3
Living in Our Hayward Home
This was a new life. Randy could attend the Longview Primary School just a block away. Dick and his current attendant maintained the house Monday through Friday and watched over Randy. My work continued at Mike Roberts Color Productions but with a longer commute. It was fun time for us to go through all the planning and arrangements a couple has in settling their new home. All of the homes in this tract were filled with young couples with kids so Randy had plenty of playmates. Most of the ladies in surrounding houses did not work, so it took a little longer for me to become acquainted.
Now I will tell about the March of Dimes and what this organization did for us. Did you remember that Franklin Roosevelt was a polio victim? In some way his polio affliction spurred the growth of March of Dimes during these years of rampant spread of this dreaded disease. Certain events in one's life remain vivid: one was when I had to register Dick as a patient at the Alameda County Hospital. My work at Mike Roberts' supplied me and my family with Blue Cross health coverage. I cannot remember just how much Blue Cross would pay but I knew it would not be enough. The cost of the respirator alone was the monumental sum of $20 a day! (In the 1950's one could feed a family for two weeks for $20). What could I do! Then the clerk told me that March of Dimes would pay for the respirator! The March of Dimes continued to pay part when Dick was transferred to Kabat Kaiser and paid for part of Dick's attendant care when he came home. How marvelous! (You can be sure that I have never stopped donating to that benevolent organization.)
Although Dick was not a complainer, he found life in a wheel chair very boring. He disliked having to ask to be moved when he tired of looking at one wall so that he could look at another wall. So, in his head he created a wheel chair which he might be able to operate. He, with weak thigh muscles, could push out both knees a little. He could, with his left arm, lift the right arm which had a hand with a ring finger he could move, AND he could sit up! Dick's good friend Jack had an Army Surplus business where the right motors, micro and other switches were available as well as drive gears. Brother Bill could make a metal tray to hold two motors behind the wheels of the chair, and another metal tray to ride under the chair's seat to hold two 12-volt batteries. Audine shopped for the right wiring as instructed and did the soldering. With these essentials I will try to explain how the chair worked.
The right arm of the chair was removable. I may be short but I was strong enough to haul tall Dick over a sliding board to and from bed to his wheel chair. The left arm of the chair remained in place; with a switch mounted within reach. On the metal tray behind the wheels there were mounted one motor on each side, small motors that had been used to flash lights on airplane wings. Fastened to these motors were the grooved drive gears that are used in automobile wheels. The grooves were the motorized drive force against the wheel chair wheels. The two 12-volt batteries were wired to a double-throw-center-off switch on the left chair arm. This switch controlled the motors on the tray behind the wheels. Can you visualize this? It was an exciting day when Dick made his trial run (right). The chair was a total success. He had no trouble maneuvering the chair on our slab floors, through the kick-open doors into the yard or the garage to sidewalks and move through the house. Dick was once more INDEPENDENT!!!
Without attendant care for Dick, our routine changed. I would get ready for work, then get Dick up and ready for the day. His lunch was on the kitchen counter wrapped so that he could open his sandwich with one finger. Water carafes with straws were in several places. (Regular men's trousers are not comfortable for wheel chair use, so I made pants for better "sitting" and made them possible for convenient urinal use. Dick saw to it that Randy was up, breakfasted and off to school. When Randy came home from school Dick was able to teach him many "shop" skills. The neighbor boys were good playmates. A few years later Kick redesigned a Stevens Motor street-going chair. This took rewiring and Oh, how I remember that soldering job! Dick paid a neighbor lady to put him in this chair with our Hoyer lift and Dick could drive to a nearby Mall to shop.
Dick's wonderful independence opened up other avenues. He was introduced to Frank Stewart, a blind man living in San Lorenzo. Even though Dick and Frank never met in person, they were in contact every day by phone. Frank was a proficient HAM Operator and he taught Dick Morse Code. Morse Code is usually learned with the "tools" of seeing and writing. Since Frank could not see and Dick could not write, all lessens were verbal. Dick explained to me that learning the dit-dah alphabet sounds was the first plateau to be memorized. His next challenge was to put letters together to make words. That was hard, but the real challenge was when he reached plateau three and had to put words together to make sentences. Dick told me that he might get the first word done, but it was hard to remember what the first word was by the time he reached the end of the sentence. Oh My! But hurdle these challenges he did! When we were in Hayward, Dick used a hand key paddle I devised. With his left arm lifting his right hand, he could slide his middle finger, which was stiff like a poker, into a little cradle on the key pad. Thus he could make dit-dahs. I do not know his speed of sending and receiving at that time, but when he graduated to using a keyboard to communicate with his HAM friends in our Nevada City home, he was sending 30 words per minute and receiving 35 words per minute. He had a widespread circle of HAM friends. Through a Paralyzed Veterans organization we had become close friends with John and Lorna Sailer of Watsonville and Paul and Helen Phillips of Santa Rosa. John and Paul were also wheel-chair Polio survivors, but they could use their hands. They also were avid HAM operators. The fellows had a great time "talking" each day.
