Day 9
12/07/23 22:22
July 6, 2023—
Post Nine:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, our mother and father were able to travel around the country and overseas. Rhoda first went to Europe with Karen and Susie the summer after Susie graduated from Saratoga High School (1966). Mike and Kent stayed home with our father Bernie. Bernie, of course—ever the builder— remodeled the kitchen completely while still going to work during the weekdays!
Over the years, Rhoda was able to go again to Europe with Bernie quite a few times. On her final trip, she traveled with her dear friend Genevieve Palace to Paris, ostensibly to visit Susie and Chip who were spending Chip’s sabbatical year there. Before leaving, I encouraged my mother to visit her childhood friend Olivia de Havilland who had been living in the 16th Arrondissement in Paris since the 1950s. Rhoda wrote to her friend, and the two arranged to meet at Olivia’s home. At the time, Rhoda was 88 and Olivia was 89.
After getting flowers, Rhoda and her three companions Susie, Chip, and Genevieve rode in a taxi to Olivia’s home. Apparently, the two Saratoga Grammar School and Los Gatos High school friends chatted and gossiped together about the “olden days” for four hours, and the others couldn’t get a word in edgewise. All drank champagne throughout in Olivia’s comfortable sitting room.
In the Spring following that Parisian trip, Olivia wrote to Rhoda and told her to expect an invitation to upcoming tributes commemorating Ms. de Havilland’s 90th birthday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, both to be held in LA. I told my mother that I would take time off of work and would drive her to Los Angeles so that she could attend. The invitation never arrived in the mail. The day following the tributes, Olivia called Rhoda at her home and asked to come by the house with her daughter Gisèle. Rhoda immediately straightened up the house, then raced down to Trader Joe’s to pick up some snacks and champagne to offer. They both showed up at the home an hour after the phone call, holding a USPS returned formal invitation letter. The address was correct, but apparently the postal delivery person had made a mistake and didn’t put it in the mailbox. In spite of her disappointment at not having been able to attend the tribute events, Rhoda was thrilled to have Olivia and her daughter at her home on Cañon Drive, and to show them “the house that Bernie and Rhoda built”.
Bringing flowers on the way to Olivia de Havilland's home
At the doorstep, flowers ready for Olivia
Rhoda pushing Olivia's doorbell
The gang of visitors--Genevieve, Susie, Mom, Olivia, Chip
The gang of visitors again—Olivia wrote two and a half years later to my mother the following: “I am not sure, but I think two cameras were at work when you came to tea with your daughter and son-in-law in April of 2005”. She was right except about the tea. It was champagne!
The two old pals in Olivia's home, Rhoda at 88, Olivia at 89.
Mom showing her Olivia photo, the signed copy is in her Los Gatos home
Olivia promotional photo from early 1940s
Partying after visiting Olivia—some were a little tipsy
Susie and Rhoda in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Paris Café Mom
Rhoda and Genevieve, Jardin du Luxembourg
Checking out Paris real estate listings
Chip and Mom, checking out the vineyard in Montmartre
Olivia in Rhoda's and Bernie's Los Gatos home, 2006 (posted again)
Post Nine:
As I mentioned in an earlier post, our mother and father were able to travel around the country and overseas. Rhoda first went to Europe with Karen and Susie the summer after Susie graduated from Saratoga High School (1966). Mike and Kent stayed home with our father Bernie. Bernie, of course—ever the builder— remodeled the kitchen completely while still going to work during the weekdays!
Over the years, Rhoda was able to go again to Europe with Bernie quite a few times. On her final trip, she traveled with her dear friend Genevieve Palace to Paris, ostensibly to visit Susie and Chip who were spending Chip’s sabbatical year there. Before leaving, I encouraged my mother to visit her childhood friend Olivia de Havilland who had been living in the 16th Arrondissement in Paris since the 1950s. Rhoda wrote to her friend, and the two arranged to meet at Olivia’s home. At the time, Rhoda was 88 and Olivia was 89.
After getting flowers, Rhoda and her three companions Susie, Chip, and Genevieve rode in a taxi to Olivia’s home. Apparently, the two Saratoga Grammar School and Los Gatos High school friends chatted and gossiped together about the “olden days” for four hours, and the others couldn’t get a word in edgewise. All drank champagne throughout in Olivia’s comfortable sitting room.
In the Spring following that Parisian trip, Olivia wrote to Rhoda and told her to expect an invitation to upcoming tributes commemorating Ms. de Havilland’s 90th birthday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, both to be held in LA. I told my mother that I would take time off of work and would drive her to Los Angeles so that she could attend. The invitation never arrived in the mail. The day following the tributes, Olivia called Rhoda at her home and asked to come by the house with her daughter Gisèle. Rhoda immediately straightened up the house, then raced down to Trader Joe’s to pick up some snacks and champagne to offer. They both showed up at the home an hour after the phone call, holding a USPS returned formal invitation letter. The address was correct, but apparently the postal delivery person had made a mistake and didn’t put it in the mailbox. In spite of her disappointment at not having been able to attend the tribute events, Rhoda was thrilled to have Olivia and her daughter at her home on Cañon Drive, and to show them “the house that Bernie and Rhoda built”.
Bringing flowers on the way to Olivia de Havilland's home
At the doorstep, flowers ready for Olivia
Rhoda pushing Olivia's doorbell
The gang of visitors--Genevieve, Susie, Mom, Olivia, Chip
The gang of visitors again—Olivia wrote two and a half years later to my mother the following: “I am not sure, but I think two cameras were at work when you came to tea with your daughter and son-in-law in April of 2005”. She was right except about the tea. It was champagne!
The two old pals in Olivia's home, Rhoda at 88, Olivia at 89.
Mom showing her Olivia photo, the signed copy is in her Los Gatos home
Olivia promotional photo from early 1940s
Partying after visiting Olivia—some were a little tipsy
Susie and Rhoda in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Paris Café Mom
Rhoda and Genevieve, Jardin du Luxembourg
Checking out Paris real estate listings
Chip and Mom, checking out the vineyard in Montmartre
Olivia in Rhoda's and Bernie's Los Gatos home, 2006 (posted again)
