Ruth and Vincent were not good dairy farmers The Great Depression didn't help. Neither did having 7 children. Finally, in 1937 they gave up and moved back to Staten Island, NY. Grandpa Vincent went to work at the shipyards. They were just a few blocks from their new home. Grandma Ruth cleaned houses and did odd jobs, including some nursing. Each of the 7 kids took a seperate path. Let's look at them.
Alice: In 1937 Alice was 22 years old. She had graduated college and was working as a teacher in Upstate New York. She had effectively removed herself from the family. She was also about to fall in love.
Ralph: He was 20 year old. Ralph had gradualted from high school when he was 16. In fact, the same year as Alice. He became a professional musician at that point. He had been living and working In New York City, so having a family base in Staten Island was useful.
Side story: At one point there was a musician's union strike in New York. Ralph took a job working the Staten Island Ferry. Mom remember bringing him meals. Ralph and his fellow musicians needed to practice and the Staten Island house had a great front yard. The practice sessions often turned into neighborhood concerts.
Everett: Everett was 18 when the family moved. He had been working CCC (Civilian Conservation Camps) to help the family out. He might have joined the merchant marine.
Del: Del was age 16. Like Everett, Del also worked for the CCC. He also started working at the ship yards with his father. One of the family stories is that before the family moved Del was the passenger on a motorcycle with a friend. There was an accident. The driver was killed and Del sustained brain damage.
Marion: Marion changed high schools with the move (age 15), but at Port Richmond High School she met Frank N., who was to be the love of her life.
Louise was 11 and Joan 9.
Side story: In Sept. of 1938 a major hurricane (Cat. 3) aimed towards New York City. It ended up hitting Long Island, where it did major damage. While the family was preparing (Joan and Ruth were preparing), Louise and Del were arguing about where their most prized possessions should go to be safe from the storm. Eventually Ruth intervened and Louise put her violin and Del his gun underneath the family piano. There was only one part of the house that suffered any damage - the room that held the piano. The prized possessions were safe, and the rest of the family teased the two about their argument for years.
December 7, 1941
Vincent was sick. His type 2 diabetes was making him susceptible to pneumonia and such. More and more he was unable to work. Ruth noted that his last day of working was August of 1944. Ruth began taking jobs as a nurse in private homes (often cancer cases). She eventually worked her way up to hospital work. She would be considered an LVN now.
Alice: Alice was engaged at the start of the War. Her love joined the service as a pilot. His transport ship was sunk in the Atlantic. Needing to change her life, she joined Ralph when he moved to CA, probably in 1942 or 43. She worked at a factory for the War effort. While there she met Murray. Murray was hard working, went to the same church, and blessedly 4f. Their first child was born in January of 1945.
Ralph: Ralph was 24 when the War started. In 1939 he married Elizabeth W (we all called her Bette). Feeling the need to settle down, Ralph and Bette decided to move to Southern California, where Ralph could get work as a musician (he did a lot of studio work) and go to school. Their daughter Pam was born in November of 1945.
Everett was 22 when the War started. He had been drafted into the army in March of that year and was, in fact, on leave when Pearl Harbor happened. Everett and Ruth had gone to upstate New York to visit relatives then the news came in. Everett had to immediately leave to report back to the army. In 1943 he rode the trains across the U.S. so he could go to the Pacific front of the War. He left the U.S. out of the Bay Area. He informed the rest of the family that once the War was over he was going to move to CA.
Del was 20. He received further brain injury (including his eyes) from an accident at the ship yards. He was also involved in an auto accident in 1942 that killed the other driver. All of that brain trauma left Del permaneltly about 16-17 years old. 4F for the military.
Marion left high school early to begin working. Frank N. joined the service. They were engaged in 1942 and married in 1943 while he was on leave. Marion moved in with Frank's family on Staten Island for the rest of the War.
Louise was 15 years old at the start of the War and still had dreams of becoming a concert violinist. She was also active in several social groups.
Joan was 13, and was already babysitting, doing what she could to help the family finances. She also did quite a bit of the nursing of her father.
The War Years
As the War progressed, it was more and more apparent that Vincent was not doing well medically. After his forced retirement his doctors began telling him he needed to move to a climate that did not have the harsh winters.
Alice: Alice quit working at the War plant to start having children.Mary Margaret was born in 1945, Patrick a year later. Colleen came in 1947. They were to end up with 6 children.
Ralph: Music and school. Luckily Ralph was one of those individuals who didn't need much sleep. He and Bette had a volatile relationship.
Everett was a landing craft pilot in the South Pacific part of the War from 1943 on. He reached the rant of Sargent several times, only to lose it. He clearly had his father's Irish temper.
Del eventually decided to join Ralph and Alice out in California. Although he was a favorite of his mom's, the two of them argued over his money. In July of 1945 he drove his car out to California. Also in the car were several boxes of family valuables that Ruth had talked him into taking out. She knew that they would also be coming out to California.
Side story: When Del reached Southern California he dumped the family boxes into Ralph's garage. Years later, after Del married, Ralph and Bette asked him to get his stuff out of their garage. They were tired of hauling it around every time they moved. Neither Ralph nor Bette had ever looked inside the boxes. Ruth had assumed they had gotten lost. After both Ruth and Vincent had died apparently Del's wife had found the boxes and the family treasures were distributed to some degree.
Marion: Living with her in-laws and sending money to her mom when she could.
Louise got her first job and graduated from high school in June of 1945. She got to attend one year of college in Rochester, New York.
Joan continued baby sitting and took on a job selling newspapers. Since she was female they wouldn't let her have a route, but they did let her sell. When she was old enough, Joan took a job at the local 5 and Dime.
Post War
Due to Vincent's health issues, the decision was made to leave Staten Island. August 6-10, 1946 saw a sick Vincent, Ruth, Louise, and Joan on a cross country buss trip. Ralph and Bette had found them a small house nearby.
Before that (November 1945), Everett came home from the War. Despite his plans to move to California, Everett ended up marrying the youngest sister of his best friend, Sal. Josephine A became his bride in 1947. The California part of the family did not go back for the ceremony. Jo refused to move to California, so Everett stated in Staten Island until her death.
Louise got her first California job in Sept. 1946. Joan ran into issues with graduating high school in California, so she left school and graduated via night school. That was not what Ruth wanted and the two had their first big fight. It was solved by Joan moving in with Alice. Joan began working in Downtown Los Angeles and helped Alice with the kids and the housework.
In 1948 Louise married Paul S who moved her up to Bakersfield where he had a high school teaching job waiting. Joan met a man named Jack H while riding on the bus. They married in September of 1949.
Del had several years of problems with anger management and alcohol abuse. In 1949 he moved up to Bakersfield near Louise. He vanished for quite a while, but eventually came back and sobered up. He married a wonderful woman named Carla M in 1958.
And that's what happened with my mom's family during the War years.
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