Life Story of Beryl Shauers by Beryl

I was born on November 9^th of 1923 to Lizzie and Arthur Brown at Piggods Orchard, Amersham, England.  I weighed 10.5 pounds and was very hard on my mother.  We did not stay long in Amersham and moved to Chesham in a house by the river Chess.  My grandmother lived in one of the houses with two of my aunts and an uncle.  My mother’s sister would come and visit, and she was 7 years older than I and I would push her in the river when she wasn’t looking.

My mother worked for a hairdresser, taking care of her small boy and they would sometimes take us to the seaside for a trip on a Sunday.  My grandmother took care of me while my mother worked.  After a while when I was about 6 or so we moved to two cottages on Bellingdon Road which I believe were owned by my grandparents.  I liked it there, went to school and stayed at my grandmother’s as my mother still worked at Melville’s.

My life was good, and I had many friends to play with there.  There were not too many cars, so we played in the streets after dark.  My mother and father took me on Sunday evening walks, and we would stop for a drink at the Pub, sit outside and have some crisps.

By the time I was fourteen I had finished my education and was ready for my first job, it was at a Teddy Bear Factory.  I worked 5 days a week and half a day on Saturday.  The money was better at the laundry, so I went there folding sheets and handkerchiefs.

Then the war broke out in September of 1939 and were all issued gas masks.  Sirens sounded the first day.  I remember my grandmother, who lived next door, came running over and was saying we shall all be killed in a minute.  My dad dug an Air Raid shelter at the bottom of the yard.  It worked for a while until it caved in.

I then went to work in a toothbrush factory, and it was there I became friends with Betty Jones.  She was going with Roy Morris and I was going with Neil.  Then we would go to dances at the airport at Bovington.  Neil was the driver who picked up a load of girls at the Broadway.

Finally, we were called up as I was eighteen, so I made the choice to go to work in munitions over entering the military.  Both Betty and I landed at Cossar’s at High Wycombe to work.  I lodged with some people for a while, then finally moved in with Betty as she lived above a fish shop her cousin owned.  After a while I finally moved back home and traveled back and forth to work.

Neil and I were married March 18^th of 1944 and he would come home often on leave until he was finally ordered home to the United States in June of 1945.  My baby was born in August of 1945.  Everyone went to London that day and my aunt was staying with us, so the neighbor got the ambulance and off to the hospital I went.  My baby was born dead and deformed and I spent two weeks in the hospital 8 days before dangling my foot on the ground, what a change to how it is handled nowadays.

Afterwards I went back to work in the toothbrush factory until I received orders to join my husband, so I went to Tidworth for processing exams.  I then boarded the Washington Ship and spent six days at sea with many other women and landed in New York in May of 1946.  I then boarded a train bound for Washington State with two other girls.  I knew, one was going to Cle Elum.  Neil met me in Spokane with his mother and father and we headed for Grand Coulee (quite a ride in those days).  We arrived in Electric City all in one piece at his parent’s house.

The next day we got up to a breakfast of pancakes and eggs.  I thought what a large amount of food as we had been severely rationed.  We stayed there for a week and then moved to our own house which was down the road a little way.  Our house was quite small 9×12 living room, two bedrooms a kitchen and a bathroom, so life began in America.  Life was much different, the first thing I wanted to do was learn to drive and I did over the dusty roads as there were very few good roads except by the dam.

Then I became pregnant with Alan.  We spent a lot of time at Neil’s mother’s house, doing our washing there and I was learning to cook a bit from Neil’s sister Ruby as I had never done cooking at home.  Fem married Neil’s brother Harold and they lived across the road from us.  Alan was born April 9th of 1947 and that kept me real busy, Neil was so proud of him.  Shortly after that I became pregnant with Rodney who was born May 4th of 1948, then came Carl on September 21st of 1949.  Now I really became busy with three young boys.

Work became really slow at the dam, so we moved to Bremerton where Neil went to work in the Shipyard as a truck driver.  We moved in with Harold one night and then bought our first house for $200 down and 40 some dollars a month on Erlands Point.  Carol was born on November 28th of 1951 and Gloria was born January 17th of 1955.

I became a strong Christian and attended the Erlands Point Bible Chapel which later became Chico Alliance Church due to need to relocate due to construction of the new state highway.  I later worked at the church childcare center for many years.

My Refuge and My Fortress