LESTER VAUGHN & RENA FIKE FAMILIES
There are indications of future photos to be inserted.
The story of the Vaughn and Fike families go back to the winter of 1902 when they first came to Laton. They were part of twelve families who traveled from Belleville, Kansas to the Laton area on a chartered train with the goal of building a sanctuary for the Church of the Brethren. Prior to that time, the parishioners had been worshiping in the nearby Grant Grammar School. The sanctuary was completed in the spring of 1903, only months after arriving in the area. That church still stand on Mount Whitney Avenue, east of Laton.
It was in late November in 1902 when 12 families, including the Vaughn and Fike families, boarded a chartered train bound for Laton. On that train was a 4 1/2-year old boy named Lester Vaughn, and a 3-year old little girl named Rena Fike. It was late in November when they left Belleville, Kansas and traveled the northern route into Utah making a stop in Ogden. Most of the Brethren families brought with them a team of horses, a few milk cows, tack, plows, construction tools and some brought household furnishings for their new homes in Laton. The older boys in the group bedded down in the cattle cars and were assigned the job of keeping the animals calm as well as feeding and watering them. Their other job was to "muck out" the cars. When the train stopped it was time for most of the adults and children to get out and exercise their legs and use the chance to purchase items if the station included a store nearby. The older boys used that time to refresh the water supply for the animals and muck out the cars.
There were no kitchen facilities on the train so the colonists brought baskets of food including fried chicken and hardtack. Hardtack is a type of hard unleavened bread that was often eaten by soldiers during the Civil War and sailors during sea journeys. They were referred to as "edible rocks'. The travelers' breakfast consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack. Their dinner consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack. Their suppers consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack and on and on and on........... Lester Vaughn remembering back, said that once they arrived in Laton he never wanted to eat hard tack again. We don't believe that he ever said that about fried chicken though.
The colonists had been told about the Sierra Nevada Mountains and how massive they were so when they finally caught this first glimpse of the range, they breathed a sigh of relief figuring that their fears of making it over those treacherous mountains had been unfounded.
Coming from the plains of the Midwest they had seen a few hills so this early view of the mountains, from a distance, didn't appear to be all that intimidating. At this point they settled back into their seats but it wasn't long before the conductor informed them that they had a very steep climb ahead of them and the train would be burning a lot of coal in order to get over the mountains. They would need to keep their windows tightly closed to keep the burning embers from blowing inside the cars. It wasn't long before they realized that the smoke from the burning coal was somehow able to enter the cars and Lester remembered people having problems breathing the polluted air. (Editor's note: Did the embers ever get into the cattle cars causing fires with the hay inside?)
At this point, they probably expected the mountains to become a 'little' more rugged but as they continued west they finally saw the Sierra-Nevada Mountains as had earlier been described to them. This sight probably gave them the feeling that their decision to make this trek may not have been the wisest decision they ever made. They had heard of the ill-fated Donner Party who in the fall of 1846 had reached the Sierra Nevadas where they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near Truckee. They were forced to set up camp for 4 months then in February of 1847 a rescue party from California finally reached them. Of the group of 87 people only 48 survived. Some years later, the train tracks were completed and the arduous trip across the Sierras was able to be completed in a day rather than months by wagon.
However, their fears were soon overridden by the magnificent grandeur that they were witnessing out the train windows.
Although Lester was only 4 1/2-years old at the time, in his later years he spoke of the snow sheds covering the railroad tracks. The railroad had built the Truckee Snow Sheds that kept the snow from sliding off the mountains and covering the rails and possibly derailing the train. It was an ingenious piece of engineering that made the trip much safer.
As their chartered train climbed over the mountains it began to slowly descended down into the San Joaquin Valley and soon turned south as it headed toward their new land in Laton about 180 miles away. As the train neared Laton, it moved to a spur off of the Santa Fe line that took them about 1-1/2 miles to the west of Laton. There was a small train depot between Mt. Whitney and Riverdale Avenue that was designated as the Lillis Station.
