Blessed with Erral's arrival in 1928, it was a happy family, and Jeanne watched out for her little sister.
In 1929, Verne's job took him to Graingeville, Idaho. And the family -- with Erral only a baby -- moved there by train. But, Erral was too young to remember.
Her memories began in Graingeville. There were only a few, but they were happy ones.
After four years, Verne transferred to the Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Spokane, Washington. There, Jeanne was a second grader and Erral began grade school, where she would complete her first eight grades. She had many fond memories from there but the Spokane years came to an end when Verne transferred to Portland, Oregon in 1942. They bought a house and moved to 7034 NE Davis Street.
Erral began her freshman year at Washington High School with the class of '46. She was blossoming into a very pretty young girl and made friends easily. Boys, especially, swarmed around her. She developed a work ethic quite young and liked to earn her own spending money and buy her own clothes. By the summer of 1944 she had a job at the Granada Theatre in the Montavilla district, not far from her home. In September, she would continue working evenings, part-time, and begin her junior year at Washington High.
Now, her path was drawing closer to Glenn's, for he, too, had moved to Portland .....
Glenn had been born in The Dalles, Oregon on October 11, 1927, almost a year before Erral. There, being raised during the great depression, he developed an early appreciation for frugality, seeing how hard his parents worked and how they had to make every penny count. At age 10 he had his first job as a paperboy so he could earn his own spending money. By 14 he had the best paper route in town and, with side jobs, full-time summer jobs, and caddying, he spared his parents the burden of giving him an allowance.
His parents had divorced when he was 9 and he lived with his mom, Jean. She had to work to support Glenn and his younger brother, Rodger, and it was hard to make ends meet. To get a better job, she moved to Portland in 1943, taking Glenn and Rodger with her. There, Glenn started school as a junior at Benson Tech and continued his work habit, trying several different things, including bus boy, cannery worker, door-to-door magazine salesman, mail sorter, and stock boy. But none showed much future promise. The following semester, spring 1944, he switched to Lincoln High School, closer to home. In April 1944, his mom sold her house and bought one in the Montavilla district, unknowingly moving Glenn's path closer to Erral's. Glenn's address was 102 NE 83rd Avenue -- just 13 blocks away from Erral's. Fate had taken a hand, and a meeting before long was surely inevitable.
During the summer of 1944, Glenn worked at the Oregon Shipyard as a trades helper. At $1.05 an hour it was good pay and he earned a premium by choosing the graveyard shift. This gave him plenty of time during the day for socializing or whatever else, but not a lot of time for rest. And, because of the move, it meant he would change schools again in September -- this time, to Washington High, where he would be a senior.
It wouldn't be long now .....