verna's history page

I have lots of good memories of growing up in Cement, the bad ones seem to have been forgotten. I was a year old when we moved to our place south of Cement. I remember helping Mom with the baby chickens. She and I would sit in the brooder house and watch the baby chicks and talk. I guess I felt closer to Mom then than any other time, probably the only time I was alone with her. I guess the one memory that stands out most is when I was 5 years old and I caught on fire. I was standing too close to the heater, I was wearing a costume, made of net, that I was to wear in a Christmas program. Mom was in the kitchen and Dad was fixing a window in the back bedroom. When all the other kids started yelling, Mom thought we were fighting and told Dad to come stop us, He came with his belt off and finally Mom came and rolled me in a rug, otherwise I wouldn't be here to write this. One thing I bet Mom and Dad never heard from us kids that there was nothing to do. There was always lots of work but there was lots to do when we got a chance. We had the creek to play in, the barn or the woods and our horse Ribbon to ride when we could catch her. One thing I think is funny now but I was embarrassed at the time and felt sorry for Mom. Mom and dad and Uncle Luther and Aunt Delilah were visiting us in Los Angeles. I was taking them to a special place, Clifton's Cafeteria, to eat. We were walking down the street and Mom was ahead of Dad and I and he yelled at Mom, “Woman why are you walking that way”, she said it was because one leg is shorter than the other one. He said when I get you home I’m going to take you to the Doctor and have him measure those legs and if one’s not shorter your’re going to start walking different. One thing I'm happy about is growing up in a big family even though there were times I. thought it would be wonderful to be an only child.

After I graduated from high school, I went to A&M college in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I went on the National Youth Administration program started during the depression. I worked for my room and board and got $10.00 a month for spending money. I didn't have a lot of money but if remember having a lot of good times. I went one year and then if moved to Wichita, Kansas and went to welding school. I became a welder in an aircraft plant. I worked there about a year and a half. My friend Lois Keeton and I decided to go to San Francisco, California .There we worked in the Kaiser shipyards in Richmond. I met Max Paul and we were married in May 1944.

In 1945 we went into a restaurant business with another couple. In February 1946 we sold out and moved to Cement and bought a restaurant there. It was in the same building as the restaurant I worked in while if was in high school. After a year the building sold, we closed the restaurant and decided to move to Los Angeles, California, Later we bought a home in Maywood, California our 3 children were born and. grew up there. Max worked for Stouffer Chemical Co. and then for a newspaper in Whittier. I worked part time, sometimes for Sears and Robinson stores and also a tile place. Shelley was in the Rainbow Girls and I worked with them and it brought back a lot of memories of when I was a Rainbow Girl. Steve and Scott were in Cub Scouts and Little League Baseball.

Scott and Lisa have given us 7 wonderful grandsons and Shelley and Bill a grandson and two lovely granddaughters. They must have read the Bible verse “go forth and multiply”. Steve and Gloria haven’t come forth yet but there is still hope.

Max and I were divorced in 1979. I went to work full time in a nursery school owned by a friend of mine. I went to night school and took some classes to become a school director. After about a year I sold the home to Steve and I moved to North Hollywood where I live now. I worked for awhile in a nursery school, then decided I would like to work around adults, I got a job as a waitress in-the restaurant at May Company Department store and I am still employed there.

By Verna Salina Robertson Paul

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