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Due to many commitments, I was unable to accomplish the interview I had planned.
Next month will have to do. You get to read about my family, who
moved to 179 Kona circle a year ago.
John, Maureen, and I enjoy our home, and we believe that with the cooperation of
residents and new management, this park will continue to improve. Charlotte
appreciates her ten rosebushes and other flowers planted by the former owner,
Willis Turner. There are many other plants on the patio, and a few
tomatoes and squash to eat this summer.
Charlotte was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where she lived with her parents and
brother, David, until she was twenty-three. She was a graduate of Pierre
S. Dupont High School, one block from her home. One of her most beloved
memories is of summers in Vermont with paternal grand- parents, and later with
some of her father’s cousins. One summer a cousin invited her to a dance
on a lake in Vermont. She and all the guests danced behind Louie Armstrong
to the tune of “The Saints Come Marchin’ In.” She attended, and
received an A. A. degree from Green Mountain Junior College in Poultney,
Vermont. She worked as a lab technician in the pigments division of the
Dupont company. She attended the University of Delaware in Newark,
Delaware. She graduated,
as a storm followed the procession. Later the diploma was mailed, as the
storm interrupted the planned ceremony. She received a bachelor of science
in education.
On June 30 of that year she left from the Philadelphia airport to visit an aunt
and uncle in Garden Grove, California. She was thinking about taking a bus
to San Francisco and then flying to Delaware. However, on July 27, John
Barry O’Donnell, who had been invited all summer, decided to visit his friends
and meet their niece. His mother had advised, “If you don’t like her,
you can return home and not visit again.”
The next Saturday evening they went to Disneyland for the first time. The next
day Charlotte met Mary Agnes O’Donnell, her other six children, their mates
and children. Sunday, August 17, was John’s birthday. He proposed
marriage while they were swimming at Balboa Island. Charlotte
accepted.
Wisely, the couple waited to marry until July 5, 1958, when Charlotte’s
mother and father were present. They honeymooned in Yosemite. They lived
in Long Beach until John graduated from Long Beach State College in June of
1960.
John was born at his family home in Altadena and attended schools there.
His brothers played sports with Jackie Robinson and his brothers. He
played football in the Rosebowl when he was in school. He joined the
United States Marines in 1953 and served until 1956. He was in Korea after
the cease-fire was declared. He recalls Marilyn Monroe entertaining the
service personnel one cold evening.
In the summer of 1960 the couple moved to Castro Valley. They were under
contract to teach in Hayward Elementary school district. John taught sixth
grade at Markham School and Charlotte, first grade at Fairview. Both are
grateful for all the children they met and saw blossom while they were teaching.
John received his administrative credential and masters degree from California
State College, Hayward. After teaching sixth-grade at Fairview School, he served
as vice-principal at Palma Ceia school. He was program director at Winton Junior
High. Not long after that, he made a career change, and became a real
estate agent with Coldwell Banker. He has been with Security West Realty
since 1993.
The family likes taking trips to Northern California. They hope to go to Oregon
this summer to see relatives, friends, including a friend of Charlotte’s from
1938 to 1955. The two have not seen one another for over forty years.
Maureen works for Social Vocational Services in Hayward and is currently in an
enclave working for meals on wheels. She likes to walk to Seven-Eleven to buy
her treats.
The family has been glad to have their daughter, Ellen, son-in-law, Bill, and
granddaughter Emily live near-by in Hayward after being in England for four
years. Emily likes to visit the Tropics. She and Maureen are looking
forward to swimming in the pool this summer.
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