My Life
By Clara Owen
My mother and dad
were both born in Norway Norway
My folks were
married in Fingal (in the southeastern part of the state.) Shortly after that they moved into the northern
part of North Dakota in the Twin Butte area. In 1908 they homesteaded up there
and built a little 2 room shack. That’s where Alma, Emma, Morris and Lillian
were born.
In 1914 my dad and
Uncle Enoch built this little house in Ambrose. We were 3 miles from the
Canadian border and 30 miles from the Montanan border. I imagine they moved into town as the
children got older and wanted to go to school.
The rest of us were born in this little house in Ambrose. Ambrose was a nice little town with lots of
trees which isn’t real common in North Dakota, a friendly little town. I’m glad I was brought up in a little place
like that.
I’m told that even
in the little 2-room shack, with 4 little kids, the door was always open. And folks would come from Norway Raleigh
If someone was in
the hospital or had to come to Ambrose, they knew our door was open. That meant
we had to give up our beds. We’d put a
couple dining room chairs together, tie them with socks. That’s where I slept
many nights in winter when it was too cold to sleep on the floor. No problem in the summer because we could
sleep on the floor. (Mom told me they
would use the ironing board and the bathtub too for sleeping when lots of
people were there.)
Being Ambrose was
a small town we had a barn, we had a cow for milk, cream and butter, chickens
so had eggs. Saturday someone would grab a chicken and chop off its head for
our Sunday dinner. We always had a big garden so we had lots of vegetables. Going to a store was very unusual for us, just
for flour and sugar and a few things. We
always had our own supply of things. Also we had a pump for a well. I don’t
know of anyone else in Ambrose that had one.
It was nice that we had our own water.
What most people had to do was buy water from a big tank truck pulled by
a horse. They would go house-to-house to
sell water by the pail full.
Then we had an
artisan well that we all hauled water for washing clothes. We kids had to take a wagon filled with cream
cans. Mother would build a fire in the
wood stove and heat all the water. Then
the water would be put in the washing machines and tubs. Every speck of it had to heated and hauled
back and forth. I can’t remember when we
didn’t have a washing machine. The first
one had a handle and gears and we had to push it back and forth. The gears would turn the agitator in the
machine . . you didn’t leave it for a minute
pushing the gears. I suppose it had a
wringer. Gradually we got more modern
and the agitator went by itself. We got
quite modern! It was life – it was what
we expected. We felt fortunate to have
that.
I think it’s quite
surprising that we had things so many didn’t have. I remember when the telephone came in. I feel very fortunate that I grew up in a
time when all these things were new and exciting. Now it’s just plain ordinary stuff. But in my day it was something different.
I remember we had
a telephone and how excited we were when the telephone rang we’d all try to
listen. We’d pull it away from mother’s
ear to try to hear. It was exciting to hear a voice and be able to call
operator and get a number. I don’t know
who we called. We had such a little town
I wondered why we needed a telephone because we were back and forth all the
time with our friends.
Also a radio. We had one of the first radios. Morris loved sports and the kids in the
neighborhood did too. I can remember that radio with a headset. The boys in the neighborhood would all come
over and they’d be pulling on one of those earphones to hear the game. We’d all want to take our turn
listening. It was all very new and very
different.
There was an
airplane. That was new. At school or
wherever we were, everyone would stop to look up at airplane. If it landed in somebody’s cow pasture, as
soon as school was out we’d head for wherever the plane was. So we could really look at it. I remember they used to take some of the kids
up for rides. I don’t think I ever had a
ride in Ambrose.
The same with the
car. My dad was one of the first to have
a car, a Model T. We were proud of
that. And he was really proud of
it. It made it really nice to travel to
visit relatives. The church that we attended was the one that mother and dad
had attended when they lived out in the country. It was Lutheran and was 7 miles away. On Sundays we’d all pile in this car. You can imagine how crowded it was with 9
kids and a mother and a father. We’d go
out to our Lutheran church. I’ll never
forget the church. All the service was
in the Norwegian language and I didn’t understand that. Everyone went to church in those days and it
was always full. My dad insisted that we
were very quiet. I tried to get a bench
along the wall. At least I’d be able to
move my eyes. You didn’t dare move
anything else. I could see who came in
and if my friends were there. It was a long hour when you couldn’t understand
anything that was being said. But I’m
thankful that we were taught that Sunday was a holy day and that we should
attend church and taught to have reverence for the Word of God. It was very nice for our whole family. I can say that all 9 children had respect for
Sunday and for keeping it holy. I’m sure it wasn’t as strict as when my dad was
there. But he did hold up a standard to
honor the Lord.
He also worked
hard all day long. When he was farming,
he didn’t have any of the new equipment they have today. He’d come home very dusty - you’d see the
whites of his eyes and his lips. That’s
about all you could recognize on him.
