Person:Janice Blaine (1)

RECOLLECTIONS OF OUR MOTHER, JAN GIBBS, ON HER 100th BIRTHDAY BY SHIRLEY, DANA, VALERIE AND PHILLIP GIBBS In celebration of the 100th birthday of Jan Gibbs, we her children would like to share memories of our mother with you. Our mother was an adventurous woman......she was a free spirit , with a wonderful sense of humor, and was always ready for the next ex perience that life would put in front of her. She was truly a real character, a mix of Lucille Ball and "Auntie Mame". Janeth (She changed her name to Janice when she was a teenager) Meredith Blaine, was born in Ottowa, Kansas on April 16, 1904, the tenth and last child of Joseph Cully Blaine and Fannie Douglas Orrell. Mom was two years old when her mother packed up the youngest children and boarded a train for National City, CA. to join her sister Mary Eva Addison and her brother Frank. With money left to her husband by his sister, Augusta Blaine Nelson, Her mother purchased a home and set up her mid-wife practice. Then her father came west with the rest of the children. Mom said that her oldest brother was not very nice to her as she grew up, as he was embarrassed that his mother was having a child at age 44, but Mom was very close to her sister, Orrell, who was just two years older than she. Mom first met and knew our Dad when they were in kindergarten together. They went to school together until Dad moved to Fresno after completing grade school. While growing up, Mom lived in an old house on East 12th Street in National City. It was across the street from the library at 1107 National City Avenue near Kimball Park. Her sister, Orrell, did research on the house in later years and found it was the headquarters for a sheep ranch that covered most of southern California. It was owned and built in the early 1700's by an Englishman who had a grant from the King of Spain. After Mom's mother, Fannie died; her sister Lena inherited the estate. Lena sold the house, it was then torn down, and a used car lot was developed on the land.

Mom was a "liberated woman" before her time. She told us when she was a teenager she had her hair "bobbed" and her father was not happy about it. Mom was always involved in some high adventure. She and her friends went on an outing to Tijuana, Mexico, while there Mom picked some beautiful yellow flowers. On the way home she and her friends stopped by her Uncle Fred Jenning's house (he was the Sheriff of San Diego County). Uncle Fred was out in his yard burning leaves, when Mom took the yellow flowers out of the glove box to show him.......he grabbed them and threw them into the fire saying; «i»"Janice, never pick these flowers again«/i»"! The flowers were marijuana in bloom, which she had inadvertently smuggled across the border!

After high school, Mom went to work at the Spreckels Sugar Company in San Diego, along with her sister, Orrell. They had a two-week vacation coming so they decided to drive up the coast to Portland. A fellow, male co-worker, who Aunt Orrell was infatuated with, went along on the trip with them.......only he was infatuated with Mom. Aunt Orrell related how they had their cardboard suitcases tied to the running board of the model T Ford. Another car sideswiped them outside of Eureka, CA, ripping the suitcases open and spreading their clothing and belongings all over the highway! Aunt Orrell said that Mom fell in love with Portland, and that's the reason the family eventually moved there in 1938.

Mom and Dad were married in National City, CA on July 21, 1928. They moved to San Francisco where Dad was playing drums in a Dixieland Jazz band at the Shanghai Cafe. They later both went to work for the White Company Department Store in San Francisco. While living in San Francisco, Shirley and Dana were added to the family.

Their next move was to San Leandro, CA where Valerie and Phillip were born. When Mom was nine months pregnant with Phillip, she was out for a walk in the neighborhood and she slipped and fell on her back and couldn't get up! She was only 5'2" tall and weighed less than 100 pounds, but she was carrying a very big baby (Phillip weighed in at 9lbs 8oz at birth). A man walked by while Mom was stuck on her back and when she asked him for help......he looked at her with disgust and said, "a women in your condition shouldn't drink", and walked on by. She wasn't drunk......just very pregnant!

Mom went to California visit her relatives in the 1930's. Her nieces (Aunt Lena's daughters) Francis, Janice and Marjorie took her to the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood in search of famous stars. Luckily they ran into the famous comedian, Red Skelt on. Mother went over to him, in a very nervous state, and said "Mr. Skeleton, you are a great fan of my son, could I have your autograph"? He was very gracious about her misspeak and mispronunciation of his name, and said "certainly little lady". He could have corrected her obvious error she meant to say, "Mr. Skelton, my son is a great fan of yours"!

While on this vacation, Mom and her nieces were walking down the street when several men took notice of her attractive nieces. Mom was not too much older than her nieces, and said "I can attract men too, watch me, the next man that passes will turn around and look at me". Mom walked ahead of her nieces and made a funny face at the next man who passed her by.......of course, he did a double take......and she won the bet!

