Roger's Scrapbook
(Some of the photos displayed here may be interactive.)
George Eugene "Gene" Hill (1911-1996)
Chapter 1. From Birth to age 55.
Her Parents.
Baby Gene, born 17 Dec 1911.
Gene circa 1914.
Gene circa 1916.
With sister, Mary Lucille Hill, born 17 Sep 1914.
Gene at his First Communion. Circa 1919.
Gene with his family in San Bernardino, CA, circa 1922.
L to R: Gene, mother Ida, sister Mary Lucille, Hill, cousin Mary Helen, Grandmother Margaret, cousin Donna, Kohlhaas.
Gene with mother Ida and sister Lucille circa 1927.
Gene circa 1930. Right out of High School.
Gene's first job: driving a gasoline truck for Signal Oil. Circa 1930.
Gene at about 20 years of age: at about the time he met Alice.
Gene and Alice circa 1932.
Gene at 21. Filthy white corduroy pants were all the rage in San Bernardino in 1933!
Alice and Gene at the beach summer 1932.
Alice and Gene were married at St Francis de Sales church in Riverside on August 15, 1933.
George Eugene and Alice Marie Hill. August 15, 1933. Riverside, CA.
The wedding breakfast was held at Alice's Aunt Rosie's house in Riverside.
Gene's Best Man was his friend Stan McDonald and Alice's Maid of Honor was Eva Celce. (Eva and Stan got married 3 years later.)
Aunt Rosie's house on 8th St, Riverside (near the present day intersection of University and Chicago Avenues).
At the wedding breakfast.
Gene with his new family, the Greeks of Riverside.
Gene with his sister, Lucille.
Gene and best man Stan.
Alice and Gene went for their honeymoon to Big Bear Lake, a resort community in the San Bernardino mountains, about 50 miles from Riverside. They stayed in a cabin loaned to them by Alice's friend Billie, Little Bear Cottage. After buying their groceries they had only about $5 left: it doesn't look like that worried them at all.
Big Bear Lake August 16, 1933.
Little Bear Cottage.
Alice and Gene moved into their first apartment at the Kendall-Arms in San Bernardino at 214 Kendall Ave.
At the time Gene was working as a gasoline truck driver for the Signal Oil Co. He was paid $90 a month and had to polish his own truck on his own time. (Life before unions.)
Gene still on the job 1n 1933. He is on the right.
Gene, summer 1935.
Alice was 3 months pregnant when these pictures were taken.
Sometime between 1933 and 1936, Alice and Gene moved to a house on Colton Avenue, just east of Mt Vernon Ave in Colton/San Bernardino.
The house at 1118 Colton Ave where their first child (me) was born.
And then there were three.
A true California boy: early at the wheel.
Sometime between 1936 and 1937, Alice and Gene moved to 48 Eureka Street in San Bernardino. On Gene's 25th birthday, his second son, Richard Sheridan Hill, was born, 17 Dec 1937.
Alice holding Rich with Gene and Roger. Early 1938.
The Great Depression was in full swing and Gene had lost his job with Signal Oil. During 1938 he worked for the California Democratic Party on the campaign of Culbert Olson who was elected Governor in November, 1938.
Alice and Gene with their boys, Richard and Roger, 1938.
In 1939 Gene worked briefly for the US Census as a clerk and then in June, 1939, got a job as a Fireman on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, working out of San Bernardino. At the time, Gene's father and uncle were both railroad men. His uncle, George Kohlass, was a Conductor on the AT&SF, also working out of San Bernardino, and his father, Frank B. Hill, was an Engineer on the New York Central Railroad back in Illinois. Gene's employment on the AT&SF was sporadic: with several months of employment being followed by months of enforced (unpaid) leave due to a "Reduction in Force".
Gene (2nd from left) with some of the men he took his Railroad Fireman's exam with.
Gene, Alice, Roger (L) and Richard (R) Hill. December 16, 1939.
On 23 Sep 1940, Gene became a father to twin sons, James Allen and John Robert Hill.
Jim (L) and John (R) December, 1940.
And then there were six.
Jim (L) and John (R) on a visit to Uncle George and Aunt Ann Kohlhass' house at 1237 Michael Street in San Bernardino.
