! (1) Birth certificate, Santa Cruz Co., CA.
(2) CA marriage certificate of marriage to Alice Elliot, CA #20-042597.
(3) CA marriage certificate of marriage to Mary Lillian Herring Wilson, CA #66-011539.
(4) CA death certificate, CA #69-077073, George B. Hodgkin Jr., informant.
(5) Newspaper clippings, dates and newspapers unknown, from family collection.
(6) "Hodgkin Pedigree Book 1644-1906," Part II, by Jonathan B. Hodgkin, 1907, p.21. (a) Handwritten notes by himself in his copy of the "Hodgkin Pedigree Book," p.21,33. (b) Handwritten notes by daughter Adelina Hodgkin Davidson in his copy of the "Hodgkin Pedigree Book," now in her possession (1987).
(7) Personal knowledge of compiler, granddaughter A. Christine Davidson Kraft.
(8) "San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle," 23 Sep 1932.
(9) Personal knowledge of daughter Adelina Alice Hodgkin Davidson, Steptoe Ranch, McGill, NV.
(10) CA birth certificate of son George Barclay Hodgkin Jr, CA #1904-1001.
(11) Obituary, "The Fallbrook Enterprise," Fallbrook, CA, Thurs., 26 Jun 1969, p.A10.
(12) "Calavo - Growth and Progress of the Avocado Cooperative," by Richard Andrews, "California-Magazine of the Pacific," Dec 1937. Reprint.
(13) "Calavo News," No. 161, 25 Jul 1959, "Mister Calavo Retires."
(14) Inventory of household items & furniture, in his own handwriting, 26 Dec 1927, corrected 24 Apr 1928.
(15) Nora Turnbull (niece), Fresno, CA.
(16) Bristol, RI Deed dtd 22 Nov 1921, executed by heirs of Leonora I. Hodgkin. From family papers of Connie Roderick.
(17) George Barclay Hodgkin Jr., Cambria, CA (1998).
(18) Ship's manifest, "Minnewaska," 24 Jul 1911, Ellis Island, NY, p.178. Image posted at http://www.ellisisland.org, 22 Jun 2001.

! Birth: (1,3,4,6,6a) 2 Sep 1893. (2,3,4) California. (1,10,15) Santa Cruz, CA. (1,6) s/o Wilfred Haughton HODGKIN/Leonora Irene SMITH. (15) In a house on Beach Hill that was rented each summer. (16) Heir of Leonora I. HODGKIN, who was heir of Hannah B. SMITH.
Marriage to Alice Bunnell ELLIOT: (2,6a) 26 Dec 1919. (2) Mount Hermon, Santa Cruz Co., CA, by his brother W.R.H. HODGKIN. Witnessed by his brother Philip HODGKIN. [NOTE: Should be Mount Herman.]
Marriage to Mary Lillian HERRING: (3,6a) 3 Feb 1966. (3) Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., CA, by Max M. MORRISON, Presbyterian Minister, 947 Atchison St.
Death: (4,6b) 22 Jun 1969. (4) At his home, 2534 Ganesha Ave., Altadena, CA, 4:30 AM, from Autoimmune anemia lasting 2 yrs. (7,9) Alcoholism a contributing factor.
Burial: (4) Cremated 24 Jun 1969, Live Oak Memorial Park. Turner & Stevens Co., Pasadena, funeral directors. (17) His ashes scattered at sea by his son George Barclay HODGKIN Jr., who described the burial: "After his death I called some of his nephews and nieces. Peter MORDECAI, son of Violet, I remember calling, and John HODGKIN, son of Richard. John had/has a reputation for remarkable and daredevil adventures... So I was not surprised when he suggested he fly the two of us out beyond the three mile limit over the channel between the mainland and Catalina Island and there distribute my father's ashes. Why not? Your Grandpa spent a lot of time and energy trying to catch sailfish or swordfish or tuna from the waters of the Catalina channel. Seemed like a good idea. Something he'd have been in favor of. Well, maybe... I was certainly wrong when I counted on John's knowing the protocols of ash scattering. I assumed wrongly he'd done it before. Ashes, as you may know, come from the crematory in a cardboard box. A small cardboard box. The rules governing such things require that the box itself not be dropped. Instead it must be opened and only the ashes scattered over the water. I had read this somewhere and so was prepared to open the box and scatter away. Neither of us was prepared, however, for what took place when at John's suggestion I unlatched the door on my side and pushed... airplanes of the highwing, one engine variety, while having doors which open correctly, hinged at the front so's not to be ripped off if opened while aloft, do not have any way to prevent the wind from blowing INTO the compartment. Ideally, OUT would be the direction of preference when trying to scatter ashes. The wind blew in and into the open ash box and filled that tiny cabin with gray powder. It was not an altogether successful ash scattering. I console myself with the hopeful thought that Granpa would have gotten a kick out of our ineptitude. And some of his ashes actually did get blown out of the cabin and so were at least over the channel and in time might be said to have been 'buried at sea.'" [NOTE: Grandson Lyal DAVIDSON suggested that this entry should read, "Cremains were scattered by John HODGKIN and George HODGKIN Jr. from John's airplane. Some cremains subsequently continued to travel the world's airways as was consistent with the deceased's adventuresome spirit."]

