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Note: LETTER TO SELMA AND JULIA DIEHM
November 26, 1985 Dear Aunts, I'm working as a substitute Secretary at an elementary school today -- my second assignment since I signed up to work two weeks ago. The is a very pretty school in Woodland Hills (about a 10 mile drive on the freeway from home), but it is a very rainy day and there is not enough real work for me to do (just keep school) so I'm going to type you a note. I returned from Honolulu two weeks ago and realized that it's very difficult to come back from Paradise to the mundane, and the dust, which my apartment was covered with -- We stayed in such a beautiful apartment in Hawaii. We watched the sun rise and set every day from very high up and we really explored that island from one end to the other in our cute little Mazda. My three friends that I was with have all been struck by tragedy in the last few years, so we really had a common bond -- but we were able to enjoy each other and have fun without discussing any problems. So I have been washing windows & screens & curtains, trying to restore my little apartment to neatness. I planned to make new kitchen cutains but my kitchen looked so dreary that I called a painter and he's going to paint it a pale yellow, after Thanksgiving. Robin is going to have Thansgiving dinner at her house this year. Everyone is coming including Clarice's grandson Jeff & his friend, Chris -- except Kim and Talia. Kim has only 2 free days so she will wait and hope for more free time at Christmas -- or else I will try to get a ride up to Auburn. I haven't seen Tracy since we were in Nebraska so I'm anxious to talk to him. Today is Todd's 18th birthday. He made an appointment to take his driver's test & if he passes it Robin has promised that he can drive to the movies with his girlfriend. Letting a kid drive in this traffic is really frightening these days -- but Robin has held him off since he was 16 & he can't be put off any longer. I expect you are very busy getting ready for the holidays. I'm sure you will be seeing all your lovely friends. Please tell them 'Hello' from me. I'll plan on talking to you before Christmas. I hope to be working quite a bit as a day-to-day sub. If I'm going to spend money paying a painter & travelling I need to earn some money. They will pay me $10 an hour, so if I get a couple of days a week that will help. With Love, Marvel
"POEM" Written by Marvel DeVault 23 Sep 1992 (Tracy's 50th Birthday)
Note: Tracy's original birthday "Poem" Created by his own Mother (who is loaded with talent, as any fool can plainly see.) - But it needs an ending.
Dear Tracy, This birthday looms large, And I know how you feel -- like you really have lost all your macho appeal. Your waistline! Your Muscle tone! Your eyesight and hair! Sometimes you must wonder it they ever were there! And a Grandfather! -- For God Sakes! How did all this happen? It appears that Tracy was really caught nappin! (or maybe that was Kevin!) But it's not in your genes to wail and to cry. It's mainly insane to vainly ask why! So get out your bike helmet, And those cute little stretch shorts And show all the neighbors -- you're still a good sport In addition you know there's no cause for moaning In no time at all you'll be Arizoaning. Far from the Madding Croud, The Crime and the Stress -- High among the hemlocks (nees and ending!) LETTER TO SELMA AND JULIA DIEHM
Friday - June 8, 2001
Selma & Julia Diehm Blue Hill Care Center P.O. Box 156 Blue Hill, NE 68930
Dear Sallie and Julie, Yesterday we arrived back at Tracy's and Judy's house in Arizona, after traveling 3000 miles and visiting our relatives in eight states. But, the best thing was seeing our two beloved aunts. We enjoyed spending a few hours with you so very much and hope to do it again next year. I will fly back to California the day after tomorrow. I would like to stay a few more days, but I have a lot of responsibilities at home to take care of. We went to see Harold twice in the hospital in Lincoln and he seems to be recovering very well from his hip replacement, and has his usual cheerful attitude. However, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to visit you for a month or so as it takes a hip a long time to heal. I will keep in touch with him and let you know what's happening. Julia, I am typing this on your typewriter and not doing very well, but I hope to improve in time. Thank you for the typewriter. It gives me the opportunity to learn to type again. Love to both of you, Marvel, Tracy & Judy NOTE MARVEL WROTE ABOUT HER SON
Tracy - You offer him a vague perception of what you believe should be done, he cleans off the grunge and gives it back to you, having shown you whether or not it will work. He clarifies me to Myself.