Their trip had taken several days arriving in Laton in early December. There were other Brethren families from the Laton area who arrived at the Lillis Station to gather up the family that had been pre-assigned to them. The Vaughn's stayed with the Isaiah Fike family until their small 2 room home was built a few months later. This house was added onto over time and became this cozy country home where many members of the family lived throughout the following years.
This new church would be the first church in the Laton area. The Haskell Family had donated the acreage for the church and a cemetery. That was the Oak Grove Cemetery which was later relocated to Cedar Avenue due to the fear of flooding. Along with the hard work of the existing church members and the colonist, the new church was completed in the spring of 1903, only a few months after having arrived in the area.
At this time, there was no electricity in the area so the church used carbide lights to light the church. Lester remembered the chemical tank outside the church that had a very acrid smell. In 1925, electricity finally came to the area and for the first time the church was lit by electric lights. Besides building the new church the colonists got busy constructing their small homes on their new land with the help of other Brethren. In the Fike family, there were 2 carpenters; John, the grandfather and his son Messmore. The two men along with help from other Brethren were able to build their home within a few months after arriving in the area. Messmore and his wife, Nettie, eventually had 10 children who were raised in this house.
The colonists farm land had been purchased sight unseen but soon they realized that some of the parcels were made up of beautiful river loam, however, many of them consisted of alkali soil. Eventually, over a period of time, the colonists sold or traded that alkali land for usable farm land.
Besides church on Sundays it was a day for friends and family to join together for dinner and visiting. As Lester Vaughn said, "It was usually 4 or 5 families joining together for dinner then the next week one of the other families would entertain 4 or 5 families. During these leisurely Sundays, the children would stage impromptu programs for the adults with some reading poems and others singing. Lester remembered one Sunday going to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Strole and it was the first time that he had ever seen a croquet game. He was mesmerized. He was also amazed that there were so many Oak Trees in the area and that there were hundreds of crows that fought over the acorns. He and the other children used the acorns as make believe horses and soldiers then sometimes as Cowboys and Indians.
The children of these colonist were soon attending either the Laguna Grammar School or Grant or Lillis Grammar Schools. A few children eventually ended up at the Laton Grammar School. The first classes at Laton Grammar School were held in the Lodge Hall (Odd Fellows Hall) until the Grammar School Building was completed in 1903, one year after the colonists arrived. Later many attended the Laton High School when it opened in the fall of 1907. A number of the earliest Laton High School graduates were part of the group who had emigrated from Kansas in 1902.
In 1906, Lester Vaughn began the first grade at the Laguna Grammar School. This is a photo of the school prior to a second floor that was added in 1916. At that same time, Teddy Roosevelt was the President but the headline news all over the country was the deadly earthquake in San Francisco. It was reported that the quake was so strong that the ground actually moved in Germany. The firefighters ran out of water very soon and the fireboats in the bay that were used to fight fires on boats where used to fight fires all along the embarcadero. Historians also wrote that there was a huge storage tank of wine that was drained to use fighting the fire.
In 1907, Rena Fike also began the first grade at Laguna Grammar School. There is a strong possibility that she is one of the girls on the horse in the photo above.
Lester entered Laton High School in the fall of 1913 as a freshman. He was a member of the 1915/16 Basketball Team of Laton High (Photo #20b of Lester and the team) and just about every other sport and club at the school. Lester is the 2nd from the left in the back row.
On the 4th of July in 1916, a fire that was caused by fireworks burned down 2 - 3 blocks of buildings on Main Street. It was referred to as Main Street at that time but is now known as Fowler Avenue. Lester remembered that he, his brother Owen and their sister Marilla had taken a horse and buggy to the event. They had secured the horse and buggy at the livery stables and walked down to the river area where they could watch the fireworks. In a short while he saw flames back in town and his immediate reaction was to save the horse. He raced to the livery stables and was able to get the horse and buggy away from the flames then secured them across the street near the railroad tracks. The Laton Hotel and many other structures were destroyed.
