Etheland/Ethland Mignon Peterson was born the 10th of March, 1896 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. She was the oldest of eight daughters born to Peter Christian Peterson and Martha Ellen Anderton. Mignon was born in the log house Peter built before he married Martha. Mignon said of her life as a girl:
"We had a garden, some big trees, nine cows for milk and chickens. We played under the trees in the summer, I remember the swing. We also made a trapeze where we turned summer-saults and hung by our knees, like we saw in the circus. I never dared hang by my toes. Most every year a circus would come to town with the big tent and the animals: tigers, elephants, monkeys etc. I loved the acrobats best of all.
My father was a cattleman. By the time I was old enough to ride in the saddle, I'd go with him to help round up the cattle and bring them home. I had been riding since I was big enough to climb up on a fence and jump on the horse's back. We always had one gentle horse that would stand and wait for me to get on his back. We rode bare back, not even with a blanket. When we started trotting I held onto his mane and leaned forward with my legs clutched to his side.
I always tried to set a good example because I was oldest. We always went to school eight months out of the year. I didn't have a job where I earned money until I became a teacher. I always worked at home helping my father with the haying, feeding, and driving the cattle. Then in the sugar beets I worked thinning, hoeing, and topping them. We were never given any money for our work. We did what we knew had to be done as a family. When we needed things we were given the money to buy what was necessary. As I was the oldest, I began sewing for my younger sisters. My mother taught me when I was very young to go shopping for her, buying groceries, meat and clothes for the younger children.
When I was in the sixth grade, 1906, we moved from our log house to a large adobe home. It had a beautiful orchard with all kinds of fruit trees.
I had a very good life as a child. I was close to my grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. We made up our own games, used our imaginations, built play houses, put on our own plays, dressed up in old clothes, played out in the evenings, built bon fires with leaves and roasted potatoes, and went to parties at friends houses. We went to dances with our friends. There were no movies. There was an opera house where actors would come to town and give plays. We had band concerts in the summer evenings.
I didn't go to Salt Lake City until I went away to college. I went by train since cars were not around and there was no other way to travel comfortably. The first World War was in progress and America was involved. When we had a dance at the University they would invite some boys from Fort Douglas, which was located above the University on the hill. That was how I met Emmett DeWitt Kimes."
After a long courtship Emmett and Mignon were married the 5th of August, 1920 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. His greatest ambition was to work on the railroad; he left Utah and went to California. Mignon stayed in Utah to finish her teaching assignment. She taught in Utah for three years.
When Mignon finally traveled to California to join Emmett he had lost his job on the railroad because things were slow. He was working and living at Sugar Pine, a saw mill where he ran the engine that operated the mill and the dynamo that ran the lights for the camp. Emmett got called back to work for the Santa Fe'. So they moved to Fresno.
After renting an apartment for a while they bought a place for $6000 dollars. "We put $1000 down and paid for it in three years. We lived here in Fresno 10 years. At that time Emmett was a fireman on the Santa Fe' and I was teaching in Fresno.
I quit teaching Christmas, 1926 since I was pregnant. Richard Emmett Kimes was born May 6, 1927 in Fresno. Doris Louise Kimes was born July 30, 1930 in Fresno. Emmett decided we couldn't make a living on our two and a half acres so we got ready to move north. He lost his job after the stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the depression. We had some money in a Building and Loan that we lost - by the time I got down there they had closed their doors. We were lucky to find an older couple with money to buy our place. They paid $2500 in cash and then $1000 the next year.
We loaded our big Studebacker with boxes on the running boards, on the top and in the trunk. We bought 4 acres with a new lumber house and nice lawn for $2800 in Hubbard, Oregon. We purchased 4 more acres behind us, bought a cow and built a garage out of old lumber. Emmett had wanted a bigger place near ours that had 25 acres but they wanted $6000 for it and we wouldn't go into debt. He bargained with the new owner and before long they made a trade, one place for the other. (Emmett loved to bargain and trade.)
Emmett remodeled the house. The next summer Emmett was called back to California to work on the railroad. I was left with all the farm work to do.
