PrunePicker Memories of my sister Dallas Nona Johnson.

Dallas was the fourth girl (and child) born in my family. Close behind her was her twin sister Donna. No one knew Donna was there. By the time they discovered her she was turning black for lack of oxygen. Her cord was around her neck and shutting off her air. Dallas and Donna were very unlike twins. They were close all of their lives, but so different. Dallas was fair and a blonde. Donna had a darker complexion and was a brunette. Dallas was quiet and shy. Donna was not shy. Donna did all the talking for the two.

These pictures cover the lives of my twin sisters, Dallas and Donna.

Dallas was born in Redlands, California in 1913 and passed away in Oregon City, Oregon in 1911 at the age of 98. She outlived Donna by two years. She lived to an older age than her parents and siblings. (probably even counting me, now 91) 

My earliest memory of Dallas was when she was a beautiful teenager. Her first husband was a man named Tom Cook. A good looking blond man. I can remember going with him and Dallas into his folk's house in Hollywood. He had a brother who was in the Our Gang comedies. I can remember being in an auditorium with Tom's Mother where some of Tom's siblings were trying out for parts in movies. I do not believe that the marriage lasted too long. Then Dallas lived at home again.

I remember Dallas going with Mark Johnson. He had a big fancy convertible. He would park it in the backyard when we lived on 3rd street. The house on 3rd was the last house that I remember much of the family living together in. Grandma Knowlton lived with us. She and Dallas shared the master bedroom. Dad, Keith, Warren, and I shared the upstairs bedroom. George was living with his sister Thelma in Taft. Four of my sisters no longer lived at home.

Dallas and Mark were married in 1937. Dallas worked all of her working career at the Pomona Tile Plant. Mark was a sheet metal man and had an independent sheet metal business. They lived in various apartments around Pomona. I would visit them often. One time when I was out of school for a severe case of poison oak I lived with them for a while. I remember being on a porch and listening to soap operas over the radio. Dallas would feed me. I remember loving her pancakes with Karo syrup. Later they had a son, Monte. 

Mark and Dallas had acres of woods and a cabin at Kennedy Meadows in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

It was great fun to visit the cabin. It was really a little house that Mark and Dallas lived in a lot of the year. To get there you drive north on 395 to around China Lake. Then turn east into the mountains at nine mile canyon. You go high. I remember military planes from Edwards Air Force Base flying lower than us. After nine miles you left the blacktop. Dirt road for 20 or so miles to the cabin. They had a real good stand of Pinyon Nut trees. Indians would buy their pine nuts and come pick them. I can remember being with Dallas under  a pinyon pine tree and picking nuts off the ground. Dallas made pine nut butter.

I remember being there with Thelma and her family in their RV. I remember going with my youngest son Mike and his buddy. We visited the Kennedy Meadows Pack Station. They had close to a hundred animals. I asked if they were named. The man said yes and that he knew everyone.

No electricity. If Dallas wanted to run a mixer she had to start the generator. She would make us evil skeevers. These are Scandinavian pancakes. The correct name is ebelskivers. They were delicious.

After Mark passed away Dallas moved to Oregon City. (near Portland and considered the end of the Oregon Trail) Her son Mark and family lived there. On our RVing travels Jackie and I would stop and visit.

Dallas was my last sibling to pass away. (2011) Donna had passed away two years before Dallas. That was a sad and lonely fact to me. All of my siblings gone. I miss them very much and think of them often.

Dallas was always so sweet and kind to me. I love her.

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Posted By Chuck Monson to PrunePicker at 9/10/2016 06:30:00 PM