OLIVE EDITH (KULLGREN) BIRD (1897-1986)
(Bio by her granddaughter Gale Boetius Perez, Find a Grave Member 47724849)
I knew my grandmother Olive very well but she passed away when I was 36 - long before I became interested in family history. Much of what I wrote below I found through many hours of research. She was an extraordinary woman.
Olive Edith Kullgren was born in the coal mining town of Lafayette, Colorado, July 21, 1897, the last child of Andrew Kullgren and Mary Dempster Morrison. Andrew had emigrated from Sweden, and was a shoemaker. Mary had come from Scotland with her family. Andrew and Mary had initially settled in Erie, Colorado, but in 1896 they relocated to Lafayette, where they built a home at 209 E. Cleveland St. Andrew continued making shoes but also acquired a livery shop, and served a term or two as a city trustee. Mary ran their home business of taking in miners as boarders. Their home, called Kullgren House, is on the National Register of Historic Places for the role it played during Lafayette's mining days.
In 1899, when Olive was two years old, she was riding in a buggy with her mother and her slightly older sister Hazel. It was the fourth of July and the family had been visiting a friend's ranch near Longmont. The horses started suddenly, and Mrs. Kullgren tried to catch the reins but failed, so she dropped Hazel off one side and Olive off the other, and then jumped herself. Olive and her mother broke their legs in the fall. (Longmont Ledger, July 6, 1899; Colorado Historic Newspapers.)
Coal miners struck in 1910 and violence in the Lafayette area gradually culminated in federal troops being called out by President Wilson in 1914. Olive's parents may well have decided to move their family to a safer location, and Denver would offer greater educational, cultural, employment and social opportunities for the family. They moved to Denver in the early 1910s, and lived at 3435 Shoshone St. Olive's mother Mary had purchased two lots in Denver, one at 3435 and the other at 3429, where Olive's brother Nels and his wife Etta lived for a time.
In Denver, Olive attended Woodworth's Shorthand College and Night School ca. 1913-15 (see photo). The college was then located at 1720-1726 Colorado Blvd. The proprietor William Alexander Woodworth lived at 1710 Colorado Blvd.
By 1915 Olive was advertising her secretarial services: the 1915 Corbett & Ballenger's 43rd Annual Denver City Directory lists her as a stenographer, under "Bookkeeping, Gregg Shorthand, Stenotypy, Touch Typing," She was 17 that year and had completed three years of high school. The directory lists her livelihood as "steno" (with no employer mentioned) until 1918, when she is employed with the Frederick R. Ross Investment Co.
The 1919 city directory and the 1920 US census (taken January 20, 1920) stated that she was working as a stenographer for the Boulder Creamery (located at 1801-1807 Market). She must have changed jobs soon after the census was taken, because the 1920 city directory states that she was working at "Work & Co." which I think must be J.W. Work & Co., Editors and Publishers. From 1921-23, she worked for the Continental Oil Co.
Olive's father Andrew died in 1923, and in January 1924 she moved to Los Angeles, along with her mother Mary. Her sister Mary and Mary's husband John Deitrich Zook had previously moved to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Olive found secretarial employment with oilman Edward L. Doheny, and became his private secretary after the departure of Miriam Lerner in 1925. The 1927 Los Angeles city directory listed Olive as private secretary at Mr. Doheny's Pan American Petroleum company. In 1929 Mr. Doheny started a new company, Petroleum Securities Co., and Olive is shown in the 1929 LA City Directory as private secretary at that company. Olive left a few photographs taken in May 1926 at Mr. Doheny's Beverly Hills "Ranch" which is no longer in existence (the Ranch was located near Greystone, Ned Doheny's home). In one photo (right), she poses at the helm of Mr. Doheny's yacht, the Casiana.
Olive remained friends with many of the women she worked with at Mr. Doheny's oil companies, inviting them to her son's wedding and getting together every month to play bridge. The Santa Paula Chronicle (June 11, 1953) mentions one such occasion, when a number of her former colleagues met at her house in Santa Paula.
