As I have said before, I am married to Grandma Christine, and we have lived in the San Francisco, California Bay area practically all of our lives. Being Baby Boomers, we grew up during the turbulent 1960's in the heart of the Hippy movement.We were influenced by the times and were shaped by what we were exposed to. The sights and sounds were really radical for the time, and this caused the "Establishment" to look down on us. We really didn't know any better.....Ah, to be young again!

If you are wondering just where Niles is, click HERE to see a map of the City of Fremont and the location of Niles.

My parents came from a small town in southeastern Oklahoma called Williams. It was a very small town, not more than a wide spot in the road. Sadly, it is not found on a few maps today. My parents were born before the depression and lived the times. It was hard for them, but they found ways around it. They came to California before World War 2, finding work in the Central Valley working the fields and orchards. Of note is that you had rationing of gasoline, but you could get more stamps for a gas burning stove than your car. They purchased an old stove just to get the extra stamps! They made a few trips back to Oklahoma this way. Many of the things that we take for granted were rationed, such as soap, coffee, butter, tires and shoes. My mother said that at the end of the war, just from one day to the next, the shelves were full of things that were just not available the day before. I am not sure if today's generation would be able to cope with this!

My parents grew up in the same era depicted in the movie "The Grapes of Wrath", so if you have seen the movie you can understand what they went through. It may not have as bad as depicted, but there were some similarities. Whenever we would watch the movie, my mother would say to us, "You see that truck that they are traveling in? They're rich folk. We didn't have a good truck like that". We thought that was funny as children, but now it really makes you think about it. All of us grew up around people that spoke with an Okie accent, so we had to work at losing the twang. I am sorry to say that I miss all of that now.

My Father worked at Pacific State Steel Corp for many years until he passed away when I was still in school. He was a bricklayer that repaired the open hearth furnaces where they made the steel. I was told just how miserable this job was, having to patch the furnaces, sometimes just after the steel was poured! He was a good father and a good influence on his children.
My mother worked at the Hunt's Cannery that was in Fremont's Centerville district until the cannery burned down in the early 1960's (I am not sure of the date). She was like the rock of Gibralter to us, always there when you needed her. They will be deeply missed by us all. Since both of my parents are gone, I have to rely on my memories and those family and friends that knew us, so sometimes I just cannot be sure of a date or place.

I have 2 Children, "Petuniaflower", my oldest, lives in Indiana with her husband and her 2 children. My #1 daughter is a computer/internet junkie like myself, and I think it was her that got me hooked on it!
My younger daughter, "The #2 Brat", is also a computer junkie, and I have a hard time keeping her off of it! She has more software than I do! Isn't that the way it goes? I hope that being exposed to computing will help her schooling, because by the time she gets to High school, she will probably need a laptop for classes! OH NO!!! (well there goes another new toy for me!).

I have 2 Sisters and 1 Brother, all of them live in California. My sisters are older than me by quite a few years and my brother is several years younger. We try to stay in touch with each other, but it seems we are good at playing telephone tag most of the time. I have quite a large family-I have several uncles and aunts and many cousins that live all over the country, but I guess that I don't stay in touch with them like I should. I feel very lucky to have been blessed with such a large family.

My nephew Jeff recently moved to the prettiest country in Colorado, Ridgway, CO. This is where the movie "True Grit" was filmed. He has a website that you might want to visit. He is just beginning to get the site looking good, so I know he would like your input on improving the site. Here is the link: