When the war ended, we lived with Uncle Edison and Aunt Gussie for a while. Lud's Mom, Nana10, was trying to evict someone from a house she owned on Sparks Street in Burbank11. The tenants finally got out.
The house sat on the back half of the lot. It needed a lot of work if we were going to live in it. We removed the wallpaper and after seven layers there wasn't much more than the lath. Uncle Edison and Aunt Gussie helped us paper and paint. It made it livable.
Lud had a horrible childhood. His father would promise him things if Lud would do something and then not go through with the promise. Like he would tell him he would get him a bicycle and Lud would get all excited and then never get the bicycle.
Lud joined the Boy Scouts as a child. He made it to Eagle Scout and at the time was the youngest one ever. He really liked his leader, Dr. Faust. Dr. Faust was an optometrist in Provo, Utah.
Dr. Faust noticed that Lud needed glasses, so he gave him a pair. Lud said he went to the movies and really saw what was up on the screen for the first time. After this, he decided to become an optometrist.
That was his plan. He went to Glendale College on his motorcycle. I worked at King Cole Market around the corner from our house. In the summer months, he would sail with the Merchant Marines to earn money. On one of his trips, he contracted malaria, which affected him later.12
After four years of marriage, I found out I was pregnant. I was delighted and so was Lud13. Lud hoped it was a girl and that it wouldn't have to go through what he did as a child. We asked Nana to move in with us and converted the garage into a bedroom for her.
What a wonderful mother-in-law I had14. She was a lot of company for me when Lud was gone. If Lud and I had an argument, she always took my side.
Lud loved the classics. We had tickets to all the light opera productions at the Biltmore in Los Angeles. He also rooted for the underdog. If anyone were picketing for a cause, he wouldn't cross their lines.
We had great times and many friends. It seemed that they always ended up at our small house, even on New Year's Eve.
Our daughter, Tamaria, was born on August 18, 1949, at the Glendale Seventh Day Adventist Hospital15. Uncle Edison and Aunt Gussie took me, as Lud was at sea. Lud made it just in time. Here was this 6lb, 12oz16 baby girl with beautiful black hair. That day I received 2 roses with a note that said, "I don't want a room full of roses, I just want my arms full of you." Not original, but it meant a lot to me. Her father named her after the capitol of an Island in the Indian Ocean. He had swam to shore there after his ship was shot out from under him by the Germans in WWII.
10Her real name was Fanny Lodifink Krauss.
11She and my grandfather were separated and I don't think they ever got legally divorced.
12He also had a bad fall on a ship which, along with the malaria, gave him blackout spells.
13My dad was really not so delighted, he shipped out for six months to earn more money.
14Grandma Nana was from Denmark. Mom thought she would get some really good recipes from her, but Nana could barely cook.
15The umbilical cord was tied in a knot and it was a wonder I ever grew.
1622 inches long. I probably looked like a noodle.
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