Ruth Emma Sierra Seaman Ringeling

 

I was born June 18, 1916 in Berkeley, California and weighed 10 pounds at birth.  Dr. Peck was the attending doctor and the birth took place at home on Adeline St. My mother was Emma Louise Stohler Sierra and my father was Carl Theodore Sierra Sr. my brother, Carl Jr. was born in Oakland, California on January 26, 1918 with Dr. Peck also attending the birth.

When I was two years old we moved to a ranch somewhere between Santa Rosa and Sacramento.  My father had milk cows and raised wheat.  There were hogs, chickens. rabbits, horses and 17 hired men to help.

In 1922 or 1923 we moved to Sacramento where I started the first grade.  My first grade teacher was Mrs. Laddar.  She was so wonderful and I will never forget her. 

In 1925 we moved to southern California and lived in Eagle Rock, a few miles from Los Angeles. I attended 2nd and 3rd grades here.

My father worked as an interior decorator for Barker Bros. in downtown Los Angeles I remember going to a lot of silent movie shows, as my mother loved them.  I remember going to the beach and once meeting Charlie Chaplin. My father had furnished some of his home in Beverly Hills.  I would sit in the car, a Durant. while Dad made house calls to many silent movie stars.  There was Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and his then wife Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino and Raymond Navarro, another Latin lover.  Rudolph Valentino raised Airedale dogs and when he learned Dad had two children he gave a puppy to him.  We had Teddy for almost 12 years until he was run over and killed by a car. Teddy was a great loss to the family.

The family moved to Berkeley where we lived with Grandma and Grandpa Sierra and I attended Le Conte Grammar School for the 4th grade.  Dad was now working for John Bruener Co., a furniture store in Oakland, California.  We moved to Sonoma Ave. in Berkeley where we lived until I graduated from high school. I attended Marin Grammar School and Garfield Junior High and graduated from Berkeley High

While in Berkeley High School, I made good friends with Eleanor Carbis, who married the most popular and handsome boy in school. His name was Eugene Klinker.  Dot Wilson married her high school sweetheart, Joe Leonard. who had a beautiful singing voice and was very handsome. Dot and Joe were married and bought a home in Oakland.  Joe went to serve in WWII and came home to eventually getting a divorce from Dot.  He died a few years later.  Doris Schaeffer, another close friend, and 12 hours older than I, have kept in touch all these years.  She married Roger Davison and they had four children.  Lillian Dutton married my boy friends best friend, Don Lees. They had three children and Don died of a heart attack at the age of 42.

My first boy friend was Marcus Jacobs.  I called him "Markie".  He was a Jew and I did not ever meet his parents but I did meet his sister, Rose.  We looked enough alike to be sisters.  Markie and I dated steadily for two years and then off and on for another 10 years.  We drove half way to Reno twice to get married but I would "chicken out" and say, "My Dad will kill me".

After Graduating from high school we moved to Sacramento where Dad worked at Summerville Furniture Co.  Markie sent me special delivery letters every day and came to spend a night over the weekend.  We were very serious about each other and it was at this time that we almost eloped twice.  The year is 1935 and the big depression is still in existence.  Grandpa Sierra died in our home in October 1935.  Jobs were hard to find and once again our family made a move back to the East Bay.  Dad went to work for John Bruener Co. in Oakland for the second time.

Carl Jr. and I were boarded in a private home in Sacramento and attended Sacramento Jr. College for a semester.  I would see Markie when we went home every weekend.

Carl Jr. and I had a car while at college so we could drive the 90 miles home.  I called my brother, Carl Jr., " Buster" which I still call him today.

Mom and Dad lived in Grandpa Sierra's home in Oakland.  Dad had bought this for his parents many years before.  It was a Victorian two-story home, which had been made into two apartments.  Dad had a lot of restoration done making it back into a one family home.  At this time my parents had bought acreage in Castro Valley to eventually build a home and have a pigeon farm.

While living in the Victorian home in Oakland I attended San Francisco State College.  Buster went to the University of California in Berkeley.  I had taken all the art courses offered so left college and went to Dean and Morgan Art Institute in Oakland.  After a year in art school and there still being a depression, I went to work as a salesperson at H. C. Capwells in Oakland.  Commuting to college in San Francisco by ferryboat every day I had the good fortune to observe different phases of the Bay Bridge being built.

The home was completed in Castro Valley and my parents were in the pigeon business.

Buster rented a room in Berkeley, putting himself through college. I rode to work with my father every day working at H. C. Capwells earning $18.00 a week.  Dad was still working at John Bruener's.

