We moved to the Florida Keys in June,
1969; we left in January, 1975. It was the best of times and
it was the worst of times. We had two deaths: Jesse's father
and my brother. We had five grandchildren, James Herman
Simpson, Samantha Janet McFall, Michael Jones Bush, Janet M.
Osborne and Sandy Jane Osborne. Also we had two weddings,
Sandy married Daniel Herman Hines in our home and Karen
married Danny Osborne in Miami. I made five trips back to
New England. When Grandpa Gardner died, again when my
brother died. Then June had her bad accident and had Michael
prematurely. When Sandy Simpson had her kidney operation, I
went to Massachusetts and took care of James, and the last
trip Jesse and I took to bring his mother down with us after
she had several strokes. We love the big city life,
and we visited New England for the sixth time when we took
our camping vacation in 1977. When we arrived in Marathon,
we rented an apartment at Treva's Apartment house. It was
there that we met Philip and Doris Horton and their
children, Tom and Christine. We lived at Treva's for a while
and then rented a hotel on Key Colony Beach while our house
was being built. We had been in Marathon only a few days
when the Sheriff came to our door. He had an urgent call
from June requesting us to get in touch with her
immediately. Grandpa had died. We left the kids in Mrs.
Treva's care and flew up to the funeral. We spent all winter
before we went to the Keys designing our house. It was a
great house, at least I thought so. We had a big living
room, a family room, a good size kitchen which had a seven
burner stove top, a combination laundry and pantry. There
was a bedroom for Jesse and me, one for my mother. another
for Karen and still another for the boys. There was also a
three room apartment. which was to be for Jesse's mother and
father. In all there were four bathrooms. Jesse appreciated
this aspect for as he said he had a wife, a mother-in-law,
five daughters and only one bathroom for a good many years.
We had a boat slip, and the house was on a canal. The
contractor promised us that the house would be finished by
Christmas. It wasn't. June and her family came for Christmas
and the contractor did rent a house for them on Key Colony
Beach. Richard, Diane, their kids. Aunt Maggie and Uncle
Richards were also there. Christine and Guy Atkinson, who
had spent many Christmas and Thanksgivings with us in
Oxford, also came that first Christmas.
Florida Time For Christmas
Early December 24 we received word that
my brother died. The day after Christmas I flew to Miami to
get a plane to Hartford, but the Hartford Airport was closed
due to a snow storm so I returned home. I left a couple of
days later. Bob's funeral had already taken place, but I
spent a few days with Mary. We went to church Christmas Eve
to a candlelight service. It was the first candlelight
service I ever attended where the congregation marched out
into the night with the candles lit. It was warm outside,
which was so different from Connecticut's Christmas Eve
weather. Shortly after Christmas we were able to move into
the house. We bought a little boat and had a fine time
fishing and boating in general. After a while we purchased a
35 foot sport fisherman. It was a great boat; we took
several trips into Florida Bay and over to the Everglades.
We would anchor near the shore and spend the night on the
boat. I remember one trip when Frank and I took the little
boat onto shore; we beached the boat and took a walk up the
shoreline. When we came back and approached the boat two
eagles started shrieking at us. We had beached the boat
under a tree in which they had their nest. We were not about
to fight with the eagles. The water was murky and we both
knew there were sharks in the water for we had caught one
the night before. However, Frankie said he would go out into
the water and circle around to the boat. I was to keep the
eagles' attention. He managed to get to the boat and push it
out into the water and I met him. I told him that he was
very brave. He said he wasn't brave for he was afraid, and
then I told him that was being brave. We also took the boat
out into the Ocean and went shelling. We found many
beautiful shells: conchs, horse conchs. helmets, king
helmets, cowries and just loads of little lovely shells and
starfish. Jesse made a dive platform for the boat, and we
would spend the whole day out in the water. While we were
there, Allan had a little sail boat. He often took the boat
out into the Ocean. However, getting back to our canal he
had to go into Vaca Cut where there the current was so
strong it was not always possible to sail back, so he took a
little CB radio and would call us when he was ready to
return. Jesse would go out and tow him home. We all enjoyed
the boating and the fishing. I enjoyed fishing there, for we
always caught fish and they were big enough to fillet.
