Written to Jeannie House by Doris Jean Young, Arnold Ray House’s cousin
Dear Jeannie,
I guess it has been about 6 months now since Arnold‘s death. I know you miss him terribly. His passing brought back a lot of memories.
I remember the day in June of 1940 when we packed up our old 1936 Chevy with all our belongings (which wasn’t much) and headed from Oklahoma to California.
It was my Dad and Mom1, who was 6 months pregnant with Norma, my Brother and I and Aunt Marie2 and Arnold who was 2. I think it took us about 3 days to get here. We couldn’t afford a cabin or a motel as they call it now, so we just got the bedding out of the car and slept alongside the road.
The old car had been wrecked and had a back window missing. We went through a bad rainstorm and so much water got in the window, we were soaked. Arnold was such a sweet little boy – never cried or complained the whole way.
I always felt that after Homer and Marie got married and had Barbara and Ronny (sic) that he kind of felt like an outsider. But when you came along that changed everything for him. The rest is history, huh? I always thought of him as a “gentle soul” who reminded me so much of our Grandfather Jesse Thomas Oakes. They even looked alike!
We had a tragedy in our family this year too. Our dear Son-in-Law Bill3 also died in March. He was a dentist here in Redlands. He was our oldest Daughter’s (Wendi) husband. He was only 63.
- Bonnie Lee Oaks (Woodring) 1909 – 1999
- Mittie Marie Oakes (Voyles) 1918 – 1992
- William E. Darwin, Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/william-darwin-obituary?pid=178154360&page=2