Talk about a happy childhood, I sure had one. I must have been a beautiful baby because everyone shared in taking care of me. Emily told me about one time she and Max were taking care of me; they had dug a hole in the nice sandy soil and put me in it to play. At dinner time, mom asked "Where's Stanford"? They both had forgotten about me. It's a wonder that mom didn't kill them. She was sure mad. I also remember eating (green) grapes and getting sick as a dog. Stuart got blamed for that one. But I took all the blame when I swallowed a dime and they had to x-ray me at the hospital.

Emily also told me about the time that she, Max, and my cousins Alverne, and Lute Jr. were smoking cigarettes that my cousin Pauline had swiped from her dad's store near Calla Corner. Alverne wasn't the oldest of the group, but she was the biggest, and she demanded that they smoke. Poor Lutie was turning green when his mom caught up with him. He was a sick little puppy, vomiting all over the place.

My dad built a little home in Manteca where he was doing construction work, so we moved in there. We had a dog named Jack; I used to use him for a pillow when I got tired of playing in the dirt. I'd go to sleep right out in the dirt street in front of the house. Thank heaven it was a dead-end street; I was only 4 at the time.

I know that Max and Stuart loved me. There was a drainage ditch that ran by our house and for about 5 months of the year, it was kept full for irrigation purposes. So, to keep me from drowning, they would take turns throwing me into the ditch, hoping that I would swim out. They only had to come in a few times to get me out. All I ever heard was "paddle, you dummy". I must have or I wouldn't be here laughing about it now. Later on, they took me down to the slough and in big water, taught me how to dive. I was pretty proficient at that. At age 3, I started diving off a 5-foot platform and later on, I got up to the top of the pump house, about 30 feet high.

My younger brother, Charles Jr. was born in Manteca. I loved him because he was the only one I could beat up on. But if a fight started in the house, regardless of who it was, mom would chase us all out of the house, lock the doors, and go in and play the piano 'till dad came home. Then we would really catch it. He did 90 percent of the discipline. All she would ever do is to use a switch across our butt; or across our legs if we had short pants on.

One time I somehow managed to get my older sister Helen mad at me, so I took off running to go outside. The screen door was locked when I reached it. But, since I was doing about 90 mph, I never felt it when I ran right through the screen. Correction, it must have been 110 mph. Boy, was I looking forward to dad coming home that night.

As a matter of fact, I don't ever remember dad spanking me. But I do remember when I was about 13 years old living in Las Vegas. Dad was doing some electrical work around the house. He called me to come and get something for him. I said okay, but I never showed up. He called again and I said "I'll be right there". The third time he never called; he came around the corner of the house with a couple of strands of short wire in his hand and whopped me across the back. Talk about welts, talk about hollering, 'manzanita', that was the last time he had to call me twice.

I must have been about 5 years old when they sent me off to kindergarten. I was convoyed there by my older sister Emily and my two older brothers, Max and Stuart. I wasn't there very long before I made a big impression on the teacher and my classmates. I crapped in my pants. The teacher had to go around feeling everyone's pants. She asked if I had passed gas and I said no. When she finally put the finger on me, she got hold of Emily to take me home. I never did figure out why the teacher made such a big stink about it. Anyway, I didn't lie. Poor Emily was so embarrassed that she told mom that she wasn't ever going back to school, but she did.

Dad at that time was doing contracting work. He built a few homes and gas stations. Just on a handshake, the School Board had him build the second elementary school in Manteca. It was beautiful; it's still in use. They remodeled it and it's now a district office. The name of the school was Lincoln.

Tom, my oldest brother, was in the service in World War I. He lied about his age and went into the Navy. He was at odds with mom because she was on his butt about practicing the piano. Too bad he never stayed with it. He was good, but not great like our sister Helen was. After he got out of the service, he came by to visit us with his new wife, Betty. Evidently their marriage didn't last too long, probably because he liked to drink too much. They separated about 1926.

