My Grandfather, Jonathan Sikes, was born September 7, 1830, in Lawrence County, Ohio, and died January 23, 1913 in Davis, California. He came to California with three of his brothers, in the early 1650s to see it there was a fortune to be made mining gold. Alva had come ahead, then sent for Ezre, Jonathan and Jessie. Jessie died from the hardships of the trip trom Onio soon after erriving in the Mt. Shasta area in 1852. Ezra remained working in the mines. Alva and Jonathan left Shasta in 1856 and traveled down through the Sacramento Valley looking for good farm land. They worked for other farmers and Alva eventually bought land. Jonathan, the youngest, applied for land (a quarter section of 160 acres) through the J.S. Government Homestead act of 1862. His application is dated 1869 and is numbered Homestead Certificate number 48. He then traded a team of mules to a minister who wanted to leave the area, for another quarter section of land giving him a total of 307.26 acres. This odd amount (307.26, instead of 320) developed when the area was surveyed. One group of surveyors began at Mt. Diablo and another group started to the north, perhaps at the Sutter Buttes or even Mt. Shasta. when the two groups met, they were off in their measurements, so the Sikes ranch is short a few acres.
My sister Dorothy and I still own the ranch.

Sometime after Jonathan settled on the ranch in the Tremont area of Solano Co., he received a letter from a friend he had met on the journey across the plains and who had settled in Middletown, Callt., asking him it he would meet his brother at the train in Davis. This friend was a Mr. Palmer. He explained in his letter that his brother was ill with TB and had a wife and two children. If Jonathan would meet them, he would come and

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pick them up. Jonathan did this and found that Mr. Plamer had to be Taken off the train on a stretcher. Jonathan took him and his fagily to the ranch. Mr. Palmer died soon after this and Jonathan never did hear from the brother who lived in Middletown. Caroline (Mrs. Palmer) was left with two children, Frank and Maude. She had no means of support for her children. Jonathan offered her a job cooking and keeping house for him and his hired men. Caroline was concerned about taking this job,- that this might be looked upon as improper by the neighbors of Jonathan Sikes. Several of these neighbors advised her to take the job as she had no other way to support her children. They advised her to conduct herself as a lady and that there should be no talk of her acting in an improper manner, so she accepted the job. In due time Caroline (born February 27, 1846, died December 25, 1915) and Jonathan were married on April 1, 1875. Caroline and Jonathan had four children - Clara Bell, Alice, George Alvin, and Elsie.

After Jonathan and Caroline were married, Jonathan enlarged the Sikes home. He added a front section which contained a living room and parlor on either side of a hall connecting the older section of the house to the new front door and porch, and also containing the stairway to the upstairs. Upstairs were two bedrooms, one on either side of the hallway, as well as a door to a porch matching the one downstairs. The older portion of the house contained a kitchen, a large pantry, and a dining room. Upstairs were one larger bedroom and two small ones. (One of these ultimately became a bathroom.) The stairs for this section went up from the back porch. After the new section was built, these older bedrooms were accessed from the new upstairs hall. The new front portion of the house was more elaborate than the older section. The doors, staircase, and window frames were all solid walnut. The parlor was

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furnished with victorian style furniture consisting of a love seat, platform rocker, arm chair, four smaller occasional chairs, and a marble top table. Lace curtains were at the windows and the window shades were usually pulled down.. The bedrooms were furnished with spool style walnut beds and a wash stand. The wash stand contained a large partelen wash bowl and pitcher with water, and a towel rack on the back. In the caninet below was a chamber pot for use as a toilet during the night. ' There was also a marble top dresser which was made of walnut. The marble top fit above the drawers and a large mirrow was fastened to the back. This was the master bedroom. The other bedrooms were not as elaborately furnished.

Sometime in the early 1900's Jonathan and Caroline bought a home in Davis and moved into it leaving the ranch for their son Alvin to manage. Their daughter Clara moved with them and cared for them until their deaths. Jonathan died a year before my mother and father were married. Caroline died a year after they were married.

After the d e a t h s of both Grandfather J o n a t h a n and Grandmother Caroline, my Aunt Clara moved to Berkeley, California. She bought an apartment house near the U.C. Berkeley campus. She took the furniture which had been moved from the ranch to the Davis house (the Victorian parlor furniture). ! had three cousins in Davis, the daughters of Daddy's next oldest sister Alice Sikes Bulkley. These three girls always tried to talk Aunt Clara into selling the old Victorian furniture. I was the only one who would tell her not to sell it. I told her I wanted it someday when she didn't want it any more. Several years later, after I had married, she developed Parkinsons. One day she called me and asked if I really wanted the old Victorian furniture. a s s u r e d her that ! did. She said she was

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making her living room into a bedroom and was having women come in to care for her and was going to let me have the furniture. She asked if my husband, Sandy, had a truck. I told her we did have one that Sandy used to haul feed for our feed store. She asked if we had a tarp to cover the furniture and some old blankets to wrap each piece. I told her we did have a tarp and could get plenty of old blankets and quilts from the Sikes ranch and the McBride ranch. Aunt Clara supervised the placement of each piece of furniture from her bed in the living room. She was very satisfied that each piece was safe. I phoned her when we arrived home to assure her all arrived safely.

