Suddenly Civilian

The family moved to San Diego in August 1958. Pondering his post-Navy career, Carl thought that real estate sounded interesting, so he took a night-class in real estate and became a licensed broker. But an agent warned Carl that living by commissions was tough and that Carl would be much better off with a salaried position, so Carl decided he would focus on finding a regular job.

Carl retired from the Navy on March 1, 1959. There was no ceremony or party; Carl just handed in his papers, picked up his briefcase and left the office. Carl was disappointed, but attributed the lack of ceremony to the fact that his commanding officer was a humorless and impersonal man. Carl and Lorraine went out for a congratulatory dinner and Carl felt both relieved and nervous about leaving the Navy.

Carl looked for a job in San Diego for 3 months. He interviewed with defense companies like Hughs and Convair, but since San Diego was so saturated with retired military, finding a job was difficult. Carl even tried selling cars, be he didn’t like the work and only lasted a week. Carl finally decided to look for a job in LA.

Lorraine’s sister, Dolores had a boyfriend, Ed Lattner, who got Carl got a job at the Organ Center on Wilshire. Carl worked as a sales and stock person for organs and pianos. It wasn’t a job that Carl relished, but it was enough to move the family up to the LA area. Carl and Lorraine rented a house on Arlington Ave in Torrance.

Carl went to the State Employment Office to see what jobs were available. The interviewer told Carl that he was qualified to be working for the Employment Office and he encouraged Carl to take the state test, which he did. There was nothing available at the time, so Carl was put on the waiting list.

Meanwhile, Lorraine’s cousin, Mickey D’Onofrio, told Carl that the Torrance Fire Dept was looking for a dispatcher, so Carl interviewed and got the job. The rotating day and night shift was difficult, so Carl was glad when the Employment Office called and said they wanted to hire him in the Torrance office. Carl’s pay was less than half of what he was making in the Navy, but he was glad to have the job. Within a year, Carl had become a Supervisor.

In 1960, the family bought a house at 1609 Post in Torrance. That same year, Mark started 1^st grade at Nativity Catholic School and Jim graduated from Torrance High School. Sitting in the audience at Jim’s graduation, Carl looked around at all the young fathers and remarked on how old he felt (he was 55). Lorraine didn’t miss a beat when she said “wait until you go to Mark’s graduation… in 12 years!”

Jim immediately enlisted in the Air Force after high school. He attended basic training in San Antonio, Texas and was eventually transferred to Wakkanai, Japan. Carl and Lorraine wanted a bigger house, so they bought a newly-built home on 230^th Place in Torrance. In 1964 Jim finished the Air Force and lived at home for a time while starting his new career as a disc jockey. Within a few months, he moved to a new job in Butte, Montana.

Carl and Lorraine decided that they would rather live in Long Beach and in Sept 1965 they bought a house at 3511 Marna. Carl traveled back and forth to work at the Torrance employment office for a year and then transferred to the Long Beach office. The same year, Mark entered junior high, which was his first exposure to public education.

Nearly every summer in the early 1960s, the family would take a car trip back east to visit Little Rock to see Carl’s family or St. Paul to visit Lorraine’s family.

In 1966 the family took a memorable 3-week trip down South. After visiting Carl’s mother and Casey in Little Rock, the family visited New Orleans and then looked up a distant relative who lived on the bayou near Mobile, Alabama. They drove down to Pensacola to visit Carl’s old boss, Commander Crosley, then headed up to Kansas to see Casey’s daughter Ann and her family.

The trip back across the country took them through the scenic wonders of the Rocky Mountains and the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. One of Carl’s favorite stories was how Mark, in his eagerness to go swimming, jumped into the motel pool without checking the temperature. The water was so cold, that Mark shot out of the pool in a split-second. Mark swore he felt the ice break when he jumped in.

Later that year, Carl’s father passed away and the family went back to Little Rock for the funeral. The following year, his mother passed away and Carl drove back to Little Rock with his cousin Lloyd to attend the funeral. Carl had often visited his parents, so he felt there was nothing left unsaid and no regrets. He admired the fact that he never saw his parents argue. The fatherly advice that Carl remembers most was that Roy often told Carl to get a job with a pension. For all the years that Roy worked at the streetcar company, he didn’t get much of a pension and money was tight in his retirement.

In the mid-60s, Mark had the opportunity of spending several summer vacations on Johnny Keys’ ranch near Joshua Tree, California. Johnny and his wife Adda were among the first settlers in the area in the early part of the 1900s and were very colorful characters. Carl’s cousin, Leo, sent his boy Darryl to work on their ranch and Carl and Lorraine thought that Mark would enjoy it too. The families would drop the boys off and Carl and Leo loved wearing their wide-brim hats and being cowboys for the day. Carl, Leo and the boys got a big kick out of riding horses and listening to Johnny tell his tales of the Old West. Johnny had stories about Gene Autry and all the Western movies that had been filmed on Johnny’s ranch in the ‘40s.

In 1969, after visiting Little Rock, the family drove up to St Paul and Chicago to visit Lorraine’s family. The trip continued east to Albany, New York to visit Jim and his new wife Linda. Jim tried to interview his brother on his radio show, but Mark was shy and Jim had to do most of the talking.