In 1932 we left Ray, Arizona and went to Redmesa, La Plata, Colorado to visit my husband's folks, Philo Vinson and Nellie Pearl Coombs Carter. We thought maybe we would make our home there, but decided against it. We stayed a few months then went to Phoenix where we lived a block from my parents, on what was then called Shellrock Avenue. It was later renamed 29th Avenue. We lived two blocks north of the Buckeye Road or Highway 80.
Philo worked in the fields for a short time, then went to work for Ishmael Wilsey at the corner of Jefferson and 19th Avenue across from the Arizona State Capitol Building, as an apprentice, learning to cut meat in the Safeway Store. He was good and very quick to learn, and they put him over the meat market in the Safeway at McDowell and 7th Street across from the Good Samaritan Hospital. Both of these stores have been torn down since then.
- I would live in a tent if necessary -
We moved from 29th Avenue to 1809 West Mohave. It was a busy
street, just one-half block from Highway 80. Philo was cutting meat
during the day for Safeway, then working a night shift boning meat at
Tovrea's Packing Plant. I was never really happy here at this place
because I was always afraid our three small children would get into the
highway, the traffic was so bad.
I watched the "Land for Sale"
column in the newspaper and found four acres advertised, being sold to
settle an estate. I went to the store telling Philo I had found four
acres for sale and I wanted him to go look at it. He said it looked
good but asked what would we live in as it had no house on it. I told
him I would live in a tent if necessary, because if we didn't make a
sacrifice then while the children were little we wouldn't be able to
later. We would need money for their schooling.
We did put a tent on
the back of the place, and a Mexican who knew how to make adobes,
helped George Russell, my sister Fern's husband who was a carpenter, to
make enough adobes for the house.
We didn't have to live in the tent
very long. Uncle Harvey had a 12 by 15 foot room on the desert, which
he let us move onto the property. We moved into this and George built a
large room across one side. We didn't even wait until he had the roof
on it before we moved our stove and one bed into it because we were so
crowded. We could do this because it was a dead end street and no one
lived for a mile east from there. There were no neighbors across the
street. However, the Colonel Gay's lived on the west, the distance of
two houses, and the Williams family a little to the west from them and
across the street. They were all very good neighbors; the Gays had a
big hot water tank which they put under their fence and each day they
would fill it so that we could have water. We would carry it by the
bucketfuls to the house. One time I told Mrs. Gay that I hoped she
didn't think we were dirty people, living the way we did, and she
said,"I know you're not because I see you carry that big galvanized tub
in and out too often." They both were very thoughtful of us. Colonel
Gay, a retired army Colonel, would take my little boys and talk to
them, telling them to shine their shoes every day. In this way it would
keep them looking nice and preserve the leather; he also gave them good
advice about other things. One day he saw me going up the street
without a sweater on and said, "Young lady, you had better go back and
get yourself a sweater, y
