Rooming at 411 Bonnie Drive

I guess I roomed at the Reymanns’ for several years, but then I moved to a large basement room at the Wilsons’ — my first period of residence at 411 Bonnie Drive. In addition to Mrs. and Mrs. Wilson the household included their daughter and her two children, plus from time to time her husband who was in the Navy and frequently off on assignment somewhere.

During the time I had been living in the Bay Area I had been gradually accumulating a larger stock of personal belongings. Included in these was a business-type desk. This I had purchased with a business discount (arranged through Shell) from an office supply firm close to the Shell Building in San Francisco. The name of the firm as it sticks in my memory now was Beier and Gunderson. The desk has followed me to the various places I have lived ever since and is indeed where I am now sitting. Like my father I acquired a desk during my bachelor days — his was a roll top variety which Vincent now has.

It was while I was rooming at the Wilsons’ that I started to accumulate my stock of woodworking tools. I also made a toolbox which I still have. The Wilsons had some sort of past association with my mother, I believe through her days at Gustavus Adolphus. The Wilsons were reasonably nice people — Mrs. Wilson was somewhat on the discontented and fussy side and Mr. Wilson was sort of a loser who had drifted through life in a succession of menial and low-paying jobs. When I was rooming with them he was working as a janitor — I believe at the high school. His work shift was after the school day had ended so he was usually absent from the house in the evenings.

When the Wilsons bought 411 Bonnie Drive they had to rely on the credit rating of their daughter and son-in-law to qualify for the financing. It seems to me that there was some sort of understanding that the daughter and her husband would take over the house when he retired from the Navy but this never developed.