Merceline "Heidi" La Porte

Toddler

Now I really do remember this, I must have been very ,very young , because I remember it was when we were in South Dakota and we were migrant workers and were working in the sugar beets; I can remember the plants were as tall as me. I was told that a member of another migrant family grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into his camp, well I guess you know Mark didnt stand for that and he promptly went over there and brought me back, nobody messed with Mark.

I actually remember this too; Mark, Tony, and Marie (before she became a nun, ),each held out their hands for me to come to them, come here Honey,(that is what I was called then),and I went to Marie, I guess she was more persuasive.

When I was somewhat older ,maybe six or seven, Mark, Tony, and Ben, used to put boxing gloves on me and Vincent and we would box. I would win most of the time, but when Vincent got to be about 8 or 9, he cleaned my clock but good. So much for my boxing days.

My nickname was Honey until I started school then I became Lena, Im not certain I was called was Honey, unless it was because I was so sweet. At school I was known as Lena , Leaping Lena, that was me. I rather imagine it was easier to say than Martzalena I recall once when Fr. Amundus came to see us (Father Amundus , was the parish priest from St. Gertrudes parish. When he asked me what my name was

He became very indignant because I didnt pronounce Martzalena correctly. I guess I didnt put the accent in the right place. Sometime later I started spelling my name Merciline.

The most important lessons I got from mother, were endurance, and determination. Mom never gave up, she weeded her garden until ever last weed was gone. She stayed up , baking bread until all the loaves were nicely browned.

Mother was a very holy and God fearing women, I believe some of that rubbed off on me. We had a black crucifix and I used to stare at it long periods of time, that and a picture of Pope Pius XII. Mother was also very clever, there were times when the bread crust would come out dark,(burned), and she said that if we ate the crusts when dark we would find money. I never left crusts lying around , needless to say I never found a lot of money. Oh there was that one time I found a baking powder can among the cinders of the house we watched burn down, it was the house where my teacher lived., I gave it to her because she was crying. Her name was Miss Syminaski; a good Polish women.



Dads advice was, speak English, study hard and dont ride the pigs. How could one resist riding the pigs? They were half grown piglets and just my size. I wasnt alone in this venture, there Isabelle, Les, Trudy, Vincent and myself. Needless to say, Dad caught us we scattered like bunch of ants. Dad would not be denied his reprimand, I dont know where the others went, but I headed for the house, Mother was sitting in a chair shelling peas, she asked what the problem was, I told her and I was scared, she told me to get under her chair, then she draped her skirt around the chair, dad came in and asked mother if she had see me, mother did not answer, dad came closer to the chair and I saw his shoes and let out a yelp dad grabbed me , and mom just shook her head , whew, I escaped a spanking. Thanks Mom./ So much for my rodeo days. He advised me to go to college , in as much as I had a scholarship, and he could not afford to send me. I went.

In order to make money for college, I worked nights at my girl friends fathers Hop Ranch. From six p.m. until six a.m. for two dollars an hour. It was here that I became known as the Happy Hooker. Let me paint a picture for you. The way hops are raised, they grow in rows like beans, in rows wide enough for a machine to fit through much like a thrashing machine, the vines grow about 20 to 25 feet high, there are two persons who cut the vine at the bottom, the machine has two crows nests one on each side as the machine moves forward the person in the crows nest cut the vines on top and swing it to person at the side of the machine who then hooks the vine into the machine where it is chopped with the leaves and stems falling to the ground and the blossoms are blown into gunny sacks in the back. Since I most always had a happy disposition I was dubbed the happy hooker because I hooked the vines into the machine.

I believe some of my most memorable memories of my parents and those that stand out or I should say that come to mind at this moment. During Lent and Advent we all knelt down and said the family rosary after the dishes were done. When we said the devotions of the Five Wounds of Our Lord we held up our arms, oh how my arms used to ache , but we all hung in there until dad was finished.

Before we had a car we would get in the wagon and drove about five or more miles to Midnight Mass. For Christmas Mother faithfully bought me a glass doll about six inches tall which lasted until the first fall when invariably they became decapitated. One of the boys would cover himself with clothes or blankets and come crawling into the living room growling. Mother would promptly beat on him and tell Bealzeebub to leave. Then we also learned about the Shriver (the writer) who made a notation of all our actions. That really frightened me. We had stockings with candy, nuts and an orange and perhaps a small toy. I loved the holidays because mother would make Hot Cross Buns. And we would have gulrye (pigs feet) and Jello, homemade sausage and fried chicken. We had Easter baskets with lots of straw and goodies.

