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Note: U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947:
Name: Clarence Gene Peterson Gender: Male Race: White Age: 18 Relationship to Draftee: Self (Head) Birth Place: Eugene, Oregon, USA Birth Date: 22 Nov 1927 Residence Place: Springfield, Oregon, USA Registration Date: 26 Nov 1945 Employer: Clarence Peterson Weight: 145 Complexion: Ruddy Eye Color: Brown Hair Color: Other Height: 5 7 Next of Kin: C Peterson _______________________________________________ Dad’s Reminiscences as told to Barbara Herring
Dad’s grandparents, Silas and Nancy Peterson, lived at Lorane for a while. They also had to have lived at Coburg for a while as Dad’s father, Clarence Peterson, graduated from Coburg High School. While in the Coburg area, Clarence played baseball on different town teams. He had been offered a contract with the Cincinnati Reds, but his mother, Nancy, thought that playing baseball was not a reputable occupation. Her father, Thomas J. Fuson, had been a minister, and she convinced him not to accept the contract.
Silas and Nancy and their son, Albert Peterson, also lived on 17th St in Springfield before Silas died in 1929. Nancy and her son, Albert, continued lived there until moving into the house at 228 W. "E" St. in Springfield.
Dad’s parents, Clarence and Goldie Peterson, lived in Harrisburg after they were married and may have been living there when Dad was born. Dad was born at the Eugene Hospital. Dr. Kuykendall, Sr. delivered him while Dr. Kuykendall’s son delivered both myself, Barbara (Peterson) Herring and my brother, Jim Peterson.
Before starting school, they lived with Grandma’s dad, Francis "Frank" Keyes, for a while. Frank Keyes was living on "A" St. in Springfield. Dad remembers being hit by his Grandfather Keyes with his cane. Dad returned the favor one time by hitting his grandfather in the head with a piece of wood while he was sitting in his chair. As Dad remembers it, it wasn’t too long after that that he and his parents moved.
After that they lived in tents and did wood cutting, working in mills, etc. They would pile stuff up on Model T cars and one Model T truck when they moved from one place to another. Dad’s potty chair would be tied on the very top which was a source of great embarrassment to Dad’s cousin, Keith Peterson. When going up hills, they would back up the hills as the cars had more power in reverse. He said the movie Grapes of Wrath looked pretty much like the way they were living at that time. With them were his aunt and uncle, Dan and Trude Peterson, their son, Keith and occasionally their other son, Glenn Peterson. Dad believes that this was in the Trent area.
1st grade - Trent - They lived at the Hubbard ranch in an old farmhouse and took care of the place and the Hubbard kids and worked on shares. It was while they were living here that Albert Peterson was injured while falling timber with his brother, Clarence Peterson. A snag or something came back and hit him. It broke his neck and fractured his skull to the point where his brain was supposedly exposed. For some time they were not sure if he would live. Albert was always on disability after that. He received $30 per month.
2nd grade - Springfield - They lived in the 228 West E. St. house. This is the house that later Grandma Peterson (Nancy) and her son, Albert lived in for the rest of both of their lives. While living there, Dad would ride his little red wagon, using it like we would a scooter, down the street. Several neighbors did not like the noise it made when he went by and complained to his Grandma. He said a couple of them were "old maid" sisters. They also did not like the white bunny that he had that grew up into a big white rabbit. They especially did not like it when the rabbit got loose and ate their gardens. By this time the rabbit had also gotten rather mean. One of the women neighbors tried to chase it away with a broom, and it attacked her leg. Dad said it took some time for her leg to heal, and she was always showing him her leg and telling him his rabbit had done that. Dad said that it was hard to feel sorry for her as she was always mean to him.
