Frank and Carrie first met at a Saturday night dance at the Leonis adobe in Calabasas. People would come from miles around, dance all night, sleep in the wagons filled with hay, and then go home on Sunday. They were married either in a little old church in Chatsworth (now in Oakwood Cemetary) or in the adobe. Frank and Carrie first lived in Las Virgines Canyon near Calabasas, California. Frank was a grading contractor (he built roads.) Also, he was supposed to have had the first blacksmith shop in Oxnard. He always liked ranching; he loved horses and he liked raising cattle. He acquired a 140 acre ranch in Calabasas right behind the (Ed & Clara) Stokes Ranch. (It was just west of Tapia Park, down a side road to the left just before the bridge about .5 mile. The property is now owned by the Catholic Church.) At that time, the older children (George, Fred and Ada) and their cousin, Thelma, all attended school at the Las Virgines School. There are many stories about Frank when he was living in Las Virgines Canyon. One goes that one foggy night Frank had a team of horses and a wagon and he was trying to get home. The horses came to a stop in the fog and wouldn't budge. He wondered what was wrong with them. Then he got out and walked to the front of the wagon and found that the road ended in a cliff. Another time, when Frank was working for Brent's Mountain Craig, they'd killed a beef and he was carrying a quarter of it home on his shoulder. This was in the winter time when they lived on the "Shibely place" behind the Stokes ranch. Frank's father, Thomas, was living with them at the time. It was after dark and the family had already eaten. Frank had eaten with the people who ran the camp. All of a sudden the family heard this faint voice, "Help! Help!" Thomas, George, Fred and Ray rushed out to help Frank. Coyotes were running at him trying to grab at the beef and he was using a manzanita stick he'd picked up as a club to keep them away. When they reached him he was staggering from fatigue. His shepard dog was all chewed up from coyote bites. There is a true in Malibu State Park known as the "Mendenhall Tree" because Thomas and Frank saved a man's life there. At one time there was a California State Historical Society plaque. In those days Frank hunted quail, venison, and rabbits for food for his family or traded pigs that they raised for beef. He'd get up at 3 AM and go out and feed and harness the horses and start breakfast before Carrie was out of bed. People used to visit over the weekend at Frank and Carrie's ranch. 35-40 of them would come from all over the valley and sleep in their buckboards and eat meals at a long table. They used to have spelling bees. Nobody could outspell Thomas Mendenhall. Later the family moved to a house on John St. (near Sunset Blvd., Micheltorina, and Bellvue in Los Angeles) when Fred was a baby. Frank paid $500 for the house and his father, Thomas, built one next door. Over the years they moved back and forth between Las Virgines Canyon and downtown. Frank ended up owning one or two different houses in the Sunset district (on Maltman St.) as well as houses in Burbank and on Leclede (about 1924) in Glendale. Frank would take contracts to haul sand and gravel for construction projects and would hire his father and sons with teams of horses to help him. Everyone liked to work for him. They'd grade roads with a "fresno board" or a "Mormon board." Later Frank was a landscaper with Germain's Nursery. He worked on the landscaping for Los Angeles High School, Amy's Temple and his home. He had exotic plants. Frank always did the grocery shopping and insisted on gourmet meals. During the swine flu outbreak in 1917 he cooked and cared for his entire family, even though he was also sick. Frank was very sentimental. He cried at weddings. When James married Genevieve he sat in the front row and sobbed so his whole body shook. He "bawled like a baby" when Leonard had his fingers cut off (while working in a shop on a summer job.) When he listened to the Lone Ranger his head would be practically in the radio. If it was a sad story he would start crying. Leonard would tease him about it. Frank died of lung cancer.

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