In the beginning...

This is one of the very few pictures taken of me when I was a baby. Because it was the "Depression", no one had a lot of money so pictures and "extras" were carefully chosen.
This was taken when I was 6 months old and I didn't have other professional pictures taken until I was about 2 years old. Mother eventually had the beauty parlor in Palo Alto which took her and Grandma Koehler through that period of time very well. Women still had their hair done even if they didn't have new clothes or other extras. Mother always had food on the table because of it. She had 3 children to provide for and did a very good job of it. Below is my "War Rations Book" she received right after I was born. It still has lots of stamps left in it and it's pretty interesting to look at. The next is the paper with the news of my birth...I really didn't weigh what they said. The accurate one is the pink slip (below) that was with me in the hospital.

This is a copy of my formula that was given to Mother to give me when I came home from the hospital. "one can of evaporated milk, boiled water, Karo syrup, & salt!!" Wow! - THEN... it's interesting that on the back of the formula "at one month an egg yolk may be added to formula 1/2 teaspoon at a time until every day the baby would have an egg yolk."
Because I was born on Valentines Day, the nurses brought me into Mother with this little heart pinned on my diaper just after I was born.

Grandpa Alvin B. Koehler 1875-1961

Grandpa Koehler (Grandma Evie Koehler's husband - Nellie's (Grandma "Beep" or Moore)father.

Grandpa Koehler was a really big part of my life when I was a little girl...especially when he was the only grandparent who lived very close by at first. He and Grandma Koehler got divorced but remained really good friends. I'm not sure when that happened but it could have been when I was maybe 6 or 7. I just remember everyone in the family or close friends talking about how neat it was that they had managed to be such good friends and then later in life be able to go back and live together for so many years after they got their divorce. Grandma lived in Phoenix in the winter sometimes and Yreka for many years. But eventually ended up in the Bay Area where we were, either with us or alone at Mother's "Court" (a square city block in Mountain View, California)until she and Grandpa decided two could live cheaper than one...together. For some reason it worked for them and I never questioned their lifestyle or decision to do that.

The tale of how Grandma & Grandpa got married was always a story that I got a kick out of as a child. The story goes that Grandma was engaged to be married "to another fella". The day before her wedding day she was home making the cake and Grandpa came to call on her. They were visiting in the kitchen about her choice to marry this guy, when my Grandpa said boldly, "If I'da known you were in the mood to be married, I'da asked you m'self!"... to which she replied, "Well, what's keepin' ya?" They eloped!

Early in their marriage, Grandma & Grandpa Koehler had a farm. They had many crop failures and disappointments because of severe weather changes in South Dakota. They moved out west because of that; first they moved to Montana... after crop failure there, to Oregon, then California. There they owned a general store/ Millnery Store where Grandma sold hats she made herself and in another part of the store was Grandpa's barber shop.

I remember one story that Grandma Koehler told about Grandpa's hair. She said he always had a wonderful head of thick curly dark hair. He decided to surprise Grandma one day and came home and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, there stood Grandpa. He had completely shaved his head! She was so mad at him. She said it would never come in as beautiful as it was before. As a matter of fact, it never did come back at all. Because he worked so much in the sun, his head kept getting sunburned and nothing would grow there after that...believe me...Grandma was pretty much always right!

Grandpa was a barber for many years. I still have some of his barber tools in my possession; straight edge razor, scissors, lather brush & bowl etc. and I even use his scissors when I cut Norm's or Kevin's hair.

Above is a picture of the house Grandpa grew up in. It is where all the children were born and where even Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Koehler passed away.

On the left is a picture of Grandpa's Mother, Wilhelmina (Huenkemier) and below is a picture of Grandpa Koehler's Dad, Jakob Bernard Koehler.

I really don't remember hearing much about them. I just know that they had a big family and Mother didn't know them very well because they lived back east and people didn't travel very much in those days. When they had to go by horse and buggy or train everywhere they went and with Grandpa moving out west, it made things pretty hard to see relatives who didn't live next door, unless you had money.

My biggest memory I have of Grandpa was that he loved to play Canasta. I was instructed never to beat him. I learned my lesson about that when I actually DID beat him and I saw my Grandpa lose his temper. Pretty competitive ol' boy!

There was a time when Grandpa went to a potluck/dance. When it came time to move the chairs back this lady refused to move, so Grandpa picked her up, chair and all and moved her to the side. He damaged his back and came to live with us for a time while it healed...so...it was; Grandma K., Grandma Brady, and Grandpa! He enjoyed having everyone wait on him because he was basically "bedridden" or so he claimed. But one day, when everyone appeared to be gone, I heard Grandpa spring out of bed and go call one of his girlfriends. That day, Mom took him back home. The following morning she got a call from Grandpa, "Hey! Where's my breakfast???!!!" Mom told him "The Jig's UP Daddy!" He was kinda mad at me for "turning him in" but finally got over it. He loved a good joke, his laugh was great and he was a wonderful cook. He did smoke pretty heavy and died of cancer eventually because of it. We all missed him. He wouldn't let us visit him once he got really sick. He didn't want us to remember him that way. I really didn't understand why ...Mom said he just loved us too much to put us through it, so we just sent letters back and forth. I think it was harder that way.

