| Biography | | Autobiographical sketch of Leo Albert Houghton
The month of May in Utah can be very beautiful. May 3, 1919 must have been a very beautiful day for my mother as she welcomed me, her second child, into this world. She named me Leo Albert Houghton. My arrival came a year after a very devastating influenza epidemic that claimed over 20 million people and a world war was only over a few months before. Because of these circumstances, the son of George Albert Houghton and Myrtle Genevieve Jensen-Houghton was their respite from a weary world. The ensuing year must have been a very difficult year for my mother as she saw her husband battle a severe kidney ailment that resulted in his death when their new son was only thirteen months old. So, I never knew my father. I have no recollection of him. I will write about him in another biography.
My mother faced a very bleak future what with two sons to rear and only the memory of her now deceased husband. It didnt help that this courageous woman was living in what was once a prosperous mining town; but living conditions in Eureka, Utah were dismal. Mining attracts an element of undesireables and Eureka had its share. My mothers health from the time of her birth until she died was very poor. How she managed, I dont know. I only know that she remarried when I was two or three years old.
Eureka never offered any cultural attractions, but as a young boy I joined my brother and cousins at the ballpark which was only one-fourth of a mile from our home. I learned to play baseball and despite my tender years, I remember being quite proficient in the sport. I dont remember any trees in our town, but not too distant there were pine trees; mining towns are usually devoid of much vegetation. As a child I explored the mines and one time was stuck in quicksand and if it hadnt been for a friend who summoned help, I would have lost my life. Two or three miles from where we lived and adjacent to the railroad tracks, was a pond which we affectionately called the polywog pond. It wasnt deep enough for swimming but provided the only aquatic recreation we had. I remember picking up coal along the railroad tracks so we could have fuel. I think the engineer deliberately threw coal so we could pick it up.
I looked forward to school and since they didnt have kindergarten I started the first grade when I was six years old. I was a very good student and received perfect attendance certificates for the 1st and 2nd grades. I had good teachers. I remember their names to this day: Miss Stack and Miss Sorenson. I learned to read and write excellently. My mother, although very limited in schooling, instilled in me the value of reading. She read to me as far back as I can remember.
Before I could enter the 3rd grade, we moved to Salt Lake. To me, Salt Lake holds only bad memories. Perhaps it was because we were very poor and the economics of the state was bad. I never had good teachers such as I had in Eureka and I remember one red-haired teacher who beat the back of my hands with the sharp edge of a ruler. I never knew why because I was never a discipline problem. My step-father was good to me and never showed partiality to my step-brothers or step-sisters, but he was a poor provider. Salt Lake was always so spooky to me and the old two-story houses provided no warmth. The winters were so depressing and because coal was the only fuel used there was always a pall of blackness in the air. The hanging of jack rabbits on our screen porch clothes line (there must have been 20 or more) is vivid in my mind as their frozen bodies provided our only source of nourishment. Boiled rabbit with boiled parsnips was our dally menu. But we did have trees.
Because of the economics of Utah, we left Salt Lake in an old Durant sedan and headed for California. We had only one break-down on the entire trip despite the fact that our cargo consisted of all we owned plus nine passengers. It was 1929 and the Great Depression was being felt throughout our whole country. Poverty followed us, but I dont really remember being aware of our dire circumstances because everyone shared the common conditions. Despite my mothers ill health and our economic deprivation, my mother added two children to our family-making a total of seven children.
We settled in Compton where my mother had a cousin. Fortunately, I had a fifth grade teacher who took a liking to me and encouraged me greatly. She meant so much to me. The Sunday School teachers encouraged me and I finally received baptism in the Adams ward. I got to ride in a new model A and because Adams Ward was the only building to have a baptismal font we had to travel about fifteen miles each way, it was wonderful. I was now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and could have the Holy Ghost to guide me. I know I have had Him as my constant companion and felt the spirit as it helped me to make proper decisions. Life in Compton was different. We had excellent schools and summer recreation programs. And there were trees. The school district was unique in that it had six years of elementary school, four years of junior high, two years of high school and two years of junior college. It was the 6-4-4 plan. The high school and junior college were on the same campus. Most high school graduates would go to the 13th and 14th grade (junior college) and the students in the 11th and 12th grade (high school) had all the laboratories and other advantages afforded to the junior college.
I spent four exciting years at Enterprise Junior High which still exists in West Compton. I participated in football (touch, not tackle), drama, etc. I worked in the cafeteria for my lunch and helped the custodians for four Saturday mornings in order to obtain a school annual (16 hours for a $1.50 annual). No great society or entitlement. I took one year of Latin in Junior High and missed a quarter of school because of diphtheria quarantines. I liked my science and drama classes and I even took cooking, which has served me well.
