Eugene

Eugene R. Fox was born October 11, 1908 in Coburg, Oregon, to James and Dora Fox. At the age of 16, he left his father’s farm in Oregon and joined the Army. My understanding is within a year after he joined the service, he was dismissed due to his deception about his age.

My father was a “Jack of Many Trades,” and mastered a few. I do not know what type of work he was doing when he met my mother in 1934. Lois Ayleen Nebergall was born April 20, 1916 to William P. and Edna Nebergall in Amidon, North Dakota. Her family eventually moved to Long Beach, California where she went to school and graduated from high school. She was a trained soprano soloist and also sang with the choir at the First Christian Church in Long Beach where she met my father.

They were married on August 10, 1935 at the home of Lois’s parents. Soon thereafter, my mother became pregnant with her first child, Eugene R. Fox Jr. who was born June 13, 1936 in Long Beach, California. He would be called “Foxie’ for the rest of his life by his family and friends.

Within a year after the birth of Eugene, mom and dad moved to Stockton, California where my father went to work for the railroad. In 1939, my brother James William Fox was born on New Year’s Day. Mom had two miss carriages over a period of the next 5 years. She wanted a little girl, and in June of 1944 she conceived and gave birth to me, Ayleen Adair, on March 12, 1945.

After my birth mom asked dad to stop working on the railroad because he was gone so much of the time and she needed his help in raising the boys and me. He did, and they soon moved to Oregon.

Mom and dad both worked for the Nebergall Meat Packing Co. in Albany, Oregon. It was owned by one of mom’s cousins. My parents bought their first home there in Albany on Weaverly Drive. In 1953 they sold that home and had a home built on Chestnut Drive in the same town.

My father had a disagreement with the management of Nebergall’s and later left that job. He then went to work for the 7-Up Bottling Co. delivering soda pop all over the outlying areas. He used to take me with him sometimes which I truly enjoyed.

In 1954 and 1955, my father worked for his brothers at Diamond Lake Resort in Oregon. He worked the store, gas station and boat rental at the south end of the lake. In 1955, my parents sold their home and bought a two-bedroom trailer house and moved it to Diamond Lake. My mother worked as the cook at the resort lodge restaurant. In 1956, they moved back to Southern California. Dad hauled that big trailer all the way to Bellflower, California.

Mom worked as a cook and dad found work as a mechanic and lube technician in Long Beach. They soon sold the trailer, rented a home in Paramount, CA, and then finally Lakewood, CA. where they lived the next 10 years.

Mom always wanted to be a nurse and in 1958 she learned that the State Mental Institution in Norwalk, CA was paying people to become nurses. So, at 42, she took the opportunity and became a licensed vocational nurse.

In 1969, my brother Jim persuaded my father to retire and work for him. They lived in Issaquah, WA for a couple years and then moved to Felton, CA. In 1973, mom found work at a nursing home in San Jose. One morning after working two shifts due to the home being short staffed, she fell asleep driving home and went off a cliff. She survived, but was crippled and in a wheel chair for the rest of her life.

After another year, mom and dad moved back to Long Beach to watch over mom’s mother, Edna, in her home. My brother Jim soon sold their place in Morgan Hill, CA and moved back to Long Beach also. He and his wife found a home on the same street where my parents were living.

In 1982, my father had a massive heart attack and died. Mom lived with my brother and his family until 1985 when she came to live with me in Alaska until her death in 2001.