This saga starts in the old Lincoln School back in 1949. Mr. Hank Rasmussen, the bank manager at Bank of America, had set up a teller’s booth in the hallway of Lincoln and Washington schools, offering savings accounts to the students in order to teach them responsibility and good banking habits. Remember this was an era when credit cards were in their infancy and an ATM was unheard of.
My friend Bruce was back from Vietnam and I was out of AIT, so we decided to go back to college. When we enrolled at Reedley College, we found that we both needed to take English A, and there was a new English teacher on staff. A little background here: English A is basic English for those with aspirations of transferring from junior college to a four-year college.
Kings View Hospital opened its doors on February 11, 1951. Located on 43 acres of farmland along the banks of the Kings River near Reedley, this was the second of three hospitals built by the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Arthur Jost was appointed as administrator.
Before the outbreak of World War II, G Company of the 185th Infantry, 40th Division of the California Army National Guard was made up primarily of men from Parlier and Reedley. When it was time for drills, Army trucks would pick them up and take them into the Armory in Fresno for drills.
Whenever you enter Reedley, from whatever direction, there are a multitude of landmarks reminding you that this is your hometown. Over the next few months, I’m going to be writing about at least three local landmarks. Some of them have the (dubious) honor of appearing about the same time I came to Reedley, but more about those later. I’m going to start with Immanuel Schools.
My first parade experience was during WWII in Fort Worth, Texas at P.T. Barnum’s circus. It was under the big top and the ringmaster shouted “Strike up the Band!” The parade was led by elephants ridden by beautiful girls wearing brightly colored head dresses of ostrich plumes. They were followed by other circus performers, wild animals and clowns. It was quite a sight.
When asked to write this article, I pondered where to start and in which direction to go. I decided that I would start somewhere in the middle—the day I went to get my first library card to be exact.
Let me begin by rectifying a long-held belief by some and perpetuated by others: Jesse Janzen was not an old Danish sea captain. Even though many people will say Jesse retired from the sea and ships, it was actually his father who was the captain. That being said, let’s get back to our story about the Opera House.
From Craycroft bricks kilned on G Street by Chinese immigrants some 122 years ago, I rose near the railroad tracks of Reedley. I was called the Granger Warehouse and I would soon be known as the largest wheat warehouse west of the Mississippi River. When the bottom fell out of the wheat market, I became the home of the largest raisin plant in the world. I had a part in providing tasty treats to our doughboys during World War I.
Old Moral Cemetery, Pottawattamie County, Oklahoma, 1946. I had just turned five and this was my first reunion. The family all gathered around Great-Grandma Eliza Jane's grave. Her dying wish was never to have rain fall on her grave, so when she was buried the men-folk built a rock box about three feet high with a slightly domed top to shed water. Now, it was covered with picnic baskets filled with fried chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, deviled eggs and biscuits. For dessert, Uncle Glen churned up some homemade ice cream to be served with your choice of apple, cherry, pecan or pumpkin pie. After lunch, the relatives walked among the graves, reminiscing and telling stories about family members who have gone before, while the kids played tag around the tombstones.
