Mary's Memoirs

March 16-22, 1933

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

This week’s diary Mary speaks several times about the banking problems going on during 1933.  A lot was going on politically in this country.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt had just taken office and he immediately took action by closing banks to try and kick start the economy.  There are a lot of similarities between now and 1933.  Enjoy! ch

Thursday  March 16, 1933

Another fine day.  The sun was so bright and warm we all had spring fever.  In the morning I washed all the front windows in the store.  Also cleaned up post office.  Received a letter from Louie.  He is working now 5 hours a day at a dollar an hour.  I hope it’s steady at last.  No one was hurt by the earthquake for which I’m very grateful.  After lunch Elizabeth and I hiked up on the hill and sat on a log in the sun.  My, but it was fine out.  Came home and painted signs and cut out special prices for the week end sale.  Vernie was in tonight on his way home to see Sam.  He is putting on weight.  Sam got home at 5.30 and brought a big load of feed.  Yesterday he got in at 1.30 and came into my bedroom and upon seeing Elizabeth and I sleeping there said, “Oh, there’s two of you there already!”  He must have forgotten I had company.  He bought himself a new cap and a dandy blue sweater.  Also got his hat cleaned and bought a fine vegetable scale for the store which we needed badly.  Saves us a lot of steps.  John told us that Don and Oscar wanted to go in and pull Elizabeth and I out of bed the other night.  My, that would have been terrible.  I’m glad John told them the door was locked.  Those other two nuts are going to get into trouble some day if they pull the wrong person out of bed.  Fixed up everything for sale O.K.  Picked some red organ grape leaves up on the hill today.  My but they are red.  Dixie sure gets lots of fun out of going with us walking.  She dashes all over the country.  Elizabeth finished another Jig-saw puzzle today.  I wrote a short letter to Doug and she put it in her letter today.  Pope’s are enlarging their store now.  Lots of work going on around the corner.

 Friday March 17, 1933

My, but I sure got a lot done today.  It was mild out and about eight o’clock this P.M. started to rain.  Alice Giles came over tonight and said she was going to Victor Sat. night and Elmer Beard’s wife  had her hair all waved up pretty to go to the dance too.  This morning we cleaned up the house and I cleaned off all the rugs with cleaning solvent. Mrs. Walton came down and put a finger wave in our hair.  My, but she does nice work.  She stayed to lunch and all the afternoon and she and Elizabeth had a nice visit.  I baked a three layer and small two layer red devils food cake and Elizabeth frosted them.  My, but they look good!  Then I made four pies, one of each-apple and loganberry, blackcap and wild blackberry.  At dinner we had whipped cream on the apple pie and it sure was rich.  Sam went to Bremerton and Seattle and arrived home at 6.00.  couldn’t get anything more on his examination for a couple of weeks on account of a telegram the bureau received from Washington D.C.  I suppose they must look into all the cases now on account of that new law passed.  Started an account at the Citizens Bank as the Bremerton Trust may not open for 90 days and we’ve got to bank some where.  My, the store looks nice today.  The shelves are all up and the vegetable rack is all full.  My diamond ring broke in two just now as I wash washing the dirt out of it.  My, I’d never noticed it had worn so thin. Am going to take a pan of beans and a chocolate cake up to my Dad’s tonight as Sam has to go up anyway.  He sure will be glad to get it I know.  My, it must be hard to batch like he does.  Housens were up at Dad’s playing pinochle.  They all ate a piece of cake.  We didn’t stay long as it was so late.  To bed at 11.10.  My, but I’m tired.

Saturday March 18, 1933

My, but it was nice today!  The air was warm and mild.  Mrs. Walton came down before Elizabeth was out of bed so went out to wake her.  They went to Bremerton and came back about 2.20 P.M.  Bought 2 of the cutest dance sets I ever saw.  Also bought me five good magazines to read I sent for.  Now that we carry no magazines to sell I have to buy them.  I cleaned up the house real good also the bedrooms and they sure do look nice.  Even polished the stove.  The folks from Holly are suppose to come over tonight and go to the dance at victor with us.  Mrs. And Mrs. Rice and Grandma Rice were in this afternoon and talked awhile.  Mrs. Rice returned the books I loaned her so now I’ve loaned Mrs. Walton the same bunch so now she has lots to read up there in the hills.  Sam took Mr. Ryan down to see our two rooms on the garage and he thought they were real nice.  “Looks like home” he said.  The folks were here from Holly on their way to Potlatch to see Fred and Polly.  The women want to go to the Port Orchard to the dance.  Uncle Albert called up about an hour after he left and said they wouldn’t be here tonight.  I guess the girls persuaded Albert to go to Port Orchard at last.  So now I’ve everything prepared for them to stay and they won’t be here.  Isn’t that always the way?  Sam bought nearly 700 gal. of gas from the oil man so made good on it as gas prices went up five cents today.  Bought the gas last night in barrels.  Sam went to Tacoma today on the early boat and returned at 12.20 P.M.  My, but he had a big load and Gordon spent the most of the afternoon cutting meat as Sam bought half a beef.  The Shell oil man was here to supper as he had to wait for another truck to come with gas.  Mama, Fred and Flora came over at 20 minutes to eight.  Mama brought my centerpiece with the edge she put on it.  My, it looks nice.  Had some cottage cheese for dinner Grandma brought over.  It was certainly good, too.  John is now going into his “private room” as he calls the bath room so I suppose he’s going to the dance. Anyway I pressed his pants so he will look clean.  We’ve kidded him so much about staying home on account of his wife not being here.  I guess he has decided to go.  Well the Holly folks came back from Potlatch and decided to go to Victor to the dance with us.  There were certainly quite a few from Belfair at the dance and we had a fine time.  Elizabeth wore her new blue dress with that black transparent velvet jacket I gave her.    My, but she looked nice.  She asked me later if she behaved all right and I laughed and said “Well if Doug saw how nice you looked and what a lot of fun you were having he would certainly want to dance with you.”  Danced once with Grandpa.  My, how he enjoys to dance but it’s not really dancing.  He’s only keeping step to the music.  Anyway,  he has a wonderful time and Grandma how she enjoys herself.  At the dance from Belfair were Oscar Mickelsons, Don Giles, Sam, Elizabeth, Elmer and Robert Beards, Johnnie Beard, Mrs. Baldwin, Mella, Mary and Herschel Brown, Joe Gulan, Erma, Wanda and Gordon Orr and myself.  Also Uncle Albert, Flora and Freda  Febla, Grandma and Grandpa and Mama and Fred and Flora Robins.  So there sure was a crowd of us!  To bed at 2.30.  Sam received a telephone call from Henry about 7.30.  Henry’s car broke down over by Purdy so before Sam could go up to dance he drove over and towed Henry back to victor.  So Sam, Henry and Laurice didn’t get there until eleven.  My, I sure was tired too.

Sunday March 19, 1933

John opened up the store but Sam and I got up soon after.  A fellow came and pounded on the door at 7.00 so John got up.  My, none of us got much sleep after that.  Anyway we slept in our own beds as the folks from Holly wouldn’t stay.  Albert had to open up the store Sunday too.  You always seem to sleep better in your own bed some how.  Before we had breakfast, Mama and Fred came over from Art robins.  They stayed until one o’clock and bought some groceries.  Mama gave me a new shrub and Mrs. Walton gave me some double Canterbury bells so I was just planting them when I heard Maybelle Hamilton’s voice out in front of the store.  I talked to her awhile and she promised faithfully to come out Thursday night.  She, Earl and Lyle had been down to Shoe Fly Point.  Wanda came down after they left.  Elizabeth’s uncle came for her so she left for Olympia at twelve thirty.  Mama and Fred left soon afterwards so Wanda and I decided to go on a hike down to Laurice’s.  So I went over to Orr’s and Erma and Wanda and I walked down to Gladwin’s.  We saw Gladwin’s dog that says “Hello.”  We visited at Laurice’s until about four fifteen when Sam came down after us.  Laurice showed us all her “shower” presents and we played on the phonograph.  Frank Veitenhaus was with Sam.  He and a friend and two girls wanted to dig clams.  So Sam took them to Stimson’s Point.  We all went out on the beach where Rod Goodwin and about twenty more people were digging.  We dug about a pail of clams and it rained so hard we had to quit.  Frank broke his shovel the first thing.  Also managed to get stuck in the mud and had to get pulled out by a friend.  How we laughed!  Drove back to Gladwin’s and told Laurice we would come for her and Henry for dinner at 6.30.  Then home and found John quite busy.  Our feet were wet so I changed my shoes.  Wanda and Irma were going to walk home so I loaned them my umbrella when suddenly Gordon came in so they came back with the umbrella.  Then Ruby, Earl and the two children came in.  They had been over to Aunt Mary’s at Shelton.  About ten minutes later Vina, Henry, Vera, Cole, Carl and Cecil and his girl came in.  So, I had them stay to dinner and Gordon cut me about eight pounds of steak.  There were fifteen of us and we certainly had a great time.  Sent Cecil down to get Henry and Laurice and he drove so fast he “skairt” the kids most to death.  Also he lost our clams off the side of the car so we are out of luck as far as clams are concerned.  Henry says he drives “crazier” then Louie used to and that’s going some.    For dinner we had steak, whole kernel corn, potatoes, shredded cabbage, olives, coffee, cheese, bread and butter, cake and pie.  And did they enjoy it!  They certainly did!  After we finished the dishes the gang all went home as they had a long way to go.  So we took John to the boat and we went to the show.  Saw Kate Smith in “Hello Everybody.”  Saw it once before but oh it is good to see twice!  We enjoyed it.  Sam slept through most of it as usual.  Took Laurice and Henry home and to bed at 12.15 and oh I was sleepy.  So much company and excitement I could hardly go to sleep.  Seems funny not to have company.  John is through now as we will have Don work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday instead.  Guess John would like to stay on.  We had lots of fun razzing John at the dinner table.  We had him so embarrassed he couldn’t laugh any more.  Ha!  Ha!  Raining out again.

Monday March 20, 1933

Sam and I were both sleepy today so it was quite a job to get up early.  Made breakfast but never got my dishes done until 3.20 this afternoon.  I cleaned out in the store, fixed the vegetables and cleaned house good and oh it was dirty after so much company.  Cleaned up all post office work so the work is pretty well done.  This evening we stocked the shelves and changed the prices.  Sam paid all his bills.  Thank Heavens that’s done.  Made a trip to Port Orchard Bank to open a checking account there.  Were quite busy today.  Took in more than $75.oo cash.  Mrs. Baldwin wanted to know if I knew who Ed Julian was.  I told her she better ask some one from Overton’s as he worked there.  Mella came home from the dance with him Saturday night and I guess he was quite drunk.  Maybe Mrs. Baldwin is worried about him keeping company with Mella.  Anyway Sam says he is married.  Henry said last night he came over to get Herschel to go to work and saw Mella asleep in all her clothes.  A sleep on one side of the stove and Herschel on the other.  Mary was getting breakfast in her bare feet and Harry Curl was wandering around with a gallon of moon shine.  Such an outfit.  Harry Curl seems always trying to get himself into some mess.  He has as much sense as a mosquito anyway.  He’d better not get smart around Herschell.  He will most likely get a pop in the nose!  Gave Dixie a good run today and how she ran.  Sam shot a big rat out in the deer pen.  Shot 7 in one as it was a mama rat.  I’ll be glad when we get another kitten that can catch rats.  Forwarded three letters to Elizabeth from Doug today.  All last week she looked for mail and it all came today.  Just finished listening to the Richfield Reporter so I’m going to bed.  My, but I’m sleepy.

Tuesday March 21, 1933

This morning a heavy frost lay on the ground and it certainly was cold!  But the sun came out early and shone all day.  My daffodils are about to come in bloom.  This morning Sam, Henry and Don went to Bremerton.  Came back about twelve o’clock.  Gordon and I put up brown and powered sugar and it was some job.  In the afternoon I put up lima beans, jelly beans and walnuts and white sugar.  My, what a lot we accomplished!  Very quiet in the store today.  Seems always quiet after the specials are off.  Gordon cleaned ouyt the basement and Sam did some work on the truck also cleaned up some old book work.  Got a lot done around here today.  There certainly is always lots of odd jobs to do when customers are not in the store.  My head aches tonight.  I guess I’ll need new glasses.  These are beginning to hurt my eyes when I wear them all day.  Heard that Seattle Dexter Horton Bank will take over and open the Bremerton Trust and Savings Bank on Wednesday.  100 cents on the dollar if you want it.

Wednesday March 22, 1933

Sam went to Seattle and came back about 4.30.  I got all the special sheets out with Sam’s help.  My, it’s some job.  Gordon cleaned on the warehouse and it looks pretty good.  Rudy was up and wanted us to go to Chapter Thursday night so we promised to go.  Drover over to Hamilton’s and visited until late.  They were full of talk as usual.  She loaned me some magazines to read.  Home real late and oh so tired!  Sam went to sleep on the couch.  What a poor visitor he was.  Henry’s truck broke down so he is going to hire his trucking done from now on.  He will be better off too.  Mrs. Irving gave me a lovely bouquet of daffodils.  My, how golden they are.  Everyone admires them.

_______________________________________________________________________

I can totally relate to the rat problem.  Did I tell you about me having a rat in my bedroom wall this past fall?  Had to volunteer my friend Jeanette into coming and helping me open the wall and then plug where they were entering.  I have never had rats or mice before.  But I always had a cat and my cat had been gone for over a year. Edith my cat was the victim of the neighborhood coyotes. The rats are gone and I have a new cat and that is a total other story to tell. Thank you for reading this week’s diary. ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

Newspaper clipping about visit to see the Govenor

February 16 – 22, 1933

 Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

Remember when the community was small and it wasn’t a big deal to hop on the school bus to catch a ride? Mary seeing a Will Rogers movie is pretty revealing of the times. And Sam is a hero this week bringing Mary’s lost hat home.  Enjoy!  ch 

 Thursday February 16, 1933

We were all sleepy this morning but we had to get up early so Sam could go to Olympia early.  Gladwin, Chas. Irving, Alexander Gueguen, Geo Pope and Sam went to Olympia where they had an appointment with the Governor.  Sam saw John McLaughlin the minister who married us over in Olympia.  He is a fine man.  The fellows liked him very much.  This day I cleaned the dresser drawers and it was some job.  Took me all morning.  Then in the afternoon I worked in the store.  Put up beans, pearl barley and two sacks of sugar.  There were quite a few people in and some of the kids almost missed the school bus to interested they got in watching some people playing the slot machines.  Two Russian girls and two Philipinoes.  My, those girls must be hard up for some men if they have to pick on those yellow fellows.  I always thought these girls were a little off and now I’m sure of it.  Well everyone feels good now that they know the road is safe for awhile.  Charlie Irving especially was happy.  He has hopes of getting Buldocs job on the highways – a position he had years ago.  Charlie sure needs it as all he has now is the rent we pay him for the old store.  It’s mild out now.  The sun was out for a long time today.  Gordon hauled gravel and tried to fill up a few holes but it didn’t do much good.  We’ll have to haul some more.  The ground is very soft and squashy.  It rolls over the soles of your shoes like water.  Built a good fire out in the little house and put all the linen away in the yellow dresser.

Friday February 17, 1933

This was a warm morning and Sam decided to go to Tacoma so I buried through my work and rode over to Vera’s with him.  My, but she was surprised to see us.  We visited until Sam and Cole returned at 4.30.  I read a book.  “Triumphant Youth.”  It was real good too.  Worked a jig-saw puzzle of the Flying Family.  Took me half an hour.  Had a nice lunch and enjoyed it.  Vera is expecting another baby in August.  I hope it will be a girl.  Cole gave us some smoked salmon to take home.  My, but it was good.  Cole smoked it himself.  Sam was busy sampling Vera’s home made bread.  Ate so much he couldn’t eat any supper.  Home at six thirty and got a small lunch for John.  Gordon had already eaten.  A car nearly burned up in Belfair today.  Mr. Orr helped put it out.  It belonged to some salesman.  Henry and Lorice were out today.  They were in Seattle on the Feb. 15^th.  I wasn’t surprised as I’ve been expecting it for some time.  We had lots of fun teasing them.  I think Lorice is a nice girl just about the right type for Henry.  They seem to like the same things.  At least so far they do.  They have rented a cabin at Gladwin’s.  The one Grahams use to have.  That’s really a nice place to stay as she will have quite a bit of company.  It’s really a nice place in the summer especially for swimming.  Rec’d a letter from Grandpa but can’t read all of it as he writes so strange.  He sent me a Christmas cactus flower and a rose geranium leaf in the letter.  He always sends something like that.  Tonight I’m going out to read awhile in a book I borrowed from Vera.  It’s an old story but quite exciting.  Anyway it’s a relief from all those modern smutty stories.