Emmett had planted two acres of strawberries between the cherry trees. He was gone and the berries were ready to harvest. Usually the cannery took them but this year they said they wouldn't take any more berries. I made signs and sold our berries for 25 cents a crate, you pick them. I was glad to get anything for them. I raised chickens too. We had chicken, chicken, chicken for dinner. Then it was time to cut the hay and store it in the loft in the barn. After I was done, someone told me they thought the hay was too wet and it would catch on fire by spontaneous combustion. I'd keep getting up at night and check out the window to see if the barn was on fire. I borrowed a trailer and took the two kids and all the pigs to Portland where I sold them. By the time that year was over I was exhausted. In July of 1933 I received a telegram telling me my mother, Martha Ellen Peterson had died. The night before I had been up all night canning fresh salmon I bought for 2 cents a pound and 15 quarts of fresh peas. We had no money so I couldn't go to my mother's funeral.
We remained in Oregon for about three years. Emmett was working as a fireman (on the railroad) then. When he was called back to work in the valley in California we left our farm with an older couple. We left all the furniture, cows and team. They paid no rent. All we took with us were all those barrels of canned food and my washing machine. That food lasted us 2 years. We moved around a lot. We would rent a furnished place wherever Emmett's final terminal was located.
We lived in many of the small towns in the valley: Reedly, Dinuba, Antioch, and then Stockton. We sold our farm in Oregon and decided to settle in Richmond. Emmett and I had quite a little argument about which house to buy. We went round and round but finally he came across with the $4300. We paid for the house in cash and had enough left over to buy a new Pontiac.
Mignon was manipulative and deceptive when it came to purchases. She would buy a new set of towels and not tell Emmett about them. She would put them away for awhile and tell the children not to say anything to their father. When she finally got them out and Emmett asked if they were new she would say. "Oh, we've had those for a long time."
Emmett started working as a stationary engineer for the railroad once they moved to Richmond in about 1937. Mignon continues their story.
"I then decided to have another baby. I hired a girl to do my housework for me since I was still running a fever when I got pregnant. David Lawrence Kimes was born in Richmond, Contra Costa, California. Once he was born I had no more health problems. I remained at home until David was about ten. Then I did a little substitute teaching."
After retiring from the railroad, Emmett shot and killed himself the 19th of July, 1952 in San Pablo, Contra Costa County, California.
Mignon seemed unable to display affection or love for her husband. Kathlyn said, The first words Grandma said to us after learning of Grandpa's death were, "How could he do this to me?" Years later when Bill and I were driving with Grandma we saw a girl walking along the road. Grandma said, "You know, I don't know if I missed out but I never had any feelings for a man whatsoever."
After Emmett's death Mignon taught full time in a San Pablo Elementary School until her retirement in 1961. Mignon was very interfering in the lives of her married children.
In 1954 she sold her Richmond home and purchased a three bedroom home on a third of an acre on Kim Court in Martinez, California to be close to Richard in Concord and Doris in Martinez. She landscaped the yard with a wide variety of fruit trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, primroses, tuberous begonias and other ornamental plants. There was a large lawn in the front yard and a smaller lawn area in the back. Most of the back yard was used for her vegetable garden. She had a long row of blackberries and another of raspberries along the side fence. Her large summer vegetable garden always included melons, tomatoes, various squashes, green beans and corn. She canned much of what she grew if it didn't get eaten when fresh.
In 1976 Mignon sold her home and moved to the adult community of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, California. Here she had a two bedroom U shaped unit with an art studio in the covered patio area between her bedroom and the kitchen. She had been interested in art most of her life. She gave art lessons once a week in her studio as she had done in her Martinez home. Her students were very appreciative of her artistic talents and company. She was an intelligent, educated woman who had varied interests and many friends who admired her, enjoyed her company, and valued her as a person. She led a rich and interesting life in her retirement years continuing to take art lessons as well as give them.
Unfortunately Mignon had terrible relationships with her immediate family although I'm not sure she realized it. She was rather oblivious. She was demanding, interfering and critical, especially of her son-in-law and daughter-in-laws. Her grandchildren did not enjoy being around her. She did what she wanted to do and was oblivious to the feelings of others in the family. Kathlyn says:
She was very single minded. When she focused on something she tuned things out so there were many times she didn't hear what people were trying to communicate. This caused problems in her family relationships. If there were two ways to take something she always reacted with the negative, anxiety reaction. Grandma was a person who overreacted to everything. She was very fearful of things and thought the worst was going to happen.
She had osteoporosis, fell, and injured her back which left her bedridden much of the time. She died the 17th of January, 1988 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California.