(18) 1911, 24 Jul: George HODGKIN, U.S. Citizen, arrived at Ellis Island, NY aboard the "Minnewaska" from London, England. [NOTE: Daughter Adelina says that he went to England to visit relatives as a young man.]
(5,11) Graduated from the University of California with an A.B. degree.
(5) Was Labor Relations Consultant for Goodyear.
(5) Was an Army pilot in World War I. Never saw action.
(2) 1919, 26 Dec: Residence was Los Angeles, CA. Occupation was Employment Manager.
(5) early 1920's: Worked for the California Fruit Growers Exchange.
(16) 1921, 22 Nov: W. Reginald H. HODGKIN and Mary L. HODGKIN his wife, Philip HODGKIN, unmarried, and Anita A. HODGKIN, unmarried, all of Berkeley, CA; Richard H. HODGKIN and Aline HODGKIN his wife, Eleanor TURNBULL and Prid S. TURNBULL her husband, all of Fresno, CA; George B. HODGKIN and Alice HODGKIN his wife, both of Los Angeles, CA; Violet H. ANDERSON and Peter ANDERSON her husband both of Fresno, CA, all of whom being the only heirs at law of Leonora I. HODGKIN, late of Fresno, CA, the last surviving of and beneficiary under that certain deed of trust executed5 Oct 1883, recorded in Book 48, p.49 to 53, of Land Evidence Records, Bristol, RI, for $10, convey to the Knights of Columbus Building Association of Bristol, RI, Inc., land beginning at the intersection of the SE point of the Methodist Episcopal Church land and the SW point of the land herein conveyed, extending easterly to land of Dr. Cornelius J. HASBROUCK, bounded southerly on State Street 117 feet 8 inches, thence northerly to land of Gertrude E. GUITERAS, bounded easterly on land of said HASBROUCH 133 feet 7 inches, thence westerly for 17 feet 3 inches, bounded northerly on land of said GUITERAS, thence northerly to land of said GUITERAS, bounded easterly on land of said GUITERAS 135 feet, thence westerly to land of estate of Samuel P. COLT, bounded northerly partly on land of said GUITERAS and partly on land of estate of Richard FRANKLIN, 100 feet 5 inches, thence southerly to State Street at the point of beginning, bounded westerly partly on land of said estate of COLT and partly on land of said Methodist Episcopal Church, 268 feet 7 inches, it being the same property this day conveyed to us by Edward L. WATSON, Trustee of the Estate of Hannah P. SMITH. All signatures on deed by Benjamin M. MacDOUGALL, attorney. Wits. Edward C. PARKHURST.
(12) c.1923: Was working for Sunkist, aiding in promotion. (7) His future 2nd wife, Lillian HERRING WILSON, was married 1st to the General Manager of Sunkist.
(5) 1923: Became first General Manager of the newly organized Calavo Growers of California, "started as a one-man outfit based on the Sunkist blu-print." (11) Was selected to organize a marketing cooperative of California avocado growers by the Directors of the California Avocado Assn., later the California Avocado Society. He began on a parttime basis, on "loan" from Sunkist. In 1924, he became Calavo's first General Manager and its only employee. There was no market for avocados - most Americans had never heard of them, did not care much for their appearance when they finally saw them, and would even have to be taught how to ripen and use them. He introduced quality control, standardization, grove-to-store scheduling, a nationwide marketing system, and a nationally recognized brand name. (12) Owners of some 300 avocado acres decided they needed to develop some cooperative method of distributing and selling their avocado crop. They hired George as General Manager, but funds were rarely available to pay him a full salary. For 2 years he worked in the packing plant as well. He ordered testing and sampling of the 400 varieties of avocados to determine which were best for eating. He conducted a contest to create a name for the cooperative, the winning name being Calavo.
