Helen didn't even know she had a Grandpa Thompson until she was about fourteen years old, as he and Helen's grandmother had split up (probably somewhere around 1910) years before Helen was born, and both Thompson and his first wife had remarried; in fact, Thompson remarried twice (unless he wasn't married to the mother of his son Joe). To Helen, her grandfather on that side of the family was "Grandpa Couron" (her grandmother's second husband's name). However, she had apparently been around her "other" grandpa (Thompson) before she knew who he was.

An odd thing about this situation is that Grandpa Thompson, although he had two wives after his first, was at least every now and then somewhat close to his first wife's family (though not to her - she was living in another state with her second husband). But of course he had three children by that first marriage, all of whom had "Thompson" for their last name. Still, a man who leaves his wife and very young children is usually a persona non grata in the family of his former wife. Our family, however, is quite pragmatic - and also most members of our family of that era that we have known had a good sense of humor. They made the best of things, got on with life, and later got a laugh out of some things that must have been pretty ugly when they happened. Following the split-up, James Thompson's first wife was soon (in 1912) happily married to a man, N. A. Couron, who was a good father to her children (and their own child, born in 1917) and became a good grandfather to her grandchildren, so we can assume that she felt no need to seek revenge on her first husband, who walked out on her and the kids - perhaps she felt lucky, not to mention she wasn't a flame-throwing type of person (though she was a strong one).

And so, somehow, James Thompson and his son-in-law, Helen's father, ended up working together occasionally when it was hard to find a job, during the years of the Great Depression (which started in 1929 and went on through to the end of the thirties).

Helen's family moved out to San Diego and returned to Iowa three times before their last trip out to California, when they stayed. During the last time they were back in Iowa, when they were living on a farm outside of Farnhamville (in about 1932), Helen's father, who was a carpenter (as well as a laborer able to do many different jobs), worked on some jobs with his father-in-law James Thompson, who was a roofer ("He had a little trailer with some kind of pot in it that he boiled the tar in"). Helen's father told about how, when Grandpa provided lunch for his crew, he gave them canned tomatoes and said that with salt on them they were part of their supper, and with sugar, they were the dessert.

While Helen was staying with her grandparents in Fort Dodge during the spring semester of 1932 to finish up the year at Sacred Heart Catholic School, her youngest sister was born on the farm, in May. Communication not being what it is today, Helen wasn't aware that her "real" grandfather (James Thompson) and his wife Clara (they were married in 1928) had gone out to the farm to help his daughter (Helen's mother) when her baby arrived (babies were born at home back then). As mentioned above, Helen didn't even know she had "another grandpa" besides Grandpa Regan and Grandpa Couron.

Later, Helen's family went to visit the Thompsons at their home in Webster City, and that's when she became aware of the relationship. "I was not interested in meeting this unknown grandpa and didn't want to go there - but my dad said I had to come with them, so we all went to visit anyway." Helen remembers meeting Thompson's stepdaughter and also his son, Joe (by his second wife), who lived with Grandpa and Clara. "Joe and I got along fine - probably as I was such a tomboy and he wasn't too much older than me." Most of all, though, she remembers Thompson's wife Clara. "In spite of going to meet them under protest, I liked them once I got to know them."

Either at that visit, or later, Helen was left in Webster City, to spend what may have been a few weeks or a month or so with Grandpa Thompson and Clara. She was about fourteen or fifteen years old. She has more memories from that visit of Clara doing housework, and very thorough housework, indeed. Her lasting impression was: "She's a good worker."

Helen remembers Clara washing clothes. Joe was there at that time. He was a few years older than Helen, and worked with his father at roofing. He had a white sweater that had a big glob of tar or oil or something else evil-looking and black on it. Clara put kerosene on it, rubbed it in, and tossed it in the washing machine. It came out looking perfect.

Helen has no idea of what the Thompsons' house looked like. She remembers part of the living room, and the porch ...The porch must have been in the back. The washing machine was on the porch. The kitchen she remembers a little bit.

When Clara washed dishes, she'd take the perches out of the bird cage and wash them in the dish water after the dishes were done, which was very unappetizing to Helen.

Clara was good at ironing. The handkerchiefs she pressed looked like they were brand new.

It was in Webster City while staying with the Thompsons that Helen fell from a swing in the park. They had gone to a band concert in the park, probably on a Saturday night. Helen was standing up on a swing and went higher and higher and higher, until she reached even with the top, and then went higher still. It was then that gravity took over and the swing no longer went up but collapsed beneath her feet. Her hands, holding onto the chains, were sweaty and could not hold on, and her feet slid out and down she went, landing on her back at her shoulders. Although it hurt her, a lot, she was too embarrassed to acknowledge what she'd done. She got up by herself and got into the back seat of Grandpa Thompson's car and pushed with her feet so that her back was pushed up against the back of the hard seat, to try to get some relief from the pain. She says it hurt badly for weeks after that, but she never told anyone about it. It wasn't until several decades later that a doctor's assistant noticed that she had damaged some of her vertabrae at the place on her back where she hit ground so long before.

This is the same park where Helen fell off the swing. You can see the bandstand in the background.

Although Helen's family moved to Webster City for a while in about 1934, where Helen got her first job, she doesn't recall ever seeing Grandpa Thompson again, though he still lived there. She did later find out that Thompson had made a comment to her father about her job, though, saying that she should hand her wages over to her father. "It made my dad mad for he knew what I was doing with my money, to have grandpa tell him that. Dad felt like Grandpa Thompson was such a tightwad, paying him such low pay, even figuring in the cost of his food when they were away on a job. If anything he should have been paying him higher wages rather than telling him I should hand over my last few cents."

"I was candling eggs in the Co-op. 10 hour days, and half time on Saturdays. Being new on the job and afraid I might make a mistake on the weight of each egg - along with its condition that I had to determine while holding it in front of the light, it took me longer than the other women to candle each egg. We were being paid "piece work," and my pay was very low. The most I ever made was one week when I made a few cents over $5. I bought my lunch at the restaurant and I think the sandwiches were 15 cents. I bought some clothes I needed to work there and shoes for myself and for Lorraine (shoes were about $2 a pair.) I only worked there for a few weeks when we left once again for San Diego."

In 1934, after Grandma Regan died, Helen's family moved out to San Diego again, this time to stay. "To get money enough for the trip, an auction was held and everything the folks had was sold."

This page was last worked on on July 9, 2009.

PAGE LIST FOR JOHN AND
LUANNA THOMPSON AND FAMILY

Luanna (Ebright) Thompson

John S. Thompson

James S. Thompson

The Children of John and Louanna Thompson

Lyon County, Iowa

...OUR IOWA FAMILY
...Introduction
...Table of Contents
...Links to All Maps
...Questions & Answers