In 1930, Olive married Johannes Christian ("John") Boetius who had emigrated from Denmark and worked as an auditor in the same company as Olive. They were married by the Rev. Paul C. Elliott, a Presbyterian minister, in Glendale. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. Olive left her position with Mr. Doheny after she was married and on March 3, 1933, she gave birth to her son Paul (my father). She was still in the hospital when, on March 10, the 6.4 Long Beach earthquake - the deadliest in California history - struck. Olive told her future daughter in law Shirley that the frightened nurse jumped into Olive's bed with her, and anyone who knew Olive can imagine Olive's compassion and probable laughter at this! Olive's husband wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark describing Paul's birth and the earthquake and is transcribed on his Find a Grave memorial.
In 1935, Olive and John moved to Ventura County, first living in Fillmore. Olive filed for divorce on August 23, 1938. She and her son Paul initially moved to Ventura (2218 San Marcos Ave.) and Olive went to work for the Briggs Lemon Association packing house at Peck and West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, on November 1, 1938. Her divorce from John became final on September 18, 1939.
By the time of the 1940 U.S. Census, Olive had moved to a two-bedroom Mission style home on West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, close to Briggs Lemon. At the time of the census, her older sister Mary and Mary's husband John Zook were living with Olive and Paul. Paul attended nearby Briggs Elementary School.
At Briggs Lemon, Olive started as a bookkeeper and became office manager after six years. There she met her future husband, Owen Chelsea Bird, who had built and was now general manager of the packing house. They married on Saturday, February 1, 1958 at 4:30 p.m. in a small ceremony attended by immediate family, at the chapel of the beautiful Mission Inn in Riverside. Olive retired from Briggs in 1963 with 25 years of service.
Olive and Owen lived in the old and prestigious Fern Oaks neighborhood of Santa Paula (937 Greenwood Drive) and were very active in civic organizations. Olive was exceptionally active in community affairs. She was a life member and two-term president (1954-55 and 1973-74) of the Soroptimist Club, president of the Business and Professional Women's Club (1955-56), president of the Republican Women's Club (1959-1960), Chair of The Santa Paulans (1957-1958), and President of the Santa Paula High School Parent-Teachers Association (early 1950s). After her second term as President of the Soroptimist Club, she was membership chairman and under her tenure, the Santa Paula club gained more members than any other club in the Pacific Region. She also served two terms as President of the Ebell Club (1965-1966 and 1966-1967).
Olive also held leadership positions with the 12th District Parent-Teachers Association and the Santa Paula Toastmistress Club. She also served as Guardian of Job's Daughters (1954-55), headed the Mothers' Marches on Polio in Santa Paula in the early 1950s, and served with the Children's Home Society.
Olive was a vibrant, energetic, independent, "modern" and can-do woman. She had great personal dignity and integrity, and a strong sense of propriety and responsibility to community; but she was also an extremely warm and friendly woman with a great sense of humor and a smile for everyone. She was a very supportive friend - especially to the women in her life - and was a great deal of fun, with a smile no one could forget. She could relate to anyone and had many friends throughout her life as evidenced in her many pictures. Her family misses her terribly.
*******************
OBITUARY, Santa Paula Daily Chronicle,, Feb. 12, 1986
Services for Olive Edith Bird will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Santa Paula Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary with the Rev. Dr. R. Thomas Bousman officiating. Interment will be at Santa Paula Cemetery. Mrs. Bird died on Tuesday at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. She was 88.
Mrs. Bird was born July 22, 1897 and lived in Santa Paula for 50 years. She was office manager for the Briggs Lemon Association for 25 years. She was a life member and past president of the Soroptimists and a member and past president of the Ebell Club.
She is survived by her husband Owen of Santa Paula; sons, Paul Boetius of Sacramento and Owen Bird of Lindale, Texas; daughter, Sara Webb of Lancaster; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Contributions may be made to the Santa Paula Soroptimist Club, PO Box 614, Santa Paula.
Friends may call at the Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary in Santa Paula until 9 p.m. today.
**************************
Friends Include:
Robert Carey Fairfax (Find a Grave Memorial 184094124)
Eunice Winifred Morgan (Find a Grave Memorial 81651864)
Dorothy Priscilla Soeth (Find a Grave Memorial 85521919)
Hazel & Cord Beckerdite (Find a Grave Memorials 119234860 & 119235264)
Charles Matthew Klaiber (Find a Grave Memorial 117175681)
Wesley Lewis Murray (Find a Grave Memorial 142474916)
Peggy & Lou Rauckman (Find a Grave Memorials 125725900 & 125726018)
(Bio by her granddaughter Gale Boetius Perez, Find a Grave Member 47724849)
I knew my grandmother Olive very well but she passed away when I was 36 - long before I became interested in family history. Much of what I wrote below I found through many hours of research. She was an extraordinary woman.