We would take Mother and Daddy to Berkeley to see Aunt Clara quite often after that. She was not able to get out of bed, but always had things she wanted us to do for her, especially Daddy. He would go to her bank for her and do business there and sometimes go to see her lawyer. Other times we would shop for her. She also had Mother pack up her linens, cut glass, and other things that she wanted Mother to take home. She would have mother make a list of all these things and tell her who she wanted to give them to for Christmas and birthday gifts. I have many pieces of cut glass that were Aunt Clara's as well as things, including cut glass, that were wedding gifts to my Mother and Father. Aunt Clara died on November2, 1962 .

I remember my Mother's parents very well as they both lived into their seventies and died after I was out of College. As I have stated in the first part of this story "Growing Up On The Sikes Ranch", all of Mothers family would come to our house on the Sikes Ranch for Thanksgiving. We cousins had great times playing together. Grandad, Benton Thomas (born Mey 4, 1866) and Grandma, Susen Frances Gard Thomas (born March 7

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1863) had been married on December 28, 1884. They enjoyed these family reunions and the ranch probably more than we cousins did. Grandad always enjoyed all of his grandchildren. Grandma was more reserved and did not show her affection as Grandad did. Most of the Thomas family lived in Lake County so I expect Grandma did a great deal of baby sitting and perhaps was glad to have a little rest from this. We cousins were so busy playing and Grandad seemed to always be in the middle of all this that Grandma probably loved the quiet and found time to visit with her own children, our parents.

We usually went to Lake County to visit during Easter vacation or during the summer. It was always Grandad who would take us to the barn with him to milk the cows or to the creek to help him gig fish or to the garden to pick corn. I usually stayed with Aunt Crystal and Uncle Bert as their daughter, Gwendolyn, was only a month younger than I, and we enjoyed being together. She had a sister four years younger than we were and Alberta played with us also. If we were there in the summer we would always have a big family reunion on the shore of Clear Lake. Aunt Mary Stanley, Grandma's sister, and her family would usually join us also.

My Grandparents both died while I was teaching Ist grade in the Kelseyville Elementary School. Grandad died on Oct. 8, 1938 of a cerebal hemorrage. Grandma died on Dec. 2, 1939 from a heart attack.

I also knew my Great Grandmother Gard. I was always half afraid of her for she never wore her false teeth so her mouth was sunken and gave her an appearance of a much older woman than she was. She always wore long dresses and her hair pulled back very straight and rolled in a knot on the back of her head. Great Grandma Gard was born in Tennessee on Sept. 16, 1834, and later moved to Missouri with her parents. She married

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Charles Gard on Oct. 26, 1854, in Stockton, California after crossing the plains in the Webb - Gard Caravan. (Her maiden name was Nancy Webb.) She and Charles moved to Kelseyville, Lake County, California, in 1869 or 1870. They raised eight children - the fifth was my Grandmother, Susan Frances Gard Thomas, called Fanny by her friends. Great Grandma Gard died at her rhome in Kelseyville in Sept. of 1925 at the age of 91. She and Charles are both buried in the Kelseyville cemetery as are most of their children.

I did not know my Great Grandfather as he died May 23, 1876, from injuries received by a kick from a horse as he was returning from Knoxville. Charles Gard had joined Fremont's Army and came to Calif. in 1846. He returned to Missouri with J e s s e Webb and helped bring the Gard and Webb families back to California. Charles Bard also served in the Mexican War. His widow, my Great Grandmother received a pension for his s e r v i c e in t h i s war.

I was planning to relate the story of my life, but I was distracted by the history of my Grandparents, so now to what I started.

My given name at my birth was Jean Lavelle Sikes. The name Lavelle was given to me by Aunt Alta Thomas, my Mother's older sister. This was the name of a favorite little girl in Aunt Alta's primary class that she taught in Oakland, California. My eges are brown and as a young child I had blond hair. Many of Mothers friends commented on this contrast. Some suggested that Mother have my hair bleached to keep it blond, but Mother refused. As I grew older, my hair darkened to what was generally called ash blond. After I married and had our two boys, I began to have my hair tinted to give it more life. I continued this for many years. I decided that at age 65! would discontinue having my hair tinted. This ! did as l had

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never liked to see older women with obviously tinted hair. At this writing I am 80 years old and have never regretted my decision. My parents were Clara Edna Thomas Sikes, born May 11, 1689, and George Alvin Sikes, born Feb.5, 1880. Daddy went by Alvin and never used his first name, George. Neither of them had pure white hair at their deaths. Daddy died at age 80 and still had a good amount of dark hair mixed with some grey though he was bald on top. Mother died at age 77 and also had a mix of grey and brown hair much as I have now.