Saturday February 18, 1933

Saturday again and time to clean house and I sure cleaned everything good.  Fixed up the restrooms so they look OK again.  Sam went to town and brought home some beef and we sold quite a bit of meat too.  A good Saturday.  $165.00 cash day.  And boy that was real good considering everything.  In the afternoon I pressed all my clothes and got everything ready for the dance.  Don and Alice Giles, Oscar and Alice Mickelson, Walter Zelepuse, Joe Gulan, Mary Crocker, Miles Howell, Edith Wilder, the whole Orr family and Sam and I.  and oh we had the best time!  I missed only one dance all evening.  The barber across the street got married four days ago and he was there.  My how everyone kidded him until he got all fussed up.  And Joe Gulan kissed Mary Crocker during one of the dances.

Sunday February 19, 1933

Got up late and got breakfast.  Then we went over to Hamiltons and no one home so we went up to Davis’s and they were up there.  We sat around and talked and finally went down to Hamilton’s and ate lunch.  She had pumpkin pie with whipped cream on it and it was delicious.  So then we drove up to Robin’s to get Elizabeth but she had gone out with Art.  Wished Grandma Robins a happy Birthday.  Saw Fred and Mama and went home.  Henry and Lorice were there eating supper with John and Gordon so as soon as John was dressed he and Elizabeth and Sam and I went to Bremerton and saw “State Fair” with Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers, Law Ayrers, Norman foster and Louisa Dresser.  I let loose of my hat and couldn’t find it afterwards.  I can’t figure out where hats go when you drop them in a show.  Home again and to bed.  We all enjoyed the show very much.  Gordon, Wanda, Joe Gulan and Edith Wilder were there too.

Monday February 20, 1933

My, we sure overslept this morning.  Never woke up until 9.30 so of course we had a late breakfast.  Cleaned house and Elizabeth made the beds.  We didn’t do much as it was raining outside real hard.  Sam and Gordon hauled our large load of gravel and it made quite a showing.  Elizabeth rode up to Housens with Don when he took the school kids home.  Cleaned out all the cupboards and shelves next to post office.  My, but it’s a relief to get all straightened up again.  There accumulates more and more junk every year.  By the time I’m fifty I’ll have to build a house just for junk.  Quite busy in the store today and it was a cold rainy day too.  Papa received a letter from Louie.  He is up at Azusa, Calif. Where they are building another dam.  So he plans on getting married if he can get on.  I sure hope he gets work.  I wrote him today.  Papa wants Henry to ask Louie to come home and work for him.  Mrs. Conally was in today.  She said “My, but you look fine.”  I guess everyone thought I was awful sick when I was away so long.  Every time I hear some one say how good I like I feel like laughing.

Tuesday February 21, 1933

Went to Bremerton and had one tooth filled.  Bought some lace for a centerpiece I made a long time ago.  I bought some fancy towels for Elizabeth to work on as she likes that kind of work so well.  In the afternoon I cleaned house and it sure needed it.  Weather fine and clear.  Sam arrived home from Seattle at seven and then went to the wrestling match at the school gym.  Herschel Brown knocked his man out-Keith Hyde.  After the wrestling match a big gang went down and chevalried Henry.  My, but we had excitement.  We put a pan on the stove pipe with pepper and itch powder in the bed.  They had three gallons of grape wine and one of moonshine so everyone had plenty.  My, what a crowd there were Oscar Mickelsons, the Don Giles and mother, Weerman Hydes, Elmer Beard, Bob and Charlie Ryan, John Stuyts, Walter Eddys, P. Sundstroms, L. Bickles,4 de Mieros, Joe Gulan, Slim Upsata, Joe Gularr, Herschel Brown, Sam, Henry, Lorice and myself.  Stayed until 11.30 and then home.  Gladwin took the pan off the stove pipe shook the sheets outs along with the salt and itch powder with it.  So Henry and Lorice got off pretty easy. 

Wednesday February 22, 1933

A legal holiday but we did $80.00 worth of business anyway.  Worked on the special sheets.  Went over to Orr’s and got Wanda.  We walked up to my Dad’s with the mail and gave Dixie an airing.  Henry was up there so we rode home.  Papa sure is lonesome.  He misses having some one around.  Henry and Lorice wanted to go over to Mama’s so I went along and the roads were bum.  We nearly got stuck a couple of times.  We had a pleasant evening and a lovely lunch.  Sam and John went to the show and got my hat I lost last Sunday.  They said the show was good.  So everyone was out late and it was cold in the little house on account of having no fire.  My mother is always so happy when we come over, especially this time when Henry brought Lorice over as his wife.  Quite a lot of excitement all at one time. 

_______________________________________________________________________

How many of you have been to the Tulip Festival up in the Skagit Valley?  I always was intrigued by going to the tulip fields and they would put lots of dirt on top of what would be extremely muddy areas.  People could then walk in and not get swallowed up by the mud.  When walking on the ground it moves because it is floating on top of the water that has been covered.  Have any of you experienced that?  Tulip festival is just around the corner too.  Thank you for reading this week’s diary.  ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

 February 9 – 15, 1933

 Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

Mary is definitely back to her obsessive cleaning since she is back home from her California trip. Now her other brother Henry wants to get married too. Sounds like Mary’s Mama finally married Fred Robins which I believe is Elizabeth’s father. Everybody is getting married. Did spring come early to Belfair, Washington in 1933?   Annie makes a funny about falling in love.  And did you know there was an assassination attempt on President Franklin D. Roosevelt?  Enjoy! ch

Thursday February 9, 1933

This was about the coldest morning I ever saw.  I woke up early and couldn’t go back to sleep.  We were all tired on account of getting to bed at 12.10.  Elizabeth went down to see Mrs.Welton and after we had cleaned up a bit Annie and I rode up to my Dad’s.  We talked for over an hour about a little of everything.  About Noisy Martin taking money out of Henry’s clothes, about Helen Francis getting married at 14 yrs, about California, Las Vegas and everything.  We left there about 12 and went home.  Papa was sure glad to see me home again.  Sam found the crank case broken on the truck from the frost.  They forgot to drain the radiator so He soldered it with shellac and went to Tacoma at 1.30 to get it fixed.  He called up about 7.30P.M. saying it was fixed and he would be home 10.30 Friday.  In the afternoon I cleaned the restrooms, made the beds and set a lantern in the restrooms so the toilets wouldn’t freeze.  Fixed up Dixie’s dog house so it’s nice and warm.  Henry drove into Bremerton so Elizabeth rode in with him.  She walked out and we said goodbye else I guess no one would have said good-bye.  She is an odd girl in many ways.  Put away all my clothes and Annie cleaned house.  It was a job.  I had so much to do.  My cupboard is an awful mess after cleaning out our grub box.  Annie got supper and had a pork roast.  Oh I enjoyed it!  We got dishes done and then Annie and I put up beans, chocolates and walnuts in cellophane bags.  John painted signs and then went to try to cover up the huckleberries.  Sam asked him to when he called up.  I hope they don’t freeze.  This is my first day home for nearly two months and I surely was busy since they put the store on a cash basis they have an awful lot of night work to do, arranging goods, painting signs and planning.  But the business has turned out so well it’s worth it.  We took in $66.90 which is all our own and no one else’s.  The store looks so clean and bright.  Sam had a man kalsomine it cream and all the trimmings are medium green.  I never thought the store would look so different when I came home.  It’s now 10.30 and I’ve three more pages to write.  I’ve certainly got to hurry if I’m going to finish before midnight.

 Friday February 10, 1933

Annie and I over slept this morning so we didn’t get breakfast until ten o’clock.  Sam got back from Tacoma at 12.30 so the rest of the afternoon was spent in unpacking.  He took some feed up to my Dad’s.    Henry brought his suit down and Annie pressed it.  My he looked nice when he left for the dance at Colby.  He is bringing Lorice out to supper tomorrow as its Papa’s birthday and we are going to have a dinner.  Sundstroms came in the evening so I asked them to dinner too.  So there will be eleven of us all together.  Cleaned my clothes in cleaning solvent and Annie washed some things.  I cleaned up the cupboards and now everything looks good and I know where things are.  But I have to find out where all the things in the store are now.    Sam went up to Ritzen’s and Culbertsons and called.  Received 16 more pictures of our trip and they are surely fine.  My, but I’m glad we got so many nice pictures.  Sam and John are doing some book work so Annie and I washed and set our hair and I made some divinity candy.  It turned out fine.  Wanda was in tonight and said “Hello.”  She looks good.  Said she can do 50 words a minute on the typewriter.  Am going to read now and listen to the radio.  I’m way behind on my reading.  I still can’t get over Helen Brown getting married.  I feel so sorry for her.  There is a basket ball game at the gym tonight.  Quite a few went down.  Foster brought all his guns down to Sam as he was afraid some one would shoot him.  He means Herschel for when he gets drunk he gets awful mad.  They must have an awful hatred for each other to feel that way.

Saturday February 11, 1933

This morning saw snow on the ground about 3 inches deep.  Annie and I cleaned up the house good.  Sam went to Bremerton and Henry road with him.  They got back at 12.20.  Annie made a walnut cake.  It turned out fine.  I cleaned the four chickens and put on to cook for supper.  Spence Ames was in the store this afternoon.  He was out steelhead fishing.  Sundstroms, Henry, Papa, Gordon, John and Annie and Sam and I ate at the table in honor of Papa’s birthday.  My, what a lot of fun we had at dinner.  Rudy kept us laughing.  Papa certainly enjoyed everything.  The cake looked so pretty with the red candles on it.  We put seven on it.  After supper we went to Port Orchard to the dance all except Papa and the highway had snow on both sides all the way in.  We certainly had a good time at the dance.  I never missed but one.  I stole a heart off Early Hamilton’s shirt and here it is!  It was a masquerade but not many were masque.  Saw Davis too.  Everyone looked good.  Billy and Grant from Harper were there.  Henry and Babe Ainsworth ran over to Bremerton to the Community House and came back before one.  I wonder how Lorice will like that?   A good crowd at Port Orchard.  Home at 1.20 and warmed up by the stove then to bed and was the bed cold.  I thought I would freeze for awhile.  Sure seems good to be home again and see all the old faces.  I’ll not stay away so long again.

Sunday February 12, 1933

This morning the clock rattled at 6.30 and I poked Sam a couple of times to get him up and he yawned and said “You’re always picking on me.”  How I laughed!  It sounded just like a little kid.  The next time I told him how late it was getting he said, “I can’t get in anyway.  John has the keys.”  He finally got up.  Annie and I slept until 10.30 and when we got into the house the men were eating breakfast so we ate too.  Cleaned house and then talked to Gladwin awhile and showed him the lemon we got at Upland.  He almost hugged me when he saw me.  Sam, Annie and I rode down to Rose Point and looked for Sally but couldn’t see her anyway.  Just a few tracks were all we saw.  I guess we won’t ever see her again.  She certainly was a cute deer.  We rode over to Allyn and home again.  My, the mountains are nice today all covered in snow.  We ate dinner about 3 o’clock.  Charlie Wolfe ate with us.  Annie said he sure like to eat here.  He was telling us that Ed was trying to write poetry.  I said he must be in love and Charlie answered he hasn’t enough brains to fall in love and Annie piped up “You don’t fall in love with brains.”  So we all laughed!  Last night Annie reached up into the cupboard to get the cornstarch and it fell on her forehead and fell all over her face and clothes in such a way as to make her look like a Mack Sennett Comedian.  She laughed until she cried.  Her hair was all white too.  Oh she looked funny.  Dixie pulled her collar off today.  She runs over to Baldwin’s and plays with the boys every chance she gets.  I guess she hates to be tied up and I don’t blame her but I don’t want her to get run over either.

Monday February 13, 1933

Today Sam had to go to Tacoma so we all got up early.  Sam caught the 9.30 boat to Tacoma and came home at 4.00 PM.  In the morning Annie washed out a few things and I packed up a box of jelly and fruit for her to take home.  Rudy came up and ate lunch with us.  He sat around for an hour teasing us.  About 1.30 Annie and I hiked up to Montana Heights and took Dixie along.  My, but she enjoyed it.  Ran all over.  We could see the mountains and they were all snow covered.  They certainly looked cold.  We stopped in at Mrs. Orr’s and visited for nearly an hour.  Mostly talked about Helen brown’s marriage.  She is to be a mother in four months and I always thought Helen was straight.  I simply cannot figure out what happened to change her.  Came home and made a supper of baked potatoes and steak.  My, but it was good.  Annie, John and Alice Giles went into Seattle in the Buick at ten minutes of six.  I’ll miss Annie.  She always makes lots of excitement around here.    We cleaned up the store good and put up some new specials.  Took in $78.00 cash today.  Pretty good for Monday.  Baby lost both of his horns today and he surely is a funny looking sight.  He is gentle as a lamb now.  My pictures came back today and they were all good.  The one of Gordon and Dixie was especially good.  Congratulated Charlie Ryan on his marriage tonight.  It sure seems funny to think of him as married.  I suppose Blanch Bickle will be the next one.  She has had her eyes on Demiers a long time.

Tuesday February 14, 1933

Valentines day again.  How time flys!  Today I washed all the windows in the store and house and bed rooms.  Put fresh crepe paper green and yellow up in front of the store it looks nice and clean too.  Washed the glass cases outside and so everything is clean.  Cooked some red beans for lunch and we all enjoyed them.  Henry was down here today on his way to town, to get married he said.  Had no money except when he returns from his logs arrive.  I wish he would wait awhile although he has a very nice girl.  But he ought to get out of debt before he takes the final leap.  Papa will be all alone when he goes.  Swept the bedrooms and rearranged the furniture.  It looks a lot neater than it did a few days ago when I came home.  A little changing sometimes makes things look a lot better.  Gordon hauled hay up to Mrs. Mickelson’s and had to carry each bale into the barn as it was too muddy to drive in.  Johnny Beard went up with him.  He’s the same ole Johnny.  Mrs. Baldwin was over after notes on the road meeting we had in November but I hadn’t saved items evidently as I couldn’t find them in my diary.  She stood and talked for over an hour about her girls and Helen and Mary.  My, such a lot of scandal I heard.  That Helen and Mary were only half sisters.  Evidently Mrs. Foster must have stepped out on Brown.  Raining now, after a light snow this morning.  The ground is getting soft and sticky.  I’m going to put up green net curtains in the kitchen.  I wrote a letter to Louie telling him all the news.  Last week as soon as I came home I wrote to Louie, Mrs. Cooper, Chester’s and Erickson’s so now I await letters.

Wednesday February 15, 1933

This morning I washed the kitchen walls and oh they look so clean.  I stepped off the stove backwards and fell flat on my back on the floor.  My, what a whack I got!  But I was lucky I never got hurt or even a headache.  Sam got mad because I fell down.  In the afternoon I sewed and put up the green curtains.  They certainly look grand, especially for a kitchen.  Folded 350 sales slips.  What a job!  John finished writing addresses and stamping.  Takes about four hours for one person to do alone.  After supper Sam and I rode over to see Mama.  Vera, Cole, Dina and Henry had just left before we got there.  There was a foot of snow over there and 5 inches of ice all over Wildcat Lake.  They had been skating until today.  It started to melt so was unsafe.  Everyone was fine.  Elizabeth was there so we stayed until 10.45PM.  Had some dandy chocolate cake that Elizabeth made.  Sam ate two pieces.  Mama showed me a lovely pink bed spread she received for a wedding present.  It is gorgeous.  Elizabeth was making vases from colored envelope flaps.  I took the pictures over and she picked out the ones she wanted.  Also I took over some scrap books for her to work on.  I wish I had time to work on them myself.  Its lots of fun.  We drove over to the coffee shop and ate a hamburger.  Talked about the attempted assassination of Franklin Roosevelt.  We had just got to sleep when some one pounded on the door.  It was Toulon who wanted to call the county doctor to see his baby who was very ill.  So John got up and let him in to phone.  The weather is changing growing milder out.  I’m glad as this snow is too hard on folks, especially those who are so hard up.

