Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1991

Anne Gibbs Berlin Oral History 1991

January 18, 1991

Copyright Churchill County Museum Association

Analog Cassette Tape

51:30

128KBS/44100 Hz

CHURCHILL COUNTY MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
an interview with
ANNE GIBBS BERLIN
January 18, 1991

This interview was conducted by Marian Lavoy; transcribed by Pat Boden; edited by Norma Morgan; first draft and final typed by Glenda Price; indexed by Gracie Viera; supervised by Myrl Nygren, Director of Oral History Project/Assistant Curator Churchill County Museum.

PREFACE
Anne Gibbs Berlin lives alone in the lovely old country home that her grandparents had built shortly after they arrived in Fallon. The gracious old home is surrounded by a stand of large trees whose branches lean toward the house like extended arms protecting the occupant from winter's snow and the intense heat of summer.
We sat at a vintage round oak table in the paneled dining room. I admired the heavy ceiling beams and looked out the windows at the late winter fields and a sense of the closeness of the Whipp-Gibbs families seemed to permeate the rooms.
James Whipp was an accomplished stone mason and played an important part in the construction of the I. H. Kent store and the no longer existent Williams Estate Building in Fallon and started to work on the Newlands Reclamation project...by 1915 he was maintenance superintendent and in 1916 general foreman. In 1920 he, Sam Rosenberg, and E. S. Berney started the company known as the Nevada Construction Co. which was active until the Great Depression took its toll--at one point a Fred Grob joined in the corporation. As the Depression rumbled on, various government programs were institiuted to help men survive: the Civilian Conservation Corps was one of these programs and Gibbs served as a foreman at the Camp Carson River CCC encampment. Gibbs turned to ranching and ranching activities kept him busyuntil his death in 1959. [January 17, 1959]

Interview with Anne Gibbs Berlin
This is Marian LaVoy of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project interviewing Anne Gibbs Berlin at her home at 1800 Union Lane, Fallon, Nevada. The date is January 18, 1991. This is tape number one.
LAVOY: Good morning, Anne.
BERLIN: Good morning, Marian.
LAVOY: Would you mind telling me the name of your father?
BERLIN: My father was Frank E. Gibbs.
LAVOY: And where was he born?
BERLIN: He was born in Houghton, Michigan.
LAVOY: How did he happen to come out here?
BERLIN: To work in the mines as a carpenter.
LAVOY: Now which mines are you referring to?
BERLIN: The Wonder and Churchill County mines out here.
LAVOY: Wonder, Fairview
BERLIN: Right. Yes.
LaVoy: How did he happen to know that the mines were .
BERLIN: I don't know.
LAVOY: When was he born?
BERLIN: In 1877 [July 13, 1877].
LAVOY: And came here when he was approximately what age?
BERLIN: He came here about 1904 or 1905.
LAVOY: I see. Who were his parents?
BERLIN: Charles Gibbs was his father [born in England].
LAVOY: And they lived in Michigan?

BERLIN: In Houghton, yes.

LAVOY: What work did he do when he came out here besides mining?
BERLIN: He worked as a carpenter in the mines building the buildings that were necessary.
LAVOY: I see. What was your mother's maiden name?
BERLIN: Whipp. [Gertrude Whipp]
LAVOY: Where did she come from?
BERLIN: She came from Jacksonville, Oregon.
LAVOY: And can you tell me something about her family?
BERLIN: Yes, her father came from England. He was a sailor and he jumped ship and came to the States. His profession was a stone mason.
LAVOY: Did he pursue that profession?
BERLIN: Yes. All his life.
LAVOY: Where was he a stone mason?
BERLIN: In Jacksonville, Oregon. We go there now and look at the tombstones that he made. That was the chief business, making tombstones. Then he was in Ashland, Oregon, for about a year. Then in 1904 or 1905 He left my mother and my grandmother in Reno and he and my Uncle Verne, whom I call Jim, went first to San Francisco looking for work. There he heard about the Newlands Project. He came back to Reno and came to Fallon and filed on a farm.
LAVOY: Did he work on the Newlands Project?
BERLIN: No, he worked on the Kent building, he worked on the bank building which is now the Pauludan Arcade and he worked on what used to be the William's Estate Building which was torn down when the Esquire Club was there and it's now the parking lot for the Fallon Nugget.
LAVOY: I see. How did he [your father] meet your mother?
BERLIN: I don't know.
LAVOY: Was she here in Fallon already?
BERLIN: Oh yes. They weren't married till 1914 you see.