However, another neighbor lady, Mrs. Severson, was really nice and would invite him in for cookies. Another lady that lived several blocks away had really pretty flowers in her yard. Dad would walk by and sometimes just stand and look at them. They were so pretty, and Dad had never lived anywhere where they had a nice yard and flowers. She would give him flowers to take home. In the fall, she gave him a little sack of bulbs. He took them home, and he and his mother planted them. They moved to Yoncalla before they bloomed the following spring, but he said that they were there as long as he can remember while his Grandma Nancy Peterson and Uncle Albert Peterson lived there. Dad has had a life long love of having pretty flowers in his yard. Dad and Mom shared a love of flowers.
3rd/4th grade - 8th grade - Yoncalla - He was moved up to 4th grade because he was ahead of what Yoncalla was doing. They first lived in an auto camp owned, in part, at least, by the Sprinkle family.
They then moved to a house by where the Post Office was. They were there through the 4th grade. They had an indoor toilet in that house. The house was also near the railroad tracks. It was from his window upstairs that he saw a young man that was riding the rails, jumping from one car to another when he fell, and the train cut both of his arms off. He said it took an awfully long time for them to get him help and finally take him to the doctor’s house. He said the railroad people would not let anyone near the injured man for a long time. He said that he never told anyone for a long time what he had seen. He said you just didn’t tell things in those days.
Dad had a Saturday Evening Post route and a Ladies Home Journal route at about this time. The Saturday Evening Post was a weekly magazine that sold for 5 cents a copy of which Dad got paid 1 1/2 cents each. The Ladies Home Journal was a monthly magazine that sold for 10 cents of which Dad got paid 2 1/2 cents each. The Postmaster, Ed Kelso, and his wife had been the ones that had encouraged him to get the routes. They always bought magazines from him and let him come in and warm up by the pot bellied stove that was in the back of the Post Office whenever he was there.
One time when Dad was at the Post Office, the Postmaster noticed a red streak going up his arm. The Postmaster took him home so he could show his mother and get medical attention for it. He definitely had blood poisoning. Dad had hurt his wrist, but he had not said anything to anyone.
Then they moved across the tracks to some mill shacks that had cold water only. They were there until about the 7th grade. It had no indoor toilet. The neighbor, a Mr. Bigelow, had a big red rooster that was mean and would chase any of them on the way to the outdoor toilet. The rooster would also patrol the house. His mother would take a stick with her on the way to the toilet to keep the rooster away. One day Dad hit the rooster in the head with a BB and cold cocked the rooster. Dad thought the rooster was dead and that he would be caught and get paddled so he took the rooster out into the bushes and ran back to the house. However, it must have been a pretty tough old rooster because pretty soon Dad heard him outside crowing. Dad did not bother to mention to his mother what he had done.
They then moved to a house with an indoor toilet where they lived until he finished grade school.
When Dad was young he saw his dad beat out of money that was owed to him on several different occasions. His dad wouldn’t demand his money while others would which, at times, meant other kids had new clothes and shoes when he did not. He resented this and vowed to never let anyone beat him out of money. The one time that Dad says he remembers his dad standing up to someone was when one of the local bullies was bothering Dad and some of the other boys. The bully had already put one of the younger kids, Keith Crow, in the hospital. His dad strongly suggested to the boy’s father that his son should make sure that he did not bother any of the kids again or it would be the father getting hit.
His parents taught him to play Pinochle when he was pretty young. It is the only game he remembers playing with his parents. They were all pretty good card players. His dad would play poker at the local tavern and use the winnings to buy bread, milk and other necessities that were sold at the tavern.
In the summer after his 8th grade year, they lived at Culp Creek. They carried water from the Row River. He rode a bus from there to start high school for a month or two at Cottage Grove High School. Then they moved to Gibbs St, next to George and Stella Gates, his future in-laws. It was Stella who told Goldie Peterson that the Japs had bombed Pearl Harbor.
10th grade - Springfield - At the start of his sophomore year, they moved to 1021 Laura St. in Springfield. They stayed there until he married Mom. By this time his dad was staying in Noti during the week to work in the woods and coming home on week-ends. His dad first boarded with a couple on Cook Rd, near Noti. Then he started staying at the Noti boarding house. Sometimes Dad would stay in his dad’s room on the week-ends to work or just as a place to hang out away from home. He would take his car out and get it filled with gas before going back to town. Gas was rationed so he was not supposed to be able to get it filled up, but he did.