Lester graduated from Laton High School in 1917. He is the 2nd from the right in the front row. Rena Fike followed in the Class of 1918. (Photo #23 entire student body in 1918) This is a photo of the complete student body with the teachers in the front row. Rena is the first young woman in the second row sitting on the far left. Sometime during those few years together at Laton High, Lester and Rena fell in love and later married. According to a video made by Lester and his grandson in 1988, he told the story that they had secretly married without telling anyone and on the following Sunday they went to church unbeknownst to anyone that they were married. As was the custom at that time, Rena sat on one side of the church with the women and Lester on the other side with the men. We aren't sure when they finally told their families that they were married.
Sometime in the early 20s, Lester went to work at the First National Bank of Laton. One day, after the other cashier had left for lunch, Lester was in the back when he heard someone enter the bank and as he went out front, he saw a bandit pointing a six shooter at him. He and his compadres took all the money from the bank vault and then one with the bandits ordered Lester into the vault. They attempted to slam the vault door but as was the habit, Lester had locked the large locking bolts in the 'out' position which made them protrude so that the door couldn't accidentally close, locking anyone in. When the bandit slammed the door, the open bolts hit the vault frame causing it to bounce back and hit one of the bandits in the head. Lester said that he knew what was going to happen but didn't see any reason to warn them. Obviously, they were about as sharp as a bag of marbles. The robber was furious and instructed Lester to "fix it" so that they could close the door. Once it was unlocked, making it closeable, they put Lester in the vault where he stayed for about 40 minutes until the other cashier returned from lunch and heard him calling for help. Sometime later, Lester had a call from the Tulare Police Chief asking him if he could come down to Tulare and identify some men who were thought to be the bank robbers. It seems that they had used the bank's money to purchase a pool hall in Tulare so the Sheriff wanted Lester to dress shabby with a hat down over his eyes and go into the pool hall and order something to eat. Apparently, they arrested the bandits before they could complete the "sting" operation.
Lester and Rena built a home on Lewiston Avenue where Maxine was born in April 1921. In 1924 sister Beverly was born and in 1926, Barbara was born.
In 1927 after a summer of staying cool electricity finally came to the Laton area followed soon by telephones.
It was in the late 1920s that Lester and Chet Wilkinson bought the Laton Mercantile in Laton where he worked for the next few decades . This store was attached to the east side of the Bank and then wrapped around the back side of the bank in the shape of and "L". It's front door opening on DeWoody and the back door was accessible on Castro Street, behind the Bank.
Paul Dooley remembered his grandfather Lester telling him and his siblings about a local farmer who had rabbits and would come into the store every day and collect old vegetables for feeding to the rabbits, especially lettuce. Apparently, the fellow had a speech impediment and Lester would entertain the grand children by imitating the farmer with, "Wester, do you have any wettuce for my wabbits?" That would probably be considered socially incorrect but it certainly entertained the children.
It was 1928 when a very important event happened in Hanford. There was a new business that everyone grew to love ....the Superior Dairy.
It was lucky that there was a new bridge over the Kings River that made the trip to the Superior Dairy much easier than it had previously been. When the colonists arrived in the area, in order for them to get to Hanford, they had to take a wagon to the Kings River across from Kingston where there had once been a ferry crossing for the Butterfield Stage Coach, but now there was a wooden bridge that crossed the river. The only other bridge at that time was in Kingsburg. The wooden bridge had to be replaced at some point when a herd of about 300 cattle, being led across the bridge, broke through and about 100 of them fell into the river. There was no significant injuries to the cattle but it prompted the building of a new concrete bridge father to the east, closer to the railroad tracks.
In 1930 another Vaughn sister, Nona, was born.
In 1933 and 1934 the United States was still experiencing the worst years of the great depression. During that terrible time, the people in large towns suffered terribly compared to those like your family who were able to at least keep their families fed with the gardens and animals that they had available to them on the farm. Even in the extended Vaughn family, there were some who lost their homes and had to move in with Lester's family.
A year later in 1938, another Vaughn daughter, Joyce, was welcomed into the family.
During Maxine's high school years, she helped out in her Dad's store after school and on weekends. One time her parents traveled by train to Detroit to purchase a new Chevrolet and left Maxine in charge of the Mercantile. They must have been very proud and relieved that they could count on her to take care of the store while they were gone.
