California Summer 1969

Back in 1969 ...  Dad/Lamar's CSC job needed some employees to develop software at the main computer science corporation headquarters in El Segundo. So from July 19 - September 25, 1969, Mom and Dad had a Los Angeles summer.

• The Flight: The company split up the families heading out onto different planes ... "just in case" something happened (if there was a crash, they didn't want to lose everyone). Not a comforting thought for Mom/Margie on her first flight! Mom recalls Scottie  being very excited, and saying, "When are we going to blast-off?"
• The House: It was hard to find somewhere to rent for only three months. They spent a week in a hotel while they tried to find a place. Mom had a cousin (Diana Brady Coleman) who lived nearby and there was a house close to her for rent. Mom was so disappointed when someone got to it first.  Here's more memories ...

From Dad: 5951 INTERCEPTOR, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90045. We lived in this home while we were on a temporary assignment in Los Angeles, working at the main Computer Science Corporation building in El Segundo, 2 miles away.  We rented a small house and moved in on 25 July. The house had two small bedrooms, and a garage. It was located almost in the middle of the Los Angeles International Airport. It was quite noisy when certain runways were being used. At first, Scott would run outside excitedly every time a plane flew close over the house, but soon we became oblivious to the noise. Most of the area was bought out by the airport for demolition, but we rented from one of the hold-outs, We rented for $225 per month, paid for by CSC, plus rental furniture. We took the bare minimum of clothes and household items, so housekeeping didn’t take up much time, even with 3 little kids.

From Mom: We finally found this old house on the L.A. airport property, that was going to be razed to make more runway. At first the noise was so loud every time a plane took off because we were so close. Scott (age 5 1/2) loved it and would run outside to see the airplane. Dad said he could identify all the types of airplanes. After awhile, we didn't even notice the sound. The coat closet in the house, we never opened. It stunk so bad if we did---like something dead in there! With minimal belongings, there was not much to do as far as housework. So it was very boring and hard for me to just tend 3 preshoolers all day with no friends or much in the way of toys while Dad worked. I read every Agatha Christie book there was in the library closest to our place, but it was even hard to read and watch the kids closely at the same time. The ward was really excited to have us--then when they found we were only there for 3 months, they didn't go out of their way much to get acquainted or invite us over or anything.

Visiting Mom's cousins in Cali ... summer 1969

Karen and Lisa Coleman, daughters of Mom's cousin Diana Brady Coleman 

Diana was Mom's same age. Daughter of Bertha Howell and Lloyd Brady

But, while in California, might as well take advantage of area attractions! There was a trip to Knott's Berry Farm (pictures below). Then the family flew to Sacramento for a side trip in late August, then a trip to Disneyland (pictures at top). Wendy was just 18 months, so the folks left her with Mom's cousin. Chris had just turned three ... if they'd gone before his birthday he would have been free. There was also mention in the Dropbox memories/calendar of a trip to Universal Studios, but no pictures ... pictures of Knottsberry but no mention of it on the calendar. Maybe it replaced the planned Universal Studios trip?

Then it was back home to Washington and the house on Saint Street, September 26, 1969. 

Scott was a little late starting kindergarten at Spaulding Elementary.