Within a year of the time we moved there my mother left us
and went to live in the Masonic Home in Wallingford,
Connecticut. She just didn't care for the Keys and knew no
one there.
How I kept Myself Busy
I joined the
Hospital Auxiliary and was instructed in bed care for
patients. This was a thirty five bed hospital. During the
"season" it was usually filled to over capacity but "off
season" sometimes there would only be six or seven patients.
I learned to take vital signs, bathe a patient and make a
bed with the patient in it. I truly enjoyed the work. I
still have my pin for over 700 hours of work. Not many
hospitals have volunteers doing actual nursing work, but
like everything else in the Keys at that time, it was
different. In November, 1969, Denise had her third child,
Samantha. In August, 1970, June, who was pregnant with
Michael, was in a bad automobile accident. I went up to
visit with her. Michael was born shortly after the accident.
She had a serious time, but fortunately she became well and
the baby did fine.
In October, 1970,
Mavis had James. Frankie joined the Cub Scouts, and Jesse
became a Cub Scout leader. Each night when I said prayers
with the children I read them a Bible story. When Frank was
little we had a ten volume set of Bible stories. We had just
finished reading about Moses when there was some sort of a
survey made in the Marathon School System to see how many
children knew about the Bible. The representative asked
Frank if he knew who Moses was. Frank started telling him
about the baby Moses. The fellow said "that is enough".
Frankie said "there is more" and continued. After a while
the fellow said "that is enough". Frankie said "there is
more" and continued telling about Moses. The representative
told the teacher that Frank knew more about Moses than he
did. My mother and Jesse's mother planned a trip to the
Bahamas while still in Oxford. When Grandma Gardner came
down in the Fall of '69 my mother decided that she did not
want to go. Jesse told his mother to come back in the Spring
and that I would go with her. We had three great cruises in
the Caribbean, going to the Bahamas, Cape Haitian and
Port-Au-Prince in Haiti, and Puerto Plato in the Dominican
Republic, where the poverty was unbelievable. We went to
three ports in Jamaica. Kingston, Montego Bay and Port
Antonio. The ship had a program where families entertained
the people on the cruise ship. Grandma and I were
entertained by Mrs. Antonio whose husband was THE doctor for
the 300 bed hospital in Port Antonio. We were impressed by
the fact that the majority of the people were black, but the
white people had all the money. Grandma was a great
traveling companion.
In 1971 Karen
married Danny Osborne in Miami. Janet was born March 31,
1972 and Sandy was born April 1, 1973. Sandy Osborne was
named for Sandy Gardner. May 18, 1973, Sandy Gardner married
Daniel Herman Hines at our city home.
The Best Vacation I Have Ever Had
In the summer of '72
we had, I think, the very best vacation ever. We tent-camped
all the way from the Keys to Maine and back, a trip which
took two months. Allan was fifteen and Frank was eleven,
they were young enough that they enjoyed camping with Mom
and Dad, but big enough that they pitched the tent each
night and took it down in the morning. Our first stop was
Sebring, Florida where Frank went to a Boy Scout camp for a
week. Jesse, Allan and I rented a cottage on a lake for the
week, a respite from life in the big city, and went
fishing. I cannot remember each stop, but on July 4 we
camped at Stone Mountain. near Atlanta, Georgia and saw
fireworks. We explored Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, went to
the Land of Oz, somewhere (I don't remember just where it
was located), stopped in Hershey, Pennsylvania and saw them
make chocolate candy. Frank wished he could lick the pans.
