She found him in a tavern in Butte, Montana. He was a cute young soldier, full of charm, on leave from Fort Callan near San Diego. “He was so handsome in his uniform,” she told me, “so sweet, and he spoke very softly. But he was clever, too, and made me laugh.” She was a run-away North Dakota farm-girl, desperate to be loved by anybody. Wearing a little bow in her long auburn hair, Katy married Ralph six days later. It was 1941, everyone was in a daze.
Ralph returned to the army base and a month later, sent her the train fare to come to him in California, “Just like in a dime-store romance novel.” she said. She was bursting with excitement when she stepped off the train and saw the ocean for the first time. “I could hardly breathe. I never imagined so much water. I was in California!” In La Jolla, she began a new life filled with happiness and romantic dreams. Her newfound joy was short lived.
Her husband, she learned all too soon, and too late, was a drinker. When he went AWOL one time too many, he was transferred to Camp McQuaide in Watsonville, a stockade for Army deserters. Katy left La Jolla on a bus, and followed him. She stayed in a cheap motor court in Santa Cruz for months.
She found work at the Town Clock cafe doing a split shift, opening the cafe every morning and closing up every night. When she found out that she was paid less than the other waitresses, she confronted her boss who told her, “Take it or leave it.” She said, “I will leave it.” The boss found himself feeding a busy lunch crowd on his own, as he watched her walk out the door. She went down the street to the Coast Creamery and was instantly hired. She had few skills, but she was young and beautiful and had determination. “Well, it wasn’t fair,” she said. “ I didn’t know much, but I knew I wasn’t going to let him treat me like that.”
Ralph was eventually mustered out of the Army with a medical discharge, the Army’s way to deal with drunkenness in their recruits. He found menial work in Santa Cruz, and Katy continued making milkshakes and ice cream cones until their baby was born in 1943 and the Creamery let her go.
Because of his frequent binges, Ralph never held onto a job for long. They were a family in trouble. When their baby was two they moved into one room in a house that already held a family of seven. It was just “for a short time” until Ralph found another job. The next day he went out in the morning to look for work and never came back. Apparently, he’d decided that having a family was too much for him and he simply walked away.
Katy, at 25, was left with a small child, no place to live, and no money. She was on her own and scared. She appealed to the local Catholic church for advice or help, but found neither. A few days later she learned of a woman who needed someone to tend her goats. “I can’t pay you much,” she’d said, “but you are welcome to stay out in the barn with the animals if you like.” She and her child slept in the hay on a blanket.
One morning a tall, angular, somewhat disabled man in his late 30s, drove past the old feed store on Soquel Drive and stopped at the dilapidated barn across the street. Walking up to the open door, he found a lovely young woman with long ginger hair, milking a goat. She was wearing baggy blue denim trousers rolled up at the bottom and a white peasant blouse with embroidered red cherries at the neckline. Her feet were bare. A toddler sat next to her in the hay. The scene took his breath away.
He smiled from the doorway and spoke kindly to her. “My name is Jim,” he said, shaking his head, “and I have to say, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen — sitting there on that little stool you look like an angel.” She looked away, embarrassed, not knowing what to say. “I am here because I got a phone call from Father Phelan,” he explained, “at Our Lady Star of the Sea. He told me about a woman living in a barn who needs work.”
“Yes sir, I sure do need work, but I have my baby and can’t leave her.”
“Well, I am desperately in need of a housekeeper, someone who can cook and who will tend to my children while I am at work.” He explained to her that his wife had run off, leaving him to care for their two young boys. He really needed help. “You could live in my home and your child would be very welcome, if you think you could help me.”
Katy cried as he scooped her baby up out of the hay. He put her three cardboard boxes of belongings into his Ford station wagon with the wooden side panels. “He saved us,” she said, “just like in the movies.”
At that time, she could not know that this rescue would only last three-years, but she had good work, she and her child were safe, and that is all that mattered.
Katy never heard from her husband again.
Wow, quite a story. You really have a skill of building deep characters in a few words. Is this a true story? Great job!
What an amazing story of what your mom and you went through, Sharron! And I can see your face and personality in the second photo, for sure!