Arnold's Story: February 28, 1950

Bill writes about Dolly and Wayne's wedding on February 4, his 60th birthday party, his new Lincoln Sport Sedan in Danube blue metallic, the new furniture and carpets bought before Dolly's wedding reception, and booming business for his Ideal System Company. He still owes $20,000 mortgage on the house in Glendale. 

It sounds as if the Glendale chapter of Reserve Officers Association is not thriving, perhaps due to lack of interest.

The enclosure is a sheet with notes taken by Hazel Nevis from a conversation with her sister in law Mary Ann (Nevis) Silva, Bill's oldest surviving sibling. She is said to have a good memory and offers information about her mother Marianne Enos Brown (Mariana Enos de Brum) and father Jacinto Joseph Nevis (Jacinto Josê Neves) as well as Jacinto's father Vincent Nevis (Vicente Neves). 

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Arnold's Story: February 27, 1950

Hazel has forgotten to forward Arnold's insurance premiums again.

She describes the big 60th birthday party for Bill with their closest friends, children and Bill's siblings. The oldest, Mary, has died already but the second oldest sister, Mary Ann, has a good memory and provided some information on their parents Jacinto and Marianne. Bill was clearly proud to show off his new Lincoln and the modernizations at his business, The Ideal System Company.

Among Bill's birthday gifts are an electric popcorn popper and and an automatic juicer; from the 1940s for several decades kitchen and home gadgets start filling up homes across America.

Hazel remains active in her church.

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Arnold's Story: February 18, 1950

Dolly thanks Arnold for his wedding gift (silver tablespoons to match their silver set). As the bride, she had the responsibility to write the thank-you notes. Etiquette requires she write them within one to three months after the wedding, and she is about two weeks out here. Dolly and Wayne had a short honeymoon on account of the needs of his dry-cleaning business.

Arnold and Dolly's father Bill had a 60th birthday on the 16th and their mother Hazel is throwing a party tonight, the 18th, for family and friends.

Dolly and Wayne's residence at 1122-B East Garfield, Glendale, no longer exists; it was torn down for the Glendale Community College (Garfield Campus).

Glendale News-Press wedding announcement for Mrs. Eldon Wayne Murphy (Mary Nevis),
February 18, 1950, mistakenly putting the wedding on February 14 instead of February 4

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Arnold's Story: July 16, 1948

Bill Nevis was a keen user of gadgets and eager to acquire new technology such as his new dictaphone. One anecdote from the 1960s: We grandkids were impressed with their new color television when we visited Bill and Hazel Nevis in Whittier (where they moved after they sold the house in Glendale, to be closer to Leonard and his family). A few years later we proudly revealed that we, too, had bought a color TV, and our grandparents just smiled; they now had a remote control, years before remotes became common in American households. It was primitive device, going only in one direction, so to get to a lower channel one had to scroll through nearly all of them; luckily there were only thirteen channels plus UHF at that time.

Bill speaks in the plural about his daughter Dolly, so perhaps she is still married to Lee at that time. Dolly and Lee has a house in Glendale, too, so I wonder if his last name was McCue. I can find a Herbert Lee McCue with appropriate dates and also from Ohio, later living on the West Coast, but I can find no info linking hi to Dolly nor a marriage license or an annulment order from a court.

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Arnold's Story: July 15, 1948

A letter from Hazel with family news:

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