When I was just a wee little pup in Michigan, I remember by mother pulling me by my ear toward home. My mother would sleep in late and I would get up early to go out to play. When she awoke she would search for me until she was exasperated and when she found me would pull me home by my ear.
I remember the fancy birthday cakes my mother would make and decorate. I had a Fred Flintstone cake, an army fort cake, and another time I had an Indian Village cake. She always made our parties bigger than life, and games seemed to last forever. Some of the games were finding nickels and dimes in large vats of flour by moving the flour with your nose or blowing it around the vat. It was exciting because to find the coins made us feel rich when we were little kids.
One of the neighborhood rituals during the hot Michigan summers were the firemen would open up the fire hydrants and then plug up the storm drains. The neighborhood children would run in and out of the spraying water and some would bring rafts and inner tubes to play in the temporary "pool" in the middle of the street. Sometimes mother would run dangle her feet in the water.
One summer my father brought home a baby blue Cadillac convertible. He bought it to show people that he would be somebody someday. My mother told him he did not need it for that because he already was somebody. He was a Master Sergeant in the US Army as a guided missile and radar technician.
One day my mother came home from the beauty shop as a blonde with a Rhonda Fleming/Rita Hayward hairstyle. Ronnie ran around ranting that if he had wanted a blonde wife he would have married one. He made quite a fuss. He dragged mother to several of the neighbors houses, the Hesses, the VanBuskirks, the Rosses, and others to show them what she had done. After a few days however it became evident that he was pleased with her new hairstyle and they began to go out together on dates. Around six months later, mother decided she was tired of being a blonde and dyed her hair red. Ronnie had a royal fit. He sulked for a long time. The dating ended.
Since we were so poor because Ronnie was so often stationed for months at a time in other states and countries and sent us only $179. per month, mother always found ways to make extra income. She decided to begin a telephone book delivery service. Our basement became a storage area for the old and new phone books and we used the books to make forts for the neighborhood kids and ourselves. Mom would also get the neighborhood kids to help us deliver the books. When they were finished she would put on a big party for the kids that helped us. The neighborhood looked forward to these parties.
At one time mother worked at a woman's clothing store in a new mall. Mom would take us with her and we had to stay out in the mall while she worked. I remember there was a glass elevator and a huge goose with a golden egg that we would climb and play on.
My father's family of Italians (Ferrara) and Germans (Tessmer and Vollmer) were always feuding. I know they caused our family a lot of trouble and were partly responsible for a lot of depression and health problems mother suffered around 1959 to 1967. But I remember my Uncle Karl Vollmer and how kind and patient he was. He would always play checkers with me and in his basement he had a fantastic train and village setup that he worked on year round. It was quite elaborate and he kept it real nice and was adding new things to it all the time. We had to be real polite and clean when we went to Aunt Helen and Uncle Karl's house. Aunt Helen would give us shiny quarters if we would kneel in front of her and kiss her hand.
Mother had us involved in "The Storytellers League" in Michigan with her friend Shirley Thomas. Mom could tell stories that would keep you on the edge of your chair. When she told stories of her childhood you did not want her to stop. They were so interesting, so neat. I think mother was carrying on the tradition of grandmother Angela when she would tell stories in Dublan to the neighborhood kids. For example, if we told you we went to the store to get an apple Mother's story would go like this…"I went on an adventure seeking the most perfect apple, ruby in color, flavor to rival the nectars of Athens." You can see the difference between going to the store to get an apple and Mother's story of getting an apple.
One is a chore the other is an adventure.
Mother taught us that through hard times, if one colors a story it helps make the hard times seem less gloomy. There was a chest of drawers she bought for us, it had a carving and a saying on the door, "Two men look through the same bars, one sees the mud, the other the stars."
Mother had many talents but she did not like to cook very much, when she did cook it was delicious. While living in Michigan most of the time we lived on various colors and textures of cake decorating frosting that she kept in Tupperware dishes in the refrigerator. She did can wonderful fruits and vegetables and jams and jellies from what we helped pick at the farmers fields.
I remember in Detroit at a church fiesta, she was wearing her red with white polka dots dress with white ball fringe. When she entered the stage you could tell that she commanded attention like royalty. Her demeanor showed she was not aware of the attention and high regard with which she was viewed. Mother sang "El Rancho Grande" and other Mexican songs. The audience was in awe of her voice and her stage presence. Her voice was beautiful and strong in those days.
One of our family excursions included going to Boblo Island [at 4401 West Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan. Boblo's original name was Etiowiteedannenti (a name from the Huron Indians who once lived there). The French later occupied the island, calling it BOis Blanc (for the "White Wood" of the trees that stood there). In 1898, the island was opened up as a recreational destination (as a picnic and park area) and visitors began to call it "Boblo Island" - the name was officially adopted in 1929.] I remember looking over the side of the old paddlewheel boat at how close the water was to the deck. My sister Lucy bought me my first pocket knife that had a checkerboard orange and black handle. I still have that knife but the paint is gone.
Not very far off Telegraph and Uncle Karl Vollmer's house there was a park that had ponies to ride. I remember wearing my large sombrero, that my mother had bought for me, and a sweater as I rode around the track on a pony. People said I looked like Pancho Villa back then but if you look at the picture today I looked like Grandpa Orson.