Mom was a great gardener we had carrots, beets , radishes, onions, and very large watermelons, Swiss chard, and pumpkins galore . We had pumpkins for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Two things I dearly loved were those knurly tomatoes . They had a flavor I have not tasted again. We used to have a musk melon, that was soft and sweet. We used to roll them under the bed to fully ripen them so the birds wouldnt get them. I have never seen them again.

During Butchering Season we most always helped neighbors and they helped us. I remember mom cleaning intestines and the stomachs, from which she made the best sausage and head cheese. I know that I used to bring her rock to place on the head cheese until it was seasoned, and ready to eat. Dad liked to eat (speck) pig fat . One of his favorite expressions was, a king could not be more full then I am. When it was time to harvest horse radish we would grind it up in the meat grinder, o boy, we wept for days until the odor left the house, but no one suffered from a plugged nose.

In the evening after all the chores were done, we used to sing . Mother and dad both had beautiful voices. I didnt know what it meant until I was much older , dad liked the melody to Germany Over all. It was a great song to harmonize to. I remember some of the Christmas songs we used to sing, like Silent Night, Come Little Children and Oh Christmas Tree. As kids we used to sing a naughty song, Daddy is chasing mommy with a shoe polish brush. Go figure, I didnt know what it meant until I was married.

This is not really a pleasant memory, but with all those children, mom had a lot of sewing and patching to do, and every scrap of fabric was relished. She made my under pants out of flour sack material. Although the sacks were washed , we were not able to remove all the printing on the flour sacks, and more than once my under wear, said Dakota Maid . Or should it have said Dakota Maid. ?

Flour sacks provided us with many necessities, they made curtains, pillow cases and dish towels. We didnt have the pretty fabric kinds either they didnt carry them at Riels grocery store or they were more expensive than the all white ones, Id give anything for some of the pretty designed ones now, considering all the quilting I do now, but I digress; somehow we acquired a sewing machine. I will never forget when the people came to repossess the machine; that evening mother went up on a hill, and wailed and wept . I can hear her still, and it makes me cry.

My parents were resourceful and somehow they managed to raise us all, I am sure they are in heaven

Most of our entertainment happened in evening after supper, there were too many chores to be done during the day. So while mom patched and sewed dad roped in whoever he could to play Whist( the name of the card game we played). I couldnt tell you how it was played now. Our light at night was by kerosene lamp. In the summer evenings we played hide and seek or kick the can until it became too dark then we counted stars and looked for the big dipper. Then it was off to bed, only to start all over again; milk the cows feed the horses slop the pigs gather eggs bring in water, clean the barns and the chicken coop, bring in the wood or coal , then off into the fields or the gardens for planting or plowing , or weeding. One of the things I hated doing was picking bugs off of the potato plants.

One of my favorite things to do was to go through the catalogs. We had Sears, Pennys and Spiegals.

I was always interested in seeing what Shirley Temple was wearing. Oh yes, the wish books kept me busy for many hours. The catalogs for me had other purposes, they kept our underwear clean and what is more I liked to wall paper the out house with them, it gave it a nice smell for a little while, and it kept out the wind., and some of the flies. Speaking of flies, in the Summer time we used to have so many flies in the kitchen, we literally herded them out by opening the door and waving towels in the air.

In the winter time we were not allowed to use the out house, a coffee can under the bed took care of our needs, mom or one of the older members of the family disposed of the waste.



I guess, I was a little weird, in the summer, when mom made jam, I used to get kick out of the pigs when they came in front of the house where mom used to throw the cherry pits ; talk about your snap, crackle and pop./ Speaking about cherries, we lived near a creek where the wild cherries grew, all the neighbors used to vie for those cherries , they made the best jam , if youve never had wild cherry jam, you aint lived baby./

You have to pick them when they are just right or they will choke you, hence the name choke cherries. They made you pucker like unripe persimmons. Between the wild cherries, wild plums, and rhubarb, and concord grapes we were kept pretty much in jam. The grapes came in a nice oblong basket that made a perfect bed for my sock doll. Between the grape basket for a bed and sardine tins that I used for tiny baskets I could really play house.

