Part II
Several very nice things that the people were all used to and were taking for granted started disappearing. I never really could understand why they stopped all the streetcars that would take people in any direction down the main street, connecting everywhere to make transportation excellent and economical too. Next, they tore down the cables that ran them and that was a huge job creating confusion in traffic. For all those used to traveling by streetcar they now had to either walk, buy a car, or take a gas burning new bus, which really created fumes to rise. Eventually this kind of "fumes" was named SMOG. Then naturally came the removal of the streetcar tracks which took several years of congested traffic with street closures and lane closure signs. I started my driving about that time so all this was soon forgotten, never questioned, and life just went on. My opinion is: IF STREETCARS WERE STILL THE MAIN TRANSPORTATION IN THAT WHOLE AREA, MUCH MORE GOOD WOULD HAVE COME FROM IT ALL. BUT THAT IS JUST MY OPINION.
About the same time this was happening, it was decided it would be cheaper to import our oil from other countries, so SIGNAL HILL and all oil wells were shutdown, supposedly for no oil to be taken. But over the years what happened to that oil reserve? We still have to import our oil but now it is owned by foreign countries and regulations put up on it. NONE OF IT MAKES MUCH SENSE ANYMORE. WHO owns the oil that is in our own country? We have more untapped oil in Colorado than the whole world has. It was once said by sources unknown that we Americans WILL SAVE OURS. What a blindfold the government has put over our eyes.
My first husband was George. He was 3 years older than me. I got pregnant and we had to marry. I think it was July when his folks drove us to Quartzite, Arizona where we married with a justice of the peace. It was so terribly hot we thought we would die in the little 34 Ford we were in. No air-conditioning in the cars at that time. We survived the trip, however, and Gail Ellen was born that following January. She was a delightful little daughter and I fell into into life as a wife and mother. Another child. Tracey Jeanne was born several years later. Life was lonely for me even though we owned our own house. I went to work for Pacific Bell Telephone office and was a long distance operator for about one and a half years. George was also an employee of the telephone company and he worked in the operations department and also worked graveyard shift. During the mornings George would be sleeping and I would take the girls to the babysitter's house before going to work split shift-- which was 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. It was a very miserable position and I could not take it one morning on my day off when George came home about 6 a.m. with a crowd of people. I packed up the kid's belongings and a few of mine and took off for Bakersfield to be with my sister Evelyn and Melvin Powers. I lost my job for leaving with no notice and ended up going back to Los Angeles again and finding a job. It was not long till I found out I was PREGNANT again and told George I needed help--but he refused to believe the baby I was carrying was his. I arranged to live in Rosamond in the little house my mom ended up living in later on, but Hazel's husband George Stemwedel was ill and dying of cancer and could not stand the noise of my two girls playing out in the yard. I understood, and called George to come and get the girls. He did, and I somehow made my way back to Los Angeles and arranged with a doctor there to adopt out the child I was carrying. I ended up getting $75 a month for my expenses and arranged living with a lady who had lost her husband and had 2 kids to care for. I babysat and gave her most of the money -- and all I had money for was cigarettes. Just had to have cigarettes in those days. Pregnant or not. They did not know there was a problem with tobacco then. Shortly after the baby boy was born in 54, my friend, Ed O'Connor, came home from Korea and we were together for 19 years and had the 6 boys. We lived together until George got the divorce, and then we married in Las Vegas. It was not long after I married Ed that George wanted me to stop seeing the girls. He claimed it was too hard to manage them after Ed and I had them for weekends, etc. His mom told me I should just back off, that it was confusing my two girls--and they were having to get spanked a lot. So, I bowed out and George knew where I lived for 10 years after that, and I never had a word of the girls at all.
That was in 1955. Tim had been born and we all went on with our life--Ed trucking and being gone most of the time and would only get 2 or 3 days off before taking off again for another 6 weeks or more. His being gone most of the time made him more potent for getting me pregnant cause pregnant I got--even though I was using the methods they had then for birth control. Guess they did not work too well cause every year and a half or so, I had another baby. After the twins, I went 4 years before Bart was born, but that was only because I had 2 or 3 miscarriages. All together 12 pregnant times to endure and only got to raise 6 boys out of the 9 children I had given birth to. After the twins were born, Ed leased his own truck as was making good money--times were especially good then in the late 50's and early 60's. We did own a home for a while and he leased his truck from Bekins Van Lines until he broke down and traded that truck back east for a new truck and presto. It was not long till he kept getting sent what they called "deadheaded for a destination" and not getting paid for those miles or any problems with the truck--or anything. They did this week after week till Ed was gone 6 weeks to 3 months before he would pop in for 3 days and turn around and be gone again. He finally went bankrupt and we lost our cars, our home, etc. We moved over to Pomona and he went to work for other companies and we got by. Pomona was 10 years of our life and the END of another marriage.
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