Daddy died July 28, 1960 from a ruptured artery in his neck. I only remember my father going to the dentist once in his life time. He may have had a tooth pulled then. I don't remember, but in general he had all his teeth when he died. Mother died October 10, 1966 of cancer of the stomach. She had had a few more teeth pulled than Daddy, but had most of her own teeth when she died. I have had two teeth pulled which is not bad tor my age.

I began teaching in Kelseyville, Lake County, California in the fall of 1937. I taught there for three years. I had a first grade class and loved these young ones. There was no kindergarten in those days, or nursery school, so the children came from their homes right to me. Many were rural children and this was their first experience away from their parents. I really had a kindergarten for the first month or two. They were dear little ones and I enjoyed every minute of my teaching.

I soon realized that I couldn't get out of Lake County without a car. I would have to leave fairly early Saturday morning, go to San Francisco, change buses there, then on to Davis. This was a long day, but a bus was the only means of transportation out of Lake County. I would have to get up early Sunday morning to meet the bus in Davis, go back to San Francisco

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and wait for the bus to Lake County. I gave up the idea of even trying this. I could ride with some of thahomas family as they would take me home for Thanksgiving. I told Daddy I wanted to buy a car. He felt this would be too expensive. On my $1,000 a year salary he felt I couldn't afford a car. So he offered to buy me a car and I could pay him back with no interest. It sounded good to me and I knew it was the best offer I could get. We found a two door coupe with a rumble seat. The rumble seat opened as a trunk might open, only it opened from the back window to form a seat in the back. It was a chevrolet, 1936 model so we did receive a good buy. This was in November, 1937, that we bought it. I drove that car the remainder of that year and the two more school years that I taught in Kelseyville as well as the three years I taught in Lincoln. I also kept it until after I was married and until after Donald was born on November 2, 1944. We sold that car and we bought a two door sedan so that Donald would have more room as he grew older.

[Mom edited the draft Ive been using to change Sandy to we. The story she told me was that Dad traded the car in for a new studibaker as a birthday present and she was really upset because a 36 chevy with a rumble seat was a classic.,{Don}]

We planned to have another child by the time Don was two. Dale was born June 3, 1947 so Don was two years seven months older than Dale.

After teaching in Kelseyville, I moved to Lincoln, California and taught there for three years, from 1940 to 1943.
I had met a young man who worked at the Lincoln Pottery and I had been dating him. He asked me to marry him and at this time it seemed like a good idea. He was transferred to the Los Angeles area and I did not see him until the Christmas holidays of 1940. He gave me a ring and I thought all was well. ! went to Los Angeles to see him over our spring break, and realized that he was uneasy, so I asked him what the problem was. He then told me he had met a girl down there and was not sure that our relationship was the right thing. ! was really angry with him, to think he

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had let me come all the way to Los Angeles (I had taken the train down) just to tell me he had changed his mind. I made a reservation on the next train back to Sacramento and called my folks to meet me there. I had a long trip to do some thinking and realized that neither of us had talked of marriage, and that it was probably a good thing to call it off when we did. However my feelings, more than anything else, were hurt.

In 1941, 1 met Sandy McBride. I was teaching in Lincoln and living with another teacher, Muriel Rasmussen, who was a Roseville girl. Sandy had gone to High School with her and they had been dating. When school started in the fall, l began dating Sandy. He was a farmer in the Antelope area, and in that regard we did have much in common. Muriel, my roommate, told Sandy not be be surprised if I wouldn't date him as I was down on men and hadn't been dating. However, we dated all that winter and were married June 6, 1942.

Sandy was born at his Grandmother's home in Roseville and lived in the Antelope area all his life. He attended the Dry Creek Elementary School that was a small rural school. His Great Grandfather, Andrew R. Finley, had given an acre of land for this school. He was given one dollar for this property. He wanted his daughter Emma to attend school. The gift of this piece of land was the only way he could see to have a school built in the area, and he was determined to have his children attend school. He also tried to form a Presbyterian Church in the Roseville area but did not succeed. After his death, a copy of a letter he had written to his church in Missouri stated that he was going to move his family to Santa Ana where there was an established United Presbyterian Church. He did this, but his daughter Emma had fallen in love with Thomas McBride. She married

Thomas and lived in Antelope in the home her father had built. They

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continued farming this land. The Dry Creek School is still in existance at this writing and three or four more schools have been built in this district.