Buster graduated from the University of California in 1940 and wanted to go on to earn his Masters and Doctors degree in entomology but President Franklin Roosevelt had declared all young men be drafted and to have training for a year in the military.  Buster enlisted in the Army to get his year over before going on with college.  In December 1941 Pearl Harbor was attached and WWII started. Buster married Judith Bostrom about two weeks before he shipped out to the South Pacific.  It was 1945 before he returned to the states. Buster did not go on to college but did acquire a very good position with the State of California as an entomologist.

Needless to say this was a very hard time for all families and sweethearts to have their loved ones overseas.  Gasoline, sugar, coffee and shoes were rationed.  Along the coastline of California there were blackouts when sirens were heard.  No lights were allowed to be seen anywhere.  Radios were listened to constantly but news of the real action about the war was broadcast many hours or days after the invasions took place.

With Pearl Harbor and my working at H. C. Capwells I decided to help the war effort by taking a course in drafting.  I quit my job, went to a trade school and was placed in a job just 45 minutes later.  It was a 9 month course but I was qualified with my past art experience.  I started earning $1.15 an hour.  Compared to the $18.00 a week I was earning, this was a fortune. I worked for Kaiser Cargo Inc. on plans for frigate ships.  I also worked in San Leandro at a calculating company on small parts for aircraft.  Food Machinery in San Jose was my next place to work where amphibious vehicles were made and assembled.  I was one of the draftsmen.  It was here I met Frank Seaman.

Frank had been discharged from the Navy in 1945.  Rather than go to his home state of Ohio he asked to be discharged in California.  I had been corresponding with Gerald Morrow, from Bay City, Michigan who was in the Navy in the South Pacific for two years.  We decided to wait until WWII ended to decide if we would marry.  Jerry came home and spent a few days with my parents in Castro Valley.  I had taken time off work and we decided that after he returned to Michigan that I would go to meet his family.  This did not happen as my father met and liked Frank and encouraged me to marry him.  I wrote a letter to Jerry telling him about Frank.  Jerry answered with a very sweet letter wishing me happiness.

Frank and I were married on November 24, 1946 in a Presbyterian Church in San Leandro.  After living in a very small one-room apartment in San Jose for several months we bought a nice three-bedroom home.  Our first child, Cheryl was born November 29, 1947 and our second child, Douglas was born July 24, 1949.

Frank Sr. offered Frank a job being manufacturers representative for Robbins and Myers which was accepted.  This meant moving to Georgia and traveling six southern states. Frank drove cross-country to Georgia and I stayed with the children and sold our home in San Jose. Three months later the children and I flew to Atlanta in March 1950 and moved into the home Frank had bought in Decatur.

Frank traveled a great deal being gone all but two or three days a month, I had no car so hired a taxi and took the children with me grocery shopping.  After a year I hired a black girl to baby sit giving me a day off.  Gussie Mae and her sister Lillie Mae were lifesavers and the children adored whoever happened to be their sitter.  My parents drove cross-county to visit and when my father saw I had no TV he blew a fuse at Frank.  We had a TV within one day so the children and I had entertainment.  Living in Decatur was not easy as when the neighbors learned Cheryl was going to a parochial school we were completely ignored by the neighborhood except for Beth Shae and Lois Benson.  Catholics and Jews were not accepted in this part of the South.  The children and I flew to California to visit my parents which was a big welcome as I was not happy living in Decatur.

Frank informed me that he was quitting his job and that he could earn more money by going into business for himself.  We sold the home in Decatur after he quit his job and moved to St. Simons Island.  Frank did not earn more money and went to work for Concrete Products.  We lived in a very small two-bedroom home not too far from the beach.  The children and I walked the beach every night after dinner.  This was a wonderful place to raise children.  At this time in 1957 there were less than 3000 people living on the island.  We had to go to the post office to get mail, as there were no home deliveries.  People here were very friendly and making friends at church and school and on the beach made life a pleasure.

Cheryl and Doug attended parochial school in Brunswick.  It was a very old building as was the church.  This was rebuilt a few years later.  Cheryl loved school and the sisters but Doug didn't adjust well.  I transferred Doug to the St. Simons Grammar School when he was in the 2nd grade.  I started to work in the village for John Palmer, who owned a "Dime" store earning $29.00 a week for 6 days work.  This did not cover many expenses and living was a constant worry to me. At this time we also had a Dachshund dog named Schutzie.