His school attendance was not good, but he was often “working” by shooting pool at Lucky’s in downtown Eugene along with Merlin Stam and Ralph Adams for money. They also used to unload grain and sack it for Adam’s Feed Store. They would get $100 to unload and sack a boxcar of grain. They would hire other kids for about $5 each to do the work and they would keep the rest. He also picked corn in the fall for Earl McNutt who was mayor of Eugene at one time.
By the middle of his last semester of his Senior Year in high school, he had been absent about 19 out of 30-31 school days so Owen Sabin, the school superintendent, told five of them that they weren’t graduating unless they got A’s on their finals which would get them D’s in the classes. They gathered up their books and did all their work and studied hard, but they did not go to school. They showed up for their finals and got the top five grades in the Senior class in the Social Economics class. The five were Dad, Merlin Stam, Bob __ and Gene ___ and one other. Ralph Adams, another friend, was a year behind Dad.
The first car he had was a 1934 Willys coupe. They called them a Crackerbox . It has 17 inch tires. Then he had a Plymouth coupe. Then he had a Studebaker Dictator with extra gas tanks that he said was a really ugly car.
From July to November 1945, he drove a log truck for Teon Lovegren. He had started out setting chokers, then he drove log truck. He had started working for $.75/hr, but after about a week, he was getting $1.00/hr, then $1.175/hr. After about a month and a half, he was making $1.375/hr. He had already learned to run the equipment when working with his dad earlier. He had done a little climbing before, but Lovegren taught him more about climbing. He always got double time when climbing spar trees, and he never got less than two hours for any time that he went up. He said that he was up a spar tree one day when a Mr. Baldwin was blowing stumps. The powder didn’t go off, and he was digging it out when the powder went off, killing Mr. Baldwin.
When Dad & Mom were first married, they lived in a cabin in what was called an auto camp. Today it would be considered a motel. It was located at the intersection of Territorial Rd. and Hwy 36 just west of Cheshire. They lived there for maybe six months.
Next they lived at Star Camp near Noti. It was a mill camp. They were living there when Barbara was born.
Next the lived at Marcola for maybe a year. It was while living here that Barbara put a can of baby food applesauce into the wood cook stove oven. It blew the oven door off.
Then they lived in a house in West Springfield for a few months. It was 1/4 mile South of the Railroad underpass on the left going South. It was across from the Barrett greenhouses. The Barretts were Mom’s grandparents. Mom wanted to move before winter set in as the house was in a flood area. The year or two before there had been four feet of water in the house. This must have been the summer of 1948 as Dad says that Mom was pregnant with Jim during this time. He said that she had to stay in bed for about a month during the summer because the doctor was worried about her miscarrying. When Jim was born, she did have to have a number of transfusions. Dad thought maybe eight or nine. He said that she nearly died at this time and was told never to have any more children. Her blood was Rh negative, and she had trouble with her blood clotting. She was given penicillin while in the hospital. After she went home, she had an allergic reaction to the penicillin and had to go back to the hospital.
In the fall of 1948, before Jim was born, Dad and Mom bought a house at 1825 "J" St. in Springfield from Andrew Holtan. He lived on E. 13th St in Eugene not too far from Willamette St. They paid $2300 for the house, putting $300 down and paying $20 or $30 per month, including interest. Dad’s parents, Clarence and Goldie Peterson, and his Uncle Albert Peterson loaned them the $300 for the down payment.
It was a little old gray house that was not finished on the inside. It had only 2x4 studs on the inside and the framework for the kitchen cabinets when they bought it. There was a well in the garage, but it was not piped into the house until after they bought it. Albert helped them some in fixing it up. They used a woodstove to cook on. Dad says that it was the same woodstove - with a new oven door - that Barbara had blown the oven door off of when we lived at Marcola.