Thomas and Emma McBride had four children, Arthur Thomas, Agnes, John Leslie, and Bernice. Thomas McBride died in his fifties. Emma leased the farm and moved her young family to Santa Ana to be near her family there. Arthur Thomas and Agnes were attending the Dry Creek School when their father died. They continued in school in Santa Ana, attending an Academy. Upon graduation, Arthur Thomas returned to the ranch in Antelope to continue the farming. He met Elva King in Roseville, and married her. They had five children, Thomas Kenneth, Wesley, Catherine, Donald and Arthur Thomas, Jr. Kenneth and Wesley had started high school together, and Kenneth soon became "Sandy" because of his red whiskers. Catherine was the next McBride to enter the Roseville High School, and at times she was called "Sandy". Catherine really did have red hair. All the McBrides had a hint of red in their hair, and a complection to go with it. Donald was the forth to enter high school and the name "Sandy" followed him. Arthur Thomas Jr. was the last to enter High School and the name "Sandy" has stayed with him by all his high school friends to this day. Sandy went on to Sacramento Jr. College after high school, and then to U.c. Davis to take the non-degree agricultural course that was offered at that time. During those years in J.C. and U.C. Davis, Sandy always came home to help his Dad with the farming as often as he could - after school and weekends while in J.C. and weekends only while at Davis.

I had met him as "Sandy" McBride so have always called him Sandy. I soon learned that his mother did not like this as she would always correct me saying "You mean Thomas"* I would always answer her with "Oh yes", but would go right back to saying Sandy. ! just couldn't think of him as

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Thomas. Now I have finally come to the realization that I should say Thomas when talking to his family. With all of his Doctor's appointments, with Medicare, and with State Farm Insurance it is necessary to use his fi r s t name Arthur. It is a bit confusingat times.

At this writing we have been married fifty three years. We have two sons, Donald Thomas, born November 2, 1944, and Dale Gene, born June 3, 1947, both born at Mercy Hospital in Sacramento, California. Both were born with a full head of hair. I had home help after each of the boys were born. A lovely older woman came amd stayed with me for about a month after each of the boys were born. Her name was Dora Lutz. we called her Auntie Lutz.

Donald married Joanna Chien from Taiwan on April 24, 1977. They have one son, Thomas Jonathan born August 1, 1978.
Dale married Marty Sue Morgan, a high school sweetheart, on September 12, 1970. They have two children, Sean Thomas, born July 6, 1976, and Kathrine Susanne born July 5, 1978. Both Sean and Katy were born with red hair. Sean's changed to a strawberry blond as he grew older. At this writing he is nineteen and has grown a goatee and sideburns which are all red. Katy has always had red hair. Marty's Mother has red hair and Dale's Grandmother MeBride and his Aunt Catherine had red hair, so it's not surprising that Sean and Katy have red hair.

Sean is now attending a community college. He took a year off in his junior year of high school to go as an AFS student to New Zealand and returned to graduate from high school in June 1994. He then took a year off to work at a restaurant before starting college. Thomas and Katy are seventeen and will graduate from high school in June, 1996. They both plan to attend college but at this writing none of our three grandchildren

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have decided on a career.

Donald graduated from U.C. Davis with a degree in mathematics. He applied to the Navy, also the Army, but was refused because of a fall from our barn roof when he was eight years old. He broke his wrist, and as he grew we realized that his hand was turning in. In the summer between seventh and eighth grades, he had surgery on that arm as he had damaged the growth buds on that one bone. A wedge was taken from the other bone and his hand was pulled back and straightened. However his hand began to turn again. This time we took him to Stanford University and a Doctor King looked at his arm and took xrays. Dr. King was head of the orthopedic department. He advised us to have more surgery and scrape the growth buds from the other bone to stop growth in both bones. He suggested we return to Sacramento to have this done as he felt the orthopedic doctors here were very competent. This we did, but Don missed a month of his freshman year in high school.

San Juan High School had just started a program for exceptional students and had placed Don in these classes. I went to the school and asked if Don could be put in just the math and science classes. They said no, that this new program was for social studies and English as well. I did talk to the science teacher and he also said no. He felt that it was not his place to help one student make up lost time. So we had Don put in the regular classes. Don did, however, come out at the top of the math exam in all the schools that were participating in this program. The head of the math department at San Juan was not at all pleased to have a student in regular classes come out ahead of his students in the exceptional program, After graduating from U.C. Davis, Don went to work for the telephone company here in Sacramento. He was soon transfered to San Francisco.