_______________________________________________________________________

Mary’s getting her groove back. I bet Dixie the dog is glad she is home. I had to laugh about her commenting on it being “the coldest morning she ever saw.”  She had been in southern California for nearly 2 months and for the most part enjoying mighty fine sun shining weather. I noticed on the weather channel this coming week’s average high temperature is going to be around 47 degrees.  Okay!  I am ready for some of that sun shining weather too.  The ground hog says we are to have an early spring.  I say “Bring it on!”  Thank you for reading this week’s diary.  ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

February 2 – 8, 1933

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

Well gang, this week’s diary is a doozy. We have Las Vegas, the construction of the Hoover dam going on, a visit to Hollywood and the mad dash home to Belfair, Washington.  My favorite has to be the ostrich farm.  What do you think?  Enjoy! ch

Thursday February 2, 1933

The old clock rattled at seven but no one got up so Elizabeth shut it off and we slept until 8.15.  My, how bright the sun was and the air was dry and cold.  The climate here is very dry and healthy.  I like it.  We ate big breakfast of eggs, ham and pancakes and after cleaning up dishes we drove to Las Vegas.  Louie asked for his mail but had none.  We saw the office window where the jobs are posted.  It’s about 23 miles to the site of the dam from Las Vegas.  And the road is splendid-all hard surface and for nearly twenty miles it’s straight as an arrow.  They call that road “Suicide Road” because of the number of accidents on it.  We got a pass at the gate to enter Boulder city and then had to take the pass to the Police Dept. to go to see the dam.  Boulder city is a typical company town all laid out just so and very clean.  The Big Six Co. own and operate everything including the building of the dam.  The place inside Boulder city is called the “Reservation” as the ground belongs to the government.  We drove out to the dam site which is about 8 miles from Boulder city.  The road is fine-hard surfaced just like the highway.  We could see for miles out over the Colorado river and that desert region which someday will be the lake above the dam.  The weather was so lovely and clear and the many colors of the rocks and desert were a grand combination.  We enjoyed it all.  Down where the dam is to be built we could look into the river bottom and see trucks whizzing around and men working so far below us they looked like ants.  It was a marvelous sight to see.  The water in the Colorado River is very low now and is being sent through the tunnel so the work on the river bed can be completed.  They have quite a few accidents there, about one fatality a week.  Some men do very, very dangerous work and the trucks run through the tunnel, not on private property and sometimes men are gassed and die of pneumonia.  Pneumonia comes on very easily here and is often fatal on account of the quick change in temperature during the day.  A man gave us a sticker showing the dam completed.  The water in the Colorado River is very muddy and slow but deep and treacherous.  Louie said the men lost a gas shovel off a scow and it sank in the river out of sight so it must be very deep.  The road is on the Nevada side of the river and we could look across and see men working on the Arizona side.  If a man gets killed on the Arizona side they have to send to Kingman 40 miles down the river for a coroner and sometimes they wait all day before they arrive.  It has something to do with the state insurance.  We saw the “Skip” the men are sent down to work on.  They are propelled by cables.  Quite a sight.  The dam will be 600 ft wide at the base and 200 ft wide at the top.  The water that backs up above the dam will be seven years filling up the area.  I can’t imagine how it will look.  It certainly will be an enormous lake.  Some people think it will change the climate here.  We came back to Boulder City and saw the houses belonging to the government employees. They are mostly stucco and brick and very pretty.  The supt. Has an enormous stucco house on the hill with a swimming pool and everything.  Leonard took us to dinner at the mess hall and oh it was an enormous dinner.  There were about 400 men eating when we got there and my how fast they ate.  Just like in a logging camp up north.  Most of the men had left tables before us.  The dining room is equipped to serve 1200 men. For our sinner we had steak, bacon and liver, mashed potatoes, creamed carrots, chili beans, canned corn, olives, pickles, cottage cheese and pineapple on a lettuce leaf, coffee, tea, milk, buttermilk, custard pudding, pineapple pie bread, butter and jam.  Everything was cooked so well and tasted so good.  The men ought to get fat on this job.  They have three shifts working here a day and all must have their meals so they do lots of cooking.  After lunch we drove around some more and out towards where the ferry crosses the Colorado River to the Arizona side.  They charge $2.00 per trip.  Sometimes they don’t make but one trip a day.  No wonder they are so high.  Saw the trains that carry the gravel out from the dam.  Saw cars from quite a few states there.    Louie drove back to Las Vegas and out to where some friends of his and Leona “jungle Buzzards” and I guess that is about right.  Some of the men here killed 38 sparrows and ate them.  Said they were good.  People are living around this town in all kinds of shacks waiting for their name to come up on the board.  We drove out to Lorenzi’s Park and it was pretty.  Ducks were all over the lake.  There was a swimming pool there too and a fish pond.  There is a big dance hall and it looked like it had a fine floor.  We saw a little bird there that looked like a meadow lark.  Elizabeth caught it and set it down away from the house.  My but it was a pretty bird.  It had something the matter with its’ wing.  Went down town again and bought some pictures of the dam.  Between these and the ones Sam took with the camera we’ll have quite a few pictures.    Wrote a letter to Mamma and told her all about the dam.  Never said anything about Flora as I think it’s best.  Anyway it’s not my business.  Sam went to get the car greases and filled with gas for our trip to Los Angeles tomorrow.  Louie and ourselves start out early together.  Well we’ve seen all of Las Vegas and it’s quite a place, an old town and railroad yard.  In the last few years gained notoriety as a place to gamble and get an easy divorce.  Full of hard looking men and women looking for suckers.  Boasts of plenty of road houses and honky-tonks.  A fine place to lose money and kill time.  Clara Bow and Rex Bell have a big ranch about forty miles from Las Vegas.  I saw a picture of their house on a postal card in the drug store today.  Quite a place with lots of big cactus around.  The city of Las Vegas gets their water from an artesian well and pay $90,000 a year to the Union Pacific for it.  The man who owns the auto camp has a well too and warm water comes out and oh it is good to drink.  There are about 15 cats around here.  They are here to catch snakes and they sure keep them down.  There used to be lots of them around here before they got the cats.  It’s 6.30PM and dark as can be.  Elizabeth is writing in her diary and Louie and Ben (Leonard’s half brother) are talking.  Our wood for the heater is taken off the desert.  It is dry and hard as a bone but holds a good fire.  They go out here in trucks and chop the trees out of the sand.  If they saw our good wood they’d faint.  Cleaned up our cabin and Elizabeth washed some hose.  I hope it dries.  In the airtight room it should.  Elizabeth said the wood is crooked.  You had to screw it in the stove which is about right as it’s all too long.  Las Vegas has an awful bunch of auto camps.  About half of them are empty as so many people have gone away.  Some of them are very nice and some just so so.  Tonight we are getting all our stuff together so tomorrow when we start out we won’t have so much work to do.  It’s cold enough here getting up without a lot of fussing at the last minute.  Preparedness my motto!

Friday February 3, 1933

My how cold it was when we woke up this morning.  The wind was blowing a regular gale and the canvas on our sleeping porch slapped all night.  We must have woke up a dozen times yet we weren’t cold.  Had so many covers we were almost crushed by the weight.  Louie made breakfast and we washed dishes and made the lunch while Sam and Louie went down to the employment office.  Louie’s name was still on the list so he is going to stay another month to see if he can’t get on.  I’m glad we came up when we did as he’d have gone home if we hadn’t talked him out of it.  Leonard’s brother in law Geo Woody and another fellow were down and Woody thought Louie could get on when they put twelve new truck drivers about the tenth.  So between us all we got Louie to change his mind about going home.  He is going to move down into the “jungle” with Paul another patient waiter.  He has a cardboard house and their only expense will be their food.  If Louie doesn’t get another attack of home sickness he will get on eventually.  We left Las Vegas at nine o’clock and oh how Leonard hated to see us go.  Said it made him almost homesick.  The sun was warm and bright but the wind was cold from the mountains.  We followed Louie who is going to Long Beach for the weekend.  We drove about 45 miles an hour so we flew right along.  We had to get our California permit near Barstow and Louie started ahead and took another road so when we arrived at Barstow we saw no Louie.  Sam drove like mad thinking Louie was ahead but as we got through Victorville and still saw no trace of him we decided to wait.  So we ate our lunch and waited exactly an hour when Louie came up.  He had a flat tire on that side road he took so got behind.  Then he ate his lunch and we followed him as far as San Bernardino.  Sam pictured some mistletoe near Victorville.  My, how green it is.  It hangs all over the trees near the road.  We saw a freight train that was pulling 66 cars.  My, but it was a long one.  Many places along the road has alkali and it’s so thick it looks like snow or salt.  In Las Vegas especially it was very thick.  The mountains were beautiful on our way home, all snow covered.  I almost hate to leave.  We bid Louie good bye and good luck at San Bernardino and drove to Pasadena.  Louie will reach Long Beach in about two hours from there unless he has to stop.  We had our dinner at a new restaurant for 25 cents and it was very good.  Saved us cooking supper.  Then Sam got a cabin at the Rex Auto camp on the San Fernando Road to Los Angeles.  We have a kitchen, sower and bedroom.  Real clean and cozy for $1.25.  Saw a Van de Camps Bakery that covered almost a block.  My, but it was a beauty.  We could smell fresh bread outside.  I certainly enjoyed the trip to Las Vegas.  It was a long ways to go but the roads are perfect and the scenery grand.  There are so many things to see, the mountains, hills, desert wastes, dry lakes and queer vegetation that grows without water.

Saturday February 4, 1933

Sam mailed a letter I wrote to John last night and my mother should soon get my letter from Las Vegas.  Today was warm and nice.  We started out towards Lincoln Park and visited the Ostrich Farm.  It was very interesting.  A man took us around and explained all about the raising of the birds.  They are harder to raise then turkeys.  They mate for life when they are about three years old and the female is the boss.  They fight by striking outwards with their feet.  If an ostrich ever attacks a person he could lie flat on the ground and be safe as they don’t know enough to step on him.  We saw one ostrich in a pen by itself with a harness on.  The trainer took it out and hitched it to a rubber tired buggy and drove it around the pen.  Then Elizabeth and I had our picture taken with me sitting in the buggy holding the reins.  I hope it turns out good.  Sam took some pictures of some school children too.  There were a pair of ostrich’s called Maggie and Jiggs.  Also one called Cloudburst that pulled the buggy in tournaments and won lots of prizes.  Jack Demsey was an old ostrich that had a bum eye from fighting.  He still likes to fight and there was one they called W.J. Bryan because he likes to run so much.  One lady ostrich laid 119 eggs in one year.  Their eggs are very large weighing 7 lbs. but have a very brittle shell and they never have to help the baby ostrich out of the shell.  They sold feather fans for $4.00 that were beauties.  Some day I’m going to have one.  The cerise pink ones are beautiful.  The feathers are clipped off with a scissors and later the old quills fall out.  The trainer fed an ostrich two oranges and you could see them gradually go down their neck.  It’s a funny sight.  When the ostrichs are young they are grey.  About fourteen months or later the males turn black.  The birds are imported from Africa to start with and one pair was 40 years olds so you can see they live a long time.  They are purely vegetarians and like alfalfa and grain.  Do not like to be under coer and like to eat bright buttons or jewelry (sic) if possible.    However they are rather messy and dirty as the pens were not very large.  If they were in a larger enclosure they would look cleaner.  In the same lot was a cage of ringed necked doves.  They coo all the time and sound so nice.  We walked over to the park and by the pond where there were lots of ducks and four swans.    Also visited the conservatory where we saw all varieties of ferns and shrubs.  They were beautiful!  Saw many tulips and other lovely plants.  The heat was 78º and that with the strong fragrance of the flowers was enough to give us a headache.  Saw lots of hyacinths in pots with holes in the sides with flowers peeking out from them.  Saw that elephant ear plant like Mrs. Beard has at home.  Near the conservatory was a row of banana trees with fruit and blossoms on.  There was a big lily pond there too.  It was full of fish.  Walked past the merry-go-round over towards the zoo where we saw a crowd of people.  They were raking motion pictures of the zoo gates with a lot of children looking in from the outside.  It was for a part in a play “Murder in the Zoo” taken by Paramount.  We saw two trucks loads of large light globes and fixtures for lighting.  Saw a picture machine and “mike.”  The picture machine was mounted on rubber tired wheels and rolled back and forth on a runway constructed of boards.  From the park we drove towards Pasadena and up around Upland.  We called at the Drug Store to see “Mac the Medicine Man” but he wasn’t home.  So as I didn’t know we were going out there that day and didn’t have that map Gladwin gave me of Upland we never found his place.  But we traveled all over those hills looking around and even went about three miles up the road to Mt. Baldy where we had a sandwich.  Must be a lovely road in the spring as it’s rugged.  We passed through acres of wonderful orange and lemon groves and picked a lemon on San Antonio Drive and 21^st.  We took a picture there too with a heavily loaded orange tree for the background.  Passed through a drive of enormous pepper trees.  My, they were large and the grass below them was so green.  Upland really is a beautiful place.  Don’t blame Gladwins for liking it there only I wish we had found their place.  We got back to our cabin about 7.10 and made dinner.  We were all hungry and enjoyed our meal.  On our way home we passed many cars that carried skies and sleds going towards the mountains to make “whoopie”  It’s lots of fun when you’re dressed for cold weather.  After dinner we read the Sunday paper and then drove down to the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd and saw two shows.  We saw “Son-Daughter” with Lewis Stone, Warner Aland (by the way he is Al Kurth’s brother-in-law) Ramon Navarro and Helen Hayes.  It was a good play but tragic.  The other play was “The Half Naked Truth” with Lupe Velez, Lee Tracy and others.  It was very funny and oh how we laughed.  The show lasted until12.10 and we didn’t get home until nearly 12.30.  It was too late to write so all went to bed and were we tired.  Nothing else but!  Have done so much riding around lately that I’m about worn out.  If I don’t get at least two hours sleep before midnight I start to get hollows under my eyes.  I can never sleep sound after eight o’clock.  The trainer at the ostrich farm told Sam the female was the boss and after we started towards Pasadena I told him to stay over on his side of the road and Elizabeth said “The female ostrich is the boss.”  So Sam said to me “Alright my little ostrich” and since then he’s called me “my little ostrich.”  I’ll have to think up a good name to off set that!

Sunday February 5, 1933

We slept late.  Didn’t get up until after eleven and took a bath and washed Sam’s dirty head and ate breakfast.  A fine, sunny day.  We washed some clothes and hung in the house.  No lines outside.  I guess they figure all your clothes should go to the laundry.  We drove towards Beverly Hills through the Pacific Palisades and to Santa Monica.  We saw many large homes and estates also the beautiful Beverly Hills Hotel.  There were homes perched on top of all the hills.  I guess when they buy land here they go out and pick the hill they want and tell the real estate man “I’ll take that one.”  We drove north on the beach highway then turned back to Santa Monica where we saw lots of people on the beach.  Stopped at Venice and walked down on the beach.  Saw an old man sitting on the beach with his bathing suit rolled down to his waist and he sure looked like Gandhi.  An old lady tried to wash her face in the salt water and got her feet wet from the breakers.  As soon as we saw what she was trying to do we knew she’d get wet.  Evidently she hadn’t been around the water much.  Went down on the “Pike” and heard all the “spielers” yell their wares.  Saw many funny sights.  Went into a place where they had fish in some solution so they would keep.  Saw a whale and an enormous turtle like they have in the south seas.  It was interesting to see it said “no charge” out in front but as we came out a man asked us for a donation.  Saw a hammer head shark and it has a funny head all right.  We saw folks going “down Niagra Falls” in a barrel and how they yelled.  They turn over and over.  They surely must be dizzy when they come out.  Some looked it too.  Ate Chinese noodles in a lovely Chinese restaurant.  It was so pretty and cool in there.  Drove over to San Pedro and walked through the park.  Saw some pelicans sunning themselves on the rocky cliffs below.  The sea was blue and fairly calm.  Sam took a picture of the battleships inside the breakwater.  It was a lovely view from where we were.  The ships looked like silver in the sun.  Leaving san Pedro we drove home through Long Beach.  We got home at 7.15 and ate lunch.  Sam read then gassed up the car for tomorrow we start north.  My pictures were not ready so they will mail them to me.  If I’d known that I’d had them finished at home.  Sam called up Al Kurth’s place and found they left for Seattle on Thursday.  Today was our last day in Los Angeles and we enjoyed it.  The sun was so hot we almost cooked out on the beach.  Sam kept saying “This is what I call real California weather” and how he can enjoy the sun.  More than anyone I ever saw.  But he freezes from the cold.

