Claude's daughter shared some of her memories of him with me & I have added them here.
"Daddy grew up on a wheat ranch near Edwall, Washington, which must be somewhere near Waukon altho he always said he was born in Edwall. He had 3 siblings who shared the same mother but the youngest one was a half sister. They were Guy, Maude, Madge, Bert (that was the family name for him) and Ella, the youngest. One interesting thing he told me was that when he was 3 or 4 he decided to go for a walk, so started down this ‘canyon' until he couldn't see anything but sky, then he turned around and got out of there as fast as he could. He told me that years later he went back to the old home, found the ‘canyon,' and discovered it was barely up to his knees! Also, little Ella got into some carbaulic acid, I think it was, and swallowed some which made her pretty sick, so much so that my grandfather told my dad to get on his horse and ride into Sprague for the doctor. Daddy said when he got to the doctor and told him what had happened, he told my dad, "Son, get back on your horse and ride home. If your sister is alive when you get there, so be it, but there is nothing I could do for her by this time."He did as he was told and found she was, indeed, still alive when he got back home. He also said that when he was a youngster, they would see off in the distance clouds of dust which they knew were Indians making a trek from one location to another.
Daddy was a violinist and could play any song he'd ever heard. A cousin who was a lot older than me, a daughter of aunt Ella, told me that my dad and her mother both received music lessons when they were young and could read music. Since I never saw him play from sheet music, I had assumed he played by ear, but apparently not so.
He met my mother in northern Idaho, and they were married a year or so after. He was a tanner for a big meat company and then, after the depression hit, had to go into whatever work he could find. We lived in northeastern Oregon then and travel for us was a very rare thing. It wasn't until after my mother had died and I was living in Spokane and working there that I made my first trip over to the west side of the state. My dad had traveled a lot in his youth, up and down the coast, but the extent of my mom's travels were from LaClede, Idaho, to Spokane, then on to Chewelah and Colville in Stevens County, and to northeastern Oregon where she died. Your great uncle Tom asked my dad one time after he was widowed whether he thought about marrying again and Daddy's answer was, "What? After your mother?" He often told me that when he had a decision to make, he'd find himself saying, "Well, Mother, what shall we do?" He depended on her a lot and after nearly 40 years wasn't interested in settling down with anyone else.
He loved sports, particularly boxing and baseball which I'm sure is where I got my enthusiasm for sports. We managed to go to a few baseball games in Spokane (Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League at the time) but mostly we listened to the games on radio. That's where we listened to boxing, too, of course. Every Friday night was fight night and I learned to love Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, and a lot more boxers whose names I can't recall at the moment.
"Daddy grew up on a wheat ranch near Edwall, Washington, which must be somewhere near Waukon altho he always said he was born in Edwall. He had 3 siblings who shared the same mother but the youngest one was a half sister. They were Guy, Maude, Madge, Bert (that was the family name for him) and Ella, the youngest. One interesting thing he told me was that when he was 3 or 4 he decided to go for a walk, so started down this ‘canyon' until he couldn't see anything but sky, then he turned around and got out of there as fast as he could. He told me that years later he went back to the old home, found the ‘canyon,' and discovered it was barely up to his knees! Also, little Ella got into some carbaulic acid, I think it was, and swallowed some which made her pretty sick, so much so that my grandfather told my dad to get on his horse and ride into Sprague for the doctor. Daddy said when he got to the doctor and told him what had happened, he told my dad, "Son, get back on your horse and ride home. If your sister is alive when you get there, so be it, but there is nothing I could do for her by this time."He did as he was told and found she was, indeed, still alive when he got back home. He also said that when he was a youngster, they would see off in the distance clouds of dust which they knew were Indians making a trek from one location to another.
Daddy was a violinist and could play any song he'd ever heard. A cousin who was a lot older than me, a daughter of aunt Ella, told me that my dad and her mother both received music lessons when they were young and could read music. Since I never saw him play from sheet music, I had assumed he played by ear, but apparently not so.
He met my mother in northern Idaho, and they were married a year or so after. He was a tanner for a big meat company and then, after the depression hit, had to go into whatever work he could find. We lived in northeastern Oregon then and travel for us was a very rare thing. It wasn't until after my mother had died and I was living in Spokane and working there that I made my first trip over to the west side of the state. My dad had traveled a lot in his youth, up and down the coast, but the extent of my mom's travels were from LaClede, Idaho, to Spokane, then on to Chewelah and Colville in Stevens County, and to northeastern Oregon where she died. Your great uncle Tom asked my dad one time after he was widowed whether he thought about marrying again and Daddy's answer was, "What? After your mother?" He often told me that when he had a decision to make, he'd find himself saying, "Well, Mother, what shall we do?" He depended on her a lot and after nearly 40 years wasn't interested in settling down with anyone else.
He loved sports, particularly boxing and baseball which I'm sure is where I got my enthusiasm for sports. We managed to go to a few baseball games in Spokane (Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League at the time) but mostly we listened to the games on radio. That's where we listened to boxing, too, of course. Every Friday night was fight night and I learned to love Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, and a lot more boxers whose names I can't recall at the moment.