The family moved to Portland in August of 1938. Dad, Shirley and Phillip drove to Portland while Mom, Dana and Valerie came on the train. We first lived on NE 25th Avenue in Portland and later we moved to SE 29th Avenue in the Eastmoreland neighborhood. This is where Mom and Dad met and became such good friends with Jim and Dorothy Randall.

Mom and Aunt Dorothy were very spontaneous women. One day they went sightseeing in the Lake Oswego area and found 2 houses, side by side for rent on Graef Circle in Lake Grove (about 12 miles from Portland). When Dad and Uncle Jim came home from work that day, they found their wives packing for a move! Later, we moved across the street to a home on the west end of the Lake next to Cliff and Kay Powers. During World War II we moved to a large home on Lower Drive (now Lakeview Blvd.). We rented the basement apartment to a number of different people including Dorothy Peetz, a grade school English teacher and her teenage son, Louie. Mom started a long tradition of water fights with Louie. She would fill a bucket with water or get the garden house and catch Louie when he was least expecting it.

After Dad left to go into the service with the Navy in WW II, Mom and Aunt Dorothy volunteered for a variety of patriotic causes. They decided they would do their turn as air wardens. Every day, they would go to the top of Iron Mountain and watch for enemy planes which fortunately never came. They did, however, learn to identify enemy aircraft. Mom and Aunt Dorothy also read that women were needed at the cannery to get prunes ready to ship to the "boys overseas". They had a night shift so Mom got a sitter and put us all to bed. She and Aunt Dorothy went to the plant north of Salem, OR. There they were met by a dour looking woman in a hat at the desk when they checked in. She gave them papers to join the union, but they informed her that they were only answering the call for help and wouldn't be joining the union. The woman was not impressed with their effort, but said they could work until midnight. All they wanted to do was help the war effort, but decided the "boys" wouldn't eat the prunes anyway. Mom and Aunt Dorothy also volunteered at the USO canteen in Portland. They would invite soldiers and sailors for meals and a swim in the lake. One time she invited them over, but discovered there was nothing to eat in the house except a bathtub full of cucumbers she was going to use to make pickles!

Mom was always taking care of stray animals and children. When one of our neighbor boys, Jimmy Crawshaw came down with polio, Mom opened an account in his name at the bank and encouraged others to donate for his medical expenses.

Aunt Dorothy recalled the time she loaned a black nightgown to Mother to wear when Dad got home from a trip to the east coast. She put it on and Dad's only comment was, «i»"you look like you just came off the cover of Police Gazette"!«/i» The Police Gazette was a very risque magazine at the time.

During WW II, gas was rationed and you were allowed something like two gallons a week. We went into Oregon City to shop and on the way back home the car ran out of gas in the middle of the old Oregon City Bridge (only 2 lanes on that bridge). She walked across the bridge into West Linn to beg some gas as she didn't have any more ration stamps, leaving us in the car. By the time she returned the traffic was backed up into Oregon City. Mother was totally exasperated.....probably one of the reasons she never was much for driving cars!

Mom became a truly proficient fisherwoman and she especially loved casting for bass in the lake. She caught what she claimed was the "record" bass. She put the poor fish in a galvanized tub where it languished for several days while she showed it off to her friends. She and Dad loved fishing......their favorite river was the Clackamas, which is in the Mt. Hood National Forest. They also made many trips down the Rogue River in Southern Oregon.

They shared their love of fishing and camping with their children. We used to camp on a small island on the Clackamas River. This was before the official Forest Service campgrounds existed. One night Mom and Aunt Dorothy were sitting up around the campfire. They saw a car stop on the road and a man got out, and was making his way by flashlight to the campsite. They were relieved to find it was a Forest Ranger, until Mom said, "Oh, we don't have a permit for this fire". Dad crawled deeper in to his sleeping bag. The Forest Ranger was a good guy, and told them «i»"it's allright....there«/i» «i»doesn't appear to be any danger of fire"«/i». They got off lightly that time!

Mom went to work for Kingsbury's Ltd, a ladies dress shop owned by her friend, Betty Kingsbury. She worked there for 15 years and never once took a paycheck......taking her pay in clothes for family members.

Mom helped Dad build our house on Canal Circle. She would don her "can't bust em" white coveralls and pitch in painting, shingling, etc. Mom loved the lake and the ducks which lived there. She would call them and they would come running for the bread she would feed them. One afternoon, Phil and Mom were home and Mom got a bunch of ducks to follow her into the house. She told Phillip «i»"be very quiet, or you will disturb them"«/i». At that moment, Valerie came home from school, slammed the door, yelling «i»"I'm«/i» «i»home"!«/i» With that all the ducks panicked, flew about the house, poopin' all over!