Compiled and written by Susan Kimes Burgess
"We had a garden, some big trees, nine cows for milk and chickens. We played under the trees in the summer, I remember the swing. We also made a trapeze where we turned summer-saults and hung by our knees, like we saw in the circus. I never dared hang by my toes. Most every year a circus would come to town with the big tent and the animals: tigers, elephants, monkeys etc. I loved the acrobats best of all.
My father was a cattleman. By the time I was old enough to ride in the saddle, I'd go with him to help round up the cattle and bring them home. I had been riding since I was big enough to climb up on a fence and jump on the horse's back. We always had one gentle horse that would stand and wait for me to get on his back. We rode bare back, not even with a blanket. When we started trotting I held onto his mane and leaned forward with my legs clutched to his side.
I always tried to set a good example because I was oldest. We always went to school eight months out of the year. I didn't have a job where I earned money until I became a teacher. I always worked at home helping my father with the haying, feeding, and driving the cattle. Then in the sugar beets I worked thinning, hoeing, and topping them. We were never given any money for our work. We did what we knew had to be done as a family. When we needed things we were given the money to buy what was necessary. As I was the oldest, I began sewing for my younger sisters. My mother taught me when I was very young to go shopping for her, buying groceries, meat and clothes for the younger children.
When I was in the sixth grade, 1906, we moved from our log house to a large adobe home. It had a beautiful orchard with all kinds of fruit trees.
I had a very good life as a child. I was close to my grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. We made up our own games, used our imaginations, built play houses, put on our own plays, dressed up in old clothes, played out in the evenings, built bon fires with leaves and roasted potatoes, and went to parties at friends houses. We went to dances with our friends. There were no movies. There was an opera house where actors would come to town and give plays. We had band concerts in the summer evenings.
I didn't go to Salt Lake City until I went away to college. I went by train since cars were not around and there was no other way to travel comfortably. The first World War was in progress and America was involved. When we had a dance at the University they would invite some boys from Fort Douglas, which was located above the University on the hill. That was how I met Emmett DeWitt Kimes."
After a long courtship Emmett and Mignon were married the 5th of August, 1920 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. His greatest ambition was to work on the railroad; he left Utah and went to California. Mignon stayed in Utah to finish her teaching assignment. She taught in Utah for three years.
When Mignon finally traveled to California to join Emmett he had lost his job on the railroad because things were slow. He was working and living at Sugar Pine, a saw mill where he ran the engine that operated the mill and the dynamo that ran the lights for the camp. Emmett got called back to work for the Santa Fe'. So they moved to Fresno.
After renting an apartment for a while they bought a place for $6000 dollars. "We put $1000 down and paid for it in three years. We lived here in Fresno 10 years. At that time Emmett was a fireman on the Santa Fe' and I was teaching in Fresno.
I quit teaching Christmas, 1926 since I was pregnant. Richard Emmett Kimes was born May 6, 1927 in Fresno. Doris Louise Kimes was born July 30, 1930 in Fresno. Emmett decided we couldn't make a living on our two and a half acres so we got ready to move north. He lost his job after the stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the depression. We had some money in a Building and Loan that we lost - by the time I got down there they had closed their doors. We were lucky to find an older couple with money to buy our place. They paid $2500 in cash and then $1000 the next year.
We loaded our big Studebacker with boxes on the running boards, on the top and in the trunk. We bought 4 acres with a new lumber house and nice lawn for $2800 in Hubbard, Oregon. We purchased 4 more acres behind us, bought a cow and built a garage out of old lumber. Emmett had wanted a bigger place near ours that had 25 acres but they wanted $6000 for it and we wouldn't go into debt. He bargained with the new owner and before long they made a trade, one place for the other. (Emmett loved to bargain and trade.)
Emmett remodeled the house. The next summer Emmett was called back to California to work on the railroad. I was left with all the farm work to do.