Olive Edith Kullgren was born in the coal mining town of Lafayette, Colorado, July 21, 1897, the last child of Andrew Kullgren and Mary Dempster Morrison. Andrew had emigrated from Sweden, and was a shoemaker. Mary had come from Scotland with her family. Andrew and Mary had initially settled in Erie, Colorado, but in 1896 they relocated to Lafayette, where they built a home at 209 E. Cleveland St. Andrew continued making shoes but also acquired a livery shop, and served a term or two as a city trustee. Mary ran their home business of taking in miners as boarders. Their home, called Kullgren House, is on the National Register of Historic Places for the role it played during Lafayette's mining days.
In 1899, when Olive was two years old, she was riding in a buggy with her mother and her slightly older sister Hazel. It was the fourth of July and the family had been visiting a friend's ranch near Longmont. The horses started suddenly, and Mrs. Kullgren tried to catch the reins but failed, so she dropped Hazel off one side and Olive off the other, and then jumped herself. Olive and her mother broke their legs in the fall. (Longmont Ledger, July 6, 1899; Colorado Historic Newspapers.)
Coal miners struck in 1910 and violence in the Lafayette area gradually culminated in federal troops being called out by President Wilson in 1914. Olive's parents may well have decided to move their family to a safer location, and Denver would offer greater educational, cultural, employment and social opportunities for the family. They moved to Denver in the early 1910s, and lived at 3435 Shoshone St. Olive's mother Mary had purchased two lots in Denver, one at 3435 and the other at 3429, where Olive's brother Nels and his wife Etta lived for a time.
In Denver, Olive attended Woodworth's Shorthand College and Night School ca. 1913-15 (see photo). The college was then located at 1720-1726 Colorado Blvd. The proprietor William Alexander Woodworth lived at 1710 Colorado Blvd.
By 1915 Olive was advertising her secretarial services: the 1915 Corbett & Ballenger's 43rd Annual Denver City Directory lists her as a stenographer, under "Bookkeeping, Gregg Shorthand, Stenotypy, Touch Typing," She was 17 that year and had completed three years of high school. The directory lists her livelihood as "steno" (with no employer mentioned) until 1918, when she is employed with the Frederick R. Ross Investment Co.
The 1919 city directory and the 1920 US census (taken January 20, 1920) stated that she was working as a stenographer for the Boulder Creamery (located at 1801-1807 Market). She must have changed jobs soon after the census was taken, because the 1920 city directory states that she was working at "Work & Co." which I think must be J.W. Work & Co., Editors and Publishers. From 1921-23, she worked for the Continental Oil Co.
Olive's father Andrew died in 1923, and in January 1924 she moved to Los Angeles, along with her mother Mary. Her sister Mary and Mary's husband John Deitrich Zook had previously moved to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Olive found secretarial employment with oilman Edward L. Doheny, and became his private secretary after the departure of Miriam Lerner in 1925. The 1927 Los Angeles city directory listed Olive as private secretary at Mr. Doheny's Pan American Petroleum company. In 1929 Mr. Doheny started a new company, Petroleum Securities Co., and Olive is shown in the 1929 LA City Directory as private secretary at that company. Olive left a few photographs taken in May 1926 at Mr. Doheny's Beverly Hills "Ranch" which is no longer in existence (the Ranch was located near Greystone, Ned Doheny's home). In one photo (right), she poses at the helm of Mr. Doheny's yacht, the Casiana.
Olive remained friends with many of the women she worked with at Mr. Doheny's oil companies, inviting them to her son's wedding and getting together every month to play bridge. The Santa Paula Chronicle (June 11, 1953) mentions one such occasion, when a number of her former colleagues met at her house in Santa Paula.
In 1930, Olive married Johannes Christian ("John") Boetius who had emigrated from Denmark and worked as an auditor in the same company as Olive. They were married by the Rev. Paul C. Elliott, a Presbyterian minister, in Glendale. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. Olive left her position with Mr. Doheny after she was married and on March 3, 1933, she gave birth to her son Paul (my father). She was still in the hospital when, on March 10, the 6.4 Long Beach earthquake - the deadliest in California history - struck. Olive told her future daughter in law Shirley that the frightened nurse jumped into Olive's bed with her, and anyone who knew Olive can imagine Olive's compassion and probable laughter at this! Olive's husband wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark describing Paul's birth and the earthquake and is transcribed on his Find a Grave memorial.