Monday February 6, 1933

Arose at 15 minutes to six and started breakfast and packed lunch.  We started from Glendale, Rex Auto Court to San Fernando road for our trip home.  The sun came out and out trip over the ridge route was fine.  There was snow on the hills but none on the roads.  We got over the hills so early we didn’t mind them.  We ate our lunch on the roadside when Sam had a hurry call so left us sitting there on the road side eating away.  It must certainly look funny for motorists to see us sitting there eating.  We drove on until we reached Sacramento.  It was too late to call for our mail so we ate supper and called on Chesters and were they surprised to see us.  Ramelle is certainly getting big.  Her hair is more beautiful then ever.  She leaned over to me and said I’ll be old pretty soon.  My how we laughed.  Sam went over to meet chetser and Elizabeth and I sat there and talked to Mrs. Chester.  We sat there until the men came back and until 9.30.  then we drove out and found a nice cabin.  Sam rented it for two nights.  Chester is a specialty salesman for the Union Oil co. and covers part of California, Nevada and Arizona.  So he is on the go most of the time.  I hope he sticks this time.  He showed us some good pictures of a deer hunting trip.  Killed a deer weighing 225 lbs.  Mrs. Chester has been under the doctor’s care for several months.  Had ulcers of the liver.  Must be quite painful too.  They live in an apartment near the governor’s mansion.  A nice place although small.  They seem to getting along fine.

Tuesday February 7, 1933

Sam got up early and went up to the post office and got the mail.  He met Mr. Chester and drove back to the cabin with him.  John Stuyts sent us a telegram to come home as the road was being changed and Joe B trying to buy corner by Orrs.  At first I thought Sam was kidding until he handed me the telegram.  In 20 minutes we were dressed packed our car and started to Chester’s to eat breakfast.  Mrs. Chester had the best ham I ever ate and Sam sure enjoyed it.  Chester offered Sam some jackass (moonshine is so called there.)  I wonder how they picked on such a name.  We left Sacramento at 10.30 and climbed the mountains.  We drove through snow near Mt. Shasta four feet deep in places and oh how the mountain was beautiful.  We took several pictures.  Sent a telegram to John at Redding.  At Shasta City we drove in two ruts on a side street.  There was a big pile of snow in the middle higher than the car frozen solid.  We stopped at Medford to eat our supper and felt so fresh when we came out we decided to drive on so went over Grants Pass in the moonlight.  Oh it was clear and bright.  We only slipped once on the mountain road and that was on the Siskiyous.  We reached Roseburg and took rooms at the Grand Hotel and my how tired we were but we cut our trip down by traveling at night.  We passed through so many towns and saw so many fields of grapes, fruit, oil wells and plenty to see so that our eyes were ready to close at night.

Wednesday February 8, 1933

The room at our hotel was so warm that I didn’t sleep very well and it was freezing cold outside.  The management was suppose to call us at seven but we woke up early so got up and dressed and ate our breakfast.  We were not hungry so didn’t eat much.  We drove quite fast and ate our dinner at Eugene, Oregon and oh it was cold.  Saw herds of sheep along on the hills and a lot of tiny lambs.  My they are cute and so tiny.  When we got closer to Washington we ran into a big rain and did it rain!  After we drove through rain for quite a ways we ran into snow and it stuck on the windshield so we could hardly see.  Got to Centralia where we ate supper.  It was bitterly cold and we could hardly get warm even in the restaurant.  Had a roast pork dinner and oh it was good.  We had to get the ice scraped off the head lights at Olympia.  The man asked us where we had been.  I guess he thought we’d been at the North Pole.  We reached Belfair at 7.30 and they were glad to see us.  We were all frozen and stood around the stone in the store and finally got warm.  My what a change was in the store.  I hardly knew the place.  Everyone started to talk at once.    Jack Carrol who used to work at Stimson’s so long died a week ago.

_______________________________________________________________________

Now that’s a story.  Thank you for reading this week’s diary.  ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

January 26 – February 1, 1933

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

This week Mary, Sam and Elizabeth head out of San Diego on their journey home.  Not a straight shot though.  Long Beach is their first stop visiting friends and got to catch a movie! She mentions Kate Smith.  Now there is an icon.  I remember growing up in the 1950s and when she came on TV it was a very enjoyable and respectful moment to listen to Kate Smith perform. I always thought it had to do with getting through WWII era and her role in singing positive patriotic tunes.  This tells me that Kate Smith was instrumental in uplifting the country with her singing during the “Great Depression” too.  Enjoy!  ch

Thursday January 26, 1933

My, but the sun was bright and warm when we got up this morning.  Ate our breakfast and dusted up a wee bit.  Left home at 11.20 for a ride.  Sam drove out towards La Jolla towards the Old Spanish Lighthouse.  It was built about 85 years ago and is not in use now but still stands in good condition.  Sam took a picture of the harbor of San Diego.

Near the lighthouse is a monument and grave yard that contains the bodies of 40 men who were killed on the Mississippi in an explosion some years ago.  A dreary place to look at.  From Point Loma we drove to Sunset Cliffs.  My, but it was the most beautiful place.  The breakers were immense and broke over the cliffs in big white clouds.  Drove through La Jolla and saw many lovely homes and gardens.  We stopped at Bird rock Inn and saw a couple with a little toy Pomeranian pup.  Oh it was cute and fluffy and how it barked at Sam.  We hiked along the beach over to Bird Rock and frightened all the pelicans away.  My, they have big red necks and bills and are awfully clumsy.  Saw two big gray squirrels up on the bank near the stairs.  On our way home we drove by Mission Beach and saw some men picking garden peas.  My, but it is early for peas.  They must get quite a price for them.  We drove to Lindbergh Field and watched the planes go out and then went up to Glenn’s Barbecue and had a sandwich.  Sam and I had barbecued ham and Elizabeth had beef.  They were very good.  After lunch we drove to the end of Broadway and saw the sailing Vessel “Constitution.”  There were hundreds of people visiting the ship and it was so crowded and so stuffy in the lower quarters we could hardly stand it.  The ship is all repainted and finished but certainly is a far cry from our battleship of today.  The cannon they used were very clumsy affairs.  In a glass case were shown models of uniforms worn on the ship when it was in active service.  The officers wore lace at the neck and cuffs of their coats.  There was also a very strange old compass on board.  About the only modern thing I saw on board was a Frigidaire.  We drove towards Tijuana and saw field after fields of celery.  It was lovely.  Saw a lot of orange and lemon trees too.  Went down as far as the boundary line to Tijuana and sat in the car awhile and watched the cars come across the line.  We saw all kinds of cars and faces coming back from the races.  We visited the auto show.  It was held near the docks where the motorcycle races used to take place.  Of all the lovely cars the Buick was the nicest.  There were dozens of wonderful coupes and sedans of every kind but the Ford.  We saw a new car called the Terraplane.  Looks something like the Plymouth.  I liked the Dodge coupe too.  It was plain but very nice and roomy.  Cost 25 cents per person to see the auto show but it was worth it.  We came home about 5.30 and got supper.  Sam received two sales sheets from John today.  The cash sales averaged over $65.00 for each day so that is pretty good.  We were riding along and Elizabeth saw a sign that read “Shelltown Courts” and she read it “Helltown Courts” because a telephone pole covered up the letter “S”.  My how we laughed!

Friday January 27, 1933

The alarm rattled at 8.30A>M. and Elizabeth called me but I didn’t get up until nine.  Pressed Sam’s pants and he brushed off my coat good.  We drove over to the Ferry that runs to Coronado.  It was about eleven when we landed at Coronado.  The sky was blue and oh it was warm out.  We drove around on North Island and saw huge Nay planes and small army planes.  My, but airplanes were whizzing all around.  One was hauling a target through the air.  My, but it looked strange.  We entered Mexico about 11.30 and drove up near the saloon with the longest bar in the world-300 ft. long.  We walked past the different mirrors and saw ourselves thin, fat, long legged and broad and oh it was funny.  I told Elizabeth the broad mirror showed us as we would be when we get old and fat.  Sam got himself a couple of beers and met us at the Curio Shop.  We sent cards to Red Parsons, Earie Althof, Gordon, John and Spence Ames.  Then we went over to the long Bar and Sam bought us some pork sandwiches from a Chinaman who sold them at the corner of the saloon.  My, I never tasted a better sandwich.  The pork was cut about 3/8” in thickness and had lettuce, sliced tomatoes and pickle besides butter between the brad.  I’m going to make some like that some day at home.  The Chinaman are masters at roasting pork as they use so much in their native dishes.   As we passes by one saloon a man sprawled on the sidewalk just so easily it looked like it was planned.  He was very drunk but that was really the only drunk I saw over there although I saw several who looked very sleepy. Most people from this side go to “The Foreign Club” to drink, gamble and party.  They have vaudeville too.  Much gambling is done there even more then at Aqua Caliente.  As we pulled away from the curb some girl inside a saloon called to Sam, “Hello there” and popped behind the counter – then up and smiled – then down again. She was trying to get him interested so he would come in and buy and then she would get a commission on what he’d buy.  We sure laughed at the way she popped up and down behind the counter.  I’d sure hate to work in such a place.  We drove to the race tracks and Sam got a program.  It was ladies day so Elizabeth and I got in free.  We saw lots of slot machines inside and up stairs the gambling run by men.  Different ways to lose your money at each table.  We must of sat up in the grandstand from 1.30 until 4.30.

Ate peanuts and got awful dry.  Got shells all over my coat.  Sam got so cold he went down to where all the betting was going on and watched that.  We heard one woman teling about losing $285 the day before and about some friend of hers who lost their home and all they had betting.  What a foolish way to lose money.  Better to give it away.  There were not 1/3 of the people there today that there was two years ago.  I guess hard times have hit the race tracks too.  The gambling room did not seem to be doing a very thriving business either.  There were many people there who must follow all the races.  You could read it on their faces.  It must be an uncertain living at the best.  Most of them find it a pretty tough road to success.  The horse I picked in the last race threw his rider and the ambulance rushed around and took him away.  I certainly picked a bad one that time.  One horse Elizabeth picked to lose because he was so frisky and wouldn’t stand at the start fooled her by winning the race by a big margin.  How we laughed. Most every woman we saw at the races smoked.  Smoking is a habit more indulged in down here by women then up North.  As we were going over the line the line officer asked us if we bought anything on the other side and Sam said “We bought an 18 cent basket.”  The fellow said “18 cent worth of basket, go on” and laughed.  You are not to bring back more than 90 cents worth of stuff from Mexico without paying duty.  Came home and found we’d left the gas heater on all day which made Wisilet quite mad but she was the last one out of the house so she couldn’t blame us.  Too bad as it runs up the gas bill quite a lot.

Saturday January 28, 1933

Didn’t get up till 10.30 this morning so ate a very late breakfast.  The sun was bright and warm after raining most of the night.  I dreamed Sam was a bouncer at a dance and took a flask away from Henry and Fat Beard and Henry got so mad he socked Sam in the jaw and he fell down.  Sam jumped up and told Henry where his flask was and fell down again this time he passed out.  Dreams are surely queer things.  We drove over to Rutledges to find out how to bake ham and she treated us to cake.  It was warm yet and very rich.  Sat around and talked and decided to go for a ride up to see the snow.  Went down town and got some stuff in the 10 cent store.  I bought my mother a cake decorator.  She makes lots of cake so she ought to have good use for a decorator.  Sam bought a big ham up at the market weighing 13 lbs. and when we got home I’m going to start parboiling it for roasting.  We drove to Laguanna about sixty miles from San Diego on the way to the Imperial Valley.  We saw lots of snow the last ten miles, at least 4 feet up at the summit.  The road was slippery and hard to drive on.  We took Rutledges home and were back here by 6 o’clock.  We certainly had a long ride.  Saw most beautiful country and orange and lemon groves.  Passed through the little town of La Mesa.  It was quite a pretty place.  Was dark when we got home and we still had two big balls of snow on the car that Sam and Rutledge put on up in the mountains.  We saw a few people out with small sleds sliding down hills but they didn’t see to go very fast as the snow was too wet.  After supper we drove up to the Carterie Theater and saw “Air Mail” with Pat O’Brien, Ralph Bellamy, Lillian Bond and Slim Summerville.  Also the “Golden West” with George O’Brien and a blonde I can’t remember seeing before.  Nothing striking.  Just an ordinary blonde who certainly could ride a horse.  Both shows were very good and we enjoyed them.  Home again at eleven and to boiling the ham some more and writing in my diary. Elizabeth and I have figured out why Mrs. Rutledge’s cakes are so soggy.  She ices them while they are still warm and the icing sinks into the cake and by the time it’s cold she has a lovely, heavy as lead cake.  There are more paved roads in this state built by real estate companies then you can imagine.  We saw a large tract of land out beyond La Mesa where even sidewalks were in but I didn’t see any houses so I guess it must have fallen through.  No trees, just the barest country.

Sunday January 29, 1933

Never got up this morning until 11.30.  Then I put the ham on to roast right away.  Elizabeth had finished most of the washing so I washed out a few pieces and of course it was raining all day so we had to dry all our clothes in the house.  Elizabeth packed all her dishes and clothes and I packed all my things.  We certainly had a lot to pack when we got started.  Took us most of the day to get our packing done.  About four Sam and I drove over to Crary’s.  We found the place easy.  Mrs. Graham was there too.  She had come down the same time as Sam but on the train.  We sat there and talked about four hours and it rained all the time were there.  Crary’s have two boys.  One three and one about a year old.  They are real cute.  The oldest one has an amazing memory.  Crary is the sales manader for a large laundry concern and spends quite long hours on the job.  He is six foot and weighs 165 lbs.  Same weight Sam was ten years ago.  We drove through water nearly 12 inches deep at the corner of El Cajon and 30^th.  Just a river running down the street.  Arrived home and ate a couple of ham sandwiches and say they were good.  We are all going to bed early so we get rested for our trip to Long Beach tomorrow.  I hope it doesn’t rain on our way up as it will be our last long ride by the ocean for some time.  Paid ten dollars on the store bill and said good bye to Mrs. Phillips and got my music.  The Phillips had a lot of company and had a table set for about sixteen people.

Monday January 30, 1933

This was another sunny day and we all got up fairly early.  We cleaned the house up very good, scrubbed and swept everything so it looked fine when we left at one o’clock.  Said good bye to Mrs. Sawtelle where Elizabeth stored all her things and went up to the store where we got a few things.  Went into Betty Hicks and returned her washboard.  She was sick in bed with the flu.  We got Elizabeth’s watch, had the gas turned off and gave our change of address at the post office all before two O’clock.  Ate lunch at a counter just out of San Diego and my what a big roast sandwich we got for 25 cents.  All we could eat.  We drove to Long Beach and arrived at 5.45 P.M.  We had a lovely ride and took two pictures of the ocean.  My, but the sky was clear.  The sunset was wonderful too.  The ships looked like silver out on the harbor.  Received four letters today.  Gladwin sure writes a newsy letter.  Sam said that Charlie Kindred was shot while out hunting deer so the whole family moved to Bremerton including the Hodges and Kinney’s.  W.G. Barnes died of pneumonia about the second week in January.  He hadn’t been feeling well for some time.  He was a rather nice fellow.  Sam and I both liked him.  Found a cabin for a dollar at Long Beach auto Court so I made a lunch from our baked ham.  My, but it was good.  Made up the beds and went for a ride.  Sam called up Al Kurth so we are going over to visit them tomorrow and plan to see Aikens at the same time.  Will see Ericksons when we come home from Las Vegas, Nevada.  We rode down town and walked down on the Pike.  Saw lots of funny things.  Saw two very good shows.  Kate Smith in “Hello Everybody” and Joel McCrea, Marion Marshy and William Gargan in “The sporting age.”  I could listen to Kate Smith all evening.