LAVOY: Oh, I see. Well, can you tell me something about the life of the two of them prior to their marriage?
BERLIN: Yes, my grandmother and my mother and Uncle Jim and Grandpa came here. Grandpa had already built a cabin. They lived in the cabin until they built this house.
LAVOY: The house that we are in?
BERLIN: The house we're in now. And I think that was about 1908, or 1909, 1910 . . . somewhere along in there.
LAVOY: This is such a lovely old home. Do you have any ideas if they copied it after a home that was here, or was it their own design?
BERLIN: They bought a plan, and it was a plan from southern California. The back porch was originally open as a patio and when they were building, they didn't realize the mosquito problem, so the patio soon had to be screened in.
LAVOY: And the work was all done by whom? The work on the house.
BERLIN: By the carpenters hired by my grandfather. But first of all, he had to work in town to earn the money to put in the land and to build the house. By 1906 they had a garden and the water was in the ditches by then. The water came down the Truckee Canal prior to the building of Lahontan Dam.
LaVOY: That's very interesting. Can you tell me any more about the type of gardening that they did around here?
BERLIN: Yes, they did very extensive gardening. Now, I read, I think the issue of the local paper, I think it was 1907 where Grandpa had won a prize at a fair that the homesteaders had had for a head of cauliflower. And that amazed me because that meant that they also had to raise their own plants, because obviously, there were no nurseries.
LaVOY: He must have had a cold frame someplace.
BERLIN: Oh, yes, I remember that he always had a cold frame and started his own plants.
LaVOY: Would you mind telling me your mother's name?
BERLIN: Her name was Gertrude Whipp.

LaVOY: And when was she born?
BERLIN: She was born in 1890 [March 13, 1890] in Jacksonville, Oregon. Yes, she had one brother, Verne, and he came here too.
LaVOY: I see, well, now, when did she meet your father?
BERLIN: They were married in 1914. I don't know when they met.
LaVOY: Where were your mother and father married?
BERLIN: They were married [August 31, 1914] in Reno.
LaVoy: Where, do you know?
BERLIN: I think it was in the Baptist church.
LaVOY: Could it have been in the home of Rheuban Thompson?
BERLIN: I don't know.
LaVOY: I believe that I read in an article in the local paper that they were married by Prof Rheuban C. Thompson at the Thompson home on Riverside Drive and that their attendants were Mr.and Mrs. C. V. Knight.
LaVOY: Where did they honeymoon, do you have any idea?
BERLIN: Yes, they went to San Francisco.
LaVOY: Then they returned to . .
BERLIN: To live here.
LaVOY: Where did they live in the area?
BERLIN: Here. They always lived here with my grandparents.
LaVOY: They lived here at the home on Union Lane with your
parents?
BERLIN: Correct, yes.
LaVOY T tell me some of the things that your
father did for a living?
BERLIN: Oh, he was always in the construction business. For many years he worked for the T.C.I.D. [Truckee Carson Irrigation District] and then he joined the Nevada Construction Company with Ernie Berney. During theyears we were growing up he was very often gone on various road jobs.
LaVOY: Did he build any of the roads around here?
BERLIN: No, no. He worked on the road around Walker Lake.
LaVOY: That must have been a very ambitious undertaking.
BERLIN: It was at that time as I remember it. We lived, Mother and Jim and I [Mrs. Gibbs, James Gibbs and Anne Gibbs] were there one summer and the only thing I can remember about it is that we had to go across the Lake to the camp in a boat.
LaVOY: From what end of the Lake did you start in your boat?
BERLIN: This end.
LaVOY: The Schurz end.
BERLIN: Uh, huh. The camp was somewhere on the other side.
LaVOY: And how long did you stay there?
BERLIN: Oh, I think we were there for two or three months. I just barely, barely remember it.
LaVOY: During the summer?
BERLIN: Uh huh.
LaVOY: Now, I'm going to regress a little bit, when were you and your brother born?
BERLIN: I was born in 1915 [May 19, 1915] and Jim was born in 1917 [killed October 14,1944].
LaVOY: In other words you are living in the same house in which you were born?
BERLIN: That is correct, yes.
LaVOY: Did your mother ever mention who she had as a midwife or who she had as a doctor?
BERLIN: Yes, Jim and I both were born at Mrs. Mulvaney's [Lizzie Mulvaney] in Fallon.
LaVOY: This was a lady who had a home that . . .
BERLIN: Yes, a home for birthings.

