Mildred Hope Smith: Difference between revisions
(Created page with "{{Header|Mildred Hope Smith 07/24}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Mildred Hope}} {{pm}} <center>⇐ Early Days - Palmdale - Palmdale 2 ⇒<br> {{Palmdale Nexus}} '''Mildred Hope Smith''' was my maternal grandmother. It is 1955, and The Roberts is living in Palmdale, California. Both of my parents (Gerry and Shirlee) are working just up Highway 14 at Air Force Plant 42. My father was the head of the Quality Control team and Shirlee worked in the tool crib ch...") |
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<center>⇐ [[Early Days]] - [[Palmdale]] - [[Palmdale 2]] ⇒<br> | <center>⇐ [[Early Days]] - [[Palmdale]] - [[Palmdale 2]] ⇒<br> | ||
{{Palmdale Nexus}} | {{Palmdale Nexus}}</center> | ||
'''Mildred Hope Smith''' was my maternal grandmother. | '''Mildred Hope Smith''' was my maternal grandmother. She was born in Virginia before the twentieth century - I believe in 1894. I also remember how she would talk about being born before the Wright Bros flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a mere seventy miles from Norfolk, VA. | ||
It is 1955, and The Roberts | It is 1955, and The Roberts are living in [[Palmdale, California]]. Both of my parents (Gerry and Shirlee) are working just up Highway 14 at Air Force Plant 42. My father was the head of the Quality Control team and Shirlee worked in the tool crib checking out specialized an/or "classified" tools to various personnel for working or jet fighter aircraft being built at the facility. | ||
On weekends, Gerry worked our car and those belonging to our neighbors. I was a high school sophomore and I worked | On weekends, Gerry worked our car and those belonging to our neighbors. I was a high school sophomore, and I worked alongside my Dad, learning those traits that auto mechanics needed to keep cars running. Gerry would be under a car, lying on his back on a creeper in the summer heat. He would ask for a 9/16 inch open end wrench and it was job to hand him the correct tool. When he was finisihed with it, he would hand it back to me and I would clean it, placing back in the tool box. I learned to work on cars in a clean, white shirt and jeans. <ref group="Note">This "cleanilness" skill became very important after I joined the Navy and my father had taken up sports car racing. Gerry opened a sports car repair facility named "Automobilia" (so aptly named by my mother) in Cupertino, California.</ref> | ||
They had established work schedules that allowed my dad to go to work early in the morning and then my mom would report to work after all four of us kids had gone to school. | They had established work schedules that allowed my dad to go to work early in the morning, and then my mom would report to work after all four of us kids had gone to school. | ||
Mildred's husband at the time had just died. She was complaining to my parents that she was all alone in Virginia and | Mildred's husband at the time had just died. She was complaining to my parents that she was all alone in Virginia and so distraught and alone in the World. "No mommy, no daddy, no hubby, no food, etc.." (Shades of ''Gone With The Wind.'') | ||
My dad borrowed money from the credit union and wired it to Mildred so she could move to Palmdale and become | My dad borrowed money from the credit union and wired it to Mildred so she could move to Palmdale and become the summer childcare provider while school was out. | ||
On a Sunday afternoon, my dad and I | On a Sunday afternoon, my dad and I worked on a car in the driveway. Mildred showed up in a brand new four-door sedan. It seems her husband had left her life insurance, after all. Oh, and by the way, she didn't want to travel alone, so she found three male companions who helped pay for gas and helped with gas and meals while driving across the country. (We later met one of her helpers who told us the three guys did almost all the driving, which stressed her out.) | ||
My father went into "white knuckle anger" mode. | My father went into "white knuckle anger" mode. He had taken money from The Roberts' grocery fund to help pay for her relocation. After a few moments, he regained his composure, and Mildred and my mother went into the house to make sleeping arrangements. Mildred bunked in with Sherry and Valerie, Phil and I had our room, and Gerry and Shirlee had their room. One unexpected expense of Mildred's arrival was the new house rule: everyone had to wear bathrobes outside their sleeping room; no more running down the hall in your underwear. | ||
Gerry forgave Mildred for her | Gerry forgave Mildred for her extravagant VA-CA trip, but I don't think he ever forgave her. | ||
Being born before the advent of flight, moving to Palmdale, and seeing advanced jet aircraft must have been a form of culture shock. | |||
== Marriage to [[Ted Elder]] == | == Marriage to [[Ted Elder]] == | ||