My older brothers, Kermit and Winston were in high school but they dropped out together about 1920. They left school to go to work on the Pardee, Hogan and Lyons dams. For excitement, Kermit went into Stockton and while riding on a roller coaster at a fair, he fell out of the seat and dropped about 100 feet, bouncing from one piece of the framework to the next all the way to the ground. They took him to a hospital in Stockton, but the doctor said there was nothing they could do for a broken back. Mom took him out of the hospital and put him in the one at French Camp. Seven days later, when he came out of a coma, mom was right at his bedside. A few months later, he married Amy Lida Schneider. They operated a grocery store right on the corner in downtown Manteca for several years. The town at that time was two blocks long, north to south, and one block east to west. Manteca had a population of approximately 2500 people. They were surrounded by farms growing grapes, watermelon and corn.

Emily and Helen each made their mark in athletics in high school in Manteca. After Helen graduated, she played the pipe organ at our only theater. All the movies at that time were silent. They had great western movies on Saturday; I'd get to see my heroes, Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, Tim Maynard, William S. Hart, Jack Holt and Harry Carry.

Max entered high school there too; he was also outstanding in athletics. We used to have great games out in the street in front of the house. Both he and Stuart taught me a lot; to show my appreciation, I would wet the bed at night. We all three slept in the same bed. It always felt so nice and warm on cold nights.

To make a little extra pocket money when I was about 10 or 11, Stuart and I used to walk along the railroad tracks and pick up any kind of metal to take to the junk yard. This provided me with enough pennies to buy a Maple Bar (3 cents then) on the way to school and to see an occasional silent movie.

The mighty San Joaquin River was about 5 miles from the house. We spent a lot of time spearing salmon as they ran up the river to spawn. One time, in very shallow water, Max caught a big thirty bounder between his legs. A big fat lady said "that's mine" and took it away from him. He told dad, but dad said we had plenty so forget it.

We always brought along a football to play with when the fishing was slow. One day we were playing touch football when Kermit batted me on the bottom just after I had caught a pass. Boy did I cry. He said, "whatta ya crying for, I never hurt you"? I showed them a big beautiful boil on my butt. Kermit took out his pocket knife and lanced it. The only musical talent that I ever possessed was my ability to cry in every octave.

Times started getting tough in the late 1920's, so dad moved us wherever there was work. We spent three months living in a tent in southern California near my uncle's place in Bellflower. Even Amy and Kermit shared our luxury domicile. Amy spent a lot of time helping me with reading and mathematics. We ended up living in the town of Bellflower for a few months. Uncle Lute operated a little grocery store nearby.

When we moved back to central California, we ended up in Modesto on Laurel Street. I was back in the fifth grade again. I played a little basketball and softball. But most of my time was spent at the municipal swimming pool. We lived near a little park, so Emily took me in hand and started giving me tennis lessons. She and Helen were tops, both in high school and junior college. They taught me well.

When Stuart was about 14, he got into a fight with some kid and cleaned his clock. So the kid got his big brother who was going to give Stuart a lesson. But the brother was 19 years old. Naturally, Stuart got Max who was 16 and Max and the big brother went at it. It was no contest; Max was some street fighter. No one ever bothered Stuart or me thereafter.

In late 1929, dad started working at Lyons Dam just above Sonora, California. During the summer, we got to go up there for our vacation. I really enjoyed swimming and fishing in the mountains. I still remember leaving my fishing pole out all night, and in the morning I had a 22-inch rainbow trout on the line. I don't remember ever catching any more until I fished in Panama, 13 years later. Fishing can be pretty expensive if you think only in terms of getting fish. For every fish I've ever caught, my expenses were such that it's averaged about 40 dollars a pound. But for me, 90 percent of fishing is the chance to commune with nature.

In 1929, dad somehow injured his knee while working on the dam. They sent him to St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco. He wanted us all near him, so we moved to Clayton Street, just a block off Haight Street and a block from Golden Gate Park.

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