The whole town smelled of chocolate. The street lights were
in the shape of Hershey's kisses. In Connecticut we went to
Mystic Seaport; in Massachusetts Mavis took us to an armory,
where all sorts of armor were displayed including armor for
horses and dogs. We camped in Maine at Hermit Island and saw
our friends, Bertha and Ed Clark. We stopped in Connecticut
on our way home. Denise had a big family picnic for us. All
our children were there except Karen, who was in Florida. We
left Connecticut taking Mary Lou Bush and Sandy Gardner with
us. Our next stop was Washington, D.C. We had reservations
at a Howard Johnson's. When we arrived they had a room for
the girls, but not one for us. They made arrangements for us
to have a suite across the street at the Watergate Hotel.
Later when the Watergate scandal came to light, we realized
that we were there at the time of the break-in which led to
the scandal. While in Washington. we visited the FBI
Building. We knew a fellow, Ken Goldman, whom we met through
Teddy Zimmerman, the man for whom Allan worked, and he took
us into rooms which the general public was not allowed. We
also visited the Smithsonian Institute. We divided up into
teams, Jesse and Allan. Mary Lou and Frank, and Sandy and I.
Mary Lou and Frank had a great time, every so often they
would find us and tell us about "something you ought to
see." Sandy flew home after a three day stay. We took the
Auto Train from Lorton, outside of Washington, to Sanford,
Florida. It was quite an experience. Mary Lou stayed with us
in Florida for a visit when we returned home. Allan became
interested in ham radio and had quite a nice little set up
in his room. He spent many hours "talking" to people all
over the country and if I am not mistaken, also in other
parts of the world. Frankie went into the candle making
business. He had all sorts of molds and made some very
beautiful candles. Years later when we moved to Lake City,
Penny Goodwin still had some candles Frankie had given her.
When I was about twelve or thirteen years old. I saw a movie
which took place on an island. The house had draw draperies.
At that time I knew of no one who had draw draperies. To me
living on an island and having draw draperies was the utmost
one could expect. One day I realized I was living on an
island and had draw draperies. What more could one ask?
Activities in the South
While in Florida,
Jesse, Allan and I took the Power Squadron Boating Course.
Later Jesse joined the Squadron. Allan joined as a Junior
member and I joined the Auxiliary. At that time women could
not join the Power Squadron. Since then it has changed and
women now hold any office. Jesse had several offices in the
Squadron ending up as Commander in 1974. Mavis's Sandy had
to have a kidney operation in the Spring of '72 and I went
to Massachusetts to take care of James. At the time of the
picnic at Denise's a few months later, he would look at me
and then look away and hang onto his mother. He was a sweet
baby and I enjoyed taking care of him. We had lots of
company while in Florida. It was fun for we had our guest
quarters where they could stay and have privacy. We would
stock the refrigerator with breakfast food so they could
either get up early or stay in bed. The guests would eat the
other meals with us. All of our married daughters visited us
several times, also my Aunt Maggie and Uncle Richards, my
cousin Richard, his wife, Dianne, and their children, Mark
and Matthew. Mark spent several weeks with our boys. Our
friends, Joe and Marie Tyler, and Christine Atkinson, Mr.
and Mrs. Gibbs and their daughter, Barbara, who later
married Jesse's brother, Roger were among our guests. After
Sandy and Daniel were married they stayed in the guest
quarters for a couple of months. We joined the Methodist
Church. Jesse was on the Official Board and I was the Church
secretary. Toward the end of our stay in Florida, Jesse's
mother had a series of mini strokes. We went up to
Connecticut and brought her back with us. The strokes
affected her mind and her attitude. She was always such a
pleasant, easy going person, but her attitude and
disposition changed. We could not make her happy. She had a
friend, Mrs. Murphy, who came down to Islamarada each
winter, but this winter had no place to stay, so we invited
her to stay with us, hoping company for Mom would be the
answer. They fought like two kids. Finally in the Spring she
and Mrs. Murphy went home.
