(This is the
fifth in a series of posts based on audio recordings made by my mother, Cecelia
Coronado Phipps in 1983. Here she remembers
her brother-in law, Harry McIntosh, and her brother, Dutch.)
Harry
McIntosh
Dutch told me years later that he and
Harry McIntosh, who married my sister Hess, became good chums, good friends. They would sleep in the garden in the
summertime. In those days the summertime
was real hot. Hess and Harry were going
together at that time and he played the piano for my father.
Let me tell you a little story about
Harry. Dutch always had a motorcycle. Harry
was inclined to be rather slow moving. He
was a swell guy. We all loved him. ...
Dutch had the motorcycle going in the back yard and said, "Jump on Harry. Get on, we're going into town." Well he thought that Harry had jumped on. By the time he got into town, which was three
miles away, there was no Harry! ...
Harry's
mother brought him and his sister from Massachusetts. She was a widow and ran a boardinghouse in Vallejo. Alice, his half-sister, was practically raised
with us; she spent so much time with us. One time, Mama said, "Pick a few apples,
Alice." Well, she not only picked a
few, she took every apple on the tree. So
there were no apples left on that tree. We
have fond memories of Alice, who grew up almost like our own sister.
 |
| Harry & Hess Wedding Day 1913. Dutch in center with light-colored hat as best man. Sisters Toots & Cecelia as flower girls. Alice on steps at far right. (Revised 8/21/2014) |
Dutch
Let me go back and tell you a little
"ditty" that Dutch talks about. He was sent to school when he was four years
old. He was a very large boy, big boned.
... He was just not ready for school at all. Apparently they wore these little sailor hats
at that time. All he wanted to do was hit the teacher with
his sailor hat. He just provoked her so
much, that finally she sent for my father. He came and the teacher said, "He is just
not ready for school yet. All he wants
to do is fuss." The teacher said to let him come back in a year's time, so Papa
took him home. Well, when the year was
up, he was certainly ready for school. Everything
then came so easy for him.
 |
| Dutch Coronado driving the beer truck in 1914. Man standing on the truck bed holding the child may be his brother, James. |
 |
| Dutch, as a beer truck driver, in front of The Coronado Inn |