During this year, the Laton High School band members took a trip to San Francisco to see the World's Fair at Treasure Island The World Fair was also a time for California to celebrate the recently opened Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Travelers would no longer need to take a ferry to the North Bay or to cross the Bay to Oakland.
Also, during the fair, Nylon Stockings made their debut.
During that same year Gold fish swallowing was popular and the New York Times also predicted that the television would never be a success because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it.
It was during Maxine's Senior year that she and Glen Dooley started dating and in the spring of 1939, her class held their graduation exercises on the front lawn of the high school. This was a 'first' for Laton High School because prior to that time the graduation ceremonies were always held in the auditorium after its construction in the summer of 1916.
Women were becoming more independent and free spirited during this time in our history. Before the early and mid 1900s, women were technically not allowed to wear pants because it was a masculine item and they were looked down upon if they ever tried to wear them! It wasn't until around the time of WWII that women began wearing trousers but even then it was not widely accepted. One of the things that helped bring on a change in attire was that during the war, while the men were fighting the war in Europe, the women were producing the supplies needed for the war. Dresses and skirts did not offer enough protection for the women working in factories and women began wearing pants at work. It made it easier for them to move around and do their jobs but even then, pants were only acceptable in the workplace
Upon graduating from Laton High School in 1937, Glen Dooley had became a barber
and practiced in Hanford with his older brother, Bill, until World
War II began. In the later years Glen was an active member of the Laton Church of the
Brethren where he 'sat in the same pew for over 60 years'. He had been active in the
Laton High School District as a member of the Board of Directors and he was also very
active in the Laton Lions Club. In a conversation with his nephew, Tom Dooley, he
related a story about his Uncle Glen teaching him to drive a tractor when he was about
6-years old and Uncle Glen telling him to remember that the tractor could not turn on a
dime. He continued with "so don't ever try it because the tractor will tip over".
Tommy also shared that Uncle Glen always had a smile and for some reason it
reminded him of the sun coming up in the morning. He also told of his Uncle Glen's
sense of humor and that he was always joking. In 2010, Glen passed away leaving his
family with many wonderful memories.
There are indications of future photos to be inserted.
The story of the Vaughn and Fike families go back to the winter of 1902 when they first came to Laton. They were part of twelve families who traveled from Belleville, Kansas to the Laton area on a chartered train with the goal of building a sanctuary for the Church of the Brethren. Prior to that time, the parishioners had been worshiping in the nearby Grant Grammar School. The sanctuary was completed in the spring of 1903, only months after arriving in the area. That church still stand on Mount Whitney Avenue, east of Laton.
It was in late November in 1902 when 12 families, including the Vaughn and Fike families, boarded a chartered train bound for Laton. On that train was a 4 1/2-year old boy named Lester Vaughn, and a 3-year old little girl named Rena Fike. It was late in November when they left Belleville, Kansas and traveled the northern route into Utah making a stop in Ogden. Most of the Brethren families brought with them a team of horses, a few milk cows, tack, plows, construction tools and some brought household furnishings for their new homes in Laton. The older boys in the group bedded down in the cattle cars and were assigned the job of keeping the animals calm as well as feeding and watering them. Their other job was to "muck out" the cars. When the train stopped it was time for most of the adults and children to get out and exercise their legs and use the chance to purchase items if the station included a store nearby. The older boys used that time to refresh the water supply for the animals and muck out the cars.
There were no kitchen facilities on the train so the colonists brought baskets of food including fried chicken and hardtack. Hardtack is a type of hard unleavened bread that was often eaten by soldiers during the Civil War and sailors during sea journeys. They were referred to as "edible rocks'. The travelers' breakfast consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack. Their dinner consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack. Their suppers consisted mostly of fried chicken and hard tack and on and on and on........... Lester Vaughn remembering back, said that once they arrived in Laton he never wanted to eat hard tack again. We don't believe that he ever said that about fried chicken though.
The colonists had been told about the Sierra Nevada Mountains and how massive they were so when they finally caught this first glimpse of the range, they breathed a sigh of relief figuring that their fears of making it over those treacherous mountains had been unfounded.
