Dwain Cover McDonald's and Yvonne Lucille Petersteiner's Family Tree
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11

TILLIE

AS TOLD BY TILLIE

I was born July 27, 1906 at Osawatomie, Kansas.

My parents are Luther Vanmeter Young and Bertha Hay Seetin Young.  My early life is covered in the part of this history regarding their lives together, which ended in 1919 when I was thirteen years old.  After finishing elementary school in 1921, I entered Osawatomie High School, where I studied Business, and took the Teacher's Training course, so that I might make a decision later on.  During these four years, I participated in our Glee Club, Dramatic Art and Debate courses.  School was something I really liked; I enjoyed serving in the Girl Reserves and taking part in our school activities.  I graduated from Osawatomie High School in 1925, and soon after, I joined the family in Wichita, Kansas, where I worked and studied dancing for about two years.  I worked at Schoor's Chocolate Shop and Tea Room to support myself and help our mother keep our home together.  In 1927, I received a contract with an act which would have taken me to New York, but about a year and one half before, I had met my future husband Claude Hampton Bledsoe from Miami, Oklahoma.

We were married on October 31, 1927, and we moved to Blackwell, Oklahoma where he was employed with Oklahoma Natural Gas Company selling heating equipment and gas appliances.  Later he was transferred to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I got a job with Halliburton Abbott Department Store as a book buyer.  We were very happy there.  In 1929 after the stock market crash, the utilities began to close their merchandising departments, and my employer was forced into bankruptcy when a number of the oil fields shut down, so employment became exceedingly difficult to find.  Claude was able to get work at the .City Service Gas Company up in Parsons, Kansas.  He was transferred to a number of towns while with this company, the last one being Kansas City, Missouri.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, the government began to fight the monopolies which were thought to be part of the cause of the depression, so public utilities were the first to be attacked.  City Service Company in Kansas City layed off most of the men in Claude's department.  Claude was offered a job with the People's Gas Light and Coke Company in Chicago, Illinois, but mother was extremely ill, and I could not leave then.  I was working at Myron Green Plaza Tea Room, so he had to take a job selling Hudson Cars.  Claude's father was also seriously ill in Oklahoma, so we struggled along and managed to help them both.  We lost Dad Bledsoe in 1933, and my mother passed away very soon after Mother's Day in 1934.  Things were not getting any better in Kansas City; however, business was booming in Chicago because the world's fair "The Century of Progress" stimulated it.  Claude's friend at the Gas Company there said he could use a man right away, so we decided that we had nothing much to lose and we moved to Chicago, Illinois.  The People's Gas Light and Coke Company sent him to school to study gas-heating and air-conditioning, and he gained much experience, so it turned out to be a good move for us.  Claude wished for me to take a rest, so I did not work in Chicago.  We liked the city, and we made many nice friends.  Our group of friends all liked to go ballroom dancing, so we use to meet at one of our houses and then go dancing to one of the "Big Bands" which were so popular with the young people in those days.  We liked the many dinner and theatre parties which were held by our circle of friends on Saturday nights.  Chicago was a very, exciting place, and with the World's Fair on then, there was never a dull moment.  After the fair closed business began to slow down, and Claude was offered a job with the Springfield Gas and Electric Company at Springfield, Missouri, so we moved.  I went to work again at Heer's Department Store as buyer for the Book Department.  We loved it there, as we both liked to fish and hunt together, and the Ozark Mountain area was ideal.  Our government was still fighting the monopolies, so soon they closed the merchandising department where Claude worked, and we had to make a change.

Claude found a job with, the Gas Company at Lawrence, Kansas, and I went to work at Penney’s Department Store.  These positions were not very lucrative, but we stayed there until 1939.  World War had started in Europe, and it seemed that the United States would eventually be involved.  Claude's very good friend, a factory man in heating equipment, came to see us, and he informed Claude that they were looking for experienced heating Sales Engineers in the Houston, Texas area.  He was attending a Gas Convention there and invited Claude to go along so he could introduce him.  Claude accepted and was hired by United Gas Company.  He was sent to Beaumont, Texas.  I went to work at the White House Department Store and started brushing up on my business education at night school.  We were right, as United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor by Japan, and World War II began for us too.  The government froze all heating and air conditioning equipment, so there was nothing for Claude to do at United Gas.  He knew one of the engineers at Pennsylvania Shipyards at Beaumont, Texas who offered him a job as a Draftsman working on the heating and air conditioning systems on our cargo ships.  Claude had been studying ship drafting through Texas A. & M. and the University of Texas at night school, so he was prepared.  I was ready too, and was given a job in the Expediting Department at the Ship Yards.  A year later, they were desperate for experienced people in our ship yards on the West Coast and offered jobs and the travel gas to get to California.  We applied and were given jobs at the California Shipbuilding Corporation at Terminal Island in the Engineering Department.  We were delighted, as we could go to work together and by picking up two more riders, we would be able to get "C" rationed gas and tires to get to our work.  We were very busy those days, but we enjoyed the California sunshine and the beaches when we found time.  We had many relatives living in that area and we loved to be with them, and often we all got together for dinner.  My brother, Walter, was stationed up by Santa Barbara and his wife, Tootie, worked at Douglas Aircraft, so we had many good times exploring the Los Angeles area.  We stayed there until the end of the war.

We left California in August 1945, and went through an adjustment period like people had to after the war.  Since business had to change their equipment back to meet peace-time needs, there was not enough merchandise on the market to meet the demand for some time.  With the shortage of cars, all major appliances and etc., we decided to try the weather-stripping and insulation business.  We started in Great Falls, Montana and traveled with it through the Northwestern states.  Claude finally returned to the heating and air conditioning business, which he like and had always followed.

He was employed with Littleton Gas, close to Denver, Colorado, and I managed an apartment house in Denver.  We were very happy there.  Claude became ill, he had trouble with his throat, and it was found to be cancer of the pharynx and larynx.  He was in the hospital a lot after that.  I was able to see that he had adequate care, and spent lots of time beside him at the hospital.  He was under treatment for about four years.

Claude was a person with a great sense of humor - was always gallant, friendly and respected the opinions of others; he was a fun loving and interesting companion.  We enjoyed just being together, and he said he always preferred me for his fishing companion.  We were not blessed with children, but we managed to keep busy.  Since both of us were curious and liked to explore and meet new people, we had an exciting life together.  Claude passed away December 14, 1963 at Denver, Colorado, and his remains are at Elmdale Cemetery, Osawatomie, Kansas in our family plot where my stone is placed beside his.

My sister, Oma, lost her husband three years earlier in 1960.  She helped me all through Claude's illness; she was about to sell her home at Crowley, Colorado.  We decided to join forces and move to California.  Jay Oliver Eichorn, our cousin at Daly City, California, had been writing to us and he thought we would be able to find employment in that area.  We were in our middle fifties, and we knew that it would not be easy.  We arrived there in the spring of 1964 and settled at Millbrae, California.  We both were lucky, as Oma found work at Ponce College of Beauty, and I went to work for Doctor Joseph R. Furnary, cardiologist.  I took a course in medical terminology at San Mateo College, joined the American Association of Medical Assistants; later I served as their local president.  Oma and I retired in 1976 and have taken some nice vacation trips together.