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Note: N109 Robert was born in Aurora,Kane, Illinois on Easter Sunday, April 23, 1916 to Mary Katherine Linden and Robert August Fermazin. Robert wasthe middle of three children. Robert was known as ìBuddyî in the family and as ìFermyî by his friends. Lola was his older sister who preceded him into eternal life in 2001 and his sister Irene Mabel who died in infancy in 1921. Robert was preceded into eternal life by the loveof his life Grace Worthing Fermazin, who passed in April 2001 Robert met Grace in 1941 and married her six months later on February 7, 1942at St. Paulís Lutheran Church in Aurora,Kane, Illinois. Robert workedat Thor Power Tool Company and the C, B, & Q Railroad in Aurora for many years. Robert also owned the Across Town TV Company in Aurora. Robert served in the Army in WWII. In 1959 Robert and Grace and their two girls moved to Fullerton, California. where Grace ìretiredî and became a homemaker enjoying the California sunshine, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They lived in Fullerton. Buena Parkand Brea for many years and then retired to Homeland, California in the 1980ís. In 2000 Robert and Grace moved back to the Anaheim area tolive closer to family and friends. Robert was a veteran of WWII. Robert was a member of the American Legion and the pool club for many years. Grace and Robert enjoyed camping in their motor home and used tobe big Western fans and even had CB radios. He enjoyed ìgarage sailingî on weekends for vintage radios. Robert is survived by his daughterNancy of Buena Park, his daughter Mary Gaouette of Fort Mohave, Arizona, grandsons Kevin Peralta and wife Stella of Alta Loma, California, Dwight Sterling of Twenty-nine Palms, California and Brice Sterling ofSan Francisco, California. He is also survived by his great grandsons Peter and Nicolas of Alta Loma California and his niece, Karen Mahrenholtz of Carol Stream, Illinois and many cousins, grand nieces and grand nephews in California and Illinois.
Robert grew up during the Great Depression. The crash came in 1929 when he was 13 years old. During the depression, the family pooled their resources. Grandpa worked in a machine shop one day a week, Grandma kept house and cooked and cleaned and raised the kids. Buddy or Robert went to school. In grade school he ice skated along the streets from 5th Avenue to Sacred Heart School and in the summer he roller skated to school. There were no buses in those days.
As Robert Buddy got older he worked the greenhouse in the day time for a $1.00 a day and set pins at the bowling alley in the evening. On weekends he wasn't idle. He caddied across the street from home at thegolf course. Aunt Lola worked in the corset factory and made $ 15.00a week during the depression.
Robert's duties included changing the mulch for the roses. He and the other guys used to go out in the country of the surrounding area and get fresh dirt to bring back to replace the rose beds. Prior to going out for new dirt they emptied the rose beds. This was done once a year. One time dad was given the job of "mulching" the rose beds. This job meant taking a big bag of steer manure around to all the roses and reaching in with your bare hand and pulling out a handful of manure and putting it by each rose. Robert refused to do this job so he was given the permanent job of going out and digging up fresh dirt and replacing the beds.
Besides working at the nursery Robert set bowling pins and picked up golf balls and caddied during the depression. His sister Aunt Lola worked at the corset factory for $ 15.00 a week. At the end of the week they both turned all the money over to Grandma who used it for necessities of life. Grandma gave Robert and Lola each a dollar on Friday night to go out on the town. That was when gasoline was 2 gallons fora quarter and they thought that was EXPENSIVE!! and bread was 10 cents a loaf and milk 12 cents a quart.
For food in the depression, the family ate lots of carrots and home grown vegetables. Grandpa and Buddy used to go hunting for squirrel, pigeon, and rabbits and in the winter time they trapped and caught swamp rats (muskrat). Grandpa shot them with his rifle. he was a dead eye and known for a bulls eye with each shot. He was so good he couldhear them flies walking on the electric lines. Got em on the first shot. As for the rabbits he never missed. He shot them in the head. Buddy remembers his first game rabbit. He shot the rabbit with a 410 shot gun 10 feet away and wouldn't you know it he blew it to smithereens. Too close.
