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My father was born in Los Angeles in 1939 but moved to San Francisco by the time he was three. According to him growing up in San Francisco was wonderful. "I could buy fifty cents of gas and drive all afternoon...[I had ] a tremendous amount of fun" my father told me. He lived with his mother, three brothers and a cousin, Pauline.

The family was very close. Every summer all the grandchildren would go to their grandmother's house in Las Vegas. My father's mother had nine brothers and sisters so you can imagine the number of grandchildren there were. Sometimes there were ten or fifteen cousins in Vegas during those summers.

My father's mother was named Alma, although some called her doll because she looked like one when she was a baby. From all accounts I have heard she was a strong woman -she had to be to raise five children. She worked cleaning hotels and motels. During World War II she worked as a street car operator in San Francisco. Her parents were from Texas. They came here during the clearing of the San Joaquine Valley. Her father was a "mule skinner" he had mules and pulled stumps from the ground. So, they traveled here and eventually to Los Vegas.

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By: Danielle Herman
Last Updated: Sept. 10, 1995 5.34PM