Willard S. Anderson - The Book

Bill Anderson's 84th Birthday - 29 Mar 2001

2010-06-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Chicken Box

2010-06-15T07:07:00.001-07:00

Love this story about Grandpa and his Chicken Box.

Rio Nido, California 1940

2010-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Where it all started, the first meeting between Grandpa & Grandma, Rio Nido, summer of 1940. With a broken leg from a skiing accident, Grandpa asked for her phone number in front of the dance hall. The next day he called her.

Easter 1989

2009-10-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Record

2009-09-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Today, 15 Sep 2009, Willard Severin Anderson, born on March 29, 1917, surpassed the Anderson male longevity record set by Julius Nelson Anderson, 92 years, 5 months, and 17 days!

Congrats Grandpa!!!

DMV Drivers Test Video

2009-07-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

His new book

2009-07-07T09:36:00.001-07:00

Grandpa is writing a book about his trip through the middle east back in the early 1970's. It will cover his travels from Turkey to Afganistan to Iran to India and back to Kuwait. He has solicited my help to photograph a map that outlined his route during his trip. I am very happy that he is doing this for all of us. This is his favorite trip of all time, and I'm sure it can never be duplicated even today.

The Belfast Pop Club

2009-06-09T07:18:00.001-07:00

This is the rough draft of the "Belfast Pop Club" page I'm working on. Here is a sneak preview.

Slides

2009-05-26T07:12:00.001-07:00

Grandpa dropped off 3 carousels full of classic slides last Friday. I can't believe these images, Dad's girlfriend in 1964, young Debbie & Ronie pictures, and Grandpa skiing on Lake Tahoe! There are a lot of vacation photo's and there are a lot of surprises mixed in. The photo's of Grandpa do stand out the most. I'm having slight trouble scanning these slides, the quality is not quite right. But, there are only a million photographs of Grandpa that I can use. For this book, I wanted to dive deep into the archives, negatives, slides, and photos. I know that my Dad has the largest collection, it's only a matter of time.

Grandpa's Slides

Scan and Plan

2009-05-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

Since visiting Grandpa's house, I've been scanning a lot of photo's lately. One after another, they seem to never stop. I scan as many as I can at one time and then I crop each one in Picasa. The web album is growing each day with new photo's for the book. I plan to upload all my photo's to Picasa and then edit my book at the same time. I've got a lot done on the marriage pages between Norine & Bill back on Feb. 14, 1942. The book is slowly coming alive. I am looking for more newspaper articles about Grandpa. The hunt has been fruitful so far and I've just begun to dig around. Grandpa is planning to drop off 3 carousels full of slides today. I am way over my head.

Grandpa's Album

The 1st Visit

2009-05-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Grandpa & I scheduled to meet with each other at his house in Mill Valley on Saturday morning. As I drove up to his house from HWY 101, I saw his brown Mercedes Benz parked on the street. I looked around and he was walking his dog Ruthie along Seminary Drive. I captured a photo of the 2 on their morning walk. I waited for Grandpa to return to his house and I arrived there at 7:30 a.m. I greeted Grandpa in his kitchen while he was eating his oatmeal. He showed me his pile of photographs and photo albums in his living room. I was thinking what did I get myself into and Grandpa said, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Yes.

We talked and talked. Stories of his past came up every 10 minutes. He showed me a few things that he was working on. I started sorting photographs into piles so that I could file them in my box. I took 2 photo albums, Willard & Posie's wedding album and Grandpa's 5" thick photo album of his trip to Europe and Norway. I packed up a 130 year old Birthday Book from my great-great-grandmother Henrietta J. Camp. I just photographed every page for everyone to see online. Visit...http://picasaweb.google.com/gregsjpegs/TheCampBirthdayBook#

Date Set!

2009-05-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

Grandpa came over again to AC Graphics to visit us. I always let him visit with my brother Mike and my Dad first. We always greet each other with a "homie" handshake. We started to talk about my birthday and how it went. I then asked him when I could come over and start working on the project. He told me I could come over this Saturday at 6:30 a.m. I told him that I'll be there.

The greatest place in the world has to be at Grandpa's house. Everything inside of it has a story attached to it. Visiting the office room is like entering the Smithsonian. It is filled with travel books, photo albums, picture frames, slide containers filled with slides of his travels and family life in the 1940's-1980's and who knows else. That is where I'll be on Saturday. I hope I find something rare.

He's back!

2009-05-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Grandpa made another visit with me at AC Graphics on Friday morning. He admitted to me that he has lived quite a life, an incredible life. As he sat down, he asked me how old I was going to be next week. I told him that I'll be 32 years old on Tuesday, Cinco De Mayo.

Did I ever tell you my cousin Herbert? Herb was born the day after I was and I could remember he was in my class at Oakland High School. James Brown also attended Oakland High but he was a little older. Herb & I took a drama class together, he was on stage acting and I was backstage handling the props, lighting, and production. That's what lead me into my career doing advertising, t.v. and production.