In the fall of '74
Sandy and Daniel invited us to visit them in San Diego. Don,
who was in the Navy, had just been transferred to San Diego.
Our friends, Philip and Doris Horton, offered to come and
stay with the boys while we were in San Diego. We took our
camper and went West. We liked San Diego, the weather was
beautiful and there was so much to see and do. We had come
to the conclusion that there was not much in the employment
area for the boys except fishing and tourism, and we felt
that they should have more opportunity than that. The irony
of that is Allan went fishing in Alaska and Frank is in the
restaurant business in Michigan, but we still feel that they
would not have had much opportunity in the Keys. Also the
house which was to be home for eight people only had four
people in it. It was much too big. We decided to sell out
and move to San Diego. We purchased a ten-acre lettuce field
with a house. Before we left the Power Squadron gave Jesse a
"going away" party. At this time there was a gasoline
shortage and rumors were that on January 1, 1975, gasoline
would be rationed. As it turned out it wasn't rationed, but
we bought a van, which we felt we would need when we started
our horse business. So in December, '74 Jesse and our good
friend, Philip Horton, loaded up the van and drove to San
Diego. A few days before Christmas. Don telephoned and asked
if the boys could come for Christmas. I was to stay and sell
the house. I took the boys to the airport and they flew to
San Diego for Christmas with Jesse, Sue and Don. I went up
to my Aunt Maggie and Uncle Richards's, which was like a
second home to me. After Christmas I went back to Key Colony
taking Beth Tiffany with me for a little vacation. Jesse
flew back shortly after that. We decided to leave the house
in the hands of a realtor. Together we drove once again to
San Diego.
City Life in San Diego
When we first came
to San Diego, Sandy, Daniel and we took a trip to Death
Valley. It was there that we first saw date trees. Later on
we would see lots of date trees when we moved to the desert.
San Diego, in my mind, is America's Finest City as it
likes to be called. The weather is almost perfect. In South
San Diego, where we lived, you actually do not need heat nor
air conditioning, and I believe it is the only place in
these United States where that is the case. When we arrived
in San Diego we had no furniture. One day our son-in-law,
Don Hines, who was in the Navy, told us about a fellow Navy
man who had a house full of furniture for sale. It included
a couch, loveseat, two end tables, a king size bed, complete
with bed linen including an electric blanket, a woman's
chest of drawers with mirror and a man's bureau, two bedside
tables, and a dining-room table with four chairs. All of
this was being sold for $500.00. We contacted the fellow
immediately and bought the furniture. The house was an old
house for San Diego. It was built before they had inside
plumbing. There was a staircase in the center of the house.
Four bedrooms were upstairs, one on each corner of the
house. However, by the time we arrived one bedroom had been
made into a bathroom. The water pipes went up the outside of
the house and never, to our knowledge, did they freeze.
Downstairs on one side was a big living room with a dining
area, the other side had a kitchen and another front room
which we used for family dining. Jesse built cabinets in the
kitchen for me. He also enclosed part of the back porch for
storage. The house left a lot to be desired, but we were
primarily interested in having a horse boarding ranch, and
that took preference over all. There were several
out-buildings on the land which were in fair condition. We
were busy building horse stalls for the best part of four
years. When the building was completed we could board 76
horses.
At one time, I
believe, we had 72 boarding horses. Each stall had it's own
waterer and salt block. We also had two hot walkers, a show
ring and a five-acre exercise lot. We had barrels set up for
gymkhana and jumps for hunter jumpers. Allan and Frank each
had a horse. Allan enjoyed riding for pleasure. Frank, being
of a competitive nature, enjoyed showing his horse and
participating in gymkhana events. His specialty was "ride
and pickup" and he participated in sztate wide competition.