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After being there for some time, he took a leave of absence and went back to school at U.C. Berkeley. He wanted to learn more about computers and graduated from Berkeley with a Masters Degree. In 1972, he was asked to go to New Jersey to work for Bell Labs. He then went to AT&T for a time. He is now back with Bellcore, the software division of Bell Labs after the governments breakup of the Bell Sysatem. Don and Joanna both work for Bell Communications Research as members of the technical staff.

Don's and Joanna's son Thomas attends Hotchkiss, a private High School in Lakeville, Connecticut. Thomas attended Rutgers Preparatory School from kindergarten through eighth grade. Rutgers is near their home in Martinsville, New Jersey. He also attended a day camp during the summer while he was in elementary school. Now that he is in high school, he has been able to work as a counselor at this camp. He has also worked as a volunteer in a hospital near their home. This summer (1995) he has worked in the emergency room of the hospital.

Dale is Program Manager for Sutter-Yuba Counties Mental Health Department. When the old county hospital was closed, the counties turned this facility over to Sutter-Yuba Mental Health.

Dale was in the Army. He was stationed at Fort Riley Kansas. He had graduated from U.C.Davis with a degree in Economics. A week after graduation in 1969 he was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. He was trained as a medic and was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas. He spent his service time there counciling men who had gone AWOL or for other reasons were refusing service in Vietnam. The doctors at Fort Riley encouraged him to go on to school at Duke University in North Caroline where they had an excellent Physicians Associate program. He did very well there and received a degree in Health Sciences. The doctors at Duke wanted him to go to their private mental hospital in Ashville, NC.

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After his training in Ashville, he did some intern work in Morganton at the North Carolina state mental hospital. He was hired and worked there for several years. Sean was born in Morganton, July 6, 1976.

While Dale, Marty, and Sean were visiting here in California, Dale applied to several mental health clinics in this area. After his return to North Carolina, he received a call from Sutter-Yuba mental health asking him to come there. He accepted this position and came back to California. Sean was just one year old. They have now lived in Yuba City for over eighteen years. Katy was born in Yuba City. She plans to go to college but wants to take a year off before college to go to Belgium as an AFS student.

This so far has been a rambling story of my life and my family. I expect it will continue in that same manner.

Jack and I had started school together. Mother had tried to teach me to read and to have a rather normal first grade education. However, she found this hard to do and to keep up with her other responsibilities. She gave this idea up and decided to hold me back for a year and then send both Jack and me together for first grade. The teacher in our small rural school didn't have any other first graders and only one second grader, so she put the three of us together. It was not the best beginning we could have had for school, but seemed to work out fairly well.

Jack and I continued in the same grade all the way through high school. Most of our teachers and friends just assumed we were twins. When we graduated from the eighth grade I was a good head taller than Jack. However when we graduated from high school, he had just about caught up with me. He did grow some after high school so ended up a few inches taller than ! was.

Daddy nad not been too well and was expecting Jack to tke over the farming. However when he graduated, Daddy was well so he enrolled in Sacramento City College in aeronautics. a course he had wanted to take before. In the winter, Daddy fell off the woodshed roof and broke his head, so Jack did have to take over the farming. He also worked some for the counthy. We also took some trips together whenI would be home from San Jose or vacation from teaching.

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After high school, we went in different directions. I went to San Jose State College, now called San Jose State University. Jack worked kor the county for a while and then took the non-degree agricultural course at Davis.&By that time we all realized that world war II was inevitable so Jack joined the National Guard. When war was declared some months later the National Guard Unit was mobilized into the Infantry. Jack was offered officers training school so became a Lieutenant. He was stationed on a troop ship transporting troops from all parts of the world to the European Area.

Jack was in the New York area and met Patricia Gilmore. They were married soon after Sandy and I were married. Their daughter Kathie was born on Nov. 6, 1944, just 4 days after our son Donald was born.

Jack was discharged from the army and brought Pat and Kathie to Davis. They stayed at the ranch with Mother and Daddy. Jack had to return to the Army for his final discharge papers, then returned and he, Pat, and Kathie lived in Davis. Their twins, Stephen and Caroline, were born December 27, 1948, and Frank was born May 9, 1950. Our dear Jack,loving husband, father and brother, died of Polio March 22,1953. I still find it difficult to believe that Jack is no longer with us. I sometimes take flowers to Davis for the cemetery. It isn't hard for me to leave flowers on my parents and grandparents graves, but when I get to Jack's, that seems different. He died at age 37 and to me that seems just too young. I can't keep the tears back. Daddy died at age 80 and Mother at age 77 and that seems more reasonable to me.