LaVOY: Oh. Tell me something about the earliest memories that you have of living here on Union Lane.
BERLIN: One of my earliest memories is standing at this window in the dining room, and Madge Mead who later became Madge Downs was teaching at the Union School house and I would wait evenings until she came by so we could wave at each other.
LaVOY: Now where was the Union Schoolhouse?
BERLIN: Right up here at the end of Union and Harrigan.
LaVOY: On which corner?
BERLIN: The corner that's now sagebrush, what would that be, the northwest corner.
LaVOY: How long did the school remain there?
BERLIN: I don't know. I started school in Consolidated B District.
LaVOY: And where was that?
BERLIN: In Fallon.
LaVOY: Oh. Why did you do that?
BERLIN: Well, because by then the Union School was no longer
there. The district had combined to form the Consolidated B District.
LaVOY: Oh. Do you remember who your first teacher was?
BERLIN: Oh, yes. My first teacher was Florence Richards.
LaVOY: And, did you like her as a teacher?
BERLIN: All the rest of my life I used what she taught me, especially about phonics and how to spell.
LaVOY: That speaks very highly for her. Who was your best friend in school as a small child?
BERLIN: That I don't remember, but our best friends throughout our lives were the Jones children.
LaVOY: Now, which Jones was that?
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BERLIN: That was Marion and Sadie Jones. They lived down on the ranch next to us. They came--oh, I was probably about eight years old and Jim was about six, and they were the first young children in the district. The Kallenbach's lived across the drain ditch and it's now the Ormachea ranch [Harrigan Road]. But those children were older than we, so we didn't play together.
LaVOY: What were some of the games that you did play as a small child?
BERLIN: I don't remember the games but what I remember most vividly is that we spent our summers at the drain ditch, literally.
LaVOY; Doing what?
BERLIN: Swimming, swimming, swimming.
LaVOY: And your parents were not concerned?
BERLIN: Our parents were never concerned.
LaVOY: That's very unusual.
BERLIN: My friend, Gertrude, and I still talk about that.
Nobody was concerned. We just went in the ditches and pretty soon we learned how to swim.
LaVOY; Without any instruction?
BERLIN: Uh huh. Ted Jones learned first of all and then he taught the rest of us to swim.
LaVOY: Wonderful.
BERLIN: We were lucky in that the Kallenbach Ranch--forty acres remained in sagebrush until quite recently and it was wild. There were lots of pheasants and quail and my dad, after the drain ditches went in, built a bridge across the drain ditch so my grandmother and Mrs. Kallenbach could visit back and forth. We could cross the ditch and go over in the sagebrush and take our lunch and have a picnic.
LaVOY: So you picnicked in the sagebrush?
BERLIN: There's a tree up there, a cottonwood tree, we'd go under the cottonwood tree.
LaVOY: Who fixed the lunches for you?.
8
BERLIN: Oh, my mother, I guess would make us a sandwich. That was a big adventure for us.
LaVOY: I should say so. Well, how many years did you attend that particular school in Fallon?
BERLIN: I think just the one year, the first grade. Then I went over to West End, and then to Oats Park and then to high school.
LaVOY: Who were some of your teachers at that time?
BERLIN: The teacher I remember best at West End was Lucy Grimes Burton, who was a wonderful teacher. One of the things that I learned from her was how much children enjoy being read to. She read to us, by the author of Heidi, a story called Toy John of Donkey Valley and she read us Robert Louis Stevenson's poems. I remember vividly.
LaVOY: She must have had a great interest in all of you children.
BERLIN: I'm sure she did. Her name was Lucy Grimes Burton and her uncle was down at the Grimes' ranch.
LaVOY: And where was that?
BERLIN: Down, vaguely, where the Navy base is now. The old river went down that far.
LaVOY: Now, that's something, I've heard other people mention the old river--now what was the old river?
BERLIN: Well, I don't know either, but people have told me that if you're in an airplane and look down, you can follow the river because the trees are taller and the grass is greener. But that is how the Cushmans [J. J. Cushman] and the Wightmans [David H. Wightman] watered their farms before the irrigation project went in.
LaVOY: It must have been a branch of the Carson River?
BERLIN: It was.
LaVOY: Now, you mentioned Wightman and Cushman, were they old families that were here?
BERLIN: They were here when my grandparents came. In fact, my mother always said the first weekend they were here, they were invited to a party at Cushmans'.
LaVOY: Now, do you remember the Cushmans' first name?
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BERLIN: Oh, well, yes, of course, the ones I remember were the later generations and unfortunately, I don't remember which Wightman was which. There were two or three Wightmans. But I do remember that when my grandfather first--got his first fields in hay, I think he had to reseed three times because the bad winds would blow out the seed--he was in the midst of trying to get the hay out of the field into the stack, and you could tell that there was going to be a bad rain storm. One of the Wightmans, again I wish I knew which one, brought his crew up here and put up my grandfather's small field of hay because he knew he couldn't get his in, but they could get Grandpa's in.
LaVOY: That's certainly being neighborly.
BERLIN: And my grandparents both always talked about how generous and helpful the original settlers were to these homesteaders who came in.
LaVOY: That's unusual, because you would feel they'd think the homesteaders were interlopers.
BERLIN: Apparently not. At least the ones we knew, starting with Grandma and Grandpa were very helpful.
LaVOY: Did the Cushmans and the Wightmans have a large ranch?
BERLIN: Yes, oh, yes.
LaVOY: Do you have any idea how many acres?
BERLIN: No I don't but the ranches are still there. Probably several hundred acres.
LaVOY: Then they were very early settlers?
BERLIN: Yes, the first, with the Aliens.
LaVOY: Did your grandfather ever mention loss of crops for any reason?
BERLIN: Oh, yes, the weather chiefly.
LaVOY: Freezing or what type of weather?
BERLIN: Whether or not there was water to irrigate.
LaVOY: When the reclamation project came in, did he have
problems with the water saturating the ground?
10
BERLIN: Yes, of course, they all did. As soon as they started to irrigate they realized that drainage was a serious problem. And in 1926 and 1927 they started putting in the drains, and I vaguely remember that because the road was closed and the only way we could get in or out was to go down to our neighbors, the Joneses, and then go out that way.
LaVOY: That is what is now Testolin Road? Who worked on those?
BERLIN: I looked it up. The federal government because you see they still owned--they still were financing--the work on the Dam. And one of the things that I remember vividly, when they dug, they just dumped the dirt, steam shovel full after steam shovel full and it looked terrible I guess. Of course, we were used to it, but people who hadn't seen it would drive in and say, "Oh, isn't it too bad they didn't smooth off the ditches." Of course, I don't think anybody even thought about that.
LaVOY: They were so anxious .
BERLIN: Just to get the drains dug, right. .
LaVOY: Did your father or grandfather know any of the people who were doing the work on the drains?
BERLIN: Oh, I'm sure they did, but I don't remember.
LaVOY: Getting back to your schooling, you said you went to the West End School?
BERLIN: Uh huh.
LaVOY: And then from there you went to Oats Park?
BERLIN: Oats Park, yes.
LaVOY: Well, from Oats Park then where .?
BERLIN: I went to the high school for four years.
LaVOY: That is on Maine Street?
BERLIN: Yes.
LaVOY: Do you have any stories to tell me about your high school years?
BERLIN: Not especially except that I enjoyed it