When Cheryl was to start the 6th grade Frank sent us to California to live with my parents, as he couldn't afford to have a family.  At this time he was drinking quite a bit.  Cheryl and Doug attended public school in Castro Valley where we lived with my parents.  I went to work at the Atomic Energy Commission in Livermore, California.  I earned good money considering I had not worked as a draftsman for over 10 years.  I saved every penny I could and after a year Frank asked me to return to St. Simons.  Mom matched every penny I saved and gave me more.

I did not write Frank much while in California so he knew nothing about my working for the Atomic Energy Commission.  The children and I drove back to Georgia with Schutzie, hoping to start a more normal life.  I paid off all of the banks that Frank had borrowed from and also the Ford Station Wagon that he had bought when we left Georgia.  Frank sold the Ford the next week and I had no car again.  I bought some furniture as Frank had sold what I had in storage. We lived in a small beach cottage a few steps from the Casino, where there was a skating rink, swimming pool and bowling allies.  While living here I put a down payment on a three bedroom home on Marigold Ct. with money I earned working for the Atomic Energy Commission. 

We had a good life living here as the children had good friends and also all the activity of a resort town.  I worked for J.C. Penney’s for $1.00 an hour and when a Sears store opened I went to work for them for$1.15 an hour.  Frank bought an old well-used Chevrolet that I used for transportation for $250.  I had put an application in with the City of Brunswick for a drafting job in the engineering department after returning from California.  None were available.  While working at Sears I received a call from the County of Glynn to have an interview for a drafting job.  Evidently the city gave my name to the county when another draftsman was needed. I was accepted and bought a used Comet car, as the Chevrolet just wouldn't go anymore.  My parents drove cross-country to visit us when Cheryl graduated from Junior High.  Cheryl rode back to California with them after graduation.  She really did not want to go as it was summer and she had so many good friends on the island.  Linda Hawk, the best friend of Cheryl's went to California with her stepmother and stayed with Cheryl for a week.  Cheryl flew back to Georgia shortly after.

Both Cheryl and Doug went to and graduated from Glynn Academy in Brunswick.  Doug played a saxophone in the school marching band and later played some football until a knee injury.  Cheryl was in a choir and enjoyed group singing.  She was in class when it was announced that President Kennedy had been assassinated and became very upset when the class stood up and cheered.  Many did not like Kennedy but cheering for such a death is unforgivable. I have never forgotten this event and I'm sure Cheryl hasn't either. Cheryl and Doug both worked part time at the Tasty Freeze on St. Simons.  This gave them a little extra spending money plus meeting more friends.  Ben West was a good boss and all of his help were high school students.

After Cheryl graduated from Glynn Academy she went to Jacksonville with Sarah and another girl. They rented a small apartment and all went to take different business courses. Cheryl took a course in keypunch and after six months came back to the island and went to work for Sea Pak.  While she was in Jacksonville, Doug and I we took a bus to California to visit my parents.  I didn't have the funds to fly and not enough time to drive. Cheryl kept Schutzie and my car in Jacksonville while Doug and I went to California.  I could write volumes about this but will only mention that when we returned home, Doug and I had to live in a motel for a couple of weeks.  It seems that the gas company, putting in new lines on St. Simons, struck the sewer pipe leading into our home and the whole house was flooded.  My neighbor had called a plumber and things were cleared before we got home but all new floors, food products, and lots of cleaning had to be replaced to make the place clean and livable again.  The gas company covered all expenses.

Frank was living in Atlanta and also working as a draftsman, coming back to St. Simons every few months on week ends to visit by train.  He had no car or drivers license. We were divorced in 1967 and eventually he went to Springfield, Ohio where he lived in his parent’s home.  He was not well and moved into a small apartment in the city where a friend sent him to the hospital where he died.

I was working for Glynn County as a draftsman and really loved my work.  I was the only person working in the engineering department and my boss Don McCaskill was always elsewhere and let me make any decisions needed with the help of the administrator.  I bought a new Rambler car and once again went to California with Doug, who did some of the driving.  Schutzie had died a few months before this trip so no longer was a passenger.  When the new term started at school, after this trip, Doug was a senior and Cheryl was living in Atlanta, working, and living with Jackie Sutton.  Cheryl met Edward Hoback in Atlanta and they dated for a few months going to ball games and coming to visit me on weekends.

