Sally Ann Moon
I was born on the 12th of July 1946 in the Peralta Hospital in Oakland, California. It was a Friday and close to noon. Mom missed lunch giving birth to me.
I was the second child of Robert S. Moon and Mary W. Hewitt. I was born with several birth defects. One was the equivalent to an extra muscle tied around the opening to my stomach. This made the opening so small that liquids could only drip through. I was very small and undernourished. The doctors who tried to determine my problem and how to solve it believed the only solution was to stretch out that muscle so a larger quantity of food could get into my stomach. They put a very small set of pinchers on a rubber tube down my throat and opened them up when they reached the opening to my stomach. That way they stretched out that muscle. I was about 1 year old the first time they performed this procedure. Because I was so thin and undernourished they could not use anesthesia on me so they did it while I was awake. Mom used to tell me that I would scream if I saw a doctor in his white coat because I was so afraid that they would do that to me again. They performed that procedure three more times before I was four but after the first time they could us anesthesia so I gather I was not so afraid. Mom was very protective of me and kept me close by her side to be sure that I could get food down without it getting stuck. As a result I was very shy and afraid to be away from her.
This carried through on my first day of kindergarten. I cried when Mom dropped me off at school. I was scared to death to think that she would leave me with all those strangers. Thankfully I soon got over being scared and made friends. We lived on Ivy Court in the heart of Walnut Creek, California. Just down the hill was the first Walnut Creek Elementary School. As children we often played on the school grounds. But I did not go to classes there until the fourth grade. Walnut Creek bused children around town to fill up all the class rooms in the various schools around town.
Early in the school year of fourth grade Dad and Mom bought a new house on Ygnacio Valley Road in a new area of Walnut Creek. It was finished and we moved in on November 15th 1955. This house was a very modern Eichler house with a flat roof, walls of windows, interiors of Philippine mahogany and radiant heat in the floor. It had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a living room, dining room kitchen and large back yard. I loved that house. That first winter I remember it rained a lot and because of the construction debris which clogged the drains, the streets flooded half way up the driveway. Mom had to walk out to get to work.
When we moved, we changed school districts. We were now in the Mount Diablo Unified School District and went to school in Concord. Since the area was just being built up new schools were being build to accommodate all the new kids. So after moving to the new house in fourth grade I went to Ygnacio Elementary school then in fifth I went to Walnut Acres Elementary, a new school closer to home. Then in 7th grade they build Oak Grove Intermediate on Minert Road in Concord. High school started out at Clayton Valley High School where both my brother Bob and I went for two years together. Then after Bob graduated in 1962, they built a new high school closer to home by the name of Ygnacio Valley High School. I was among the first graduating class of the new school and my classmates chose the school colors, the mascot, and wrote the school alma mater. I was a cheer leader my junior year. I learned that I had a voice that carried well. For the first time in my life I felt like I was a part of the in-crowd. I was still shy but as I grew up I overcame that. After graduating from Ygnacio Valley High School in 1964, I attended Chico State College majoring in biology. I lived in the Dorm. The day that Mom and Dad brought me up to Chico and moved me into the dorm and then left me I cried. I had never been away from Mom and Dad overnight in my life and it was kind of scary. Mom had continued protecting me all my life. That first semester, I started smoking, I got fairly good grades changed roommates at the end of the first semester and made quite a few friends. The other thing I did that year was to get married in December 1964. Loren and I eloped to Reno Nevada. We were supposed to be at home by 10 pm after playing in the snow (according to what we told our parents) but got caught in a snow storm. We didn’t get home until after one in the morning. Dad was very angry to say the least. He wanted to tell Loren he could never see me again, but he restrained himself. No one knew we had gotten married; it was a huge secret. Except Bud Beemer, Bob’s best friend figured it out and found the announcement in the Reno Nevada paper and sent it to me. I announced my engagement at home right after Christmas and then in the Dorm after the Christmas break. In the dorms they made a big deal out of getting engaged and married in the ‘60’s. After all that was what we girls were supposed to aspire to.