Emmett had planted two acres of strawberries between the cherry trees. He was gone and the berries were ready to harvest. Usually the cannery took them but this year they said they wouldn't take any more berries. I made signs and sold our berries for 25 cents a crate, you pick them. I was glad to get anything for them. I raised chickens too. We had chicken, chicken, chicken for dinner. Then it was time to cut the hay and store it in the loft in the barn. After I was done, someone told me they thought the hay was too wet and it would catch on fire by spontaneous combustion. I'd keep getting up at night and check out the window to see if the barn was on fire. I borrowed a trailer and took the two kids and all the pigs to Portland where I sold them. By the time that year was over I was exhausted. In July of 1933 I received a telegram telling me my mother, Martha Ellen Peterson had died. The night before I had been up all night canning fresh salmon I bought for 2 cents a pound and 15 quarts of fresh peas. We had no money so I couldn't go to my mother's funeral.
We remained in Oregon for about three years. Emmett was working as a fireman (on the railroad) then. When he was called back to work in the valley in California we left our farm with an older couple. We left all the furniture, cows and team. They paid no rent. All we took with us were all those barrels of canned food and my washing machine. That food lasted us 2 years. We moved around a lot. We would rent a furnished place wherever Emmett's final terminal was located.
We lived in many of the small towns in the valley: Reedly, Dinuba, Antioch, and then Stockton. We sold our farm in Oregon and decided to settle in Richmond. Emmett and I had quite a little argument about which house to buy. We went round and round but finally he came across with the $4300. We paid for the house in cash and had enough left over to buy a new Pontiac.
Mignon was manipulative and deceptive when it came to purchases. She would buy a new set of towels and not tell Emmett about them. She would put them away for awhile and tell the children not to say anything to their father. When she finally got them out and Emmett asked if they were new she would say. "Oh, we've had those for a long time."
Emmett started working as a stationary engineer for the railroad once they moved to Richmond in about 1937. Mignon continues their story.
"I then decided to have another baby. I hired a girl to do my housework for me since I was still running a fever when I got pregnant. David Lawrence Kimes was born in Richmond, Contra Costa, California. Once he was born I had no more health problems. I remained at home until David was about ten. Then I did a little substitute teaching."
After retiring from the railroad, Emmett shot and killed himself the 19th of July, 1952 in San Pablo, Contra Costa County, California.
Mignon seemed unable to display affection or love for her husband. Kathlyn said, The first words Grandma said to us after learning of Grandpa's death were, "How could he do this to me?" Years later when Bill and I were driving with Grandma we saw a girl walking along the road. Grandma said, "You know, I don't know if I missed out but I never had any feelings for a man whatsoever."
After Emmett's death Mignon taught full time in a San Pablo Elementary School until her retirement in 1961. Mignon was very interfering in the lives of her married children.
In 1954 she sold her Richmond home and purchased a three bedroom home on a third of an acre on Kim Court in Martinez, California to be close to Richard in Concord and Doris in Martinez. She landscaped the yard with a wide variety of fruit trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, primroses, tuberous begonias and other ornamental plants. There was a large lawn in the front yard and a smaller lawn area in the back. Most of the back yard was used for her vegetable garden. She had a long row of blackberries and another of raspberries along the side fence. Her large summer vegetable garden always included melons, tomatoes, various squashes, green beans and corn. She canned much of what she grew if it didn't get eaten when fresh.
In 1976 Mignon sold her home and moved to the adult community of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, California. Here she had a two bedroom U shaped unit with an art studio in the covered patio area between her bedroom and the kitchen. She had been interested in art most of her life. She gave art lessons once a week in her studio as she had done in her Martinez home. Her students were very appreciative of her artistic talents and company. She was an intelligent, educated woman who had varied interests and many friends who admired her, enjoyed her company, and valued her as a person. She led a rich and interesting life in her retirement years continuing to take art lessons as well as give them.
Unfortunately Mignon had terrible relationships with her immediate family although I'm not sure she realized it. She was rather oblivious. She was demanding, interfering and critical, especially of her son-in-law and daughter-in-laws. Her grandchildren did not enjoy being around her. She did what she wanted to do and was oblivious to the feelings of others in the family. Kathlyn says:
She was very single minded. When she focused on something she tuned things out so there were many times she didn't hear what people were trying to communicate. This caused problems in her family relationships. If there were two ways to take something she always reacted with the negative, anxiety reaction. Grandma was a person who overreacted to everything. She was very fearful of things and thought the worst was going to happen.
She had osteoporosis, fell, and injured her back which left her bedridden much of the time. She died the 17th of January, 1988 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California.
