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Note: 1. From a letter to her granddaughter, Karen Saenz: I'm slow in answering your questions about 1915--anyway, by June 1914 we had saved $600 from grandpa's salary of $100 a month (by the way, that was very good pay--most jobs paid $60 or $70 a month--of our close friends only one other got the same as we did.) We had $1,000 in the bank that grandpa had saved before we were married. We bought the motorcycle (Harley-Davidson), stored our things with my parents and left Great Falls on June 24th for Morgan, Utah--about 30 miles from Salt Lake City-where Drew's parents lived. We got to Clancy, Montana -15 miles from Helena - on the 27th. My sister Mary lived there, also my aunt. We Visited there until July 9th--went through Missoula, got near Melrose when we had a leak in a tire and found that we also had lost the cement with which to fix it. I stayed with the motorcycle and sage brush while Drew walked 5 miles to Melrose to get some cement. It was dark when he got back and I was sure glad to see him. Being dark, we did not see that we put our canvas down for a bed on top of an ants' nest. Drew woke me up to listen to the ants chewing-not on us though, they could not get through the canvas. It was so cold the next morning and no wood for a fire, so Drew would light one bunch of sage brush and we stood around it until it burned out and then moved to another. When the sun came up, Drew fixed the tire and we went on. Stopped at a stream where Drew caught me a big fish - we bought some bread at a farmhouse. We went through Idaho Falls - the roads were very bad-so dusty and rough and the sun was hot. Camped on the Snake River-had a bath and washed our clothes. Got to the Paulson home on the 22nd of July. Had a wonderful summer and fall--went camping in a big wagon drawn by horses - 2 families of us. Drew helped milk cows and cut hay, etc. I gathered eggs every day - picked raspberries with mother Paulson every other day, helped can fruit, watched mother make bread, helped churn butter and picked apples. On November 1st we packed or crated the motorcycle and shipped it to San Francisco--we went by train. Got a room that had a corner fixed up for cooking and eating. Grandpa went to telephone company to get work--no jobs. He was told that people had been coming for 2 years on account of the Fair (World's Fair in San Francisco). We took long rides on the motorcycle and saw a lot of the countryside. Spent lots of time at the library, different churches on Sunday. One we liked so much was a Congregational Church. Drew tried lots of times to find a job. We watched them get the Fair ready for opening. When it opened, we went over often. The days that we were there it did not cost us anything for lunch--there were so many samples of so many things. 2. From another letter to granddaughter, Karen Saenz: We left San Francisco in May 1915 on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a tandem seat for me. We had a small tent, 2 blankets, a change of underwear and shirts, and of course tooth brushes and toilet articles. Those days girls did not wear pants or jeans, so we had a dressmaker make me a suit with a divided skirt like a coulotte. We slept out every night except for a few nights in Wallace, Idaho where Drew worked and made some very good friends. There were no highways or paved roads and very few good dirt roads. We traveled only 100 to 150 miles a day and never miore than 35 or 40 miles per hour. We found beautiful camp places everywhere and secluded spots near water where we could bathe and do our washing. We found wild raspberries and blackberries and salmonberries. We ate them as is or cooked for sauce. Bought our eats as needed them as no place on a motorcycle to carry--ate canned vegetables, cheese and dried or fresh fruit, bread and milk. Drew caught fish when he could and one day we passed some cows grazing and he said "I see a cow that looks like she wants to be milked" so we stopped and he took out our folding cup and filled it. We put it in the stream to cool and drank it. We had lots of spills on account of the poor roads, but they were not serious as we were traveling slow. One I remember--we started down a small hill and at the bottom was a big pool of muddy water. Drew could not stop quick enough so we really got a mud bath! It was a warm and sunny day so we dried ourselves off and then could scrape and brush the mud off our suits. We did not want to carry cash, so we arranged for Auntie(Dolly) to send money orders to us at cities where we thought we would be. It did not always work out. In Oregon, we had a tire blow out and had several toll bridges, so our money ran out before we got to Portland where we had some waiting. So we had to send a telegram to Portland and have them mail us the money order. We had no money so had to pawn our camera till it came so we could eat. We were from May 19th until July 14th going from San Francisco to Helena, Montana. We visited relatives in Helena and Clancy then home to Great Falls and sold the motorcycle. We knew that Owen was on the way and thought we would have no more use for it. I have not been on a motorcycle since, but we did enjoy the experience and never gave up our love for camping--however, I prefer the kind that we had with a car and all the other comforts. 