On November 11th, 1955, Ted Elder married my maternal grandmother, [[Mildred Hope Smith]], in [[Palmdale|Palmdale, California]] at my parent's home on Sweetbriar Ave. Mildred decided to get married to Ted because it was a National Holiday | On November 11th, 1955, Ted Elder married my maternal grandmother, [[Mildred Hope Smith]], in [[Palmdale|Palmdale, California]] at my parent's home on Sweetbriar Ave. Mildred decided to get married to Ted because it was a National Holiday for some folks but not the employees of AF Plant 42. This meant my parents had to take the day off without pay. | ||
At | At 11 a.m. on Armistices Day (now Veterans Day), an Elder from the Mormon Church presided over Ted and Mildred's wedding. | ||
Beforehand, Teds' friends and relatives had to toast the bride and groom individually. Ted was from a large Mormon family, and there were a lot of relatives. Being good Mormons, each toast was made with good drinking whiskey and individually, all in private. There was a lot of toasting. | |||
My father was the "Obligatory Father of the Bride" | My father was the "Obligatory Father of the Bride." Gerry had had quite a few toasts from Ted's relatives. When the officiant asked who gave us this bride in matrimony, my dad's answer was, "I do, who else?" | ||
Being good friends, the relatives had adorned the getaway car with tin cans tied to the rear bumper, streamers and painted | Being good friends, the relatives had adorned the getaway car with tin cans tied to the rear bumper, streamers, and slogans painted on it. As a prank, they had to remove the distributor from the car so it would not start. My father, being the "on-call mechanic," quickly diagnosed the problem. He then began to offer money for the return of the missing auto part for fear that both Ted and Mildred would move in with the Roberts family instead of going on a honeymoon. | ||
The rotor was miraculously found and installed, the car started and the bride and groom were on their way. | The rotor was miraculously found and installed, the car started and the bride and groom were on their way. | ||
Revision as of 21:37, 18 July 2024
and should NOT be used for any reason other than reading enjoyment |
| Palmdale Nexus | ||
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A Personal Note from Robin
| ||
Mildred Hope Smith was my maternal grandmother. She was born in Virginia before the twentieth century - I believe in 1894. I also remember how she would talk about being born before the Wright Bros flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a mere seventy miles from Norfolk, VA.
It is 1955, and The Roberts are living in Palmdale, California. Both of my parents (Gerry and Shirlee) are working just up Highway 14 at Air Force Plant 42. My father was the head of the Quality Control team and Shirlee worked in the tool crib checking out specialized an/or "classified" tools to various personnel for working or jet fighter aircraft being built at the facility.
On weekends, Gerry worked our car and those belonging to our neighbors. I was a high school sophomore, and I worked alongside my Dad, learning those traits that auto mechanics needed to keep cars running. Gerry would be under a car, lying on his back on a creeper in the summer heat. He would ask for a 9/16 inch open end wrench and it was job to hand him the correct tool. When he was finisihed with it, he would hand it back to me and I would clean it, placing back in the tool box. I learned to work on cars in a clean, white shirt and jeans. [Note 1]
They had established work schedules that allowed my dad to go to work early in the morning, and then my mom would report to work after all four of us kids had gone to school.
Mildred's husband at the time had just died. She was complaining to my parents that she was all alone in Virginia and so distraught and alone in the World. "No mommy, no daddy, no hubby, no food, etc.." (Shades of Gone With The Wind.)
My dad borrowed money from the credit union and wired it to Mildred so she could move to Palmdale and become the summer childcare provider while school was out.
On a Sunday afternoon, my dad and I worked on a car in the driveway. Mildred showed up in a brand new four-door sedan. It seems her husband had left her life insurance, after all. Oh, and by the way, she didn't want to travel alone, so she found three male companions who helped pay for gas and helped with gas and meals while driving across the country. (We later met one of her helpers who told us the three guys did almost all the driving, which stressed her out.)
My father went into "white knuckle anger" mode. He had taken money from The Roberts' grocery fund to help pay for her relocation. After a few moments, he regained his composure, and Mildred and my mother went into the house to make sleeping arrangements. Mildred bunked in with Sherry and Valerie, Phil and I had our room, and Gerry and Shirlee had their room. One unexpected expense of Mildred's arrival was the new house rule: everyone had to wear bathrobes outside their sleeping room; no more running down the hall in your underwear.
