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Bixby, Betty (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Bixby was interviewed in her home. 5/16/1984
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- 2020-10-07
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- SUBJECT BIO - Betty Lewis Bixby was an important volunteer in local groups such as the Junior League and the board of directors of the Long Beach Day Nursery. Bixby's family came to Long Beach in 1910 and her father began his career as a banker, which led him to the presidency of the City National Bank. Bixby attended local schools before graduating from Scripps College. When she married Llewellyn Bixby, the returned to live in Long Beach. In this single interview, Bixby talks about joining the Junior Charity League before it became affiliated with the national Junior League and serving on the boards of the Tichenor Clinic, Long Beach Community Hospital, the Girl Scouts and being an active fund raiser for Scripps. TOPICS - Topics on this side of tape include; family background; childhood; education; banks; Red Cross; St; Luke's Episcopal church and Long Beach Day NurseryTopics on this side of tape include: Scripps College; Long Beach Day Nursery; Depression and Long Beach Community HospitalTopics on this side of tape include: Junior League; Cedar House; American Women's Voluntary Association and sailing
- *** File: cbbbixby1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:56)... Introduction. Bixby's family came to Long Beach in 1910 from Wisconsin; her mother and father came for their honeymoon and never went back. They lived for a couple of years on a ranch in Hemet. She was born in Long Beach in a house near First and Falcon. Both she and her sister were born at home. A doctor who lived down the street, A. C. Sellery, delivered her. Her father started as a bank messenger who worked his way up to vice president of what became Security Pacific National Bank. Later he left that bank and moved to Sierra Madre. Her family had a Black maid whose husband was a minister and she "practically raised" her and her sister. Her family moved into another house when she was in the third grade. (4:56-6:50)... Their Black maid was named Mrs. Williams. There were few Black families in Long Beach in those days. The Williams lived at Orange and Alamitos, on a corner, and they owned the property. Although Mrs. Williams wasn't working for her family any more, Bixby invited her to her wedding. She stood behind Bixby whose wedding gown had a train. When Dr. Sellery, who was also invited to the wedding, stepped on her train, Mrs. Williams told him to "keep his big feet off" that train. She brought down the house. (6:50-10:31)... Bixby doesn't remember shopping for clothes very often. Her grandmother and grandfather had come to Long Beach from Wisconsin and moved into an apartment next door to her family. Her grandmother sewed many of her clothes. Most of her family, the Lewises, ended up in Long Beach. They were originally from New England and were directly descended from Jonathan Edwards. Her grandmother was pretty proud of her lineage. Her other grandfather was from the south and told stories about life there. (10:31-15:32)... Bixby's father started out at City National Bank in Long Beach. B. F. Tucker was head of the bank and when she was born, he gave her family a gold dollar that she still had, at the time of the interview. She also had a framed five dollar bill from the Denver mint signed by her father who later became head of the bank. That bank owned the Pacific Southwest Building on northwest corner of Broadway and American (later Long Beach Boulevard). It was unusual for women to work in banks at that time, but Naomi Tompkins was cashier at the bank. She was a good friend of Bixby's father. (15:32-17:46)... Her family moved to Sierra Madre in the early 1940s and her father bought the Bank of Sierra Madre. It was a small bank and her father thought it would be fun to run it. They also built a home there. Her father modernized it by adopting things like typewriters and adding machines. Eventually the bank moved into another building and then it was taken over by other banks. (17:46-23:50)... Her mother was active for many years n the Red Cross. She still has a picture of herself as a little girl standing in front of their house and trying to knit during WWI. She remembers her mother talking about Perry Austin of St. Luke's Episcopal church. He attended Red Cross meeting with her mother and when some of the others at the meeting got verbose, he took out an alarm clock and set it to remind them not to go on too long. Her mother thought it was a great joke. Bixby attended Carroll Park elementary school. Another little girl lived next door and her mother worked in the rose bead factory on the Pike. One day, rather than going back to school after coming home for lunch, the two of them went to the Pike. When they were caught, Bixby had to go back to school and apologize to her classmates. She never skipped school again. (23:50-30:56)... When her family moved to Third and Orizaba, she attended Horace Mann elementary school, Jefferson Jr. High. Then she spent 1 semester at Poly before going to Wilson High School when it was brand new. Then she went to Scripps College. It was almost new; she was in the third class along with about 50 other students. She majored in English literature but wishes she'd studied psychology. She became interested in nursery schools when she took a child development class from Mary B. Ayer. Scripps started a small nursery school on campus. During the summers, Bixby volunteered at the East branch of the Long Beach Day Nursery where many of her mother's friends served on the board. Miss Fisher headed the Nursery when she volunteered there. Both of her daughters went to Scripps and in 1968 she was appointed to the Board of Trustees. End of tape *** File: cbbbixby2.mp3 (0:00-6:02)... At Scripps, she helped