Another place our family liked to visit was Camp Dearborn. [Established in 1948. It offered a wide range of recreational venues, including a half-mile of sandy beach which we thought looked a lot bigger, also athletic fields and tennis courts, shaded picnic areas, six swimming and fishing lakes, a concession stand, miniature golf course, 27-hole championship golf course and family-oriented camping facilities (Milford office)] I remember learning to swim there from the beach to a floating dock out near the center of one of the Camp Dearborn lakes. Lucy nearly drowned there when Ronnie threw her in and told her to swim. Another man rescued her when she couldn't swim and was exhausted and sinking.
Sometimes Mother would accessorize our play with just a few things. For example she would use the cotton from the jewelry boxes (when she sold jewelry) to make us up like hillbillies with long cotton beards, sideburns, and eyebrows.
The area we lived in had very few Mormons. Our Stake center was in Livonia which I remember seemed to take hours to reach by car. Mother would pack a lunch and blankets for Stake Conference. We had to leave real early in the morning. Our Stake President was George Romney. My sister Lucy worked on two of his political campaigns as a member of the Young Republicans when he was governor of Michigan. We have a newspaper picture of Governor Romney holding my brother David when he was an infant. I think George Romney was a second or third cousin of mother.
My first bout with grand theft auto in 1964. This occurred when mother had a friend come over driving a small MG car with the keys left in the ignition. My father had allowed me to sit on his lap while driving his VW Beetle, at such an age (I was six) knowing the ins and outs of automobiles, and knowing that cars would be something I would be driving all my life, I proceeded to climb into the driver's seat and turn the key on, which caused the car to lunge forward because it had been left in gear. The car proceeded down the street with me at the wheel without a care in the world. When the neighbors saw me they screamed and chased me trying to stop the car. And I have been driving ever since.
Mother was also a Cub Scout leader. George was big time into Scouting. She made for him a large feather headdress, chaps, vest and breach cloth made out of chamois leather, real feathers and beads. It was the best one in the Stake. When it was my turn to have one made it was out of burlap, it was nice though.
When we lived in El Paso mother could really stretch a dollar until the ink fell off. She was always well dressed and never left the house without being fully and nicely outfitted, makeup and hair fixed. When she needed a fancy dress she would look through magazines to find the latest fashionable styles then she would take the picture to Juarez, Mexico to have the dress made for her for a very low price.
After her divorce from dad and her move to El Paso mother dated quite a bit. The men she dated were all top officers and pilots from the US military and the Turkish and Greek military or men with money. The only man she dated that did not have much money was an inventor that was really, really intelligent.
I remember going with mom to Waco Tanks and her group of Ally Students from several countries. Mom liked to have a good time and help people enjoy themselves.
When mother worked as the Director of the El Paso Nutrition and Senior Citizen Center she was very much loved by "her little people". They all adored her and it gave her a good outlet for her talent to give parties, organize activities, and finagle discounts and deals on their behalf. When she died busloads of them attended her funeral. The chapel was full and the curtains to the cultural hall had to be opened to accommodate the crowds. Some had to stand in the hallways. Then they all reloaded into the buses and went to the cemetery for the graveside service. The cemetery never saw such a crowd.
Around 1975 my mother became reacquainted with her first husband Everardo Navas. She took a trip to Mexico City and he showed her a good time. They became good friends again. I don't think that Everardo ever forgot my mother and that he always regretted their divorce. The way I hear it there was a lot of jealousy, gossip and innuendo that led my mother to seek a divorce. Everardo was a very popular student and teacher but he was away from home a lot. Mother was lonely and wanted to live closer to where he was working and studying. When Everardo was voted something like "Best man on campus" or "king of some fiesta" my mother found this to be an intolerable situation since there was also a "queen of this fiesta" and it was not mother. Mother had been relegated to raising two little girls a long way from her popular husband. Mother liked to be the life of the party and she was not getting the attention she needed and deserved. One thing led to another and before Everardo had a chance to explain things to Mother had moved to Dublan where she helped her mother sell her farm, and along with Aunt Mary, they moved to El Paso. In a way this was a good thing because if all this hadn't happened then I would not be here telling this story.
Mother had many talents in regard to knitting, sewing, crocheting, cooking, and decorating. Mother would make beautiful wedding cakes for her friends children and for other people who would pay her. One of her great skills was in the making of sugar shell Easter eggs decorated with egg white/cream of tartar frosting that were hollowed out with detailed Easter and bunny scenes inside. Many people received them and they kept for years.
Another talent mother had was with ceramics. She greatly enjoyed making plates, nativity sets, vases, characters and various other items. Many people in El Paso are the recipients of these items. I have a small set. I think George has the large nativity set that we made with jewels and many colors, it was a really big set. We worked on that set for months together as a family project, mother and her three sons, it was really gorgeous. Mother's grandchildren still have items she made and sent to them.
This is a work in progress. I will try to remember more things about my mother, Bertha Brown Navas Ferrara, and write them down.
Sources:
PAF - Archer files = Orson Pratt Brown + Angela Gabaldon > Bertha E. Brown Navas + George Ronald Ferrara II > Jeffrey Michael Ferrara.
Contributed by Jeffrey Michael Ferrara
ORSON PRATT BROWN WEBSITE HOMEPAGE