REMEMBERING MY MOTHER
Marvel was born January 29, 1919, on a farm near Crab Orchard, Johnson County, Nebraska. She was the fourth of five girls and one boy born to Robert Sherman and Anna Magdalene (Diehm) Hillman. I always thought the name �Crab Orchard� was really cool. I was born in Glendale, California. How fun it would have been to go through life saying I was born in Crab Orchard instead of Glendale. A few years ago, my wife Judy and I got a chance to visit Crab Orchard. Of course the town has grown and changed a lot in the ninety plus years since the Hillmans lived in Johnson County. Today, at the edge of town, there is a sign boasting that Crab Orchard has a population of twenty-one people. Over the years Mom told us many stories about her life growing up on the farm. One of her stories was from the time before the family moved to Bayard, Nebraska. �Shortly after Marvel was born, Rob and Anna took her to his parents, Edwin and Emily Hillman, to show her off. (At the time Rob and Anna were living on a rented farm in Johnson County next to Anna's parents. Rob's parents were still living on the family homestead in Gage County, a few miles away.) This was before Rob and Anna owned a car and so the trip was made in a buggy. Apparently they had not yet named this latest daughter. Rob opined that if they showed up at his parents' place, with an unnamed daughter, his mother would pick out a name for her. Rob and Anna already had three girls, and none were named after his mother, so it was decided that they would name Marvel after his mom. Apparently Rob's memory was not what it was in later years. When they arrived at his parents' house, he held Marvel high in the air and announced to his mom that here was her new granddaughter, and she was named Marvel Kathryn Hillman in her honor. His mom snapped back, "Why you fool, my name is Emily Cordelia!" Apparently the damage was not correctable because they never changed Marvel's name nor tried to name another child after his mother. Shortly after Marvel�s first birthday, the family moved from eastern Nebraska to the city of Bayard in western Nebraska. Her dad rented a freight car to move the family's belongings. He rode in the train car with his stuff. It was in the middle of winter and very cold. There was a wood-burning stove in the corner of the car. At some point during the trip the train lurched. Her dad was thrown against the stove and burned very badly. Marvel tells another story associated with the move. Apparently the train only went as far as Alliance, Nebraska. Her mom told the children that they were going to (see) Alliance. When they got there, Marvel was very disappointed because there weren't any "lions" to see. For several months after moving to western Nebraska, the family lived in town. Within a year they rented what was later called the Dunder Farm . Over the next ten or so years they lived on the Dunder Farm, the Woodbine Farm, the Nine Mile Farm and, finally, settled on what would come to be known as the Hillman farm. All these farms were rented. The schools Marvel attended were C-14, W-44 and Bayard High School. Before she was married Marvel worked at Emil and Axle Ericson's store in Bayard, Nebraska (1934). Land records show that Rob and Anna purchased the Hillman farm in 1946. This was also the year that Rob purchased his first tractor. It was a well-used Allis Chalmers �WC�. When they purchased a smaller Allis Chalmers �B�, the first tractor became known as �Big Alice� and the second tractor, �Little Alice�. These were the only tractors they ever owned. Life on the farm was difficult. Mom said she was the �tom boy� of the family, preferring to do farm choirs rather that cooking, sewing or other girl things. Marvel loved school. One of her saddest stories was about being held out of school one semester because she did not have any shoes to wear. One of mom�s stories was from the time the family lived on the Woodbine Farm. (This farm is due east of the Hillman Farm.) Marvel was about twelve years old. Marvel and some friends were climbing in a tree and playing Tarzan. She jumped from one branch to another, caught the second branch but lost her grip. She fell to the ground, breaking both of her arms. She tried to hide it from her parents but when the swelling went down her arms were terribly crooked. They took her to the doctor. There, without anesthesia, the doctor re-broke and then set her arms. Even though town was only four miles from the farm, it was too far to walk each day. One year Marvel and her older sister Clarice stayed with a family in town during the week and only came home on weekends. Marvel first met her future husband, William Dallas, �Bill� DeVault, when they were still young children. They were sweethearts in high school and were married in Alliance, Nebraska on January 1, 1939. Marvel told us that they drove to Alliance with her parents, her sister Erma and Bill's mom. The marriage took place in the vestibule of the First Presbyterian Church. Marvel wore a wine-colored dress that she bought in Scottsbluff. They had saved some money and bought a console radio in Alliance. After the ceremony they all went to see a movie and then went back to her parents' farm for dinner. Marvel says that they still had the radio when they moved to Reseda, California in 1950. Marvel and two of her older sisters were married on January 1. The three of them made a pact that they would celebrate each wedding anniversary together. World War II pretty much scattered the family and the planned annual get-togethers never happened. After Bill and Marvel were married, they lived at the Anderson House apartments in Bridgeport, Nebraska. Bill worked at the gas station and Marvel worked for the Farm Bureau. The depression was over but jobs in rural Nebraska were still hard to come by. At one point, Bill, his mother and his uncle were all out of work, all four were living on Marvel's salary. Eventually Bill and a friend