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

Madeline Bedal: poems

A LIFETIME OF TREASURE

Why am I here?

It was not a choice of my own

The last thing I knew

I was being released from the hospital.

On arriving home, all my things were packed

and I was on my way to Fremont, California,

to the Country Inn where I am now

Everything was planned for me

I didn’t know what I was in for

We had garage sales

I watched everything walk away.

My life disappeared before my eyes.

What little was sold didn’t amount to much.

The rain came down, it didn’t amount to much.

When it was time to close

I rolled up the tables full of a lifetime of treasure.

There were organizations aplenty waiting

church people, group people and people people 

all waiting to reap the spoils of my history,

of my life.

Madeline Bedal

DREAMS

I’ve dreams that come true, 

places I’ve been, places I’ve gone.

I’ve found myself in these same places 

and things happen just like in the dream. 

I take them as signs. Good signs.

I’ve never had dreams of not going somewhere 

or of premonitions. 

My dreams are pleasant, of beautiful places. 

A real dream actually came true.

I was awake, I was there, just like in the dream.

I would see a place traveling or in some park.

But I’d never been to htat place. 

The dream was so real, 

it was just as if I was there in reality,

and reality was just like in my dream.

Once I dreamt of a bear coming from Fielding to Whitefish.

It came over the mountains.

It came down the mountain.

It came straight for my bedroom window.

It was years later, when I was in college,

and this bear came down the mountain

and crawled up into the tree by my bedroom window.

We called the authorities to take it away.

I’m a dreamer, a dreamer dreaming the dream. 

The luck follows me. A dream come true.

Madeline Bedal

MADELINE

My mother named me Madeline 

because she didn’t like nicknames.

She searched and searched,

she went through names and more names

asking everyone questions:

what should I name my baby?

She and my Aunt Gertie were having a cup of tea

Well, my aunt wanted to help my mother, 

she saw it in a magazine and liked it, 

and so I was named Madeline.

Everything went fine until I went to school.

One day my mother was shopping with me.

A girl from school shouted. “Hey Mad!”

When my mother heard that,

boy, was she ever mad!

I was never called Mad after that

All my life I’ve been called Madeline.

Madeline Bedal

GOIN FISHIN

My brother, who was older than I,

got to go fishing with our uncle.

I wanted to go fishing too.

But I always had to stay at home.

One special morning it was my turn 

to go fishing with my brother.

I’d been waiting a long time. I was so excited.

Off we took early one morning

to Stannard Creek—it was named after my father.

There was a bend in the stream with a log over it. 

My brother took a willow branch, 

tied strong packing string on it, 

he took a straight pin, bent it almost double

and put a worm on the end of it.

I sat on a log, quiet and peaceful,

my line, with my worm wiggling in the water...

All of a sudden there was a yank,

I screamed, “I caught a fish!” And I fell into the water.

My brother came running, he pulled on the pole

and on the other end was a frog

And that was the end of my fishing days.

Madeline Bedal

SWIM LITTLE FISHIES!

When my grandfather went fishing, 

he never killed the fish.

He’d bring them home live

and give them to my sisters.

They’d put them in the bathtub,

fill it with water.

They’d pat them as if they were pets

and say,  “Swim little fishies, swim!”

Madeline Bedal

HUNTING LODGE

When we lived on the homestead in Fielding, Montana,

my father would take people from back east

on hunting trips in the wintertime

In a photo, I remember visitors from New York—

they were all lawyers and doctors—

I remember they had pictures taken of their hunting trip

I got to observe them setting it all up.

The animals they shot were hung on the fence.

He’d gather them all up together for a photo.

We had a log fence, we’d throw saddles on it and sit on them. 

He took the animal rugs from the livingroom  and the hides,

hung them over a stump some bushes 

to make them look real, like live animals.

They all got their guns out—you had to have a gun in those days—

and dressed themselves up in their hunting outfits and boots 

and alldraped with our living room rugs...

it made for an authentic looking background of their hunting trip.

They used a big old-fashioned black box on stilts.

The photographer covered up his head with a cloth

and he’d look out these two holes...

In one hand he held a tray trough filled with white powder

which made a flash of light when it was lit.

It was all such a mystery to me.

They took the camera with them back to New York

and used to phiotographs for advertisements for future trips.

Those pictures were in an album for years

but my brother was leaving home, so they went with him...

