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THE TROPICS RESIDENT OF THE MONTH 33000 Almaden Blvd., Union City, Ca. 94587 |
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Duane Davis |
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Reporter - Charlotte O’Donnell |
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The Tropics' Resident Of The Month My
Name is Duane Davis & I reside in "The Tropics Mobile Home
Park" at 214 Hula Circle. I have 2 children from my first
marriage, Jeff & Keri. Jeff lives in Fremont with his wife Chris
& they have one son, Nicholas. Keri lives in Ripon Ca. with her
husband John. They recently adopted a son and named him Matthew. I
have one daughter from my second marriage by the name of Jessica. She
is currently living in Oakland. My Grandfather Davis passed away from Asthma & hay fever and since my father suffered from the same thing we decided to move to Des Moines. Actually previous to that we had lived for a short time in Newton but returned to the farm to get it out of debt. My Dad borrowed some money and bought a tractor, cultivator etc. & worked night & day to get on the plus side. Since my Father had always been a farmer, he took a barber course and got his license. His barbering supported our family until the war came and he took a job at Solar Aircraft where he learned the sheet metal trade. Due to his health (hay fever & asthma) he was classified 4-F. However the change to city life did not help his health problem so we got gas rationing stamps, bought a 1937 Ford with mechanical brakes & a 18 foot Shultz house trailer with no brakes at all. We loaded the trailer down with all our worldly possessions and headed for California where my Dad had the promise of a job at Hunters Point in San Francisco. This took place in 1944. One interesting experience that I never will forget was when we got to New Mexico. Dad saw a sign that said "scenic shortcut". Since it had been a long trip so far the word "shortcut" looked pretty good so we took it. Everything went well until we came to a real steep hill and were unable to get over it. After setting there for awhile a couple Mexican fellows came by in a pickup truck and saw our predicament. Even though none of us could speak Spanish and they couldn't speak English, we finally made a deal for them to tow us over the hill. Never again did my Dad pay any attention to any "shortcut" signs. We stopped for awhile in Phoenix Arizona. We had thought of locating there as we had heard it was pretty good for asthmatics. However we had never seen real Indians before nor many Mexican people so it was a little strange to us. We decided to continue on to our original destination in San Francisco. We arrived at our destination in January of 1944. The exact day slips my mind. However I do remember it was raining cats & dogs. We pulled into the "New San Francisco Motel & Trailer Park" (it still is in existence today with the same name). We stayed there for a short time until we made arrangements to move into Candlestick Cove, A wartime housing project. Rent was $40.00 per month with all utilities furnished. At Hunters Point (S.F. Naval Shipyards) my Father was appointed as a sheet metal instructor even though he had very little experience in it. He managed to keep one step ahead of his students as he would teach them what he learned from studying the books the night before. After the war was over we decided to build a house in Redwood City which we did mostly on week ends. We moved to our new home in 1947 even though it was not completely finished yet. Later on, from the experience we had from building it, we decided to build a duplex a short distance away. In Jan. of 1952, I went into business with my father. I was fresh out High school having just graduated from Sequoia High in Redwood City. My Dad bought a business known as "Pacific Trailer Supply" at 2391 Spring St. in Redwood City. It was located in a converted garage at the rear of a lot. We decided that the name didn't quite fit the business we wanted so we went searching for a new name. We decided on naming it "D & L Trailer & Heating Service". "D" for Duane and "L" for Lloyd. Soon a salesman called on us and suggested that we spell it out instead of just using the initials "D & L". That's how the name "Deonel" came to be. My Dad then took and passed a contractors license exam and became a heating, air conditioning & ventilating contractor. We did all of "Sears" heating installations up and down the Peninsula for many years. Eventually we discontinued that and devoted all our time to mobile homes and trailers. Soon after we started the business, I was called into active duty and spent some time in Korea. While overseas' my father bought some property on Hurlingame Ave. with a house located on it which became my parents new home. Later on my father bought the lot next door on which we later built a new 40 x 50 foot shop for our business. Since the shop was built on the rear of the lot, we had a lot of room in the front which we had future plans of building a larger new building. But this was for the future. One of our customers asked us if they could rent a space on it for storing their travel trailer. Thus we were now in the R.V. Storage business also. The business remained at 836 Hurlingame Ave. until recently. In or about 1973 my dad and I divided the business up and, for personal reasons, I moved to Visalia where I opened up A mobile home service business known as "Deonel Service". At that time I took and passed my own contractors exam for mobile home repair & installation. Since things were not working out to expectations and my father was extremely busy in Redwood City, I relocated back to Redwood City. We operated that way until the death of my father in 1976. I continued on under the Deonel Service name and my mother, Zelda Davis operated the R.V. storage lot until her death in 1998. The business and home property was sold soon after that. I was already semi-retired by that time. I bought a mobile home in the Tropics Mobile Home Park in Union City and this is where I live at the present. My Father and myself have served as Authorized Factory service for Coleman, Coleman - Evcon, Intertherm, Duo - Therm, Adams Furnace Co. and others. I still do a few jobs from time to time to help ends meet. My specialty is Mobile Home heating but locally I will do some plumbing and electrical work. Shortly before my move to Union City I became interested in computers. I acquired a domain name (deonel.com) and a website for my business. Since I didn't have enough work to keep me out of trouble, I decided to start a website for the "Tropics" residents thus the "Tropic Wind" was born. My only claim to fame is something I had absolutely nothing to do with. My Great Grandmother Millers' sister was Anna Ralston who was married to Frank James. She passed away in 1944, the same year we arrived in California. My Great Grand Father Miller had two brothers by the names of "Clell and Ed Miller" They rode with Jesse and the gang. You can see a picture of Clell after he was filled with buckshot during the Northfield Minn. bank robbery on the Internet at http://www.islandnet.com/~the-gang/clelpic.htm. This was the end of the James / Younger gang outlaw career as a team. Jesse formed a new gang later and became even more of a legend.
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