LaVOY: Who were your close friends in high school?
BERLIN: Gertrude Jones and Henrietta Ball, Ouida Gardner, many people.
LaVOY: Who were your teachers that you liked the best when you were in school?
BERLIN: The finest teacher I ever had was Hattie Brown. When she came here she had taught most recently in France, but she had also taught in China and in India. She came here because her sister, Florence Mason, lived on the Mason Ranch in Hazen. Another sister was a nurse in Reno and that is why Hattie came, and she was a wonderful teacher.
LaVOY: Well, teaching in the foreign countries that she did, did she teach in missionary schools?
BERLIN: No, apparently she taught in private schools. They weren't missionary schools.
LaVOY: Was Mr. McCracken [George E.] the principal?
BERLIN: The principal, yes.
LaVOY: Do you have any interesting stories about Mr. McCracken?
BERLIN: No, no.
LaVOY: The Depression came on in 1929. Now how did that affect your family?
BERLIN: I think we, as kids, really weren't aware of the Depression because we all were in exactly the same fix. And, honestly, we stayed home and we entertained ourselves.
LaVOY: Did you father lose money in the banks during the Depression?
BERLIN: I don't think they lost very much because they didn't have very much to lose.
LaVOY: Do you remember the names of some of the banks that were in Fallon?
BERLIN: Well, there was just the one bank, the Wingfield Bank [Churchill County Bank].

LaVOY: And everyone had his money in that bank?
BERLIN: Right.
LaVOY: When it closed, what were the reactions of the people in the area?
BERLIN: I don't remember. Isn't that strange, but I truly don't remember.
LaVOY: I would think desperation
BERLIN: I think the one thing that is so different now, each family lived more or less to ourselves and there wasn't all this, as we are today listening to the war news, we didn't have that at all.
LaVOY; Did you have a radio?
BERLIN: Yes, I do remember we had a radio.
LaVOY: Now, you were talking about news, and I'm regressing back a little bit. How did the World War I affect the people here?
BERLIN: I can vaguely remember once we went to Hazen and that was a long trip, to see the soldiers--they must have been leaving--I just vaguely remember that.
LaVOY: Was there a large crowd there?
BERLIN: As I remember, but I was very young. I really don't remember much about it. Now, my Uncle Verne married Myrtle Davis from the Harmon District, C.N. Davis' daughter, and their son was killed in World War I. He died in a flu epidemic.
LaVOY: In Europe or the United States?
BERLIN: The United States, and I think he was the only casualty from this county. There were very few then.
LaVOY: I see. When you graduated from high school do you remember anything at all about the graduation ceremony, who was Valedictorian?
BERLIN: We didn't have a Valedictorian.
LaVOY: And how many were in your class that graduated, approximately?
BERLIN: I think we were about forty-five.

