This photo marks the Family's beginning in San Diego. It was way before my time, but I remember the stories Mom told whenever this photo was revisited. The people in this photo are my Dad, who is holding baby Darwin, nicknamed "Bay." Next to him is oldest sister, Patti, then Susan, Timmy, Lynda, and Skippy, with Mom standing behind them. The big old automobile is loaded down with bikes, baby carriages, and rocking chairs. There was minimal clothing crammed inside the car.
They are standing on a road just yards from Lindbergh Field. It is 1953. That family is all smiles in the photo. But they had been through weeks of cross country travel, from Detroit Michigan to San Diego California. Anyone who has traveled with kids knows what kind of fun that entails. And just think. Those were the days before disposable diapers, game boys, ipods, or backseat video screens. Before easy crosscountry freeway systems were completed, before meal preps being as easy as a drive thru MacDonalds. I don't know how any of them are managing to smile for the cameraman.
Prior to the big move, the famly had been living in a trailer. Dad, who had been a professional photographer as a bachelor, had met and fell in love with Mom, who was a widow with 5 children. They married in May of 1950, and Bay was born in August of 1952. At some point, Dad become employed in the aerospace engineering field, and there was promise of better opportunity for work in that field out in sunny California.
After a seemingly endless car ride with fidgity kids and a needy infant, they arrived in San Diego. Their first indication of trouble was when the Trailer park that they had made reservations to park in had overbooked and did not have room for them. They weren't sure where else to look to set up camp, and so began driving aimlessly around the Old Town area. When Mom saw the homes on the hill overlooking Old Town, she wanted Dad to drive up there to see the neighborhood. As they headed up Juan Street, a very steep road, the hitch to their trailer broke, sending the trailer containing most of their possessions speeding down the hill. It crashed into an old adobe wall surrounding the city founded by the Spaniard Missionaries some 200 years prior. The Trailer was destroyed, along with china, photography equipment, and anything else that was breakable.
The next bad thing happened when Dad went to apply for jobs. One by one, the Aerospace contractors told him they were not hiring. This isn't the picture that was painted to him back in Michigan. By the time he and the family got to Harbor Drive, and Ryan Aeronautical, Dad was down to his final shot. He left the family outside on the street and went in to apply. When he got the same story from Ryan hiring office, he couldn't take it any more. The always stoic and proud father broke down and cried. The human resource person asked him what his problem was, and Dad blurted out the whole story.
What happened next was like a made for TV movie. The employer's heart was moved, he bent the rules to hire one more, and sent the company photographer out to the car to take this black and white photo, which appeared in the company's newsletter shortly thereafter. Dad had a job, and soon, they would make their home up Juan Street and into Mission Hills.
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