Alice (holding John) with Gene's mother, Ida Ellen Hill, (holding Jim). Rich (L) and Roger are standing in front. Dec, 1940.
Gene (L) with some of his fellow railroadmen at the Southern Pacific Roundhouse, Colton, CA.
Gene and Alice with their boys in the front yard at 48 Eureka Street, San Bernardino, in Feb, 1941.
L to R: Rich, Jim, John, Roger.
In the spring of 1941 Gene and Alice moved to 2708 Moss Avenue in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Working out of the busy rail yards of Los Angeles, Gene now had the opportunity of steadier employment and prospects of a rapid promotion to Locomotive Engineer.
Gene with Alice and her family at a Greek family gathering at 3351 Kansas Ave in Riverside, early 1942.
L to R: Gene, Ray and Virginia, Bill, Verda, Clarence, Sr Colette, Mayme, Claude, and Rolly. In front: Roger, Richard, Jim, Alice, John, and Jack Greek.
By now World War II was, of course, raging in Europe and the Pacific. Gene, having 4 children and an essential occupation as a Railroad Engineer, was not subject to the draft. But all of Alice's brother, except for Jack - who was too young- were in the US Navy. The war was very real to our family. There were barrage balloons flying above the palm trees lining W Ave 32 behind our house. Japanese submarines had shelled one of the beaches in So California. Gene was an Air Raid Warden and there were buckets of sand in the basement in case of an incendiary bombing. Everything, it seemed, was rationed and there were special stickers on our car that let Gene buy the gasoline that he needed to get to work. We saved tin, lead and bacon grease for the war effort and I got my picture in the paper for collecting more than a ton of newspapers from around our neighborhood. All of us boys in the neighborhood played war games.
Our home in Los Angeles at 2708 Moss Avenue, Christmas 1943.
That's Johnny coming down the driveway. I'm standing at the end of the driveway with my pant leg rolled up having just come from a bike ride. That's probably Rich standing by the curb. The boy on the bike is most likely Eddie Bagne, a neighborhood pal with whom I shared many wargames and biking adventures.
Alice with brother Jack on his 16th birthday, 2708 Moss Ave., Los Angeles, 11 May 1944.
In front (L to R:): Roger, Rich, and below, John, and Jim
Alice and Jack's parents, Mayme and Claude Greek, were both both in very poor health at this time. So Gene and Alice took Jack under their wing and my brothers and I came to live with an uncle who was more like an older brother to us.
Three months after this picture was taken Grandma Mayme died in Riverside at the age of 64 and in less than a year later Grandpa Claude died at the age of 59.
Gene and Alice with sons Roger (L) and Richard, 25 Jun 1944, Los Angeles.
Gene and Alice in Los Angeles, 10 Dec 1944.
Alice wrote on the back:"Feeling just a wee bit silly."
On 12 Apr 1945, President Roosevelt died and 16 days later Grandpa Claude Greek died in Riverside. And 10 days after that, on 8 May 1945, VE day, the war in Europe ended. I don't remember much about Grandpa Greek's death, but I remember well my parent's tears at FDR's passing and the celebrations in our neighborhood streets on VE Day.
A few months later, it was all over. My uncles had all survived and big changes were in the air.
In 1935 the US Department of Agriculture published a Handbook of Small Farm Management called Five Acres and Independence, written by M. G. Kains. The book, reprinted in 1940 (and again in 1973) without the USDA atmospherics, has inspired many in the back-to-the-land movement ever since. The book captured Gene's imagination. The idea that you could gain financial independence by working a five acre farm was very appealing to his independent and romantic nature. Alice's parents were gone leaving only Uncle Mont, an eccentric character living off the grid in rural Riverside County, and her beloved Aunt Mabel.
Aunt Mabel and Uncle Roy had moved in the late 30's to a beautiful farm along side the Mohawk River not far from Springfield, Oregon. So, soon after the war (and rationing) was over, Gene, Alice, Jack and the boys packed some of their belongings into a little green tow trailer and hit the road for Oregon and a new life on a 20 acre farm on Camp Creek Road outside of Springfield just over the hill from Roy and Mable's Silver Creek Ranch.
Alice and Gene shortly after arrival in Oregon.
The little green trailer.