traveled to Garden Grove, California. They stayed with his friend's aunt and uncle and went to Vultee aircraft assembly school. Marvel quit her job at the Farm Bureau and followed her sister Erma to Washington D.C. for a higher-paying job at the Census Bureau. She arrived in Washington D.C. on September 12, 1940. It was a great job and Marvel loved the big city. One of Marvel�s stories involved a weekend trip with her sister and some friends to the country. She said that late in the evening on the way back to Washington D.C. they passed through Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Even though it was the dead of winter, they got out of the car and ran around the battlefield reenacting the famous battl After graduating from aircraft assembly school, Bill got a job working for Lockheed Aircraft assembling P-38 fighter aircraft. The country was gearing up for World War II. Once Bill got established with Lockheed, Marvel, reluctantly because she was having such a good time in Washington, D.C., quit her job at the Census Bureau and moved to California. This would have been in late December 1940 or early January 194 Bill and Marvel moved into a small guest house located at 418 1/2 Harvard Road, Burbank, California. They were living there when I was born in September of 1942. Near the end of the war, Bill was drafted into the Army. The family was living on Pass Ave., a house they owned. I was about two years old. Bill, inducted at San Pedro, was soon assigned to a base near Paso Robles, California. Marvel got the house ready to sell and then left it with a real estate agent. Mom, now very pregnant with their second child, and I moved to an apartment near Bill. Eventually Bill was transferred at Fort Ord. Mom and I moved to an apartment near Marvel's sister Doris and her family who lived in Mountain View, California. Bill was still in the service when World War II ended. He said that he thought they would all be released from the army, but it was not to be. He was sent to Japan to serve with the Army of Occupation. This was in December of 1945 and Marvel was having a hard time with her pregnancy. Anna Hillman, Marvel's mom, came out from Nebraska to bring her and me back to the family farm. There is a great story about Anna�s train ride out to California. The trains were fully occupied moving troupes around the country. Marvel's mother was told that she could get a seat on the train but would not be allowed in the dining car. She started out on the two-and-one-half day trip to California with only a piece of cheese and some crackers. However, the soldiers on the train soon learned of her situation and brought her food from the dining car. Marvel's mom said that she never missed a meal. Robin was born in Alliance, Nebraska in February of 1946. In December of 1946 Bill returned from Japan and was discharged from the service. Marvel traveled to California to meet him and they went back to Nebraska for Christmas. The family soon moved back to California where Marvel found an apartment made from converted army barracks. The barracks, on Amherst Drive, in Burbank, California, were located on grounds of McCambridge Park. My first real memories of life are all from the time we lived in the barracks. When Bill returned to California he went back to work for Lockheed but did not like the job that they had for him. He soon quit the job at Lockheed and went into business with his brother-in-law, Vern Cartwright. They leased a Shell gas station in Hollywood. They ran the station for a while but were not able to make a living for one family, let alone two. A year or so after returning to California, Bill got a job at Bendix Pacific, a company involved in the engineering and manufacturing of aircraft hydraulic systems. We lived in the barracks until 1950 when Marvel and Bill purchased a new house at 7338 Garden Grove Ave., Reseda, California. Their third and last child, Bradford Dean, was born in May of 1951. This is the house that I grew up in. I lived there until I was married in 196 The greatest gift my mom gave me was the freedom to grow up doing the things that interested me. My major interest was in gas engines and gas-powered vehicles. Years before I had a driver�s license, I made numerous lawn-mower-engine-powered bicycles. We rode these gas-powered bikes everywhere. I also acquired old motorcycles and scooters and got them running. I owned my first car when I was fourteen years old. For ten or so years grease was part of our family life. It was on everything I touched or walked on. I also made guns from iron water pipe. I made the gun powder out of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulphur and charcoal. I used these homemade guns to shoot marbles at tin cans. Of course this was all highly illegal but times were different then. I was also into adventure and exploring. From time to time we would go on "bike hikes." A friend and I would leave early in the morning and ride to "far off places" like Hansen Dam. We might not get home until after dark. On occasion my mother would drive us in the car to the west edge of the civilized San Fernando Valley. She would drop us off at the end of a dirt road. We would agree to be back at the drop-off point in, say, six hours. Then, with nothing more than a sack lunch and a canteen, we would hike and explore the hills. Somehow we always found our way back to the drop-off point where mom had returned to pick us up. Today, I can�t imagine how such a thing was possible. Social conditions in the valley were much different then. We often left the doors of our house unlocked and always left the keys in the cars that were parked in our driveway. In 1956 Marvel went to work for the Los Angeles City School System. She worked as a secretary and, for many years, as an office manager. She worked at a number of schools including Parthenia Street School, Cantara Street School, and Wonderland School. Marvel really enjoyed working. She