I have suddenly become aware how precious family memories are and how far back our families can take us. Both my parents were born in the 1920s. Both of them are the last of their generation in their families. Through them we have a direct connection with Roosevelt and even Hoover (and, in my father's case, Coolidge). To me it is history, but it is history I can access through them. That is magical in some ways, and it scares me that I will lose it sometime way too soon (no matter when it will be way too soon). On that note, I wanted to offer some vignettes from my mother's life growing up in Nevada in the first half of the last century, in honour of Netroots Nation. Have a great time, folks!
My mother is a part of a Nevada family that goes back more than a century. My grandfather was a Nevada immigrant who was intrigued by the idea of striking a vein of ore and getting rich in silver or gold. You could still do that in the early 1900s. I have on my wall a mine strike map from 1902; I doubt it was a successful strike, to put it gently. But these were the things that Nevadans did.
My mom was born in northern Nevada, in the town of Winnemucca, in 1929. She remembers seeing "Okies" going through on their way to California and the Basques who came over during the Second World War to tend sheep (her father was a judge and was, according to her, was in favour of immigration and liked to bestow citizenship on people in his function as a judge, if they studied for the citizenship test and could pass it). The Basques, she says, were brought over by Pat McCarran, a senator since 1933 and a sheep rancher. They were brought over to tend sheep during the war.
My mom was the youngest of four children who attended Winnemucca Grammar School, which was just kittycorner across the street. My dad (who grew up in Boston, the son of Jewish immigrants) teases her that he felt he was marrying into an Andy Hardy film. After all, her father had been a judge. And it sounds as if she had a pretty nice life growing up. Winnemucca had about 4000 people when she was little. In the winter when it snowed, the kids in the school would "park" their sleds in their front yard, and would sled down the hill that ran between their front yard and the school.
My mom's mother was born in Texas in 1898 but grew up with her family in Nevada. Her father (my mom's grandfather) was mayor of Winnemucca a couple of times but he made his living selling lumber and coal that was brought in by the train -- his office was in a warehouse right off the railroad yard. Her grandmother and grandfather had come from Texas to settle in Kane (Cain? Cane?) Springs, outside of Winnemucca, in the 1890s or at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time there were still stagecoaches going through to Winnemucca (my mom thinks it was a route from Utah) to join up with the train there. My great grandparents ran a stagecoach stop! They moved to Winnemucca in the early 1900s so my great granddad could take over the railroad yard material sales.
My mom's father (my grandfather) came from Tennessee via the University of Colorado and the University of Michigan and settled in Winnemucca as a lawyer and eventually the district judge there. He served in the military in WWI, but didn't go overseas; the American Legion was an important part of both his life and that of my grandmother (through the Auxiliary). He was several years older (I would guess about 20 years) than my grandmother, whom he met playing tennis, apparently when she was in high school.
All mom's siblings graduated from Winnemucca High School, but my grandfather took a position as a lawyer and moved the family to Las Vegas (one of his partners would eventually be Howard Cannon, another Democratic senator from the state -- it was a small world in the state when Mom was growing up). I asked Mom how she felt about moving to Las Vegas. She said it was okay. She was sorry to lose her friends, but she enjoyed the adventure. Las Vegas at the time (this was 1943) was bigger than Winnemucca, but still had only one high school, which was about 2-3 blocks from her house. Her father walked her to school, and then walked on to work. He always attended the football games at the high school (it DOES sound like an Andy Hardy movie, doesn't it?!). Mom's high school was football state champions and one year they were undefeated (she remembers that proudly). The high school is still there -- it is now the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing, and Visual Arts, and is a beautiful Art-Deco style building.
Even before casinos were big, Nevada was the place for sin. It was in part because it was easy to get divorced in Nevada. Mom has a pair of foxes (a stole made out of two complete fox furs) that were given as payment for something legal. Granddad of course handled divorces (that was what you did in Nevada), and mom says her dad represented one of the wives of Mickey Rooney when he was divorced in Las Vegas. I don't know how many of these stories are true -- it is easier to tell with my father, as he kept a journal during his teenage years -- but my mom has marvelous remembrances.
The casinos opened when Mom lived in Las Vegas. She and her family went to the opening of some of them. She remembers particularly the opening of the Flamingo (the Bugsy Siegel one) -- it was one of the first new ones, and it was way out from the few early ones. It opened around Christmas Eve -- there were Christmas lights, and she says it was very beautiful. The man who lived next door to my mother's family was an architect who designed the Frontier Hotel (she babysat for them). She says it too was very attractive, in the elegant style of the Old West). They had a wonderful dining room with shows -- that was where my grandfather celebrated his 81st birthday.
Back to that Andy Hardy experience -- my mom had a summer job in Las Vegas, selling ice cream and milk. The shop had vanilla and strawberry and chocolate -- nothing exotic. It was managed by the man who lived across the street. When she wasn't working in the summer she went to a summer church campt. There was a fire one year (on the other side of the mountain) but they stayed in camp until the fire started coming over the mountain and they were evacuated. Before they left, however, they took the ashes from a campfire and made themselves look as if they had been through the forest fire. Needless to say their families were much less amused than the kids were.
I asked my mom about growing up in Las Vegas, telling her that I was doing it for Daily Kos. She got really shy, and wanted to talk about things she thought people would be interested in, and not stories about her own life. I think she was flustered. She is quite proud of her father. He once voted as an elector (member of the electoral college) and she is sure it was a Roosevelt election. I would be proud of that as well! When we were clearing out my aunt's house after her death we found the large photograph of FDR that she remembered on the wall during the war. My grandmother had gotten it when she went to an American Legion Auxiliary Convention in Washington D.C., which would have been a major excursion for her.
But it was difficult to get Mom to talk about her own experiences. I will try again and see if I can get her to open up a bit more, because I remember that she and my aunt (who was out of the house by the time they moved to Las Vegas) had great stories to share.