Compiled and written by Susan Kimes Burgess
Etheland/Ethland Mignon Peterson was born the 10th of March, 1896 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. She was the oldest of eight daughters born to Peter Christian Peterson and Martha Ellen Anderton. Mignon was born in the log house Peter built before he married Martha. Mignon said of her life as a girl:
"We had a garden, some big trees, nine cows for milk and chickens. We played under the trees in the summer, I remember the swing. We also made a trapeze where we turned summer-saults and hung by our knees, like we saw in the circus. I never dared hang by my toes. Most every year a circus would come to town with the big tent and the animals: tigers, elephants, monkeys etc. I loved the acrobats best of all.
My father was a cattleman. By the time I was old enough to ride in the saddle, I'd go with him to help round up the cattle and bring them home. I had been riding since I was big enough to climb up on a fence and jump on the horse's back. We always had one gentle horse that would stand and wait for me to get on his back. We rode bare back, not even with a blanket. When we started trotting I held onto his mane and leaned forward with my legs clutched to his side.
I always tried to set a good example because I was oldest. We always went to school eight months out of the year. I didn't have a job where I earned money until I became a teacher. I always worked at home helping my father with the haying, feeding, and driving the cattle. Then in the sugar beets I worked thinning, hoeing, and topping them. We were never given any money for our work. We did what we knew had to be done as a family. When we needed things we were given the money to buy what was necessary. As I was the oldest, I began sewing for my younger sisters. My mother taught me when I was very young to go shopping for her, buying groceries, meat and clothes for the younger children.
When I was in the sixth grade, 1906, we moved from our log house to a large adobe home. It had a beautiful orchard with all kinds of fruit trees.
I had a very good life as a child. I was close to my grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. We made up our own games, used our imaginations, built play houses, put on our own plays, dressed up in old clothes, played out in the evenings, built bon fires with leaves and roasted potatoes, and went to parties at friends houses. We went to dances with our friends. There were no movies. There was an opera house where actors would come to town and give plays. We had band concerts in the summer evenings.
I didn't go to Salt Lake City until I went away to college. I went by train since cars were not around and there was no other way to travel comfortably. The first World War was in progress and America was involved. When we had a dance at the University they would invite some boys from Fort Douglas, which was located above the University on the hill. That was how I met Emmett DeWitt Kimes."
After a long courtship Emmett and Mignon were married the 5th of August, 1920 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. His greatest ambition was to work on the railroad; he left Utah and went to California. Mignon stayed in Utah to finish her teaching assignment. She taught in Utah for three years.
When Mignon finally traveled to California to join Emmett he had lost his job on the railroad because things were slow. He was working and living at Sugar Pine, a saw mill where he ran the engine that operated the mill and the dynamo that ran the lights for the camp. Emmett got called back to work for the Santa Fe'. So they moved to Fresno.
After renting an apartment for a while they bought a place for $6000 dollars. "We put $1000 down and paid for it in three years. We lived here in Fresno 10 years. At that time Emmett was a fireman on the Santa Fe' and I was teaching in Fresno.
I quit teaching Christmas, 1926 since I was pregnant. Richard Emmett Kimes was born May 6, 1927 in Fresno. Doris Louise Kimes was born July 30, 1930 in Fresno. Emmett decided we couldn't make a living on our two and a half acres so we got ready to move north. He lost his job after the stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the depression. We had some money in a Building and Loan that we lost - by the time I got down there they had closed their doors. We were lucky to find an older couple with money to buy our place. They paid $2500 in cash and then $1000 the next year.
We loaded our big Studebacker with boxes on the running boards, on the top and in the trunk. We bought 4 acres with a new lumber house and nice lawn for $2800 in Hubbard, Oregon. We purchased 4 more acres behind us, bought a cow and built a garage out of old lumber. Emmett had wanted a bigger place near ours that had 25 acres but they wanted $6000 for it and we wouldn't go into debt. He bargained with the new owner and before long they made a trade, one place for the other. (Emmett loved to bargain and trade.)
Emmett remodeled the house. The next summer Emmett was called back to California to work on the railroad. I was left with all the farm work to do.