Randy (left) attended the nearby primary school, and then he enrolled in the Golden Gate Seventh-day Adventist School in Oakland. For his high school years he moved to Sunset High in Hayward. As an aside, I notice how different it is now for children to attend school. Rarely do children walk to school: parents drive their children to and from schools and /or use school bus service (if it is available). Protection of the child is the primary thought. Chances are that anyone reading this rambling report of days gone by will have the same recollections as I. Kids walked to school, sometimes long distances. After school, kids played games in the streets and vacant lots. How different it is now.
With the Nash car we became quite adventurous. Our first out-of-town trial was a trip to Yosemite. Our plans were carefully made with cabin reservations and when that event was successful we later made a return trip, taking with us Randy's cousin Dianne. That was even more fun. I can remember trips to Carmel, Santa Rosa, Watsonville. I know there were others which escape me now. Each of these trips had their challenges but we managed.
It was in 1961 that I realized that the long commute from Hayward to Berkeley, plus Dick's needs, plus household demands, plus a high-stress job as Art Director at Mike Roberts were telling. I should try to find a job closer to home. Just by chance I learned that schools had printing needs. I sent resumes to Fremont, Hayward and San Leandro School Districts. Didn't have a response from anyone. However, I had a phone call from Castor Valley School District Offices requesting an interview. (Serendipity again!) Fremont District had passed on my resume to Castro Valley. I was hired in 1961 to run the Print Shop as the only employee. This was a totally new experience. I worked in a Quonset hut with an ABDick printer I had never heard of before. I was used to four-color presses that filled a room and this little one-color printer would tuck into a small closet. But that little machine had possibilities!!
My commute now was only 10 minutes! I had a good salary, a retirement plan, very pleasant working surroundings, a health-plan, and the fun of learning how a school district was run. In the District Office, I worked for 16 Elementary Schools and 2 High Schools. With that cute little ABDick I found I could do things that had not been available before as a service. I could design programs, schedules, reports, etc. that had not been done before.
I had been with CVUSD a few years when I was totally surprised with an exciting experience. Unknown to me, I had been selected by my superiors to be one of the six finalists in an "Office Worker of the Year" contest, a yearly event of the California School Employees Association. I and our Assistant Superintendent, were invited to attend as guests the Annual Conference Awards Luncheon in Long Beach, California, when the winner was to be announced. (This took some serious planning for sure! But I was able to get attendant care for Dick for the one night that I would be away). No, I didn't win, but I had a great time.
Working with a school district opened up a totally different kind of work than I had ever experienced, and it was very exhilarating and absorbing. My co-workers were all friendly and cooperative and working conditions couldn't have been more pleasant. In retrospect, I had nothing but nice people to work with at every job I've had. When it came time to retire, I could give up the demands of being on a "job," but I missed my working companions at every occupation. How fortunate can you get?
A few years later I left the Quonset Hut when the District Office was moved to a different location and my department had additional space. With an assistant we could supply even more services for the schools. It was apparent to me that in this expanded Publications Department and with the gradual additions of more equipment, there was obvious potential of teaching the fundamentals of the printing business to others who might want to learn. My suggestion was welcomed by our Superintendent as something to offer to Adult School attendees and to the senior students in the high schools.
My college days had been focused on my majors of Art and Psychology...nothing in the teaching field. I was not a qualified teacher. However, after some research, University of California granted me a Certificate of Education to teach (I thought of it as "share') what I had learned over my years of employment. (Serendipity again!) My classes were filled with adult men and women and senior high students. We had a wonderful time with class work, field trips, designing, layout and composition and hands-on printing operations. Having kids just ready to leave school, working and learning together with adults was a new and very successful experience for both...and for me, too.
