(Excerpt from memoirs written by Barbara LaGarde)
They had four children: Albert, the oldest, Carrie, Charles and John. As the oldest, Albert got to go to Cornell and then to University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Upon graduation, he sent money back to the family for the next one. Charles, however, never returned money for John. This was a big family problem! But Elizabeth and I thought he was fun. He owned a Stanley Steamer automobile and always brought wonderful fireworks for the 4th of July celebration.

Carrie, after the death of her husband, Fitch Powers, lived with Olive and John who were the Postmasters of the town of Otto, NY. Both Bee and Bim and I drove to Otto for her ninetieth birthday and to take home some of her furniture, rugs, lamps, etc., that she treasured and wanted me to have. She lived to the age of 92.

To return to my father’s tours of duty, after Letterman Hospital in 1910 we went by Army transport to the Philippine Islands where we lived in Iloilo, south of Manila. Mother had a Japanese “Amah” to take care of us three children. On the way back to Manila by interisland transport, the Japanese Amah took my brother and jumped overboard; they were presumed lost at sea. I dimly remember the stateroom and being so frightened at the turmoil. I remember crying so much from missing him, and my mother crying for so long after.

We returned to San Francisco about 1912-13. From there we went to Governor’s Island in NY harbor. In earlier days the island was a fortification for the protection of New York. It had a five-star shaped fortification, gun emplacements, a moat, drawbridge, and barracks on the inside. On the opposite side of the island there was a parapet where the Officer’s Club stood. I went to dancing school there, carrying my patent leather dancing shoes in a bag to be changed there. We lived in brick quarters at Ft. Jay. Elizabeth and I went to a small school there.

During that time on Governor’s Island, there were events that made a lasting impression. The worst for me as a seven-year old was being taken to a N.Y. hospital, where scary women in black robes and white caps took me away from Mother and Daddy. They made me lie on a cold, tile floor in a bathroom. There they gave me an enema, which, of course, scared me even more. I don’t remember anything until I woke up and realized I was in a crib and my neck hurt. So I screamed and cried for hours. Finally, Mother and Daddy appeared, so I cried some more! A little boy in a crib next to mine told them: “Him cry all the time!” Both Elizabeth and I had infected glands in our necks, the result of having measles. Back home again, Daddy had to change bandages for both of us, which was most painful.

Another event was the exciting trip to the Hippodrome Theater and its wondrous variety program. We had also had lunch in N.Y. City, which I gulped down in my hurry to go to the show. All that noise and excitement was too much. I had to leave the show before I threw up. It was awful!
We also saw in N.Y the Fire Department: a wagon pulled by six or eight horses. They came racing pell mell down the street with the bells clanging wildly. It was most thrilling and exciting!
Around 1915 Daddy was sent to Galveston, Texas to help with the devastation there caused by a fierce hurricane and tidal wave. While there he wrote cute little letters to my sister, Elizabeth, and me. They usually told a bedtime story of “Jocko and Mose”, a vivid picture of his life in a tent and how he missed us. He also did little drawings to illustrate. These are now in a protected album. They are priceless for the humor and the conditions with which he had to cope.

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