Tuesday January 31, 1933

We got up at nine o’clock to the tune of an agent pounding on the door.  She said “Can’t you come to the door” and Sam said ”no, we’re in bed.”  So he told her to come back in half an hour and she did but we just let her hammer on the door.  Some folks outside said “You can’t trust those Washington folks.  They might be kidding you” and we laughed.  Left the camp about 10.30 and drove over to Kurths.  My, they were glad to see us.  We sat there and talked for about two hours and then we went for a ride.  We drove way out past Beverly Hills and saw the most beautiful homes I ever saw.  Many belong to movie stars and retired folks.  So many had green lawns.  We drove down by Venice and I had fried barracuda.  It was very good.  Tastes something like halibut and has white meat.  Elizabeth didn’t feel good so she stayed in the car so we brought her out a sandwich.  Went back to Kurth’s and got a map of Los Angeles and directions on how to get to Aiken’s in Glendale.  We certainly had a nice afternoon riding around with Kurths.  They told us many things about Las Angeles as they had been here for six months.  Jobs are as scarce as hen’s teeth.  Aikens were anxious to hear about all the old timers.  We sat there and talked for 2 ½ hours about everyone and every thing.  We certainly had a nice visit.  Aiken works for an electrical outfit three days a week.  He has worked for that same place for five years.  They have a nice place all paid for so they are lucky.  We had an awful time finding our way home.  Got home at ten.  We bought some fruit at a stand near our camp and the fellow said “These are the best apples in the world and are raised in Wenatchee.”  He never knew I was from Washington too.  Saw a blimp over Los Angeles that took people for 15 minute rides over the city.  It is of silver color and is owned by the Goodyear Co.  We watched it for quite awhile.

Wednesday February 1, 1933

We got up at seven and left the cabin at 8.15 for Las Vegas, Nevada.  I made a good lunch of ham and jelly sandwiches, hard boiled eggs and apples.  We reached San Bernadino about eleven.  Took us quite awhile to get there as there was so many small towns to go through.  And the car was missing so Sam got it fixed and my, it sounded good.  Put in gas at Barstow for the last time.  It is a division point for the Santa Fe Railroad and there were lots of cars there.  We reached Las Vegas at five o’clock just as the sun was going down.  My, but it was a long trip.  Went about 360 miles all told.    The trip up was fine.  We saw the most wonderful scenery, desert, sand and snow covered mountains all in one picture.  I’m going to take some pictures when I come back.  Saw lots of yucca trees.  They look like a cross between a palm and a cactus.  We took pictures of some where we ate our lunch at a cross roads store.  The snow was warm and the snow on the mountains looked beautiful.  The scenery by the soda springs (dry) was lovely also near the state line where we actually saw some water with ducks on it but it wasn’t very deep.  Sam was going to park by the road and ran off in the dirt and got stuck so got a truck to pull us out.  He certainly was surprised when he got so near the edge and nearly ran off the bank.  We were lucky a truck came by so soon and we could get under way again.  Louie never received my letter as there is another Larson here by the same name so he must have got it.  Just got here in time as Louie was starting out for Long Beach tomorrow.  His name came up but he didn’t have enough experience so didn’t get on.  So now he figures on coming down later if things open up.  They are laying men off now by the dozens.  Louie was sure surprised to see us.  Leonard had the day off so we saw both of them.  They had bought a chicken for supper so we had both chicken and steak, potatoes, gravy, corn and coffee and enjoyed it all.  After supper we saw all the gambling joints in town and a good show. Marie Dressler and Polly Moran in “Prosperity.”  We laughed until we ached.  We saw all the town.  Everything is licensed and wide open and you can see plenty of ways to get rid of money fast.  Not a very large place though.  Just one big main street and all the most important places are there.    The roads here from Long Beach were wonderful and it certainly was a fine trip.  To bed at 12.30.  Very late.

_______________________________________________________________________

I remember as a kid growing up in Vancouver, Washington hearing a strange sound coming from the air.  Looking up I saw the Good Year blimp.  I was so excited I had to run into the house and tell my mom.  Several years later I lived near Lake Washington in Seattle and during one of the Hydro Plane races the Good Year blimp came to visit.

I lived in Orange County California from 1985 – 1989.  The airfield and home of the Good Year blimp was between Los Angeles and Long Beach off of the 405 highway.  Many times when I would see her tethered or approaching for a landing I would stop and watch.  It’s been a long time since I have seen the Good Year blimp.  I do know I would immediately recognize the sound of her engines in the air.  Thank you for reading this week’s diary. ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

January 19 – 25, 1933

 Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

 Mary is still in San Diego waiting for Sam to come.  Mary and Elizabeth visit the zoo and poor Elizabeth is disappointed she did not see a kangaroo or a rhinoceros. Mary writes the zoo feeds the condors and buzzards carrion.  I had to look that one up.  It was raining all week in San Diego and today when that happens they say it is unusual.  Well it was doing it back 78 years ago too.  This week’s diary is rather revealing of Mary’s personality and sense of humor.  Besides loving to go and see movies she was a bit of a book worm. Of course we need to take into consideration the era.  Not near the distractions we have today like TVs, cell phones, computers and listening to mpeg3s.  Enjoy! ch

Thursday January 19, 1933

This morning we got up late and washed clothes.  It is now two thirty and Elizabeth is just scrubbing the kitchen floor, the last thing on wash day.  We have two lines of clothes out but I think they’ll all get dry because there is a terrible wind blowing.  Received a letter from Louie saying he had his insurance money so he was returning the thirty dollars.  I’m glad he has some money.  Waiting to get a job isn’t so bad then.  He wants us to be sure to come up to Las Vegas to see him before we go home.  I hope we can make it.  Had a letter from Marie Solomon the girl whose Xmas folder covered the menu out on the Neches at the dinner.  She writes a nice letter but says it’s quite cold back there.  Well it’s not so warm here today.  Mrs. Sawtelle showed another lady our house.  I hope Sam gets here before she rents it.  We don’t want to move out nor move over to Mrs. Hicks.  My, that woman is foolish.  She asked me on the way home from Long Beach “Do you close your eyes when you kiss your husband?”  Well I was floored with that question so I answered “Well if you notice in the movies I believe they close their eyes so it must be done.”  Oh!  Then she felt good.  She was doing alright!  The crazy thing!  I returned the books I borrowed from Mrs. Hicks and talked to her for nearly an hour.  Sonny made so much noise we could hardly hear each other speak and Mrs. Hicks said “If Ethel’s kids don’t stay away from here my kids will be spoiled all together.”  From the way they act they are pretty badly spoiled by now.  I was over to Mrs. Sawtelle’s and she loaned me some books to read.  They are Red and Black by Grace Richmond, To Have and to Hold by Mary Johnston, Good Twin Beds by Edward S Field, Funny.  In the evening Elizabeth made some of the best fudge I ever ate and I spent most of the evening trying to eat it up.  Played nine games of rummy and won one.  A good average for me.  It rained terribly hard and we couldn’t go to sleep.  Jumped rope so long I was out of breath.  It’s a good way to exercise all right.  Shakes me most to pieces.

Friday January 20, 1933

I went over to Phillips and gave her the mixing bowls for letting me practice on her piano.  The bowls were heavy light blue crockery and five assorted sizes.  She liked them very much.  I wanted to give her something useful as she wouldn’t accept anything for letting me practice there.  Practiced two hours on the piano and played “My Wild Irish Rose” a few times.  I think if I practiced hard on that I could play it all right.  Sam would like that as that is his favorite piece next to “Sidewalks of New York.”  I believe if I learned those two pieces he’d think I could play the piano.  After lunch we got ready to go down town.  Elizabeth had ironed most of the morning so I finished mine up when I came back from Phillips.  We missed the bus so walked down to the car line on University.  The streets were wet from the rain but the air was great.  I enjoyed the walk.  We went to the Orpheum and saw “Second Hand Wife” with Ralph Bellamy, Sally Eilers and Helen Vinson.  A fine play and follows the story perfectly.  We certainly enjoyed it.  Also saw “The Devil is Driving” with Edmund Lowe, James Gleason, Lois Wilson , Wynn Gibson and Dicky Moore.  Very good and exciting enough to make you grab onto the seat arm.  When we came out of the show it was nearly five and the streets were full of water and starting to rain again.  A small river ran down each street.  Home again and to the store and made supper.  How we ate.  The both of us were hungry.  Had broiled pork chops, baked potatoes, cauliflower, coffee and cookies.  I had a big newsy letter from Mrs. Sundstrom when I got home.  She says Chuck Ryan and Anna DeMuers were married.  I guess Charlie is happy now.  He surely went with her a long time.  I’m going to answer Mrs. Sundstrom’s letter now and then play some more rummy and see if I can beat Elizabeth.  That is a hard job as she is lucky at cards and I’m not.  The weather has been awful all day and our clothes are still out on the line.  Now the rain has let up again.  I hope a wind comes up so we don’t have to dry our things in the house.  Imagine drying clothes in the house in San Diego.  It’s a crime.

Saturday January 21, 1933

This morning Arlene was over before we got up and said her mother wanted us to come over to lunch at 12 o’clock.  So we dressed and went over.  We are both so stiff from jumping rope we could hardly walk.  Mrs. Hicks had a nice lunch and we enjoyed it.  Sat around and talked for over an hour and then went down to the library.  We got three more books and read some magazines.  My, but it’s nice out now.  The sky is so blue and the clouds are so big and white.  The rain sure washed everything off clean.  Received a letter from Gladwin.  He says they have 6 or more inches of snow up there.  Wants me to be sure and visit his friend Bud Hartsler at Redlands.  Mailed a letter to Mrs. Sundstrom so I won’t answer Gladwin’s letter for a few days as I wrote all my news to her.  Hope Sam writes Monday so we know when he’ll be down. 

Sunday January 22, 1933

Raining when we woke up but clears a little about 1.30.  We ate a late breakfast and Elizabeth made a cake.  Then we went down to the museum.  My of all the things there was to see.  Birds of all varieties found around San Diego and some foreign varieties.  There was a condor whose wings measured more then seven feet across.  It was the largest one ever caught around here.  They feed on carrions as do Turkey Buzzards and are cruel looking things.  The ducks looked most natural of all the birds.  Why I couldn’t say maybe it was their eyes.  Upstairs were collections of shell, coral, wood and shrubs from San Diego.  Very interesting.  Some of the coral resembled a tree and one piece was a lovely red.  There was a case containing a huge branch of eucalyptus which was covered with butterflies.  They sometimes collect on a tree.  Many die there and no one knows why they collect all, perhaps like birds preparing to migrate but to where no one knows.  We visited the Japanese Tea Garden and it was very lovely.  Of course some one was drinking there.  We looked at the collection of curious and I bought a fan for Flora and a group of three monkeys for John.  He will get a kick out of those monkeys, I’m sure.  Next came the zoo and we spent nearly two hours there.  We saw so many kinds of animals I can’t remember them all.  Anyway I’m glad it wasn’t a warm day as some of the places smelled so we held our noses going by.  There were a great many kinds of birds and a marvelous duck pond with a big beaver in it.  The ducks seemed the happiest of all the caged birds.  There were all kinds of ducks, mallards, widgeon, teal, canvasback and geese of several kinds.  In the big pond up by the Reptile House were several white swans and one black one.  My how graceful they are!  Their eyes are set in the heads so strangely they always look mad.  There is a wired covered bird cage near where the lions are.  In this cage are egrets (white and bluish colored storks, quail, ducks, seagulls, Chinese pheasants, peacocks, pigeons and some funny blue bird I don’t know what it was.  The bird cage is very high and long and is built down on a side of the bank and encloses several large trees.  We witnesses two drakes fighting over a hen.  One got a hold of his opponents wing and round and round they went making the most racket until of course the bitten one gave up and flew down into the pond, ducked himself a couple of times and sailed around as of he’s forgotten the battle already.  There are parrots, parakeets, pigeons, eagle, condor, guineas and peacocks up near the monkey cages.  All kinds of parrots, gorgeous green ones.  One bright blue one with a yellow bill, multicolored ones and snow white parakeets with blue eyes like we had at the ranch.  There were small green and blue parakeets too.  They squeak continually.  The blue ones are especially pretty.  The peacocks were wonderful.  One spread his feathers while we were there and he certainly was a dazzling sight.  Near the duck pond was a sea elephant that must have weighed nearly a ton.  He was sleeping and when we walked near the fence he made a snoring noise that was worse than any husband could make.  The alligators lay in the water like pieces of bark (which they are supposed to represent) and you couldn’t see them move at all.  The sea lions made lots of noise and jumped and swam all around as if for our special benefit.  The noise they make is something like a blow from a kid’s toy horn.  We saw tigers, lions, monkeys, cougars, raccoons, leopards, ocelot, a lynx, deer from all different countries and more shapes than you can imagine.  Some were pure white and looked more like sheep.  Some had clack faces and some were entirely spotted.  We saw one wolf.  He was in a cage up where the supplies are kept and he paced back and forth in front of his cage all the time.  Every few minutes he would let out the most hair raising howl I ever heard.  I’d sure hate to hear that on a dark lonely road.  The camels were large and walked around the fence waiting for some one to feed them peanuts and the three elephants were eating hay like a bunch of cows.  My, but they were enormous.  Elizabeth was disappointed because she didn’t see a kangaroo or a rhinoceros but I told her I thought we had seen quite a lot.  We were going to see the snakes but such an odor met our nostrils as we opened the door that we decided against it.  Anyway we know what snakes look like.  After we’d seen all of this we went out and got our street car home.  Made our supper and ate like a couple of bears.  The lemon cake was very good even if the filling didn’t want to stay on.  After supper we walked down to the Fox Egyptian Theater and saw “Tess of the Storm Country” with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.  It was good but not nearly the picture it was as when Mary Pickford took the part some years ago.  Gaynor is too cultured a person to play the part of Tess.  When Mary Pickford was in her ragged clothes and mussed curls and walks up to the altar with the dying baby in her arms, it was a sight to bring the tears in your eyes.  Somehow Gaynor fell down here.  The other picture was “That’s My Boy” with Richard Cromwell, Dorothy Jordan and Mary Carr.  It was very good.  A story of college life and football.  We liked it better than the first play.  Home again and read awhile.  A writing in Ye diary and to bed.  My!  It’s 12.40 already.  Ha! Ha!  Read 4 more books, finished letter to Gladwin to bed 1.20.  Oh how sleepy!

Monday January 23, 1933

Such a wet day!  We didn’t wale up until 10.10 and then lay there talking for over an hour.  Got up and ate our breakfast and finished at 1.20.  We thought we’d better get up from the table before it was time to get supper.  Such lazybones as we are!  Received a nice letter from Wand Orr and also one from Flora.  But as yet no letter from Sam.  I’ll suppose he’ll pop in here some fine day saying “Didn’t I tell you I was going to be here on such a such a day?”  Just like a man!  Answered the two letters and wrote one to my mother.  I guess I told them enough about the zoo so they could almost see it.  We walked down to the drug store and bought the Liberty magazine.  It has on the front a comical picture of a sailor giving a Dutch girl a pair of shoe trees. Elizabeth is sending that to Doug so he can get a laugh out of it.  My, it’s rained almost continuously all day.  Elizabeth got her feet all wet when we went to the store.  I hope it clears up tomorrow.  Elizabeth made clam chowder for supper and oh it was good.  Haven’t had any since I left home.  I have always been fond of clams, cooked any way.  Now I’m going to read a while and to bed early.  I forgot to mention the turtles we saw yesterday.  One was enormous.  I don’t know how many different kinds there were.  We played seven games of rummy.  I won the first four-highest count and Elizabeth last three-highest count for her 22.  This is the first time I’ve been able to beat her at rummy and was I glad?