Coming from the plains of the Midwest they had seen a few hills so this early view of the mountains, from a distance, didn't appear to be all that intimidating. At this point they settled back into their seats but it wasn't long before the conductor informed them that they had a very steep climb ahead of them and the train would be burning a lot of coal in order to get over the mountains. They would need to keep their windows tightly closed to keep the burning embers from blowing inside the cars. It wasn't long before they realized that the smoke from the burning coal was somehow able to enter the cars and Lester remembered people having problems breathing the polluted air. (Editor's note: Did the embers ever get into the cattle cars causing fires with the hay inside?)
At this point, they probably expected the mountains to become a 'little' more rugged but as they continued west they finally saw the Sierra-Nevada Mountains as had earlier been described to them. This sight probably gave them the feeling that their decision to make this trek may not have been the wisest decision they ever made. They had heard of the ill-fated Donner Party who in the fall of 1846 had reached the Sierra Nevadas where they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near Truckee. They were forced to set up camp for 4 months then in February of 1847 a rescue party from California finally reached them. Of the group of 87 people only 48 survived. Some years later, the train tracks were completed and the arduous trip across the Sierras was able to be completed in a day rather than months by wagon.
However, their fears were soon overridden by the magnificent grandeur that they were witnessing out the train windows.
Although Lester was only 4 1/2-years old at the time, in his later years he spoke of the snow sheds covering the railroad tracks. The railroad had built the Truckee Snow Sheds that kept the snow from sliding off the mountains and covering the rails and possibly derailing the train. It was an ingenious piece of engineering that made the trip much safer.
As their chartered train climbed over the mountains it began to slowly descended down into the San Joaquin Valley and soon turned south as it headed toward their new land in Laton about 180 miles away. As the train neared Laton, it moved to a spur off of the Santa Fe line that took them about 1-1/2 miles to the west of Laton. There was a small train depot between Mt. Whitney and Riverdale Avenue that was designated as the Lillis Station.
Their trip had taken several days arriving in Laton in early December. There were other Brethren families from the Laton area who arrived at the Lillis Station to gather up the family that had been pre-assigned to them. The Vaughn's stayed with the Isaiah Fike family until their small 2 room home was built a few months later. This house was added onto over time and became this cozy country home where many members of the family lived throughout the following years.
This new church would be the first church in the Laton area. The Haskell Family had donated the acreage for the church and a cemetery. That was the Oak Grove Cemetery which was later relocated to Cedar Avenue due to the fear of flooding. Along with the hard work of the existing church members and the colonist, the new church was completed in the spring of 1903, only a few months after having arrived in the area.
At this time, there was no electricity in the area so the church used carbide lights to light the church. Lester remembered the chemical tank outside the church that had a very acrid smell. In 1925, electricity finally came to the area and for the first time the church was lit by electric lights. Besides building the new church the colonists got busy constructing their small homes on their new land with the help of other Brethren. In the Fike family, there were 2 carpenters; John, the grandfather and his son Messmore. The two men along with help from other Brethren were able to build their home within a few months after arriving in the area. Messmore and his wife, Nettie, eventually had 10 children who were raised in this house.
The colonists farm land had been purchased sight unseen but soon they realized that some of the parcels were made up of beautiful river loam, however, many of them consisted of alkali soil. Eventually, over a period of time, the colonists sold or traded that alkali land for usable farm land.
Besides church on Sundays it was a day for friends and family to join together for dinner and visiting. As Lester Vaughn said, "It was usually 4 or 5 families joining together for dinner then the next week one of the other families would entertain 4 or 5 families. During these leisurely Sundays, the children would stage impromptu programs for the adults with some reading poems and others singing. Lester remembered one Sunday going to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Strole and it was the first time that he had ever seen a croquet game. He was mesmerized. He was also amazed that there were so many Oak Trees in the area and that there were hundreds of crows that fought over the acorns. He and the other children used the acorns as make believe horses and soldiers then sometimes as Cowboys and Indians.
