Part 6 of Pete's Story - read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, and Part 5 here.
On New Year’s Day, 1952, life took a major change again. Their daughter Sylvia and her family had come to Gardena for lunch and while Ella was fixing the potatoes she got dizzy, so Sylvia had her lay down for a while. Ella fell asleep and when Sylvia had checked in with her about 4:00 p.m. Ella said her leg had “gone to sleep” and her hand felt funny, so they called the doctor who came right out to the house. He said it was just the flu and she’d be fine in a few days. The neighbor, Gretchen, who was close to Pete and Ella, said she had the same thing happen but her hand kept going to sleep and it lasted for about 24 hours. By this time Ella was feeling better, and feeling encouraged at the flu diagnosis, as she had feared it was a stroke or something else more serious. No one was overly concerned, and the neighbor offered to look in on Ella when Pete was at work the following day. Several days later Ella was still paralyzed but could move her fingers a little. Pete would take care of her first thing in the morning and then Gretchen would come over and get Ella’s breakfast and help her get dressed. Gretchen would come back and get lunch, and Pete was typically home by 3:00 p.m. and take over then. They came to realize that this was not the flu, but a stroke as Ella had feared. They got her a wheelchair and in it she could maneuver around the house a little, and she began improving fairly quickly. She had regained use of her right arm except for her fingers. She could hold things but was unable to write, and still unable to walk. Gretchen made her do as much as she could for herself to keep her muscles exercised, and Ella took a great deal of pride every time she could do a little more on her own. Pete, to everyone’s surprise, not only took care of Ella but everything else that needed to be done in an impressive manner. He cooked all the meals and kept the kitchen “spic and span.” They may have spent their married lives fighting and arguing but no one took better care of her when she needed it.
Eventually Ella learned to walk again, although with a bad limp and needing a cane. She moved slowly and tired easily. She also re-learned to write but with a very shaky hand. Eventually she began doing some household chores and cooking. She even got to the point where she could walk next door to Gretchen’s to visit.
While her recovery was steady, her health was still a struggle. Pete told Lillian, “She had to set up in bed last week, she couldn’t get her breath lying down, so I took her to the doctor. He said her heart was not working right, it was too weak.”
Ella died on April 8, 1952 at the age of 67.
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After the death of her mother, Pete’s daughter Lillian felt it was her duty to move to California and take care of her father. Her husband Bill put his farm up for rent and the family packed what they needed and drove to California. The plan was for them to live with Pete and for Lillian to take care of him and the house. Bill got a job where Pete worked, but for a man who had spent his entire life taking care of his crops and livestock, working an assembly line in the city was devastating. But Lillian was very much like her father – of strong constitution – and felt very strongly that they needed to do the right thing by her father.
The kids had wonderful memories of their time in Gardena. Pete took them to museums, zoos, to the beach, and encouraged them to read books from his large collection. He had a very docile old white horse that he kept for the kids to ride. One of his favorite things to do was go to the beach and go diving for shells. The kids were amused with him standing on his head with his feet sticking out of the water. The boys loved spending so much time outside, and the girls loved their “grown-up” city high school. But the adults were not so happy with the arrangement. Pete could be quite difficult to get along with and liked to be in control. He had gone from living a quiet life to having two extra adults and four rambunctious kids underfoot. Lillian didn’t appreciate his rigid stubbornness and desire to control everything. Bill was never good enough in Pete’s mind, even though he gave up everything meaningful in his life (except his family) to take care of Pete, and Pete liked to bicker with them in return. Shortly after the first of the year, 1953, Bill, Lillian and their kids packed up their car and left Gardena to go back to their previous life.
Pete retired from his factory job in 1954 and was getting tired of being home alone all the time. Alone, except for Butch, his beloved black cocker spaniel, that is. And his outdoor pet squirrel, who would eat nuts out of his hand. But that was soon to change as his daughter-in-law was ill and Pete took care of her while his son was at work; no doubt Pete was often hard to get along with, but his actions show that he was there for his family when he was needed, and went the extra mile for those he cared about. He took care of his daughter-in-law during the day and got her to her doctor’s appointments two to three times a week, and offered the extra support she needed.
In 1955, for a variety of reasons it was decided that Pete would trade houses with his son and daughter-in-law. Besides Pete’s house being bigger and more suitable for a family, his daughter-in-law was much more comfortable in Pete’s house. He said she didn’t like her old neighbors, and Pete wasn’t sure he would either, but he made the trade anyway. It turned out well after Pete did a little remodeling and ended up liking his new neighbors despite his initial misgiving. Butch, however, didn’t like it at all – it had a fenced in yard and he couldn’t get out. Pete also splurged and had a phone put in, and in addition, made plans to plant his new back yard.