Gramma Beep's Recipes

Grandma Beep's Grapefruit Salad

Combine 1/2 head of lettuce with equal portions of desired amounts of avacado & grapefruit in a salad bowl. Mix with the following dressing in a cruet:

1 inch Chili Sauce (the kind you use with shrimp)

1/2 inch Canola Oil (or Veg. Oil)

2 Tablespoons Sugar

A couple of pinches o Season Salt & Season Pepper

*Cover and shake to mix well and pour over salad...YUM...MEEE!!!

Grandma Koehler, a great lady 1874-1973

Years ago I was asked to talk at a youth conference about my experience with the elderly in my home and what I might be able to pass on to them because of it. I’ve lived on both sides of the fence…as a child and then a teenager with grandmothers living with our family, and as a daughter taking care of my mother in her last years. In this blog I will just talk about Grandma Koehler. She was a big part of my life and actually still is because of her influence in my life. I always had a really different idea of what it meant to grow older. I always looked forward to it as a really fun time.. When I was in the 6th grade my Grandma Koehler came to live with us just after my brother died. My grandmother and I didn’t get along at first, but little by little, she became my favorite, and I became hers. I'm going to share with you some things we did together and the rewards that came from it.

When my Grandma first moved in I suddenly had 2 mothers. She wasn’t frail or anything like that – she was powerful and manipulating. She was TOUGH to live with! She caught me doing things she thought were wrong all the time and 'turned me in' to my parents. I felt like I was in trouble all the time. What my parents didn’t see, she did…it was Awful! She was NO fun at all…she was all business. She was about 82 then. As fierce as she seemed, I still liked her and every time I got a chance I would let her know in some way. I noticed her starting to soften. One weekend I had a sleep over with about 15 girls. We decided to do some “prank” calling. GRANDMA helped us! She was so fun! My friends absolutely adored her…After that night, every time they came over they went straight for her. She told funny stories and they loved them. One of the best lessons I learned from my Grandmother, was that smiling made you beautiful. One of her favorite things to say as she got older was, “People tell me I’m beautiful, I tell them, “I know it, I make myself that way by smilin’!” When I was in that accident when I was 13. The one where I went through the windshield and ended up with all those stitches in my face. She made sure that I knew that "no one would notice those scars as long as I was smiling." She convinced me that they absolutely didn’t even show if I was smiling…so I did. When she was about 84 she joined the church and she spent a lot of nights up reading. She was always available to talk if I wanted and we loved the time we spent together. She became my best friend. Older people, (I mean REALLY older) have so much wisdom and vision. She was no exception. She was no ordinary woman for her age. Grandma was able to work in the yard and climb stairs. She could walk completely without any help…in fact, she could out-walk or out-work any one in the family at that time of her life.

I remember her going on trips with us. She would start out in the front seat and when she got tired she would climb over the seat and lay down in the back seat. She would take a nap, then climb back over the seat and go on with the trip all while we were traveling along. She was like one of the kids. I was in total awe of her. In fact, one summer, I decided to have her come and be my roommate at BYU. I lived off campus with 2 other girls and needed another roommate. It seemed logical to have her come. What a summer we had…She was game for anything. There was a friend of mine that was around 26 and wasn’t married yet. We used to tease him about it and towards the end of the regular school year he made a comment that I needed to set him up with one of my roommates sometime. SOOOO…. I told him about this one that was coming for the summer from California. She had been raised on a farm just like him…she was little and petite, with a great sense of humor. He was pretty excited… The time came when we arranged for him to go out with her on a blind date. He got there and said, “Well, where is she?” I assured him that she would be right out - that she was “primping”…A few moments later she opened the door in a wide motion and entered the room enthusiastically with a huge smile! She immediately sized up the situation and looked the guy in the eye and inquired without hesitation, “Are you mah’blind date?” He looked around for a second and said right back, “I guess I am!”…she snapped back, “You’re JUST what I wanted!” He took her arm and started for the door…paused for a reply over his shoulder, and said, “You may think you’ve pulled a trick on me, but she’s just what I’ve been looking for ALL my life!”

He was wonderful to her. He came over a couple of times a week, took her to ice cream, bowling, movies…she’d sit right next to him in his car and everybody loved it. It was clear that he knew how to make the best of things and make her feel important. It could have been a bad experience all the way around, but it turned out so fun for her and everyone. We took her on camping trips with my friends and someone always made sure she had her rocking chair to sit around the campfire at night. It was amazing. With a Grandmother like her, I was never afraid of growing old. Why should I have been? She was a great inspiration to us all and I will always be grateful that she was there for me so much of my life.