Claude's daughter shared some of her memories of him with me & I have added them here.
"Daddy grew up on a wheat ranch near Edwall, Washington, which must be somewhere near Waukon altho he always said he was born in Edwall. He had 3 siblings who shared the same mother but the youngest one was a half sister. They were Guy, Maude, Madge, Bert (that was the family name for him) and Ella, the youngest. One interesting thing he told me was that when he was 3 or 4 he decided to go for a walk, so started down this ‘canyon' until he couldn't see anything but sky, then he turned around and got out of there as fast as he could. He told me that years later he went back to the old home, found the ‘canyon,' and discovered it was barely up to his knees! Also, little Ella got into some carbaulic acid, I think it was, and swallowed some which made her pretty sick, so much so that my grandfather told my dad to get on his horse and ride into Sprague for the doctor. Daddy said when he got to the doctor and told him what had happened, he told my dad, "Son, get back on your horse and ride home. If your sister is alive when you get there, so be it, but there is nothing I could do for her by this time."He did as he was told and found she was, indeed, still alive when he got back home. He also said that when he was a youngster, they would see off in the distance clouds of dust which they knew were Indians making a trek from one location to another.
Daddy was a violinist and could play any song he'd ever heard. A cousin who was a lot older than me, a daughter of aunt Ella, told me that my dad and her mother both received music lessons when they were young and could read music. Since I never saw him play from sheet music, I had assumed he played by ear, but apparently not so.
He met my mother in northern Idaho, and they were married a year or so after. He was a tanner for a big meat company and then, after the depression hit, had to go into whatever work he could find. We lived in northeastern Oregon then and travel for us was a very rare thing. It wasn't until after my mother had died and I was living in Spokane and working there that I made my first trip over to the west side of the state. My dad had traveled a lot in his youth, up and down the coast, but the extent of my mom's travels were from LaClede, Idaho, to Spokane, then on to Chewelah and Colville in Stevens County, and to northeastern Oregon where she died. Your great uncle Tom asked my dad one time after he was widowed whether he thought about marrying again and Daddy's answer was, "What? After your mother?" He often told me that when he had a decision to make, he'd find himself saying, "Well, Mother, what shall we do?" He depended on her a lot and after nearly 40 years wasn't interested in settling down with anyone else.
He loved sports, particularly boxing and baseball which I'm sure is where I got my enthusiasm for sports. We managed to go to a few baseball games in Spokane (Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League at the time) but mostly we listened to the games on radio. That's where we listened to boxing, too, of course. Every Friday night was fight night and I learned to love Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, and a lot more boxers whose names I can't recall at the moment.
"Daddy grew up on a wheat ranch near Edwall, Washington, which must be somewhere near Waukon altho he always said he was born in Edwall. He had 3 siblings who shared the same mother but the youngest one was a half sister. They were Guy, Maude, Madge, Bert (that was the family name for him) and Ella, the youngest. One interesting thing he told me was that when he was 3 or 4 he decided to go for a walk, so started down this ‘canyon' until he couldn't see anything but sky, then he turned around and got out of there as fast as he could. He told me that years later he went back to the old home, found the ‘canyon,' and discovered it was barely up to his knees! Also, little Ella got into some carbaulic acid, I think it was, and swallowed some which made her pretty sick, so much so that my grandfather told my dad to get on his horse and ride into Sprague for the doctor. Daddy said when he got to the doctor and told him what had happened, he told my dad, "Son, get back on your horse and ride home. If your sister is alive when you get there, so be it, but there is nothing I could do for her by this time."He did as he was told and found she was, indeed, still alive when he got back home. He also said that when he was a youngster, they would see off in the distance clouds of dust which they knew were Indians making a trek from one location to another.
Daddy was a violinist and could play any song he'd ever heard. A cousin who was a lot older than me, a daughter of aunt Ella, told me that my dad and her mother both received music lessons when they were young and could read music. Since I never saw him play from sheet music, I had assumed he played by ear, but apparently not so.
He met my mother in northern Idaho, and they were married a year or so after. He was a tanner for a big meat company and then, after the depression hit, had to go into whatever work he could find. We lived in northeastern Oregon then and travel for us was a very rare thing. It wasn't until after my mother had died and I was living in Spokane and working there that I made my first trip over to the west side of the state. My dad had traveled a lot in his youth, up and down the coast, but the extent of my mom's travels were from LaClede, Idaho, to Spokane, then on to Chewelah and Colville in Stevens County, and to northeastern Oregon where she died. Your great uncle Tom asked my dad one time after he was widowed whether he thought about marrying again and Daddy's answer was, "What? After your mother?" He often told me that when he had a decision to make, he'd find himself saying, "Well, Mother, what shall we do?" He depended on her a lot and after nearly 40 years wasn't interested in settling down with anyone else.
He loved sports, particularly boxing and baseball which I'm sure is where I got my enthusiasm for sports. We managed to go to a few baseball games in Spokane (Spokane Indians in the Pacific Coast League at the time) but mostly we listened to the games on radio. That's where we listened to boxing, too, of course. Every Friday night was fight night and I learned to love Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, and a lot more boxers whose names I can't recall at the moment.
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