As for childhood friends, most of them were the ones we saw at school, we rarely did any visiting, our closest neighbors lived about four or five miles from us on rare occasions we would visit, they didnt have any girls my age Coreen Halverson came over on occasion she was about four years older than I and she was more of a tom boy, she loved horses, horses were never my thing. I have been in touch with one of the neighbor girls, Viola Koop,

we exchange Christmas cards until 2010 , when she passed away.

While we are on the subject of school and horses I simply must mention Tom and Kernal the two horses that merit mention. These two horses carried us the seven and a half miles to school and back for many years. They became so adept at what we wanted all you had to say was giddy up and they would go all the way and never miss a turn. The only time we didnt use them was during thrashing time because they were needed elsewhere, and during that time we walked to school.

In the winter time mother would heat rocks for us so our feet would not freeze, and we would crawl under blankets, only Perry who did most of the driving, would be out in the cold. On a couple of occasions the man who delivered his wares from one town to another lost a box of candy in the snow, Was that a treat? Oh yum./

We never got into any type of trouble that I can recall, if we had a penny or so we would go to the post office in Raliegh which was in walking distance of the school and buy a jaw breaker, which lasted a long time.

As a youngster I dont recall having any special talents, although I participated in a couple of Declamation contest at school , about a young girl that was supposed to wash her sisters face; ah gee mom do I really have to wash Monas face? Kittens was their own faces.. I never won anything.

I do not recall anything special that people might notice about me except my smile and my tan. Like my son Larry, when Im in the sun a lot I turn dark, my son Larry is a mailman so he gets a lot of sun. During harvest time I herded our cows so as to keep them from getting into the neighbors crops, and that meant a lot of sun. My cousin Isabelle came to visit us once and I recall she remarked about my dark skin. While watching the cattle I pretended that I was a great singer; I believe I was a very average girl, not exceptionally bright. But I believe mostly Happy. We did not have a washer until I was about eight or nine, it was the old ringer or roller type we did have a radio but not until I was older T.V. was not yet invented I may be wrong but I believe it came in about 1950. We had no running water, we had a pot belly stove although we did get a oil stove when they came in , I think. We had a windmill that helped us bring up water from the well, but many times we had to pump the water, either there was no wind or the mill was broken. We I know we had an electric fence that ran on a battery. We did not have a phone there were no telephone lines. Our iron for clothes was heated on the wood stove which had a tank on back so we got a

In order to entertain ourselves we often played a game (card game), called pig), I cannot tell you what the rules were, I only remember when you obtained certain cards you put your index finger aside your nose quietly then you waited for the other person to notice and then laugh like everything.

Some songs we used to sing: A tisket a tasket a green and yellow basket, I wrote a letter to my love but on my way I dropped it Red River Valley , I t isnt any trouble just to s m I l e , it isnt any trouble just to s m ile and if you are in trouble it will vanish like a bubble if you only take the trouble just to s m ile. ,My pretty quadroon, I was seeing Nelly home, A man and his goat, Dancing with the dolly

with a hole in her stocking. Real goodies./

All my brothers and sisters were all different, but all were good hard working God fearing people and deserve a space of their own , I do not feel qualified to do that here. I just love them all, and pray for them every day.

One of the most special moments of my childhood was my First Communion, I was aware that it was a serious, but I was doubly happy because I had a dress that was not a hand me down. When I stayed with Millie and Al I made a second First Communion. The time I spent with them was very enjoyable. Al wanted to take me up in a plane, as he worked at the airport, but I was too scared. Im still afraid to fly, I will fly if I have to, but you cant make me like it. While I was with them I saw my first movie, I went with the neighbor boy, and we stayed for three runs, we would probably have stayed longer except Al came and took us home. I was so enthralled, it Starred Marie McDonald and Eddie Nelson? It was also my first bus ride, and it was the first time I saw a dead person , He was an Incorrupt Saint, I dont remember who he was. While there I got my first baby sitting job. I watched a ladys children while she went to see her husband who was dying of lead poisoning., and it was my first experience with a colic, both Lori and Jim had it. Poor Al, he worked all night and walked the baby for hours. Thank The Lord, none of my children had it.

