| Memo |
- When the family came from Kettle Falls they lived on McKinley Ave. for one year were Mom (G. Belle Duncombe) attended the first grade at McKinley School. They then moved to Oakland Addition in Tacoma. 3561 Gunnison St.. Mom attended Oakland School from the second grade until she finished grade school. Then she attended Jason Lee Jr. High school. It was the first Jr. High school in Tacoma. They were living in Oakland Addition when Grandma (May Duncombe) married Bandy or Shorty after, Grandma wouldn't marry again until 7 years had passed and she could get Glover declared dead. The seven years were up about the time they moved or shortly after. So, whether she moved there when she married Bandy or was living there when she married him, I'm uncertain. Most of the photos of the house say it is the 'Bandy home'. The family lived here until some time between the birth of Viola in Nov. 1926 and the birth of Evaline in April 1930, as Viola was born in Tacoma and Evaline was born in Summit View. So, the family was in Summit View when Mom was married. The farm in Summit View was a chicken farm address 5722 E 112th St. Puyallup, Washington Obituary of Mildred May Bandy Mrs. James B. (Mildred May) Bandy, 70, of 5722 E 112th St , Puyallup, died Saturday in a Puyallup hospital. Born in Deckerville, Michigan, she came to Tacoma 43 years ago. She was a member of the Summit Methodist Church. and the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Midland. Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Paul(Viola) Anderson of Puyallup, Mrs. Glcnn(Bcll) Cook of Auburn, and Mrs. James(Evaline) Bixby of Milton- Freewater, Oregon; a son, Milton F. Glover of Ellensburg; two brothers, Lorne Duncombe of Puyallup and William Duncombe of Renton: 16 grandchildren and l 3 great-grandchildren. Interment in Mountain View Memorial Park. Evaline Rose Bixby nee Bandy's memories of her mother. Mama – Mildred May Duncombe Bandy My Mother was born in 1892, in Michigan. The family moved from Michigan when she was a young lady. What I remember being told is that they came across the country by train to southern California. My Nephew, Glenn (Bud) Cook says that they went by boat to the east coast of what is now the Panama Cannel, took a train across that narrow strip of land and came by ship to California Coast. They shipped their furniture by ship around the Horn. Mama’s first husband (Eugene?) Glover she had known in Michigan and he followed her across the country and they were married in California (I think). It did not work out and he left her when Milton and Belle were just toddlers. Belle says it was grandma's meddling that separated them. I suspect more than that. Anyway grandma took care of the children and mama went to work as a maid in a hotel. Belle didn't have too many good things to say about grandma's care. She was a crab! The family lived in several places in southern Calif. during these years. Grandpa tried homesteading and lost the places several times. Mom's sister married in Calif. too, that was Ermal Lowes; she was the mother of my cousins Bill Lowes and Mable Soars that I talk about from Calif. Grandpa, Grandma, Mama and 2 children and Mom's brothers, Uncles Bill, Lorne, John all came north to Washington. I remember that they came by ship from San Francisco to Tacoma or Shelton. Mama said she was terrible sick on the ship ride. They lived on a homestead at Kettle Falls, on the east side of the Mts. and then later lived in Shelton, or maybe it was reverse. I think it was at Shelton, that she met and married my father--anyway they lived in Oakland Edition, in Tacoma after they were married. Belle and Milton were young children. Eloise and Viola were both born while there and they moved out to the 10 acres farm at Summit when Viola was a baby and I was born at Summit. The depression was coming, Daddy was getting old and they thought they could work the farm and survive. Mama said she married an older man thinking she would have some stability. Daddy was still working at a mill in Tacoma, when I was a baby. I remember he still drove the old (Ford?) car--it had isinglass roll up windows on the sides. They thought they could at least live and raise some food on the farm. They hand milked about 10 cows, morning and night, we had a separator that we run the fresh milk through and sold cream in 5 gallons cans and the creamery truck came by and picked it up daily, I think. They had thousands of white leghorn chickens. They were good layers, but not much meat. I remember mama sitting for hours each evening and cleaning the eggs for the 30 dozen egg crates to be picked up by truck in the morning. Mama would fall asleep cleaning eggs and then when she got to bed, she couldn't sleep. Probably worrying about all the things that had to be done tomorrow. The surplus skim milk that we had left, went to the chickens and pigs. We sold baby pigs when they were 6 weeks old for feeder pigs. We used lots of the skim milk for the family too. We had pasture for the cows and calves, and put up hay every season. Had a big garden and canned and stored vegetables and fruits for the winter. We ate good. Lots of milk, cream and eggs and chicken every Sunday. Mama kept a close eye on the hens and butchered the ones that were not producing. When I started school, this was still the swing of things. As daddy could no longer do the work, the number of cows were reduced and the cream selling stopped. We kept the chickens going longer, but think they were gotten rid of when mama had her first nervous breakdown and had to go to the State Mental Hospital at Steilacome. That was in 1937, when I was 7. All three of us girls were shipped to relatives families for living that year. Eloise stayed with Belle and Glenn in Tacoma. They had the family of little boys that they needed help with. Viola went to stay at Docia's (in Tacoma), that was daddy's daughter by a former marriage. I was taken to live with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Bill at Redmond, Washington (near Seattle). My mother worked very hard on the farm. As daddy's health failed, mama took more and more work on her shoulder's: however, she always wore a corset, underskirt, stockings, dress and apron. No matter how much dirty work she did, she was a lady and would not don pants. I can remember always wanting to go and do chores with her as a toddler. She got quite impatient with my doddling while going through the rooms of the chicken house. The chickens were separated by rooms and they wanted to keep the proper chickens in the correct rooms. I would get in the way with my wanting to do and be everywhere. I liked to help! I had the job of milking the cat pan (metal pie pan) full for the cats, as we always had lots of cats to catch the mice around the barn. I don't remember when I didn't know how to milk a cow, for I wanted to do and be everywhere. As I recall, Viola and Eloise were more indoors persons and they learned to cook more than I and at a younger age. We were all to take turns with the dishes, but we also all three tried to get to the piano to practice right after dinner and maybe we would get out of dishes. The separator disks were the most annoying part of dishes to do. There were 36 tin disks that had to washed and dried thoroughly, as it was important to keep these very clean and not let them rust. We hung them on a wire hanger that would open like a safety pin that daddy fixed. Then spread the disks out with air around them. My mother was fussy about this task. 'A thing worth while doing at all is worth while doing right.' Evaline
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1892 - 1962 (70 years)
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