Here’s a photo of Grandpa in the 1960s as I remember him best. He was hard of hearing, and always wore a big clunky hearing aid on a wire around his neck (you can just see the wire in this picture). The earpiece for the hearing aid went up to his left ear – his right ear was pretty much useless for hearing. He did really well in conversation with us, but sometimes we had to talk to his chest.
Like his father Frederick, Herb enjoyed taking funny photos. In this photo they are traveling, as you can see by the travel trailer in the background. Herb needs some dental work, and as a retired dentist he decides to try drilling his own teeth. Not really!
Mary loved the various animals that they encountered on their trips, and she had no fear. She enjoyed holding any animal that she was allowed to hold.
In between trips and visits from grandchildren, Mary continued her craft work. Here are some amazingly life-like poodles that she created, posing by the pool. You can see more of her animals on this page.
Annie and Grandpa (our names for our grandparents Mary and Herb Martin) were exciting grandparents to have. We didn’t get to see them as often as we did our Votaw grandparents, because they lived an hour’s drive away, and they were often gone on a trip somewhere.
But it was always fun to see them, especially when we went down to their place in Costa Mesa. They lived in a mobile home park with a wonderful swimming pool, and they had lots of things for us to do, games to play, and projects to try if we were able.
One of my favorite things to do there was to play ping-pong with Grandpa. He was wonderfully patient with me and taught me to be a pretty good player. He also played shuffleboard with us – I don’t think I was ever very good at that game. Peggy and Sue did crafts, making little trinkets with Annie. She also taught us how to play canasta.
Annie and Grandpa loved to travel, and as the 1960s progressed their trips became longer and their destinations more exotic. They started the 1960s using a travel trailer, progressed to cruise ships, and finally to freighters which gave them a chance to be gone for several months on flexible itineraries. They would return well-tanned, with loads of excellent pictures, amazing stories, and gifts for everyone in the family.
Most of their photos from their travels were focused on their destinations. They used these photos to entertain senior citizens, doing slide-show programs all over Southern California, at mobile home parks and retirement homes. I have not included those photos here, except for a few that show Annie and Grandpa on travel.
On one of their trips in the early 1960s Annie and Grandpa traveled to Oregon, stopping off at Florence to check out the famous sand dunes. In this photo Grandpa is seated in a primitive “dune buggy” which is what they used in those days to drive around the dunes. (Click to enlarge photo.)
This 1963 photo shows Mary wearing a beautiful lei.
All four of us kids learned how to swim in the pool at Annie & Grandpa’s park. We spent lots of time in that pool during every summer visit.
Grandpa had a 35mm film camera, a Minolta, and he loved to take pictures. He was a good photographer, and he shot Ektachrome film which was made into slides. Annie liked to take pictures too, but she did not like to be in pictures. There aren’t very many of her.
This slide shows Annie in Capetown, South Africa, in 1963. The description written on the slide says that these flowers are proteas.
This photo gives you a good idea of what Annie and Grandpa enjoyed most on their cruises – the wild social scene!
Actually there were some social activities on their cruises, and Annie and Grandpa participated, although it wasn’t their favorite thing to do. In those days cruise ships had special dinners, so you had to pack formal wear for those occasions.
David, Peggy, and Sue pose in the shallow end of the pool at Annie and Grandpa’s park.
Mom starts John’s swim lessons by just helping him get used to the water.
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