Manuel and Anna Avila (my parents)
The livery, then Avila's Garage, 1912–1953. My father died in 1951 and is on the ridge. My
mother closed the garage in 1953 and came to live with Bob and me in Modesto until she died in 1966.
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Frank and Vivian Llewellyn
The general store and post office, third generation. Vivian was the postmistress. They went up to
Sonora and opened a hardware store, which their son still runs.
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Mary Rosa
Widow, ran the boarding house in the old hotel for thirty years. Went to live with her daughter in
Sacramento. She lived to ninety-six and complained about the cooking the whole time.
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Frank and Anne Mercer
Mercer's, after Frank's father. Frank went to Stockton and tended bar there until he retired. He
was the one who opened up for the last Fourth of July.
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Hannah Partain
Our schoolteacher, 1925–1954. Retired to Stockton with her sister. She is on the ridge with
us now, at her own request.
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Arthur Medeiros
Dairy, on the flat below town. Moved the whole herd down to Turlock in 1953 and did very well. His
grandsons milk four hundred cows.
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George Fagundes
Cattle, up the north fork, the biggest ranch in the township. Most of his land was above the water,
and the family is still up there.
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Daniel Mello
The blacksmith next to my father's livery, who turned welder when the horses went. Opened a welding
shop in Modesto that is still on the same corner.
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George Leal
Peach orchard along the river. Bought a new orchard near Merced and grew peaches for the cannery I
worked at. I used to see his name on the receiving slips.
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Bernard Oliveira
County road crew, thirty years. Moved to Oakdale and kept working for the county.
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Helen Correia
Festa queen in 1933, two years before me, and my dearest friend. She married and moved to Hayward
before the war. We talk on the telephone every Sunday.
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Marie Pacheco
Delivered half the babies in Laurel Bar, me included, before there was a doctor any closer than the
valley. She died in 1949 and was moved to the ridge in 1954.
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Robert Pires
Ran the festa committee for twenty years and kept the crown in his front room the rest of the year.
Went to San Jose. The crown went to the Holy Ghost society in a valley town, where it is still used.
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Edith Costa
Played the organ at the church every other Sunday and the piano at the hotel every Saturday, and
saw nothing wrong with that. Went to Modesto, near me.
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Patrick Andrade
Worked at my father's garage for twelve years. Went to Fresno and opened his own. My father was
prouder of that than of anything.
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Owen and Ida Palmatier
Walnuts and chickens. Went to Ceres. Ida's egg money paid for her son's college.
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George and Marjorie Mattison
He was a lineman for the power company and she kept the town's only telephone switchboard in her
front room until 1948. Went to Sacramento.
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Henry and Valeria Gardiner
An old mining family, the last people in Laurel Bar who still panned the river on weekends,
for fun. Went to Grass Valley, where there was still mining country.
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Edmund and June Hartline
Sheep. Went to Nevada, and we lost track of them. If you know, please write.
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Howard and Dorothy Stackhouse
Sawmill up the creek. Went to Oregon when the timber was cut. Their daughter wrote to me in July
from Eugene.
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Roy and Hazel Newland
Roy drove the school bus to the high school, every day for twenty-two years, and never once went in
a ditch. Went to Modesto.
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Francis and Mavis Ritchie
The youngest couple in town at the end, with three little ones. They took the government's offer
first, in 1952, and went to Los Angeles. Francis said somebody had to go first.
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Curtis and Agnes Roche
Pears and a big vegetable garden. They were the last family to leave, in January of 1955, with the
water already in the lower orchards. Went to Manteca.
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