1929

Our mother, Nyla Maxine Booth (Moore) was born in Hiawatha, Kansas on January 26, 1924.  She lived with her parents, James Orval Booth (1902-1955) and Marian Margaret Pfister (Booth) in the space above the restaurant of their Aunt Ida's restaurant (across the street from the Piggly Wiggly market).  Her mother worked in the restaurant while her father worked as a civilian cook for the army.  The family lived in Kansas through the Great Depression but did not own a car until 1936 when they drove to California with her older brother (James Orval Booth, Jr.) and her younger sister, Alice Booth (Coon).  Their father initially went to work with his brother Glenn as an advance person for the Ringling Brothers Circus.  They lived in Hollywood near a movie studio.  Our mother graduated from John Marshall High School in 1941.  Her father eventually went to work for Richfield Oil Corporation at the Marathon Petroleum Co., Carson Refinery; and the family moved to Bellflower, California in the 1950s. 

I once asked my mother what her family did for Christmas in Kansas.  She said that they would have a big family dinner in Hiawatha.  They did not have money for gifts and decorations.  Instead, the children would have their stockings filled with fruit and nuts.  [JAM 2/19/2021]