Dick and Clayton at Aunt Lucile’s birthday August 1982

in which we introduce some of the extended Votaw family

By Dave

Jul 17, 2018

On the back of this picture it says that it was taken at Eleanor’s house on the occasion of Lucile’s birthday party in August 1982. Pictured are Dick and Clayton.

Clayton: one of the five children of Elmer Votaw, who with his brothers founded Pomona Box Co. My grandfather Harold Votaw was Clayton’s younger brother. Clayton and his wife Alma had two children, Don and Arline. Two of Clayton’s grandsons, Daryl and Jeff, are our partners in Votaw Properties.

Clayton and Alma moved to California long before Harold and Mildred did. He owned huge tracts of land in Orange County – which at the time was covered in orange trees. Dad (who moved to Whittier while he was in high school) used to tell stories of how they’d go out at night with “smudge pots” – some sort of heat source – to place under each tree, to keep the oranges from freezing in the cold weather.

That property in Orange County turned out to be pretty valuable, later on.

Lucile: widow of Vernon Votaw, Clayton’s older brother who had passed away in the 1950s. We called her “Aunt Cile” and of course we kids thought it was spelled “Aunt Seal.” She lived on Philadelphia St. in Whitter, not far from the house that we moved into in 1966. Aunt Cile was famous for her rules on how to play Canasta.

Eleanor: my dad’s first cousin, daughter of Vernon and Lucile. Eleanor was the person who introduced Doree (her best friend) to Dick.

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