When we lived on the farm we had few books , we had books on farm animals the Bible and what I can only call a book of old fables. There were two stories that I can recall. I read and re-read them many times One was about a women who had two daughters. One was very beautiful and one was ugly, the ugly one had a cows tail growing out of her forehead . The usual occurred, the Prince falls in love with the pretty one and tells her to ready herself in wedding garb and he would come for her., and she could reign in his Kingdom, her name is Rowena . The mother wants desperately to be rid of the ugly one, so she dresses her in wedding garb places the cows tail around her head and places a very heavy veil over her face, and places her in the designated spot. Her name is Pepena, and she throws the pretty one in a deep well. Enter the handsome Prince on his whit steed . In one fell swoop he places the bedecked one on his horse behind him. I dont know who or what was saying this , maybe it was the forest Elf, but the refrain was this, Prince, Prince look quick behind you, in the well is fair Rowena you have nothing but Pepena. There were pictures in the book too; if you have never seen a girl with a cows tail growing out of her forehead, its a sight to behold..

The second fable out of that book was about a wolf and a fox, agreed to duel with swords.; well they fought and the wolf won. The sly fox was not to be out done and so he challenged the wolf to second fight.

This time he shaved off all his hair, and when they met again, the fox won. Here again you have to picture in your mind these two animals standing on their hind legs sporting swords. Im not certain how shaving the fox would help him win. You have to give the author credit for a vivid imagination

One of Aesop ? Fable The Little Red Hen should be read by everyone, you know, if you dont work, you dont eat. One of my favorite books when I was in high school was These Two Hands about the Leper Priest who helped the afflicted and developed the disease himself. I admired him for his selflessness and his love of the Lord.

Quarrels between our siblings were not that many , at least not that I ever noticed. I called my sister Isabelle a cow once and she chased me and fell over dirt clod and sprained her ankle. I think we made up.

Trudy and I were close, she was three years older than I but we got along well. I remember one time after mother died, we decided to go to Raleigh about seven and a half miles, Trudy,(Gertrude) got behind the wheel and drove ok for about a half a mile than she promptly drove into the ditch; now what to do, we knew we were in for a good spanking. We walked home and put books in our pants to prevent the burn. Our Guardian Angels must have been working over time, because Millie and Al just happened to come over .noticed that it was our car and ask how it got there, we told them what happened so he asked Trudy if she wanted to go with him to get the car but she said no, so I told him I would go. We drove to where the car was and Al got the car started drove it out of the ditch and I got behind the wheel , how I was able to see you got me, I drove it home ok, but I drove right over the root cellar how It didnt cave in Ill never know. I managed to stop somehow. Like I said, my Guardian Angel got his workout that day.

Another prank we pulled proved not to be so funny in a way. We decided to write a letter to the man that owned the farm. We listed everything we found wrong with the farm, it wasnt long after that that he came over his name was Mr. Stubbs, and he and dad talked,; it wasnt long afterword that we moved off the farm. I often wondered if we help dad decide to make the move.

It was during World War II , we all took the train to Yakima, Washington where my oldest sister Agatha lived. We stayed with her until dad bought the house at 611 N. 4th St. Dad got a job in Hanford , Washington. He took the bus every day. It was a long day for him. He quit that job and went to work for Cascade Lumber Co. until he retired.

My first day of school was very scary , the transition from a two room school to an all girl Academy was pretty great . Eventually I did get the hang of it, but I had to take the 8th grade over . My freshman and sophomore grades were difficult and I didnt like school much. I am not sure what happened in my next two years but I couldnt get enough school, I carried a heavy load and received a scholarship to the College Of Great Falls, Montana. It was run by the Sisters of Providence the same as St. Joseph High School. They did not put up with a lot of nonsense. In high school I went home for lunch , but in college I either carried a lunch or bought a meal. I carried just as many courses as were allowed. When I was in high school, we were still in World War II. Perry, Tony , and Ben were in the service as were many of our cousins. It seemed that everything was rationed; sugar, coffee, meat, bread, butter, and certain metals. We had many songs that were patriotic, such as Leave The Dishes In The Sink, One Meat Ball, Give Me Five Minutes More, Grandfathers Clock , and If I never hear White Cliffs of Dover again that will be alright with me. Those of us that could afford it, would buy war stamps or bonds, Im afraid I didnt buy many, I had to save my money for silk stockings Speaking of stockings, Dancing With The Dolly With A Hole In her Stocking was another song we used to sing.