Evidently my being accepted as a teacher was successful because I had a delightful surprise when my final class presented me with honors and roses when I received a Life Membership Parent Teacher Award at an evening Parent Teacher Conference event. Another happy event took place when Dick and I were invited to an evening Pot Luck meeting of the Castro Valley School Employee Association. It developed that this gathering was in honor of our 25th Wedding Anniversary! It was a delightful surprise to have a fancy tiered wedding cake presented, made by our Purchasing Manager and his wife. That alone brought applause because their baking skills were not known. But the highlight of the evening for me was Dick's presentation. Unknown to me, he had been told in advance about the reason for the gathering. I haven't mentioned that Dick had a remarkable skill for telling jokes (always clean ones), and he had a quirky, surprising sense of humor. Before serving the cake, Dick said he wanted to say a few words. I don't know how he did it, but he thought up and memorized a lengthy speech that had his whooping with laughter. The next day at the office, people asked me if Dick could give them copies of the speech. Sure enough, when I asked Dick could he type out the speech just as he had presented it, he said he could and did. It is such a treasure to me because I loved the humor and especially appreciated how difficult it was for him to create a speech and present it without notes, and type it with one finger. In hopes that you will enjoy his creation, I will type it here since his typed pages photographed would take too much space.
Dick's 25th Wedding Anniversary Speech
"I would like to say a few words of tribute to my wonderful wife Audine on this, our 25th Wedding Anniversary. I am not going to say anything like men sometimes do about their ball and chain, or that I have been in prison for 25 years. I will not be a Male Chauvinist, whatever that is. If all the men here would admit it, they have a ball and chain that is very light, and like it was filled with helium, upholding and uplifting them rather than dragging them down. In my case, my ball and chain not only upholds and uplifts me, but it supports me.
After 25 years, there is only one thing that I regret. It is that it took me nearly four years to find her. Yes, after I was discharged from the Navy, I began looking for the perfect girl for me. I went with several girls, but until I met Audine, I never found one as perfect as myself. She had everything. She was nice looking , had a pleasing personality, was kind, and considerate, and she was soft.
It was not long before I had just about decided that she was the girl for me. But a man should not rush a thing like this, as he is taking a chance. he must be sure that the girl likes him as much as he likes her, or instead of a sweet yes, he may get a cold no. You have to watch for the signs.
It was not very long until Audine invited me to dinner. Now that was a good sign. I was a tall, lanky man and she must be trying to fatten me up already; that was fine. also she wanted me to get better acquainted with her folks and that was another good sign. The best sign of all was that she wanted me to sample her cooking. I accepted the invitation. That dinner was the best I had eaten in a long time. The table was piled high with delicious food. Audine's mother was a great cook and you know the saying, "Like mother, like daughter," and that was very true. As I looked at Sweet Audine and all that food, my heart did a flip-flop and slid down about eight inches to my stomach. That cinched it and I would ask her to marry me.
It was not many weeks after Audine accepted my proposal that the big day arrived. About three days before our wedding day I began to get tense. As I look out at your many faces it brings back memories of our wedding. I remember that I did not remember very much about what happened. I remember going to the church and standing up before a huge crowd with their beady eyes staring at me. I remember heading for the door and Audine pulling on my arm and saying, "look at the people and smile." But I was scared and could see nothing but the door. I had been in the Navy and had a few narrow scrapes and was scared a time or two, but nothing like this experience. I don't want you to get the wrong idea. No, I was not scared of Audine as I had let her kiss me two or three times already. They told me that we had a lovely wedding with lots of flowers, candles and everyone in their best attire. What they said was true as I got to see the pictures a couple weeks later. I stood so stiff during the wedding ceremony that three weeks later I still had a pain all the way up my back. Yes, I was as relaxed as a stone mannequin.
Audine and I were very happy. After we were married two years, tragedy came along. I got sick with Polio. I thought I had the Flu but became very sick and had to go to the hospital. I was put into a respirator and they told me I had Infantile Paralysis. WOW! I had gotten a baby disease? Maybe I had been too young to get married? Maybe the strain was too much for me? But the doctors assured me that marriage had nothing to do with it. Doctors, seeing all the older people that had this disease too, changed the name to Polio. Then I felt better about it.
After three years of being in the hospital and rehabilitation center we began to assume married life again in our own home. Audine was wonderful. She had to go back to work again and really took over. She changed her job with the long commute and began working for Castro Valley Unified School District and really loves her work and you people. You are her kind of people.