LaVOY: Then, did you go on to school?
BERLIN: I did post-graduate work in high school for one year.
LaVOY: And for what reason?
BERLIN: Because I had no money to go to college. Then, the following year I enrolled at UNR [University of Nevada, Reno].
LaVOY: And what courses did you take?
BERLIN: English and journalism and education.
LaVOY: Did you belong to a sorority?
BERLIN: Yes. I belonged to Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority.
LaVOY: Who were some of the other women from this area that belonged there?
BERLIN: Laurada Hannifan, Elizabeth Sawyer,and Lois Downs. I don't think there were any others up there at that time.
LaVOY: What year did you graduate?
BERLIN: I graduated in '37 [1937].
LaVOY: What did you do, then, after your graduation?
BERLIN: I went out to McGill to teach, and I was there a year and a half.
LaVOY: Now, McGill is in the northeastern part of the state. How different was that?
BERLIN: Oh, extremely different, and, of course, McGill was a Company town. There was Riepetown and there was
Austrian Town, which was completely new to me.
LaVOY: In other words, every ethnic group had its own . . .?
BERLIN: Correct, yes.
LaVOY: And then from McGill where . .
BERLIN: And then I came in here to high school.
LaVOY: And you taught in the high school here?
14
BERLIN: The rest of my life, yes.
LaVOY: What subjects did you teach?
BERLIN: English, always, and journalism.
LaVOY: Did you have any students here that you felt were particularly outstanding and were going to go on?
BERLIN: Oh, yes, each year you have some.
LaVOY: Could you mention some of them?
BERLIN: No, I can't mention without looking them up. But I have, of course, many.
LaVOY: Was Rollan Melton one of your students?
BERLIN: Rollan Melton was one. But he came along later.
LaVOY: I noticed that in the early 1940's, you had belonged to the American Association of University Women.
BERLIN: I belonged to the American Association of University Women because Byrd Sawyer was vitally interested in AAUW and she saw to it that the rest of us became equally interested.
LaVOY: Will you tell me who Byrd Sawyer was?
BERLIN: Byrd Sawyer was the wife of Doctor Harry W. Sawyer, the step-mother of our former Governor Grant Sawyer, the step-mother of Doctor Harry Sawyer in San Francisco and of Milo who was a Baptist minister prior to his early death
LaVOY: Well, I noticed that you had gathered books for the servicemen as a part of an AAUW project?
BERLIN: I'm sure we did.
LaVOY: I believe that I noted that you were in charge of it.
BERLIN: We had all the drives, the rubber drives, the this drive, the that drive.
LaVOY: Were there servicemen that were here in Fallon at that time?
BERLIN: Oh, yes. They had the clubs, you know, the U.S.O.
LaVOY: They had a U. S. O. in Fallon in 1942?

BERLIN: Uh huh, right.
LaVOY: Can you tell me something about the war years here in Fallon and your teaching?
BERLIN: Yeah, it was terrible. As far as the classroom went it was wonderful, there were no disturbances and I think probably we felt there were things going on that were so much more vital than anything that happened to us. But the tragedies I still remember. You'd hear of one boy's death and then another and it was bad.
LaVOY: Did you lose your brother?
BERLIN: Yes.
LaVOY: Where was he killed?
BERLIN: In Italy [October 14, 1944]. He was a bombardier and they were just going over and his plane ran into a mountain instead of the airfield.
LaVOY: You say he was a bombardier. He was a pilot, in other words?
BERLIN: Well, he, no, he flunked his test to be a pilot so then they made him a bombardier.
LaVOY: Who were some of the men that you remember from Fallon that were lost?
BERLIN: The one boy I remember very vividly was little Barney Macari, and he was an only child. His parents had a ranch down at the Beach.
LaVOY: Anne, you speak of the Beach, what was the Beach?
BERLIN: It's the land surrounding what is now the Government Pasture. It's a district, an old farming district.
LaVOY: Were there a lot of farmers there?
BERLIN: Oh, I suppose ten, twelve, the ranches are still there.
LaVOY: Now, who else besides this boy was lost?
BERLIN: Oh, well, we were such a small community that each death was a tragedy for everybody, but I remember especially Riley Powell, who had been my dear friend and my brother's dear friend. Tom Bafford, too many, too many.

