How did Walter and Marie meet?A neighbor of Marie's parents, in Evansville, was a coworker
of Walter's at the steel mill. He told Walter about Marie, who
still lived at home, and introduced them. The rest is history.
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Why did they move to California in 1946?
Marie did not like raising the kids where it snowed. In
Evansville it snowed enough to make things quite dirty since all
home and companies heating was by coal. She had a cousin Lena
who lived in El Monte California. Her letters in the winter were
spoke of nice sunny weather. Their oldest child, Howard, also
had asthma at that time and a drier climate was recommended. A
distant relative Clyde Burns (who lived on the same street), and
worked in movie westerns in the 30's and 40's, also told of the
virtues of southern California. He wanted to move back to the
coast and needed a ride. Walter (age 38) and Marie (35) decided
to move with their three children ages 9, 6 and 3. Marie's
sister Ruth and her husband Frank also wanted to go as did their
mother Louise (Lula) (age 58). Howard and Harold's ages were the
same as Jason and Aaron today.
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How did they get there?
Walter went first and drove the family car (1936 Chevrolet?)
with Clyde Burns (about 60 at the time) along. Walter bought a
house and half interest in Ajax Carpet Cleaning. Then Marie
boxed up all the furniture for the moving van. Marie and her
three children rode with Frank and Ruth in their 1935 Ford 2
door sedan. Grandma Lula and Ruth's dog Spotty rode along also.
There were seven souls in the little, but reliable, black car.
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What route was taken?
Basically Interstate Route 66 which went from Chicago to Los
Angeles and is now replaced with Freeways. They reached Route 66
at St. Louis Missouri. They took Route 66 west to the mountains
just west of Alberquerque where the snow forced them to detour
by a southern route. They entered California via Yuma and came
to El Monte California through Palm Springs.
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Where did they settle?
For a few months Lula, Frank and Ruth lived with Walter and
Marie in their small home on Fruitvale Ave. Then Ruth and Frank
moved to Monrovia where Frank drove a milk truck for a small
dairy named for the owner McShane. Lula married Clyde Burns and
lived in a trailer in Hollywood where Clyde worked as a movie
actor.
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Who else moved to California and when?
The next of the relatives to move west was Marie's brothers
Neal and Earl. They were identical twins. They moved to
Monrovia. Earl and his wife Ruth owned a court of small homes
that were rented out. Earl got Swift and Company to transfer his
accounting job to downtown Los Angeles. "Earl's Ruth"
had given up a job as secretary and office manager in a law firm
in Evansville. She tended the rentals and kept house. Neal and
Lillian with son Bob also moved to Monrovia about 1947. Neal
worked for Conrac building televisions sets which were just
becoming available for industrial use. Earl's Ruth's brother Ray
Banta and his wife moved out later as well as Clyde Burn's
sister Flora.
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Why did they settle first in El Monte?
A cousin of Marie's (Lena and her husband Axel) lived in
north end of El Monte. That small city was very rural at the
time and a suburb of Los Angeles. We dont know why Lena moved
there originally but it was a very nice place to live at the
time. It would be difficult to think of a better place and many
millions of people found that out in the 40s and 50s. There was
light rail that could get you anywhere. Los Angeles was about 20
miles and 30 minutes away. Weather was wonderful year around.
Why did the whole family wind up in Monrovia at one point?
The Bollingers and Leinenbachs found Monrovia to be even nicer
that El Monte. It was several hundred feet higher in altitude
and above much of the winter fog. The adjacent mountains were
beautiful and the homes well kept. It was logical for the whole
family to live in the same area.
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Did everyone in the family own rental property?
Yes, all did at sometime or other. Walter and Marie had a
motel on Route 66 Valley Blvd in Bassett just east of the San
Gabriel River in 1948. Earl and Ruth had a court on Foothill
Blvd in Monrovia. Ruth and Frank had a trailer park in Palm
Desert and Earl and Ruth in Hemet. Neal and Lillian had a
trailer park in Hemet. Walter and Marie had a nice court of five
homes in Monrovia that they bought from Ruth and Frank. Bob
Bollinger bought a tract of 16 homes, with his Dad's help, and
rented them until they sold.
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Who in the family worked for Aerojet , the rocket company?
Aerojet was one of the largest companies in the San Gabriel
valley. Walter worked for them from 1950 to 1969 as expediter in
Receiving. Bob Bollinger started as a design draftsman for them
in 1955 and early in 1956 Howard Williams did the same. Ray
Banta worked many years for Aerojet as a purchasing agent.
Mention is made of their work in the 900 page book published in
1997 Aerojet: the Creative Company.
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Why are so many now in Rancho Cordova California?