(10) 1923, 4 Nov: Residenc was Clover St., Monrovia, Los Angeles Co., CA. Occupation was Manager, Avocado Assn..
(14) 1927, 26 Dec: He took an inventory of the contents of his home at 2768 Ganesha St., Altadena, Los Angeles Co., CA.
(8) 1932: Was Secretary-Manager of the Avocado Growers Association.
(8,9) 1932, 22 Sep: While his in-laws were visiting, his 2-story house in Altadena, CA exploded and burned in the middle of the night. The gas furnace had leaked into the hollow walls of the house. His children, Adelina and Barclay, said they smelled gas before they went to sleep, but they were ignored. At 1:00 a.m., the furnace and house blew up. The living room floor buckled. The grand piano flew out the door and ended up a block away. Adelina remembers being carried down the stairs as an oil painting above her was eaten by flames. George, who slept in the nude, was sent back in the burning house by his mother-in-law and ordered to put on some clothes. Miraculously, no one was hurt.
(3,4,7,9) Rebuilt his some after the fire. Lived at 2534 Ganesha Ave., Altadena, CA from then until his death. (7) The rebuilt home had 2 stories and a basement, and was constructed with huge redwood beams, hewn from trees on family property in Northern California. George slept on a screened sleeping porch on the 2nd floor, overlooking a patio with a huge fig tree in it. The dining room on the 1st floor also looked out to the same patio through a wall of floor to ceiling windows and patio doors, framed by Chinese silk curtains. A huge Chinese gong hung in the corner by the kitchen door, and was used to summon the family and guests to dinner, always promptly at 6:00 p.m.. The patio had a small fish pond in one corner, directly off the dining room. He tried several times to stock the pond with gold fish, but racoons always ate them. The basement was mostly a wine cellar, where he kept many rare and special vintages given to him by his many California vinter friends. After Christmas dinners, involving his childrens' families and family friends, the men would always disappear into the cellar for "wine-tasting," and would usually remain there for most of the rest of the evening. The women would go to the living room to sip sherry. The living room was surrounded on 2 sides by built-in book shelves. The floor was concrete colored to look similar to stone, and was covered with huge oriental rugs. A large fireplace dominated the far end of the room, and a piano sat at the other, between the dining room and the living room. His office was on the first floor, off the dining room. The kitchen was brightly painted with Mexican phrases and motifs on a golden-yellow background. The baths, one upstairs and one downstairs, were richly tiled. The one upstairs had a fish mural tiled into one wall. The lot and the lot adjacent to the house were his garden and orchard, filled with exotic fruit trees and avocados, herbs, ferns, and flowers.
(12) 1932-1935: Began a national program of avocado advertising, selling, and distribution for Calavo. Calavo also began distributing other tropical produce to keep its sales force and distribution in place during the avocado off-season.
(5) c.1934: Was elected by representatives of many cooperatives at a meeting in Berkeley, CA, to represent the 11th District on the Board of the Farm Credit Administration. The district included California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. He also served as ex-officio director of the Intermediate Credit Bank, Production Credit Association and Federal Land Bank in the western district. (11) He later served as Chairman of the Board of the Farm Credit Administration.
(5) Was chairman of the agricultural section of the Southern Council of the California State Chamber of Commerce, and was chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
(13) 1956/7: Retired as Calavo General Manager and became Special Advisor to the cooperative.
(13) 1959, 30 Jun: Retired from Calavo. "His retirement was typically without fanfare of any kind. ... So ended an era in the history of the California avocado industry - an era during which acreage grew from 1,200 to 25,000; a horticultural hobby became a multi-million dollar business; an unknown fruit was introduced to millions of consumers throughout the nation; the value of avocado lands rose from hundred to thousands of dollars per acre; an insignificant association of growers, doomed by doubters to quick failure, became instead an important, highly repected, and successful marketing institution. Throughout the era, George Hodgkin was in the thick of the battle - leading the way to better things for avocado growers."