Emmett had planted two acres of strawberries between the cherry trees. He was gone and the berries were ready to harvest. Usually the cannery took them but this year they said they wouldn't take any more berries. I made signs and sold our berries for 25 cents a crate, you pick them. I was glad to get anything for them. I raised chickens too. We had chicken, chicken, chicken for dinner. Then it was time to cut the hay and store it in the loft in the barn. After I was done, someone told me they thought the hay was too wet and it would catch on fire by spontaneous combustion. I'd keep getting up at night and check out the window to see if the barn was on fire. I borrowed a trailer and took the two kids and all the pigs to Portland where I sold them. By the time that year was over I was exhausted. In July of 1933 I received a telegram telling me my mother, Martha Ellen Peterson had died. The night before I had been up all night canning fresh salmon I bought for 2 cents a pound and 15 quarts of fresh peas. We had no money so I couldn't go to my mother's funeral.
We remained in Oregon for about three years. Emmett was working as a fireman (on the railroad) then. When he was called back to work in the valley in California we left our farm with an older couple. We left all the furniture, cows and team. They paid no rent. All we took with us were all those barrels of canned food and my washing machine. That food lasted us 2 years. We moved around a lot. We would rent a furnished place wherever Emmett's final terminal was located.
We lived in many of the small towns in the valley: Reedly, Dinuba, Antioch, and then Stockton. We sold our farm in Oregon and decided to settle in Richmond. Emmett and I had quite a little argument about which house to buy. We went round and round but finally he came across with the $4300. We paid for the house in cash and had enough left over to buy a new Pontiac.
Mignon was manipulative and deceptive when it came to purchases. She would buy a new set of towels and not tell Emmett about them. She would put them away for awhile and tell the children not to say anything to their father. When she finally got them out and Emmett asked if they were new she would say. "Oh, we've had those for a long time."
Emmett started working as a stationary engineer for the railroad once they moved to Richmond in about 1937. Mignon continues their story.
"I then decided to have another baby. I hired a girl to do my housework for me since I was still running a fever when I got pregnant. David Lawrence Kimes was born in Richmond, Contra Costa, California. Once he was born I had no more health problems. I remained at home until David was about ten. Then I did a little substitute teaching."
After retiring from the railroad, Emmett shot and killed himself the 19th of July, 1952 in San Pablo, Contra Costa County, California.
Mignon seemed unable to display affection or love for her husband. Kathlyn said, The first words Grandma said to us after learning of Grandpa's death were, "How could he do this to me?" Years later when Bill and I were driving with Grandma we saw a girl walking along the road. Grandma said, "You know, I don't know if I missed out but I never had any feelings for a man whatsoever."
After Emmett's death Mignon taught full time in a San Pablo Elementary School until her retirement in 1961. Mignon was very interfering in the lives of her married children.
In 1954 she sold her Richmond home and purchased a three bedroom home on a third of an acre on Kim Court in Martinez, California to be close to Richard in Concord and Doris in Martinez. She landscaped the yard with a wide variety of fruit trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, primroses, tuberous begonias and other ornamental plants. There was a large lawn in the front yard and a smaller lawn area in the back. Most of the back yard was used for her vegetable garden. She had a long row of blackberries and another of raspberries along the side fence. Her large summer vegetable garden always included melons, tomatoes, various squashes, green beans and corn. She canned much of what she grew if it didn't get eaten when fresh.
In 1976 Mignon sold her home and moved to the adult community of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, California. Here she had a two bedroom U shaped unit with an art studio in the covered patio area between her bedroom and the kitchen. She had been interested in art most of her life. She gave art lessons once a week in her studio as she had done in her Martinez home. Her students were very appreciative of her artistic talents and company. She was an intelligent, educated woman who had varied interests and many friends who admired her, enjoyed her company, and valued her as a person. She led a rich and interesting life in her retirement years continuing to take art lessons as well as give them.
Unfortunately Mignon had terrible relationships with her immediate family although I'm not sure she realized it. She was rather oblivious. She was demanding, interfering and critical, especially of her son-in-law and daughter-in-laws. Her grandchildren did not enjoy being around her. She did what she wanted to do and was oblivious to the feelings of others in the family. Kathlyn says:
She was very single minded. When she focused on something she tuned things out so there were many times she didn't hear what people were trying to communicate. This caused problems in her family relationships. If there were two ways to take something she always reacted with the negative, anxiety reaction. Grandma was a person who overreacted to everything. She was very fearful of things and thought the worst was going to happen.
She had osteoporosis, fell, and injured her back which left her bedridden much of the time. She died the 17th of January, 1988 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California.