While a Junior High student, an earthquake of great magnitude destroyed all of Comptons business district and leveled much of Long Beach. This occurred March 10, 1933. Since two of the four junior highs were demolished, we had to share our facilities with the students of two other junior highs. We partitioned off the gym and erected celotex buildings which were awfully hot. The best part of the earthquake was that the frame homes were hardly affected and we didnt have to go to school for almost a month. The sad part was the loss of lives that occurred down town. The brick buildings were not reinforced. For three weeks we lived in tents and ate at a commissary. The commissary was a displaced lettuce packing building and since all the stores were demolished, the whole community ate there.
Senior High was a challenge because we had the 13th and 14th grades that limited us to second class student status, but it was great and academically we were better off. It made transferring to Junior College easier. Again I participated in drama and debate and enlarged my experiences. I graduated with a Junior Certificate which gave me automatic acceptance at all California universities and was attained only by having a high grade point average. I worked part time as a lab assistant and gained valuable experience in setting up the lab assignments in physiology and bacteriology classes. We had great teachers who had advanced degrees from prestigious universities. I also served in writing for the school annual.
Transferring to a large school like U.C.L.A. was very intimidating. The campus in Westwood was so beautiful and after a first quarter of adjustment, I did well. I completed a difficult pre-med curriculum but had no financial means to pursue an advanced degree. I worked for two years in the zoology lab. I sharpened microtome blades (a very tedious and exacting job), gathered planaria and other specimens, and went to the Cudahy slaughterhouse in Vernon to obtain pig embryos and fetal pigs. I became quite skillful in injecting the vascular system with three different colored starch solutions (now they use latex). I later contracted on my own and supplied Santa Monica Junior College, Compton Junior College and U.C.L.A. with better specimens and at a lower price than commercial sources. This proved very lucrative and earned me as much as $25.00 an hour, but the demand was very sparse, therefore not enough to make it a career.
My social life from adolescence to young adulthood was very limited. I never had the financial reeources to consider any serious relationships. I went to the senior prom which was held in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium but was very disappointed by the actions of my date. She was a beautiful girl whom I really didnt know well. I was Introduced to her by a friend and though she was beautiful, she was not L.D.S. Before the evening was over she attempted to show her sophistication by smoking. Not very many girls were smoking then. What was infatuation turned to disgust and it was a long night home. I should have known better.
While a student in my college lower division, I worked for a pharmacist who owned the most popular drug store in Compton. I enjoyed the work as I waited on customers and stocked shelves. It was a good job but my grades were falling and I had to work on Sundays. Despite the need for money, I decided to quit. I bought my first car for $75.00. After I bought it my friend taught me how to drive. I think I was 17 or 18. The car served me faithfully as I drove daily to U.C.L.A. and transported two Japanese students who paid for the gas ($1.00/8 gallons).
I now must tell you about the most important day of my life. It happened the last part of January or first part of February, 1939. I was a Junior at U.C.L.A. when during a semester break I decided to attend mutual in the Compton 1st Ward for the first time in several years. What with working, going to school and studying diligently, I had neglected attending my church meetings. As I entered the cultural hall a group of ladies were in conference just as a newcomer in the ward asked the other lady officers if they knew someone who could be in a play she had written and was going to direct. I heard one say there he is now. This lady had just moved into the ward and was asked to be the drama director. She was told by the officers that there was a young man who had been In plays before but who had not come to the meetings for quite some time. This is when I appeared. I was introduced to the new member and she proceeded to tell me that she was looking for a person about my age and wanted to know If I could be in her play. My immediate response was that I couldnt because I would not have the time for rehearsals. She asked me where I lived and I said I lived at 425 W. Cedar. She exclaimed that she lived with her mother at 511-A W. Cedar. Only four or five houses separated us. She went on to say that we could rehearse at her home. How could I refuse? The play was a great success and was performed at three or four other wards in the stake. When the last performance was over we decided to go to a movie in celebration. During the movie I felt myself moving closer to her and without any conscious effort on my part and no resistance on hers, I found I was holding her hand. Up to this point there was never any indication on either of our parts of anything but friendship. I think we were both surprised. I had come to admire her and her mother for their sincerity and love for the gospel. Everything seemed so right and natural. I had never felt so comfortable with anyone before. I am sure we never knew this would happen. There was no declaration of love but just an indescribable feeling of closeness. Because of the proximity of our homes, I continued the interest and even brought my books with me so that I could study under conditions more suitable than what I had at home. Because of our large family and inadequate space, I found studying in our abandoned chicken coop more desirable than the house. Later, my stepfather put in some lights and heater in a shed in which he used to grind the wheat he sold to health-conscious people. In this place I would study.
