In 1944 I retired from the Santa Fe Railroad and moved to Phoenix. Mother and I bought a small house. Don owned three grocery stores by then. I stayed in Phoenix for five years working with Don as a bookkeeper. By that time I was ready to move again. Mother always said I was part gypsy as I was always moving. Anyway, we moved to El Cajon, California where Alice and John lived with their two boys Jack and Charles. We rented a house. To make a long story short, we moved two more times. Once to Oceanside, another time to Long Beach. Then back to El Cajon where we finally stayed put.
I never owned an automobile and never learned to drive. My only means of transportation was on the Santa Fe, bus or streetcar. I still love the sound of the steam locomotive and the telegraph key. I'm sorry they were "put out to pasture."
When we first moved to El Cajon, I took a course in story writing. Oliver read some of my short stories and talked me into writing this book "Along the Santa Fe", and that is the end of my story.