Mom Story # 1
Bertha Downing as told to her son Dan
In February of 1943 I embarked on a trip by myself to visit my fiancÈ Emerson and his family in Michigan. As a passenger service representative for Mexicana de Aviacion, I flew for free on standby from Mexico City to Dallas, where I would change planes to Detroit. However, in Dallas I was bumped from the connection to Detroit because I had to give up my seat to soldiers that were scheduled to fly there.
So, I took a taxi to the train station, and boarded a train to Detroit, within minutes of its leaving the station. It was an overnight trip, and I was treated very nicely by soldiers aboard. I arrived in Detroit the next morning, and the station was completely empty ñ what was I going to do? I knew I could call on American Airlines for help if needed*and just as I was about to do so, Emerson rushes into the station to get me. Apparently the arrival time had changed, and that’s why he was late.
We drove to his cousin Lucille’s house in Detroit, where we had breakfast. I remember that a call came in from Aunt Estelle, who “wanted to meet this womanâ€. She was a retired English professor that later had a building named for her at Eastern Michigan University. When we arrived, I started discussing Charles Dickens with her, and her opinion of me immediately changed for the better. That was a relief, as she had written Emerson a nasty letter when she learned that he had broken off his engagement with Mary Ducat to propose to me.
There we waited for Emerson’s brother Jack to take us to the family farm in Romulus. I was greeted by the formidable Downing family, all waiting to meet this Mexican woman that was going to marry Emerson. There was Jim Yarger and his wife Marion (Emerson’s eldest sister) and their little kids Harold, and Alvin; Jack’s wife Margaret, and their eldest daughter Susan. A large family reunion was organized, and I mainly remember being stuck with washing all the dishes afterwards.
I was fascinated by snow, which I had never seen, and by the chickens on the farm. The chicken house had heat and music from a radio to encourage them to lay more eggs.
We stayed at the farm in a small room, and visited other family members and friends in the area ñ Miss Cooper, The Greggs. †Emerson took me to visit Cleary College, where he had graduated from, and also to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. We went shopping at Hudson’s in Detroit ñ I was fascinated by Hudson’s ñ such a large, fancy department store! I shopped every department on every floor.
We stayed about two weeks, and then flew back to Mexico together. Oh for those times again. I was full of enthusiasm and self-confidence, and scared of nothing.
A sweet dip into a past when courtship was a process not just a word. When soldiers yielded seats on a bus to a lady. When Mexican was a neighbor, not a cultural pressure. Tell us more — how’d they meet, such that he ended a fiancement ( ? ), and she trekked thousands of kilometers to meet his family to win them over?
Comment by adam — April 23, 2005 @ 6:13 pm
My mother was 24 years old in this story…and this trip was the climax of a courtship that began 2 years earlier. My dad — arriving in Mexico City as a Special Agent with the FBI with a mission to counter-spy against the Germans spying on the US doueing WWII — rented a room in the house that my Mom lived in. The house was owned by her Aunt, who took in her sister (my Abuelita) and her two daughters after my Mom’s dad, a Spaniard, died of Spanish Influenza when he travelled back to Spain to care for his sick mother dying of the same desease.
I’ll try to get her to expand on this in her own words.
Comment by smiling — April 23, 2005 @ 8:08 pm
hello! I was trying to remember who Dan Downing is, so I searched this site, and then started reading various things. Then I noticed a new comment on the Where in the world is ESTELI? entry from last summer. The new comment was added in November, and is that Esteli thought that Esteli was closer to the coast. So I wondered … does someone get notified when comments are added, or is it like a tree falling in the forest? And did Dan or http://www.esteli.org know best where Esteli is, anyway?
Thanks for the story, Dan.
Comment by jennifer — April 23, 2005 @ 9:30 pm
I get notified by email whenever a new commnent is added.
Dan first met Hil in Newton when we all went to one of those Newton North plays.
Comment by michael — April 24, 2005 @ 7:51 am
Seems to me we have three mothers who are spending time looking back at what was. On the way from the nursing home to Concord Park, Flo said to Diane, “I wish I was going to Westfield.” That would be to a time before Diane, Susan, Patti, even Frank.
Comment by michael — April 24, 2005 @ 12:25 pm
Yes, three mothers, which, in Michael’s inimitable words, are racing for the finish line, while memories still live.
Comment by smiling — April 24, 2005 @ 1:51 pm