In 1935, Olive and John moved to Ventura County, first living in Fillmore. Olive filed for divorce on August 23, 1938. She and her son Paul initially moved to Ventura (2218 San Marcos Ave.) and Olive went to work for the Briggs Lemon Association packing house at Peck and West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, on November 1, 1938. Her divorce from John became final on September 18, 1939.
By the time of the 1940 U.S. Census, Olive had moved to a two-bedroom Mission style home on West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, close to Briggs Lemon. At the time of the census, her older sister Mary and Mary's husband John Zook were living with Olive and Paul. Paul attended nearby Briggs Elementary School.
At Briggs Lemon, Olive started as a bookkeeper and became office manager after six years. There she met her future husband, Owen Chelsea Bird, who had built and was now general manager of the packing house. They married on Saturday, February 1, 1958 at 4:30 p.m. in a small ceremony attended by immediate family, at the chapel of the beautiful Mission Inn in Riverside. Olive retired from Briggs in 1963 with 25 years of service.
Olive and Owen lived in the old and prestigious Fern Oaks neighborhood of Santa Paula (937 Greenwood Drive) and were very active in civic organizations. Olive was exceptionally active in community affairs. She was a life member and two-term president (1954-55 and 1973-74) of the Soroptimist Club, president of the Business and Professional Women's Club (1955-56), president of the Republican Women's Club (1959-1960), Chair of The Santa Paulans (1957-1958), and President of the Santa Paula High School Parent-Teachers Association (early 1950s). After her second term as President of the Soroptimist Club, she was membership chairman and under her tenure, the Santa Paula club gained more members than any other club in the Pacific Region. She also served two terms as President of the Ebell Club (1965-1966 and 1966-1967).
Olive also held leadership positions with the 12th District Parent-Teachers Association and the Santa Paula Toastmistress Club. She also served as Guardian of Job's Daughters (1954-55), headed the Mothers' Marches on Polio in Santa Paula in the early 1950s, and served with the Children's Home Society.
Olive was a vibrant, energetic, independent, "modern" and can-do woman. She had great personal dignity and integrity, and a strong sense of propriety and responsibility to community; but she was also an extremely warm and friendly woman with a great sense of humor and a smile for everyone. She was a very supportive friend - especially to the women in her life - and was a great deal of fun, with a smile no one could forget. She could relate to anyone and had many friends throughout her life as evidenced in her many pictures. Her family misses her terribly.
*******************
OBITUARY, Santa Paula Daily Chronicle,, Feb. 12, 1986
Services for Olive Edith Bird will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Santa Paula Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary with the Rev. Dr. R. Thomas Bousman officiating. Interment will be at Santa Paula Cemetery. Mrs. Bird died on Tuesday at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. She was 88.
Mrs. Bird was born July 22, 1897 and lived in Santa Paula for 50 years. She was office manager for the Briggs Lemon Association for 25 years. She was a life member and past president of the Soroptimists and a member and past president of the Ebell Club.
She is survived by her husband Owen of Santa Paula; sons, Paul Boetius of Sacramento and Owen Bird of Lindale, Texas; daughter, Sara Webb of Lancaster; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Contributions may be made to the Santa Paula Soroptimist Club, PO Box 614, Santa Paula.
Friends may call at the Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary in Santa Paula until 9 p.m. today.
**************************
Friends Include:
Robert Carey Fairfax (Find a Grave Memorial 184094124)
Eunice Winifred Morgan (Find a Grave Memorial 81651864)
Dorothy Priscilla Soeth (Find a Grave Memorial 85521919)
Hazel & Cord Beckerdite (Find a Grave Memorials 119234860 & 119235264)
Charles Matthew Klaiber (Find a Grave Memorial 117175681)
Wesley Lewis Murray (Find a Grave Memorial 142474916)
Peggy & Lou Rauckman (Find a Grave Memorials 125725900 & 125726018)
OLIVE EDITH (KULLGREN) BIRD (1897-1986)
(Bio by her granddaughter Gale Boetius Perez, Find a Grave Member 47724849)
I knew my grandmother Olive very well but she passed away when I was 36 - long before I became interested in family history. Much of what I wrote below I found through many hours of research. She was an extraordinary woman.