The children of these colonist were soon attending either the Laguna Grammar School or Grant or Lillis Grammar Schools. A few children eventually ended up at the Laton Grammar School. The first classes at Laton Grammar School were held in the Lodge Hall (Odd Fellows Hall) until the Grammar School Building was completed in 1903, one year after the colonists arrived. Later many attended the Laton High School when it opened in the fall of 1907. A number of the earliest Laton High School graduates were part of the group who had emigrated from Kansas in 1902.
In 1906, Lester Vaughn began the first grade at the Laguna Grammar School. This is a photo of the school prior to a second floor that was added in 1916. At that same time, Teddy Roosevelt was the President but the headline news all over the country was the deadly earthquake in San Francisco. It was reported that the quake was so strong that the ground actually moved in Germany. The firefighters ran out of water very soon and the fireboats in the bay that were used to fight fires on boats where used to fight fires all along the embarcadero. Historians also wrote that there was a huge storage tank of wine that was drained to use fighting the fire.
In 1907, Rena Fike also began the first grade at Laguna Grammar School. There is a strong possibility that she is one of the girls on the horse in the photo above.
Lester entered Laton High School in the fall of 1913 as a freshman. He was a member of the 1915/16 Basketball Team of Laton High (Photo #20b of Lester and the team) and just about every other sport and club at the school. Lester is the 2nd from the left in the back row.
On the 4th of July in 1916, a fire that was caused by fireworks burned down 2 - 3 blocks of buildings on Main Street. It was referred to as Main Street at that time but is now known as Fowler Avenue. Lester remembered that he, his brother Owen and their sister Marilla had taken a horse and buggy to the event. They had secured the horse and buggy at the livery stables and walked down to the river area where they could watch the fireworks. In a short while he saw flames back in town and his immediate reaction was to save the horse. He raced to the livery stables and was able to get the horse and buggy away from the flames then secured them across the street near the railroad tracks. The Laton Hotel and many other structures were destroyed.
Lester graduated from Laton High School in 1917. He is the 2nd from the right in the front row. Rena Fike followed in the Class of 1918. (Photo #23 entire student body in 1918) This is a photo of the complete student body with the teachers in the front row. Rena is the first young woman in the second row sitting on the far left. Sometime during those few years together at Laton High, Lester and Rena fell in love and later married. According to a video made by Lester and his grandson in 1988, he told the story that they had secretly married without telling anyone and on the following Sunday they went to church unbeknownst to anyone that they were married. As was the custom at that time, Rena sat on one side of the church with the women and Lester on the other side with the men. We aren't sure when they finally told their families that they were married.
Sometime in the early 20s, Lester went to work at the First National Bank of Laton. One day, after the other cashier had left for lunch, Lester was in the back when he heard someone enter the bank and as he went out front, he saw a bandit pointing a six shooter at him. He and his compadres took all the money from the bank vault and then one with the bandits ordered Lester into the vault. They attempted to slam the vault door but as was the habit, Lester had locked the large locking bolts in the 'out' position which made them protrude so that the door couldn't accidentally close, locking anyone in. When the bandit slammed the door, the open bolts hit the vault frame causing it to bounce back and hit one of the bandits in the head. Lester said that he knew what was going to happen but didn't see any reason to warn them. Obviously, they were about as sharp as a bag of marbles. The robber was furious and instructed Lester to "fix it" so that they could close the door. Once it was unlocked, making it closeable, they put Lester in the vault where he stayed for about 40 minutes until the other cashier returned from lunch and heard him calling for help. Sometime later, Lester had a call from the Tulare Police Chief asking him if he could come down to Tulare and identify some men who were thought to be the bank robbers. It seems that they had used the bank's money to purchase a pool hall in Tulare so the Sheriff wanted Lester to dress shabby with a hat down over his eyes and go into the pool hall and order something to eat. Apparently, they arrested the bandits before they could complete the "sting" operation.
Lester and Rena built a home on Lewiston Avenue where Maxine was born in April 1921. In 1924 sister Beverly was born and in 1926, Barbara was born.
In 1927 after a summer of staying cool electricity finally came to the Laton area followed soon by telephones.