Cheryl and Edward Hoback were married in St. Williams Catholic Church on St. Simons Island November 18,1967.  About this time my mother called to say she did not expect Dad to go through a prostate surgery.  I was concerned about my mother living alone so sold my home very fast, gave or sold whatever I could in the house.  I notified Glynn County I was quitting and they wanted me to take a leave of absence, which I should have done.  Doug was going to finish his senior year at Glynn Academy and would stay with his good friend Philip Hawk, whose mother was the manager of the Holiday Inns in Brunswick.  I left the Rambler with Doug and flew to California.  This was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.  My Dad was meaner than I ever remembered and very demanding treating me like little child.  Mom was sick; Cheryl and Eddie drove cross-country to live in California.  Dad did not make anyone welcome so all of this is something I would like to put out of my mind forever.  Dad came through his surgery; Mom had cancer and died five weeks after I arrived there.  Cheryl got a job at Bruener’s in Oakland; Eddie eventually worked for an electrical company.  I finally found a couple to move into Dad's house to take care of him.  Glynn County had notified me that they were holding my job for me; Doug had made arrangements for us to rent the first little cottage we lived in years before so I flew back to Georgia and Doug met me at the airport.  As soon as possible Cheryl and Eddie moved out of Dad's house and rented a small apartment in Castro Valley.  It was the end of 1968 (the year my mother died) before they could save the money to return to Georgia.

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Doug graduated from Glynn Academy and started going to Brunswick Junior College.  He also worked at Bennies Red Barn to help with expenses and he had the small insurance policy I had taken out for him when he was a baby that had matured.  We were living in the cottage on Brown Dr. when Cheryl and Eddie returned from California.  They were on their way to go back to Atlanta area.  Doug talked me into buying a Dachshund puppy, which I named Hans.  He was my pal for 12 years.  Doug’s reasoning for Hans was because he was going to marry Gordon Carmichael and did not want me to be alone.

Doug and Gordy were married in St. Williams Catholic Church on St. Simons Island, February 1970.  Doug was 19 years old and I had to sign papers for him to get married.  My Dad was 81 and flew cross-country to attend the wedding.  He stayed with me for about a week and then returned to California.  He died in June a few months later.  I flew back to California to close the house and ship a few things back to Georgia and of course attend the funeral.  Dad’s ashes were put in a book urn and right in same niche and beside my mother in the Memorial Columbarium in Oakland.

I had been looking around for a mobile home to buy for quite awhile and had found one right before Dad died.  Don McCaskill, my boss, owned a mobile home park on St. Simons and developing a new section.  He chose the best lot for me and this is where I put my mobile home.  Rent was $35.00 a month and I paid cash (part of my inheritance) for the M.H. so my living expenses were more normal.  Life was a little easier and I was able to drive to Marietta to visit Cheryl and Eddie at times with Hans.

Red Ringeling came into the Glynn County Engineering Dept. quite often along with other surveyors and engineers as I had many maps and copies of all subdivisions and all the tax maps that were important to their work.  Over several years Red and I became good friends.  In March 1972, Frank died in Springfield, Ohio.  Cheryl, Doug, Gordy and I drove to Ohio to attend the funeral.  A very sad and very fast trip. The following July, Ann, Red's wife, died of cancer.  I had been visiting Doug and Gordy in Pensacola, Florida at this time.  Doug was a photographer in the Navy.   Red started coming to the M.H. and he took me to Benny's Red Barn for dinner many times as I was a "write" off for his income tax as he listed me as entertaining the assistant to the county engineer.

Red and I became better friends and eventually we were married on July 11, 1975 in Christ Church by Junos Martin with his wife, Evelyn, Ed and Joan Stelle being the only witnesses.  Red proposed to me with "What about getting hitched?" and I said "yes".  Red and I had a lot of fun together that I hadn't had in many years.  We went fishing, went to upper New York State deer hunting (I did not go hunting for deer but for antiques).  We went west to Wyoming and I met all of Ann's family.  We went to Southern California to New Port Beach and visited Ann's younger sister, Marilyn and her two beautiful girls.  We went to San Diego to see my cousin Helen and her husband Dixon.  We went to Nova Scotia and into Toronto and Quebec.  On our honeymoon we went down the rapids on the Salmon River for five days.  A year later we went on a two-week tour of the Yucatan in Mexico without a tour guide.  This was quite an experience!  Red and I both enjoyed traveling and really got along very well together.

I retired from Glynn County in 1981. I had invested some of my inheritance in a track of land on St. Simons that was in the courts where I had planned on building a home.  This was a long drawn out process with no end in sight.  Red and I were living in the home he had built for Ann and gave to his children when we married.  Hank and Nancy were living in my M.H. rent-free and I did not want to live any longer in the house that Red built for Ann for many reasons.  Red owned a piece of property in Baxley, on a high bluff on the Altamaha River.  It was a beautiful place.  We built a two-story home, had an in ground swimming pool, gazebo and lots of space.  At this time we had two dogs, Heidi a Dachshund and Bibo a bird dog.  They went everywhere with us.

