| Notes |
- New boyfriend (Um-er as Barb calls it) in 2007: Selmar Johansen (born Feb 1919, his daughter is LDS, Donna & Dayle Murray, live in Woodland, Dayle is a dentist. Another daughter Judy and husband Jim live next door to Laura and Selmer)
Discover Your Family Story
California Birth Index, 1905-1995 Record
Name: Laura May Collis
Birth Date: 10 Aug 1926
Gender: Female
Mother's Maiden Name: Sherman
Birth County: Sutter
Laura Mae Collis was born August 10, 1926, at Yuba City, Yuba County, CA. She is the 2nd child of six of Bertha Irene Sherman and Ernest Russell Collis. The family lived in Brentwood, California, but had gone to Yuba City to pick fruit. They moved back to the family ranch in Brentwood until the bank took it, for a $3000 debt owed by Grandma Collis after Grandpa Collis died.
Laura remembers Grandpa Collis had a built up shoe, perhaps about 4 inches. He was kind of crippled up. Grandma Collis was little, had white hair twisted into a little bun on top of her head. She was really sweet, gentle, loving; kind of like Aunt Gladyce.
When Bertha, Russell and their 3 children first moved from the ranch in Brentwood, they went to Oregon and built a log cabin. They didn't live there long, however. They then moved to Washington State, as Bertha's mother lived there in Diamond. They first lived in a little apartment in a warehouse in Thera. It was a building about 2 blocks long, between the highway and the railroad tracks. The farmers would bring their sacks of wheat to the warehouse and put them on the conveyor belt. When the sacks got to the top of the belt, the farmer would open the sack and the grain would fall in a pile into the railroad car. Dad would let the kids ride up the conveyor belt on the sacks and jump into the wheat when they got to the top. There was no bathroom in the little apartment. The bathroom was at the other end of the warehouse. When the children needed to use the bathroom, they would put on roller skates and skate down the entire length of the warehouse. There was little food during this time. Mother would often boil the wheat to eat.
They then moved to a ranch about 2 to 3 miles outside of Colfax, Washington. The ranch was left to Grandpa Lamb and his sisters when their parents died. When we lived in Colfax,Washington, it snowed a lot. Everything went in the slop bucket for the pigs, even the dish water. Dad strung a wire from the house to the barn so we wouldn't get lost during a blizzard. We still had to go feed the animals, and we could grab ahold of the wire during the blizzard and find the way back to the house without getting lost. The bus stop was up the hill, and on snowy days, Mom would have to push us up the hill to catch the bus. When the highway was built during the summer, Mom fed the highway crew lunch. Laura remembers washing dishes and cooking for the better part of the day. There was one big room with a big table. The stove and sink were in this room also. There was a little pantry off the dining room where Mom rolled out the pie crust. Dad used to come in from working on the farm, roll up his sleeves, and wash his hands and face in this dining room sink. Laura remembers driving the hay wagon, with Dad and Roy and the farm help pitching the hay.
They had a Jersey cow that the children had made into a pet. Every time one of the kids walked by, the cow would go through the fence to get out. Dad would get so mad. He said, "You've got to stop petting these cows. They are not pets".
Mom got really sick, possibly with diptheria, when they lived on the ranch and was in bed for a long time. Laura remembers being really scared. Laura, being the oldest girl was responsible for all the kids and house, and mother too. Dad was working so hard trying to take care of the ranch and working in town at the hardware store. We had one of those baby jumpers that hung in the doorway. Darlyne was in the jumper and got her hand caught in the wing of the hot wood stove and burned her wrist before we could get it out. Roy used to tie Laura to the tree outside the door and throw dirt clods at her. She hit him over the head with a cast iron frying pan and knocked him out. There weren't many friends around so the kids only had each other to play with and torment.
Dad called the square dances in the Grange Hall. There were benches lined around the wall where the kids sat. Mom and Dad were very good dancers, and Dad was an excellent caller. Laura doesn't ever remember going to church in Washington. They seldom went to town except to shop. The Grange Hall had dinners and dances. There was no money so people made their own entertainment.