Farmer Gene gets to work.
Gene with Richard (L) and Roger, 1946.
Gene with his sons, Roger (L), Richard in back. In front Jim (L) and John. 1946.
Gene with Alice and Jack at the farm on Camp Creek Road, Springfield, Oregon, Aug 1946.
Gene and Alice with their boys at the farm, Oregon, Aug, 1946. L to R: Rich, John, Jim, and Roger.
Our home on Camp Creek Road, Springfield, Oregon, after some sprucing up (Oct 1946).
I believe I have located the house on Camp Creek Road using Google Earth. The original house is long gone but a new house has been built at the same location with the present address of 36245 Camp Creek Road, Springfiled, OR. You can have a look around the old homestead by searching Google Earth with the coordinates: 44 04' 28.81"N 122 55' 38.44"W.
Jack and Gene at our farm on Camp Creek Road, Springfield, Oregon, Nov 1946.
Jack and Gene with the deer they shot on the hill behind our farm in Oregon in 1946.
In order to suplement the family income, Gene took a job in Springfield, OR, working as a Steam Engineer in what the locals called the "Alcohol Plant".
Springfield was the site of numerous sawmills that served the logging industry in central OR. The Alcohol Plant was an experiment to try to turn the sawmill waste that was normally burned into something of commercial value. The process used high pressure steam in a blast furnace to extract what is called "water gas" from the sawdust and chips. The "water gas" was then used as a feedstock to produce wood alcohol (methanol). Gene's experience with steam driven locomotives made him an ideal Engineer for the Plant.
I wonder if it was widely known in Springfiled at the time that methanol is a highly toxic as well as poisonous substance. Gene is not wearing any protective clothing in these photos taken of him working in the "Alcohol Plant."
Gene at work in a plant testing the feasibility of producing methanol from wood biomass. Springfield, OR, 1946.
The dream of independence, even with 20 acres, and in spite of heroic efforts and helpful neighbors, turned out to be unrealistic. To hedge the risks, Gene had not given up his job with the Southern Pacific and was on a leave-of-absence while he was away in Oregon. In the summer of 1947, the family returned to Southern California and Gene resumed full time work as a Locomotive Engineer with the Los Angeles Division of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
During the school year 47/48 the family lived with Gene's sister's family, Jack and Lucille Davies and their children, Dennis, Barbara,and David as well as Grandma Ida Hill, on a one acre farm in San Bernardino near the intersection of Electric Ave and W 41st Street. (At that time, 41st St was at the extreme northern edge of the city of San Bernardino.) The boys attended Holy Rosary elementary school in San Bernardino.
In the spring of 1948, Roger, then in the 8th grade, won a scholarship to Newman High School, a boy's school that had just begun operating in Fontana, CA. So, the family moved into a home at 8657 Newport Avenue in Fontana where Roger and his brothers could walk to school and Gene was only about 10 miles away from the Southern Pacific railyards in Colton, CA.
Our family moved to this home at 8657 Newport Avenue, Fontana, CA, in 1948. (The old car was not ours and the street numbers were changed sometime after we moved in.)
Gene with Alice on her 37th birthday, 2 Apr 1949, Fontana, CA.
Gene and Alice, 10 Dec 1950, Fontana, CA.
Gene and sons, 10 Dec 1950, Fontana, CA, L to R: Roger, John, Jim, and Rich.
In 1951, Gene and Alice took a vacation by Railroad to visit Gene's family in the "Little Egypt" region of Southern Illinois. One of their stops was in New Orleans where they had dinner one night at Antoine's (they talked about that meal for years.) They finished their trip east on the famous Illinois Central train, "THe City of New Orleans".
This part of the Midwestern US is central to the history of our family. All four of my grandparents were born within 35 miles of each other on the banks of the Wabash River in Illinois (White and Wabash Counties) or Indiana (Gibson County.)
The only pictures I have of this trip are pictures of Gene with his aunts, Radie Caroline (Hill) Porter (1881-1985!) and Minnie Catherine (Hill) Gwaltney (1887-1963).
Gene with his Aunt Minnie (L) and Aunt Radie. White County, IL, 1951.
Gene with his Aunt Radie (L) and Aunt Minnie. White County, IL, 1951.