In the earlier years of Willard's life, Willard wore knickers until he got a pair of pants on his 13th birthday. For some reason, Willard was caught by his mother saying "Damn." His mother Edna took away his pants that he just got for his birthday. In another story, Willard called Herb a S.O.B. at a party. Herb told Willard's father what he had just said to him. Willard's father Harry asked him if he knew what a S.O.B. was. Willard didn't know what it meant and his father told him if he thought Herb's mother was a dog and that Herb was the son of a dog.

Just the other day, Willard attended a party at the Harbor Bay health club for Odette & Brett. Someone asked Willard how old he was. Willard told him that he was 92 years old and the man remarked "WHAT?" Grandpa is fully aware of how old he is. I showed him my page on the "Cow Palace" and he loved it. Grandpa wanted to know if his travels will be covered in the book. I told him that it will all be covered.

Grandpa is back from his 10 day cruise to Acapulco April 17 - 29. He didn't even get off the boat because of the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico. He does not have it, thank God. Grandpa told me that he's been working hard on getting things together for me. He is very well organized and that's the way he's been his entire life.

1995

2009-04-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Willard lost 2 of his loving sisters in 1995, Geraldine F. Hoffman on February 21st & Jeanette Campe on July 15th (see photo). It must have been a very difficult year in Willard's life, the same year that I graduated from Drake High School. I will be focusing in on the year 1995 in my upcoming book on Willard's life.

Collin Michael Anderson

2009-04-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Collin Michael Anderson, son of Mike Anderson, great-grandson of Willard S. Anderson was born on May 2, 2008. Collin became Willard's 11th great-grandchild. This is a photo of Willard holding Collin at 1 week old. Collin has grown a lot this past year and we're celebrating his 1st birthday this Saturday.

"Grandpa, can I have a tissue?"

2009-04-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

The year was 1989, the place was the parking lot at St. Rita's School in Fairfax. I was in the front seat of my Grandpa's red Mercedes Benz, waiting for my sister Carrie to get out of school so we could go with Grandpa to piano practice with Posie. She was walking toward the car distraught and in tears for some reason. She got into the back of the car and couldn't stop crying. I asked her what was bothering her. She sobbed and sobbed for a minute until she could form a sentence. Through her sobbing, she muttered to Grandpa, "Grandpa, can I have a tissue?" Grandpa couldn't hear what she said, so he asked her to repeat it. "Can I have a....tissue?"

Now then, Grandpa has had a hearing aid in his left ear since 1977, due to a punch to the head (another great story). For years and years we kids had to speak up for him so that he can hear us. So, as soon as Carrie said it again, Grandpa quickly planted a kiss on her right cheek. Carrie, in a state of shock, said "No, No, Grandpa. A tissue, a tissue!!" Laughter flew out of me in abundance. Grandpa had thought she said "Can I kiss you?" Carrie also started laughing at her own misfortune. Grandpa gave her a tissue and laughed all the way to Mill Valley. I will never forget that day, for as long as I live.

Cow Palace

2009-04-25T15:37:00.001-07:00

In 1941, Willard worked for an advertising agency called Fletcher Udall & Assoiciates. As Art Director, his company's advertising accounts was with the San Francisco International Livestock Pavilion. When he and his boss went out to look at the new building he said "What a beautiful palace for cows!" And so, that's how the Cow Palace got it's name.

I just completed these 2 pages for the Cow Palace, I had so much fun putting this together. I first did some research on
Ancestry.com with newspapers from the Oakland Tribune and
the Fresno Bee Reporter. I gathered a bunch of pages with headlines for the Cow Palace. In my research, I couldn't find and recognition for Willard or for Fletcher Udall & Associates. I learned so much about how much it cost, who built it, who performed there, and all about the livestock shows. I inserted my grandpa's story & photograph of him taken in 1941.

Phyllis Diller

2009-04-24T12:18:00.001-07:00

In the mid 1950's, Willard hosted a T.V. show on KGO-TV called the "Belfast Pop Club" along with a young Don Sherwood. They would conduct interviews and do skits with celebrities and the younger generation. The show was filmed live on set and it lasted only a half-hour on Saturday's. It was an early advertisement for Belfast Mug Root Beer, now known as Mug Root Beer.

While Willard worked on the show, the office secretary who worked there was an Alameda resident, Phyllis Diller. My Grandpa thought she was so funny that he invited her onto his show. Diller began her career as a stand up at San Francisco's legendary nightclub, The Purple Onion, for 87 straight weeks. This is where she cultivated her talent and perfected her act. Diller's fame was expanded when she co-starred with Bob Hope in 23 TV specials and three films in the 1960s: Eight on the Lam, The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, and Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!. All of these films were failures at the box office, but Hope invited Diller to perform with him in Vietnam in 1966 with his USO troupe during the height of the conflict in that country.

In 2006, Phyllis returned to the comedy circuit. Willard & Posie went to her show at the Marin Civic Auditorium. She spotted Willard in the crowd and made him stand up and she introduced Willard as the man who had found her at the KGO-TV studios. He is still best of friends with Phyllis & they are the same age. Both of them love to tell jokes.

