A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Wanda Irene Morgan
Knauss Family Genealogy lists her name as Wanda Selvidge.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF Wanda Irene Engle (probably written sometime in the 1970s; obtained from Wilma Gathright):
One of my earliest memories is standing in the doorway of our little square four-room house with my grandmother Morgan and watching the ambulance take my mother away to the hospital. She had pneumonia and was very ill, in fact she nearly died. I remember recuperating from Diphtheria at my grandmother's house when I was younger than that. I also remember, or think I remember it because I heard it so often, falling into an irrigation ditch. I went clear under with my bonnet just floating on top. My older sister, Fern fished me out. I guess she was quite a little mother to me as she took care of me while our parents worked in the field. We lived on the corner of Magnolia and Katella southwest of Anaheim on a 10-acre ranch. One of our Saturday chores was helping irrigate the grove. We also hoed weeds sometimes, but I don't remember working very hard at that. I remember being told I would get a dollar if I hoed the whole grove. A dollar was a lot of money in those days. My grandmother also said she would give me a dollar if I would read the whole Bible thru. I never earned that dollar either.
I never liked living in the country. One reason was that I hardly ever had any friends to play with as there didn't seem to be any near my age around, and I was very lonely. It hardly seems possible now the way people move so much, but I went from first grade thru eighth grade with practically all the same kids. We walked a mile to Alamitos grammar school, at that time a three-room red brick building. It has since then been torn down, and a large modern school built there called the Marie L. Hare school, named after one of my teachers. About a quarter of a mile farther down the road was the Alamitos Friends church which we attended. It has been added on to now, and is a very large church. My grandmother belonged to the Church of the Brethren, and drove into Long Beach with my Uncle Sam to attend church there every Sunday. My grandfather always came over and went to our church as he seemed to like the small country church and people.
My parents didn't seem to have very much money, and I suppose our grandparents spoiled us as they always had several presents apiece for us at Christmas. Grandma always seemed to have some kind of a tree, too. One year I remember it was a limb off a tree. She had lots of oldfashioned ornaments, and clip-on candles as they didn't have electric tree lights then. I usually got a dollar to spend for Christmas presents, and would very carefully pick out a ten-cent present for each one of the family. I remember when I was about five, I had decided that there wasn't any Santa Claus. We had gone to grandma's Christmas Eve, and my dad dressed in a Santa Claus and came to the front door and brought us presents, so I changed my mind, and believed in him a little longer.
When I was six years old my mother, sister, and I went to Oklahoma on the train to visit my other grandparents and other relatives. I remember at the train stop in Albuquerque, N. Mexico, there [were] Indians with braided hair and colorful blankets selling beaded necklaces and my mother bought us each one.
The following January my brother, Henry Lee, jr, was born. My dad took us over to stay with grandpa, and grandma went back with him to help with the birth. The next morning we were told we had a new baby brother. I don't remember that I was very surprised although I hadn't been told about the new baby. We thought he was so cute. When he was about three I wanted to take him to school to visit to show him off, and he made so much noise and turned somersalts down the aisle, and really embarrassed me.
Our life was quiet and uneventful for the most part. We hardly went any place except to church and church socials. We would usually go into Anaheim shopping on Saturdays. As I grew older we would try to get my dad to take us to the skating rink in Long Beach on Saturday night. That was a lot of fun, and something to look forward to all week. There were always lots of sailors to skate with.
When I went into high school life was much more enjoyable, and I made many good friends. We had a lot of fun on the bus teasing the driver and singing all the songs on the hit parade. When I was a junior my parents separated and we left the ranch. The only house we could find to rent was west of Fullerton, and I didn't want to change high schools so I had to walk about a mile to catch the bus to go to Anaheim. I missed it once or twice, and had a long walk home. Later we moved to Anaheim, eventually buying a house at 905 N. Los Angeles, now called Anaheim Blvd. When I finished high school I didn't know what I wanted to do, but knew I had to get some kind of training to make my living. My best friend was going to go to Fullerton Jr. College and take a secretarial course so I decided to do that, too. I didn't like it, though, and when I had an opportunity to work my way thru beauty college I decided to do that a year later. That was a hard year. I quit for awhile in the fall and worked in the walnut house to make some money, and for a time I washed dishes in a restaurant for 25ยข an hour on Sundays after working six days at beauty school. I finally got my license, and got a job at Pauline's in Anaheim, and worked there about four years. We were very busy as it was wartime and most of the women worked at defense plants, and started getting their hair done every week.
It was while working there that I met my future husband. I had seen him around different places, and thought he was handsome, but wasn't outgoing enough to try to get acquainted with him. Quite by accident a friend of a girl friend of mine knew him and introduced us. I only saw him about four times before he got his orders to go overseas, and when he left I don't think either one of us really thought we'd meet again. I guess he was lonely though and started writing me long, newsy letters, and I answered with not quite so long ones, and that was really how we got to know each other. He gave me quite a line, and I didn't really take him seriously for quite awhile. When I met him, he told me he was from Michigan, and I of course thought when the war was over, he would go back to Michigan, and I would never see him again. He finally told me he was from Upland. He was gone about 21 months, 5 months in England, and the rest of the time in France.
He came home in January, 1946, and soon was discharged and started working for his dad in the dairy. When his mother found out he had a girl friend in Anaheim she invited me to a family welcome home dinner, and I met his whole family in one evening except his brother, John, who was still in the navy. I kept seeing more girls coming down the stairs till I finally met them all. In the meantime I was making very little money as most of the women lost their defense jobs, and didn't get their hair done anymore. He heard of a good job in Upland at Gage's Beauty Salon and a woman with [a] nice home who would rent a room to me with kitchen privileges, so I decided to move to Upland[.] Just before my birthday in June he asked me to marry him, and on my birthday we picked out the rings. We were married in the Methodist church in Upland, and had the reception at his parent's big two-story house. I wondered why his sister insisted that I go upstairs and change my wedding dress but I soon found out why. They got a wheelbarrow and made him push me downtown. In the scuffle he tore his new sports jacket, his brother tore his good suit, I ruined a new pair of nylons which were hard to get, some of his sisters let the air out of tires, and we lost his keys. If that wasn't enough we went to northern California for our honeymoon, and as we were on the Tioga pass above Yosemite on a narrow winding road with a high mountain on one side and a deep valley on the other, we lost a tire and could have easily plunged down the mountainside. I don't know if these things were to be forecast of our life together, for we have had many ups and downs, illnesses, and hard times financially, but we feel God has blessed us with five wonderful children and we are very proud of each one of them and our daughter-in-law and granddaughter.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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