He’d be so terribly dusty and dirty from working in the fields plowing
and using the horse. When he’d come home
and get cleaned up, he had a big black Morse chair he’d sit in that chair and
sing old gospel hymns in Norwegian. He
had his Norwegian Bible next to him and he would read and sing. That was his recreation. I had wonderful memories of my father. (Mom
told me her dad never had to spank the kids.
They had such respect for him, that if he told them to do it, they
didn’t question him.)
My mother was a
wonderful mother too. With 9 children –
but they never all lived there at the same time. Emma I believe moved away before LaVerne was
born.
The bankers lived
just a few blocks from our place didn’t have any children. They wanted someone to help with the work and
the cooking. They wanted Emma to come. I don’t know what age she was, maybe 13 or
14. She went to live with them. She had a lovely room. They had a built an indoor bathroom. Whenever they would go away, she’d have one
of us kids come stay with her. It was a
thrill to get in a big bathtub and have all the water we wanted and take a
bath, and live in a beautiful home. Emma
was always good to let one of us stay.
Alma went to a
cousin, who was teaching, to take care of her baby.
Even without all 9
kids at home it was a lot of work. I
lived there for 18 years and I can never remember my mother yelling at us or
being upset. Mornings when we were
getting ready for school it was peaceful and calm. We lived a couple blocks from school. At lunch time she’d fix lunch for
everybody. I never did hear her get
upset or complain. We’d bring our
friends home and we’d have fresh bread or fresh cake and kool-aid. Our friends were always welcome to come. She was a happy woman. She used to laugh and laugh. We’d get the biggest kick out of her. Anything funny and she’d start laughing – a
happy laugh. I’m thankful for a mother
who was willing to put up with her kids.
I’m sure we were all angels!! Wash
My dad would get
up early in the morning, build a fire in the wood stove, put on a big kettle of
oatmeal, put on the coffee pot. We
always had lots of milk and cream so when we got up everything would be
ready. We’d sit down to our
breakfast. That’s another thing my
father was very strict about: everyone
was home for mealtime. We were to be
there and washed and at the table. We
never ate a meal without asking a blessing.
My father always said the Norwegian prayer and
we all joined in. I have lots of good
feelings about my childhood. When I hear
about some of the terrible things some people went through. (She told me some kids had homes with alcoholic
fathers and how hard their life was.) I’m
thankful because I never saw a can of beer in our home. I never saw my father drink beer or liquor. Never saw a cigarette. I understand my dad did smoke a pipe at one
time. It must have been when I was a
very small child. I never saw that. I have a lot to be thankful for.
We also had lots
of friends in town. Everybody was
friends. Boys and girls - we didn’t have
to have boyfriends or girlfriends – just friends. We would get together for everything and play
together. Go up to the school and play
on the swings or teeter totter or have a ballgame. We didn’t need women’s lib. If they needed someone to play baseball it
didn’t matter whether you were a boy or girl – you just joined the game. No one told us you can’t play because you’re
a girl.
During the summer
months we’d sleep outside. We’d bring
our blankets – we didn’t invite anybody – anybody could come who wanted to join
us. We’d sleep outside and watch the
stars fall and wish for things. I don’t
know what we wished for. That’s what
you’re supposed to do with a falling star.
Then we’d get up in the morning go to the railroad tracks and play on
the train’s box cars – jump from one boxcar to another. Nothing planned – we’d just do it. Then maybe the next time we’d go to somebody
else’s house. We’d roller skate and play
baseball.
We used to meet by
the Presbyterian church, all the kids in town, and play kick the can. Somebody
would kick the can and we’d all go hide. We had real good friends and lots of clean
fun.
When I was in high
school I was the oldest one at home.
Norma had gone to Crosby to work in someone’s home. Lillian and Tony were married and moved to
Seattle, Emma was down in Eugene, just four of us kids left at home (Clara,
Buddy, LaVerne and Bernice.) Mother
wasn’t too well. She had worn herself
out and she was going through the change.
I often had to stay home and take care of the kids and chores. Bernice wasn’t real well either. She had a bad heart. But she must have outgrown that. She had one year she wasn’t able to go to
school - was right down in bed. I imagine
that was hard on mother to take care of her day and night.
Lillian and Marlyn
came from Seattle to visit. There was no
work in Ambrose so Lillian asked me to come to Seattle to find work.
In Ambrose, we
lived three miles from the Canadian border. Mr. and Mrs. Yardley were the custom agents. We knew them well. He was transferred to Victoria as a custom
agent. They were moving and were going to
go through Seattle with their son. Norma
and I asked if we could travel with them.
The Ambrose area is flat as a pancake.
Here we were traveling through the high mountains and Norma was scared to
death. Every time we’d come to a high
mountain or curve she’d grab hold of my leg.
My legs were black and blue by the time we got to Seattle.
