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Stanley Lockwood left his homeland of Australia in 1921 to seek carpentry work in California. In 1925, he brought my future mother as his new bride to Escondido. At the time of my birth in 1928, there were approximately 3,000 residents within the city limits. Shortly thereafter, a visit to a well-baby clinic revealed that I was overweight, pot-bellied, flat-footed with enlarged tonsils. I have taken care of the tonsils. In 1930, my parents took their two girls back to Australia by ship to visit all the relatives. My baptism had been delayed so I could receive the rites at Blackwood Methodist Church in South Australia. I have vivid memories of our home in Escondido during the Depression. We had a windmill at the well and an outhouse complete with expired Sears catalogues in lieu of toilet paper. Dad made a metal bathtub which drained through a hole cut in the floor. Every Saturday night, I had a bath whether I needed one or not. In our next home the pot-bellied stove in the living room provided the only heat in the house. In cold weather, we came out near the fire to change clothes. When it was time to wash dishes, Mother put a kettle on the stove to heat water. If she wanted to fix chicken for dinner, Mother selected a chicken from the chicken coop, placed its neck across the stump in our back yard, and chopped the head off with an ax. I loved Mother’s lamb stew and have never been able to make rice pudding that matches hers. Around 1932, I started kindergarten at the school on Fourth Avenue between Maple and San Diego Boulevard. The most dramatic event was a kidnapping scare, probably the Lindbergh’s. My sister waited an extra hour after school so she and a neighbor girl could walk me home. We were only a block from our house when we stopped at a market and persuaded the grocer’s wife to drive us home so we wouldn’t meet any kidnappers. One day my first grade teacher, Miss Otwell, was very alarmed to notice the left side of my face was paralyzed. Her first thought was polio, but a trip to Dr. Dotson revealed it was Bell’s Palsy. I believe this was the only time I was taken to a doctor as a child. I made several trips to his office to sit by a heat lamp and eventually all the paralysis left. Some of my favorite times in Escondido were Grape Day Festivals held each year on September 9, celebrating the day California was admitted to the Union. The day started with a huge parade, followed by carnival rides and shopping at many craft and food booths set up in Grape Day Park. Grape growers brought truckloads of grapes to the park to be given away free to one and all. Friday nights were “Family Night” at the local movie house where the whole family was admitted for 35 cents. There were usually two main features, a newsreel, and one or two cartoons. On Saturday nights, the stores stayed open late. We usually spent the night strolling back and forth on the three-block shopping area, visiting with friends along the way. On Sunday mornings, we always attended Sunday school and church at the Methodist Episcopal Church located at 4th and Kalmia Streets. A big outing might be a drive later in the day. My brother and sister would say to me, “You ask Daddy. He won’t say ‘No’ to you.” In l935, our family went to San Diego for the California Pacific International Exposition. I was extremely impressed with the colony of midgets and the streets and buildings scaled down to their size. I remember walking along, reaching up for Daddy’s hand and feeling shocked to discover it was a stranger, not Daddy. The Midget Colony inspired the Women’s Aid of the Methodist Church to stage a Tom Thumb Wedding, a formal affair with children of the town playing the parts. I got to be a flower girl, and my brother was a trainbearer. When I was in the eighth grade, our school put on a play based on “The Wizard Of OZ,” a movie playing at the local theater. Since I was small, I played the part of one of the munchkins. For the banquet at the end of the year, I got my first store-bought dress from Eden’s Dress Shop. I can vaguely remember it as white with dainty blue flowers. One night after a basketball game, a carload of us went to Felicita Park. Oblivious to the fact that we were violating the park curfew, we yelled and played on the swings, making a lot of noise. When the park caretaker’s son, who was in charge of the park that night, called the police, they hauled all of us to the police station. They explained that the park had a 10 p.m. curfew. When my parents were called to pick us up, Dad said, “Let them spend the night in jail,“ but Mother came to rescue us. During my freshman year at Escondido High School when World War II began for the United States, Mother and I filled the 8 pm to midnight shift at a local aircraft-spotting tower. My sister and I visited the local USO to help entertain the service men in Escondido. Somebody had to do it! We joined in the dancing, singing around the piano, and ping pong. By now, Escondido had a population of approximately 5500. Even though I have visited many wonderful localities, I believe I could not have grown up in a better place.

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