It was in the late 1920s that Lester and Chet Wilkinson bought the Laton Mercantile in Laton where he worked for the next few decades . This store was attached to the east side of the Bank and then wrapped around the back side of the bank in the shape of and "L". It's front door opening on DeWoody and the back door was accessible on Castro Street, behind the Bank.
Paul Dooley remembered his grandfather Lester telling him and his siblings about a local farmer who had rabbits and would come into the store every day and collect old vegetables for feeding to the rabbits, especially lettuce. Apparently, the fellow had a speech impediment and Lester would entertain the grand children by imitating the farmer with, "Wester, do you have any wettuce for my wabbits?" That would probably be considered socially incorrect but it certainly entertained the children.
It was 1928 when a very important event happened in Hanford. There was a new business that everyone grew to love ....the Superior Dairy.
It was lucky that there was a new bridge over the Kings River that made the trip to the Superior Dairy much easier than it had previously been. When the colonists arrived in the area, in order for them to get to Hanford, they had to take a wagon to the Kings River across from Kingston where there had once been a ferry crossing for the Butterfield Stage Coach, but now there was a wooden bridge that crossed the river. The only other bridge at that time was in Kingsburg. The wooden bridge had to be replaced at some point when a herd of about 300 cattle, being led across the bridge, broke through and about 100 of them fell into the river. There was no significant injuries to the cattle but it prompted the building of a new concrete bridge father to the east, closer to the railroad tracks.
In 1930 another Vaughn sister, Nona, was born.
In 1933 and 1934 the United States was still experiencing the worst years of the great depression. During that terrible time, the people in large towns suffered terribly compared to those like your family who were able to at least keep their families fed with the gardens and animals that they had available to them on the farm. Even in the extended Vaughn family, there were some who lost their homes and had to move in with Lester's family.
A year later in 1938, another Vaughn daughter, Joyce, was welcomed into the family.
During Maxine's high school years, she helped out in her Dad's store after school and on weekends. One time her parents traveled by train to Detroit to purchase a new Chevrolet and left Maxine in charge of the Mercantile. They must have been very proud and relieved that they could count on her to take care of the store while they were gone.
During this year, the Laton High School band members took a trip to San Francisco to see the World's Fair at Treasure Island The World Fair was also a time for California to celebrate the recently opened Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Travelers would no longer need to take a ferry to the North Bay or to cross the Bay to Oakland.
Also, during the fair, Nylon Stockings made their debut.
During that same year Gold fish swallowing was popular and the New York Times also predicted that the television would never be a success because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it.
It was during Maxine's Senior year that she and Glen Dooley started dating and in the spring of 1939, her class held their graduation exercises on the front lawn of the high school. This was a 'first' for Laton High School because prior to that time the graduation ceremonies were always held in the auditorium after its construction in the summer of 1916.
Women were becoming more independent and free spirited during this time in our history. Before the early and mid 1900s, women were technically not allowed to wear pants because it was a masculine item and they were looked down upon if they ever tried to wear them! It wasn't until around the time of WWII that women began wearing trousers but even then it was not widely accepted. One of the things that helped bring on a change in attire was that during the war, while the men were fighting the war in Europe, the women were producing the supplies needed for the war. Dresses and skirts did not offer enough protection for the women working in factories and women began wearing pants at work. It made it easier for them to move around and do their jobs but even then, pants were only acceptable in the workplace
Upon graduating from Laton High School in 1937, Glen Dooley had became a barber
and practiced in Hanford with his older brother, Bill, until World
War II began. In the later years Glen was an active member of the Laton Church of the
Brethren where he 'sat in the same pew for over 60 years'. He had been active in the
Laton High School District as a member of the Board of Directors and he was also very
active in the Laton Lions Club. In a conversation with his nephew, Tom Dooley, he
related a story about his Uncle Glen teaching him to drive a tractor when he was about
6-years old and Uncle Glen telling him to remember that the tractor could not turn on a
dime. He continued with "so don't ever try it because the tractor will tip over".
Tommy also shared that Uncle Glen always had a smile and for some reason it
reminded him of the sun coming up in the morning. He also told of his Uncle Glen's
sense of humor and that he was always joking. In 2010, Glen passed away leaving his
family with many wonderful memories.