As I explore my husband Mark’s side of the family, I’m beginning with his mother, Wanda Lea Armstrong.
Wanda was born September 19, 1931 in Meeker Oklahoma. Meeker was established in 1903 and is at the intersection of Highway 18 and US highway 62. But why does the federal census through the years say South Wichita township and not Meeker? The best I can figure out is the township is a 6 mile x 6 mile grid square of land established during the original land surveys of the Oklahoma Territory and the town of Meeker is within the northern portion of the grid square. So they lived within the township but not specifically Meeker, but the township shares the same zip code and relies on the town for mail delivery.
Wanda was the second born and second daughter of Joseph “Jack” Armstrong and Cleo Vergie Gallaway. her sister Willie Marie was fifteen months older. I have no pictures of Wanda or her sister when they were children but I have found the typical newspaper articles telling of family gatherings with the Armstrong family and friends. They had some nice bonding time together because the next sibling doesn’t arrive until 6-1/2 years later.
In April of 1937, Wanda’s brother Johnny was born. In 1943, another brother, Charles, was born. Finally in 1948, her sister Kathryn was born. What a span! Willie Marie got married in 1948 and Wanda was in her senior year of high school by the time their last sibling was born.
In my opinion, Wanda was a very pretty girl and I think her fellow students thought so too! An article from the Chandler News in 1946, says Wanda, as a Freshman, was crowned “Basketball Queen”. Four contestants were nominated by the pep squad and basketball team. Votes were a penny a piece. Wanda won and she was escorted to her throne and received her crown from the basketball captain Earl Welker.
Wanda also played basketball and was a member and treasurer of the Future Homemakers of Oklahoma Club.
I don’t know when or where Wanda met her future husband, Cletus Harold Benson, Jr. but maybe she caught his eye at the diner where she worked.
Harold, as he was known, was born and raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a short 13 miles south of Meeker located in Pottawatomie County. Harold was the son of Opal Dean Menser and Cletus Harold Benson and his story will come at another time.
Wanda and Harold were married in February of 1949 when Wanda was a senior in high school and Harold was in the Air Force and stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Once Wanda finished high school, she joined Harold in San Antonio Texas, about a 7-1/2 hour drive by today’s highways from Meeker. The newspaper documented one visit by Wanda in December of 1949.
After Harold’s discharge from the Air Force, they moved to Berkeley, California and were living with Harold’s mother Opal, his step-father George Shelton, and Harold’s brother Ronald who was 18. Wanda was also 18 and working as a car hop at a drive-in restaurant. According to the census, Opal was the manager and cashier, and Ronald worked at the soda fountain. George and Harold worked for a “steam railway company”, most likely Southern Pacific Railroad where George was a Machinist Inspector and Harold an Apprentice Pipefitter.
There seems to be a bit of travel between the two states because by September of 1950, Wanda and Harold were living in Meeker Oklahoma where their daughter, Linda Darlene was born in December. Then living in California in December of 1951, and back in Meeker in July of 1952.
There are no city directories later than 1935 for Shawnee, Oklahoma and none for Meeker, so I’ve continued to rely on newspaper articles. In a 1952 article for a bridal shower, Wanda was one of the hostesses of the event held in Meeker. The bride was employed by the Bank of Meeker and since Wanda worked for various banks in California when they moved there permanently, I’m going to guess she worked with the bride, Miss Wanda Bolt.
The newspaper trail runs cold, but first this newspaper article. Wanda, along with some friends and family members, laced up their sneakers and played a charity basketball game against the Sparks (Oklahoma) Ladies team with proceeds to be given to the Polio Foundation. This was a fun article to find!
There is a blank space of two years before their son, Mark Aaron (my husband), is born in Berkeley California in March of 1958 while they are living in Oakland.
In 1960, Wanda’s younger brother, Charles, 17 years old, moved out to California to live with them.
The family lived in Napa for about a year when Harold bought a Shell Service Station in January of 1961. Wanda got a job at the new Calistoga branch of the Bank of America in April of that year.
By November of 1961, Harold gave up the service station business and sold his “vendee, equipment, and stock-in-trade” to Shell Oil Company. His address in the Notice of Intended Sale I found is listed as 3115 Suter Street in Oakland California. Either by then, or shortly afterwards, Wanda filed for divorce.
By 1962, Linda was 11 years old and Mark was four years old. Wanda worked for Wells Fargo Bank and Mark remembers living in Oakland during this time period. It was while Wanda worked at the bank that she met Paul Reinhart a mechanic and partner at Big 3 Tire and Brake in Oakland. On the weekends, he raced his corvette with the Sports Car Club of America.
They began dating and one year after meeting, they were married in Reno, Nevada on February 9, 1963.
The new family moved to San Leandro when Mark began school. Wanda continued to work in banking and spent many years working for Ford Credit in Pleasanton.
The family continued to visit Oklahoma and now Iowa was included in the travels to visit with Paul’s parents.
In 1972, Paul and Wanda purchased a small cabin in Twain Harte, a town in the foothills of the Sierras as a weekend getaway. They enjoyed their time there and purchased a larger home a few streets away. Paul and Mark could ride motorcycles through the woods right out of their garage and the canal carrying water for the Tuolumne Water district ran right above their home. It was a great place to walk. They moved there full time around 1993.
I met Wanda in 1987 when I moved to California to live with Mark. Imagine hearing that someone your son met on vacation was moving across the country to live with him! Luckily, we liked each other. We spent many weekends in Twain Harte rocking in the two chairs in her room, talking and watching television. She was a good grandmother to our son, hovering over him feeding him whatever he wanted. She enjoyed shopping and many weekends we would all “head down the hill” to wander through the department stores and the used book store.
She was diagnosed with cancer in March of 1996 and passed away in October of that year in Twain Harte at the age of 64. A memorial service was held for her in Meeker, Oklahoma on July 1, 1998 (28 years ago as I write this) and her ashes were interred with her parents at the New Salem Cemetery located just outside Meeker. The majority of Armstrong and Gallaway family members are buried there.
Just like my mother, she left us too early.
It's All About Family 