As I have stated in the earlier part of this story, Jack and I had grown up together and really were best friends even though at times we

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would have fist fights. I was larger and taller than Jack so needless to say our fights didn't last too long. However Jack continued to grow also and it wasn't too long before we were quite evenly matched although by then we had decided fist fighting wasn't worth the effort

I had reached my full height at twelve years old, and weighed more then than ! have weighed since. I had thinned down by the time we entered high school.

We had a radio - I'm not sure that we had the radio before we were in high school. At any rate, we enjoyed listening to it and I remember Daddy fine tuning it to see just how many stations we could get. Occasionally when conditions were just right he could get a Southern California station. This was very exciting

We had put an oil heater in the dining room and would sit in that room more than we did in the living room in the winter. Jack and I would do our homework at the dining room table. Mother and Daddy had moved their rocking chairs into the dining room, and the radio was there also. There was a radio program, "One Man's Family", that we always listened to. It was on Sunday evening so we all listened together.

Our large old home had a front door and a nice porch that my Grandfather had added when he built the newer addition to the house, but very few people used this door. If someone came to this door, Jack and I always called Mother to go to the door. We were afraid to go to this door for we knew it was a stranger there, usually some salesman, and Jack and ! were not about to go greet him.

We always used the side door which came into the new living room off a screened porch that went around two sides of the old part of the house. We also had a back door off the kitchen and two doors off the

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dining room. One of these doors opened onto the screened porch. I think this was the original front door before the new front addition to the house was built. The other door was on the opposite side of the dining room and opened onto a porch. Later, after I had gone to San Jose to college, the folks made a bathroom that this second door from the dining room opened into. This bathroom had a shower instead of a bath tub. A second door was put in opening off this new bathroom onto the porch. Mother and Daddy had made the parlor into a bedroom so needed a downstairs bathroom.

Our large old two story house remained very cool in summer. we would open all the windows in the evening and close them in the morning. The living room and dining room would remain cool until about four or five o'clock in the afternoon. By then a cool south breeze would be blowing and we opened windows. The kitchen was always warmer because of the wood stove for cooking. If it was midsummer, when we had many men working during the harvest season, the dining room would get quite warm also. However the living room remained cool most of the day. Of course our wood stoves kept us warm inwinter. There was a smaller wood stove in the new living room.

I would like to have lived in our old home. However Sandy had his business in Roseville. He became a State Farm Insurance agent after he gave up farming and the feed store. Our boys were in college in Davis so the old ranch home would have been a nice place to live. Sandy would have had a long commute from Davis to Roseville so it did not seem practical to make that move.

When we were all children at home we often had community picnics up in the hills along Putah creek. There were several nice picnic areas and swimming holes.

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In summer, after the harvest was over, this was a pleasant and fun outing for many of our neighbors. After the weather became too cold for this type of get together, many of the families would hold parties at various homes. The adults would play cards and we children would play other games.

When Jack and I were Juniors in high school, Dorothy came home from school with measles. Since Jack and I had gone to the small country school in the primary grades, we had not had any of the usual childhood diseases. Of course we both had a good case of measles. We had no sooner recovered from this than Dorothy came home with chicken pox. We soon had chicken pox also. We were really sick with both of these. We were finally able to go back to school, but soon took the flu and were quite ill again. By this time it was nearly time for school to be out for the summer. We dropped math and chemistry and Mother found a tutor to help us through the summer. We were able to make up these subjects and could start our senior year with our regular class.

I loved to dance and had been dating the same boy since I was a sophomore in high school. He and Jack were best friends, so the three of us would usually go to the dances together. Clif and I loved to dance, but Jack would never dance. He didn't dance until we were out of high school. While I was in college, I didn't dance much. After going to a small high school (only 18 in our graduating class) I found college much harder and had to spend more time studying than dancing. When I was home for holidays, I did date some of the local boys and they would take me over to Sacramento where there were usually some of the big well known bands playing. When I was teaching and met Sandy, he took me to dance to one of the big bands nearly every Saturday night.

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When I was a small child I had an imaginary friend. Both Don and Dale had imaginary friends also. Mine was Mickey. One time Mother was making cranberry jelly and was putting the cranberries through a press. I told her that when Mickey's Mother was doing that Mickey took a hand full and threw it right in his Mother's face. Don's friend was "The little boy". Don would scold me because I shut the door before "The little boy" could come in. I would have to open the door quickly and apologize to "The little boy' for shutting the door on him. Dale's friend was "Pimmy". Pimmy could do everything that Dale was not allowed to do. One time his Grandmother (my Mother) wanted him to finish his dinner because she had chocolate pudding for dessert. He told his Grandma that Pimmy's Grandmother let him have two desserts and he didn't have to finish his dinner. Dale went through a period when he called his Father Sandy and called me Honey. If Don did something that didn't please him, he would tell Don that he was going to tell Sandy on him. If he felt it was something I would not approve of, he would say he was going to tell Honey what he did.

