When I was born on January 18th, 1964, my mom was 41 and my dad was 45 years old. After having me, the youngest of six, mom and dad decided to “stop trying for a boy” and be done with having children. The picture on the right shows the Leonard family on Thanksgiving day of 1966. We were living at 5136 Zakon Road in Torrance, California. This was the same house my parents bought a couple years after they were married. Lois always said she didn't like the house much when they bought it and had expected to just sell it in a couple years and move on. |
But the Zakon house just kept going through its’ many stages of remodeling. Eventually, even the garage was converted to a bedroom. All six girls only lived together under this roof for 18 months. My oldest sister Penny married Jim Johnston and the first of the girls moved out.
Ross and Lois always had an open door policy, or rather a revolving door policy as I like to call it. There constantly seemed to be someone who needed a place to stay and our home was it. In my mind, this revolving door just kept spinning with the ins and outs of cousins, aunts, uncles, ex-uncles, friends, wayward teens and the like. Few, if any, were ever refused refuge under our roof.
The only time I remember anyone getting “kicked out” was my cousin Skip. He was wanted in the State of California on drug charges. My dad gave him his cowboy boots and some money and was told to sneak out of California so he wouldn’t get caught.
When I was two years old, mom went to work for Mattel Toys as a sales forecaster. Dad had the same job since the war working at the Mobil Oil refinery as a heavy equipment operator.
Dad used to tell us kids that mom worked for the extra’s. Things like toys and vacations. I admit those were nice, but I think mom went to work because she was ready to be with other adults after all the years of raising kids.
Mom loved to sew and dad was always “tinkering” or building something. Looking back, maybe it wasn’t so much a passion or delight of these hobbies, but just a way my parents had learned to survive. Making your own clothes and fixing your own things meant not having to pay others to do it.
Mom made lots of clothes, but not so much mine. She was working full time while I was growing up and it just seemed easier to purchase them.
Ross and Lois always had an open door policy, or rather a revolving door policy as I like to call it. There constantly seemed to be someone who needed a place to stay and our home was it. In my mind, this revolving door just kept spinning with the ins and outs of cousins, aunts, uncles, ex-uncles, friends, wayward teens and the like. Few, if any, were ever refused refuge under our roof.
The only time I remember anyone getting “kicked out” was my cousin Skip. He was wanted in the State of California on drug charges. My dad gave him his cowboy boots and some money and was told to sneak out of California so he wouldn’t get caught.
When I was two years old, mom went to work for Mattel Toys as a sales forecaster. Dad had the same job since the war working at the Mobil Oil refinery as a heavy equipment operator.
Dad used to tell us kids that mom worked for the extra’s. Things like toys and vacations. I admit those were nice, but I think mom went to work because she was ready to be with other adults after all the years of raising kids.
Mom loved to sew and dad was always “tinkering” or building something. Looking back, maybe it wasn’t so much a passion or delight of these hobbies, but just a way my parents had learned to survive. Making your own clothes and fixing your own things meant not having to pay others to do it.
Mom made lots of clothes, but not so much mine. She was working full time while I was growing up and it just seemed easier to purchase them.