Whatever the advances were we could not afford them. As chief cook and cleaner , and working and going to school I did not have a lot of time . I used to love to dance and went as often as I could.

When I was 12 years old I got my 1st real job. I was a waitress at the Percolator. I was waiting on a group of ladies, and felt very proud of myself until I spilled coffee on a lady, I was so scared I ran home, instead of offering to have her clothes cleaned. We learn. I never thought much about the future, I was too busy with the present. After mother died we had some hard times. God bless Lester instead of going to school he went to work in the orchards to help us survive. I will be forever grateful to him. Trudy went to work in Seattle . Vincent, Pee Wee, and I went to school. We called Amundus Pee Wee because he was always so small, but he shot up enough to join the Special Forces, after that he was known as Cap.

While Vincent was in High School, he and Lester were both boxers, in fact Lester was Welter weight Champion of the state of Washington for a while.

After I obtained my scholarship I needed to make money to get to Great Falls for college. So my friend Anita , invited me to work on her fathers Hop Ranch . I worked the night shift ; when the hops are ready to be picked they have to be picked quickly hence the night shift. I worked from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. for two dollars an hour. Where I became known as the , Happy Hooker My job was to hook the vine on to machine were it was drawn further into the machine where it was chopped up and the useless portions fell to the ground the blossoms were blown into gunny sack. After which they were hauled to a kiln , dried and processed to make delicious beer. Because I was always happy I became known as the Happy Hooker.

I liked my work, but sometimes it became cold in the early mornings. I hung in there, because I was making good money. We did have one unpleasant occurrence . The way hop vines grow they grow in rows like huge bean stock . They grow up on twine to about 20 to 25 feet and about 8 feet between rows

Wide enough for the hop machine to drive through. On either side there is a crows nest. Two people walk in front of the machine and cut the vine at the bottom, the two men in the crows nests cut the vine on top and swing it to the hooker who attaches it to the machine. Well evidently the young man got his thumb in the way and cut it off. We tried to find the thumb but we were not able to do so before he was taken to a doctor . It was very sad.

When I left home for college I stayed with the Rice Family, I was their Hired Girl, they owned the

Cadillac Agency. They treated me well, but I wanted a more private life, a friend at college lived with her grandmother and invited me to live with her. I did so for a while, but the food was too good and I was getting fat. I felt I was imposing on them, so I got a job at The White Spot as a waitress and rented a room for $100.00 a month, where I lived until I got married.

When I entered college I took as many courses as I could ,I liked college, I liked being an adult and paying my own way. One of the courses I took was square dancing, which I took in the evening . I had a jacket that I wore a lot . I was not aware that Dominic wanted to know who was the girl with the St. Josephs coat of many colors. One night at square dancing class, being one of the better dancers the instructor ask me to help a group that was having trouble learning the ala man left. Dominic was among that group. I did not know he was a teacher, he was slow to learn, so I called him a dumb bell. He told me if I was so smart I would play him a game of tennis. I told him I could beat him any time of the year. What a brat I was , I didnt know how to play tennis, and really made a fool of myself. From there it was dinner and before we knew it I was introducing him to dad . We did not have a long courtship. I think real long courtships are foolish, but not too short either. We were married on September 18, 1951..I believe it was the year T.V. was making its debut. I remember when we would pass certain stores and there was a T.V. working in the window, we would watch it for a long time. We had a small wedding the Best Man was Perry and the Brides Maid was Nora Doms sister.

Dom was a hit with the family and Dom liked my family too. I lost so much weight before my wedding date I had to take in my wedding suit. Our first house was a four bedroom, near the flour mills in Great Falls. I cost a whooping $8,600.00. It was a nice quiet area. Not much traffic, nice neighbors.

One night there was a knock at the door, Who could it be? Dominic stood around the corner with his trusty shotgun, while I answered the door, It was just some Indian Folks wanting a drink of water, I think they saw Dominic, and they left, I mention this because there were a rash of robberys in the neighborhood.

We were greatly relieved. When all they wanted was water.