In the first summer that we were there, Frank wanted to go
up into the San Francisco area to show his horse. Allan
volunteered to drive him and the horse. We debated a bit
whether to let them go, for it was a 600 mile trip with a
horse trailer. We finally decided that Allan was responsible
enough so off they went. In the fall, Frank wanted to take
Driver Ed in school, but before he could do so he had to
present our car insurance papers to the instructor. I went
looking for the car insurance papers and found that the
insurance had expired in April. but the Company had not
notified us that they were dropping our insurance. I had
three accidents the previous years so we were not considered
a good risk. I always felt that they should have told us
that they were not renewing the insurance, but was so
thankful that the boys had made the trip without any
mishaps.
We had not been in
San Diego very long when we heard about the "gunion run."
Every so often, when the tide and season are right, these
little fish come ashore with the tide. As I remember it is
always after midnight. We went one evening, or early
morning; the beach was full of people. There were bonfires
on the beach and everyone was catching gunion. One might
call it a fiesta time. During the five years we were in San
Diego, each Mother's Day I flew to Wallingford, Connecticut,
to see my mother. The first couple of years I took her out
to dinner. Then she wanted me to eat at the Masonic Home,
which I did. I cannot say enough for the Masonic Home. In
the dining room the men wore suits and the ladies had their
best dresses, and all the ladies had their hair "done."
Mother took delight in telling everyone that I came all the
way from California to be with her on Mother's Day. Allan
decided that he would like to learn the horse shoeing trade.
We found a school in
Phoenix so we sent him off to school. He did very well and
Jesse drove out in the van to bring him home with all his
new equipment. The night that Jesse was gone was the only
night that I spent in a house alone. I lived with my mother
until I was married, then when Jesse was traveling for the
Metal Hose there were children in the house. Frank was
staying with Sandy nights at this time for Don was at sea.
We had several friends visit us while we were in San Diego:
Doris Horton, Joe & Marie Tyler, Jesse's brother, Ken, and
his wife, Sylvia, who was called John, Mary Lou and Theresa
Bush, and Jesse and Marlys Carson. I am sure there were more
but cannot remember. In 1977 Karen wrote and asked if she
could come to San Diego and stay with us a short time until
she could get settled. We were delighted to have her and
sent Allan to Florida to help her drive her car out to
California. They arrived in San Diego, May 16, 1977, the
same day that Sandy had her baby, Daniel Herman Hines, Jr.
Sandy had a tack shop on the ranch. I had the pleasure of
taking care of Daniel while she worked in the tack shop. It
was a busy time with both boys home, Karen and her girls and
Sandy and Don and Daniel close to the ranch.
We were two miles
from the Ocean and two miles from the Mexican Border. It
doesn't seem possible, but each night in the seven mile
stretch from the Ocean inland the Border Patrol would catch
1.000 illegal Mexicans trying to cross over the Border. It
was very sad to see so many desperate and poor people. At
night the helicopter would hover overhead with search lights
and round up fifty to a hundred people at a time. The
Mexicans would pay anywhere up to $200.00 each to a "coyote"
to take them across the Border and usually to Los Angeles.
Almost every Sunday the Border Patrol would set up a road
block in front of our house. They would stop the cars coming
from the Border. I cannot remember how many times they would
open a truck and five or six poor people would be stuffed
into that trunk. We went over to Tijuana quite a few times,
especially when we had company. Tijuana at that time was a
real dirty mess. I understand that they cleaned up the
city and had a real renovation downtown. We were advised
not to take our car over the Border, for in Mexico you are
guilty until proven innocent, and the Mexican citizen is
always right. The last six months that Don Hines served in
the Navy he was on Shore Patrol and one of his jobs was to
take meals over to the Tijuana jail for the sailors who had
landed in jail. In Mexico, at that time, prisoners had to
furnish their own meals.
