The Work and Job History

 

 

 

After getting discharged from the Navy, Helen and I decided that we wanted to live in California rather than in Ohio. At the time we had very little money and we knew that once we arrived in California, that we would both need to get a job.

Discharged and On My Way Out

We traveled by car from Ohio to California and it took us 4 days of hard driving. We were the first visitors in 1954 to enter Yellowstone Park coming from the east. It was very cold and every picture we took shows it.

It Was Very Cold In Yellowstone in June

Helen Does Not Look as Cold as Me

We stayed in a cabin that only had wood for heat and we were not too good at making wood fires at the time so it went out during the night. When we woke up, all we could think of was getting in the car and getting the heater going. The car was covered with snow when we went out but in about ten minutes, we were on our way down the road, the heater going full blast.

Our 51 Ford at Yellowstone, 1955

 When we finally arrived in California, my Mother and Father moved us into an apartment in the building in Los Angeles that they were managing for Leo Fidler. We were only there a short while when we found out that my brother had gotten a promotion in his job at Lockheed but it required that he move to Palmdale, California. He accepted the position and this left the house at Holly Drive vacant and so we moved from the apartment to Holly Drive.

The Holly Drive House in 1954

Helen was able to find a job in Hollywood with Zieman, Teller, Boyer, and Goldberg as a statistical typist and I went to the Allied Mechanics and Diesel School on the GI Bill.

During this time period, Helen became pregnant so in my 10th month of school, I had to leave and get a job.  I was able to find work with Black and Decker as a small tools repair specialist. I was performing well at this job but the pay was too low what with the prospect of us having a new member in the family.

I was constantly looking at the job want ads and came across an ad for a mechanic with Hyster Company, a major fork lift manufacturer. I applied for and got the job but it was way on the other side of Los Angeles.  The traffic was horrendous so at this point, we began to have thoughts of buying a house closer to my work.

Allyson On Bike at Inyo Street

We were still at Holly Drive when Allyson was born but it was not too long before we found an affordable place in La Puente. I liked my job at Hyster Company and after one year there, they promoted me to field mechanic.  A year later I was asked to become the assistant service manager.

Helen

As for Helen, she got a job at Square D Company.  Hyster Company furnished me a car so there was no need to buy another vehicle.  She became friends with a girl named Christine Brockelbank and along about the same time, I was promoted to Service Manager.  I later hired Christine to work for me at Hyster.. In 1964, ten years after Allyson was born, Helen became pregnant again. We also moved from Wing Lane to 911 Cunningham drive where Gordon Jr. Was born.

Gordie Getting Bath in the Sink

Helen quit Square D and went to work for Yamaha. She had a very good job as secretary to someone there, I can't recall the name. She worked there until we left Whittier.  Allyson was 10 when Gordie was born and we relied on her a lot to watch over Gordie. Here she is below taking care of little brother.

Allyson and Gordie 911 Cunningham

Helen's brother Bud and sister in law Hilde would often come up to visit us. Both of Helen's brothers were navy career men. I remember having a party for Bud at Cunningham Drive when he finally retired from the navy.

Both Famalies Out Front at 911

We remained at Cunningham Drive quite a bit longer than our previous two homes. It was a 4 bedroom 2 bath home in the beginning but I knocked out the wall of the bedroom adjacent to the living room and made a den. I raised the floor level, added a step and rail plus adding the bookcases to store our many books.

Gordie and Me Playing in the Living Room with the Den in the Background

My Dad passed away along about this time and a year later my Mother moved from Holly Drive to Cunningham as she could no longer manage the steps. It was a major move for her and I know that she hated to leave Holly Drive.

My Mother Leaving Holly Drive

It was July of 1969 when my Mother first moved in with us. I remember it well as the moon landing was taking place and we were all watching it on TV. 

 

The Add On for my Mother on Cunningham Drive

In 1970, Bridget and Glenna came out from Florida to live with us so instead of two kids, we all of a sudden had 4 kids plus my Mother.

Bridget and Glenna had never seen Mountains

These were good times for us and both of the new girls quickly became part of the family.

Bridget

 

Gordie gets the mumps

Gordie and Bridget making Sandwiches in the Kitchen 1970

 

 

Helen at Christmas

Allyson and Glenna Redecorating the Bedroom

 

 

Michael Cunningham at 911

 

Me and Allyson dancing

 

Helen and myself on the way to Sacramento Championships

 

Helen and myself in Kimono's

 

Allyson Graduates

 

 

 

Whittier, California 1955 to 1972

During the time period 1955 to 1972, we had  3 houses in or near the Whittier area. After we left Holly Drive in 1955, we bought our first house on Inyo Street in the newly named La Puente. The town of La Puente was originally named Puente which in Spanish means "bridge".  I bought the house on the GI Bill for $7900 and our house payment was $79 a month. 

Our First Home in La Puente

It was a new development and suited our needs but after having been there only a year, we found that there were many more new and much nicer housing developments and after looking at those on Wing Lane, we decided to try and sell our place on Inyo St and move. The real estate developer on Wing Lane told us we would not have a chance in the world of selling our Inyo St. house as he was having a hard time moving the houses we were interested in. As luck would have it, we put our house on the market and it sold the next day so within a 60 day period, we were out of the one house and into the new one on Wing Lane.  The Wing Lane house was $12,900 and we got just enough money from the sale to put the necessary 10% down.

Allyson and Myself in the Back Yard on Inyo Street

Our Wing Lane House

We stayed at Wing Lane for about 9 years and in 1965, I quit my job at Hyster Company and went to work for the Los Angeles Caterpillar dealer Shepherd Machinery. At that time, we decided to move again, so that I would be closer to Shepherd Machinery and we found a nice place overlooking a golf course at 911 Cunningham Drive, Whitter. All of the pictures at the top of this page were taken at this address.

Helen, Allyson and Myself in the Front Yard at Wing Lane

Our Cunningham House Was Much Larger and Very Close to Shepherd Machinery

In 1972, I left Shepherd Machinery to go to work for Otis Material Handling in Fullerton, California as the manager of Parts and Service.  This was a considerable distance away from our home on Cunningham Drive so we decided to rent the house and move to Brea. We bought a new house in 'Brea which was a two story and very nice, however, it was a bad move as I remained at Otis only one year and quit.  Fortunately we were able to sell the house we had just bought in Brea and move back to Cunningham Drive.

 

 At that time I went to work at Clark Equipment as the new Product Supervisor.

During our time at 911 Cunningham Drive, Glenna and Bridget came to live with us. They were Helen's sister's girls so I have included some pictures of them.

   

  

Allyson and Glenna........the interior decorators

 

 

More pictures taken at 911

    Bob, Helen, Myself and Rosalie

 

Gordie smiling for the camera

 

Me with a beer in hand ready to light the charcoal

 

 

 

Sybil and Lauren......the 2 best lookin babes on Cunningham Drive

Allyson in her Cavalier Uniform

Helen in her Cavalier Uniform

Glenna and Allyson at Cavalier Trophy Display in Whittier

Gordie is Growing Up

911 in March of 2011

911 Never looked Better

Sure looks like California with all those palm trees

The following two pictures are a very good before and after showing basically the same shot in the 60's and what it looked like  on my recent trip to California. We had just bought the place and there was no landscaping at all.

911 in 1964

The house is fully landscaped now and looks beautiful.  I'm sure the lady of the house was very skeptical who I was when I knocked on the door and asked to take pictures.

911 in March of 2011