raise money to refurbish dormitories. That was an attractive project to alumni. Scripps has a lovely, intimate campus. Foundations and outside sources helped as well. As the worked, they found out $2,000,000 wasn't enough, so they ended up raising $3,000.000. When the Long Beach Day Nursery decided to build a new East Nursery, she was part of the group that took on the project. When she was on the Nursery's board and they had no terms. She served 19 years. Florence Bixby was president for 35 years and Mrs. Case served for 50 years. Later they limited terms for board members to 9 years. It was the older members who really came through in raising money for the new building. (6:02-11:13)... The Associated Charities, a predecessor of the United Way, approached Florence Bixby about starting the Long Beach Day Nursery. Under her leadership, they built the West Nursery and then Florence and her husband, Fred, donated land for the East Nursery in honor of their son, John. The board has always consisted of women. (11:13-15:38)... They established the Margaret Hathaway Bixby Emergency Fund for working mothers. Many board members represent the second or third generation of their families to support the Nursery. In the early days, board members worked at the nursery themselves. They made sure kids had clothes and enough food, especially during the Depression. (15:38-23:44)... Joe Mottell was helpful when the nursery was being started. Then the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs became interested in and helped, too. Mottell, who was known as "Uncle Joe," was helpful when the Tichenor Clinic was being started. Mottell threw parties for children being treated at the clinic. Adelaide Tichenor, who left money in her will to start the clinic, donated a building to the nursery as well. Bixby, at the time of the interview, was still serving on the Tichenor Clinic board. She thinks it's the only agency in town that has never had a public fund drive. The clinic was started at the time of a polio epidemic in the early 1930s. As a result, other donors also left money for the clinic's endowment. And other groups, like the Ebell Club and Rick Rackers, provide money for specific programs. (23:44-26:17)... Although the clinic isn't affiliated with Community Hospital, it's located right next door and uses some of the hospital's facilities. Bixby's daughter, Jean Bixby Smith, taught swimming at the Tichenor Clinic when she was in college and in the summers after that. Her daughter was president of the Community Hospital Foundation and she was busy as president of Bixby Land Company. At the time of the interview, Jean was also president of the Red Cross which their family has been involved in for many years. (26:17-30:52)... Bixby was asked to join the Junior Charity League after she graduated from Scripps and before she married in 1934. She thinks the league was started 3 or 4 years before that. They used to meet at the old Wayside Colony. There were about 35 members and they had a small room. She served as president in the early 1940s. She remembers being pregnant with her daughter, Barbara, at the time. She was pregnant with her son when she was asked to serve on the Girl Scout board. Jean and Barbara, however, turned out to be Camp Fire Girls. That was the popular thing at Lowell elementary school. The Junior Charity League started a dental clinic and she served as president of the clinic board. It started out in a little room at Community Hospital. From there, they got a bungalow from the school district and moved it to city college campus on Pacific Coast Highway so they could provide dental care to children. End of tape *** File: cbbbixby3.mp3 (0:00-5:13)... Long Beach's Junior Charity League applied to become part of the national Junior League. There was a 2 year probationary period before they were accepted. Now the Junior League has expanded its work into advocacy. One project they took one was abused children and they got Cedar House started. At the time of the interview, she was still on the Friends of Cedar House board. Junior Charity League helped to entertain Naval officers during WWII. (5:13-8:04)... Everyone was involved in the war effort during WWII. Women rolled bandages and that sort of thing. Bixby was an airplane spotter and her post was in the Villa Riviera. She did it in the afternoon but her husband also did it at night. They used binoculars to scan the sky and watch for enemy airplanes. They learned to identify the silhouettes of the airplanes. Of course they never really saw an enemy plane. Ruth Merrill and Betsy Taubman were involved in the American Women's Voluntary Service. At the time of the interview, she still had a piece of brown, striped flannel that was part of their blackout curtain. (8:04-13:52)... Bixby began sailing in the late 1930s. Her husband and an old friend, John Munholland, decided they should get a boat since they had small sons. The boat they got wasn't really for the little boys but for the big ones. It was an 18 foot sloop with a small main sail and a large jib. Later they got sabots for the children. They raced the boat and took it to regattas. They'd put the boat on a trailer, the sabot on the roof of the car, and off they'd go. It was fun and a family sport. Her father had a sail boat and sometime her parents would come along. Eventually they got a larger boat, but it was still a family boat. They belonged to several yacht clubs. (13:52-18:06)... Bixby has seen Long Beach change from a horse and buggy town to a cosmopolitan city. It's changing from a satellite of Los Angeles to a city with it's own place on the map. The harbor has always been important. Of course, she thinks there's more do be done in area like improving housing. It's almost unbelievable how quickly the population has changed as new groups of immigrants have moved in. The situation has left the city with many challenges. End of tape
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