officially retired in 1981 but continued to work as a substitute office manager until 1992. Marvel and Bill divorced in 1973. It was a surprise to us kids but my mom had been expecting it for many years. Dad had always been difficult to live with. In the end he was unhappy about how his life had turned out and needed someone to take it out on. I think Mom�s decision to go to work in 1956 was pretty much a recognition that she would eventually have to be able to support herself. As it turned out, my dad pretty much shut down while my mom�s life blossomed. She was now able to have friends, go to social events, travel and do many of the things that he had not been able to do with my dad. Marvel always wanted to travel and, after she retired, she got to do so. After the divorce, my mom moved into an apartment. This was fine for she was so involved with catching up on life that she did not have time to care for a house. About 1979, Dad turned the house over to Robin so she could raise her two boys in a home with a back yard. Marvel moved back into the house in 1991 and lived there until August of 2009 when she moved to an assisted living apartment. The Reseda house has since been sold to Marvel�s grandson, Todd Lindsey. In the fall of 1984 Marvel worked as one of the many volunteers that helped put on the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles. She got to see (and sometimes meet) many important people. Like many others that attended the event, she collected lots of buttons. It was one of the most enjoyable and most memorable times of her life. Marvel began to travel by attending trips organized by elder hostels. She then became friends with Lou and Jeanne Eloe. The Eloes organized tours to many interesting places. Here is a partial list of the tours Marvel took with the Eloes. France (August 1983) Germany, Austria & Italy (August 1984) Hawaii (October 1985) Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan (March 1986) Austraila & New Zealand (October 1986) Alaska (1987) Nova Scotia (1988) The villages of England, Scotland and Wales (July-August 1989) Kenya (September 1989) Eastern and Central Europe (October 1990) Marvel loved to read. She had a sixty-year-long relationship with the Reseda Public Library. She also loved to garden. Her yard was always filled with beautiful plants. In her later years she always had one or two cats and often fed many neighborhood strays. Marvel made friends, good friends, as easily as most of us get up in the morning. She outlived most of them. She had travel friends, bridge friends and gardening friends. I recall the Dyers, the Cutshaws, the Reppes, the Ninegars, the Duggans, the VanEuens, the Eloes, the Hammerles, the Bogenschields, Helen Nall, Mary Beatty, Alice Lucas, Fran Quigley, Betty Hegeman, Doris Reynolds, Carol Lundgren, Jo Swanberg and Laura Gordon but there were many, many others. One very special friend was Stephanie Milka, who lives just up the street from Marvel. Starting in the late 1970s, Marvel suffered a number of personal losses. Her father died in 1979. Her sister Erma died in 1981, her husband Bill in 1982, her mother Anna in 1983 and her son Brad died in 1985. Each one took a toll but Brad�s death was easily the biggest tragedy of Marvel�s life. My dad died suddenly in 1982. After his death, I realized that I really did not know much about his life growing up. He rarely talked about his life before he was married. After my retirement I had the opportunity to spend many hours with my mom. She told many stories about her life before I was old enough to know what was happening. I will forever cherish getting to know this remarkable woman. In 2009 it became clear that Marvel could no longer live on her own. It was really hard for her to leave her house but within a couple of months she told us that she was far happier in her assisted living apartment. We had noticed that she was not eating much when she was home alone but when we could come by she would eat like a horse. Even her doctor became concerned about her loosing weight. The problem was that there was no one to share her meals with. Once she was at the assisted living complex, she made new friends and meals became a social occasion again. She gained twenty pounds the first year. Several years ago Marvel began to show signs of Alzheimer�s disease. She was able to cope for a while but it finally took her life on June 16, 2011. If it had not been for the Alzheimer�s, she probably would have lived another half-dozen years. Everybody thinks their mother is special. I, however, truly believe that Marvel was a really remarkable woman. Much of what makes Tracy, Tracy came from my mother. My mother, the mother I knew before Alzheimer�s, will be really missed.
Tracy Lynn DeVault OBITUARY
Marvel Kathryn Hillman, 92, died Thursday, June 16, 2011, at Pacifica Senior Living, Northridge, California. She was the daughter of Robert Sterling Hillman and Anna Magdalene (Diehm) Hillman. Marvel was born January 29, 1919 on a farm near Crab Orchard, Nebraska. Shortly after she was born her family moved to a farm near Bayard, Nebraska where she was raised. On January 1, 1939 she married her high school sweetheart, William Dallas DeVault. Marvel and Bill moved to Southern California in 1940. In 1949 they bought a home in Reseda. Marvel lived there until two years ago when she moved to assisted living. For many years Marvel worked as an office manager for the Los Angeles Unified School System. Marvel was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a son, Bradford Dean DeVault and three sisters. She is survived by a son, Tracy Lynn DeVault (and wife Judy) of Prescott, AZ; a daughter, Robin Anne Lindsey, Encino; a sister, Wanda Cartwright, Vista, CA and a brother, Robert Hillman (and wife Pat), Gardnerville, NV. She is also survived by five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and many dear friends.
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