(11) "Generally regarded as an authority on cooperative enterprise... was, more than any other individual, repsonsible for the concept, organization and development of the grower-owned avocado marketing cooperative from its start in 1923 through his retirement in 1956. In those years, Hodgkin saw the cooperative's avocado tonnage grow from 148,000 lbs. to 54 million lbs. and the crop's annual groveside dollar value increase from $41,000 to $5.6 million. In his last six years as general manager and with his cooperative marketing 60% of California's avocado tonnage, he saw the grower's dollar return per acre average about $600."
(7) He loved hunting, particularly for ducks, hiking and observing nature, and fishing, particularly fly fishing for trout and fishing at sea for large game fish. He had a swordfish stuffed and mounted on the wall of his wine room in the cellar of his home. The fish had left a deep gash in his cheek when he had reeled it in. He would go to great lengths to go fly fishing in remote mountain streams. He also loved to explore new places, and so as a child it seemed to me his favorite thing to do was to get the car stuck, or to get lost.


Please do not claim our work as your own. You are free to use it, but please document your sources.

1. 2. Adelina Alice "Gub" HODGKIN   b. 1 Feb 1927, Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., California; c. 23 May 1953, Fallbrook, San Diego Co., California; d. 10 Jun 2004, Duck Creek, White Pine Co., Nevada; bur. 3 Nov 2004, Ely City Cemetery, Ely, White Pine Co., Nevada.

! (1) Birth certificate.
(2) Baptismal certificate.
(3) Marriage certificate.
(4) Adelina Hodgkin Davidson, Steptoe Ranch, McGill, NV.
(5) Account in unknown Washington, D.C. newspaper of wedding of Judith Ament Davidson/Maj. Anthony Walker (sister-in-law, m. 12 Apr 1947, Washington D.C.)
(6) Confirmation certificate.
(7) Wedding reception invitation.
(8) Account of Wedding in "Pasadena Star News," Pasadena, CA, Sun. 3 Nov 1946, p.27.
(9) Student's Record, Pomona College, Claremont, CA.
(10) Unknown Chicago, IL newspaper containing photographs of Pomona College.
(11) A. Christine Davidson Kraft (daughter, compiler).
(12) Account of wedding in "The Altadenan," Altadena, CA, Thurs., 31 Oct 1946, p.7.
(13) Alice A. Davidson Gedge (daughter), Riverton, UT.
(14) Death certificate 252350 issued by Nevada Department of Human Resources, Division of Health, Section of Vital Statistics, 29 Jun 2004. Informant William G. Davidson, McGill, NV.

! Birth: (1,2,4,11,14) 1 Feb 1927. (1,2,4,11) Pasadena, CA.
Baptism: (2) 23 May 1953, St. John's Episcopal Church, Fallbrook, San Diego Co., CA, by her uncle, Rev. W.R.H. Hodgkin, with her 2 daughters Alice and Christine. Sponsors Marjorie E. Wetzel, Burt L. Wetzel, William G. Davidson.
Marriage to William G Davidson: (3,4,7,8,11,12) 27 Oct 1946, Altadena, Los Angeles Co., CA. (3,4,11,12) By her uncle, Rev. W.R.H. Hodgkin. (4,7,8,11,12) At home of her parents, 2534 Ganesha Ave., 4:00 PM, Sun. (4,8,12) Everything was in pink, even her wedding dress and cake. Maid of Honor was Christine Kayser. Matron of Honor was Patricia H. Hodgkin. Best Man was Milton Petersen. (4,12) She wore a pale pink net gown. Married in front of the fireplace in the living room, which was decorated with pink chrysanthemums and gladiolus. Her bouquet was pink roses and bovardia. Chris Kayser & Patti Hodgkin carried pink carnations. Sylvia Sia played the music. (14)
Death: (11,14) 10 Jun 2004, at her home on Kalamazoo Road, Duck Creek, White Pine Co., NV. (11) Suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Had recently been placed on new medication, Namenda, and had receiving full dosage for 3 days. Husband was hopeful new medication was helping, and had had a good morning of discussion with her. He left the house to water a neighbor's flowers and tend to a few chores outside. When he re-entered the house, he found her dead on the floor. She had apparently died suddenly right after he left the house. No autopsy was ordered. (14) Cardiac arrest due to dementia, Alzheimer's type.
Burial: (11) Arrangements made by Mountain Vista Chapel, 450 Mill St., Ely, NV. Remains cremated. Burial of ashes 3 Nov 2004 by her husband in Ely City Cemetery, 501 Mill St., Ely, White Pine Co., NV. Memorial service among family 5 Nov 2004 at graveside.