There came the time when Mom and Dad needed to have dentures. It was a very painful time for both of them, and they both had trouble with ill-fitting dentures. Mom was always embarrassed by her teeth and wouldn't want anyone to see her without them. One night Dana was waiting for her date to pick her up. Mom came out of the bathroom with a scarf tied tightly about her head and no teeth! Dana adds that it was the first time she ever saw her without them. Mom said, «i»"Honey, I'll answer the door when your date«/i» «i»comes"!«/i» Dana was horrified but she knew Mom was kidding??!!

When Dad's business failed, it was a very difficult time for Mom. They had to sell the house on Canal Circle and move into an apartment in Oswego. It was at this time they became involved in the group that founded the Lake Oswego Community Theater, a group of amateur thespians in the fall of 1952. The first play was "Blythe Spirit," and was held on the stage of the Lake Oswego High School Auditorium. Mother played the lead role in that play. Her next role was one as the "wacky nun " in "Seven Nuns from Las Vegas". They had borrowed a brown nun's habit from Marylhurst College, and on opening night mother used the bathroom before going on stage. The habit slipped into the toilet, soaking the bottom of the habit.....but the show went on, wet or not! She also played one of the crazy sisters in "Arsenic and Old Lace". Some say she was becoming type cast.

There is a section about the Civic Theater in the history of Lake Oswego, published by the library. One of Mom's friends, Emma Schiffer, gave the following interview: «i»"I've seen Jan Gibbs scrubbing restrooms."«/i» Ann Olson, another one of our fine actresses was walking past and Jan, always the actress, squares off like an old Irish scrubwoman......screws up her little Irish face and says,«i» "this is me life's ambition"«/i» to Ann standing there in her immaculate white slacks.

We moved from the apartments in Oswego to a rental home on Second and D streets in Oswego, where our neighbor was Claude Smith. Claude was a realtor, among other businesses he ran, and he was a short, bandy legged Texan. Second St. turned from pavement to gravel in front of our house and a neighbor up the street used to round the corner«u» «/u»at high speed, making both Mother and Claude angry. One day, they came up with an idea (prior to speed bumps) to place several large, sharp rocks in the driveway in order to slow him down. She and Claude were anxiously awaiting his arrival, when he came roaring around the corner and came to a screeching halt. He got out of his car and started to remove the rocks, when he was descended upon by Mother and Claude hollering at him. (Now Mother was at a point in her life where she was searching for new home remedies such as DMSO, and her latest thing at this point was chlorophyll gum. She had been chewing the gum and unbeknownst to her, her teeth were as green as St. Patrick's Day!) Our speeding neighbor took one look at this crazy lady, who was hollering at him with the green teeth, and took off........he found another route home after that encounter!

Mom became best friends with Fran Haggerty who was as much a character as Mom was. Fran was short with a square body and skinny legs. Her shape was that of the cartoon character, Sponge Bob Square Pants. These two played Parcheesi incessantly. One day Phil was sitting on the living room couch reading a newspaper. Behind the paper he had a tape recorder and was taping their conversation. All you could hear was the sound of the dice rattling, markers moving and counting the spaces they could move, and some profanity while they accused each other of cheating. They were not pleased when Phil played the tape he had made back for them.

One day, Mom and Fran were in Wizer's Market grocery shopping. Mother got to the checkout counter first and said to the young checkout clerk, «i»"Mrs. Haggerty is hard of«/i» «i»hearing and forgot to wear her hearing aid today«/i». Please speak loudly when she comes through the line". When Fran finally got around to checking out, the young man was yelling, «i»" Hi Mrs. Haggerty, How are you today? Did you find everything you wanted?" «/i»Fran came out of the store and asked Mother, «i»"What was wrong with that young man? «/i» He was yelling at me the whole time he was checking me out." Mom fessed up to her prank, and Fran didn't speak to her for a month!

Another incident that showed Mom's sense of humor occurred at a hotel in Gearhart, OR on the Oregon coast where Mom and Dad were attending a business meeting. Dad stepped into the gift shop while Mother waited in the lobby. She saw an acquaintance from Oswego, a woman she knew from Kingsbury's Ltd. Mom said,«i» "Oh, please don't tell anyone you saw me here.....I'm here with my first husband".«/i» The woman was aghast, but then very relieved when Dad walked around the corner.

In 1967, Mom volunteered to fly to Boston to help Phil and Pat with their newborn son, Patrick. Phil drove to Logan Airport in Boston with Mark, Amy and Matthew to pick up Grandma, but the plane emptied, the stewardesses got off and then the pilots. Phil thought Mom was up to her usually joking around and hiding on the plane. At that moment he was paged.....the call was from Dad saying Mom had arrived in Chicago, but as she was trying to find her connecting flight she ran into a problem. A clerk was giving her directions to her connecting flight across the aisle and told her she needed to hurry in order to make the flight. As she was conversing with the airline clerk a man came up behind her in line, put his suitcase down behind her, and when she turned to dash for her connecting flight she tripped over the suitcase and fell on her face. She broke her glasses and was badly bruised.......the airline's answer in those days......give you a bouquet of flowers, cover the minor medical bills, and put you on a plane for home. How different things are today!