Compiled and written by Susan Kimes Burgess
"We had a garden, some big trees, nine cows for milk and chickens. We played under the trees in the summer, I remember the swing. We also made a trapeze where we turned summer-saults and hung by our knees, like we saw in the circus. I never dared hang by my toes. Most every year a circus would come to town with the big tent and the animals: tigers, elephants, monkeys etc. I loved the acrobats best of all.
My father was a cattleman. By the time I was old enough to ride in the saddle, I'd go with him to help round up the cattle and bring them home. I had been riding since I was big enough to climb up on a fence and jump on the horse's back. We always had one gentle horse that would stand and wait for me to get on his back. We rode bare back, not even with a blanket. When we started trotting I held onto his mane and leaned forward with my legs clutched to his side.
I always tried to set a good example because I was oldest. We always went to school eight months out of the year. I didn't have a job where I earned money until I became a teacher. I always worked at home helping my father with the haying, feeding, and driving the cattle. Then in the sugar beets I worked thinning, hoeing, and topping them. We were never given any money for our work. We did what we knew had to be done as a family. When we needed things we were given the money to buy what was necessary. As I was the oldest, I began sewing for my younger sisters. My mother taught me when I was very young to go shopping for her, buying groceries, meat and clothes for the younger children.
When I was in the sixth grade, 1906, we moved from our log house to a large adobe home. It had a beautiful orchard with all kinds of fruit trees.
I had a very good life as a child. I was close to my grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. We made up our own games, used our imaginations, built play houses, put on our own plays, dressed up in old clothes, played out in the evenings, built bon fires with leaves and roasted potatoes, and went to parties at friends houses. We went to dances with our friends. There were no movies. There was an opera house where actors would come to town and give plays. We had band concerts in the summer evenings.
I didn't go to Salt Lake City until I went away to college. I went by train since cars were not around and there was no other way to travel comfortably. The first World War was in progress and America was involved. When we had a dance at the University they would invite some boys from Fort Douglas, which was located above the University on the hill. That was how I met Emmett DeWitt Kimes."
After a long courtship Emmett and Mignon were married the 5th of August, 1920 in Richfield, Sevier County, Utah. His greatest ambition was to work on the railroad; he left Utah and went to California. Mignon stayed in Utah to finish her teaching assignment. She taught in Utah for three years.
When Mignon finally traveled to California to join Emmett he had lost his job on the railroad because things were slow. He was working and living at Sugar Pine, a saw mill where he ran the engine that operated the mill and the dynamo that ran the lights for the camp. Emmett got called back to work for the Santa Fe'. So they moved to Fresno.
After renting an apartment for a while they bought a place for $6000 dollars. "We put $1000 down and paid for it in three years. We lived here in Fresno 10 years. At that time Emmett was a fireman on the Santa Fe' and I was teaching in Fresno.
I quit teaching Christmas, 1926 since I was pregnant. Richard Emmett Kimes was born May 6, 1927 in Fresno. Doris Louise Kimes was born July 30, 1930 in Fresno. Emmett decided we couldn't make a living on our two and a half acres so we got ready to move north. He lost his job after the stock market crash of 1929 and the beginning of the depression. We had some money in a Building and Loan that we lost - by the time I got down there they had closed their doors. We were lucky to find an older couple with money to buy our place. They paid $2500 in cash and then $1000 the next year.
We loaded our big Studebacker with boxes on the running boards, on the top and in the trunk. We bought 4 acres with a new lumber house and nice lawn for $2800 in Hubbard, Oregon. We purchased 4 more acres behind us, bought a cow and built a garage out of old lumber. Emmett had wanted a bigger place near ours that had 25 acres but they wanted $6000 for it and we wouldn't go into debt. He bargained with the new owner and before long they made a trade, one place for the other. (Emmett loved to bargain and trade.)
Emmett remodeled the house. The next summer Emmett was called back to California to work on the railroad. I was left with all the farm work to do.
