The Mayfair Lane House:

It is already time for Sepia Saturday!  This week's prompt photo features some soldiers celebrating with musical instruments, bottles of wine and jugs of hooch.  The only thing that my post has in common with the prompt is that they both feature a place to live.

This post is about the house that my Mom (Jody) and my two aunts (Mardelle and Sondy) grew up in.  I even lived there for a while when I was a baby.

Off of the south end of River Road in Eugene, Oregon is a neighborhood with a street named Mayfair.  My Grandpa Floyd Traylor and Grandma Florence Hedrick Traylor bought the little two bedroom (eventually a three bedroom) house when their girls were little, and lived there until they moved ten miles up the road to their store on the north end of River Road in 1958.  To read more about that place, you can click on "Memories of the Riverview Market".

Florence is holding Sondy, Mardelle is shy and Jody is cracking up.  This isn't at Mayfair, but this is what they they all looked like in the olden days.

After Grandma and Grandpa moved, Mom, Dad, Aunt Sondy and I lived there for a couple of years before the home was turned into a rental.  Granny Litha and Grandpa Ben stayed with us sometimes, and before he died, Mom and Dad used to give Grandpa baths.  Young and strong, Dad would easily lift him into the tub, as he barely weighed a thing. 

Talitha and Ben Hedrick,  Anniversary Party

After Grandpa Ben died, Granny was living in Drain and fell and broke a vertebrae in her back.  As she was healing, she sometimes stayed with us, and sometimes with Uncle John and Aunt Signa.  When she was with us, she cooked the evening meal when she felt like it.  Mom said that it would take Granny all day (she was in a back brace) but her food was excellent and Dad always looked forward to the days when she was cooking.  At that time, Mom was finishing up nursing school and Dad was working at the mill in Junction City before he entered the grocery business.  We lived there until the spring of 1961.

The home had a oil furnace with a heater grate in the floor.  When I was pretty small, I burned my feet on that grate.  My sleeper jammies were wet on the bottom, because my Dad had taken a shower and I walked through some water in the bathroom.  The grate was warm and caused steam to burn my wet feet through the jammies.  Dad took me to the hospital and I was screaming; Mom was working there and Dr. Tingle, my pediatrician said, "That sounds like Kathy!"  Mom and Dr. Tingle were up on the 7th floor, so I must have been quite upset.  They bandaged my feet, but I ended up taking off the bandages soon after I got home.
 

Dad and Mom in the backyard at Mayfair.

Before all that happened, though, the Traylor sisters were young, and the girls were busy growing up.  Some of Grandpa's relatives bought or rented homes in the same neighborhood, making it nice and easy for the cousins to play with each other.  The Sparks lived on Hanson Lane, and the Barkers lived around the corner on River Road.

The little girl on the top right is Sondy, then Lorena Fleming and, Mardelle and Jody.

Grandma T. was the Kool-Aid mom of Mayfair Lane, as far as I could tell.  She often had the neighbor kids over to play.  I remember her telling me that whenever Grandpa was getting ready to take them all on a Sunday drive, the neighbor lady would keep her eyes open for when they were leaving, and tell her kids, "Okay, go hop into their car. Now!"  Grandma said that they were good kids who rarely got to go anywhere, so she didn't mind very much.  Their mother was a nurse and worked nights, so that was probably her chance to sleep.

  Jody is the big one holding the baby and Aunt Mardelle is standing behind her.  This isn't even on Mayfair Lane, it is on McKinley Street in Eugene, but I liked the picture.  We are not sure who all of those little kids are, but they sure are clean and cute!

Time for the Mayfair Fashion Show.

Isn't this a great picture?  I don't know who the girl is on the bottom left, but above her is Aunt Mardelle.  Next to Aunt Mardy is Tom Chaffee.  Connie Chaffee is in the middle, the next one is Carol Sindberg, and my Aunt Sondy is on the bottom right.

Pet parade day!

In the picture above, they were holding their dogs.  The girl on the left is Anne Rasmussen, then there is  Mardelle, Kay Marquis, Sondy, and Kay Rasmussen.  The Traylor's dog, Tikki Lei King (a Pekinese) is held by Sondy, and the other girls are holding her puppies.  I think that is the best dog name that I have ever heard of!

On to a new generation, here I am hanging out in the yard of my old house, on those sturdy legs with healed feet:

I was so cute.

This is my dog, Bobbles.  Why was I so close to those shears?

That Mayfair house had a wonderful yard.  That had to be Grandma T.'s doing.

After Grandpa died in 1971, Grandma sold the Mayfair home and the store to move closer to our house in West Eugene.  She was never able to get a driver's license, due to the rules about tunnel vision at that time.  Grandma walked a lot, and was an expert on the bus system, but it was easier for her to be nearby the heart of town.

This is what the home looks like now ... it sold this summer for $122,000:

Source: My First Class Realtor.com

So, there you go!  Thanks so much for stopping by to check things out, and read about our long lost home that served us well.  

Take care and God bless,

~ Kathy M.

So, there you are, my friends.  If you enjoyed this story, please visit my Sepia Saturday friends by "CLICKING HERE" to find other neat photos and stories.  To read more about my family and other stories featuring old photos, memories and more, please look for this picture of me and my dad on the left-hand sidebar and read whatever else catches your fancy.  Thanks so much for visiting!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.