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Note: 0 years, then came to Los Angeles, California. She entered Bell High School in 1928, and met Jim Reid in Latin class. They graduated in 1931. It was during the Great Depression, and there were no jobs, and they went to UCLA--Renie worked for her room and board, and went there for one year. Jim could only afford one semester, then they took whatever jobs they could in order to help their families. Renie got a part time job as a janitor in a grammar school, and Jim started as a messenger in the Farmers and Merchants National Bank. He was 17 years old. In 1945, after World War II, they went into partnership with Irene's parents Charlie and Edna Koontz and bought ten acres of avocados on a hilltop in La Habra. Charlie and Jim built what was intended later to be a four-car garage, and they all moved into it on January 1, 1945, when it barely had windows and doors installed. The inside was unfinished, and the heat all went up to the rafters. There was a gas meter on top of the hill, but because of government priorities, they could not get electricity. They managed to get a war surplus generator which would run for four hours on one filling of gasoline, and because they were farmers, they could get gasoline ration tickets for the generator. So they had candles, coal oil lamps and gas lights. Fortunately, Edna had an Electrolux refrigerator which operated on gas, so they had refrigeration, and could iron when the generator was on, but when the generator started sputtering, it was bed time. In 1950 Jim and Renie built part of their house and moved into it. In 1956 Jim was made Vice President of the bank, and had 45 years of service when he retired in 1977. Renie worked for the Santa Fe Railroad from 1939 until 1976. When she retired in 1976 she was Assistant Treasurer of Santa Fe Land Improvement Company. Jim enjoyed fishing, and he was also interested in the history of Los Angeles. He had continued his education with banking courses and accounting courses from UCLA, and was the family investment advisor. During her working years, she took up sewing, knitting, upholstering, leather tooling (she and her mother kept the family supplied with hand-tooled wallets, purses, and belts), and photography. After her retirement, she learned to play bridge, how to do machine embroidery (her work was outstanding), and how to run a computer. She spent many hours with spread sheets and a cooking program. She also put together a history of the family and wrote her memoirs. Although Renie suffered terribly from anguish over the condition of her daughter, Kathleen, and from the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, she never complained, and she always had a smile on her face. Renie was always interested in other people, and she was adored by her many nieces and nephews. In her later life, she kept a running total of the number of nieces, grand-nieces, nephews, and grand-nephews that she and Jim had, well over 80 when she died. One day in 1985 when Jim was away on a three-day fishing trip, Renie broke her hip. She was in the garage and not near a telephone when this happened. She called for help, but no one heard her, so she crawled into the car and, on her second try, got herself into the driver's seat. Fortunately, the gate to their property was open, and she had an automatic garage door opener. She then drove herself to her sister Jeanne's home (to ask Jeanne to go back to her house to get her purse), and then she drove herself on to the hospital! This was about two weeks before her Golden Wedding Anniversary, and her main concern was whether she would be able to attend the party that she and Jim had planned. She was able to attend. SOURCE: Information from Irene and Jim Reid, and Jeanne Lazaris. The Wine Family. MEDICAL: Irene had uterine cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. She died of pneumonia and congestive heart failure.
Note: When Irene was four years old the family moved to Alamosa, Colorado. They lived there for 1
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