I was very nervous when I was first married, and I wanted children, for some reason I could not become pregnant for five years . We talked about adopting, and I decided I would become a teacher. By this time

We had moved to Compton, Ca. The college where Dominic taught pro medical and pro dental had been dismissed, because the college was to be enlarged, and so it was decided to combine some of the classes in order to save money, and Dom being one of newer faculty was let go, hed only been there five years.

Dominic had a brother, Carmen who lived in Long Beach who advised him to come to California which is what we did. Dominic went to work for a research chemical co. Where he learned how to make perfume. I had more good smelling stuff, we bought small bottles and gave it away.

I wasnt very familiar with driving in a busy area, we didnt have a lot of money, but I drove around and found an apartment in Compton where we lived for about four years. And where I started school again

When I stopped thinking about babies, I became with child. I was so excited, I started wearing maternity clothes right away. After my sixth pregnancy I couldnt wait to get them off.

When we found out we were going to have baby we moved to 10321 Par Lane, Garden Grove, California, where we lived for many years. Ray Messer built our garage, and he was marvel to watch work.

He did a good job. Dominic built a cinder block fence and I built a gate. Ive gone by there several times and it is still there. When the children were old enough I built them a play house where they spent many happy hours. On the day after the 4th of July they would gather spent fire works, and they pretended to sell them to each other. Talk about your mess. After Christmas they collected used Christmas trees, and had virtual forest back there, it was messy, but they had such a good time. My children were an utter joy to me, it was a lot tougher when they became teenagers. One of the tales I love to tell is when Dominic worked for Chevron refinery. We went to a picnic his boss holding at the Disneyland picnic area. When the picnic was over we were allowed into Disney Land without paying an entrance fee. Although we lived fairly close to Disney Land we had never been. So this was a real treat. When one has a number youngsters one learns to count heads. Of course we were all agog. I counted heads, one two three, four , five, again one, two, three, four, five ,. It was Andre, he was missing, I said you better pray that we find Andre, Just like a shot, five little bodies lined up against a fence and started praying. It wasnt but a minute later a man with Andre on his shoulders calling, Looking for lost parents How was that for getting an answer to prayers?

Another time we went to the Pamona Fair., we were enjoying ourselves, when we counted heads and this time it was Gary(Joe) was missing. We looked and looked every where, we were going to the exit to report him missing, lo and behold there was Joe, he told us he knew we would have to come this way so he just waited. Now I know how Joseph and Mary felt when they found Jesus.

Every year when the Church held its annual fund raiser I bought a book of raffle tickets and placed them in the names of the children. This year one of the prizes was a bike, I told them they should pray to win. They did , they prayed for 1st place, and they won, but it wasnt a bike , it was an oil painting of the Holy Family. So you see you have to be careful what you pray for. You have to be specific when talking to the Lord. And so one year our T.V. was going out, the first prize was a big T.V. They prayed correctly this time and we won the right prize.

Teaching the children to drive , now there is a thrill for you. The boys werent bad , Noreen was another story. I let her drive from my office, she had to back up , oh dear Lord I thought she was going to back into the building . Talk about sweat city. On another occasion she begged to drive my friends car to

Fullerton, my friend said OK, she drove over to my friends sisters house just fine. Then she wanted to drive home again she got a yes. There is a turn she had to make it was a sharp turn. Well she missed the

Turn, and we found ourselves on the lawn of a guy mowing, she was headed right for him, the expression on his face is indescribable . He left the lawn mower and ran into the house I know he went in to change his shorts. There were two cars parked on the street, Ill never know how she did it but she got in between those cars without a scratch, she finally stopped the car,, leaned on the steering wheel and wept. My friend said he would drive. You know the old saying , If you dont like my driving, stay off the sidewalk.

The moral of the story, dont cut your lawn on Sunday.

I dont tell this story as well as my boys #2 and #3 Larry and Joe, you know neither one casts a very big shadow. They were working for Vincent, doing dry wall. They were almost to the work site and decided to stop and get a snack. The owner of the drive through, thought he recognized my boys who had stolen his truck the day before and called the police. The cops came guns drawn, and told my boys and the friend with them to get out and straddle, patted them down and told them dont you move Now you have to picture, two tough tall cops with guns drawn on my two small boys. Now you have to remember these kids were still growing. After more questioning they told my boys to go home. S