(4) Known as "Gub" by the family. Her brother gave her the nickname "Gooby", which the family later converted to "Gub."
(4) Had a nurse named Ottie while young.
(4) Had a crush on her Uncle Phil, her father's younger brother, when she was quite small. During one visit, he informed her mother that Adelina should have her tonsils out. After they were taken out, the family went to visit a man named Ray FRITT in Berkeley, CA, who was the brother of a very dear family friend, Gladys SHEPHARD. Adelina mistook Ray for her Uncle Phil. "This man very nicely picked me up on his knee, and all I did the whole time I was visiting him was sit on his knee with my mouth wide open to show him that my tonsils had been removed."
(4) She adored her grandfather ELLIOT, whom she called "Papa". She called her grandmother Elliot "Mamee." "I'd hear that Mamee and Papa were going to come visit, and I can just remember standing by the front door and standing by the front windows for hours, saying, 'When are they coming? When are they coming?'" Her granfather ELLIOT loved to listen to operas. "He would look at me at the dinner table, and he'd say, 'Someday you will sing Carmen with a rose behind your ear.' He had me pegged as an opera singer... We sometimes went with him (from his home iat 'The Acre' in Oakland, CA to work in San Francisco) when we were up there in the summer. I remember we watched them building the Bay Bridge. That's when the ferries were still running. And then sometimes when we were up there in the summer we would go to the city, and the ladies, my mother and grandmother, would get all dressed up in their gloves and their hats. And it was cold in San Francisco. The fog would be there in the summer. I had a plaid, pleated skirt I was made to wear. But we'd go over and we would drive across the bridge, my grandmother at the wheel, and we would pick up my grandfather at his office, and we'd go to lunch at a place called the Mona Lisa. I always had salmon. And we would do the things - we would go to the zoo, and we would ride the merry-go-round. ... And then we would drive out sometimes in the fields and we'd go along the wharf and look at the boats. And that was always the thing I liked best, would you believe?... These weren't yachts or pleasure boats. These were the working ships on the wharf, and I got a big kick out of that for some reason."
(4) Many houses in CA, especially in Berkeley and San Francisco, were on the sides of hills. "As a child I imagined that all these houses had floors that matched the hillside, an incline. So my recurrent nightmare was being in one of these things and rolling down the floor. That's because, partly, when my grandmother would go to San Francisco, as we often would do, there would be a big discussion about parking this big car on the hill. There were lots of hills, and I suppose my grandfather was very upset about it rolling. To this day I am terrified of hills in San Francisco. Going down a hill at speed just terrifies me."
(4) "When I was a smallish child, there was a movie of the "Mikado" around, and I can't count how many times I saw that." (11) She loved all Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, but especially "The Mikado", partly because it was also her grandfather ELLIOT's favorite, and partly because her mother had sung the part of "Pitti-Sing" on stage.
(4) "I remember Bod teaching me the alphabet and shepherding me around. It was sweet then. I still take his criticism very seriously. It isn't sweet now... He was all the older brother, and he taught me my alphabet and everything, and he was a wonderful companion when I was little. We shared cribs in the same room and we talked all hours. I mean, he was very important in my life."
(4) She wanted to be a boy, and was told she couldn't be one. So then she wanted to be a sailor, then a cowboy when a relative in the Bay area gave her a horseback ride. If she could have had her way, she would have become a horse, and used to lie in bed, imagining hard that she was turning into one.
(4) 1932, 22 Sep: When she was in kindergarten, their house burned down. Her grandparents on her mother's side were visiting, "My brother and I, Barclay and I, had smelled gas when we went to bed, and nobody paid any attention. The furnace had ignited the gas that had leaked up in the walls. ... This was about 1 or 2 in the moening. Everybody would have been burned if it had happened earlier. The furnace blew up, and the floor came up in a big cone, and blew a grand piano out the front door and across the street. The neighbors all turned over in bed, and said, 'Oh, the HODGKINs are brewing again.' It was during the Depression. Then the front page of the 'L.A. Times' had an article about this. It was on the big center of the front page, and on the side in a little column, it said, 'Franklin Delano ROOSEVELT Visits California.' My father pulled me out of bed, I know, and carried me down the stairs, in smoke and flames." She remembers being carried down the stairs as an oil painting above her was eaten by the flames.
(4) After the fire, the family moved down the street to the LUDLOW house.