I would love to have some of those photos now

Madeline Bedal

FOUNDLING

I’ve been grateful for and thankful for my friends.

I worked with children for many years.

I even worked in Sunday School.

I’ve always had good friends.

I’ve traveled from place to place

And no matter where I went 

I always had good Christian friends—

especially the children.

I survived four operations.

Their thoughts and prayers brought me through.

Friends, they hold together—

regardless of circumstances.

I worked with the women of the church too.

They also brought me through.

The Lord searched me out and he found me—

or, I found him, working with the children.

It was my calling. I did find Him

and I found my place all the way through.

He found me when I was 7 years old

I needed someone,

I needed a friend—

we’d left the homestead

for Whitefish, Montana—I was lonely.

I couldn’t have been more lonely 

if I was all alone in the world.

He was my friend all through school 

and I found my other friends through Him.

Madeline Bedal

HAPPINESS POINT

Happiness was one of my wishes 

all through life. I never had to have very much 

when I was small—it might be a rock 

or a flower or even a butterfly to be happy.

I always loved flowers .

We always had a bouquet on the table

We’d pick wild roses 

but the petals fell off so easily.

We’d take the petals to make perfume sachets.

We’d let them sit in the sun for a while, 

or we just laid them on the porch, or on a stone

so the sun would get to them.

Then we’d crush the roses, we’d put them in a jar

and then we’d carry them around with us.

We’d take a nail, punch holes in the top of the lid

and we’d sniff them all day long.

We’d make our rounds, six of us girls

with our jars of roses, this was our happiness.

This made us comfortable to smell the roses.

We’d put them in among our clothes.

We really loved the roses, so beautiful.

Happiness every day as we skipped 

down the road with our jars of roses.

Madeline Bedal

A REAL CALIFORNIAN

When I was 18

it was the year of the Great Depression

I worked as most people did

in the sewing rooms

I made pants and coats,

making clothes for everyone

when I was 21

When I was 25

I met my husband in Glacier Park

We looked int each other’s eyes,

we just couldn't say goodbye

so we got married instead

when I was 25

We moved to California

and I was a new bride

when I was 25

When I was 35

my three daughters and I

we made our home in Campbell, California

We bought an orchard

we picked apricots and prunes

I was finally a Californian

when I was 35

Now the years have passed

The children have all grown

married with families 

and children of their own

We sold the prune orchard

we built on Bedal Drive

and moved to Lake Tahoe

my husband and I, 

he retired

when I was 55.

Madeline Bedal

We could sing patriotic songs

and sing religious songs

we could sing songs of joy and happiness

we could sing songs of love and home

or songs of the blues

We could sing Stormy Weather, 

or Summertime or 

if we were feeling patriotic

we could sing God Bless America 

Or America the Beautiful 

for all the lives that are lost in war

Sing your song all day long

Sing your song

The songs I love best

are straight from the heart

So sing your song all day long

sing your song

sing your song

Madeline Bedal

What the world needs now is love

I would like to see more love in the world

I’d  start with myself, I’d show my love for others

And maybe they’d show their love for all of us

I never make New Year’s promises 

because I always break ‘em

I would like to see more love in the world

I’d  start with myself, I’d show my love for others

And maybe they’d show their love for all of us  

DARLENE

It was early springtime

It was early in the morning

The sun was shining

Trees were blowing in the breeze

It was a lovely day

When my father came in from the barn,

he announced that Bessie was ready.

We didn’t have any shoes or stockings on.

We ran to the barn to see what was going on.

Bessie had a twinkle in her eye.

Quite nervous she was, pacing back and forth.

She was usually so calm and contented.

We all gathered round her.

Mother went to Bessie’s head 

and told her to be quiet.

Everything would be all right.

Bessie said Moo! And there was Darlene 

in my father’s arms.

Frances Pearlman: I'm thankful for my good health, I like to sing to myself & I remember her face

I'm thankful for my good health
and for my peace of mind.
That’s important. I have love
from the family that’s worth everything.
I couldn’t have gotten along without them.
Some have passed away: 3 boys & a girl.
But that’s the way it is. Amen.

—Frances Pearlman


I would wish for good health
I would wish for peace of mind
I would wish for the family to be together
to just get along with life
I would wish for good hearing
but it will never happen in this life
so I like to sing to myself.

