by Donna Swagerty Shreve
O’Connor Hospital Visit
With the latest flu scare taking hold of our world, I felt it was time to remember stories from Harry Burton. I met with him in 1999 and took my tape recorder to make sure I wrote the story accurately. He had previously mentioned to his daughter Nancy that I went to people I thought were about to die to get their stories. I am sorry I upset him but I am grateful I did get my recordings as one’s memory can fade over time.
Harry had recently had surgery at the O’Connor hospital in San Jose and was asked to fill out a survey on his opinion on the care he had received from the hospital. On the form he mentioned an incident from a 1918 flu epidemic that he was involved in. His whole family had ended up at the hospital for treatment for the flu. One of the Catholic sisters from the hospital called Harry and wanted his whole detailed story about the flu epidemic from his viewpoint as a little kid. She wanted this story to put into the archives.
Harry’s father, mother, two brothers and sister all came down with the flu. There was no place to put Harry so the whole family drove to the hospital for treatment with Harry in tow. Harry was six or seven years old at the time. Harry spent a lot of his time following the sisters around the hospital as they gave treatment to the many ill who were overflowing into the hallways. Patients were lying in the halls waiting for treatment until another bed was available. Harry remembers taking unfinished food off of trays from the patients. He had a lot of freedom to roam around the hospital. He related to the sister, from the hospital, treatments he remembered and certain procedures he witnessed. The amazing part is that his family all recovered and Harry never got sick.
The Road to Mipitas
Harry was courting Elsie when the Swagerty family lived on the Standish ranch. Harry would drive out from San Jose in his father’s Model T Ford. The roads were very narrow and there were no street lights. The car’s lights were not very effective. Driving was hazardous under good conditions. Other times there was the fog and muddy roads. When Harry arrived at the ranch, there were so many things to do with the four brothers like hunting and getting into mischief. Elsie finally asked Harry if he was coming to visit her or her brothers! Then there was always the huge spread of food at every meal. Harry remembers how unusual breakfast seemed at the Swagerty house. Grandma (Pearl) started the meal with a big bowl of mush. This was followed by green beans or some vegetable for Grandpa, possibly pancakes or some other bread type food and then came the eggs. Harry was used to only one of these courses, except the vegetable for breakfast. He can still see an unbelievable huge bowl of mashed potatoes that disappeared with no trouble at an evening meal. It always looked like there was too much food on the table but it was never the case. I remember my mother, Melva, having similar impressions about the volume of food served at Pearl’s table.
Hunting At The Farm
One Thanksgiving, Harry and his family of Elsie, Dick, Tom and Nancy drove to Grandpa and Grandma’s farm early so the men could get in some time pheasant hunting before Thanksgiving dinner. As the car started up the road to the farm, Harry saw a pheasant. He quickly got his gun and shot it from out of the window. They continued up to the house and got ready to come back to this same field to hunt. The men lined up in a row and Harry volunteered to be on the far right. When Harry got close to the spot where he had shot the bird, he looked around to see if anyone was looking. Then he shot his gun into the air and then walked over to the spot where he had previously shot the pheasant and picked up the dead bird that had to have been dead for at least half an hour. What a shot!
Chickens Attack Nancy
Nancy was fascinated by chickens and would love to go out to watch them at the farm. She got into the chicken coup one day and the rooster attacked her. She still has a scar on the side of her nose.
Christmas Day At Grandma Aldrich
On Christmas Day the Elmer Swagerty clan, plus many more family members, would gather at Grandma’s Aldrich’s house for Christmas dinner. The Christmas Clem, Floyd, Harry and Web drove into Stockton to see a strip tease show on Wilson Way on the eastern side of Stockton. Once inside the building,Harry couldn’t believe the Swagerty guys could make so much noise. The guys were whopping and hollering with great abandon. Harry remembers slumping lower and lower in his seat as the show progressed. Something in the performance of one of the dancers prompted the boys from there after to say “Cheese and Crackers” to prompt to instant laughter. I never quite understood the exact reference but it was obviously a code word for something hilarious.
The guys was been away for several hours and they rushed back to I Hughson expecting punishment. When they drove up to the house, Elmer was outside pacing back and forth quite irritated. They now knew they were really in trouble because Elmer could have a real temper. Elmer was certainly angry but it had nothing to do with them. It seems Grandma Aldrich had insisted that everyone stop whatever they were doing inside the house and sit down and listen to a religious program that was on the radio. The boys had made it back just in time and were able to join back into the activities without anyone wanting to know they had been. This was not the only time Harry had been embarrassed by the Swagerty boys.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 