Motivation Monday - Happy 95th Birthday Mom

Happy 95th Birthday Mom.....
.....and we all hope many many more to come

Mrs. Mary Jane (LITTLE) GARDNER

My mom's birthday is on the 11 May which is usually a separate day from Mothers Day but not always.    For several years over the last couple of decades we have celebrated the two special days as one.  How convenient is that! But I always look forward to celebrating both days separately........... after all her birth has nothing to do with her being a mother or the other ways around.

 
My mother was born in Cuba, Allegany, New York on Tuesday11 May 1920. Only a year after birth her parents separated and both remarried. She lived with her father. He was a young single working man and did not feel he could take care of an infant girl, so his sister and BIL took her into their home. She lived between her father, her Aunt & Uncle who she came to know as Dad and Mom and her grandfather on the farm. She was an only child. Mary Jane graduated high school and went off to Buffalo, New York for nurses training at Buffalo General. Upon graduation she joined the Nurses Corp.Army.

 She was a 1st Lt stationed at Ft George G Meade, met my dad, married him 9 April 1943 on base Ft George G Meade, Anne Arundel, Maryland and then both were shipped separately overseas. Dad, Lt John Patterson GARDNER, Jr  went to many areas in Germany while mom went to Africa, Italy and France..............both  honorably discharged and ready to settle down and start a family in Alliance Stark, Ohio. Along I came. Dad went back into the Army as Captain and off we went for our first tour of duty in Nurnberg, Germany where my brother was born (ooops, can't be President now- too bad).

We came back and forth between Germany and the states several times over the years.......... returning to the United States in 1957 for good. My dad was stationed in El Paso, Texas for a short time and then was transferred to the Presidio, San Francisco. We lived in Daly City and then settled in San Carlos when my dad retired in 1963.

My mom worked as a head nurse at Burlingame Hospital for many years. She sure enjoyed that. She of course started as a floor nurse on the graveyard shift, eventually got onto swing shift and finally made it to the day shift. Then she worked her way up to head floor nurse. She continued to take classes to keep her skills up to date. She told me that she always updated her New York Nurses license just in case they moved back. She said it was a difficult one to get and didn't want to lose it. I believe she kept it updated till the mid 1970's.  She retired when I got engaged and married in 1969, They moved again to El Dorado Hills (east of Sacramento) and then to Roseville.

Mom helped with the grandsons. They purchased a motor home and took the two boys with them many times. They belonged to several RV groups and did a lot of traveling with each of these groups - sometimes taking one or both of the grandsons.

 HAPPY 95th BIRTHDAY Mom

Do You Know What Was Happening in US  & the world in 1920?
* The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote, was ratified.
* Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States
* United States presidential election of 1920, Ohio Senator Warren G Harding was elected President defeating Oho Governor James M Cox (Democratic) and Eugene V Debs (Socialist) 
* First commercial radio broadcast aired....... and radios begin showing up in private homes. Unlike today to have a radio in the home cost about $120, in todays money it would cost about $1500 (radio itself, charger & battery, antenna, speakers or headphones)
* Prohibition  comes into effect when the 18th Amendment is passed
* US population is estimated at 107,823,000
*World population is estimated at 1,811,000,000
* World: small pox becomes a major problem worldwide
* The Hague (Netherlands)becomes the seat of the International Justice Court
* New York Yankees buy Babe Ruth
* An earthquake measuring 8.5 magnitude on the Richter scale hits the heavily populated of Gansu province of China  
 *Inventions : Sticky Plaster USA by Earle Dickson; Hair Dryer Germany; The Tea Bag by Joseph Krieger; Parachute USA by Karl O K Osterday
* Cost of goods in 1920
bread 12cents a lb
butter 70cents a lb
bacon 52cents a lb
eggs 47cents a dz
cheese 38cents a lb
chicken 39cents a lb
coffee 47cents a lb
cabbage 2cents  lb
flour 41cents 5lb
lettuce 25cents for 3 heads
milk  33cents for 1/2 gal
potatoes  63cents 10lb
sugar  97cents 5lb
* Some TOYS: Musical Merry go Round; Marbles, Stick Horse; Gyroscope, Olympic Flyer Wagon; Erector set; Tinker Toys, Flossy Flirt Dolls
*Some examples of prices of auto's in the 1920's
    Chevrolet Roadster $490
    Cadillac Victoria $4540
    Ford Runabout $265 ($85 extra for starter and dismountable rims)