Tuesday January 24, 1933

Got up at 9.30 and ate a big breakfast.  Cleaned the house good and went over to Phillips where I practiced for two hours.  They were busy painting.  Came home to eat lunch and found a letter from John Stuyts saying Sam had left on Jan 20^th so now we are happy.  Can tell the land lady so she can rent the house.  We walked several blocks up El Cajon and had a shampoo and finger wave.  My, but our hair looks nice now.  We walked home and my but it had turned cold.  The sun was still shining but not nearly so warm as when we started out.  Bought a big red lobster and made salad out of it for supper.  My, but it was good.  We both like lobster but think shrimp much better.  Mrs. Sawtelle showed the house to another couple.  I hope she can rent it but not before we are out.  Weatherman says rain tomorrow.  My, that’s bad!  I wish it would stay nice like it was today.  I hope Sam doesn’t run into too much bad weather on the way down.  It makes it so mean driving.  Mrs. Sawtelle gave Elizabeth three big calla lilies.  Oh they are lovely.  Just like wax and so stately!  The gas is hard on them and I see they are beginning to fade.  Started a letter to John which I will finish when Sam arrives.

Wednesday January 25, 1933

This day we got up at 9.30 and ate no breakfast as it was near noon.  Elizabeth ironed and I cleaned the house.  Went up to the store and came home.  Ate our lunch and was just doing the dishes when the door bell rained and Sam was there.  My, but we were surprised!  So then we got him a tamale for lunch, just like we had and he told us all the news.  His mother and Mary Wise rode down with him.  His mother went as far as San Francisco and Mrs. Wise as far as Los Angeles.  Sam got here with dark circles under his eyes and a cold sore under his nose.  He said he had gone to three parties since he left Belfair so I guess between that and all the snow on the roads he was pretty tired.  He drove over 300 miles through snow in Oregon and some of it was four feet deep.  He traveled only 100 miles one day on account of snow so it must have been tough going.  We rode down town and saw Rutledge’s.  Rutledge had 20 days more leave so they didn’t leave for the east coast as we supposed.  We sat there and talked for over an hour then went to town.  Ate our supper at Berg’s café and it was very good.  I had breaded veal cutlets and so did Elizabeth.  Sam had a big steak.  Wrote the rest of John’s letter.  Also received a letter from Grace Coady.  She said everyone was fine and that she is going to practice on the piano again.  I’m sure glad as it’s nice to be able to play and she has a good start.  It’s now 6.20 and Sam is trying to sleep on the davenport.  Elizabeth is working cross word puzzles and I’m writing in my diary.  Quite an exciting day all told and it’s certainly gone by fast.  Now I’m going to read the paper.  Elizabeth and I played about nine games of rummy while Sam snored on the davenport.  Then all went to bed at ten as Sam was tired and we were all sleepy.  Up too late the last few nights.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hurray!  Sam has finally made it. Thank you for reading this week’s diary.  ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

January 12 – 18, 1933

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

Sam sends Mary a $25 money order and she still has more then half of the last one he sent.  Money stretched a lot further during the” Great Depression” then it does today during the “Great Recession.”  Mary has a dream about her milking her Dad’s ole milk cow. That was an interesting story. Mary’s brother Louie still hasn’t got a job in Las Vegas. Talcum Powder and parboil are not verbiage we hear today.  Enjoy! ch

Thursday January 12, 1933

This morning I got up at 9.15 and ate a slice of bread and butter then went over to Phillips and practiced for two hours.  Mrs. Hicks was there talking when I arrived and came in again just before I left.  She thought Elizabeth was mad at her so I told her “no.”  Went home and ate lunch and asked Elizabeth if she wanted to go for a swim.  So she was agreeable.  We went up to Mrs. Hicks and she took us over to the pool and watched us swim.  The temperature of the water was 74° but the wind was so chilly that we felt cold as soon as we got out.  We dried our hair on their fancy dryers. Bought four hamburgers so we had something to chew on and went back to Hicks.  Borrowed some books from her to read, ten in all.  My I’ve got so much to read I don’t know when I will get around to it.  Came home and washed my hair. It sure gets oily quick down here.  I guess it’s because I wear my hat a lot.  Saw one of those 3 room apartments of Mrs. Sawtell’s.  They are lovely.  I wouldn’t mind living there myself.  Received 5 letters today.  One from John Stuyts, Louie, Grace Coady, Al Kurths and 2 Couriers and a special sheet from Sam.  From all accounts Sam’s Price Rite is going to be a success.  I certainly hope it continues to go on as well as it started.  I wrote to Louie and John and will mail their letters tonight.  Louie hasn’t got on yet but still staying.  I hope he gets on soon.  Received a twenty five dollar money order from Sam.  My, he must think I’m getting awful short to send so much.  I have still over half of the last one yet.  Well it’s a good thing not to be too broke.  I’m thankful for his generosity.  Played Rummy with Elizabeth and she won 5 games and I won 2 so we read awhile then to bed and talked until late.

Friday January 13, 1933

Here it is Friday the thirteenth.  Supposedly a very unlucky day but I think it’s all as you believe.  To start out with I woke up from a queer dream.  I dreamed I was out in the barn at my Dad’s and was milking “Reddy” a mean old cow we used to have (dead for these 12 years) and she broke her rope.  I tried to keep her from kicking me while I milked as the pail was nearly full and she seemed mad over something. She broke her rope straining to get to the milk run in front of another cow.  Dad always fed each cow a can full of feed at milking time.  I turned around quickly just as she was going to squash both the pail and me and I woke.  I was lying on my stomach in a hunched position with my head in the pillow.  Every time I sleep on my stomach I have awful dreams.  We didn’t get up until nearly eleven so decided to eat only two meals a day when we arose late from now on.  Elizabeth put out a small wash and I cleaned house good and we read awhile.  About 2 o’clock we walked down to the library and bought some stamps and a candy bar on our way down.  My, but it was warm out.  It seemed good to be inside the cool library.  We got three good books and then read magazines until nearly four o’clock.  Home again and no mail all day so up to the store and back to cook supper.  Now it is 6.10 and we are all through with the dishes and a long evening ahead of us.  I wish I could think of something exciting to do besides playing “Rummy.”  I sure get sleepy playing very long.  Read until late and went to bed.  Took exercises first until we were both breathless.

Saturday January 14, 1933

Today I went over to Phillips and practiced for an hour and a half.  Then Elizabeth came over and played a few pieces out of the Legion Air Song Book I bought.  I’m going to practice on my “Wild Irish Rose” as it looks fairly easy.  Home to lunch and then we took the bus down to the park.  It was such a warm day.  There were so many people there.  We went into a number of buildings and saw skulls, mummies, pottery and weaving.  Indian relics, robes, canoes etc.  We sat down by the big pipe organ and listened to the concert played by Royal A. Brown.  It was very good.  We enjoyed it.  There were quite a few people listening to the music.  Went to the store and over to Mrs. Hicks to see if she wanted to go on a picnic tomorrow.  She was agreeable so Elizabeth and I are getting the lunch and she drives her car.  Ate a big supper as usual and walked to the Fox Theater.  Saw Joe E. Brown and Ginger Rogers in “You Said a Mouthful.”  It was so funny we laughed until we ached.  Also “The Crusader” with Lew Cody, Evelyn Brent, H.B. Warner and a fellow who played the reporter.  He sure was funny.  We enjoyed it all and walked home again.  We passed by a place where stood a shrub called a night blooming Jasmine and the air was thick with its fragrance.  I never smelled any flower so sweet in my life.  It was marvelous.  Received a nice letter from my mother today.  She gave me Mrs. Erickson’s address in Long Beach.  I must write her tomorrow.  I bought some nice new stationary special for that.  I’m going to bed.  It is nearly eleven thirty and I’m very tired.  This day has sure gone by fast.

Sunday January 15, 1933

Woke up about 9 o’clock this morning and some one rang the door bell and Elizabeth went to the door.  It was Mrs. Hicks and she wanted to know if we wanted to go up to Long Beach with her as the Neches was there until Tuesday morning.  In fact she said she couldn’t make the trip unless we went along as she was too near broke to go alone and Elizabeth figured out that she would have to take care of the children for her if we didn’t go so decided to accept.  So we are going up tomorrow at twelve noon and I hope it will be warm so we can enjoy it.  Elizabeth was eager to go but didn’t want to spend the money on account of her coming trip up north.  In fact she hesitated on going but finally decided maybe it was all right as she will be gone so long north that she wants to see Doug again before she goes.  It’s trying to rain now.  We gave up the idea of going to the beach as it was too cold.  So now I’m going to write letters and rest up for tomorrow.  It’s ten minutes to one and we have just finished our breakfast.  We sat around so long talking to Mrs. Hicks that we were late eating.  I’m going to take one roll of films down to the Drug Store as I’m anxious to see if any of them are any good.  If there are any good ones I’ll get one enlarged.  They give a coupon for one enlargement free with every roll of film developed.  Last time there weren’t any good enough to enlarge.  I wrote a letter to Grace Coady and air mailed Sam.  I put a note on outside for John to read if Sam had already gone south.  I hope Sam starts early.  Also wrote a big letter to my mother but won’t mail it until Tuesday as I want to look up Erickson’s first and give her all their news.  

 Monday January 16, 1933

Ate breakfast.  Rode down to the dressmakers to fit my skirt but she didn’t have it ready so I walked home again.  It was warm out.  Read awhile and then Elizabeth came back from riding over to get gas with Mrs. Hicks.  The mail man came and left me four letters.

Mrs. Cooper writes that Pom Gregg has twin girls and oh I was surprised as we were kidding her about twins and I asked her if I could have the one she didn’t want and she said “Yes.”  So now I’m going to write and have some fun with her.  Everyone who wrote me is fine so I must answer them soon as I can.  It seems good to get letters especially from home.  At 12.30 noon, Elizabeth and I were ready so Mrs. Hicks came over and we rode up to Long Beach.  After we got about half way it rained something awful but we got there all right and we found Erickson’s place so they went to the hotel to stay.  On our way up we passed through Signal Hill and my the oil wells.  They were as thick as could be.  At Huntington Park are lots of oil wells too.  We passed through a very nice residential district and oh such lovely homes.  There were all kinds but mostly stucco with a enormous large window in the front rounding at the top.  Erickson’s were so surprised to see me.  In fact they couldn’t remember my name until I told them I was Tillie’s daughter.  Then they knew.  They asked me questions all about Holly and I spent most of the evening answering them.  After dinner a Mrs. Ulrich who lives upstairs came down and we played Rummy for over two hours and I only rummied twice in that time.  My, but I was unlucky.  We had lots of fun.  Mrs. Ulrich is very nice.  Went to bed about 9.30 and slept in empty apartment next to Erickson’s.  It’s nice and quiet there too.

Tuesday January 17, 1933

This morning Mrs. Erickson woke me up at eight o’clock and I dressed and ate a big breakfast of waffles and ham.  Oh the ham was good and it was home canned picnic ham put up as follows.  Cut meat from bones and boil bones.  In the broth parboil slices fifteen minutes and place in pint jars with about half an inch of fat on top.  It was wonderful meat and nice to have on hand when company pops up like I did.  Sat around all morning and talked to Erickson’s.  I took three pictures of them so I can send some home to Mama and Grandpa.  Elizabeth came just at 12.10 so while she was eating a dish of pudding I got on my coat and hat.  Mrs. Erickson had prepared dinner although I was still stuffed from breakfast.  She had creamed onions, potatoes, boiled beef, pudding, home made bread, cake cookies and some sprits like Maybelle makes.  They hated to see us go.  I promised I’d come again when Sam came down.  At 12.15 we left Long Beach and exactly 3,25 we got up to University where I went to see about my skirt again.  This time it was fitted and I’m satisfied it will look fine when it’s done.  On our way home from Long Beach it rained, hailed and the sun shone.   It did everything but snow.  Oh how it poured rain a couple of times.  Mrs. Hicks could hardly see with the rain swipe going full blast.  We were lucky to have no tire or car trouble of any kind although I guess it was mean driving in the rain.  The ocean was very gray and rough and the wind blew very hard.  When I got on the bus at University I saw Lorraine Phillips.  She told me about the  awful storm they had last night.  Got off at the drug store and got my pictures.  They were fine especially of Elizabeth alone.  Home again and found a letter from Annie Stuyts full of news.  Mrs. Hicks and Elizabeth went down to see when a boat from the Neches was to come in and found out to their dismay that no boats from any ship were being sent in because of a rough sea.  So they had to go up to the hotel and go to bed- to Mrs. Hick’s sorrow (she’s half baked anyway) alone.  Bought some drugs up at Long Beach as they had a fine sale on.  Then I found the same sale was going on in San Diego Wednesday.  The next morning they saw Doug on the street.  He had come over at nine and was looking for them so everything was OK.  However, missing them Monday night was disappointing after coming all the way up from San Diego to see them and it sure was miserable weather to travel in.  Now it’s Tuesday night and Elizabeth is starting supper but it seems more like Sunday to me.  I’ve been going so much the last three days.  This week will be over before we know it.  Sat around and read awhile and then went down downtown see “Back Street” with John Boles and Irene Dunn.  A wonderful play but very sad.  We saw “Hat Check girl” with Ben Lyon and Sally Eilers.  It was funny and we enjoyed it, especially the part where Ben Lyons cackles like a hen.  He surely is funny.  Home late and to bed.
Wednesday January 18, 1933

This morning we didn’t get up until nearly 10.30.  We ate breakfast and cleaned the house up good then went downtown.  Elizabeth bought a cute black dress and I got a set of mixing bowls for Mrs. Phillips for letting me practice on the piano.  Also I bought 3 woman’s World Cook Books to complete my set, a can of Talcum powder and some magazines for Flora’s scrapbook.  Visited every store in town.  We ate our dinner down at the Owl Drug Store and had the best apple pie.  Cashed our money orders at P.O.  Stopped off at University and got my brown skirt.  It fits fine now.  Home again and to reading movie magazines and writing letters to Mrs. Cooper, Annie Stuyts, Gladys Ames and Vera and Maybelle Hamilton.  Today we didn’t get a single letter.

_______________________________________________________________________

I didn’t know that Elizabeth played the piano.  She must have been good if she could pick up a new piece, read and play it.  Telephones and radios were not in every home back then.  Entertainment relied heavily on reading books and magazines, writing letters, seeing a movie at the theater, visiting friends, watching and listening to people play instruments and eating a piece of apple pie at the local drug store. I just loved the name “Owl Drug Store.”  Pretty much tells one they are open late.  Thank you for reading this week’s diary. ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

USS Neches

  January 5 – 11, 1933

 Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

One can tell Mary has more time on her hands then if she were at home in Belfair tending to the store and being the Postmistress.  Ex-President Calvin Coolidge died 78 years ago. My favorite lines were where she talks about the woman’s hairy legs and that “some people haven’t the brains of a chipmunk.”  Enjoy! ch

Thursday January 5, 1933

We’ll I’ve finished writing all my letters and received another one from Grace Coady.  However I won’t answer any more until Sunday or Monday.  Cleaned up my room and then went up to Phillips and practiced for 3 hours.  I’m glad to practice once in awhile.  I’m progressing a little each day.  Went over to Hicks where Elizabeth was visiting and sat and talked for nearly an hour.  We had a nice time.  Walked to the Drug Store for stamps but they were out so I’ll have to mail my letters tomorrow when I go down town.  Ex-President Calvin Coolidge dropped dead today from heart failure.  He was not yet sixty years of age.  A fine father and an excellent president.  Well now the sun is down and it is turning cold as usual.  Before I forget I must put down about the time one of the fellows of the Neches brought a monkey aboard and it would steal a watch from some one’s pocket and if it ticked loud would run up and drop it down from the foremast.  One day one of the fellows got sore so he greased the monkey’s tail so next time he ran up the foremast to hang by his tail and drop a watch he would fall flat on the deck.  So, next time he grabbed a watch he ran off and then stopped, scratched his head and ran over to where a bit was wound with rope and he wrapped his tail around it to see if it would hold.  Then away he was again.  Smart monkey!  Also there is the story about the fellow who was in California for the first time and told a friend he had been out to Lajolla and the fellow said he pronounced it La Hoya.  Then he said he was going to San Jose and the friend told him they pronounced it “Santa La Za.”  So the friend then asked the man how long he was going to stay and he said “Until Hune or Huly.”  Which was correct according to the Spanish pronunciation of these towns.  Elizabeth is working a cross word puzzle like she does every night so I guess I’ll read the news.  We have a long evening ahead of us.  Doug was gone to San Pedro so won’t be home for two days.  So we are widows again.  We made fudge and played rummy until 9.30.  My the fudge was good.  We ate a lot of it.  Went to bed and talked until one o’clock.  We talked about everything imaginable, I guess.  I often wonder why girls talks so much when they sleep together.  Anyway we had one big talk.