Our first important date was a picnic at Orange County Park (now Irvine Park). It was Easter Sunday and her dear mother (my faithful ally) was with us. We called it our resurrection day. Shortly afterwards we attended the Gold and Green Ball in Belmont Shore. When I arrived to take her, I beheld the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Dressed in formal attire, I can still see her in her lovely delicate formal gown. I gave her a gardenia corsage and to this day, I can never forget that beautiful fragrance. At the dance I had to almost fight (literally) to keep other admirers away. I would have dueled anyone to keep her. The months that followed evolved (yes, I do believe in evolution) into more loving commitments. I have never stopped loving her.
She would frequently accompany me to U.C.L.A. and attend classes with me or go on field trips together. We attended organ recitals performed in Royce Hall where Alexander Shreiner was the organist. We didnt know he was a Mormon. He later became the organist for the Tabernacle Choir. We soon became committed to each other and in lieu of not having a ring, waited until Thanksgiving Eve when I was able to purchase one. We could then announce to the world that we were engaged. A day to remember!
From Thanksgiving Day to June seemed so far away but it went fast. I received my degree on June 15th and we were sealed in the St. George Temple June 22, 1940 for time and all eternity. Both events were worth waiting for. The beautiful gown she wore at the Gold and Green Ball pales in beauty compared to the beautiful white one she wore in the Holy Temple. Here was truly a queen and although I could have done more for her, I tried to treat her as the queen that she is.
Anything past this in my life history is almost anti-climatic. We did have a honeymoon. We stayed
overnight at Bryce Canyon. We then dropped her mother, Martha J. Hasler, in Provo so she could visit with her twelve siblings while we went to Salt Lake and visited friends and relatives. We returned to pick up her mother. I notice I have not called my wife by her name: Lydia Bertha Hasler Houghton. She has been called Betty since her teen years. And my beloved Betty, her mother and myself headed for home but not before stopping off at Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Treasure Island Worlds Fair in San Francisco. Little did we know that we were accompanied by a very special soul that was to become our precious baby. I know that he was conceived under the very shadows of the temple. What a joy! We now had everything...except a job! My dear wife and I never had a reception and our temple sealing was attended only by her mother, the temple president who performed the ordinance, and George F. Richards (father of LeGrand Richards) who was an
apostle and who was available to seal us if we so wanted. What a spiritual feast. We truly were surrounded by angelic hearts.
Returning to Compton, almost penniless, we prepared to meet reality. The world was not waiting for me to give me a job and all the years of working hard in school was now rewarded by my not having a job. I was not alone. In the ecstasy of our courtship I had forgotten that our country was still in the midst of the Great Depression and like so many others I could not find a job. I was employed through the kindness of a member of the church. I helped him in the construction of a home he was building and despite my inexperience and virtual uselessness to him, I worked for several weeks and then came the time when he couldnt pay me because he didnt get paid. He was an honorable man and I found myself feeling more sorry for him than myself. Not having the weeks pay that we had depended upon devastated us. But Bettys brother-in-law Lee Pratt, who was in the pipeline construction business, was doing a big inch pipe laying job in Ventura and offered me a job. The pay was excellent. After the first week I came home and brought my beloved Betty back and we rented a very nice motel. She would always bring me a very nice lunch and we would eat together on the job site. I am sure my co-workers envied me. Les had advised me to say I was the time keeper and everything went well. But then one day while I was digging ditches a person confronted me and said what are you doing with that muck stick. I didnt know what a muck stick (a shovel) was and he correctly surmised that I was not a union man. The contract called for union labor only and despite the protests of Les, I had to leave my well paying job and return home with my sad wife who was buying baby clothes and making all kinds of plans.
We returned to Compton and soon I found employment in a fluorescent lighting company co-owned by the bishop of Adams Ward. It was located on the corner of Pico and Main in Los Angeles and since this was a new industry and the first one in California, I felt the prospects for advancing were great. The pay was really low-35 cents an hour. The not too frequent pay increments were 2½ cents an hour. By working Saturdays and overtime on the weekdays, we got by. I started as an assemblyman. I did progress in the company, title-wise, but without many pay benefits. Of course in those depression days, one didnt complain too much and the owners were quick to tell me I was a key man.