Don's favorite expression was to tell me that "I was wasting his time"' Don always had projects he was working on - making model cars, boats, airplanes or radios. He became quite good at these projects. The airplanes would always fly and the radios would play. If I had to go to the grocery store he felt that was just wasting his tome. In fact most anything I wanted him to do was "wasting his time".

One time Dale talked his Dad into taking the training wheels off his bicycle. He was sure he could ride it without them. He tried for several days without much success. Finally one day he came in and told me he could ride it without the training wheels. I was preparing to go to the grocery store so told him he could show me when we came home. However

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he ran out and prepared to ride the bike before we went to the store. He proceeded to fall off immediately. I repeated that he could show me when we came home, but he continued to try. After several more falls, I became impatient and said we must go to the store. He continued to try to make it around our driveway. At last he did succeed and rode that bike around the driveway and into the garage. He then closed the garage door, climbed into the car and said, "you see Mom, all it takes is patience" I think I have repeated that statement to myself some hundred times since that day.

One time when Don was quite small, probably about three, I heard this terrible crash in the living room. I ran to see what had happened. I found the Christmas tree was on the floor and Don was under it. I lifted the tree and except for a few scratches he seemed to be all right. I asked him what had happened. He said "I thought I could climb it". Most of the ornaments were broken but we managed to salvage a few and buy some more. Don was upset for fear we would not have a Christmas tree that year.

Several years later when Don had started to school he talked Dale into going into the fireplace and sitting in the ashes where he could look up the chimney to see if that plump old Santa could get down the chimney. Evidently Don had been hearing stories at school about there not being a Santa. Dale was very puzzled as he too thought the chimney was a bit small. However Dale was not ready to believe Don that maybe there wasn't a Santa. I got Dale out of the fireplace, fortunately there were no coals under those ashes. Dale was a mess, soot in his hair and on his face, and ashes all over his clothes and in his shoes and sox. Needless to say his c l o t h e s w e n t into the w a s h e r and he into the b a t h tub for a b a t h and shampoo. However this story does not end in the fireplace. That evening

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Mr. Whitehead, a customer of Sandy's in our feed store, who always dressed as Santa came by our house and rang our door bell. I sent one of the boys to the door. Imagine their surprise to see Santa standing there. Mr. Whitehead gave them each an apple and asked if they had been good boys. They looked at each other and said "Yes". We did not hear another word about Santa coming down the chimney until Dale was old enough to ask questions about Santa. We explained that there would always be a Santa as long as there were boys and girls to believe, as Santa represented the love that we have for each other and for our friends. In some parts of the world children call Santa Claus by different names. Some call him Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle but whatever he is called he represents the birth of Jesus. The wise men brought gifts for baby Jesus and shepherds came to worship him. This is the reason that we give gifts to the people we love. It is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We always read a lot to our boys so of course we read them the Christmas story of the birth of Christ and the visit of the shepherds and the wise men.

When Dale started to school I decided to go back to teaching so I did substituting for several years. The first day school started I told Dale he could ride with me because I was going to teach in the same school where he would be going to Kindergarten. He looked at me as if I had lost my mind and told me he was going to ride on the bus with Don. I don't know just how long I substituted. It was several years, but I gave this up as l did not find substitute work nearly as satisfying as having a class of my OWn.

I was superintendant of the primary department in our Presbyterian Church, and also had a Cub Scout troop of about six or eight boys. I really didn't have time to teach also. When the boys were old enough for 4H club

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they had animals to care for. Don had sheep and pigs and Dale had a steer and chickens. Sandy and I were both active in 4H. Sandy was leader of the electrical project. Sandy and I acted as community leaders of the Mariposa 4H group. Our group was called the Mariposa 4H because we always met at the Mariposa elementary school. The boys also took a woodworking project where they made a nail box and a tool box, also a miter box to be used as a guide to saw wood at various angles.

Well, back to more rambling about my life and my family, parents and grandparents. All of my immediate family were born in California and my Mothers family also. Jonathan and Caroline Sikes were born out of state. All of my family were farmers - my Father, his Father, my Mothers Father and most of my Uncles. Just one, Uncle Arthur who was my Mother's older sister's husband, was a buyer for mens wear at the Emporium in San Francisco and then later owned stores of ths o w n - a variety store in Garberville on the redwood highway and later ones in Lakeport, i San Rafael, and Saratoga. Mothers brother Delwin (Uncle Del) was a farmer and my brother was farming the ranch when he died of Polio in 1953. My mother was a teacher before she married. Sandy's family were mostly farmers also. His father, grandfather and great grandfather were farmers. Sandy had three brothers. One brother came back to the farm after teaching for a good many years and then after about five years went into appraisal work.