In June after my freshman year of college, Loren and I got married again. Mom and Dad put on a wedding for us with our family and friends invited. Mom made my dress and the suit that I wore when we left on our honeymoon. We were married in St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walnut Creek. The reception was held in the back yard at home. We had a short honeymoon on the peninsula, we stayed in San Francisco the first night and we visited the San Francisco Zoo, then we stayed in a motel down in Redwood City on the Peninsula. We swam in the hotel pool and lay out in the sun. But I was so tired after a couple of days I made Loren take me home to Mom. She took one look at me and sent me to bed to sleep. After a long nap we packed up and drove to Riverside where he was stationed in the air force. He had rented an apartment off base; it was a one bedroom, one bathroom unit. It was one out of four. The owners lived in one of the units. I remember that our laundry facilities included a wringer washer and a drying line out back. We became very good friends with a fellow air force man and his wife who lived next door. We also made friends with the other young guys in the same unit that Loren was in along with their wives.
My education was put on hold until after Loren got out of the military and graduated from college where he qualified for a teaching credential. We moved to Salinas in Monterey County. I attended the local Junior College during my marriage but did not get very far since I could only take one class a semester while working full time and taking care the our home. Loren and I bought a home and put in the front yard and played tennis and life was pretty good. But after eleven years of marriage Loren and I had grown in different directions and finally divorced. I started working towards getting my degree with more earnest. I moved home with Dad and I finally graduated from the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Relations and Organizational Behavior (a fancy name for a business degree).
I started my employment career with J.C. Penney Company in the Women’s Lingerie Department in Riverside California when I was first married and Loren was stationed at March Air Force Base. It did not take long standing on my feet for eight hours a day to know that retail was not gong to be my final career choice. The next job I got was with Pacific Telephone & Telegraph as an Information Operator. After about four or five years I moved into the Long Distance section. This was before direct dial was available and my job was to connect people with each other from one town to another using a cord board similar to the one used by Lily Tomlin in her portrayal of Ernestine in her comedy pieces. I later graduated into the Customer Service department taking orders for residential telephone service and later taking orders for the large businesses and large homes of the movie stars that lived on the Monterey Peninsula in California. That career lasted until I took a leave of absence to go back to college to finish my degree in 1977. With perseverance after nineteen years I actually graduated from college.
After college I was employed for almost twenty years in the mortgage and banking industry. Much later in life I switched to Homeowner Association management.
I spent ten years as a Director on the Board of the Homeowner’s Association where I own a home. This was a special opportunity to work with others in the management of a million dollar corporation. I learned a lot about politics, listening to the ideas of others and overseeing the budget and financial status.
My favorite things to do are reading all kinds of books, including fiction and non-fiction. My favorite authors are Barbara Taylor Bradford, Patricia Cromwell, and Bob Woodward, I love the cooking shows on KQED public television. For many years I made all my own clothes and I am now interested in learning to quilt and use the sophisticated sewing machine that I purchased a few years back. When I was younger I played tennis, loved to dance and was quite active in outdoor entertainment. At age 61 I need to get back into shape and loose weight.
This picture was taken at thanksgiving 2006. That is Maryam Moon, Toby’s daughter I am holding. She is about eight months old and as cute as a bug in a rug.
Picture to the left was taken in 1947. Sally Ann Moon one year old.
The picture to the right was taken my freshman year for the school year book. It was taken in 1960 and attached to a Christmas card sent to Pop Moon, (William 1888). The inscription on the back of the picture says; ”To Pop, I hope you have a very merry Christmas 1960. With all my Love, Sally Moon”
The picture to the left was taken about 1954 in the backyard at our home on Ivy Ct. in Walnut Creek. I was about eight years old. Mom and I are dressed up in our Easter Best. Mom made my dress and jacket but I don’t remember if she made her dress as well. I am not sure why my unhappy face but it looks pretty sour.
The three Moon kids; this picture was taken at Christmas circa 1958. Sally is on the left, Bob on the right and Mary is in the back behind Bob.
After spending 13 years in the telephone service industry, 3 years in the insurance industry and finally 16 years in the mortgage industry I moved to Homeowner Association Management. I have been quite successful at this occupation. I enjoy it except for the long hours necessary due to attending Board meetings at night after working all day.
What I see next in my life is to work at learning quilting, getting fit through exercise, and some travel. I would love to see France and Italy but if I never do I won’t regret it. I would like to spend more time learning about my ancestry and once I can retire from full time employment I would like to volunteer with some organization (yet to be identified) that helps people, where my time is spent giving to others so their life can be easier and more meaningful.
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