Mrs Ruby Adelle Etter

My twin sister and I were born in Dinuba, CA on April 2, 1921. My parents were on a road trip when we were born. They were not expecting twins and I was born second and not breathing. The nurse who saved me was named Ruby Adelle.

I grew up in Lancaster, CA. My grandmother Johnson, who was a strict Baptist, made sure my sister and I attended Sunday school at the little wooden church (2 blocks away). She sent my Uncle Leif to pick us up in his 1924 Essex to make sure we went. I accepted Christ when I was young and reaffirmed by commitment as an adult.

I loved the picnics after church. Everyone would bring food and we would picnic at the buttes or at Grandma and Grandpa's ranch which was in the middle of alfalfa fields at the end of Johnson Road (now Ave J).

When Florence (my Twin) and I grew older we walked to church ourselves. My grandmother Johnson took an active role in my religious upbringing. My friend's (Frances Gumm aka Judy Garland) mother invited me to take dance lessons with her and my grandmother said "Absolutely not, a good Baptist abstains from dancing!" She didn't know we snuck out to the movies.

At age fourteen my family moved to Hollywood so my father could work in construction during the depression. I saw a couple of boys peeking over the fence from the house next door. I married one of those boys named Robert at age 16. We lived in Hollywood a short time and soon had a house built in Burbank on Frederic St for $2,275.00.

We raised our 3 boys there and made sure they attended church. When Robert was diagnosed with lung caner we were visited by a couple who invited us to attend Magnolia Park United Methodist Church. Robert made my sons promise to keep me coming to our church and that is when I recommitted my life to Christ...Oh, and by the way, I love the dances at our church!