Grandpa and Grandma Lamb were wonderful people. Grandpa Lamb had a huge big sled. He would pack all of us kids in the sled, hook it to his little coupe and pull us kids all over in the snow. He took us for a sleigh ride. He had no hair, but once in a while one would grow on the top of his head. Which ever one of us kids was sitting on his lap at the time, he would let us take the tweezers and pull it out. He was about 6 foot 2 inches tall, and Grandma was about 4 foot 2. She was really sweet. She loved to fish and he hated it. She couldn't drive, so he would drive her and Laura to the crawdad hole teaming with crawdads. Grandma would put a crawdad on the hook and fish for catfish. Laura said they tasted like mud and she still can't eat catfish. Grandpa would let them sit there all day and then he would come back and get them. Grandma liked gardening but most of all liked her grandchildren. She loved them to come and would read them a story, take a walk or just talk to them or take them fishing. She textured her walls by using a round tuffy, dipping it in different colors of paints and painting the walls with it. The Collis family left Washington for California in1941 when the Lamb ranch sold.
Laura was an avid reader. Mother said she always had her nose in a book. She spent a lot of time in the library when they lived with Aunt Gladyce and Uncle Pete.
Charles Paul Just was born on the 27th of December 1925, in Sacramento, His mother was 45 years old and it was a difficult birth. He weighed only 2 pounds at birth and the doctors thought he wouldn't make it, so they gave their attention to trying to save his mother. Her sister-in-law, Nellie, said she rescued him from the wastebasket and saved his life. Charlie's mother kept him in the drawer of a dresser in the kitchen because he was so small. He didn't walk or talk until he was 2.
Charlie was the youngest of 8 children. One child died when she was 2 years old. 3 girls and 3 boys survived. His oldest brother, Charles Raymond died when Charlie was 6 years old. His earliest memories of his sisters were after they were all married. His sister Alice (Babe) died at age 28, when Charlie was about 20. His sister Ellen died 3 years later, and Edith died a few years after that. Only three of the eight children, Bob Charlie, and Margie survived past the age of 40. Their dad had wanted to be a farmer and ended up being a carpenter. They lived in many places in Sacramento, but lastly on 12th Avenue
Charlie spent many summers with his Aunt Nellie and Uncle Gene and cousin Laurence in Colfax, CA. They owned cabins and a restaurant there. Charlie and Lawrence would gold pan and explore. When Charlie went deer hunting and got a deer, he would go tell Aunt Nellie and she would go out and help him skin and clean it.
Charlie skipped school often. His parents were older by the time he was growing up and he pretty much did as he pleased, just as long as he got there by himself and got home by himself. His parents believed children were seen and not heard. His parents were uninvolved in any childhood activities. Consequently he was not a good student, sometimes got into mischief, and was even a time or two brought home by the sheriff. He used to go out hunting by the airport and shoot holes in the farmers water tanks. Of course they didn't like that. He had a little dog named Brownie, wonderful dog. At the Municiple Airport on Franklin Boulevard in Sacramento, an airplane started up. Brownie ran and jumped into the propeller. It killed the dog and broke the propeller. The incident made the front page of the newspaper. Someone told him he'd better get out of there before he ended up having to pay for the propeller. So he took off. Charlie rode all over on his bicycle. There used to be Indian burial mounds out by Sloughhouse. He had lots of Indian bones in his basement, not realizing exactly what they were.
During the summers of his Sophomore and Junior years of high school, Charlie worked for the forestry at fire camp in Auburn. They were short of fire fighters due to the war, so you could become a fire fighter at a fairly young age.
By the time Charlie came out of the service and was married, he became a better student and graduated with honors from Sacramento Junior College. Later one of his teachers, Miss Jones, saw him at the wedding of his friend, Ken Patton's, sister. When they told her that Ken was a teacher and Charlie was an attorney, She was surprised. She thought they would both end up in reform school. Obviously, she wasn't a very good teacher.
Charlie left high school in January of 1944, before graduating from McClatchy High School to serve in the Armed Forces. He enlisted in the Cadet Program, as an on-the-line trainee in the capacity of crew chief on a C 47 airplane. He served for 2 years until November of 1945. He was stationed in Texas, California, Colorado, and Douglas,Arizona.
Laura and Charlie met in the Spring of 1941 when the Collis family moved from Washington to California and temporarily moved in with Aunt Gladyce and Uncle Pete Ping. Eddie Bond, a friend of Charlie's, lived on the same street as Laura's Aunt Gladyce. Eventually Eddie became a friend of Laura's brother, Roy. Laura was 15 in 1941 and she and Roy would join in with the neighborhood kids in playing "kick the can" and other games. Charlie was usually there although he didn't live in the neighborhood. Laura thought Charlie was kind of cute. He was nice to her. He didn't smoke like most of the boys did. They were both kind of quiet and reserved.