—Frances Pearlman




I remember her face

—dedicated to Ida Slater Peralman


I remember way the family
used to light the candles
we used to sing prayers
I was very young
I was born in New England
It's hard not to think about my mother
passing away soon after—
that's why I lost memory of it.
because I lost my mother
She was so young and so beautiful
She had such life in her
She had six children
I remember her face
She had a gray eye, not blue
I was too young to remember
they used to light candles
after she passed away, so young,
so beautiful.

—Frances Pearlman

Joanne Sheehan: My husband Dan, Dancing lessons, SPARS & Stationed in Florida,

I was born in Decator, Illinois.
My father died when I was only five years old.
TB was rampant in those days.
I had two sisters who had the responsibility of me
while my mother held down two jobs
one at a garment factory
and she cleaned the third floor
of an office building at night.

In the 1930s I worked for the government
buying up people’s gardens—price control
During WWII, I was a Coast Guard SPAR in Florida
“Semper Paratus”, “always ready.”
That’s what they called women in the service
They had us marching across the field in uniform
They marched us up & down stairs 5 times a day
I was real patriotic, it was winter in Illinois
and I wanted to go to Florida where it was warm...

I did office work. He came in from sea duty
plunked some papers down and said
he wanted to get paid today.
And I said, “no you won’t!” I called him a lurker.
Whenever I’d look up and there he’d be
So I asked him if he wanted to go to the movies
We girls lived in separate barracks
and when I came in from our date
I said he was a complete dud,
he didn’t even try to kiss me

There was a swimming pool
and that’s where we’d mix with the fellows
I ended up marrying him—for 60 years
but I lost him last year, my husband Dan.

—Joanne Sheehan



I always wanted dancing lessons
when I was a kid
I always wanted to travel,
to come to California for one thing:
I had a sister here.
My husband quit his job in Oklahoma
so we could come here.
I always wanted dancing lessons
that I didn’t get
I just wanted to be up there
with the other girls, dancing.

—Joanne Sheehan



During WWII, I joined the Coast Guard SPARS
& this big fella came in w/ a stack of paper
& he said, “I wanna be paid today.”
I worked in the office doing payroll
& I said you’re not gonna, I married him
I guess he got paid

—Joanne Sheehan



We were called SPARS. I was stationed in Florida. I wanted to get away from home and see the world. Well, I saw all of Florida—that’s where I met my husband. To a kid born & raised in the midwest, Florida was a treat. I was being patriotic, I was also being selfish, I wanted to get away and see something besides the midwest. I was so glad to see something beside the midwest and the snow.

—Joanne Sheehan

Kymahni Clark: Thirteenth pregnancy

Thirteenth pregnancy

I remember a picture of myself and my father
in front of the diner car of the Santa Fe
he was a chef on the train
I remember him looking like a giant
standing up over me
He was tall and slim and handsome
He was wearing his best suit
which he bought with his first paycheck.
It was a zoot suit, with a chain
I remember he was holding a watch by the chain
and he would swirl it, he used to let me play with it
when my mother wasn’t around
I remember I was four in the picture
because we were still living in Fresno.

I remember his shoes,
they were Stacy Adams wing tips: black & white
with all those little holes
and they were very shiny.
I had patten leather Mary Janes
with ruffly socks, with a purse to match

My mother’s first husband worked on the Santa Fe
but he was killed. Then she met my father
I have a half-brother who is 25 years older
I was an accident, I wasn’t supposed to be
She miscarried and miscarried
I was her thirteenth pregnancy

Kymahni Clark

Colleen Perry: I've a photo of myself

I've a photo of myself with a butch haircut,
sitting with my legs crossed,
I’m sitting on a bench, or a cedar chest
I must have been about three.
I’ve had it about forever,
The funny part about that picture—
if you look at it, it looks like my brother
as a baby, but it’s me.
We don’t look alike now, not a bit.

—Colleen Perry

Marjorie Mader: I had a big picture

I had a big picture of my mother’s parents
& their eight children, she was born in 1898
The men had suits on, collars came up high
The women wore old fashioned dresses.
I would like to have that picture now
but I had a stroke and my condo was sold.

I have a picture of us—my cousin and I,
we were three or four years old
with huge bows on top of our heads
We were sitting in a studio...
I came across that photo a few years ago
& I made a copy and I sent it to her.

—Marjorie Mader