The Yardleys left
us off at the train depot in Seattle. We were going to take a taxi to Lillian’s
friends. Lillian and Ton were in
Discovery Bay at this time. In Ambrose
we didn’t need addresses. We gave the
address to the taxi driver but didn’t say north or east. He took us out to the wrong place, but they
finally figured out where to take us. He
didn’t charge us extra for having to take us further. Alice Gay was standing outside with two tubs
of hot water scrubbing clothes when we arrived.
We were more modern than Alice in Seattle because we had an electric
washing machine back home.
We went to
Discovery Bay to stay with Lillian and Tony.
Then they moved to Port Angeles where Tony had a job driving a logging
truck. They lived out at Dry Creek in a
little tiny house. We all moved
here.
Norma and I didn’t
know how to do anything but housework.
We got jobs in homes doing housework and cooking. I suppose we made $5 a week plus room and
board. We were thankful for a place to
live. It was good to have Norma there so
we could go places together. We worked
for good people. If they had a car they’d
let us use it. We’d go out to Lillian’s
when we had time off. We had lots of
good times. Tony had an old, old car
that we’d use to go to town for shopping.
None of us knew much about driving.
We’d park someplace where there was lots of room to park. We’d laugh all the way. The car was an old jalopy.
We were busy
making a living for ourselves. Norma
worked for Dr. McGillvery. That’s when
she got married. Then I went to work for
Dr. McGillvery until they moved to Arizona for the winter months. The Phillips family knew about me. He was the president of First National Bank. They had earlier tried to get me to work for
them.
While I was at
McGillverys, Don Maxwell and his dad did the yard work there. They’d sing hymns or whistle while
working. One day I was washing clothes
and Don told me they’d dedicated their new church on Sunday. He said he had almost asked me to go. I said I’d like to go. So I went to church
with him. On Thanksgiving Day, Dorothy
and Hillary Huff asked me to go to dinner with them. They picked me up and took me to church. That’s when I got saved. Then I went home to dinner with them.
Everyone at church
was encouraged to get an instrument and play in the orchestra. I decided I wanted to play the cello. I paid $45 for the cello and $15 for the bow.
I took cello lessons from Andy Ward as did May Young. I played in the orchestra for many
years.
The Owen family
was in the Port Angeles Apostolic Faith church and I got to know Kenny. We started going together. The war came along. He had thought of joining the Navy but
decided to work at Boeing, living at the YMCA and coming home to Port Angeles
on weekends. He got tired of that. He decided what he needed was a wife and a
home. So on November 20, 1941, my dad’s
birthday, he asked me to marry him. We
got married on December 20, 1941, a Saturday evening, at Jessie and Chester’s
house. They lived up on the bluff on
Georgiana St. In those days you didn’t
make big plans for weddings. Stella made
a white dress for me and a blue dress for Frances, my maid of honor. Tony stood
up as best man. We were married right by
Jessie’s beautiful blue and silver Christmas tree. No one thought to bring a camera. We didn’t have any music. Lillian was upset by that. She thought we should have music. We went to Feeleys to have wedding pictures
taken. I wish we would have had
snapshots. Jessie made the wedding cake.
That night we went back to Seattle.
Housing was hard
to find. Tony’s mother and sister had
bought a big house and had fixed it up into apartments. Tony and Lillian had two rooms. Lillian got a room for us. A closet was fixed up with a gas stove and a
shelf for dishes. There was a daveno in
the living a room and a table and chairs.
There was a wash basin where I did the dishes. Down the hall was a bathtub and toilet. Everybody used that. It wasn’t much of a house. Kenny worked long hours, sometimes seven days
a week because of the war - they needed their planes. I was glad I had Lillian next door. We were within walking distance of
downtown.
Kenny took one day
off work after the wedding. We didn’t
have a set of dishes. I had saved Betty
Crocker coupons so had a set of silverware.
We went to Woolworth's and bought pans and dishes. We bought several
dollars of food at the farmer’s market.
We lived on lots of chicken backs at 19 cents a pound. We got along just fine.
There wasn’t any Apostolic
Faith church in Seattle or Tacoma at that time so we went to the church in
Puyallup on Sundays. It was kind of a
long trip. They had opened a Boeing
plant in South Tacoma. We decided to
move to Puyallup and he could transfer to that plant. Many people worked for Boeing so he could get
a ride. Winter months were very
foggy. It was hard traveling with
traffic jams in Seattle. It was easier
to be in Puyallup than in Seattle.
After Lillian
moved to Seattle we used to get out the map and lay on the floor in our home in
Ambrose to study the state of Washington.
We’d try to pronounce the different names. I remember looking at Puyallup not knowing
how to pronounce it – little dreaming that my three children would be born
there! We called Puget Sound Pug-it Sound.
In 1936 I came to
Washington and have lived here ever since.
(Transcribed from
a cassette tape Clara made about 1990.)
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