Frank Jacinto was also a friend of Charlie and lived close to the house Laura's parents bought on 41st and Y Streets. Charlie and Frank used to come down to visit Roy. One time Laura took Barbara to the California State Fair on Stockton Boulevard. She knew Charlie was there with 'the boys". Laura and Barbara rode the Ferris Wheel looking all around for the boys until finally she spotted them and accidentally ran into them. Laura and Charlie didn't really date, but Charlie would ride his bicycle over to the house and they would stand around and talk. When Mom and Dad Collis would go for their usual Sunday afternoon drive, Charlie would be invited whenever he was there. Neither Charlie's nor Laura's families had much of a social life. They didn't go to friend's houses for dinner nor socialize in any way. Their
backgrounds were similar and they felt comfortable together. They each felt that they didn't have many social skills.
When Charlie was in fire camp, probably when Laura was 17, he wrote a letter to Laura saying he was, "coming home for the weekend, and Let's go to a movie". Laura had never been to a movie. Mom had never allowed it. She decided to just face Mom and said, "Charlie's coming home and he wants me to go to the movies!" Mom didn't object. They went to see "The Moon is Blue". The folks were really. Mom was actively involved in the restrictive Nazarene religion. Skating, swimming, dancing, was not allowed. There was really no dating, going out somewhere. Going to church was allowed and Charlie would go to church with Laura every Sunday and Wednesday night. Mostly it was just out for a drive, then sitting in the car, talking. When Mom heard them come home, she would turn on the porch light. If they sat out there too long, she would flick the porch light. Then if they didn't get the message, the door would open. If they still didn't get the message she'd be knocking on the car window. Mom and Dad Collis instilled something in their chidren to help them develop strength of character. Whether it was fear or the fear of dissapointing them or wanting to be a good example for the rest of the children in the family, it worked.
When Charlie's brother, Bob, went into the service, Charlie inherited Bob's '35 Ford with a rumble seat. He would borrow his dad's T stamps for gas to get around. What fun for the kids, to ride in the rumble seat. Dad Just sold the Ford when Charlie went into the service in 1944. Laura and Charlie became engaged December 6, 1945, probably after a drive. They eloped on the 26th of January, 1946 by first taking a streetcar to the Greyhound bus station located in a really bad part of downtown Sacramento near 5th and I streets. They then took a Greyhound bus to Sparks, Nevada. They were married by a minister who pulled in his wife and a neighbor as witnesses. Charlie said, "They were married amongst strangers and have been living their lives that way, ever since." They chose Sparks because Charlie's sister Babe had eloped to Sparks and had stayed in an old railroad hotel there. Laura and Charlie stayed in the same hotel and said, "Think of the worst hotel you've ever stayed in, and then picture one worse.' They were smart enough to get out of there the next day and go to Reno. There were no big hotels, but the little hotel they stayed in in Reno was much nicer than Sparks. They had no money, but a few dimes. They went into one of the clubs. A lady was playing two machines. Laura watched her and the lady asked if she wanted to play one. Laura said she had a few dimes and put in a couple and hit a $37.50 Jackpot. The lady was quite mad, but Laura was quite delighted with her luck and didn't offer to share. That was a lot of money in those days. That was a highlight of their festivities. Someone took a picture of them on the bridge of the Truckee River. This is their only picture of their wedding trip. They had a picture taken in Sacramento a week later.
Laura had sent her parents a telegram from Reno saying that she and Charlie had eloped. Mom Collis was very angry when they came home. The reason is not really known. Perhaps her lack of insight into helping them to be married, perhaps in her concern over their future, or seeming lack thereof. At any rate she would always get up and go into the bedroom when Laura and Charlie came to visit. She would not talk to them. The newly weds were living with Charlie's parents at the time. Dad tried to talk to her, but she continued to go into the bedroom and not speak to them. Charlie finally talked to mom and told her that if she continued to act as she did, they wouldn't come to visit any more. That was the last time she did that. She finally accepted them. She later said that Charlie was wonderful. Laura and Charlie only lived with his parents a few months and then moved in with Charlie's sister, Edith. Laura was pregnant with Patricia, but before the baby was born, they moved in with Mom and Dad Collis. They moved into the back bedroom off the kitchen. Roy came home from the armed services and slept in the basement. Dad made a room down there. Patty was born and Laura and Charlie moved out to the family housing at Sacramento City College on Freeport Boulevard. Jimmy was born while they were there. Charlie was going to college and working nights at the Highway Patrol. Laura worked at the Department of Motor Vehicles as a key punch operator until Jim was born. Both the city college and the state college were on the same campus, so they lived there for four years while Charlie went to Junior College, then Sacramento State College..
