During the Great Depression years, my brothers, Don, Neil and Bill, and I attended Franklin School in Eureka. The Franklin School was a unique experience in that the teachers were all “old maids,” as we used to say in those days. The Humboldt County school system had the policy for many years prior to World War II of hiring single women only. Our teachers were Miss Shultz for kindergarten, Miss Bacon for first grade, Miss Murdock for second, Miss Asselstein for third, Miss Damon for fourth, Miss Pratt for fifth and Miss Slingsby for sixth.

Speech therapy for those who stuttered was provided by a visiting public health nurse specialist about twice a week.

Mr. O’Brien was the heating system steam engineer who performed many tasks around the school. Fuel for his boilers was stored in the schoolyard in the form of a cord of wood. One morning during recess it was discovered that a transient had stored his belongings in the wood pile. It was a bundle with a blanket, some items of clothing and food, etc., which he obviously thought he had left in a safe place. During the Depression years, many jobless men roamed the country looking for work or just enough food to survive. The thing that struck my young mind and stayed in my memory was that Mr. O’Brien was directed to burn the bundle in his boiler.

During art class in the first grade with Miss Bacon, I drew a purple ball at the end of the lion’s tail, instead of an orange one, to represent the tuft at the end of the tail. I was spanked in front of the class for being a smart ass. I never got over my dislike of school or teachers from that incident on.

We walked the mile to and from school through the “back alley,” which passed through the old cemetery on Myrtle Avenue. Sometimes we would avoid the cemetery by cutting across to West Avenue, which only added two blocks to our walk and let us pass by Hansen’s Store. If one of us had a penny or two, we would go into the store at the side door. The owner, Mr. Harry O. Hansen, had a candy display by the side door where we could buy a one-cent “Guess What.” This treat was a wrapped paper tube that held a candy and a small toy. The “Guess What” was made in Japan, so the supply ended in late 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Hansens’ son Rodney was in my class through high school. Rodney studied piano and organ in school and made the organ his lifelong career. He played the organ for audiences in the United States and as far away as Europe and Africa.

During my years at Franklin School, I belonged to the Cub Scouts, learned to play the E-flat alto saxophone, played in the school marching band, and also played the part of a pilgrim in the Thanksgiving play. I think my line was, “Speak for yourself, John.” This was said when the subject of Priscilla came up. Music and acting didn’t follow me into the big time at Eureka Junior High.

We spent about two years at the Freshwater Corners two-room school beginning in the spring of 1942, when our family moved to the Freshwater area. The school was two miles from our house, and no school buses to ride, so we walked to and from school every day, rain or shine. When our access road at home flooded in the winter, we wore knee boots out to the county road and would leave them at our front gate for the return trip. When we thought Old Arcata Road would be flooded in the Skunk Hollow area, we wore our boots all the way to school. When the Arcata road did flood, it meant slogging through more than half a mile of high water.\

Gail Allen catches the pig, donated by Dr. Falk. Freshwater School, 1943.

During the spring of 1943, when I was in the fifth grade at Freshwater, a nearby neighbor, Dr. Falk, donated a small pig for a “greased pig” contest. This meant that whoever could catch and then hold onto the pig could take the pig home. A bunch of us got pretty well greased up, but I was the one who won the contest. Mom never did get all the grease stains out of my clothes.

The only power equipment Dad owned was our 1929 Dodge family sedan, so everything had to be done by hand. We spaded, hoed, raked, planted and watered about an acre of garden every year for vegetables. The water supply for the garden was the creek. We dammed the creek every spring to back up the water and carried the water in buckets all summer to water the acre of garden.

All four of us Allen brothers belonged to the 4-H for the duration of World War II. We each had a Victory Garden for growing vegetables to help with the war effort. We grew all of our vegetables anyway, so it just meant making four individual plots look nicer for the 4-H leader to see.

We also got involved in scavenger hunts for old iron, brass and other metals. Additionally, we stripped cascara bark from our cascara trees, dried it on the tin roof of our tool shed, and sold the dried bark at Breeden’s Junkyard for use by the military in laxatives and other medicines. Stripping the bark from the trees killed the trees, so they were turned into firewood for Mom’s wood cook stove and the living room heater.

After finishing the sixth grade at Freshwater, I passed on to the seventh grade at Eureka Junior High School. September of 1945 was to be my entry into the “Big Time.” Bill was already there. Just by going from sixth to seventh grade, he had gone from Billy to Bill. How sophisticated! He was no longer a juvenile but had been trusted to find his way to the bus stop each morning on time for the trip into Eureka, and to reappear each afternoon on that big yellow bus.

About the Allen Brothers

The author, Gail Allen, became a civil engineer and worked for the Peter Kiewit Company, which took him all over the country and the world. He passed away in September 2018. Both Gail and his brother Don served in the Korean War. After the war, Don returned home to Eureka, where he has lived ever since, working in construction, including building his own house and the road leading to it. Neil Allen, now of Sacramento, spent his life in the Air Force, traveling throughout the world during his career. Bill Allen, now deceased, stayed in Humboldt, working for Fuller O’Brien. All four Allen brothers married — for life, it has turned out — and raised families.

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The story above is excerpted from the Winter 2018 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.