(4) At the time of the Long Beach earthquake, "Grandma (her mother) and Barclay and I were riding along in an automobile. This was shortly after the fire. And the people were standing out in the street looking at the sky. And Grandma wondered why, what was going on? Here it was an earthquake and they were all standing out looking at the sky. We didn't feel it because we were in a car."
(4) 1937, 16 May: The family was still living in the LUDLOW house. "I can recall that my grandparents were down there in Altadena when a phone call came, and Aunt Dana had killed herself. ... So I recall we all packed up, at least my mother and Barclay and I, and went up to Santa Barbara where Uncle Bill was living in a house out on the cliff, to keep him company that summer. We stayed, Bod and I, in kind of a little guest room place. It was in the 100's... it was a very hot summer, and I remember it was a very miserable summer."
(4) Her father would take her hiking and riding. "Every morning he'd get up early, and he'd go for a hike up in the foothills... He used to take me hiking on Sundays... He spanked me just once... I went in a muddy hole out in the lot, as I remember. I think he was upset about other things."
(4) She was given a horse and rode it often in the foothills above Pasadena, CA.
(4) Attended Eliot Junior High School in Altadena, CA.
(4) "Webster's Pharmacy in Altadena was my home away from home, the drug store fountain where you had ice cream sundaes and hamburgers and things. I knew the pharmacist all my life."
(4,8) Graduated from Flintridge-Anoakia School for Girls, Pasadena, CA. (9) Entered Pomona College from Flintridge School, Arcadia, CA. (4) Her mother's cousin taught English at Anoakia, and Adelina went there on scholarship. The other girls that attended were mostly from wealthier families. She was editor of the yearbook while there.
(9) 1944, 8 Aug: Enrolled at Pomona College, Claremont, CA. Attended through the spring semester, 1946, with a 3.65 grade point average. (4) Studied Spanish at Pomona.
(10) ca. 1945/6: Was attendant to the Sage Vet's Carnival queen at Pomona College. (4) Her father, while on a business trip in Chicago, was reading the morning paper and saw her picture in it as the queen's attendant.
(4) 1946, Mar/Apr: While at Pomona, Adelina dated a man named Gordon who had been a captain in the infantry in World War II, and had returned to Pomona to finish college before going to medical school. He was several years older than she was. "He was rather a shy, nice young man. ... He was kind of a homely guy, but I liked him. He had suggested that I join a group over Easter skiing, and I'd never been skiing, but they were to go someplace. I don't know whether it was chaperoned or not. I mean, it was not an indecent thing, but it was a nice group of people. But anyway, it seems to me this was called off for some reason. Snow melted or something. So Aunt Violet had extended an invitation to come to Madera and meet her captain (Bill DAVIDSON). ... So I sent up to Madera. I got on the train. I think Gordon drove me to the train. ... I was kind of disappointed at the ski trip being called off, so I just picked Madera as a second choice. ... I guess (Aunt Violet MORDECAI) invited her captain to dinner the first night. I was only there for three days, if I remember. And he came to dinner, and he talked a lot. ... And then she'd arranged to have us go skiing, and I'd never been on skis before or since. Terrified going downhill. ... It's the last thing in the world I would ever do. ... This was up in Yosemite. ... we went back to her house for dinner, and she was very nervous, and seems to me she put the enchiladas in the freezer and the ice cream in the oven, or something. But we had dinner there, and then he was to take me to the train, I think the next day, and I remember there was some scramble about getting home. I couldn't get all the way home. There was a strike, or I don't know what had happened, so I think I got part way, and Grandpa (her father) had to meet me in someplace or other. Eventually I got back."
