna. The original Stephens house had been sold long before. We are happy they returned home. P.S. And I am happy Eb is feeling well enough to again walk hand in hand with me . . .
In joy! Che'usa
Photos
courtesy of:
Thanks
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