He was diagnosed with diabetes after coming to the United States. He would take a set amount of insulin each day and try to keep his eating habits and his activity level fairly consistent, and had always been able to feel if his blood sugar was high or low, and handle it accordingly. But as he got older, it was harder and harder for him to know if he was going to pass out, or if his sugars were high or low. If he worked a little harder than normal, his blood sugar would plummet. In 1956, Pete was having problems with anemia as well. But still, when his daughter-in-law got sick again, he took her to her appointments twice a week until she was better, in addition to getting shots for his anemia three times a week.
Just in case Pete is coming off as a “softy” as his health was declining, he still retained a bit of his orneriness. He felt the doctor was stringing him along with the appointments and the shots several times a week, when he didn't feel bad to begin with. So Pete told him flat out that he’s not coming back till he’s stick enough to actually feel it.
Feeling lonely, Pete was thrilled that three of his four American sisters were getting together and would be spending time at his house. Katrina, Laura, and Mary (from Omaha, Nebraska) came to visit and got along surprisingly well, considering their history of squabbling. He was quite impressed, until he got each one separately and they each had plenty to say about the others. It sounds like Pete was not the only Christensen who could be hard to get along with!
In his spare time, Pete watched wrestling on TV 3 times a week and when there were no matches, he worked on his yard. He planted a number of rose bushes and a Walnut tree. He then decided to put in a whole new lawn, and the increased activity caused him to burn more sugar than usual, resulting in a sudden drop of blood sugar. Luckily he did not pass out, and made it into the house. He ate dinner and came out of it ok, but he did not remember exactly what he cooked. He was to take medicine three times a day and his insulin shot every morning, but admitted sometimes he would forget his medicine.
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With his tenuous health situations, he made the decision to stop driving as he couldn’t tell if he was going to pass out and he didn’t feel it was safe for him to be behind the wheel anymore. He sold his car but felt lost without it so he bought a bike to get around but it caused his blood pressure to increase so he needed to sell that as well. He wrote, “It seems all I can do it play with the dog and think of the old times.” He wrote in a letter to his daughter Lillian, “I sure love to hear from you often as I’m alone most of the time, sometimes I get tired of my own company and that is most of the time.”
One night shortly afterward he slid off his bed and fell onto the floor, where he stayed most of the night. Someone checked on him the next morning and discovered him on the floor. He had had a stroke overnight and was unable to walk or stand up alone. He and Butch went to stay with his daughter for a couple of days. In an unfortunate accident, Butch got out of the fenced in yard, ran into the street and was hit by a car. Butch died immediately. In those couple of days it was apparent that Pete was not going to be able to live alone anymore. His daughter Edna in Harlingen, Texas, wanted him to live with her family. Pete had wanted to live in Harlingen since he left Huron all those years before, and felt Edna's family genuinely wanted him there. Edna’s husband Johnny was a pilot and flew there to get him. Despite the private plane accommodations, he had a hard time making the trip. As a result of the stroke he could not use his left side very well, but was hoping for improvement “now that I don’t have anything to worry about.”
Pete loved it at Edna’s. He and Edna had one major thing in common – they both liked to fish, so they went as often as they could. Due to his physical limitations, he had to fish while sitting on the bank and he didn’t catch a lot of fish that way. But when he did, there was abundant black bass and trout. Pete said Edna was a good nurse, helping him dress every morning and making sure he was eating. As a bonus, Edna’s little grandson kept him entertained.
He did miss being able to do any meaningful work – as this was the first time in his life that he couldn’t garden or do any outdoor work at all.
As the months passed by, Pete was not improving. He wanted to visit in South Dakota, and Edna’s husband was trying to trade a piece of land for a 4-passenger plane. If he could make that happen, they’d look at a trip to South Dakota. But he needed help getting in and out of the car, and moved extremely slowly. He couldn’t walk much and had balance issues, plus his memory was failing. He wanted to try to exercise but the doctor said it’s too hard on his heart. His legs swell up when he walks, but he was glad he was not in any real pain. The trip from Gardena to Harlingen had been hard enough, and his health had certainly not improved, so they were unable to make the trip to South Dakota. He told Lillian that Johnny and Edna take good care of him and he really feels they want him there.
His diabetes continued to be a problem. He would pass out and need to be helped up off the floor. He admitted it’s hard to know if he’s taking too much or too little insulin and he would pass out either way, and it was difficult for the family to know exactly what to do. On one occasion he was out cold for two hours, so he could not be left alone at all.
In February of 1960, after seven months in Harlingen, Pete had another stroke which resulted in his death at age 75.
And so the chapter closed on the life of the young immigrant with $4 in his pocket and a dream in his heart.
Some photos courtesy of Jenny Sasaki