As you all know, Audine is a hard worker. She works hard to bring home the applesauce. Yes, the applesauce, as I don't like bacon. Audine is still a very good cook. The cats and I look forward to her coming home every night. I look forward to her company and a warm meal. She usually quits at 4:30 p.m. and gets home around 5:00. Sometimes she works late if there is a rush job. She then comes staggering in with a file folder under her arm, muttering something about, "why don't they get those rush jobs in before 3:30 in the afternoon." So watch it and pass the word, as I am the one who must cheer her up and keep her in a good mood. When you are handicapped and in a wheel chair you can't afford to take chances. She is very nice to me most all the time and at those times I think about how wonderful she is and how she has stuck to her marriage vows. The one that says, "in sickness and health, and for better or worse." But if she does get mad at me and I see fire in her eyes, I think of the last line, "until death do us part." Now who was the nut that put that in there? He could have said, "Until natural death do us part." That's another reason I don't carry much life insurance. With my disability check coming in, I am worth more alive.
If Audine is not too tired, she gets dinner right away. She fixes a nice dinner and gives it to the cats. Then she starts my dinner. Yes, I always get fed last. But I don't mind, as the cats are younger than I and they can holler louder than I. Who ever heard of a grown man crying meow, meow, meow as soon as his wife comes in the door? We have to feed them and put them out or we have no peace.
My wife Audine is a great person. She is worth her weight in silver. Yes, silver. She used to be worth her weight in gold, but that was when gold was selling for $30 an ounce. But now on the London gold market, it is worth $177 an once. WOW! At that price per ounce, she would be worth nearly half a million dollars. I wonder if a man could cash his wife in? No, I wouldn't do that or trade her off. If they brought in one of the most gorgeous, beautiful girls in the world...one of those Miss America types with all the curves and everything in the right place...plus a little extra for good measure, and asked me if I would trade my wife for her, I would say No. I might think about it for a while, but I still would say No.
I had better quit as I have been talking for a long time I haven't had an opportunity to talk so much without interruption for 25 years and it feels good. I thank you for the nice dinner, cake and present. We will always remember this event and if you have another potluck in 25 years, we will come to celebrate our 50th Anniversary. That man seated at the back table...I can tell what you are thinking. You are thinking I won't last another twenty five years. But don't be too sure. I am not working myself to death like you. So we will see you on March 27, 1999. Thank you.
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I enjoyed my years with the Castor Valley School District, but Dick and I knew that it would be best if I should take advantage of the opportunity of retiring at the earliest time possible...when I turned 55. Randy no longer lived with us and although we had systems where Dick could manage alone during the day, we knew he would soon need more day care. So we made tentative plans.
Thinking ahead, we knew that we wanted to move out of Hayward to somewhere in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. Because of Mother's family history of living in Columbia, California, we thought to start looking in that area. On a trip in 1968, we followed Highway 49 along the foothills from Columbia to Placerville. No stops along that trip were appealing until we saw possibilities at Pollack Pines, above Placerville. However, we still had time to look further and stopped in Colfax to visit with our good friends Florence and Ed Whalin, our friends from the East Oakland Adventist Church. The Whalins had a weekend retirement home in Colfax. Visiting with them we learned that we should continue our travels to a town called Grass Valley. This we did, winding our way on 174 up and down and around curves to eventually see what we thought to be Grass Valley. This area appealed, so we found a real estate office and began to look. We had two criteria in mind: level lot, on a cul-de-sac, with a view, at our price range. That's all? We learned that in this territory our first need was unlikely to find. In this mountainous area, little land is level. But with Serendipity on our side, we found just the property we wanted which included all four criteria! The property was in a new Forest Knolls development on Banner Mountain. All lots were half-acre. In 1968 our lot cost $6,000. At the time we were looking for property, my sister Myrna and her husband Harold were shopping for property in Mendocino County on the coast. As soon as we found what we wanted I called my sister Myrna to let her know. A few weeks later Myrna and Harold took a trip to see what we found and liked the area so much they bought the lot next to ours for $7,000. Some years later Dick's sister Lucille and husband Jim Whitcomb bought the lot across the street for $18,000.
From the time of our purchase in 1968 we left our future in the hands of the Lord. Would we be able to move to the mountains? Would Dick's health allow us to do so? Would we have enough money when I could retire at age 55? God was in charge.
