1964 THE CRUMBLING BROTHERHOOD The whole brotherhood was falling apart. Gary had met this teenager named Phylles and was wooing her with my Thunderbird. She thought the car was his. Actually I was getting tired of the terrible gas mileage on the TB and I traded it in for a new Corvair. I thought when she realized the TB was not his she might be a little upset, but she made it pretty clear it wasn’t the car she was after, It was him. He was hooked and they got married March 7th 1964

MARCH 1965 MY GRANDPARENT’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY March of 1965 I flew up to Carson City, picked up my mom and dad and flew them to Beaver for my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary. Actually, other than short little flights around Carson City, my folks had never flown before. So it was like their first airplane ride. I think they were a little nervous. I say that because my dad left his suitcase with all of his clothes at home. The flight from Carson City to Beaver is about 550 miles across the state of Nevada south of Ely into Milford Utah to refuel. Beaver is about 20 miles east from there. It actually took a little longer because I had to skirt some weather. I had to contact flight control in Cedar City and make some deviations to my flight plan or they would be out looking for us. But that was all standard procedure; at least it was back then. You had to navigate with a map, compass and slide rule. Today you have all of the instrumentation like GPS. When we got to Beaver, we buzzed the grandparent’s house and waved our wings at all of the family waiting for us to arrive. It was quite a happening for Beaver. Most of them had never flown in an airplane before. I spent that afternoon giving rides. It was great fun. For some unknown reason no one took pictures, so I inserted this picture of my roommate, Jim Pinaro, Mike, Mark and myself with the same airplane I flew to Beaver for this anniversary

Plane Ernie flew to Beaver City

After I had finished the rides detail. I asked my grandmother if she would like to take an airplane ride. You must understand she thought 50 mph in a car was twice as fast as anyone should go. I thought she was going to faint just thinking about it. I really didn’t think she would take me up on the idea. The next morning she came to me and said she had been thinking about my offer and if my mother would accompany her, she would love to have her oldest grandson take her for her first airplane ride. Before she had a chance to change her mind, my mother and I got her to the airstrip as fast as we could.. We had half of the town following us.

We took off to the north. The runway at Beaver is at an elevation of 6,000 feet. Keeping Innerstate15 on our right until we until we climbed to 9,000 feet. The view was breath taking. We were west of Fillmore and I made a slow right turn east then south. We now have Interstate 15 on our right. We flew along the west side of the mountains keeping the highway off to our right. The view was spectacular. It was a perfect flying day. It was as smooth as glass. Then we made a slow descent into the Beaver valley and flew over Greenville and the old farm and back over the house and then a smooth landing. It was a magical day for her first and last airplane ride. This was her special day in the sun and she told me she loved every minute. I asked her later if she would like another ride and she declined. I think she felt that she had pushed her luck as far as she dared. It was worth getting my pilot’s license

50 YEARS TOGETHER

MARRIED MARCH 10, 1915

THE GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Wanda and Bill Martin 50th Anniversary

Family Wedding Picture

JUST 4 MONTHES AFTER MY GRANDPARENTS 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY MY LIFE TOOK A GIANT STEP FORWARD

1965 MY LUCKY DAY I had just got a new roommate, Jim Pinaro to replace Gary and Jerry who had abandoned me and got married. Jim worked with me at Honeywell. Then a strange thing happened. I was sent on a business trip to our Honeywell Division in Seattle. There was two of us, Jack Gondolis and myself, sent to help finish up some project. I don’t remember what it was. We got there on Monday and the next Friday after work they were having a party at one of the local hangouts for one of the girls, who was getting married. So Jack and I figured what the heck, there might be some gals looking to pickup some guys. Jack was Greek and he was busy with a couple of ladies. So I just wandered around. I noticed this cute little gal setting at a table with an empty chair next to her and one of the guys I was working with was also at the table. I asked her if the chair was empty, she said it was, so I sat down and introduced myself to Jean Yantis Crosby.

We talked for a while and she said she had to leave. So I said do you really have to leave so early. Well she said, my daughter and I are going camping with my sister and brother-in law at Birch Bay and they are waiting for her. I told her I had a great idea. Why don’t you call them and tell them to go ahead and we can have dinner and I’ll drive you there in my rented convertible. She stayed and had dinner. After dinner we went by her folk’s house for her to get some things and she introduced me to her mother and father. Then we headed for Birch Bay. Being unfamiliar with the area, I did not realize that Birch Bay was on the Canadian border or just about 100 miles from her folk’s house. So we had a lot of time to talk. Then when we finally got to the camp ground in the middle of the night, she didn’t know -where their camp site was. So we had to drive around the camp ground at 5 mph with a flashlight we borrowed from the ranger and try to find her sister. Somehow we got lucky and found them. Then she got out of the car and went inside. Thanks a lot. I drove back to Seattle in a daze. Honeywell had a couple of apartments for visitors rather than putting you up in a hotel. It was Saturday morning when I got back to the apartment. Jack, the guy I was traveling with just thought I got lucky. He didn’t know it but he was right

The following Monday I went by her desk to ask her a question. I told her that I was going to rent an airplane that Saturday and do some sightseeing around the area, and I asked her if she would like to go along? She said it sounded like fun and she would love to go. On Wednesday I was told Jack and I were only going to be there another week, so I made a date with her on Thursday night for dinner at the Space Needle.

