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After the death of our parents, each child was then shipped to one of our mother’s sisters or brothers. Lucille and I were lucky, we were seniors in high school. Lucille stayed in Helper with friends to finish school, I went to Aunt Rose and Uncle Dicks in San Francisco. They treated me with nothing but kindness, but I was homesick and after a few months, I went back to Heber to live with Grandma Sessions. Unfortunately for me she was in Idaho. I lived with Uncle Todd and Aunt Juanita for about two months. I left them and went to live with some friends in Heber to finish school.
Fran and John went to live with Aunt Chloe in Oakland, California. Life was so different there. Both Aunt Chloe and Uncle Pete worked. Neither were happy in the big city and Fran soon went to live with Aunt Vilda and Rich. John tried to stick it out but home sickness and unhappiness got the best of him. They had bought him a bike and he had a paper route. One day he decided to go back to Utah. He was 12 years old and rode the bike to Nevada where the police picked him up. Uncle Rich went there and took him home and he stayed with them until he joined the Marines. Fran joined the Navy when he was old enough.
Gerri went to live with Uncle Cord and Aunt Pearl. They cared for her a lot and treated her well. She had a close girlfriend there named Ann and they were always together. Yet, she, like the rest of us, was homesick and when I married George Wayne Duggan and went to live in Nevada, she came and lived with us. She met her husband, Deke Staggs there and when George was transferred back to Utah, she stayed there in Nevada and married Deke. They went to live on a farm in Nevada and then Alaska and then back to Nevada. Deke joined the navy and she traveled with him until she became pregnant with Danny. She then came to Utah to stay with me until he was born. I was married to my second husband Edgar Gaylon Grant by then and had the three girls by then. After Danny was born, she went back to Nevada and stayed there for many years and then came to California where I was living in Long Beach. She was found to have epilepsy and was hospitalized in a hospital in Torrance, California, so I moved there, as she was there for 8 months. When she was released, she and Danny moved back to Long Beach where she worked in and then bought her own coffee shop. As ill health overtook her, she sold the coffee shop. We now know that some of that ill health was due to the cancer, which went undiagnosed until it was too late. She died 8 November 1996 of cancer and is buried in Helper, Utah.
It’s a horrible thing to loose your parents and be scattered around, going to different environments, living a different type of life with people whose values and ideas are different than yours. Cathaleen and Bud were lucky. They never had to go through this. I must say, Rich and Vilda are the only ones who I felt really cared about all of us. They were very good to all of us until they died. They were the only ones I went to see in Utah. I don’t know many of my cousins. I was old enough to see that some of my family was not happy and it hurt me that we were no longer a real family. There is some bitterness and sadness because of this in my heart.
I worked as an accountant most of my life, with the US Army most of that time. I lived most of my time in California but have lived in Nevada, Utah and Washington, as well as Germany for two years and Italy for 2 years. I retired from the Government in 1989 but kept working at non -profit agencies until 1997 when I retired for good.
I had two children before Duggan and I were divorced. Mickey Ruth Duggan was born in Alturas, California January 15, 1951. She has two children: Shareen born 1970 and Michael born 1972; and Janet Lucille Duggan born in Salt Lake City, Utah March 23, 1951. She has one child named Charise born in 1975.
Grant and I had 3 children before we divorced: GayLynn Grant born in Salt Lake City August 13, 1953. She has no children. Barry Lee Grant born in Salt Lake City November 6, 1956. He has two children: Nicholas born 1975 and Brittney born 1993. Gregory James Grant born Harbor City, California July 21, 1962. No children.
I married Herman Ferrell and divorced, no children and married LeRoy Deisler who is now deceased and had no children.
My life, for the most part has been a pleasant one, my kids are all good people and have given me a lot of pleasure. I have one great granddaughter and another on the way. Charise is their mother and she lives in this area. I live in Battle Ground, Washington.