Family Heritage

Elmer S. Gifford and Family, by his dtr. Beverly Gifford Anderson

Elmer S. Gifford was born in Portage, Columbia CO. WI. April 6, 1900.     I   know hardly anything of my fathers young life except he quit  school in the 6th. grade to help support the family.   When he and my  Mother married, she taught him the Multiplications Tables.  They had 4 daughters; Shirley Arlene; Beverly Joan; Frances Lorraine and  Marian Lucille (she was named after his sister Marian).   Daddy was a good provider for his Mother's   family and his family after> he was married.> At the time of his Mother's divorce, he was already married.  My sister, Shirley, can probably   give you more details of Daddy's life  than I can,   she remembers things better than I do and she's only 22  months older than me.     Daddy and Mother were married April 23, 1923 in Fisher, Ill. Mothers  maiden name is Miller.  His father was Franklin Earl Gifford and his Mother was Clara May Arn  My Father was a self taught mechanic.   He started at the age of 16 and> continued being a mechanic even to teaching   Automotive in Eugene ; Vocational School in Eugene, OR. for 22 years. He also was a Foreman at  the Studebaker garage in Champaign, Ill. for years.   I remember that time  of my life pretty well.   We lived in a 2 story house at the end of a long  of long driveway.   One day Daddy came home for lunch.   He went to take  the car that was parked on the street at the   other end of the driveway  and he found out that the steering wheel was locked   and was unable to  move the car.   He came back to the house madder than a "wet hen" because> we were told never to play around with his car.   Come to find out it was> Frances because she was so curious about many things.   He was able to  release the steering wheel and drive the car.   I guess you   know no one  touched his car after that even when we became adults.   He always said  the   he bought all of his cars and that none of us girls were going to drive them and wreck them and he meant it.   We didn't drive his vehicles till after his death.  One of the nicest memories I have at the home on Lake St. (the home  mentioned above) was when Winter came, there was a lake at the end of the street called Crystal Lake and Daddy would take us girls ice skating, oh how we loved it.   Crystal Lake Park is still there today.   Another thing  that we did during the summer time was go to the same park and watch a  Free Movie on Friday and Saturday nights.   There was even a snack stand   that we could buy popcorn and pop or whatever.   What a way to spend an  evening with such a small amount of cash.   Not like today.   In 1942 my Father decided that we were going to   move to California.   We  had a sale and sold all the furniture except a few needed items.   He had  a box trailer so he could load up everything after work   and we would  leave early the next day.   We girls thought we were pretty clever and  would surprise Daddy and load it for him.   When he got home he discovered  we put all the heavy things at the head of the trailer, so we had to> unpack everything and do it all over again, then it was done right.  I asked Daddy how in the world would we get over the mountains in CA. and  he said "we'll just go up one side and down   the other",   and I believed ; him  When we arrived in Los Angeles, CA. at my Grandparents (my Mother's  folks) we stayed about 3 weeks thinking that we would live in CA. permanently. In the three weeks Daddy had done something wrong while driving the car and receive a warning from a Police Officer.   He came  home that night madder than a "wet hen" and said "we are leaving at 6 am"  the next day.   You never heard so much crying, we all wanted to live in  Los Angeles, CA.   We were registered in school and was very excited. He  said " whoever wants to go be ready at 6 am or you can stay here".   I  guess you know that we all went against our wishes.   My Father was the kind of a father that what he said he meant.     We started on our way and had to go 1,000 miles or   maybe more to the  unknown city of Eugene OR.   We got snow bound   South of Dunsmuir, CA.   There were a lot of cars that got stalled in the snow.   Daddy made us all  get out of the car and he would try and move ahead of the cars so we  could keep traveling.   He went a short distance and the trailer  jackknifed and went against a cement bridge.   If it hadn't been for the bridge we would have lost our Father, car and trailer over a very high  embankment.   We were very frightened as we watched this happen,   we  walked to a lodge near by and spent the night.   It was so cold and there was no firewood for the wood stove in the bedroom,   so we slept in our clothes and three to a bed.   The next morning we were still cold and all there was to eat was cold cereal and milk.   The highway patrolman told  Daddy he would   have to install chains to go any further.   Daddy told   him "no", that he would make it ok.   So we left taking an elderly lady home to Dunsmuir that also was stranded.   We had gone about a mile, then  there was no more snow.    We made it to Eugene, OR. on the old 99 Highway all the way from Los> Angeles, CA.   We didn't have a place to stay and no relatives or friends to stay with. We found a motel that was looking for someone to run the  office for room and board.   Shirley and I (the other two girls were to  small to help) never changed so many  sheets or washed so many toilets plus other things in our entire lives.  At that time   Daddy was hired on at the Eugene Vocational School and  taught Automotive for 22 years.   We stayed at the motel for about a month and was able to find a house with low rent, it was also a 2 story  structure on Orchard St.    I think what really brought my Father to Eugene, OR. was the hunting and  fishing that he liked so well. The year before my father retired from the school, he and Mother  purchased some land at Waldport, OR. which was located near the coast of OR.   They moved there and had a small repair shop next to a trailer they  had purchased.   He ran a small engine repair shop and was able to build a  very large repair shop within a few years for his business.   People for many miles around would come there fro Daddys' service because he was  such an honest man.   My husband and our 3 girls spent every vacation in  Eugene and then to Waldport after Daddy retired.   My husband and Daddy  were real buddies. I was so proud of them both.   Daddy decided to sell the small engine business for the third time.   Before that they had moved out of the trailer   and into a Fisherman's Cabin on the Alsea River just several houses from the trailer. He told  Mother good bye one morning and went to help the new owner do some repair work.   Daddy was at one workbench and Gordie (new owner) was at the  otherside of the building across from Daddy. He called Daddy's name three  times and when Gordie looked around there was Daddy on the floor, he had  passed away of a heart attack.   He was not the kind of a man that liked  hospitals, so if he was having any pain, no one knew   it.   He died the  way he wanted to.   I'll always admire my father because he set a good  example for me to live my life, by being honest.   To this day I miss him  and I loved him very much. Submitted by:  Beverly J. (Gifford) Anderson  April 27, 2000  Elmer, Franklin Earl, Sidney B., Stephen, Benjamin, William born 1758.