In October of 1974, Mom entered Meridian Park Hospital, seriously ill and not expected to live. She had a cervical tumor, which was blocking her bladder causing uremic poisoning. She asked the Doctor what her death would be like if she refused any further treatment. He said, «i»"Uremic poisoning is a very gentle way to go, you gradually«/i» «i»slip into a coma; it's like freezing to death".«/i» Mom chose to go in this gentle way. She had hundreds of friends, all of whom wanted to see her, she was gracious to them, but as her time grew closer, she chose to be surrounded by her family.

She died as she had lived. As she moved into her second week in the hospital, she slipped deeper and deeper into the coma, but she still maintained enough of a grip on reality as we were telling stories about our youthful indiscretions. Mom would stir and say, «i»"Im not old enough to hear that"! «/i» She was told Louie Peetz was coming to see her, and one of her last coherent requests was for a squirt gun so she could continue their never-ending water fights. When Mom moved deeper into her coma, her false teeth slipped and Dana went to the nurse and asked her to remove them. The nurse came back and said Mom wouldn't let go of them so she gently pushed them back into her mouth. Dana knew then that Mom could still understand what was going on around her, despite the coma, so Dana went back into her room, and «i»"talked Mom's leg off".«/i»

At midnight on November 4, 1974 she slipped away. She would tell us often that she loved us and showed us her love in a million ways. In dying with quiet grace, acceptance and humor, she gave us the greatest gift. She was cremated and we buried her ashes beside our father at Riverview Cemetery in Portland, OR.

The next day, we had an Irish Wake for her. She had told us many times that she was Irish and we were related to James G. Blaine the statesman, senator from Maine and Presidential candidate. In later years, as Phil traced our genealogy we found that in deed, she was of Irish descent, but was not related to James G. Blaine.

Her legacy lives on in 19 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

1910 United States Federal Census

Name: Janeth Blaine Age in 1910: 6 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1904 Birthplace: Kansas Relation to Head of House: Daughter Father's Name: Joseph C Father's Birthplace: Indiana Mother's Name: Fanny Mother's Birthplace: Illinios Home in 1910: National, San Diego, California Marital Status: Single Gender: Female Race: White

Household Members: Joseph C Blaine Fanny Blaine Lena Blaine Nelson Blaine Kathryn Blaine Orrell Blaine Janeth Blaine

Source Citation: Year:«i» 1910«/i»; Census Place: «i»National, San Diego, California;«/i» Roll: «i»T624--95«/i»; Page: «i»7B«/i»; Enumeration District«i»: 138«/i»

1920 United States Federal Census

Name: Janeth Blaine Home in 1920: National City, San Diego, California Age: 15 years Estimated Birth Year: abt 1905 Birthplace: Kansas Relation to Head of House: Daughter Father's Name: Joseph C Father's Birth Place: Indiana Mother's Name: Fannie D Mother's Birth Place: Illinois Marital Status: Single Race: White Sex: Female Able to write: Yes Able to Read: Yes Image 881

Household Members: Joseph C Blaine Fannie D Blaine Katherine Blaine Orrell Blaine Janeth Blaine

Source Citation: Year: «i»1920«/i»; Census Place: «i»National City, San Diego, California«/i»; Roll: «i»T625--130«/i»; Page: «i»4A«/i»; Enumeration District: «i»819-839;«/i» Image: «i»881«/i».

1930 United States Federal Census

Name: Janice Gibbs Home in 1930: San Francisco, San Francisco, California Age: 25 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1905 Relation to Head of House: Wife Spouse's Name: Ernest L

Household Members: Ernest L Gibbs 256 Janice Gibbs 25 Shirley J Gibbs

Source Citation: Year: «i»1930;«/i» Census Place: «i»San Francisco, San Francisco, California«/i»; Roll: «i»202«/i»; Page: «i»4B:«/i» Enumeration District: «i»221«/i»; Image: «i»1014.0.

«/i»Oregon Death Index, 1903-98

Name: Gibbs, Janice M County: Clackamas Certificate: 74-16938 Age: 70 Birthdate: Apr 1904

Source Information: Ancestry.com.«i», Oregon Death Index, 1903-98«/i» [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000.

Social Security Index

Name: Janice Gibbs SSN: 542-28-0428 Last Residence: 97034 Lake Oswego, Clackamas, Oregon, United States of America Born: 16 Apr 1904 Died: Nov 1974 State (Year) SSN Issued: Oregon (Before 1951) Source Information: Ancestry.com.,«i» Social Security Death Index«/i» [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Newtwork, Inc., 2007.