Dora Margaret Myers

I was born on April 10, 1922 in a small hospital in Portland which no longer exists. I had one sister (Joan) who was a year younger than me. We lived our first five years with my dad’s parents in a large home in Ladd’s Addition. My grandpa would walk down to the corner on Sunday to get the paper and my sister and I would tag along and he would get us ice cream cones.

We moved to a home near 122nd and Powell which had an acre of land so we always grew a big garden. My mom would can a lot of fruit for winter. We had a cow, a goat, chickens, a dog and a cat. Mother made all of our clothes, and my sister and I would sew clothes for all our dolls. In the summer, I can still remember playing ball with my father.

I went to Gilbert Park Grade School and Franklin High School. After graduation, I went to work at Meier & Frank as a cashier and my sister worked at The Bank of California. We would meet with friends after work for chocolate sundaes at the pharmacy. I enjoyed the dances with big bands and going to Blue Lake Park.

I met my husband on the train during the war after visiting friends in Nebraska. The train was full and he offered me the seat next to him. We parted in Spokane. He went on to Bremerton and returned to Portland. He later came to Portland to visit and we went to Jantzen Beach and rode on the rides.

Later, he was stationed in the South Pacific for two years and we corresponded by mail. He was discharged in 1945 and we married in February 1946. He worked at First National Bank and worked his way up to management. I left Meier & Frank and in May 1947 our first son Tom was born. In 1952, our second son Tim was born.

After the boys were older, I went to work for Portland Public School District in the audio visual library and, after 20 years, decided to retire. Sadly, Tim passed away in 2002 of a heart attack.

We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary in 1995, and soon after, my husband died. I remained in our home until 2004 and decided at that time that I no longer wanted to maintain a large home, so I moved to The Hazelwood retirement community – where I am very happy and surrounded by some very nice people.