Emmett had planted two acres of strawberries between the cherry trees. He was gone and the berries were ready to harvest. Usually the cannery took them but this year they said they wouldn't take any more berries. I made signs and sold our berries for 25 cents a crate, you pick them. I was glad to get anything for them. I raised chickens too. We had chicken, chicken, chicken for dinner. Then it was time to cut the hay and store it in the loft in the barn. After I was done, someone told me they thought the hay was too wet and it would catch on fire by spontaneous combustion. I'd keep getting up at night and check out the window to see if the barn was on fire. I borrowed a trailer and took the two kids and all the pigs to Portland where I sold them. By the time that year was over I was exhausted. In July of 1933 I received a telegram telling me my mother, Martha Ellen Peterson had died. The night before I had been up all night canning fresh salmon I bought for 2 cents a pound and 15 quarts of fresh peas. We had no money so I couldn't go to my mother's funeral.
We remained in Oregon for about three years. Emmett was working as a fireman (on the railroad) then. When he was called back to work in the valley in California we left our farm with an older couple. We left all the furniture, cows and team. They paid no rent. All we took with us were all those barrels of canned food and my washing machine. That food lasted us 2 years. We moved around a lot. We would rent a furnished place wherever Emmett's final terminal was located.
We lived in many of the small towns in the valley: Reedly, Dinuba, Antioch, and then Stockton. We sold our farm in Oregon and decided to settle in Richmond. Emmett and I had quite a little argument about which house to buy. We went round and round but finally he came across with the $4300. We paid for the house in cash and had enough left over to buy a new Pontiac.
Mignon was manipulative and deceptive when it came to purchases. She would buy a new set of towels and not tell Emmett about them. She would put them away for awhile and tell the children not to say anything to their father. When she finally got them out and Emmett asked if they were new she would say. "Oh, we've had those for a long time."
Emmett started working as a stationary engineer for the railroad once they moved to Richmond in about 1937. Mignon continues their story.
"I then decided to have another baby. I hired a girl to do my housework for me since I was still running a fever when I got pregnant. David Lawrence Kimes was born in Richmond, Contra Costa, California. Once he was born I had no more health problems. I remained at home until David was about ten. Then I did a little substitute teaching."
After retiring from the railroad, Emmett shot and killed himself the 19th of July, 1952 in San Pablo, Contra Costa County, California.
Mignon seemed unable to display affection or love for her husband. Kathlyn said, The first words Grandma said to us after learning of Grandpa's death were, "How could he do this to me?" Years later when Bill and I were driving with Grandma we saw a girl walking along the road. Grandma said, "You know, I don't know if I missed out but I never had any feelings for a man whatsoever."
After Emmett's death Mignon taught full time in a San Pablo Elementary School until her retirement in 1961. Mignon was very interfering in the lives of her married children.
In 1954 she sold her Richmond home and purchased a three bedroom home on a third of an acre on Kim Court in Martinez, California to be close to Richard in Concord and Doris in Martinez. She landscaped the yard with a wide variety of fruit trees, azaleas, rhododendrons, primroses, tuberous begonias and other ornamental plants. There was a large lawn in the front yard and a smaller lawn area in the back. Most of the back yard was used for her vegetable garden. She had a long row of blackberries and another of raspberries along the side fence. Her large summer vegetable garden always included melons, tomatoes, various squashes, green beans and corn. She canned much of what she grew if it didn't get eaten when fresh.
In 1976 Mignon sold her home and moved to the adult community of Rossmoor in Walnut Creek, California. Here she had a two bedroom U shaped unit with an art studio in the covered patio area between her bedroom and the kitchen. She had been interested in art most of her life. She gave art lessons once a week in her studio as she had done in her Martinez home. Her students were very appreciative of her artistic talents and company. She was an intelligent, educated woman who had varied interests and many friends who admired her, enjoyed her company, and valued her as a person. She led a rich and interesting life in her retirement years continuing to take art lessons as well as give them.
Unfortunately Mignon had terrible relationships with her immediate family although I'm not sure she realized it. She was rather oblivious. She was demanding, interfering and critical, especially of her son-in-law and daughter-in-laws. Her grandchildren did not enjoy being around her. She did what she wanted to do and was oblivious to the feelings of others in the family. Kathlyn says:
She was very single minded. When she focused on something she tuned things out so there were many times she didn't hear what people were trying to communicate. This caused problems in her family relationships. If there were two ways to take something she always reacted with the negative, anxiety reaction. Grandma was a person who overreacted to everything. She was very fearful of things and thought the worst was going to happen.
She had osteoporosis, fell, and injured her back which left her bedridden much of the time. She died the 17th of January, 1988 in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California.
Compiled and written by Susan Kimes Burgess
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