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It was the year 1951 that that big bird that I mentioned in the beginning of this story again started making noise like it needed place to leave a precious bundle!! Sure enough on February 12, 1951 this big bird found an open window at the Evanston General Hospital, again finding Mrs. Johnson’s bed. This time it was Mrs. Marilyn Johnson’s bed that the bird found and left us a little bouncing baby girl. Linda Ann Johnson made her initial appearance!!!
The New Family
Linda, Marilyn, Roland, and Marilyn’s sister Edythe Johnston went from the Evanston Hospital home to our three-and-a-half-room apartment at 6205 North Paulina St. It's a wonder the wallpaper ever stayed on the walls in our apartment, since we steam-sterilized all of the utensils, bottles and every thing we could lay our hands on. We all wore face masks from the minute we entered apartment 'til the time we left. We were in awe of this new “thing” that had entered our lives. (Thank you Aunt Edythe for all of your help.)
Since the apartment had only one bedroom, Linda's crib was in the dining room. She was in the dining room for about two nights, then she got the bedroom and Marilyn and I slept on a trundle bed in the dining room. That was the only way we could get any sleep. Marilyn was now a full-time homemaker, as she had resigned from the American Can Co. Being a homemaker is a full, full time job!
Our social life changed. We would now go and visit Sonja and Frank, Stew and Gwen, and Ken and Edythe. These are places we could take our daughter and bed her down while we would play cards or just plain visit. Svithiod was just too expensive, and the Combine people all had “little” ones too. You can see that visits from the stork can change your lifestyle.
My Mother had fallen and broken her hip at exactly the same time that Marilyn went to the hospital to give birth to Linda. At that time they were able to pin my mother’s hip. This made the recovery process much swifter than it had been. My sister took my mother to her home in Evanston for the recovery period, and then my mother came home. While she was still recovering her sister Belinda would stay and take care of my mother. After not too long a time my mother was a willing “Baby Sitter,” if Marz and I just wanted to go out and eat at the local restaurants. “Mor,” as my mother was known, was a great companion for us and also a great great friend of Linda's.
The Family Grows Again
In 1953, the stork again began flapping its wings in our general direction and on July 1, 1953, into Marilyn's room the big bird came; here was Carol Lee Johnson. Fortunately for us, through several moves we were now living in a five-room apartment, with two bedrooms. This meant that Marilyn and I had a bedroom and our two daughters Linda and Carol shared a bedroom.
There was also a dark cloud hanging over our heads at this time. My mother had developed a cancer in her uterus. The radiation treatment had taken its toll and she had to spend a great deal of time in bed. When we brought Carol home from the Evanston Hospital we would put this infant child of ours in bed with “Mor” and I think that truly gladdened her heart. Although Carol was only a few weeks or months old, “Mor” would talk to her, sing to her, and I think they were both happy. My Mother, Ida Mathilda Johnson, went to heaven on February 15, 1954. She was 81 years old. It was a very sad day for all of us! My sister’s husband, Frances U. Carlborg passed away the next June.
The Apartment
After all of the legal mumbo-jumbo, that always seems so necessary, the title for the apartment building that my mother had owned was transferred to my sister, my brother and me. Marilyn, Linda, Carol and I continued to live there, in our 5-room apartment and I continued on as the resident manager. It wasn't too long after that my brother Stuart decided that he wanted out of this apartment-building partnership. My sister and I decided that we would buy out my brother. The two of us — my sister Sonja and I — became the owners of this apartment building at the corner of Granville Ave., and Paulina St., in Chicago, Illinois.
Business, for me, was good. I was getting a good reputation in the Dairy Equipment Industry as a good “wheeler-dealer” in the buying and selling of used equipment. Actually, through the use of trade-journal advertising I was buying and selling used equipment throughout the whole country. Stuart had added this part of the business to my territory.
Finding a New Home
Because of this, Marilyn and I began to think about buying our own home out in the suburbs, where we felt the whole environment would be better for our children. We looked at houses in just about every West, Northwest, and Northern suburb of Chicago.
All of the houses we looked at were great, but there was always just one or two faults with each house. So, no purchase was made. Linda, our oldest daughter, had the flu or a cold or some such thing. One day, I bundled Carol up and took her for a ride throughout the Park Ridge area, in order to help take the “load” off of Marilyn,. It was while on this ride that I saw a house with a homemade sign printed on corrugated cardboard saying “House for Sale.”