We had many pleasant
times while at the Ranch. There were quite a few young girls
about thirteen years old, who just loved their horses and
spent many hours at the Ranch. At one time we had a vaulting
team, which Sandy coached. We had a barrel upon which they
practiced and then we bought a vaulting horse. Both Allan
and Frank were in the vaulting team. We had quite a few
dogs. Frank had a lab named Sam, who was one of the nicest
dogs we ever had. We also had several Saint Bernards and
even had a litter of pups. In 1978 we took a trip back to
Key Colony Beach as the house had not sold. We were amazed
at the condition of the house. The people to whom we had
rented it stole a great deal and did a job on the house
itself. Jesse and I painted the outside and a good part of
the inside. Eventually we sold the house. June 11, 1978, our
oldest granddaughter, Karen Bush, married Scott in Big Pine
Key, Florida. Jesse and I had a good many nice trips while
we were in San Diego. Between Allan. Frank. and Sandy the
Ranch could very well run without us fora period of time. We
visited Tombstone, Tucson and Bisbee, Arizona, also the
southern California Desert. We went to the Grand Canyon, the
Petrified Forest, Montezuma's Castle, Montezuma's Well.
Ginko Petrified Forest in Washington State, Lassen Volcanic
National Park, Mt. Shasta, Winchester Castle, and the Mojave
Desert, which we explored in our 4 x 4 and had a wonderful
time. We explored the Colorado Desert. We had a 4 x 4
Chevrolet pick up truck upon which we put a small camper. It
was just big enough for the two of us to sleep. When I
mentioned sleeping in the camper I remember one day that
Karen and Allan decided that they would go out into the
desert early in the morning to see the sunrise. In the
afternoon I received a phone call from Allan. The truck had
broken down and they were stranded near Borrego. At that
time Don's son, Anthony, was with Don, and Don told Anthony
to go with me. We put Janet and Susie in the back of the
camper and set off for the desert. We found Allan and Karen.
In the meantime the mechanic at the garage to which they had
hiked felt sorry for them and went out into the desert and
towed the truck back to so-called civilization, and even
fixed it for them. I followed Allan home. At first they had
planned to take the girls, and we were so grateful that they
had not taken them, for they had about a five mile hike
after the truck broke down. The San Diego chapter would not
be complete without mentioning Cathy Larson. Cathy was in
the Navy and boarded her horse at our place. When her hitch
was up she was not allowed to re-enlist. She took her
unemployment and for six months did not work but spent all
her time at the ranch. She was a big help - she would work
harder and longer than anyone. She had her meals with us.
Eventually she got a job.
One morning we were
awakened early by someone pounding on our front door. We
looked out the window and there were two policemen there.
Jesse and I went downstairs; I went into the kitchen and
there were two policemen at that door also. Jesse answered
the door and was told that we were harboring fugitives. We
assured them we were not. They asked if they could come in
and look. We said "yes" so they went upstairs and Frank was
sound asleep. They shook him and woke him up. Imagine his
surprise to look into the faces of two policemen. They asked
him what his name was and he told them. They then asked if
they could look in the outbuildings. I asked them what they
were looking for and why our place. They were looking for
two young people from Ohio who were fugitives and they had
phoned Ohio from our telephone. I explained to them that our
telephone was not up to date and whenever a toll call was
made the operator had to ask our number. Each month we had
charges on our Jesse which were not ours and the telephone
company deducted them when we called. Hearing that they did
not bother to look in the out buildings. About a month later
we had a collect call from Ohio to one of these people. We
did not accept the call, but did call the P.D. to tell them
about it. We never knew if it was a legitimate call or if it
was the P.D. In 1979 we were tired of working and decided to
sell the Ranch. Sandy and Don wanted to buy it. so we sold
it to them. In the meantime Allan joined the Coast Guard and
Karen married Philip Hutchinson in Reno. Nevada on March 21,
1979. Frank graduated from High School in June and was to
board with a friend and at that time planned to go to
college on a wrestling scholarship. However, after a short
time he decided to go to work full-time.
Sandy had a big
party for us just before we left the Ranch. The plaque they
gave us hangs on our wall. We moved the furniture over the
mountain to Salton City where we purchased a two
bedroom home. Life in the city was somewhat different.