We are all caucasians and are of the Presbyterian religion, although some are Methodists and Catholics. Sandy's fanily are mostly Presbyterian with some Methodists and Quakers (Friends Church).

In 1947 and 1948 we built a new home on the property we owned on

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Antelope Road in Citrus Heights. Don and Dale were both born when we lived in the small house on that property. After Dales birth in June of 1947 we started the new house. It was soon after World War I was over and lumber was hard to get, so we built it with basalt blocks. We had a small porch and a front entrance. There was a closet in the front entrance for guests coats, a fairly large living room and a dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and bath. The dining room opened onto a side porch and lawn. We put a swimming pool in that side yard after Don broke his wrist so that he be would have it to exercise his arm. This turned out to have been a good move for he could never pass the physical exams for contact sports. He was allowed on the swim team in high school and did very well. He was never quite satisfied though. He would have liked to have been on the football or basketball teams or some other contact sport.

When Don was about ten or twelve, we added on to our house. We added a large utility room to connect the house and garage. This room had space for a desk for Sandy and one for me and also a small bath. We made half of the garage into a room for Don. He had been telling me he didn't think he could spend another day in that room with his messy brother. Don was always exceptionally neat and Dale was just the opposite. We had been talking of adding space for an office for Sandy and a desk for me so it seemed the time to do the addition. We added a carport for one c a r. Don was delighted with his new room.

Sandy and ! now live in a Mobile Home in a park where we pay rent on our space. Our lot is approximately 50 x 80 feet. Our mobile home is 1440 sq. feet. It is quite adequate for the two of us. We are now starting our 24th year living here. Since we go to our summer home at Lake Tahoe for about five months of the year this is ideal. We are fortunate to have

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very nice neighbors who will forward our first class mail and check on our home nearly every day. When they are away, we return the favor. This in quite a contrast to the days when we were children and never had to lock our doors. We didn't even know where keys were if there even were any. We didn't have doorbells. If someone came to the door, they knocked. Those were also the days when a postcard cost 0f and a letter could be mailed for 2¢.

Sandy and I have both had surgery. In 1967, I had breast cancer and spent Christmas in the hospital that year. I had a radical mastectomy followed by eight weeks of radiation -"xray' and cobalt. The doctors all tell me now that after this type of massive radiation you begin to have osteoporosis and other problems. I have lost 80% of my bone density. I use a walker or a cone to avoid a fall. My thyroid is not functioning at all so I take synthetic thyroid.

Sandy has had several surgeries. In 1987 he had 18 inches of his bowel removed because of diverticulitis. In 1993 he had a three-way heart bypass. Now this year, 1995, a tumor in his bowel was found to be c a n c e r. It w a s removed but had spread to the liver. He is now having chemotherapy. At this time we do not know the results of this treatment. Sandy has also had many spells with atrial fibrulation. Twice he had to have cardioversion .

For many years I did most of our book work, but when Sandy retired in 1981 he took over the books. I am delighted because it was not my favorite task.

We now hire help with the yard work, house cleaning, and a woman comes in to cook our evening meal.

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As a child we often took vacations after the harvest in the summer.We camped at Lake Tahoe but I really don't remember this as I was probably about four years old. One year we went camping at Snow Mountain. My Father and Grandfather Thomas went deer hunting. I remember the jerky they made by cutting some of the meat from a deer they had killed. They hung it on a fence of some sort to dry in the sun. It was so good. They did kill a second deer so we all had meat to take home. There were some other men with us but I don't remember who they were. We later spent a number of years at Bartlett Springs and enjoyed our cabin there. There were several mineral springs in the area and the idea was to drink a lot of this water for health reasons. We also enjoyed swimming at a hot springs near by.

My sister Dorothy also attended San Jose State. Her major was Home Economics. She returned to Davis after her graduation and worked at U. C. Davis. She met William Boyce Davis there. They were married August 9, 1947. Bill taught agriculture at Lodi for six years after he graduated from U.C.Davis. He then returned to Davis, did graduate work, and joined the Extension Service as a Horticulture Specialist working primarily in turf. He traveled state wide consulting at golf courses and athletic areas. He retired in 1987. Bill and Dorothy have two children, Pamela Jean and William Boyce Jr. Pamela was born March 7, 1950. She married Robert Lee Macey in 1981. They have three children, Christina Jean, born November 9, 1982, Nicole Leanne, born February 5, 1985, and Robert Christopher, born April 26, 1987. William was born July 27, 1953. He married Wendy Sue Walker in 1972. They have four children, Jason Evan, born August 15, 1974, Benjamin Boyce, born October 10, 1976, Jonathan Sikes, born November 27, 1980, and Ryan Philip, born April 26, 1983.