The house looked deserted so I parked the car and went up on the porch and peeked in the window. There, on the other side of the window, was a lady peeking back at me. She invited me in to look at the house. What a mess!!!! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the floor, a baby running around with filled diapers — like I said, what a mess. The lady offered to open the venetian blinds and the dust flew. This lady excused herself and went into the bathroom to throw up. When she came out, she explained that she was allergic to dust.
The layout of the house was great. I went home and told Marilyn about what I had found and she and I went out to look at the house. The price that they were asking for the house was far too high, in my opinion, so we went to a lawyer and advised him to make a ridiculous offer to buy. Several days later I drove by this house and the for sale sign was gone. The lady was in the back yard hanging up the laundry and I said “ I see that your home has been sold,” and she replied “Yes it has been sold.” I, being of a rather curious nature asked “Who bought your house?” and she replied, “You did!!” So, in the summer of 1955, Marilyn and I became the owners of the house at 531 N. Ashland Avenue in Park Ridge, Illinois. We, of course, had to borrow money from the local savings and loan to pay for this domicile. The loan was for twenty years and the monthly payments were roughly, $68.00 per month. This included principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. Such a deal!!
The Family Keeps Growing
Hey, guess what? The “Big Bird” was again toting a precious bundle and looking for a place to leave this bundle of joy. At the Evanston Hospital there was another window open, and of course the open window was in the room that housed Marilyn H. Johnson. On January 10, 1956 we welcomed Nancy Joan into our family. The welcome mat for the “Big Bird” was dispatched, never again to be seen. Roland, Marilyn, Linda, Carol and Nancy became known as the original five!
Managing the apartment building from Park Ridge was becoming a little too much for me. I discussed the matter with my sister and we agreed that we'd both be better off selling this piece of property and ridding ourselves of the worries of being landlords. I think that my experience of running the building and dealing with the eccentricities of 22 different families killed any thoughts of owning rental properties in future years. The building was sold some time in 1957.
The House on Ashland
It never ceased to amaze me how there was always something wrong with all of the houses that we looked in all of the suburbs of Chicago. Yet, when we looked at the house at 531 N. Ashland in Park Ridge — in spite of all of the things that I mentioned before — Marilyn thought the house was beautiful. I wonder if the fact that she was raised in Park Ridge in this very same neighborhood had anything to do with our decision to buy the Ashland Avenue home.
The decision to buy that house was a great decision for the whole family. Our children all attended Field school, where Marilyn had gone to school. Marilyn and I were both very active in the Field School PTA and the Field School variety shows. We became involved socially with many of our neighbors and in particular with a “clique” that was known as the “double pot luck group plus one.” This group consisted of Jean and Jim Shedden, Peg and Wirt Farley, June and Duncan Price, Dee and Tom Petty, Jeed and Don Doherty, Lois and Tom King, Shirley and George Malby, and Shirley and Bud Christopher. This was also the nucleus of our New Year’s Eve group. All of these people have left Park Ridge. A lot of them have gone to that pot luck group in the sky, some of the others have moved either to California, Georgia, Arizona, and great many have moved down here to Florida.
The Rambler Convertible
One of the neatest things that happened in my life happened while I was on my way home from work. I'd gotten off of the Kennedy expressway and started down Cumberland avenue when I spotted a Nash Rambler automobile show room. In this show room was a Rambler convertible. I went in and inquired as to the price of this car and I thought it was reasonable. The salesman told me I could take it out for a trial run.
The trial run consisted of driving home, parking in front of the house and blowing the horn. Marilyn came out of the house to find out what the heck was going on. Now, she hadn't driven a car for a few years and would never drive my car. She was always reluctant to drive, but I knew that away down deep she would like “wheels” of her own. My very clever remark was “Get in, drive it around the block and it's yours.” A happier lady you have never seen. She got in, adjusted all the mirrors and seats and what have you and off she went. She came back, gave me a big kiss, and said “Thank You!” and with that gesture we became a two-car family. I should add here that at the time I was driving a convertible Chevrolet Super Sport, white with a black top. We were a two-convertible family. Ann Doherty, the youngest daughter of Jeed and Don Doherty cried, “The Johnsons have two convertibles, why can't we have at least one.”
Brownies, then Girl Scouts, then Junior High School and of course boyfriends were the activities of our girls, and this kept Marilyn and me busy, too. We were all active in St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, and all three of our daughters were confirmed in this church.
End of Section Five: Go on to Next Section |