Thursday night I picked her up again at her mom and dad’s house and we headed down town to the Space Needle. It was an excellent choice. The food was great and the whole- restaurant rotated 360 degrees every hour. We had a wonderful evening

As planned, on Saturday I picked her up and we drove up to Paine Field, a few miles north. Paine Field was a small airport where I had arranged to rent a Cessna 182 for about three hours. I planned to fly over her neighborhood, Lake Washington, Downtown and the Space Needle and then over the San Juan’s. I thought we may even get close enough to the Canadian border to spot Birch Bay. It was a beautiful day. Before we took off I asked her if she had ever flown before and she surprised me when she said no. She didn’t seem nervous, so I just assumed she had. I tried to explain what to expect. We took off and pretty much followed my planned route except we didn’t get far enough north to see Birch Bay. She really seemed to enjoy herself until we got on final for landing at the airport. I was really proud of myself. I thought I had done a marvelous job. But, as we were just about to touch down I looked over at her and she had the most frightened look I had seen in a long time. I said to her, did that scare you? She said absolutely, positively she knew what it feels like to know you are going to die. I said why? Her answer was, it’s when the engine quit. So I explained how you must slow down and glide downhill to land the airplane. Except for the landing, it was a fine day.

I don’t remember how long I was in Seattle on that trip, but I remember going to the Honeywell’s 4th of July picnic. It was the first time I met Michele. That was a big step. We had discussed the fact that I had two boys. Full disclosure. It was getting serious. Her little sister Linda went along to the picnic. Linda was 18 or 19 and was married and with child. Her husband Mike was not at the picnic, at least I don’t recall him being there, but I had met him somewhere in crossing, I also met her sister Carol and her brother in law Joe at her mom and dad’s house; our relationship was beginning to have that comfortable feeling.

Then the job was finished and Jack and I headed home. What an empty feeling that was. It was really hard saying goodbye. All of a sudden we were fifteen hundred miles apart. I told Gary and Phylles I had found the girl I was going to marry.

I sent her airline tickets to come down over Labor Day. She arrived September 4th and arranged for her to stay with Gary and Phylles for couple of days. Of course there were three of them now; Valerie was just about, eleven months old. Two days later I flew Jean to Carson City to meet my mom and dad. That night I drove up on the mountain overlooking Carson City and proposed, that was September 7th 1965. We went back to mom and dads and announced our engagement. Then we got on the phone and called Michele and Jean’s folks and told them of our plan. I think both of our parents were a little stunned because it happened so fast. We had no doubts and we asked Michele and she was good to go. We flew back to S. Cal and told Gary and Phylles the news. That week I drove her down to Newport Beach and on the way home we stopped off at George and Carole’s and introduced them to my bride to be

We got busy making plans for a wedding November 6th. Jean stayed for a week and flew back to Seattle. I missed her a lot and I managed to make two more business trips in August and October. That’s when I met Dick and Deeana and Skip and Judy and. got some time to get to know her family and my new daughter a little better.

Jean and I had known each other a total of 20 weeks from the time we met until the wedding day. and were together in the same city only 4 of those 20 weeks. Ain’t it amazing!

Jean had lived all her life in Washington, so it was going to be a major change in her life to make the move from Seattle to West Covina. A month before the wedding I rented a two bedroom apartment three blocks from Honeywell. It was a very nice two story unit with two bedrooms and bath upstairs, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and patio on the first floor. It was also right across the street from the school Michele would attend.

We both wanted a small wedding with her family, my mother and dad, her sisters and husbands and a few of her best friends, Barbara Kloth, Barbara Berg and Skip and Judy Brockman. With Michele, Deeana and Dick Rask standing up with us. We were married by Pastor Nordsletten of the Lutheran Church she attended. I’d have loved to have Gary and George and their families there, but it was just to far.

