Handed down by:Kathy F. Harvey

Courtship Memories of Morton Andrew Foster
Interview by Kathy Foster Harvey
November 30, 2009

Where love blooms and blossoms isn’t always something that is predictable, but geography seems to play an important part in placing two people in an orbit that lets paths cross and fates change from separate orbits that become a paired orbit. Such is the case of Morton Andrew Foster and Afton Bennett.

Afton moved to Oakland, California leaving her hometown of Ogden, Utah to join her brothers, Albert Osborne Bennett and his wife Dorothy and Earl Edward Bennett and his wife Faye. Al owned the business, a Greyhound Bus Depot in downtown Oakland: Earl managed it. Afton came to search out new horizons and help out at the bus depot. She lived with Earl and Faye in their upstairs apartment in Oakland.

Morton born and raised in Spreckles, California, was finishing out his Navy obligations in the Bay Area. Discharged in December of 1945, Mort met his buddies, Frank Cambra, Joe Laherran, and Jack Cronin for breakfast. The four friends decided to go over to the Naval Supply Depot in Oakland – Building 310 - and apply for jobs. Since they were all veterans, they qualified with a 10 point preference and were hired immediately. They found an apartment with kitchen privileges in Mrs. Agers’s house at $7.00 per month each and moved in.

Each weekend on leave he would travel south to visit his sisters in Salinas and Spreckles. His mode of transportation was the bus.

There in the Oakland Greyhound Bus Depot is where separate orbits converge. There was no great crash – no love at first sight, but gentle encounters at the ticket desk as he and his buddies purchased tickets home for the weekend.

Morton, Frank, Joe, and Jack gabbed, laughed, and teased Afton at the ticket desk. Frank often talking in double-talk to get her goat and make the others laugh. Fun times for all, then the four friends got on their buses headed to home, family, and friends. Morton would ride the Peerless Stage from Oakland to San Jose, and then board a Greyhound to Salinas.

Morton and Afton’s friendship grew as he would accompany her home on the streetcar. Earl and Faye lived over an old theater in Oakland. The jaunts to get Afton home safely soon turned into dinners with Earl and Faye.

Dates were mainly sitting and talking at Earl and Faye’s home, but one memorable date was to a hotel in Oakland. There they talked, danced, and drank, but Afton didn’t drink, so Morton got her drinks, too.

No one knows how long these arrangements would have gone on, if it hadn’t been for an obscure conversation Morton had with a waitress one evening. After she listened to him go on about Afton, the waitress said, “Well, if you love her, why don’t you marry her?”

So, one night as he left Earl’s, he turned at the bottoms of the stairs and Afton who stood at the top of the stairs. “Afton, will you marry me?” She looked down and said, “Yes, I will.”

Shortly after, Morton went to a jewelry store to buy a ring. While talking with the jewelry Mort said, “What’s the ring really worth?”

“If you are asking that, you don’t really want to get married,” answered the jewelry.

Mort left the store and went to Kay’s Jewelers and purchased a ring.

He gave her the ring in February of 1947. Afton returned to Ogden to get things ready for a March wedding. Mort followed on March 1 to meet her parents Nephi and Matilda Bennett and get ready for the wedding.

On March 8, 1947 in the Bennett living room, they were married. Attending the wedding were: Afton’s parents; her good friend and maid of honor Beth Albert and her husband, Ray; Morton’s best man, a friend from his job at the sugar factory in Spreckles who just happened to live in Ogden, Darrel Hunter; and Emmy and Lloyd, friends of Afton from Roy, Utah.

Driven to Salt Lake by a friend, they had a one night honeymoon at the Newhouse Hotel in Salt Lake. The friend returned the next day and brought them back to Ogden.

The next morning, they took the bus back to Oakland, California to a two room apartment at 38th and Leise, returned to work, and started their new life together.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We started the holiday this year at Woodward park in Manteca where the kids has a blast playing together. Later that afternoon we gathered at Jay & Cammy's house for our holiday meal. It was nice & cozy with 26 people in their house, but tons of fun. Notable events from Thanksgiving at Jay & Cammy's:

• The turkey did eventually finish cooking, although we learned that foil + roasting oven = late dinner...
• Jack tried to teach Lauren how to moon walk & Doug even gave it a try!
• Jenny's new sweet potato recipe was a hit! I want that every Thanksgiving!
• Sam learned he's from the projects in Oakland
• We found that 26 people really CAN fit inside Jay & Cammy's house. :)

Here are some of the pictures:

Jen & Steve posing as they prepare our holiday meal

Lauren & Cammy posing as a team while playing Scattergories

According to Mort, this is his "good side"

I'm not exactly sure what Luke's doing, but it looks hilarious to me!

Ally sweetly posing for a portrait

Lauren & Ally

We all gathered together again on Saturday afternoon for Owen's 4th birthday party at the bowling alley and then at Doug & Kathy's for dinner. Notable events, besides Owen turning 4, of course:

• These kids can really bowl! Several bowled spares and even strikes!
• Tyson excitedly ran into Nana & Papa's house announcing the contents of his present.
• BYU won in overtime against Utah while UCLA lost to USC.

Here are the pictures from Owen's party:

Chetan doesn't look too happy, but I love Owen's smile!

Family Picture (can't you just hear Owen saying "cheese?")

Cousin picture

I love this picture! It's a classic shot of the family together at Nana & Papa's house.

Handed down by: Anupa

Bowling & New Moon

Friday morning at 12:25am found Rebecca, Cammy, Johanna, Ashley, & me awake (!) at the Kerasotes theater in Manteca, patiently waiting for the midnight showing of New Moon to begin. We had arrived more than 2 hours early prepared to freeze in line outside, but only had to brave the cold for 15 minutes! Cammy & I spent the rest of the time inside our theater holding the best seats in the house while Rebecca & Johanna raided the candy and soda sections at Walmart. Here's Cammy holding our seats with a smile:

Rebecca & Johanna returned with a ridiculous amount of goodies and we snacked & hung out together until the show started.

Although our opinions on the movie differ slightly, we definitely had a great time and can't wait to do it again for the next Twilight movie (Eclipse opens 6/30/10--girls save the date)!

We can't forget: a girls' night must be followed by a boys' night, which took place the next night at In-n-out and the bowling alley, and of course continued with a game of Settlers at Doug & Kathy's.

Handed down by: Anupa

First Snow and Halloween

Handed down by:

The Leaves that Whistle

Handed down by:James Harvey

The other night while Rebecca was reading to Andersen, Jane was patiently waiting to be read to (I was away at a church meeting, not just being a bad dad) and while she was waiting she composed this beautiful poem.

The leaves in fall whistle
glide and fly when the wind calls.
Then they get in their coats of red and brown
and land upon a branch.
They fall because they need to rest.
They get scooped up and put into a lovely pile of leaves.
They settle down to take a rest
but then kersplat they get smashed from littel children.