One of the challenges of their early marriage was the time that Charlie wrecked their car. His burning the candle at both ends caught up to him and as he left for work, he was still sleeping. He ran a red light and crashed the Dodge he had bought and rebuilt with his mustering out pay, into two other cars. They had no insurance. Dad Just finally helped them pay off the debts of the two other cars. The worst part of the whole scenario was that a friend of Charlie's was a patrolman on the scene and gave Charlie a ticket for running a red light. They couldn't afford another car, so they got two bicycles. They went to the dump and got two broken down tailor tots. Charlie jury rigged the two tailor tots, for Patty and Jimmy, onto the back of the bikes. That was their transportation for quite a while.
Charlie was taking Education courses when he was a senior in college. He substituted at McClatchy High School and California Junior High and that convinced him that he didn't want to be a teacher. He changed to a pre-med major until he got into Chemestry. He worked harder at that class than all of the other classes and got a C.,so he changed to Law.
They finally moved to Berkeley to continue Charlie's education. Uncle Pete sold them his old Hudson. It had a tendancy to vapor lock (a wet clutch). The traffic on the road would back up for miles, as there was no freeway at that time. You would have to slow down for the traffic, and when you slowed down, you couldn't shift. They had to pull off the road and wait for early morning when there was no traffic. They first lived in some very awful government housing apartments in Albany. They later moved into a flat in a lovely old house in Alameda with great tall windows. Barbara and Tom were married by then and Tom was in the navy, stationed near by. They all lived together there with their children, Patty and Jimmy and Karen. Barbara and Charlie worked nights and Laura and Tom worked days. So the neighbors couldn't figure out who was with whom.
Times were very difficult financially through these college and law school years. Money was very tight. When they would go visit Charlie's parents in Sacramento, Charlie would ask his mother, "You don't happen to have any dirty old twenty dollar bills lying around, do you?" She always seemed to be able to find one. Mom and Dad Collis always brought a box or two of groceries when they came to visit on the weekends. Many times Laura said they would be down to their last twenty-five cents. Hamburger was 25 cents a pound. They hadn't had meat for awhile. They would buy a pound of hamburger because they knew Mom and Dad Collis were coming that weekend and would bring some groceries. A Godsend. When Patty got the chicken pox, Laura used up all her time off to be home with her. Then when Jimmy got the chicken pox there was no time off left, so they packed up the kids and took them to stay with Charlie's folks until they were well enough to go to child care. Without the help of their parents, Laura said they could not have made it.
There was no money for entertainment, so most of it was picnics in the park or at the river, camping, visiting Aunt Gladyce, lots of family gatherings. Most of the fun was with the family. There was a lot of struggle in their early years of marriage. Charlie graduated from Law School in 1953. They moved to Sacramento and Charlie's Dad, at age 83, built the first house they owned on Elvas Avenue. They adopted Carolyn, Charlie's neice. Carolyn's mother, Alice (called Babe), was Charlie's sister. When Carolyn was three years old her mother died. Carolyn went to live with her Aunt Ellen, another of Charlie's sisters. But Ellen died when Carolyn was 6 and Carolyn went to live with her grandma and grandpa Just, Charlie's parents. His parents were old by that time and Carolyn spent much time with Laura and Charlie, and finally came to live with them permanently when she was 10 years old.
Peggy was born about this time. Being 7 years younger than Jimmy, She had a lot more of her parent's time. Life was busy but with Charlie now working in his career as an attorney, life became a little less of a financial struggle.