In 1927 Buddy bought his first care, a 1923 Model T. He saw it sitting idle and paid a whole $ 3.00 for it. Had to go on the weekend with grandpa to pick it up. They pumped up the tires and got it startedfor home. In those days cars had three pedals, one for forward, one for reverse, and one to stop. Sometimes when stopped you had to push all three pedals down.
In the 1930's Robert worked at the nursery in Aurora for $ 1.00 a day. His duties included changing the mulch for the roses. He and the other guys used to go out in the country of the surrounding area and getfresh dirt to bring back to replace the rose beds. Prior to going outfor new dirt they emptied the rose beds. This was done once a year.One time dad was given the job of "mulching" the rose beds. This jobmeant taking a big bag of steer manure around to all the roses and reaching in with your bare hand and pulling out a handful of manure and putting it by each rose. Robert refused to do this job so he was giventhe permanent job of going out and digging up fresh dirt and replacing the beds.
Besides working at the nursery Robert set bowling pins and picked up golf balls and caddied during the depression. His sister Aunt Lola worked at the corset factory for $ 15.00 a week. At the end of the week they both turned all the money over to Grandma who used it for necessities of life. Grandma gave Robert and Lola each a dollar on Friday night to go out on the town. That was when gasoline was 2 gallons fora quarter and they thought that was EXPENSIVE!! and bread was 10 cents a loaf and milk 12 cents a quart.
After Robert and Grace were first married they lived at 942 6th Avenue, Aurora,Kane, Illinois with Grandma and Grandpa Fermazin. After this they moved to a house on Dearborn and Trask Avenue across from Gordon's Junk Yard. Rent for this place was $25.00 per month. The peoplewho lived upstairs from them were Mr. & Mrs. Bob Stehly. Interestingly the Stehly's were married same day same year as Grace and Robert.They used a ton of coal a week just to heat the downstairs. Every time the trains went by the house shook and shook. After this they moved to 251 Hillside Avenue, Aurora, Kane, Illinois where they purchaseda house on the GI bill for $ 6200. After they purchased the house they had to wait for the hot water heater and the furnace and the paint because of WWII. The payments were $ 42.00 per month and taxes were$16.00 per year. "Uncle Louie" (as we called him) Ludwig Hansen lived with us there. He was Grace's step father, first husband of Nancy Theo Ames and Blanche Hansen Stevens' father.
Robert and Grace and Nancy and Mary moved to Fullerton, California inAugust 1959. They lived at Jensen Way, Fullerton, California. In 1960 they bought a house at 7690 Lantana Drive, Buena Park, California. Later they lived in Garden Grove, Brea, Homeland and finally settled in Anaheim, California.
Information obtained from Robert F. Fermazin to his daughter Nancy Fermazin on November 1, 2000.
FERMAZIN, ROBERT F.
DATE OF BIRTH: 04/23/1916
DATE OF DEATH: 11/05/2005
DATE OF INTERMENT: 11/07/2005
BURIED AT: SECTION 45 SITE 3085
RIVERSIDE NATIONAL CEMETERY 22495 VAN BUREN BOULEVARD RIVERSIDE , CA 92518
(909) 653-8417
PVT ROBERT F FERMAZIN
ROBERT FRANCIS FERMAZIN
ìFERMYî
Some things that may have occured in Robert's youth................
Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What was your favorite= fast food when you were growing up?"
"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All = the food was slow."
"C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"
"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked every= day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the = dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plateI was = allowed to sit there until I did like it."
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to = suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how = I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other = things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system = could have handled it:
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf = course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later = years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was = good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either = way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly becausewe = never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably50 = pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in = our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It = was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece ofcolored = plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and = the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle thirdwas red. It was = perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucksriding across = someone's lawn on a sunny day. Some people had a lenstaped to the front = of the TV to make the picture look larger.
We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our= family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in = the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you = had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already = using the line.
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers.
=
I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of= which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning.On = Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite = customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the = change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemedto never be = home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the= movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French= kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in = French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowedto see = them.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want = to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. = Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend:
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and = he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a = stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but = my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt = shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the = ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam = irons. Man, I am old.
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