She was only 4'-11', but what a huge HEART!

Our house on Wabash St. in San Jose


My Mother…(Holding her dog "Demi", looks like Pete holding Billy..at Grandmas house.)

Dorothy Grigg Francis was born on June 29th 1911 in Coffeyville, Kansas. I believe that the family moved to San Francisco during the 20’s but ended up moving to San Jose very soon after their arrival in California.

She attended School at San Jose High and was into gymnastics…she used to say that she was on the girls basketball team…which used to get a chuckle out of us since she was only 4’-11” tall. I’m sure that she was telling the truth because she was certainly a scrappy little lady. When my friends would be over at our house and would comment about my Mothers height I would always say, “Oh I haven’t introduced you to my Mother have I?” They would reach out to shake her extended hand and she would drop them to there knees with her “vice” like grip.

My Mom loved working in the garden and was quite happy to spend the day bending over with her knees locked pulling weeds.

Mother was a sweet person that got along with everyone…her and my Dad were GREAT examples to us as to how a loving relationship could be developed if a couple is on the same page. My Cousin, Kenny, told me that he appreciated my Mom because one of his Aunts that really treated him with kindness…I would think that all my cousins probably would say that also.

The house that we lived in at 163 Wabash St. in San Jose had a septic tank in the backyard behind our small garage and my brother Bob’s pigeon coupe....that just happened to be where my folks setup the clothesline to dry our clothing. One day my Mom went out to hang up the wash and we heard a horribly loud scream coming from
the back yard…my brother Ron and I ran to the backyard and were shocked to find that the ground had given way and my Mother was standing up to her waist in waste!!

After moving to Santa Cruz my Mother was always there at my little league games giving support because my Dad was working…he made as many games as he could but Mother certainly took up the slack.

One game I remember pulling my head as I was trying to field a groundball…our coach (My best friend’s Dad, Carl Sandman.) asked me to hang around after the game, so my Mom and I waited. After everyone had left the coach said the I needed some extra work…he had me kneel and then he backed up and from about 40’ away, started throwing balls at me that “Short Hopped” a few feet in front of me and would bounce up hitting me in the stomach and chest area… after 10 or 20 hits he said when you get tired of being hit you’ll watch the balls with a REAL desire to catch them. I looked to my Mom for some support and relief …she just turned her head away letting me understand that I was on my own on this one! It worked and I became a fairly good shortstop.

I remember being along side my house with my best friend Curt Sandman playing catch and we started yelling at each other…I went over to confront him and a pushing match started..after a few minutes of this we heard my Mother clear her throat and looked to see her watching us from an open window…She said, “Ya know I love a good fight, but you guys are boring me..start swinging or shake hands and quit foolin’ around.” She was a tough lady.

My mother HATED San Francisco but loved working with her sister…when my dad died we moved back to San Jose into my Uncle Jack’s house with his wife Betty and their 2 kids Gail and Bruce…we stayed there a few months until my Mother found work then we moved into a small house on Cottle the same street as Willow Glen high School.

It was really hard to watch my Mom struggle with the loss of my Dad and working hard to keep us going with a roof over our heads and putting food on the table.

After I left high School she got me on at Grosken Company doing landscape work with my Uncle Pete…the job only lasted for about 4 months and since I had no car to go look for work and not wanting to wait for a “Draft Notice” to arrive when I was older and probably married with a family, I decided to enlist in the Navy.

After I got my service time done, met Irene and got married….My Mother told me that my “Uncle Wilbur” and her had been dating for awhile and what would I think of her marrying him. I told her that even though I had known him all my life it seemed a bit strange because he was like an uncle to me but that it was up to her not me. She was very conflicted because of her feelings for my Father but he had told her that he knew how she felt about my Dad and that he wasn’t wanting to change the way she felt but that he would treat her with kindness and love…and that he did.

It was probably a bit difficult for him to get used to having a buncha kids around but he settled into the role of “Grandpa” and was just that to our kids….A really good man.

Wilbur had come home with some of my Uncles back in the thirties and stayed there with my Grandparents…during the war he served in the Army Air Corps as a mechanic, when the war was over he came back to San Jose and made an apartment in the “Tank House” behind my grandparents house. I grew up knowing that “Grumpy old man” because he was always yelling at us when we’d sneak into his apartment. He kept up the yard for my Grandparents and stayed there taking care of the house and watching over my Grandmother until she passed away.

I know that Wilbur had some siblings but never met them nor heard him speak of them. Wilbur was great after I got to know him as an adult and sure enjoyed our kids and was always ready for a game of dominos or cards.

My Mother and I were having breakfast one day at her house. We were alone so I guess she felt that she could talk….She said “Your gonna think that I’m crazy but I have to tell you something..after you were baptized and you dried off you and your friend Gary came back into the room and sat down waiting for his wife to come out and join you. It was quiet and I was watching you…as you sat there a strange thing happened…you took on the appearance of your Father. Not in my imagination, you really did.” I told her that that it doesn’t surprise me at all and that I think that my DAD was trying to tell her something…That he was there and what I was doing was the real thing. I believe that when she crossed over to the other side he was waiting for her and since their work has been done for then they are together.