Gerry forgave Mildred for her extravagant VA-CA trip, but I don't think he ever forgave her.
Being born before the advent of flight, moving to Palmdale, and seeing advanced jet aircraft must have been a form of culture shock.
Marriage to Ted Elder
On November 11th, 1955, Ted Elder married my maternal grandmother, Mildred Hope Smith, in Palmdale, California at my parent's home on Sweetbriar Ave. Mildred decided to get married to Ted because it was a National Holiday for some folks but not the employees of AF Plant 42. This meant my parents had to take the day off without pay.
At 11 a.m. on Armistices Day (now Veterans Day), an Elder from the Mormon Church presided over Ted and Mildred's wedding.
Beforehand, Teds' friends and relatives had to toast the bride and groom individually. Ted was from a large Mormon family, and there were a lot of relatives. Being good Mormons, each toast was made with good drinking whiskey and individually, all in private. There was a lot of toasting.
My father was the "Obligatory Father of the Bride." Gerry had had quite a few toasts from Ted's relatives. When the officiant asked who gave us this bride in matrimony, my dad's answer was, "I do, who else?"
Being good friends, the relatives had adorned the getaway car with tin cans tied to the rear bumper, streamers, and slogans painted on it. As a prank, they had to remove the distributor from the car so it would not start. My father, being the "on-call mechanic," quickly diagnosed the problem. He then began to offer money for the return of the missing auto part for fear that both Ted and Mildred would move in with the Roberts family instead of going on a honeymoon.
The rotor was miraculously found and installed, the car started and the bride and groom were on their way.
After the wedding
That same afternoon, with the bride and groom gone, mom returned to the house and tried cleaned up all of the dishes and "lots of glasses". It was a hot day and Gerry retired to the bathroom for a shower and change of clothes, well he made it to the shower. He found his way to the living room where he laid down on the floor and turned on the television. Now at this point, the story takes one of two avenues. Some say that due to the heat and all of the stress, he fell asleep, while others say he passed out. We will never know for sure because he was unconscious.
Shirlee tried to awaken him and offered lunch. Without luck, she simply pulled the living room rug over him and allowed him to "sleep".
About dusk, my father arose, fresh and hungry. My parents fed us kids and went to the local bowling alley where the company sponsored large bowling league/tournament. Gerry maintained a consistent 275 plus bowling average in league play.
That evening, Gerry rolled three consecutive perfect games and won a brand new car which had gone un-won since the beginning of the tournament.
When he was asked how he had accomplished such a monumental feat he said simply, "I stood at the lane entry point and watched all of the pins on the alley. Because of the wedding earlier today, I wasn't seeing real straight and the pins seemed to waver. So I would wait for all of the pins to spread out all the way to the edges of my vision and then through the ball between them. The alley, all of the pins and the bowling ball all seemed to arrive in the middle of the alley at the same time." That was SO Gerry!
Mildred and the Tartanula
There was not of lot of options when it came to entertainment in Palmdale at that time. Television had, I think, less than a dozen TV channels. HBO, and cable TV did not exist.
It meant going to places like Two Shay Ranch or driving to Los Angeles (sixty or so miles away) or going to the local movie house.
The local theater was about twenty blocks or so away - an easy bike ride for someone who wanted to see the latest western or scifi film. Mildred indicated she wanted to join me for the afternoon. She would pay for tickets and refreshments, and drive me and friends to the theater.
That weeks film was Tarantula with John Agar, Mara Corday, and Leo G. Carroll. Clint Eastwood was also in it, but I wanted to see Mora Corday. She was a beautiful move star who always played a heroine or damsel in distress, but then, Mildred woudn't understand: she was not a young teenage boy.
Mildred asked why I found the movie so interesting. "Well, it had to be that the film was shot in Apple Valley, just an hour or so from Palmdale by car. That's it, it was filmed in our part of the world."
All was fine until this one hundred foot tall spider began enteriing the town and eating all of its inhabitant. Mildred she was afraid and with her left hand, sunk her finger nails into my thigh. I almost screamed along with the theater audience!
Notes
- ↑ This "cleanilness" skill became very important after I joined the Navy and my father had taken up sports car racing. Gerry opened a sports car repair facility named "Automobilia" (so aptly named by my mother) in Cupertino, California.
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