Marshall &Kay Family  Histories

 

Moving to Menlo Park

 

When I was a senior at Lowell High, that's when my parents finally had the opportunity to move down to the Palo Alto area, and the Menlo Park area. My mother (Mary INGHAM) had an Aunt, who would be my great Aunt, on her father's side. Her name was Aunt Jean(or Sarah Eugeane Ingham), her married name was Sarah Egene INHGAM Kilpatrick. She married William Henry Kilpatrick , who was the one who helped build the Ford Motor Company. So she was very wealthy. She had three children and they all died young.  She didn't have anywhere to leave her money, so she left it to all of her nieces and nephews, and mother happened to be one of the nieces. So at that point in time, my parents finally had the money to get themselves out of the city, which they always wanted to do. They didn't like living in the city. So it was kind of like their dream come true, moving down to Menlo Park.

 

I was trilled to be moving down to Menlo Park, but I didn't want to leave Lowell High School because that's where I wanted to graduate. (We moved in the summer before my senior year.) So for a while I tried commuting on the train every morning up to San Francisco to go to high school up there. But that really didn't last a long time because I had to leave so early, and got home so late that I was just dead. I had a hard time doing that. It was hard giving up that dream of graduating from Lowell High School, but realized I was not going to be able to go to San Francisco everyday because I was just getting too tired. But Kay and I remained friends. In fact she planned then on going to San Jose State, and I was going to go to San Jose State with her. 

 

In the mean time I went ahead and applied to go to school in Redwood City, which was the closest school at that time to Menlo Park to support a high school. And I intensely disliked it because I didn't know anybody there. I had pretty much done all the stuff I needed to do except chemistry, and mostly just credits to get out of high school. So I took classes in the morning and I got a job for the rest of the time. I worked eight hours a day and went to school in the morning and finished high school that way. That worked fine, I really needed to do that because I didn't know anybody, and I was unhappy at school anyway. 

 

 

College and Nurses Training

I got through my high school years and went down to San Jose State and was accepted there.  My first plan was to go to college for a couple of years, then go into a special nursing program.  I know Kay and I, we looked at some boarding houses that we were going to board together and stuff. But I had this strange feeling though, its' kind of like I knew that if I started college..... that I would graduate with my bachelor, because at that time, I knew that's what I finally wanted to do. But the closer it got to fall and school starting, the more worried I got. Because I just kept thinking, if I start college I will never finish, and I will never get into nurses training. I just know myself. I'll quit and I'll go get a job. I just was afraid that I would not finish. So, on the spur of a moment I applied to a few of the hospitals in San Jose and San Francisco.

 I was accepted at a hospital in San Francisco, and decided almost at the last minute to go straight into nurses training. That way I knew, if I did that, I knew I was committed and I would have to stay and I would have to complete something. And that way I would at least be able to earn a living. But I felt bad because Kay was more than a little upset, she was very upset. She figured she had a roommate and was all set. But I kept in touch with her off and on for the first year or so. She got married though in her second year and I think she quit college. You see that's what I was afraid might happen to me and I really, really felt like I needed an education before I got married. I was just afraid I would quit school. But I do remember she was really hurt with me. And I didn't think I could ever explain to her why I did that. I kept saying, "I'm sorry Kay, I have to do it this way"..... And I think I made the right decision. 

 

For many years I lost track of Kay, then she got in touch with me sometime around the year 1959 and I went over to visit with her. And she had not gone to church for many, many years, and I felt bad about that. Then I tried to get in touch with her again after about ten years later and talked to one of her daughters, she never did call me back or return any of my calls. Her daughter told me that her mother and father were not married anymore and they had a friend staying with them,  she didn't know what her mother's plans were or anything like that. So I could tell she was living in a situation where she really didn't want to see me. I never did get in touch with her again, I lost track. 

 

I did go into training, and I remember the first day I stood in the lobby waiting for the head nurse to interview me and show me my room. I remember thinking, this is where I belong. It wasn't that I loved the place, I didn't. It was a very strange place to be. But I knew I'd made the right decision, and I knew that's where I was supposed to be at that time. I was there from September until Christmas and that's when I met your dad (B.Vaughn Marshall), at Christmas time. 

 

 

 

Her Commentary on Her Youth

I'm just really glad that I finally got to the point where I realized, and always said, that I couldn't have learned what I learned any other way. And I learned a lot.  I had harbored this resentment for my parents for allowing this to happen. But the longer I was married and as my family grew, I looked back on it and I thought, this is ridiculous you know. My parents did the very best they could, given the circumstances. And they could've really let the ball drop. But they really did do the very best they could do. And my mother had me living with these different families so that I wouldn't be let loose on the streets while they were at work. And that in itself was a real blessing. Because there was a lot of junk going on in San Francisco, there always is. I remember thinking as I was growing up that it's okay, it's not that big a deal, when my cousins would feel sorry for me living with different relatives. But there just wasn't any other way I could've learned some of those things. So I always felt in a way really blessed.