Our baby came March 5, 1941 (less than 9 months after our marriage) and life was good. We named him Leo Dennis. Betty did well and was a devoted and caring mother. In the preceding months we moved to a just right home, picket fence and nice yard. Our rent was $25 a month. At that time, I might add, there were no such things as benefits. I found myself going to work when I was so sick I could hardly make it. But we needed the pay. But life was good. Things went reasonably well and then came Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. Everyones lifestyle changed drastically. Just previous to that, right after our baby was born, we were advised by the daughter of the landlord that her parents didnt want to rent to us because we had a baby. Besides, she added, her folks wanted to sell the house. More devastation. But with Bettys characteristic intuition, she asked what her folks wanted for the house, which by now had become a home. She said she would find out. I couldnt understand why my wife asked that question when we had zero funds. She came back and told us that her folks wanted $2200 with $200 down and $25 a month. That sounded great, except we didnt have the $200. Again my wife said we would buy it. Her mother was able to loan us $100 and somehow we came up with the other $100. The house was completely furnished and its contents were worth more than the down payment.
Besides, we were already paying $25 months rent. Life was good. We now had our baby and our white picket fence.
The lighting company was growing and with the war beginning, we began to diversify into defense tools. I would not be drafted in the armed forces because of my value to the company and their value to the war effort. I received a draft deferment and being married having a child, I was not in immediate danger of going to war. There was much overtime and the home needed remodeling. My wife provided the incentive to alter the house by knocking out walls and going from lumberyard to lumberyard for the building supplies. Her ingenuity and charm procured material that were very highly prioritized. The home could now accommodate another precious soul who was awaiting his term to join our family. That came soon afterward and with great physical toll on his faithful mother. Life was good. Our son David added much to our home. His blond curly hair and mannerisms were precious. All of our lives together were joyful. Our yard was one great playground with equipment we built or bought from private parties. As the war progressed necessities became rationed, but we didnt suffer because the most difficult commodities to buy were things we didnt require anyway.
By now I was purchasing agent in a prosperous lighting and defense industry. I felt secure and besides the war was coming to a close and what with a wife and two children I had no chance of being drafted in the military. I felt secure enough, for the first time in our married life, to go on a vacation. We went as a family to Arrowhead and despite the frequent changing of diapers and laundering them (no disposables) , we were enjoying ourselves. After the vacation was over we returned to our home to find a letter from the president of the United States offering me greetings and ordering me to report to Fort MacArthur. I was given eleven days to report for induction into the military. Bettys mother, out of consideration for ruining our one-week vacation, withheld the information so when we arrived home, we had but one week to prepare for induction. There were many things to take care of-termination of employment, putting household items in order, making out wills, etc. etc. I now had to leave my dear wife and two children with very little funds and with only a very meager dependant allotment which was not forthcoming for some time. Our desires were that she not go to work and neglect our children. She held down the fort admirably and did not have to go to work. To know that you would be close to home (about 10 miles) and yet unable to be there except by telephone, was not so comforting. After a few weeks I was able to see my family again as I awaited my troop train which would take me to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. We had never before been separated, but a brief 2 hour wait at the Los Angeles Railroad station enabled us to embrace once more.
A slow and uncomfortable troop train took us to the Ozarks where I would undergo basic training and be assigned to the Corps of Engineers where I would receive more intensive training. Meanwhile, I would miss my first Christmas and Thanksgiving days and my wife with her helpful mother would struggle through a bleak winter with the children. We had expected the separation would be long and perhaps involve foreign assignments. With the war practically won and our training at a standstill, the last inductees were offered a much welcomed discharge. I didnt want my wife to have her hopes high, so I didnt tell her that I would soon be home. After a long bus trip home, I arrived early in the morning before my wife was awake. I stood silently over her sleeping form, gave a long and grateful prayer and when she opened her eyes, she believed she had seen an apparition. She was startled but excited to have me home again and my feelings were indescribable as I beheld my beautiful wife and our much changed children. Life was good.
My former employers induced me to stay with them which I did until liquidation a few years later. I went to work in Pasadena for a company who put me in charge of their business. It was a small company and offered a bright future, but it was so underfunded that it could not survive the boss fantasies. He was the father of Valerie Harper who as a little girl would visit. I quit employ of this company and went into the lighting business for myself. I struggled and found out I could not compete with ruthless and better financed competition. At this time, I was offered a job as a drug (prescription type) detailer which could have been very lucrative but time demanding and frequent traveling away from home. At this time my wife had just lost her beloved mother and lifetime faithful confidant. My wife needed me and I desired to be with her and the children, so I decided upon a new career.
