Mary Gifford: Lost, Coronado Island,

I lived on Coronado, that’s an island,
How could you get lost on an island?
You couldn’t. You could always find your way
To something or someplace you knew.
You could walk any place on the North Island
And not get lost. I was born there.
No hospitals, not for us. On the base, maybe,
But not for us. We were born at home.
There used to be a ferry to the island
Now there’s a bridge to get you across.
I don’t see how you could get lost there.

Mary Gifford



I was born on Coronado Island, it was mostly military there. I babysat the kids. My family had a drygoods store so we couldn’t go far from home. Sometimes we went to LA or Mexico—Tiajuana or Ensenada. There was no bridge in those days, you had to take a ferry to the mainland. We had a housekeeper and in the afternoons we’d play cards with my grandfather. I joined the Coast Guard where I was a mail specialist, 1st class any way you spell it. I met my husband in college…I needed a ride to San Diego State. I don’t remember how we met, maybe it was at church function. We commuted a whole year. He studied civil engineering. We graduated and I began to teach north of San Diego. I taught 4th grade and I boarded with a family. We were married in Christ Church Episcopal on Coronado Island in 1950. He was transferred and we moved and moved and moved. My kids were born all over California, we moved a lot because he was a civil engineer working all over California. 

—Mary Gifford