Friday January 6, 1933

We got up at 9.30 and ate breakfast.  Then got ready and rode down town on the street car.  My it was a nice day and awfully warm.  I wish I hadn’t worn my coat.  I had two letters before we left.  One from Sam and one from Mrs. Heideman.  She is driving home to Washington Monday.  From what she says they didn’t do very well on the Christmas trees.  Sam writes everything is going fine and he expects to be down around the 20^th.  I’m sure glad then he’ll have a vacation too.  He enclosed a big letter from Gladwin.  So Elizabeth and I felt pretty happy as we went down town.  Elizabeth is going back with us.  Cashed my money order and mailed all my letters.  Then bought a cover for my notebook, a diary for Elizabeth, a blue tam for myself and then we ate lunch. 

Went to the Fox Theater and saw “No Man of Her Own” with Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and Dorothy Mackaill.  Very good and quite funny.  We enjoyed it very much.  Home on the car and to the store for groceries.  Then cooked and ate supper.  Will write letters tonight.  The sun shines most of the time but when it rains the outburst often washes out roads and it is so terrible.  No one wants rain here. 

Saturday January 7, 1933

Well this morning I woke up early so I went up to Phillips and practiced on the piano for an hour and half then came home.  After lunch I went over there and practiced for an hour and 15 minutes more and called it off.  Mrs. Phillips was going up to a new market so I got my coat and went along.  Oh, it was a busy place.  Could hardly get waited on.  Got some meat for supper and sandwich meat for Sunday.  Their prices are quite low.  Came home before 4 o’clock just as Elizabeth was leaving for the store.  Had a letter from Mama today.  She liked my picture very much and I’m glad to know she got it all right.  They had a nice Christmas.  Received a letter from Louie and he hasn’t found work yet.  However he’s going to stay until he’s called.  My letter passed his in the mails.  He’ll have a fit when he reads I want that $30.00 to go home on if he hasn’t got his insurance money yet.  I hope he gets it pretty soon as he surely needs it.  Then he won’t have to worry too much or ask Leonard to help him.  It’s been a fine warm day-really hot.  I’m going to go for a walk before supper as it’s lovely outside now.  It’s just starting to cool off.

Sunday  January 8, 1933

Well here it is Sunday and it doesn’t seem possible.  The time surely goes fast.  Woke up at 10 o’clock so got up and dressed and started breakfast.  We were all hungry so ate a hearty breakfast.  After doing dishes we packed our lunch and drove to the beach out on the Silver Strand.  I took two pictures of Elizabeth out by the poinsettia bush.  I hope it turns out good.  We had a nice time out on the beach.  It was warm and the ocean beautiful.  Doug was going to drive on the beach but couldn’t get down to it with the car so came back.  We ate lunch of ham sandwiches, shrimp salad, liverwurst, cheese, bread and butter pickles and chocolate cake.  How we did eat!  We felt starved.  Drove home and went down that steep B Street Hill and pretty caused Elizabeth to wet her pants.  My but she was disgusted!  We were all cold when we got home although it was only five o’clock.  We were glad to get in where it was warm.  Rutledge’s  were suppose to go with us but Mrs. Rutledge scalded her foot with hot water so could hardly walk.  It is very painful to get scalded with water.  Elizabeth and Doug are playing “Salvo” again.  Last night she and I played “Rummy” and she won 10 games to my 2.  My but I was unlucky.  We went for a walk before our big steak supper and it was fine out.  The sun was just going down and the far away hills looked purple and the sky above were blue and then pink cast running into white.  Very beautiful.  We stood on the edge of the city of San Diego and looked toward Los Angeles and saw farms and fields down in the valley.  Huge palm trees bordered the streets and when we touched the branches they rattled like a dry wrapping paper.  My what a lovely fan they would make.  The homes out on that edge of the city were very lovely.  All magnificently kept.  Lovely lawns and huge front windows through which we could see the loveliest of furnishings.  Yet I doubt if any of the occupants were any happier than Elizabeth and I as we walked along talking.  It is a fine thing to be able to see all these wonderful things without envying then their possessions.  Opposite on the other page shows where we were today.  The sand there has gold specks in it and is fine and soft and white when dry.  Oh it was a lovely place.  Over toward Point Loma the hills looked purple and toward Coronado Islands there seemed to be a slight fog all the time.  When we stood up on the road where the car stood we could look to our right and see the city of San Diego.  It really is a fine place to spend a few hours.

Monday January 9, 1933

This turned out to be a very hot day so Elizabeth washed clothes and I washed out a few.  She had her lines and the neighbor lady’s all full of clothes.  Received four letters one from each of the following.  Flora, Annie Stuyts, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Sundstrom.  So I sat down and answered them all while I wasn’t busy.  Now I’ve used up all my stationary.  Had lots of news in the letters and two more San Diego addresses to call at.  When Sam comes down I’ll go there and see them.  Flora writes a funny letter all in one paragraph and all in a jumble.  It takes a magician to figure it out.  Elizabeth and I sure got a big laugh out of that letter.  Anyway I answered all her questions and she asked a plenty.  In the afternoon Elizabeth borrowed some books from Mrs. Sawtell and I read four of them before I went to bed that night.  The stories I read were “The Ragged Edge” by Harold MacGrath and three for E.P. Roe “He Fell in Love with his Wife,” Opening a Chestnut Burr” and A Young Girl’s Wooing.”  They were all awfully good and I sure enjoyed them.  Tomorrow I’m going up to the library to get some books on Mrs. Sawtell’s library card.  In the late afternoon Mrs. Hicks and Mrs. O’Neil were over for a few minutes.  My if I had hairy legs like Betty’s I’d never go without stockings.  She is an awful looking sight and that other woman is an awful sloppy looking thing.  Read until late in the night and took a bath and went to bed.

Tuesday January 10, 1933

Made breakfast and ironed some clothes.  Then I had a letter from Sam’s mother-just a short one but full of news.  She is going down as far as Oakland if Sam comes down.  I’m glad as the trip won’t be so lonesome.  Wrote her a letter by air mail and will send it this afternoon on our way to the library.  It’s a good day to go walking and we both need the exercise.  We walked down to the library and found it didn’t open until 2 so we sat down on the steps and waited.  We found 3 good books and came home and ate lunch at three o’clock.  Then we read awhile and Mrs. Hicks came over and got her radio.  Doug came home just as she was going.  Doug had to take his suitcase down town so I rode down with Elizabeth and him as far as the dress makers.  She said she could fix up my brown skirt for a dollar.  So I said “go ahead.”  I’m glad it’s going to be fixed so I can wear it.  Bought a Cosmopolitan, a box of dusting powder and a book of songs.  Doug and Elizabeth came by in a few minutes and we went home.  Got supper and read some more.  Feel like I ate too much, as usual.  Everything always tastes so good.  Mrs. Hicks thought Elizabeth was leaving Doug because she was going north.  Some people haven’t the brains of a chipmunk.

Wednesday January 11, 1933

Well the old clock rang at eight but I didn’t get up until nearly nine.  Went over to Phillips and practiced two hours and then came home to lunch.  Ate the rest of that good pea soup for lunch.  Read a book called “They Lived Happily Ever After” by Nickelson but I didn’t care for it.  Went back to Phillips and practiced two more hours when Doug came over after me so I went home to supper of spaghetti.  Very good too.  Ran off in such a hurry I left my watch behind.  Last night the wind blew so hard all the windows rattled and none of us slept very good.    I was expecting it to rain but it never did.  Didn’t receive any letter today-the first time since I’ve been here.  That mailman sure must think I do a lot of writing to get so many letters.  I guess I’ve written my share since I arrived.  Elizabeth and I went to the Broadway show and saw “Divorce in the Family” with Jackie Cooper, Louis Wilson, Conrad Nogel and Lewis Stone also “Almost Married” with Ralph Bellamy, Violet Hemming and Alexander Kirkland.  They were both very good shows and we certainly laughed at Jackie Cooper.  He certainly is good.  We walked around and had a malted milk and then walked down towards the dock but met Doug about two blocks above it.  Home at ten thirty and talked awhile and went to bed.  Said good-bye to Doug as he leaves early tomorrow for San Pedro.  From there they are going to Honolulu to be gone about six weeks.  He is a nice fellow and I hated to see him go as Elizabeth will sure miss him.  However when Sam gets down here we’ll be jogging around plenty so she won’t have time to be lonesome.  Awful cold out tonight and the moon is so bright.

_______________________________________________________________________

While Mary is in California she writes up a storm.  If you haven’t notice my input has been minimal since Mary is hogging up all the writing space.  You have to admit this week’s diary was very entertaining and amusing.  I felt like I was there 78 years ago hanging with ole Mar and Liz. Thank you for reading this week’s diary. ch

 Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

December 29, 1932 – January 4, 1933

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from end of 1932 – 1933

By Clydene Hostetler

Happy New Year!  Mary and Elizabeth give those sailor boys a run for their money.  You think those big fan tailed goldfish were coy? Doug gives Frenchy a sock in the nose and almost wrecks the car.  Exciting week.  Enjoy!  ch

Thursday December 29, 1932

The day was quite warm.  Elizabeth is on a diet so we ate no breakfast and a tiny lunch but at supper I forgot all about the diet and ate all I could.  Went over to Mrs. Phillips and practiced on the piano two hours.  My but they have a nice piano.  But how stiff my hands were.  I didn’t realize how much I’d forgot.  Got my pictures at the Drug Store.  They were poor of me but very good of Elizabeth and Doug.  Mrs. Hicks was over today on her way to get gas.  She had her hair all waved up pretty for New Years.  It looked good.  Elizabeth had a letter from her Grandmother today saying they are sending a package.  Tonight Elizabeth and I walked from her to the dock in 1 hour and 15 minutes.  We started at 6.15 so we had to wait an hour for Doug.  We listened to the radio from where the bicycle races were going on.  We saw a lot of folks going to a ships dance.  So we had lots of fun sitting in the car but it was cold there after the wind came up.  Home again and tried to get warm.  I’m certainly cold.  We had lots of fun walking down town.  It’s warm and nice.  We walked past the hospital down the path and oh it was dark.  But we only met one man on that mile and half of darkness.  Evidently people don’t walk much there.  It’s pretty near the park.

Friday December 30, 1932

This morning I got up at 9 o’clock.  Ate breakfast and then went over to Phillips and practiced for two hours.  Then home to lunch.  I had a big letter from Sam.  His mother is out there cooking for them now.  Everything is going along O.K.  So I wrote a seven page letter and then went back and practiced two more hours.  If I can do that much every so often I will get my fingers limbered up again.  Those girls over at Phillips are real nice.  I’m going to take that violin from Buldocs.  One of the girls plays on the violin.  After supper Elizabeth and I walked over to University and back and mailed our letter.  It was nice out.  It was fine to be out in the open air.  Bought 2 magazines and spent most of the evening reading.  Am going to bed early for once.  Elizabeth got a letter from Flora today.  She wrote she received a lot of Christmas presents.  I guess Santa was pretty good to everyone this year.

Saturday  December 31, 1932  (New Years Eve)

This was a fine day.  I got up at 8.30 and went over and practiced two hours on the piano.  I certainly seem to get a lot more done down here practicing than I do at home.  I guess it’s because I have nothing else on my mind.  After Doug came home we made a nice lunch and took it out to the Stand and ate there.  It was warm and nice out there.  The water was very calm.  We saw a sand piper catching a fish.  Their legs go so fast when they run they look unnatural.  Elizabeth waded in the waves and we had jumping contests on the sand.  Come home about 4.45 and warmed ourselves.  It’s funny how cold it grows down here in the evening.  Elizabeth and I and another girl I haven’t met yet are going to a dance tonight.  We are hoping to have a good time.  They say they always have good crowds there.  I mailed my pictures to Sam’s mother today.  Better late than never.  This is the end of 1932.  It doesn’t seem possible that New Year is here again.  This is the last day of credit business for our store.  I hope Sam’s Price-Rite will be as successful as Sam B Theler General Mercantile credit grocer.  By Jan 31^st we’ll know how things will go.  It’s an experiment but we can’t lose any more money by it than we lost by bad credit in the past.  If we had begun as a real hot cash grocer in the first place we’d be in clover now.  Live and learn.  Lady Lawler, (or Lee as she is called) Elizabeth and I went to Nationals to a dance at 8.30.  Doug took us down in the car.  We had lots of fun.  There was a big crowd and the floor and music was fine.  Quite a few of the crowd felt pretty good.  We saw some funny sights, some funny clothes and some awful faces.  One guy said to Elizabeth “Want to dance?”  “No thank you” she said.  “That’s fine,” he said “I don’t want to dance anyway.”  Then he said something else about dancing and I said, “Excuse us please!”  He got sore and said “You’d be safe in Turkey.”  How we laughed over his foolish remarks later!  Doug met us at 11.45 and we listened to the New Years noise.  Back firing from cars, horns, fire crackers and what nots.  Such a roar and traffic congestion I never saw before.  Cars whizzing all around.  We were lucky to get home without anyone hitting us.  Took Lee home and then home.  To bed at 12.45-1933.  I wore my black crepe dress.  Elizabeth wore her pink crepe and Lee wore a pale green dress.  Lee had a cute white jacket made out of rabbit fur.  There were 2 beautiful white dresses.  Oh one goofy black dress with a white ruffle on shoulders and hem with a v-back to the waist.  Most of the men who go up there are sailors.  I never danced with so many in my life.  One fellow asked what my opinion of sailors were when he found out I wasn’t in the navy.

Sunday January 1, 1933

Today I got up at 10.30 and ate breakfast.  We dusted the place up a little and drover to Rutledge’s to dinner.  Doug almost didn’t miss a car going over and gave us all a thrill although he had the right away. The Rutledge’s have a three room apartment.  We enjoyed the dinner.  She had baked ham, baked potatoes filled with spinach and decorated with egg, green beans, shredded cabbage, corn bread, baked biscuits, jell-o and cake.  The punch was lovely and cold.  We cleaned up the dishes and sat down and listened to the phonograph.  Doug played a few crazy pieces on it.  Mrs. Rutledge gave Elizabeth a lovely pale yellow glass fruit dish for her birthday.  My, but she was surprised.  About 3.30 we drove over to Balboa Park and looked at the Japanese garden and at pottery art work and dishes.  My, there are oceans of wonderful rare pieces to see.  We came out side the building and by the pool were a crowd of people watching a small dog (a rat terrier) chasing rats out of some shrubbery and bushes.  The poor dog was almost crazy.  He would chase the rats out of the brush and then before he could get to see them they would swim out by a lily pad.  There were four or five rats swimming around and the dog could smell them but couldn’t get them.  At last we got tired watching so started for home.  The two pools are full of great big fan tail gold fish. They were awfully fat too.  At this time of the evening they are feeding and they were all on one side of the pool. We drove over Cabrillo Bridge or “Suicide Bridge” as it’s often called because so many people have jumped over it.  The canyon below is terribly deep.  Took Rutledge’s home and got Elizabeth’s compact at Lowlers.  We drove over where Turners used to live.  I rang the door bell and found out they’d moved several months ago.  So that lets me out of visiting there.  I suppose he was transferred.  Home before six and to writing in “Ve Diary.”  Seems early to be home on Sunday but it’s dark and cold out.  The moon is quite bright.  Elizabeth and Doug are playing some kind of a game called “Salvo” so I am going to write a few letters.  Wrote a letter to Vera and then we played Rummy, Pig and Black Jack until 9.30.  My, but we had fun!  We laughed so much the tears came to our eyes.

Monday January 2, 1933

When I got up this morning Doug was back home again.  Elizabeth had felt badly all night and so she sat around most of they day.  I washed my clothes and Doug cleaned his sweater and cords in cleaner.  Made a lunch and started some soup for supper.  We rode up on El Cajon for some thread and found the store closed.  I saw a banana tree with fruit hanging on it.  It looked so funny.  A fine sunny day.  I’m going to wash my hair.  It’s getting so oily.  I wrote to Annie Stuyts, Grace Cody, Mrs. McCarthy, Mrs. Foster so now all my letters are answered.  Since I’ve been down here I’ve written to everyone I know so now I’ll have to wait for mail.  We played rummy for about an hour and half and Doug never won a game.  To bed at 9.30.