Previous to her mothers death we had added to our family a long awaited and wanted lovely daughter. This is a beautiful story and I feel impressed to let my dear wife in her account of this very great and miraculous event describe it in her biography and poetry.
While still hanging on to my business and with our home having been paid for, we decided that I would get a teaching credential and teach which is what I had always wanted to do. It was announced that a new college was opening near us. At this time, they were to call it Orange County-Long Beach State College. The name was later changed to Long Beach State College and since called California State University at Long Beach. It opened in 1949. I enrolled soon after and before the campus was developed, the college functioned without amenities. Because of my high scholastic achievement, I was given a life membership in the alumni association. I received my Master of Arts degree which was the first masters degree ever given at Long Beach State College (CSULB).
My first teaching position was teaching science in secondary and junior college levels. This was a semester of substitute teaching. When the new school year began, I was employed in the Long Beach Unified School District and taught for seven years in a continuation school. The students consisted of recent juvenile high school parolees, students who were working but had to be enrolled in school to satisfy state requirements, students expelled from the traditional schools and students who were generally misfits. This was truly my baptism by fire. A class might consist of age groups from 15 to 18 and all at different academic levels. The subjects I taught were mathematics and the various sciences. But mostly I spent most of my time in counseling. I feel I did a great job and had more students qualify for the science fair than any of the other secondary schools in the district. I also had students who made crime a career. One of my former students is now on death row for the most heinous killing of girls.
I transferred to a newly built senior high school where I taught for 25 years. I taught mostly chemistry and biology classes. What a cultural change! I now taught only academic superior students. For 25 years I served as advisor of California Scholastic Federation (CSF) and also National Honor Society (NHS). I was also on the scholarship committee. I was head of the Science Department and had more faculty members under my supervision than any of the other four senior high schools in the district. This was during the time that the Russians launched Sputnik and
the pressure was on the secondary schools to revise the science curriculum in order to make the U.S. competitive. During this time I was awarded National Science Foundation awards with stipends and university credits at U.C.L.A. (twice), University of Redlands, California State
University at Fullerton, Colorado School of Mines, Humboldt Sate College and Fresno Sate College. These were exciting times and required implementation of new national science programs in chemistry (Chem Study and Chemical Bond Approach), biology (Biological Science curriculum study - BSCS) and physics (PSSC). I served as critic for Holt-Rinehart Publishers Modern Earth Science. I also wrote and piloted a chemistry course which was adopted and addressed to the chemistry students whose needs were more relevant than theoretical. I served two years Treasurer of the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB). I really enjoyed teaching and despite the comparatively low pay, I would do it all over again. Life was good.
My teaching career was shortened because my beloved wife was showing signs of Alzheimers. This was the end of the school year in 1983. As much as I would like to have continued teaching for a few more years, I knew I must be home and take care of her. The years that followed were very special years. I was privileged in taking care of my sweetheart. They say being a caretaker of an Alzheimer victim is one of the most stressful jobs there is. It is really a 36 hour a day task. However, I can truthfully say, without heroics motivating me, that I never considered myself burdened. It was a period of sanctification and brought me closer to Jesus than any other experience I have witnessed. It is difficult to see a loved one going through various stages of this terrible disease. The personality changes are difficult to observe and to see the one you love become someone who doesnt recognize you and cannot respond to the most simple and basic desires of her husband. And yet, God answered prayers. It was my most sincere and ardent request of God that I would be sustained in health and strength to enable me to take care of her. This was granted. I can now see the blessing of being younger than she and strong enough to lift her and take care of her needs as she was completely dependent upon me. I had loved ones who helped a lot and when I was incapacitated for 21 days while recovering from two hernia surgeries, I was assisted in many other ways. Beth and Bertha, my lovely daughter-in-laws, took good care of her and it gave me great comfort to know that they lived so close. The prayers of loved ones who couldnt be here lifted my spirits and I knew that so many cared. Although not able to attend, the church was my bastion as I carried on. The last ten years that I took care of my wife enabled me to grow spiritually and although not able to communicate we nevertheless had a relationship that transcends the physical and elevated me above the mundane. The last six months of my eternal mates life was spent in bed. Previous to that I had always been able to dress her and with help of her wheel chair and the strength of those who assisted me, I was able to put her in the car, and take her to the doctors office. We toured the neighborhood extensively as I pushed her in the wheelchair. It was good therapy for both of us. God rendered her insensitive to pain and I never heard her cry out. She endured shingles and abdominal surgery without experiencing any discomfort.1 |
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