In 1983 I fell down the stairs leading up to a loft and fortunately it happened just half an hour before Red would arrive home from work.  Bibo was on one side of Heidi and me on the other when Red came in the house.  I couldn't move and ended up in a hospital with three broken limbs.  This accident kept me off my feet and an invalid for almost a year.

Red still was working.  He had not paid anything into Social Security all the years he was in business and if he retired he would have no income.  When I retired, I drew social security plus $118.59 a month from my retirement from Glynn County and Red continued to work now paying social security.  He worked until he was 80 years old and then drew $30.00 more a month than I did

Life in Baxley was very good.  Red and I became active in the historical society and I was a president at a later date.  Red and I were responsible for organizing programs to eventually receive grants from the state to restore an old five-room brick school building for the purpose of having a Heritage Center.  We were both very proud of this and it has grown and improved more over the last few years.  All this took a lot of work but we enjoyed every minute.

In July 1986 on a stormy rainy afternoon, lightening struck our home and left us without power.  The power was off for sometime and we decided to go to church in Hazelhurst leaving the same time we always did on Sunday evenings.  We went to church and when we returned home we were shocked when Heidi and Bibo came and jumped in the car as the house was on fire.  It was a shocking and terrible night.  The house burned down to ground and nothing could be saved despite all the firemen that came from Baxley 15 miles away.   Red and I lost all of our family antiques and papers that can never be replaced.  We also had tickets to fly to California on a vacation just two days later.  We only had the clothes on our backs.  Out tickets had burned in the fire and it cost $75.00 for each ticket to be replaced.  Red did not go on trip and he suggested I ask Cheryl to go in his place.  Cheryl went with me and I was able to get over the shock of the fire with visiting my friends and Buster.  When I returned to Baxley a lot of the churchmen had been cleaning and stacking brick and cleaning up yard where the house had been.

We finally were able to rebuild another home, which was entirely different than the first.  Red had sketched the floor plan out on a napkin for the first home and on a legal pad for the second home.  Red was an Afro Engineer and nothing would ever change that in spite of his being a Registered Civil Engineer with number 751.

Red and I were still active in the Heritage Center and still managed nice vacations and in 1990, Red did retire and now had social security as an income.  Red was not in very good health as he had congestive heart failure.  He was in and out of the hospital in Brunswick many times a year.  In 1992 I had to have a knee implant as the old injury was giving me a lot of pain.  Red and I kept as active as possible going to church every Sunday PM and with the Heritage Center. With all the trips I had to take to and from Brunswick when Red was in the hospital was very exhausting and I decided it would be better to move to St. Simons to be nearer doctors.  I bought a doublewide M.H. and it was placed in the only M.H. Park on St. Simons.  Red and I moved in June of 1995 with Lady and Heidi.  The home in Baxley was sold where Bibo is buried, as he died a few weeks earlier at the age of 12.

Life was quite different here as Red gave up driving as he said he nearly killed a woman the first day he drove on the island.  I had to drive Red to and from all the places he wanted to go over the next few months until after one of his stays in the hospital he was sent to Brian Center Nursing Home on St. Simons.  At this time I learned he had Dementia, he couldn't walk very well and was incontinent.  This was a very trying time and I was completely exhausted visiting Red twice a day and doing his laundry plus taking care of Heidi and Lady.  Heidi was blind and deaf plus a few months over 15 years old.  She had a seizure one night and I decided to have her put to sleep, as it would be more humane than have her suffer alone when I was with Red.  If it had not been for Gordy helping me by taking the morning shift to be with Red, I really don't think I could have managed.

Red died March 1999 just two weeks before he would turn 89.  He is interred at Christ Church next to his first wife, Ann

The Christmas before Red died in 1998, Cheryl, Eddie and I flew to Arizona to spend the holidays with Doug and Gordy.  We had a great time as Gordy planned all the places to visit and explore.  She really is a wonderful tour guide.  Doug was working in Arizona at this time.

In 1999 we all spent Christmas in New Mexico where Doug was working.  All had another good time.

As I write this the year is 2003 and the month November.  Thanksgiving will be in a few days and my family will be together once more.  One year ago Doug spread the ashes of my two last dogs, Heidi and Lady, in the Atlantic Ocean in front of the Carmichael house.  It was a sad day for me and I will never forget them.

I am on oxygen 24 hours a day and limited to exercising.  This sickness is all my fault as I smoked for over 65 years.  Markie is the one who taught me, saying I would not be one of the gang if I did not.  What you hear today that cigarettes kill is the truth.