LaVOY: This Riley Powell, tell me something about him?
BERLIN: He was a brother of Allen Powell who lives here today.
LaVOY: The Powells, I believe, owned the Sagebrush?
BERLIN: They owned the Sagebrush, right.
LaVOY: Was Riley a pilot?
BERLIN: I don't know. I don't think he was a pilot.
LaVOY: Can you think of any other names?
BERLIN: Yes, but not special, as I say, they were all special.
LaVOY: One of the companies that's here in town, the Kent Company, now that's an old company, can you tell me something about that?
BERLIN: I think that the Kent Company is truly a vital part of all of our lives. When, in our neighborhood, if anybody went to town you called your neighbors and Mrs. Jones would call my mother and Ed Thornton would call, the Springers would call, and then you would telephone your order in to Kents, and the neighbor would pick it up for you. I can still hear my mother saying, "And how is the fresh produce today?" and then whoever answered the telephone would tell you there were nice strawberries or there were nice blackberries for pie.
LaVOY: Now, this Kent store was started by whom?
BERLIN: Oh, by Ira Kent, the father, the older father. Then we all ran bills at Kents', and then at the end of the year when it was time to sell your hay, you sold your hay to Kents' and paid your bill.
LaVOY: Oh, what did he do with the hay?
BERLIN: I suppose sold it in California o r to people locally who were feeding a large number of cattle.
LaVOY: Can you describe the Kents' store as you remember it as a very small child and then on up to later years?
BERLIN: Yes, yes. I remember when there was the hardware and the grocery part of the store. The grocery part of the store is the part that faces south. I remember that extremely well, of going in there and there were long counters and clerks behind the counter. You gave your order and the clerk filled it.
LaVOY: You did not fill it yourself?
BERLIN: No, you did not.
LaVOY: The clerk went back and got the goods off the shelves?
BERLIN: Right. In town there was always delivery by the store.
LaVOY: What did they use for delivery, what's the first thing you remember that they used as a delivery vehicle?
BERLIN: I just remembered the cars, the little pickups, but I suppose they maybe even had horse delivery, I don't know.
LaVOY: That store's been here a long time.
BERLIN: Oh, yes, yes.
LaVOY: Now, when you remember it, was it in the location it is now?
BERLIN: Oh, yes, it's never moved. It's always been there.
LaVOY: Has it remained in the family?
BERLIN: Yes, and I can remember when the first time my mother called to ask them to put up an order that somebody would pick up and they said, "They didn't do that anymore." And my dad said, "What would old I. H. say?" And every time there was a change my dad would say, "What would old I.H. say?"
LaVOY: Was I. H. Kent a friend of your father's?
BERLIN: I wouldn't say a personal friend, but everybody, of course, knew him.
LaVOY: Very interesting. What were some of the other stores that you remember in town?
BERLIN: We bought our meat across the street at--I've forgotten the name of it--but Walter Dexter was one of the owners and I remember as we went in as kids they'd always give us a weenie to eat while our mother bought the meat.
LaVOY: That's interesting to me that you bought your meat. You didn't raise cattle on your own?

BERLIN: No. We usually had a pig and that's kind of interesting to me. I don't know why we didn't ever raise beef.
LaVOY: You strictly were in alfalfa?
BERLIN: Uh huh.
LaVOY: Where did you keep the pigs on the ranch?
BERLIN: Oh, out here in the pen. You had a pig to eat up the scraps from your house, you know.
LaVOY: Well, that's the reason for the pig. Did you have any pet dogs?
BERLIN: Oh, we always had dogs, always, always, dogs.
LaVOY: What were the names of some of them?
BERLIN: "Mack" and "Bum". "Mack" was a collie. "Bum" was a
hunting dog. But we always had dogs and Jim and I used to spend half our lives weeping over a dog that had been killed.
LaVOY: How did they get killed?
BERLIN: On the road.
LaVOY: When do you first remember your father getting a car?
BERLIN: I don't remember any time he didn't have a car. I can remember mornings that you'd always have--if you were eating breakfast--you'd have a tea kettle on the stove getting hot so that you could take that tea kettle out and pour it over the engine and get your car going.
LaVOY: In cold weather?
BERLIN: I mean in the cold weather, of course.
LaVOY: I came across an article in the paper I thought was very interesting, it said, "Frank Gibbs had George Coverston chauffeur him in Frank's Ford, then suddenly decided to learn to drive. The roads were on the canal and drain ditch banks, Frank nearly wrecked when he accidently pulled off into a drain ditch, but went right on through and up the other side onto the road there." Do you remember the roads on the drain ditches?

BERLIN: Well, I remember that my dad always felt that he could drive anywhere he wanted to and would get stuck.
LaVOY: Tell me about his getting stuck?
BERLIN: One of the things I can remember once on this road which is now Union Lane--driving down toward where the Fort family lived which is now property owned by the Navy base, and he got stuck there. We had supper with the Forts and they had fried quail. It was a wonderful meal and I've never forgotten it.
LaVOY: The Fort family, you didn't mentioned them before, were they early settlers?
BERLIN: Oh, yes, they were here very early.
LaVOY: Are any members of that family still in the area?
BERLIN: Yes, one of the Fort granddaughters married George
Frey. They are now separated but she was the mother of the Frey children that we know.
LaVOY: Oh, and she had taken the name of Fort. [Elenor Candee Fort]
BERLIN: Yes, she took the name of Fort. Her grandmother's name was Fort
LaVOY: I did not realize that they lived below you here. Nothing was paved?
BERLIN: Oh, no. This was a bad road and right close here was a terrible chuck hole. When I drive to town now over a good road, I just marvel how we used to manage to get along
LaVOY: Does the County take care of the road, or was it the responsibility of the farmers?
BERLIN: Yes, the County always did, I think.
LaVOY: Now, we're going to come forward a little bit, and tell me, where did you meet your husband?
BERLIN: I can't remember that either, socially.
LaVOY: What was his name?
BERLIN: His name was John Berlin.
LaVOY: And where was he born?

