Part 5  January 17, 2000 1 PM

     This photo of my mother is dated 1908, but the location is not given.  I'm going to assume College Place, WA or Missoula, MT.  I say that because: 1) she was born in Missoula  2) she is sitting on the lap of Helen Burnham (her great grandmother), who moved to College Place in 1906 to live with Edgar McMullen/George A. Rulaford who is also in this photo.

     I'm guessing at the year 1920, and I don't know where this photo was taken.  Helen is to the left of the teacher.  She's wearing a light colored dress with a small white collar.
 
 

     The license plate one the car dates the photo as 1927.  The shadow could be that of Walter Harmon.  It is!  I found the photo below in another album about 3 hours after I scanned the photo above.
 
 

     This photo is dated 1928, and has Helen R. written on it. This would indicate that it was taken before she graduated from Girls' Polytechnic, because she married Walter Harmon that night
 
 

     This photo of Helen and Walter is not dated.  I assume it was taken not too long after they were married.  I have many photo's from this marriage, but few are dated or annotated.
 
 

     Melvin was born June 11, 1930, at Portland Sanitarium, in Portland, OR.  He died about 1943 in Salem, OR.  I don't have many memories of him because I was only four years old at the time.
 
 

     This photo is quite faded, but I think it turned out good enough to include it here.  I don't know where this was taken; there are two possibilities.  If she was still married to Walter Harmon it could be Sherwood, OR.  If not it could be Alaska.
 
 

     In this photo the adults are (from left to right), Cecil and Meda Rulaford, unknown man, Helen, unknown man, and my father George Houk.  I don't know the boy in the light shirt; the other boy is Melvin Harmon.  I don't know exactly when this was taken, but it was before January of 1938.  That is because she was in Redmond, OR, when Doug was born on the 13th.
 
 

     The two photo's above were taken at our home in Foster, OR.  On the left she is in the back yard; she's in the front yard on the right.  Yes she is smoking a cigarette; Lucky Strike.
 
 

     This photo was taken on one of our many visits to Three Creeks Lake.  This lake was one of my dad's favorite places to fish.  I have not been back to Sisters or the lake since 1948.  There were not a lot of people fishing here in the 40's, but I understand that the place is overrun with campers and RV's now.
 
 

     Now this picture I remember very well.  It was taken by a sidewalk photographer in downtown Seattle.  I remember the dress too.  It was purple with white poka-dots; she made it!  And the there was the time we were getting off of a bus and I stepped on the hem and darn near ripped it off her.
 
 

     This photo of my mother was taken in 1956 in Sweet Home, OR.  I don't know who's Buick that is, but I do know something interesting about the house.  We lived in it twice.  The first time was about 1940; when I was just a few months old.  As I recall she told me the roof leaked back then.  The house is on the North side of Long Street, and opposite the West end of the High School.  It may still be there.
 
 

     Helen lived in this house from mid 1957 until early 1969.  The house is located behind a used car lot at SE 82nd Ave. and Ogden.  Actually you can see just a little of the roof on the far left; the structure to the right is a garage.  Joe and Eula  Wells' house is to the left.
 
 

     Helen came to San Diego for a visit in 1967.  Among other things I took her to the Brookside Winery tasting room and
got her loaded.  I wanted to buy this place, but the banks would not loan the money unless the house was torn down.  ??

     That's Point Loma in the distance above Helen's head.  To the left of that is North Island Naval Air Station (where the two aircraft carriers are).  I was stationed there on instructor duty at the time this photo was taken.  The San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge had not opened yet, and it was either take the ferry or drive around the South end of the bay.  At certain times it was faster to drive around.  North Island and Coronado really were islands at one time; at high tide.

     Thanks to the magic of Yahoo "maps" and MapQuest.com I can show you where that photo was taken.  I just noticed that the map on the left is in error.  West Olive Street does not connect between Columbia and State Streets.  The South bound side of Columbia Street is at least ten feet lower than the North bound side.  However I think there is a sidewalk between those streets.  I also see that I-5 is not identified in the map on the right.

     The next photo was taken at my present (Jan 15, 1969  -  Dec 4, 1999) home that is located a few blocks North of 905, and about half way between I-5 and I-805.  I'm South of National City and Chula Vista, but still in the city of San Diego.  San Ysidro is South of me and is also a part of the city of San Diego.
 
 

     This photo of Meda and Helen was taken on my patio circa 1970.  I bought the house in January of 1969, and my mother came to live with me for about three years.
 
 

     This photo was taken at Doug's house in Southeast Portland, OR, Aril 1974.  Raymond is wearing the pink shirt.  Helen was living on SE 72nd Ave. at this time; not far away.  Not long after this was taken the boys' mother left Doug, and they came to live with me for a few months.
 
 

     This photo was taken sometime in the 1980's at Doug's house on Cedarbrook, near Wilsonville, OR.  She lived here with him until Doug moved to Aurora, OR.
 
 

     This is the most recent photo of my mother that I can find, and it was taken when she was 85 years old.  It was about this time that her memory started to decay.  She did not know who I was a year later.  I have the top hat that Doug is wearing.  It is on temporary loan to a very dear friend of his.  It seems that one Maid Marian of LIB M R WANGS was quite taken by my brother and his top hat; it was only fitting that she should care for it for a time.

     Not long after this photo was taken Helen required 24/7 care; which Doug could not provide.  She spent the rest of her days in a nursing home in Canby, OR.  She died July 11, 1997, and her ashes have been scattered where she wanted them.