Blocked

                   He was 1 yr.old when his father died and knew none of his Campbell family/ His parents had gone with the other Campbells on their trek to Washington from Mo.  When his father became very ill with "Black Lung"his wife  Maggie took him back home to die.  They went to Mcdonald Co. and Barry Co.Mo. After his death she stayed in McDonald Co.  She owned two homes in that area. After living there for several years she married her 2nd husband" Gillie" Cochran. Gillie sold her two homes and purchased a store in Butterfield Mo.  That was later sold and he bought a farm in Ark.  In about 1911 they left Mo. and went to Idaho where they homesteaded.  In a short time they went on to Washington and lived around Enumclaw.  When dad was about 15 yrs old his stepdad abandoned the family.  He took the rotor from the car,what money there was, the family bible, and left with an axe to   supposedly  chop wood.  the axe was left by the woodpile and he left never to be seen again by the family.  Maggie took her children and worked as a cook for farmhands on large farms.  The boys worked there also when they could.   Dads transportation at that time was the trains and he can tell many entertaining stories about the railroad Bulls and his near escapes.  In his late twenties he with his family settled in Palermo where he met his wife Birdie.  His mother  lived in Palermo ,then went on to Central House and then to Gridley where she lived out her life.  In the 40's she received a letter from Gillie calling her a hussy for cutting her hair.  He had obviously kept an eye on her
but never once made an attempt to see or help with his 3 children.  Dad grew up with the automobile and dates every event with the car he had at the time.  As a girl I remember when visiting with Aunts and Uncles always trading the car we had for a different one.  He only went to the 5th grade in school but learned to read write and spell well enough to get along.  The first few years he worked the Robblee Mine out of Stirling City. He also worked for the W.P.A.
In 1940 he worked for the Western Pacific and took his family to Portola and Beckworth.  He had a job at Walker mine (Copper Mine) the summer of 41.  He with 4 other men were hired to be caretakers as the town had been abandoned the winter before to heavy snow.  When the war started   he moved his family to Sacto. where he and mom both worked at defense plants. In 1943 he moved to Gridley and worked in a creamery. In 1944 he moved his family to Stirling City where he worked for Diamond Match until the early 50's when D.M. moved up to RedBluff. After that he bought a home in Chico, then later rented it and lived and worked in Roseville and then came back to Chico.  Even after retiring he worked in olive orchards outside of Oroville until he was 65+.  They sold their home and bought a Mobile home and lived in Thermalito where he resides now at age 92+.
He moved to a trailer near his only son shere he stayed  until he broke his hip in in early Dec. 2001.  He had surgery which he seemed to handle quite well.  He was put in the rehab section of Oroville hospital. and was progressing and then just started failing and was dead in three days.