They always had family time at night. They ate meals together and encouraged their children to talk. Charlie would read to the children every night. He was a very patient father. He would patiently help them with their homework even when they insisted it wasn't the right way. He would just wait until they were ready for his help. Many of the girls had friends who had a hard time growing up and spent a lot of time in the Just home. Laura and Charlie had a great influence in the lives of these youth as well as their own children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren.
They tried to instill a family closeness with their children. Holidays were important in their family. Their cabin at Strawberry on Highway 50 was a great gathering place for their family, and all of the family have great memories of being there. They always opened the cabin on Memorial Day, and closed it in October during the World Series. It was a great investment for their family unity.
Laura and Charlie bought and restored old homes in Sacramento for rentals for a while.
Laura loves to crochet and always has a project going. She took up oil painting for a while. Although Laura had worked through the years at various jobs and for quite some time for the Bank of America, she had really devoted her whole life to being a wife and mother. After the children were grown, on their own, and with families of their own, Laura decided she needed a diversion in her life and the opportunity arose to buy a beauty shop business to manage. Charlie fully supported her in this venture and even helped her remodel the shop. She rented out spaces to beauty operators. It was a very successful venture for 10 years.
They feel they can't claim credit for their accomplishments because so many people and incidents influenced their lives. "We make decisions in regards to our families and their needs". One accomplishment is the fact that they lived together relatively happily for 50 years, with health, a good family (all nice people), and a positive attitude.
Charlie loves moving rocks, and they bought the appropriate property in Auburn Lakes Trails. They feel the need to keep busy and prefer it to simply puttsing around. They have traveled to Europe (England, France), Tahiti. The Carribean, Mexico, They loved the small out of the way places and the feeling of history and wonderment of the areas, but they feel there are so many places to see in the United States., and even here in California. Their goal is to see some of these.
Laura admires Charlie's honesty, the support he gives her, and his ambition. He has many interests and activities. He is patient and think things through.
Her strength of character, her understanding and support for the things that he wants to do are the qualities in Laura that Charlie admires.
Their compatibility and common interests have led to 50 interesting and happy years.
Interview by Marilyn Parker, January 12, 1996
Laura has had back and hip pain for many years and was found to have a congenital problem with her spine. She had bladder cancer but had it taken care of in the early stage.
Date: Tue, May 24, 2011 9:52 pm (email from Peggy)
Today Mom had a consultation with a rheumatologist and he made a preliminary diagnosis of polymyositis, an autoimmune disease. They will do a muscle biopsy sometime tomorrow to confirm it. The biopsy requires general anesthesia, so she's spending one more night in the hospital, hopefully coming home tomorrow (Wednesday). Mom also had an MRI today, and that may provide more diagnostic information.
Treatment of polymyositis is with prednisone - high doses to start, then lowering the dose as the symptoms dissipate. Of course, prednisone has some unpleasant side effects, so Mom is struggling a bit with the information. And other medications may be part of the mix too, we'll have to see.
The Mayo Clinic has good information: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/polymyositis/DS00334
Thanks for all your good wishes, Mom really appreciates having such wonderful family and friends.
update: Dec 2011. Laura is doing much better and is planning to move home from Escaton on Douglass Blvd. to her Roseville home in mid Jan 2012. She now has diabitis and blood clots and still has polymyositis. She is still on Prednazone and blood thinner.
Subject: news about Mom - Laura Just Date: Mon, May 21, 2012 3:12 pm
Dear family, just wanted to let you know that Mom took a terrible fall Saturday, outside her home. She fell backwards onto the sidewalk, hitting her head and fracturing her skull. The impact caused serious bleeding in her brain which worsened overnight, although the medical staff did what they could to stop it. Mom is not expected to improve and is receiving comfort care. She is unconscious but the rest of her vital signs are good, so she could pass away quickly or it could take some time.
If you'd like to visit, right now she's at Kaiser Roseville, in room 1006. Please don't feel obligated, however; she is unconscious and totally unresponsive. If you'd rather keep your current memory of her we totally understand.
She will not be at Kaiser for long, so (after today) be sure to call the hospital before you go to be sure she's still there: (916) 784-4000. We're still planning the next steps, I'll send an update when that has been decided. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
Love, Peg .
Date: Wed, May 23, 2012 9:09 am
Dear family - Mom died peacefully this morning. We'll keep you posted as we make plans. Thank you to all who forwarded my earlier message, and to everyone who came by to visit.
Love, Peg
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1926 - 2012 (85 years)