BERLIN: He was born in California and he came to Nevada to work in the mines.
LaVOY: About what time?
BERLIN: He came, I should know the date, I don't.
LaVOY: I think 1926.
BERLIN: Oh, is that right?
LaVOY: Approximately.
BERLIN: Uh huh.
LaVOY: What mines did he work in?
BERLIN: Fairview especially, out in that country. Then out in the Ione District. They were out there for many years too.
LaVOY: You say "they" who is "they."
BERLIN: His partner was named George Lurchin.
LaVOY: Did they have a lot of luck with mining?
BERLIN: I think not. But they made a living.
LaVOY: Did he own any other mines?
BERLIN: No, no.
LaVOY: Now, I know he operated the New Pass Mine?
BERLIN: Yes, and then he was working for Jake Bible at the New Pass Mine. Milton Bible was out there at the same time. There were two Bible boys, Alan and Milton.
LaVOY: Oh, I see. Did they have another partner in there too?
BERLIN: I think it was George Hennen.
LaVOY: How long did they operate that?
BERLIN: Several years as I remember.
LaVOY: When did you meet Mr. Berlin?
BERLIN: I think maybe the first time after I left college.
LaVOY: And how did you happen to marry him?

BERLIN: I don't think you happen to marry anybody (laughing) but anyhow . . .
LaVOY: How did you happen to fall in love, that's what I should have said?
BERLIN: I honestly don't know, he appealed to me and I appealed to him so I guess that . .
LaVOY: That's wonderful. How long were you married?
BERLIN: We were married in '59 [1959] and he died four years
ago. [March 5, 1986]
LaVOY: You continued teaching?
BERLIN: Yes.
LaVOY: And he took over the management of your ranch here?
BERLIN: Yes, yes.
LaVOY: Did your mother live many years past your father?
BERLIN: No, my mother died first, my mother died in '58 [March 19, 1958] and my father died in '59 [January 17, 1959].
LaVOY; What were the causes of their deaths?
BERLIN: I think they both died of heart attacks.
LaVOY: And they are buried . .?
BERLIN: Here in Fallon.
LaVOY: At the Cemetery?
BERLIN: Uh huh, and so are my grandparents.
LaVOY: In other words, your family has been here in the area for a good long time.
BERLIN: Right, right.
LaVOY: Now, tell me, with everything going as it is today what are the real big changes that you see in life in Fallon?
BERLIN: So many people, and Laurada [Hannifan] and I often talk
about going to lunch and not seeing a soul we know.
But it's very different for us.

LaVOY: Do you like it this way, or would you rather have it the other way?
BERLIN: Oh, of course we'd rather have it the other way.
LaVOY: Being as close as you are to the Base [Fallon Naval Air Station], does the noise of the jets bother you?
BERLIN: Strangely enough, it doesn't. When they first came my mother used to say, "Well, we should be glad they're our planes and not somebody elses."
LaVOY: So patriotic .
BERLIN: So the noise truly hasn't bothered me. And I've always noticed that the people who live there have been invariably courteous. For instance, if they drive past and there's a cow out on the road they always stop and politely tell me. Even when they run out of gas they're always very courteous and polite.
LaVOY: Ask if they can use your phone?
BERLIN: Uh huh, or my gas, or my car.
LaVOY: That's very, very good. Do you remember the building of the Base at all?
BERLIN: Just vaguely. One reason I remember it is that we had a teacher at high school who was the girlfriend of the Commander at the base. I suppose that's why at school we were interested in it.
LaVOY: Did it remain active or did it close?
BERLIN: No, it always remained active. Of course, more active sometimes than others.
LaVOY: And now with the situation that we have it's very active.
BERLIN: Yeah, right.
LaVOY: Has it helped the economy?
BERLIN: Oh, of course, it's helped the economy, yes. I always enjoyed the Base kids at school because they had come from other schools and they had a variety of experiences that the rest of us hadn't had. One of the things I often think about in all the years I've lived next door, I have one very close friend whom I made