Tuesday  January 3, 1933

This morning we didn’t get up until nearly ten so we ate a late breakfast.  I ironed and mended all my clothes and cleaned out the suitcase and dresser drawers.  Ate lunch and went over to practice but no one was home so I am going to write some more letters and keep up my diary up to date.  I’ve written 20 letters since I’ve been down here.  Today I received 4 fat letters from home.  Coopers, Sundstroms, Wanda and Gladys Ames wrote me so I heard all kind of news.  Bill Rice sent a Christmas card and announced the birth of a daughter on Nov. 23, 1932.  My, but I was surprised.  Maybe there is hope for us as yet!  Also Irene wrote that Carrie had a 5½ lb girl but was very ill herself.  I hope she gets alright.  It is awful to be sick a lot.  She doesn’t know I’m down South yet according to her letter.  So I’m going to write her a letter.  We rode on the Boulevard and Elizabeth bought some thread for her fancy work and I bought writing paper.  Also some black ink which I like very much.  In the afternoon after supper we rode down town and saw “Week Ends Only” with Joan Bennett and Ben Lyon.  My, but it was a dandy show.  We saw through half of it again.  We walked around and looked at the store windows.  Went in to two old book stores and I bought a Hymn book to practice with.  We met Doug near the show and rode home.

Wednesday January 4, 1933

This morning I got up about nine and went over to Phillips and practiced 3 hours on the piano.  I came home and ate lunch and then went back and practiced two hours more.  I’m getting along fine with “The Waterfall” now but it needs lots of work yet.  Elizabeth washed clothes and her hair and cleaned house.  I had a letter from Almeda.  I’m going to answer it today.  Doug ran into a car today and bent his bumper.  The other man’s fault.  Also sprained his thumb giving Frenchy a sock for something he said.  So I guess he had all the excitement he can stand for one day.  All the guys on ship are waiting to pop Frenchy.  He is a trouble maker.  Mrs. Phillips has asked me to go to church with them tonight.  So I’m going over about 7 o’clock and ride with them.  Saw Mrs. Hicks today.  She was giving a birthday party for her little girl with prizes, favors and what not.  If she thinks she looks thin she’s mistaken.  She had on a sweater today and it made her look like a little dumpling.  She has lovely little feet.  Well I went to church and it was a regular Revival Meeting.  The Evangelist was a Canadian by the name of Edgar L. Busch.  He tried to get the sinners to come out into the aisles but they wouldn’t come out.  I thought I was saved so I stayed in my seat.  I don’t think any man should talk so long that folks get tired and yawn.  Home at 9.45.  Doug came in a few minutes afterwards and we got to talking about church and ending up on Amie McPherson.  We all agree she makes it interesting. 

_______________________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading this week’s diary.  ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.

Merry Christmas from 1932

Mary’s Memoirs

Weekly excerpts from Mary Theler’s diary from 1932

By Clydene Hostetler

Mary spends Christmas with Doug and Elizabeth in San Diego.  Picture Mary riding around in Doug’s convertible going shopping, visiting and seeing where Doug works.  Mary has a lot to write about this week.  Enjoy! ch

Thursday December 22, 1932

This morning I got up at 8.30 AM and cleaned my room, packed my blankets in a box and mailed them at the post office.  Then I bought some meat for soup for Mrs. Heideman.  When I got up to the apartment she felt better for which I was very glad.  So I made myself some breakfast of bacon and eggs and enjoyed it.  Cleaned up my dishes started the beef broth and packed my things.  At 10.30 AM I said good-bye to Mrs. Heideman and caught the trolley car down town.  At 12.30 PM the bus left Long Beach for San Diego.  I tried to get a seat by the window but an old lady beat me to it so I sat down next to her.  The day was warm and it was a lovely ride.  I enjoyed every bit of it.  Along the road I saw farmers plowing their land for spring.  Some had acres of peas up about three inches.  On the bare hill sides were many cactus plants and the ocean was wonderful.  So blue with the sun shining down on it.  From the top of the mountains we could see the mountains with snow on the peaks.  There were four men from the USS Oklahoma sitting ahead of me.  Two officers and two enlisted men and of all the crazy stories I heard tell of they took the cake.  The last one that I heard when we were going into San Diego was “The time the sailing was delayed 48 hours because the anchor couldn’t be taken up.  Had to send a diver down with a hose to wash it loose.”  Such a roar went up at the finish of this tale.  I almost laughed.  It sure was a whopper!  Arrived in San Diego at 4.54 and I got my suit case from the check room and walked outside.  Got a taxi and road out to Elizabeth’s place at 4443 Mississippi.  I rang the door bell a couple of times but no one came out although I could see the door was open.  I looked around and saw a roadster pull up to the curb and out jumped Elizabeth and Doug.  They had been to the bus depot and missed me.  Taxi fare was $1.15.  We talked and had a fine day.  Ate supper and Doug took Elizabeth and I downtown and we shopped around for 3 hours while he was on the ship showing pictures.  He runs the movie machine every night.  Had to be out there from 6.40 to 9.40 PM.  Elizabeth and I visited nearly every big store in San Diego.  Oh, we had fun!  I bought Elizabeth a set of dishes and a smoking set for Doug.  A holder for cigarettes with a duck on it that when you press a button it would pick a cigarette out of the box.  It’s real cute and a novelty.  Got home at 10.30 and sat around awhile then went to bed.  We were all pretty tired.  The house is real cute.  Has a nice living room, fireplace, bookcases, a kitchen, bath and bedroom with lots of closet space.  Nicely furnished and handy.  Lots of flowers growing around.  Fucias in bloom, roses, flags and lots of summer flowers.  The poinsettias are wonderful.  Never saw so many beautiful ones before.

Friday December 23, 1932

I slept fine last night.  Got up at 8.30 and ate breakfast.  After breakfast we drove down with the movie reels to the warehouse or whatever you call it.  Then out to the Training Station to get gas but couldn’t get any because Doug forgot his ownership card for the car and they are very strict as to whose car they put gas in.  So back home again and cleaned house.  Bought two gallons of cleaner and cleaned my plaid dress, blue skirt, blouse and scarf.  Also a dress and coat for Elizabeth.  Washed out some other things and some for Elizabeth too.  Then we ate lunch.  She made some biscuits and oh they were wonderful.  I never tasted such light fluffy biscuits in my life.  She sure has biscuit making down pat.  After lunch I wrote a letter to Mama, Sundstroms and Coopers.  So now I don’t owe anyone any letters.  Last night I wrote one to Sam and one to Mrs. Heideman saying I arrived in San Diego OK.  In Sam’s letter he sent a money order for twenty five dollars which I was glad to get.  Said everything was fine and that I had a credit of $41.26 from last quarter due me in the post office.  Am I not glad?  Anyway, I’ve got money coming now.  Had a letter from Louie saying he arrived in Las Vegas all right and was waiting to see Leonard.  I’m glad he had no car trouble.  We went downtown after lunch and mailed our letters and bought our tree for 35 cents and it’s a dandy.  On our way home it started to rain buckets full.  We had to drive slow as the streets are very slippery when wet here.  Home again and ate supper of creamed tuna fish.  My but it was good.  Sure enjoyed it. After supper Doug went to work so Elizabeth and I trimmed the tree.  My but it is pretty.  We have wrapped all our gifts and placed them near the tree.  Some on the branches the rest underneath.  Then we trimmed the windows with red garland and made some fudge.  She stuffed some dates too.  So with all the nuts and oranges we have a house full of Christmas.  The tree looks real cute in the corner.  Doug will be surprised to see it.  This will be his first Christmas in his own home as he has had no place of his own since he was eleven.  He ran away from the orphan asylum.  I guess it must seem wonderful to him to have a place to call home and a loving wife like he has.  I hope he always thinks it is wonderful as he does now as Elizabeth certainly is happy here.  I never saw her look so well or seem so jolly.  She is a different girl all together.  Wrote a letter to Gladys Ames, Louie and to Long Beach for a letter Gladwin wrote to me and sent there.  He wants me to go see Bob Hartzler at Redding.  I don’t see how I can unless Sam makes up his mind to come down.  I sure hope he does.  Then he can have a vacation too.  To bed late as usual.  I’m getting to be a regular night owl.

Saturday December 24, 1932

This morning I got up fairly early and got my hair waved at a little shop up on El Cajon Ave.  The shop was full of navy wives.  They were talking about all the things a woman can think of when they are getting their hair fixed.  Home at twelve o’clock and sat around awhile and ate lunch.  After lunch we were quite busy.  Elizabeth made a cake and it turned out fine and some candy.  I ironed all our washing save 3 pieces and pressed our dresses.  Ate supper of Hungarian Goulash and boy was it hot!  We felt like we were burning up!  Drove down to the dock and then out to Hick’s.  They were getting ready to trim their tree.  When we got there the men went out to get some light bulbs and Elizabeth and I trimmed the tree.  We had lots of fun.  I never saw so many trimmings or wonderful presents that those children got.  A little boy and girl and this is what they got.  A doll buggy, a doll and blanket, a green table and 2 chairs, a china tea set, a set of silverware, a set of kitchen utensils, a set of broom, dust mop, carpet sweeper, a coaster wagon, a boy doll, a zeppelin called Akron, one pop-gun, 3 pistols and holders, one Indian suit, roller skates, a train and track, a puzzle, a purse, a donkey and wagon, truck and wrecker set and Mrs. Hicks got a cedar chest and a toilet seat.  I think Hicks are too good to those children.  Mrs. Hicks, Elizabeth and I went down to the market where she was ordering a chicken and Hicks and Doug placed the cedar chest under the tree while we were gone.  My how please Mrs. Hicks was when she saw it.  Another couple came in while we were there.  Mrs. O’Neil and Mr. Bushie.  Hicks got the children up so they could see their gifts.  They were so excited they hardly knew what to look at first.  When we got home I opened the big package Sam sent me.  It was a lovely brown fitted case with all toilet articles enclosed in another case.  My but it’s a beauty.  Elizabeth opened the present Hicks gave her and it was a lovely picture.  To bed at 10.30.  Late again.

Sunday December 25, 1932

This morning we got up at 8.30 and opened our presents.  We had lots of un.  I got a lovely linen table cover and china candy dish from Elizabeth.  Elizabeth got some lovely pajamas, dish towels, apron and the dishes.  Doug was please with the cigarette machine that the duck picked up the cigarettes out of.  After breakfast we cleaned up the dishes and drove down to the dock.  The boat going to the Neches was ready to pull out.  When we got there so we got on and it sure was a wonderful ride out there.  I enjoyed it.  We went up in front in the electrical shop where Doug works and talked until they called dinner.  The visitors were seated at a special table and oh so much food.  Enormous platters of everything imaginable.  Turkey, dressing and all the trimmings.  After dinner we looked at the motion picture machine and then rode back to shore.  It was a wonderful dinner and quite a new experience for me.  We all had a good time.  We drove back home and Doug put on his suit (civies) and we drove out to La Jolla.  It was a lovely ride.  La Jolla is a beautiful place by the Sea full of lovely homes.  The sea was so blue and waves so high I took a picture.  Hope it is good.  We saw bird rock and Bird Rock Inn.  An old house made of cobble stones.  We walked through it and imagined how it would look if we fixed it up.  It would be wonderful.  We drove over to Mission Beach and walked around on the sand.  It was warm and nice out there and the air was so cool.  Home and looked in at Linbergh Field and watched a plane come in.  On our way to the house we stopped at Rutledge’s and talked awhile.  Rutledge was about half stewed and oh he was funny.  He reminded me of Rudolf.  Back to the house and sat around awhile, ate nuts and then went for a walk and saw a lot of lovely Christmas trees in the windows.  It was nice walking and the stars were out and it was so clear.  So now Christmas day is about over and it certainly seems funny.  No snow or cold weather.  Took some pictures of Doug and Elizabeth.  I hope they are good.  Must write a letter to Sam and thank him for my present.  I certainly had a good time today.  The first time in fifteen years I’ve not cooked Christmas dinner.  It seems rather strange.  Hope the folks at home had a good time.  The gas was getting low in the car today so I told Doug to drive into a filling station and I’d cash a traveler’s check.  Doug had to write his name on a card before they’d cash it.  Pretty good to have to be identified by a sailor before you can get a check cashed.  We got quite a laugh out of it.  Such is life in San Diego.  Wrote a letter to Sam, Housens, Don Giles and to the girl who made the menu folder.

Monday  December 26, 1932

This morning we didn’t get up until 10.30.  Everyone certainly had their sleep out.  Elizabeth and I washed clothes and felt we sure accomplished a lot.  It was a fine warm day and we got half of the clothes dry already.  Went up to the store and down El Cajon to the grocery.  A nice ride.  I mailed my four letters up at the corner.  Had an early supper and now it is six o’clock and we are all through with the dishes.  Had a nice supper.  We were all hungry and ate it all up.  It’s a nice evening and quiet out.  Today was a legal holiday- Christmas Dec 25^th falling on Sunday.  Doug ate nuts all day.  I never saw anyone who could put away so many.  He carries that nut cracker all over even in the car so I put it by his plate tonight for a joke.

Tuesday December 27, 1932

This morning Elizabeth and I ironed and mended our clothes.  It was a fine day and very warm outside.  About two we were ready to go down town and Doug came home so he took us.  I bought a white silk blouse which I like very much.  Also a green tie for Sam, 6 goblets for Elizabeth’s birthday and some writing paper.  Home again and ate a big supper.  After supper Elizabeth and I mailed Sam’s parcel and took some pictures over to the drug store to be finished.  It was nice out and we enjoyed the walk.  The air sure feels good after it gets dark.  Read stories in two magazines I bought.  Now I’m going to bed.  Elizabeth was pleased with her present.  She’s going to serve punch in those glasses tomorrow.  The letters I’ve received had an air mail stamp on them.  Worked on my center piece today.  Have it about one fourth finished.

Wednesday December 28, 1932

This was another warm day.  Got up at 8.30 AM.  We cleaned house and I made the crust for two pies.  Elizabeth made the filling for one lemon and one chocolate pie.  Cleaned house and ate lunch.  Now it’s 12.30 and we are all through with our work.  We went to the store and weighed ourselves.  Elizabeth weighs 135½  and I weigh 142½.  Tomorrow we are going on a diet.  A letter I wrote to Mama from Long Beach was returned to me.  I had put the wrong address on it.  That sure was a foolish thing.  I suppose that picture will come back too so I’ll have to send it again.  The Rutledges were over to dinner today.  Doug brought them over at 3.25.  We had a nice dinner.  Made punch to put in the new goblets I gave Elizabeth for her birthday.  She was eighteen years old today.  After dinner we sat around and talked awhile.  Then we took Rutledges home and went to see Warren William, Maureen O’Sullivan and Norman Roster in “Skyscraper Souls.”  It was real good.  We all enjoyed it.  It is such a nice evening out.  I enjoyed the ride.  The Marine Hospital has a big anchor in colored electric lights over the front of the building.  It is beautiful at night.  Tonight I wore my white tam when we went riding.  It is a lot better than a hat as it doesn’t blow off.  Sent a long letter to Maybelle Hamilton today.

_______________________________________________________________________

This is one of those weeks I could sit around talking about forever.  It is so revealing of our culture 78 years ago. I’ll give you a few clues.  Taxi cab fare $1.15, being excited about seeing an air mail stamp on your letter, creamed tuna and Hungarian goulash for dinner, calling a projector a “movie machine” buying a cigarette smoking set, cedar chest, pop gun, Indian Suit, Zeppelin and carpet sweeper…. Can you find some more clues?  Thank you for reading this week’s diary. ch

Clydene Hostetler is a professor at Olympic College, longtime Belfair resident, local historian, media archivist and documentary film maker of “Hidden in Plain Sight.”  She has been researching Mary Theler’s life for the past 7 years.  She may be emailed through the site www.marysmemoirs.com.  She encourages you to participate in the web site’s blog sharing your comments and stories.