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Volume 049-3 - July 1995 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
referred to the board of supervisors, who would provide aid
and bill the county of origin. The Bank of America manager
donated $2.50, and Mary Silva, who with her mother and
mentally impaired brother made and sold tamales at her home
on Church Street, gave the Society $1.50.
On March 5, 1930, a cold, stormy day, the Society met at
Mrs. Michell’s house and were served refreshments—the first
mention of refreshments in the minutes. Mayor M. J. Brock’s
remarks following the 1930 Donation Day parade were interrupted by a dog fight.
September 2, 1931. As the national depression deepened,
“strangers” and “out-of-town people” were coming for aid
and putting a great drain on the Society’s resources. It was
decided to limit aid to $2 merchandise orders. A bill was paid
to the Sun Chung Lung Company for $2.75 for rice and tea
for a Chinese man named “Louie.” In December, the Society
borrowed $150 from a bank, to be repaid after Donation Day.
Hungry transients had used up the available funds, and helping the poor, the old, and the unfortunate still was not considered the business of government.
In 1932, the county supervisors refused to interfere with
the county hospital superintendent’s policy of charging $1.50
per day to board a special nurse for an indigent patient.
County Clerk R. N. McCormack then donated $10 as a
personal gift, because he felt the case was deserving. Grass
Valley residents began to feel the effects of the depression in
1932, and after a special appeal from the Ladies Relief
Society, 600 students and 200 adults took part in the Donation Day parade.
Several Sacramento salesmen were interested and asked
about the parade; when they understood the purpose, they
loaded up with their wares and joined the procession. The
heads of many families who were camped along the banks of
Deer Creek and the South Yuba River came to Grass Valley
for boxes of food. These refugees were leftovers from the
summer colonies of gold miners who were trying to eke out a
meager existence to survive the hard times. Many applicants
said the donations would provide their first square meal in
weeks. Doris Hunter’s class of fifth and sixth grade students
at Bell Hill School took the money they had put aside for a
Christmas treat and gave it to help others have a merry
Christmas. Miss Una Pine’s class gave the $1.61 they would
have spent for Valentines.
The 50th Donation Day parade in 1933 was small because
the weather was bad and many students were ill. Slush on the
streets forced everyone to walk on the sidewalks. Fortunately,
the street collection was good. Donations were taken to the
basement of the Elks Hall for the first time in 1933. Now
many young single men needed help, in addition to the older
people the Society had always taken care of. One wood
supplier offered to deduct $10 from his bill for the “good of
the cause,” but the ladies, who knew how hard he had worked
to earn this money, accepted only $2.50 of his generous offer.
Five years later, in 1938, most donations were 50 cents or
22
a dollar. Mr. Nobs, manager of the Empire Mine, gave $50,
and $10 was given by Rose Ellis, manager of a local brothel.
In 1939, Jim McCormack, a veteran railroader, marched in
the parade, along with members of the Catholic, Methodist,
Congregational churches, and the Salvation Army. Big Ed
Bosanko carried the usual 50-pound sack of flour from the /(“""
Rochdale Grocery, located across from the present City Hall
on East Main Street.
The delivery of boxes in 1940 was provided by Phillips
Transfer for $10; the company was owned by the father of
longtime Society member Verna Phillips Taylor. Several individuals sold a total of 24 tiers of firewood to the Society at
a price of 2.50 per tier for pine and $3.50 for oak.
By 1947, two years after the end of World War II, and
after the mines had closed at Grass Valley, only about five
active members were left in the Ladies Relief Society, so
several young women were invited to the home of Grace
Clinch for tea. As a result, Jane Dellinger, Lonnie Tremoureux, Dorie Clinch, Marion Tremewan, Betty Hammill,
Margaret Tobias, Helen Stewart, Janet Foote Titcomb, Adeline Cassetari, and Harriet Jakobs joined the society. Jane
Dellinger was elected president, and these older members
became the board of directors: Mrs. Arthur B. Foote, Mrs. C.
Ray Clinch, Mrs. J. T. Tyrell, and Miss Bernice Glasson.
I was asked to provide publicity. With little to refer to of
past Donation Days, I decided to keep a book of any written
publicity that year. Since that time, each person who has
handled that job has faithfully carried on and we now have
several large binders telling of the events of each year and
much information that has been researched from earlier days.
Many members have supplied early photographs which make
the publicity chairman’s task much easier. With so many
pictures taken over the years of the local event, very few had
been made available to the society. Al Dilts was kind enough
to donate some of Harold Biggs’s photos, as was Alfred
Kramm, whose father had photographed the parade in 1907.
Jane Dellinger suggested it would be nice if we put toys in
boxes where there were children, and old toys were refurbished and added to the boxes that year. Since 1959, the
Business and Professional Women have supplied toys
through their “Toys for Tots” program, Ruth and John Truscott worked on toys most of the year; Ruth washed the dolls
and dressed as many as 25 dolls herself. John scrounged
wheels and other parts at the dump to repair tricycles, wagons
and even bicycles. Ruth kept pictures of the toys the two had
so lovingly restored. Several people have worked on this
project since the Truscotts were no longer able to do it. Mrs.
Norby has been responsible for collecting and repairing the
toys with the help of the Future Teachers at the Nevada
Union High School. Each year since the toy program started,
boxes for families are loaded with beautiful toys for children
who might find nothing under the tree at Christmas. It certainly adds to the festivity of the season.
After 1961, when the high school was moved from South