(4) 1946, Jun: "I went back again (to Aunt Violet MORDECAI's) in the summer. Grandma (her mother) didn't want me to go up and bother Aunt Violet again, but I headed straight back the minute school was out. June. And it wasn't but a couple of days after that that we (Adelina and Bill DAVIDSON) announced our engagement, and I remember calling Altadena (her parents' home) and getting my mother after I'd been there only a couple of days, and just barely met this person, and she'd never even met him. And I said, 'We're engaged.' And nothing happened on the other end of the line. I said, 'You sound so blank.' She was just bowled over. She informed me that we had to bring him down to meet the family, of course. By then he'd grown a mustache somewhere along the line, and I believe he shaved it for the occasion. He also had something on his lips... he was wearing gentian violet for something he'd picked up somewhere. He also had his front teeth coming out. ... shortly after we met he had to have them replaced. ... Here I was in my second year of college and they wanted me to continue. So, anyway, we got... a late start, of course, And then we got hung up somewhere along the line, and they were waiting dinner for us, and I remember (her mother) had a pot roast, and we didn't get in until 11 o'clock at night. Aunt Patti and Uncle Bod (her brother and his wife) were waiting there. And they opened the door after waiting and sitting in the living room, probably having drink after drink waiting for us to arrive at 11 o'clock, and then here came in your father (Bill),... six feet five and a half of him, with these front teeth out and gentian violet, and I don't know whether the mustache was present or not. I understand that Grandma went back into the kitchen and grabbed Aunt Patti and she said, 'My God! I can't have THIS is the family!' And then later she just adored him. ... Then we were there a few days, and Uncle Bod was working at a radio station in Los Angeles. And he had dinner with us, and he was very outspoken, and he went back to the station, and then he called back... to the house and he got me, and he said, 'You know this won't last.' And I must have had my doubts, because I was just totally devastated. Of course, I thought Uncle Bod was God to some extent. ... This just shattered me. And I remember Aunt Patti took me out and walked me around the block and talked to me, and tried to calm me down. ... It sort of lasted. Forty years coming up. And Uncle Bod dotes on him... he really admires and respects him."
(4) Later, when she went back up to Madera for a visit, "we drove back to Aunt Violet's house where I was living, of course, and he said, 'Let's go down by the river,' which was right below her house. I guess there wasn't anybody at her house. He didn't know I couldn't drive a car, so he stopped it on the hill without turning it off, and he said, 'I'll get out and open the gate. You put your foot on the brake.' Well, I didn't know the brake, and I put my foot on the clutch and went sailing through the gate and down the hill... He said he was never so scared in his life. He came running downhill because I was headed for the river, the San Juaquin River, and it would have been car and me and goodbye. (The car) ran into a tree; I still have a scar on my knee... I ran into part of the car. Had a big gash. He had to take me into the emergency hospital at 12 o'clock at night there in Madera and have me sewn up."
(4,8) 1946, Nov: Honeymooned in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
(4,11) 1946-1960: Lived in San Louis Rey Heights, Bonsall, CA on an avocado ranch owned by her father.
(5) 1947, 12 Apr: Was bridesmaid at her sister-in-law Judith DAVIDSON's wedding at St. John's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. Residence given as Pasadena, CA. (4) The airplane ride across the country was very rough and bumpy. She had had some strawberry pie at one stop. Later, she overheard another passenger remark, "I was all right until I heard that woman say, 'Oops! Here comes the strawberry pie.'"
(4) Before her great-aunt Grace ELLIIOT died, "she was giving away her things. And her things that I received, and that very beautiful china set... that white china with the gold edge."
(6) 1957, 6 Jun: Confirmed at St. John's Episcopal Church, Fallbrook, CA. Presented by the Rev. Hale B. EUBANKS.
(4,11) 1960, 14 Feb: Moved to Steptoe Ranch, near McGill, NV. (4) The smoke and dust from the copper smelter in McGill irritated her. "I thought I'd left the L.A. smog behind." (11) There was no telephone, and the electrical generator could not tolerate the vacuum and the iron being run at the same time. The clothes dryer had to be discarded. The generator would quit running whenever it got extremely cold and the diesel fuel became too sluggish to move through the supply lines. Other times it just broke down. The day we moved there it was dark and gloomy, with remnants of the last snowstorm creating much mud all around, and the next storm was blowing its way over the mountain. The house was very cold, the gas refrigerator was empty, and the movers tracked mud in by the tons. Mom sent us into McGill with Dafd to buy some groceries. (4) Bill's purchase proved to be a bag of dried beans, something he recalled from his trail days on the MORDECAI Ranch. "I could have killed him."
(11) Learned to love the ranch. She loved to drink tea, and she especially loved to sit on the porch on summer afternoons at tea time with "The New Yorker" magazine or a book to read. She went for a long walk each evening, followed by the family dogs. She exercised every morning in her bedroom.
(11) 1995: Moved to a home they built on the road to Kalamazoo camp ground in the area known as Duck Creek, White Pine Co., NV, across the valley from the ranch. It is situated in the Schell Creek Range in a little mountain valley behind and north of McGill.


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