Norine Payne Anderson - April 23, 1980

2009-04-23T06:10:00.001-07:00

29 years have passed by since my grandmother Norine died from ovarian cancer. I remember her wonderful smile and loving devotion she had for my grandpa. She spoiled us every Christmas and I do remember those Petrini's supermarket shopping bags she used to hold our gifts in.
Norine & Bill met in front of a dance hall in Rio Nido in the summer of 1940. Bill's friend Carrol told Norine that Bill was the boy she talked to her about. Norine in her playfull mood, by herself walked up to Bill and said, "I know all about you, your name is Bill Anderson and you broke your leg skiing." Bill looked at her dumbfounded and thought "Who is this beautiful blond?" The next day Bill called Norine on the phone and asked for a date. The rest is history.

An old video from 1971

2009-04-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

In the Navy

2009-04-22T12:15:00.001-07:00

In 1944, Willard was transfered to the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Anderson's lived in a Navy duplex on the base. While stationed there, Willard continued in Air Sea Rescue design and flying blimps up & down the Atlantic coast. He spent many weekends hitchhiking to Chatham, NJ, to visit his cousin Ruth Lemeke and her family. He always carried Ronie Sue in his arms when he hitchhiked.

Grandpa's Angels

2009-04-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

Ronie emailed me this story about "Grandpa's Angels." He almost died while snorkling in Mexico about 5 years ago. We should all be very thankful for those two angels who saved his life from certain death.

Norine Anderson

2009-04-17T11:41:00.001-07:00

My dad emailed me this picture this morning. It is the final resting place of Norine P. Anderson, my grandmother at Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Sebastopol. In the photo is Willard S. Anderson, Barbara Butler, Esther Smith, and Debbie Clark. Debbie was pregnant with her first child, Desiree. Barbara's ashes are to be buried today next to her late husband Dick Butler at Skylawn Memorial Park.

Willard S. Anderson's 1st wife Norine Payne Fifer Anderson.
22 Dec 1920 - 23 Apr 1980

August 1, 1980

2009-04-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

The wedding of Willard Severin Anderson & Rose Marie Reed Boyd occurred on the hill at Richardson Bay Lineal Park in Tiburon, CA. These are screen shots from a Super 8 Film I captured a while ago for a DVD project for my Grandpa's 92nd Birthday.

Grandpa called me today and thanked me for the DVD. He asked me where did I get all these movies. I said, from my dad's collection. This book will feature many of my dad's Super 8 Film still's.

Photogenic Face

2009-04-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

This is a photograph I took of Grandpa on November 5, 2006. I threw a surprise 30th Birthday party for my wife Jill at Tucker's Ice Cream Shop in Alameda. As I look through my collection of photos, Grandpa pops up at every birthday party, baptism, graduation, wedding, reunion and Christmas Eve party. There is never a party he's missed!

An Old Slide..

2009-04-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

This is a classic slide that I've recently found. It's from my 1995 graduation ceremony at Drake High School. This slide has never seen the light of day since it was taken. There are so many slides like this that are at my dads house. This project will bring to the surface hundreds of these gems. I hope that there are many more.

Greg takes the Oath...

2009-04-13T10:50:00.001-07:00

Grandpa made a surprise visit to AC Graphics this morning. He sat down and told me that he was already working on getting things organized at his house. He let me know that he is waking up in the middle of the night and writing down some of his memories and legendary experiences. He reflected on his trip to Afghanistan. He said that he ran into a little trouble while he was there. It'll be a great story to tell.

Then, Grandpa rose his hand in an oath fashion and proceeded to tell my dad & I that this book will not be written on company time. I took the oath gladly. What a day!

Picasa Links to Photos

2009-04-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Bill's Photos of Willard

Greg's Photos of WIllard

Greg's Old Pics

The first page of the book...

2009-04-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

He accepts!

2009-04-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

I got the call of a lifetime from Grandpa this morning, he was quite flattered that I would write his life story. He told me that for every year of his life, he has kept detailed records of what he did. I was amazed to hear this, it will help me a lot. He proceeded to tell me that his passion was travel. He loved reading books when he was a young man. He found a book called "Caravans" and was hooked ever since. He traveled to Afghanistan and to Pakistan in the mid 1970's.

His mother, Edna, told him to be frugal in life. She would cut a banana in half and share it with him. During the depression, Grandpa's family lost everything they had. Banana's only costed 2 or 3 cents, but still to this day, Grandpa cut's his banana in half. He has never finished an entire banana!

Grandpa wanted to tell me so much more, but he kindly told me to "Get back to work." What an incredible conversation. I have got my hands full. After I got off the phone with Grandpa, I felt like I accomplished my goal. To write a life story on Grandpa is an honor. He deserves it.
I am ready.

Barbara Butler: 26 Sep 1927 - 8 Apr 2009

2009-04-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

Barbara will be missed by all of her family & friends. She was an incredible human being, may we never forget her.

The fax of a lifetime..

2009-04-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

This is the fax I sent to Grandpa on April 9, 2009. I can't believe that it has officially started. -Greg