There was an outside toilet when they bought it. When the city put a sewer line through behind the house, it was too expensive to hook up to for them. After the city was done, they did manage to find a way to hook up to it. Of course, the method was strictly illegal.
In May of 1949, Mom and Dad and Clarence and Goldie Peterson traded Mom and Dad’s little gray house and a rental of Clarene and Goldie’s at 1021 Laura St in Springfield for the 52 acres and house on Route "F" at Noti. At this time the little gray house was valued at $4800. The Laura St house was right behind the "K" St. house in Springfield that Clarence and Goldie lived in. The Noti house is the house that Barbara remembers growing up in.
In 1953 or 1954, Mom and Dad and Clarence and Goldie Peterson bought the 160 acres behind the 52 acres where Mom and Dad lived from the Roy Chandler estate. Roy Chandler had been killed in a car wreck. Clarence and Goldie then moved from "K" St. in Springfield to this place after Mom and Goldie spent a lot of time cleaning it up. Dad and his dad, Clarence, also put in indoor plumbing to the house. They lived there until March 1956 when the house burned.
In 1960, Mom and Dad sold the 52 acres and bought 6 acres on Knight Road on the east side of Noti. They built a ranch style home there. Dad’s cousin, Keith Peterson, did the framing, and Dad did most of the rest of the work on the house. _____________________________________________ The Eugene Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore., March 1962: Noti PTC Names Herbert President
NOTI - Dewey Herbert was elected president of the Noti Parent-Teacher Club. Also elected were Clarence Peterson, vice president; Mrs. Bertha Carver, secretary; Kenneth Garner, treasurer. They will take office in May.
George Green of Elmira gave a short talk on plans for a new fire district including Noti and Elmira. ____________ April 28, 1966: Fern Ridge Position Sought By Three Men
Fern Ridge--Three men are running for the five year position on the Fern Ridge District School Board, now occupied by Noble Wheeler who is not running to succeed himself.
The district will be asked to select one man between Marvin Reynolds and Rayburn Kincaid, both of Veneta, and Clarence Peterson of Noti.
West Lane News endeavors to give a fair picture of each man and his qualifications without making any recommendations. The same questions have been presented to each of the candidates.
CLARENCE PETERSON Clarence Peterson, of Knight Rd., Noti, is 38 years old. A graduate of Springfield High School, Peterson is employed by Swanson Brothers Lumber Co. at Noti as a faller and bucker. He has lived in this area for 18 years. His family consists of his wife, Lovella; Daughter Barbara, 19, at Oregon State College; son, Jim, 17, at Elmira High school and daughters Donna 11, and Wallie 10 at Noti Grade school.
Peterson acquainted himself with school needs and problems through attending board meetings, budget meetings, parent-teachers meetings and has held offices in the PTC at Elmira High school and the Noti Grade schools. He is interested in schools and says he would like to see the work which has started in the district carried on. A good job is being done so far, and he would like to see it continue, he stated.
In his opinion of a "code of conduct" for board members, he says no rule should be hard and fast. Some should be with flexibility allowing for good judgment to be used." Board members should profit by mistakes and look to the future.
The various committees, suggested by Ed. Utter and Neal Martin at a recent board meeting has a lot of merit, Peterson averred. "This needs further investigation."
His opinion of consolidation is that ther are arguments both ways. Smaller schools and districts hold more interest in the community but not educationally, he stated. However, a district can become too large, he added. Consolidation is here. It is best to make an effort to go forward with it. Schools are run for the purpose of educating children" he said.
Discussing the idea of changing to an administrative district, Peterson, questioned the need for this at the present time. It has some merit but can limit the kind of personnel available. He felt that board members should be elected by the community as a whole, not by a local area. Instead of area representation, people involved should bring their problems to the board and put pressure on to get results, he said.