Gene with Alice and John and the new family car, a 1951 Mercury Coupe. Fontana, circa 1952.
Gene and Alice in their living room at Fontana before chaperoning the Newman High School Junior/Senior Prom, circa 1952.
Gene and family, Fontana, 29 Nov 1952. (Roger came home from college for Thanksgiving.)
Gene and Alice with Grandma Ida Hill, Rich, Jim (L) and John. Fontana, 29 Nov 1952.
Gene, Alice and sons, Fontana, Christmas, 1954.
L to R: Rich, John, Roger, and Jim.
Gene and family, Fontana, Christmas, 1954.
L to R: Rich, Roger, John, Alice, and Grandma Hill.
In September of 1952 Roger began his freshman year at St Mary's College in Moraga, CA. Shortly after arriving at St Mary's, Roger's cousin, Sylvia McPherson, introduced him to her friend, Lark (Bette Cerf) Ross, who was then a student at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Over the next couple of years they fell in love and, much to the surprise and consternation of their families, on 23 Jun 1955 they eloped and were married by a justice-of-the-peace in Zephyr Cove (Lake Tahoe), Nevada. Later that summer, much to the relief of Gene and Alice, Roger and Bette were re-married at St Dominic's Catholic Church in San Francisco. Alice, Gene and Richard attended the wedding and the reception that followed at Bette's parent's home at 76 Divisadero Street in San Francisco.
Alice and Gene with Richard, Roger and Bette Cerf Hill at their wedding reception in the home of Bette's parents, Dr Herbert and Muriel Dryfoos, in San Francisco, 14 Aug 1955.
Alice and Gene with John and Rich. Fontana, Christmas, 1955.
Alice and Gene with their first grandchild, Catherine Marie Hill, born 29 Nov 1956. Oakland, CA, Christmas, 1956.
Alice and Bette with Catherine. Oakland, CA, Christmas, 1956.
Sometime in the mid-fifties, Gene acquired an 8mm movie camera and began to document some of the family events. I have reformatted some clips from his movies and made them available as HTML5 videos in the Video Vault on this website.
After graduating from St Mary's, Roger began working as a Bachelor's degree physicist doing R&D in nuclear power at General Electric's Vallecitos Atomic Laboratory in Pleasanton, CA. He and Bette moved into a rented duplex in nearby Livermore, CA, in 1957. Gene's movie clip (click: Hill Sisters. Part1) shows scenes of Catherine's earliest days from 1956 to 1958.
The Hill family, Fontana, Christmas, 1957.
L to R: Gene, Jim, Alice holding Catherine, Bette, John, Roger, Rich.
In April 1958, Gene and Alice became grandparents for the second time with the birth of Teresa Jean Hill on 11 Apr 1958. At the time, Roger, Bette and Catherine were living in a rented home at 396 Madeira Way in Livermore, California.
Alice with Catherine and baby Teresa, Livermore, CA, Jun 1958.
Gene with Catherine and baby Teresa, Livermore, CA, Jun 1958.
Gene's movie clip (click:Â Hill Sisters. Part2) shows scenes of both Catherine and Teresa in Livermore and elsewhere up to 1959.
Alice and Gene celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at their home in Fontana, 15 Aug 1958.
Alice and family at Roger and Bette's house in Livermore, CA, Christmas, 1958. L to R: Jim, Rich, Alice, Gene, Roger.
Alice and Gene with Uncle Roy at Roy and Mable's house, Moreno, CA, May 1959.
In 1959 Roger applied for and was accepted as a Ph.D candidate in the Physics Department of the University of California, Berkeley. He and his family moved in 1960 from Livermore to a house at 2700 Dwight Way in Berkeley within walking distance to the University campus.
The house was a mansion built by a local judge but was currently owned by the Paulist Priests who were planning to build a chapel on the property in a few years time. Bette and Roger furnished the house with auction-house furniture and during their first year in Berkekey rented out the upstairs bedrooms to UC students.
Gene's movie clip (click:Â Hill Sisters. Part3) starts with scenes of Catherine, Teresa, and the family at 2700 Dwight Way in 1960.
Gene with Alice and his parents, Frank and Ida Hill, Newport Avenue, Fontana, 2 Apr 1961.