3. Remebrances by granddaughter Cheryl Paulson Haas: Grandma was a dear, sweet lady. I credit her and her sweet spirit for being the spiritual spark for our family. I truly believe it was her prayers and her quiet example that is responsible for all of my family being saved today. I don't think I ever saw Grandma angry or heard her yell. She had a soft voice and a gentle touch. When we were little and would visit their house in Fresno, I remember feeling special. We also loved to play hide and seek in her closet which went from the master bedroom through to the guest bedroom. The bathroom was the same, but not as easy to hide in. Grandma also had a collection of animal figurines on a bookcase type shelf in her living room. She would let us touch them if we were very careful. And when we visited, she always had delicious homemade cookies. She would make them ahead and take them out of the freezer as needed to resupply us. And when we left, she always stood and watched us leave with tears in her eyes. Several incidents I remember may help to show what kind of woman Grandma was. When Grandpa died she was about 88, but from his estate (which wasn't large) she gave each of her grandchildren $200 because, she said, "Grandpa would have wanted you to have it". I don't know how much she gave to her two children. I also remember the time Grandpa said he didn't know if he believed in heaven or not and she got as stern as I ever heard her when she said "Why Drew, of course you believe in heaven!!" And I was totally surprised when she was reminiscing one time just a couple of years before she died and she told us that she had been engaged to someone else when she met Grandpa at the telephone company in Montana. Her fiance was working in another town and had red hair which is how she came to tell us of him. Her intial comment was "You grandchildren could have been redheads if I had married the man I was engaged to when I met your Grandpa". It seems Grandpa was quite the ladies man and took the girls that he worked with out for picnics and rides in his boat. He also took them fishing and then walked them home. One evening he walked everyone home except Grandma even though her house was close to some of the others he had dropped off. It was then that he showed his partiality for Grandma and that she decided to break her engagement. The rest, as they say, is history. I'm very glad she made her decision or I wouldn't be here today!! 4. Remebrances by granddaughter Karen Paulson Saenz: Grandma was a sweet, quiet, Godly woman. She was about 5'2" with brown eyes and had neat permed hair and nail polish. I remember when we were little and she and Grandpa would come to visit she would bring her nail polish and let us girls pick a color and she would paint our nails for us. During Christmas she would make homemade candy and bring lemons the size of oranges from her tree. The house always smelled so good! Grandma made all of her own clothes as well as square dancing outfits for her and Grandpa. She also made "braided" rugs using a special needle. She would make them out of old sweaters and wool shirts and wove wonderful colors together. She made each one of us rugs for our kitchens in the colors we wanted. I think Aunt Aileen has the needle that makes the rugs. Grandma also would make cookies, cinnamon rolls, jam and frozen peaches. She loved when we came for a visit and would prepare for days. I remember sleeping on the front room couch with the dining room chairs against it so I wouldn't fall off. Grandma taught me this paryer which she learned from her grandmother and I've taught it to my children: "Little hands I bring O Father Teach them loving things to do Eyes for seeing, ears for hearing Feet for willing service too. All I am dear Father take Make me thine for Jesus' sake" When I was little I thought the third verse said "eyes for seeing, ears for earrings!" When we were younger, Grandma would make us pancakes in the shape of our intials. She had bottles of soda pop on her back porch and a covered swing on her back patio that we girls loved to swing on. After I had children of my own I asked Grandma for advice on raising them and she said "The older they get the more time you need to spend on your knees". She was very wise. One time when we were visiting she asked Carlos to help tie pieces of newspaper around each cluster of grapes in the grape arbor. He started doing it, but wasn't folding the paper just right and instead of telling him he was doing it wrong, Grandma quietly folded the paper the right way for him. 5. Remebrances by granddaughter Eleanor Paulson Foust, November 1997: Grandma would always have us say our prayers at night. That's how I learned "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should live for other days, I pray the Lord to guide my ways". Grandma was a wonderful seamstress and she once made me a camel blazer...I wish I still had it. My favorite rugs are the ones Grandma made with her special needle. We would all send her our used clothing and sweaters..some she and Grandpa would sell at the flea market and the others she would turn into beautiful rugs.
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