Future growth problems might be solved by building as near as possible to where the largest number of children are, according to Peterson. He believes Veneta has about reached its capacity and that population growth might bring Central into the picture as a future potential for school expansion this possibility lies also in the Elmira area. Sub-divisions could shift the population either way, he stated. Plans should be made ahead and grounds acquired for school expansion in the district., he added.
Peterson said he had studied the basic school support and IED levy some. He stated he was in favor of larger basic aid, supported more through income or other tax and less property tax. People with incomes and with school children should pay for this business. Older people should be relieved of this load.
School business is a million dollar business. A financial expert is needed to handle the business alone. There is too much for one man to handle all the business and the personnel as well as the district. Fern Ridge may not be ready for an assistant district superintendent, yet, but this will eventually have to come, Peterson predicted. ______________________________________________________________ The Applegate Pioneer Museum, Veneta, Lane Co., Ore., Scrapbook #54, p 9: Clarence Peterson
VENETA--The funeral will be held Sept. 17 for Clarence G. "Jack" Peterson of Veneta, who died Sept. 10 of lung disease. He was 74.
Peterson was born Nov. 22, 1927, in Eugene to Clarence and Goldie Keyes Peterson. He married Helen Gates in Cottage Grove on Dec. 8, 1945. She died May 29, 1964.
He graduated from Springfield High School. Peterson, who lived in Lane County for most of his life, also lived in Seaside, Salem and Gold Beach. He worked as a logger and as a safety inspector for the state of Oregon.
He enjoyed hunting, fishing, woodworking, camping, gardening and traveling. Peterson served on the Fern Ridge School Board.
Survivors include a daughter, Barbara Herring of Newberg; a son, Jim of Corvallis; and three grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Monday at Musgrove Family Mortuary in Eugene. Tuesday's service will be at 1 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be at Sailor Cemetery in Noti. ________________________________________ U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002:
Name: Clarence Peterson Address: 24993 Dunham Av City: Veneta State: Oregon Zip Code: 97487 Phone Number: 503-935-1539 Residence Years: 1995 View Neighbors: View Neighbors ________________________________________ U.S. Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002:
Name: Clarence Peterson Address: 24993 Dunham Av City: Veneta State: Oregon Zip Code: 97487 Phone Number: 541-935-1539 Residence Years: 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 View Neighbors: View Neighbors _____________________________________ Sailor Cem., Noti, Lane Co., Ore. - inscription:
- - - - - - - PETERSON - - Mom - - - - - - - - Dad - Helen L. - - - - Clarence G. 1926 - 1964 - - - 1927 - 2002 ___________________________ Oregon, Death Index, 1898-2008:
Name: Clarence Gene Peterson Age: 75 Birth Date: 1927 Death Date: 10 Sep 2002 Death Place: Lane ___________________________________________________ U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007:
Name: Clarence Gene Peterson [Clarence G Peterson] SSN: 541224424 Gender: Male Race: White Birth Date: 22 Nov 1927 Birth Place: Eugene Lane, Oregon Death Date: 10 Sep 2002 Father: Clarence Peterson Mother: Goldie F Keyes Type of Claim: Original SSN. Notes: Feb 1943: Name listed as CLARENCE GENE PETERSON; 13 Sep 2002: Name listed as CLARENCE G PETERSON _______________________ Social Security Death Index:
Name: Clarence G. Peterson SSN: 541-22-4424 Last Residence: 97487 Veneta, Lane, Oregon, United States of America Born: 22 Nov 1927 Died: 10 Sep 2002 State (Year) SSN issued: Oregon (Before 1951 ) _____________________ Oregon Death Certificate:
Name: Peterson, Clarence Gene County of Death: Lane Document #: 2172 [Local number] Birth date: 22 Nov 1927 Birth place: Eugene, OR Death date: 10 Sep 2002 Place of death: Eugene, OR Residence: Veneta, OR Marital status: Div. Spouse: none stated Father: Clarence Peterson Mother: Goldie Keyes Informant: Barbara Herring - Daughter Funeral Home: Musgrove Burial: Sailor Cemetery
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