through the Base and I think it is rather sad that we don't have a little more social life together, but we don't.
LaVOY: That does seem like a sad thing. I happened to think of a family that you spoke of--the Kito family, where did they live?
BERLIN: They lived where the Gomes family now lives [3025 Allen Road--John Gomes]. The Ito and the Kito families lived together there.
LaVOY: Had they been here for many, many years?
BERLIN: As truck gardners, yes. Ever since I can remember.
LaVOY: What did they do with their produce?
BERLIN: Oh, they sold it. Some to Kent's and then, I think a great deal of it, was just everybody going there to buy vegetables.
LaVOY: Do you recall going there?
BERLIN: Oh, many times, yes. One of the things I can always remember, you'd buy a dollar's worth and then Mrs. Ito or Mrs. Kito would say, "I give." And they would give you so much. They were extremely generous.
LaVOY: How were they affected by the start of World War II?
BERLIN: One of the things for which this community can be very proud is that they stayed. I understand that it was through the influence of the Kent family and Pat McCarran [US Senator Patrick McCarran] that they did. They were never evicted.
LaVOY: That speaks well for .
BERLIN: For us, yes, that makes me proud.
LaVOY: Do you keep in touch with them?
BERLIN: Yes, I do.
LaVOY: And where are they now?
BERLIN: They're scattered pretty well all over. Mrs. Kito, before her death, lived in Denver and Mrs. Ito in San Francisco.
LaVOY: And you keep in touch with the children is that it?

BERLIN: Yes, yes. The children whom I had in school.
LaVOY: You taught the Kito children?
BERLIN: And the Ito's, yes.
LaVOY: Were they good students?
BERLIN: Oh, wonderful students, wonderful.
LaVOY: Going back to your students, I have asked you before if there were any that really stood out. Do you recall any of the students who went on into politics that went to this school? Alan Bible, I think, would be one. Do you remember Alan Bible [US Senator Alan Bible] at all?
BERLIN: Oh, yes.
LaVOY: Can you tell me something about him?
BERLIN: Well, I just remember that we always admired him and as the years have gone by I have admired him even more because there was never a hint of scandal connected with Alan's name. It makes me feel good that there has never been.
LaVOY: He died recently I believe.
BERLIN: Yes, he did.
LaVOY: Can you think of anything else that you would like to tell us about, that we may have missed?
BERLIN: I think not. One of the things that I've always been proud of when I read about how books are banned in some schools. In all my teaching I have never had a parent complain about any book that his children were reading.
LaVOY: That's great.
BERLIN: I think it's quite remarkable, really.
LaVOY: Someone I wanted to ask you if you taught was Ramon Arrizabalaga.
BERLIN: Oh, no, no, Ramon's my age.
LaVOY: Ramon was your age.
BERLIN: Yes, I taught young Ramon, who was one of the prizes of my life.

LaVOY: With Ramon being your age, I understand that he was in the Intelligence.
BERLIN: I understand that he was, yes, because he had a command of the Spanish language.
LaVOY: Alan Bible at one time told me that some of the episodes that Ramon had happen to him in his work as an Intelligence person were just hair raising and I wondered if you had heard of any of those at all?
BERLIN: No, no. He probably wouldn't talk about his own exploits.
LaVOY: No, I believe Alan Bible found them out through Washington, D.C.
BERLIN: Right, I imagine.
LaVOY: All right, if we cannot think of anything else here I'll say on behalf of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project, I want to thank you very much for this interview.
BERLIN: Thank you, I've enjoyed it

ADDENDUM
Frank E. Gibbs was Project Superintendent at 1225th Company Camp, Carson River BR 35, CCC camp. He supervised the work of the CCC boys on the ditches in the late thirties. The technical personnel serving with him were: Technicians: William T. Coleman, Harold E. Fitz, Erminio Moiola, Francis C. Erb and Elwood L. Seevers. Personnel were: John Edwards, Cecil Cheek, Glen M. Thompson, Henry F. Buerer, Paul R. Davis, Leo Lamb, Donald Kallenbach, Alvin Perrier, Holman Britton and Wesley Somerville. Company 1225 was organized at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, on May 29, 1933. The advance cadre left for Clarkia, Idaho, on June 13, 1933. The majority of the work in Idaho was concentrated on blister rust control and some firebreaks were constructed. On October 15, 1933, these men returned to Camp Dix, New Jersey, and worked throughout New Jersey on park improvement, road construction, bridges, boat and canoe docks, foot trails, shelters, fireplaces, picnic groves and firebreaks. On October 7, 1937, Thursday, 11:00 A.M., Company 1225 entrained for Camp Carson River, BR-35, Fallon, Nevada, under the Ninth Corps Area. They arrived at their destination October 10, 1937, Sunday, 3:30 P.M. This company then engaged in reclamation work until the camps were closed a few years later. (1938 Official Annual - CCC-9th Corps Area)
Frank Gibbs had been married prior to his marriage to Gertrude Whipp. His daughter from that union was Vernetta Gibbs who is now Vernetta Gibbs Jenning. Anne Gibbs Berlin and this half-sister have become very close friends.

Marian Heenan LaVoy

Anne Gibbs Berlin

Fallon, NV