The Trip

The summer of 1956 just before our daughter Kathy was one year old, and Paul was in Korea, I had a wonderful opportunity to go on a trip to see my grandmother. I was nineteen years old and had not seen my maternal grandma since I was barely thirteen years old. In that time I had gone from childhood, and through the difficult teen years, to being a young wife and mother.

In those days we didn't get to go on vacations, even to see much loved grandparents. We didn't make long distance phone calls either. The last time I saw Grandma she was standing beside my grandfather on the porch of their old farmhouse waving goodbye to our family right after Christmas of 1949. We had just spent much of the last year with them on the farm near Bellingham, Washington. We were heading back to California where I spent most of my childhood years. I didn't know that this would be the last time we would see our grandfather.

My sisters and I were blessed to live near our other grandparents when we lived in Coronado. But by the time I was in high school we had lost both grandfathers. Grandma McDonaugh still lived in the same house that I always remember, on the corner of third and F, until the day she died in 1960. My grandparents moved there when my father was a young boy. My husband was also blessed to live near his grandparents in Coronado, but none were still living by the time we met and got married.

Baby Kathy was the first grandchild for Paul's parents and my parents. My two sisters enjoyed the role of being aunts and spent much time with Kathy and me. I'm sure Paul's brother enjoyed being an uncle too. We had a lot of family to nurture us while Paul was in Korea. He was gone for most of Kathy's first year and a half. Paul only got to see Kathy once when she was a week old and another time when she was six weeks old. He was in the U.S.Army, not by choice.

Paul's parents were planning a vacation which would take them into Canada. They decided to take Kathy and me with them and leave us with my relatives in Washington while they went to Canada. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to see my Grandma Davenport. This was a chance for me to see other relatives that I loved too. I also got to meet my younger cousins that were not even born yet when I was there in 1949. One cousin was born when I was on the farm in '49. They are my mother's brother's children. Grandma lived with their family by this time in 1956.

I would get to stay at my great aunt and uncle's near where Grandma lived. In that farm area which is in Laurel, near Bellingham, we had a lot of family. Some great aunts and uncles had lived in that area for years. Others had lived there when my mother was little. This was going to be a real treat for me to see so much family.

On our trip in Paul's parent's car we had quite the arrangement. This was before seat belts, and car seats for babies. Paul's father, who I called Pop as Paul did, was very organized as he arranged everything in the car. We did not have a portable crib so Pop dismantled the crib every morning and put it together every evening wherever we were staying. The mattress fit nicely in the back seat for little Kathy to spend the trip on. She could crawl around and sleep as she needed to. Can you imagine this now days when a infant seat is a must? The crib fit on top of the car and everything had its assigned place in the car. I fit in the front seat with Paul's parents.

We enjoyed this time traveling from Coronado to Bellingham with the four of us getting along nicely. We had other family members to see along the way. I got to see an uncle and aunt in Oakland, as well as two cousins in that area, either on the way north or on the way home. We saw some of the Marvin relatives in Oregon on the way north. We enjoyed a ferry ride in San Francisco heading north. We enjoyed the Redwoods and all the other sights along the way.

Arriving at my Aunt Naomi and Uncle John's brought back many good memories. They had a sweet little house in Laurel, near my Uncle Ray and Aunt Jeanne's old farmhouse that was once my great grandparents' home. That is where my grandma was living as she was not able to be alone on her own farm any more. She got to be with my little cousins too. She helped raise my sisters and me when we were little and she loved children, so I'm sure being with Diedra, Dagna, Steven and Larry was a blessing for her.

Paul's parents got to enjoy their time in Canada while I made new memories with family. It would be many many years before I got back. My other greats came to see Kathy and me. They also met my dear in-laws. None of them ever got to meet my husband in all the years we have been together. Actually Diedra and Dagna eventually met Paul when they grew up and visited us. Paul may have eventually met Uncle Ray when we finally went to Washington in the later years. But my grandma never got to meet Paul. My sisters and I called Ray "Uncle Junior"as some of the family called him Junior. He was Mom's younger brother.

After a week or so I had to say goodbye to Grandma and the rest of the Davenports. It had been a sweet time. I would not get back to Washington for twenty five years. It would be 1981 when some of my children and I made the trip to Laurel. Kathy would be the main driver on that journey. Grandma and most of the greats were with the Lord by then.

On the way home from visiting Grandma we made two stops to visit more Davenports. We visited and stayed over night with another great aunt and uncle near Tacoma. Then we stayed over night at a favorite of my mother's cousins and his dear family at Seaside, Oregon. They used to visit us whenever they were in San Diego. We also stayed the night with them in 1981 when we were heading north, after we visited Great Aunt Naomi in a nursing home in Portland.

The senior Marvins had friends to visit in Oregon after we left my cousins in Seaside. We stayed overnight with these friends too. We found so much hospitality along the way during this memorable trip.

Kathy got to celebrate her first birthday while we were headed home on our vacation. We also took one picture of her in the same place that her daddy had his picture taken as he was traveling when he was a baby. So many memories to treasure. Remembering them after all these years is a pleasure. It was a blessing for me to have this opportunity to take my mind off the loneliness of my husband being in Korea for so long.