Dad

A brief view of my father’s life…from my imperfect memory. Part One

I never knew much about Dad’s early life in Minnesota, but one of the things that I do remember him talking about, was the weather. He said he would never go back to live there. He said the winters in Duluth were brutal; and as far I know, he only returned once, just for a brief visit. (The next photo shows Dad and Jay in Duluth...in the summer!)

I do know that Nana, (his mother) his sister Jay and his father, William Bernie came to San Francisco in the 1920’s. And that was where they were abandoned. According to the very vague stories I heard, Grandfather Dunn, said something like, “I need to find some work…I’ll be back” and then disappeared, leaving Nana to raise her two children all by herself. He was heard from much later, but that's another story...

One of the memories I have is of the time when Dad told me that he would sometimes steal food (vegetables) from vendor’s carts on Market Street in San Francisco. He wasn’t bragging about it, he was simply telling me how life was then. This was in the late 1920's and early 1930’s; and the Great Depression was in full swing. He said that he would tell his mother that the food was given to him. He was 14 or 15 years old.

That story effected me greatly. More later…