In the 1960s Walter and Marie's children moved away from
Monrovia and after several moves (Hemet and Chula Vista) they
decided to be nearer the one child in California and a place
from which they likely would not have to move. Howard and
Marilee had moved to Rancho Cordova (Sacramento) in 1970 when
all Aerojet rocket work was consolidated there. It got away from
the smog and worked out well for everyone. Later Janet, Jerry
and Mike Ragsdale moved to Rancho Cordova from the Northwest. In
1997 Jerry's mother also came to Rancho. Earl and Ruth and Ruth
Bollinger remained in southern California (Hemet) living almost
across the street from each other. Neal and Lillian lived in
Hemet up to their death.
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How did Harold and Beryl wind up in Corona California?
After Harold finished his residency in Salt Lake City, he and
Beryl and their young family yearned to return to southern
California. They had lived in England and Panama Canal Zone and
had endured what had seemed extremes of weather to native
Californians. He had an opportunity to join a Radiology
partnership in Corona and they have been there ever since.
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Who are the twins in the family and are they identical?
Walter and Bob were non identical twins. Neal and Earl were
identical twins. Steven and Kevin (sons of Howard) are non
identical twins.
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Why does Grandma Marie write so many letters?
She has kept in touch with her family for decades and kept
the family in touch with each other by writing and circulating
letters. She has spent a large part of her time doing that and
the family appreciates it. Fortunately the advent of the
internet and e-mail has taken a little of the burden off her
shoulders in the past several years.
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What cars has Grandpa Walter owned?
The first was a Maxwell about 1924 model. Then a Model T
Ford. Then a Model A Ford followed by a 1936 Chevrolet sedan.
Then a 1948? Studebaker and a 1951 Plymouth. The largest car was
a light green 1953 Chrysler V-8 four door sedan. Also a 1956
light green Chevrolet. The favorite of all was a 1966 white
Chevrolet Impala with light blue interior. Then a brown 1974
Ford followed by the current 1978 Chevrolet Nova V-8 2 door
yellow sedan.
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What is Groundy Uppy and how does it relate to Burgo Soup?
Grandma Marie never wastes anything- let alone food. The
remains on a ham bone that cant be sliced into sandwich meat is
ground up with cheese and pickles to make a sandwich spread
adored by many in the family. Her cousins in Evansville made an
old German recipe of vegetable beef stew which was served at
family outings in parks. Rather than being cut up, the
ingredients were ground up in a food grinder and then stewed for
a consistent taste.
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What other family recipes are there?
The ones from the early days included roast beef with mashed
potatoes and gravy. This was a common occurance on Sunday noon
meal after church. In California in the 50s canned beef from
Argentina was a favorite for many reasons. First it wasn't
allergenic for Walter. Second it was very good and Marie knew
how to serve it many different tasty ways. Third it was
relatively cheap and could be stored for a long time. Marie
learned how to make cheap meats tasty. Beef hearts were cheap
but very tough. So she ground them up (sound familiar) and put
them into a gravy. Brains were also graound up and fried into
patties. Yummm. There were also great hamburgers fried so that
there were "cracklins" of tasty carbonized beef that
everyone begged for before dinner. When pork chops were
available they were made with a gravy using buttermilk as a base
with tomatoes. This was called Hungarian pork chops. It was a
family favorite for decades.
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What are some of the families favorite songs and who plays
what instruments?
Janet Ragsdale and Beryl Williams are the only trained
musicians. But the family loves music. Walter has always loved
music and played harmonica and sang in a choir. Harold, Kevin
and Howard play the guitar - Harold had some lessons. Marilee
had lessons on the accordian from the same teacher that taught
Myron Florin of Lawrence Welks orchestra. Debbie and Cliff have
a piano as does Steve and Sandy so their children are exposed to
music and several have done well.
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How did Howard's Steven and Debbie and their families get to
Montana?
In the early 1970s Howard's children by his first marriage
moved from Rancho Cordova to Montana to live with their mother
during their high school years. Kevin moved back to California
after years in the Army and Glenn moved to Portland after
finishing college. Steven and Debbie married and are raising
families in Montana where they love living.
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What is Craig (Harold's Son) and his wife Cara doing back in
Indiana? Didnt the family try that once?
Craig graduated from Pharmacy school and the best available
position was to teach at Purdue's School of Medicine in
Indianapolis Indiana. Cara met Craig in UCSF Pharmacy school and
after her doctorate was also completed she joined him in
Indianapolis. She obtained a position with Eli Lilly in
Indianapolis. So part of the family has come full circle in the
migration. Harold and Beryl's son Rob has taken an even wider
circle by getting his doctorate in chemistry at Northwestern in
Chicago where he met and married Amy. They are moving on to jobs
in the eastern Pennsylvania area next.
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