I had traded my Thunderbird for a Corvair and when Jean and I decided to get married I called my uncle Dan in Beaver, who sold GM automobiles for a dealer in Richfield Utah, and ordered a Pontiac Grand Prix. I was going to pick up the car before the wedding, but it was delivered to the dealer without a California Smog System, so it couldn’t be licensed in California. I had to cancel the deal. I couldn’t pull a trailer with the Corvair, so I drove to Carson City and rode with mom and dad in their Oldsmobile to Seattle. After the wedding I rented a U-Haul trailer and hitched it to the Oldsmobile. We put all of Jean’s stuff in the trailer and we drove it home. Mom and dad flew home. Then I drove dad’s car to Carson City and drove my car home. Musical cars.

NOVEMBER 1965 A NEW BEGINNING This was it. A fresh start. A new bride and daughter. I was thirty, my bride was twenty-seven and my daughter was seven. The first thing I had to do was to introduce them to my boys Mike who was five and Mark who was four. We explained to them that they were now sister and brothers. I will legally adopt her as my own and she will be ours forever more. Michele and Mike seemed to take that in stride, but Mark wasn’t quite sure. He seemed to be thinking the whole thing over. I sat down with him and explained in a little more detail that when I married Jean, she became their step-mother and Michele became their step-sister and I would always be their dad and their mother would always be their mom.

For a newcomer to California, Jean took to her new home like a native. I remember the first week we were here, it rained and I figured since she was from Seattle rain was no big thing. She and Michele walked two blocks to the market. They just started home when it started to rain. She figured it was only two blocks, np problem. She was used to the drizzle in Seattle. She learned that when it rains in Southern California it usually pours and they got soaked to the skin .

Lucky for me, she was very happy with my selection of apartments. We were now into the holidays and showing them around the area was fun. I figured it was their first Christmas away from their family. So they needed something special for Christmas. I remember getting up early on Christmas morning and telling Jean I had an errand to run. I had to go to Lee and Margo Menowns house to get the surprise they were holding for me. I worked with Lee at Honeywell. They were probably the first new friends I introduced Jean to after we moved in. I couldn’t wait to get back home. Inside my jacket, I had this little black bundle, a Poodle puppy. He was so small, you could hold him in the palm of your hand. We named him Sam. I think he was a great surprise. Sam was a beautiful coal black miniature Poodle. He was also very smart. He was now part of the family

The next year, 1966, we spent getting to know each other and my group of friends.. We had really only spent four weeks together before we got married. We had a lot of catching up to do. But the longer we were together, the more I knew I made a good choice. I always said life is made up of choices. It was a wonderful experience getting to know each other and falling more in love. Either I’m extremely good at making choices or damn lucky. It was also a time for the kids to get acquainted. Of course Michele, being the older women took charge.

We took a trip to Beaver to see my grandma and family. I wanted to show off my new bride to the Martin clan. We drove to Beaver with the six of us in the Corvair, Jean and I, Michele, Mike and Mark and Sam. If you have ever ridden in a Corvair you would understand how small the back seat is. Well Michele took her half of the back seat and Mike and Mark could split the other half anyway they wanted. The dog was on his own. To top it off this was in the middle of the summer. When we crossed the Mojave Desert it was like 115 degrees and we did not have air-conditioning. For years after that, we wondered why we took Sam. Nobody in Beaver were dog lovers. He spent the whole time barking at my grandfather, who was on crutches because he broke his leg coming out of a brothel in Richfield. He deserved to be barked at, or worse. This is the same guy I talked about earlier who was such a wild character. But my grandmother would have welcomed us with open arms if we had brought a gorilla with us. They got to meet all of my dad’s side of the family. I don’t think they got to meet any of my mother’s side except maybe Cinda and Jay, her sister and brother-in-law, I’m not sure.

We took the kids, and Sam, to the top of the Beaver mountains. We were hiking at about eleven thousand feet when all of a sudden we realized Sam was missing. We walked to the edge of the road and down in the meadow below us, our dog was chasing the sheep all over the place. Lucky the Sheepherder was gone with his dog or Sam could have been in trouble.

That same summer Jean’s mom and dad came down to visit for the first time and brought Jan, her sister Carol’s daughter. It was really an adventure for them. They had never been to California . It was fun showing them the sights. Don was a real sports fan. So I took him to an Angels game. He was like a little kid. He really enjoyed himself. One of the highlights of the trip was when Don decided to take Sam for a walk. He took him on the leash across the street to the school. The school was all fenced in, so he figured what the heck, he minds pretty well, so he let him off the leash so he could run. Well run he did. All the way back to the apartment. Don saw him go under the fence so he followed him under the fence. He was so worried that he had lost our dog.

Jean really wanted to go home for that second Christmas away from home. She missed her family and friends. It would also give me a chance to get acquainted with the new family I had acquired. And we had time to play with her best friends, Deeana and Judy and their husbands, Dick and Skip.

By the way, it turned out to be a beautiful white Christmas. Don offered his car, so we drove down to Portland in the snow to see Linda and her husband Mike and the Aunts and Uncles. That was the Christmas of 1966