Olive Edith Kullgren was born in the coal mining town of Lafayette, Colorado, July 21, 1897, the last child of Andrew Kullgren and Mary Dempster Morrison. Andrew had emigrated from Sweden, and was a shoemaker. Mary had come from Scotland with her family. Andrew and Mary had initially settled in Erie, Colorado, but in 1896 they relocated to Lafayette, where they built a home at 209 E. Cleveland St. Andrew continued making shoes but also acquired a livery shop, and served a term or two as a city trustee. Mary ran their home business of taking in miners as boarders. Their home, called Kullgren House, is on the National Register of Historic Places for the role it played during Lafayette's mining days.
In 1899, when Olive was two years old, she was riding in a buggy with her mother and her slightly older sister Hazel. It was the fourth of July and the family had been visiting a friend's ranch near Longmont. The horses started suddenly, and Mrs. Kullgren tried to catch the reins but failed, so she dropped Hazel off one side and Olive off the other, and then jumped herself. Olive and her mother broke their legs in the fall. (Longmont Ledger, July 6, 1899; Colorado Historic Newspapers.)
Coal miners struck in 1910 and violence in the Lafayette area gradually culminated in federal troops being called out by President Wilson in 1914. Olive's parents may well have decided to move their family to a safer location, and Denver would offer greater educational, cultural, employment and social opportunities for the family. They moved to Denver in the early 1910s, and lived at 3435 Shoshone St. Olive's mother Mary had purchased two lots in Denver, one at 3435 and the other at 3429, where Olive's brother Nels and his wife Etta lived for a time.
In Denver, Olive attended Woodworth's Shorthand College and Night School ca. 1913-15 (see photo). The college was then located at 1720-1726 Colorado Blvd. The proprietor William Alexander Woodworth lived at 1710 Colorado Blvd.
By 1915 Olive was advertising her secretarial services: the 1915 Corbett & Ballenger's 43rd Annual Denver City Directory lists her as a stenographer, under "Bookkeeping, Gregg Shorthand, Stenotypy, Touch Typing," She was 17 that year and had completed three years of high school. The directory lists her livelihood as "steno" (with no employer mentioned) until 1918, when she is employed with the Frederick R. Ross Investment Co.
The 1919 city directory and the 1920 US census (taken January 20, 1920) stated that she was working as a stenographer for the Boulder Creamery (located at 1801-1807 Market). She must have changed jobs soon after the census was taken, because the 1920 city directory states that she was working at "Work & Co." which I think must be J.W. Work & Co., Editors and Publishers. From 1921-23, she worked for the Continental Oil Co.
Olive's father Andrew died in 1923, and in January 1924 she moved to Los Angeles, along with her mother Mary. Her sister Mary and Mary's husband John Deitrich Zook had previously moved to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Olive found secretarial employment with oilman Edward L. Doheny, and became his private secretary after the departure of Miriam Lerner in 1925. The 1927 Los Angeles city directory listed Olive as private secretary at Mr. Doheny's Pan American Petroleum company. In 1929 Mr. Doheny started a new company, Petroleum Securities Co., and Olive is shown in the 1929 LA City Directory as private secretary at that company. Olive left a few photographs taken in May 1926 at Mr. Doheny's Beverly Hills "Ranch" which is no longer in existence (the Ranch was located near Greystone, Ned Doheny's home). In one photo (right), she poses at the helm of Mr. Doheny's yacht, the Casiana.
Olive remained friends with many of the women she worked with at Mr. Doheny's oil companies, inviting them to her son's wedding and getting together every month to play bridge. The Santa Paula Chronicle (June 11, 1953) mentions one such occasion, when a number of her former colleagues met at her house in Santa Paula.
In 1930, Olive married Johannes Christian ("John") Boetius who had emigrated from Denmark and worked as an auditor in the same company as Olive. They were married by the Rev. Paul C. Elliott, a Presbyterian minister, in Glendale. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. Olive left her position with Mr. Doheny after she was married and on March 3, 1933, she gave birth to her son Paul (my father). She was still in the hospital when, on March 10, the 6.4 Long Beach earthquake - the deadliest in California history - struck. Olive told her future daughter in law Shirley that the frightened nurse jumped into Olive's bed with her, and anyone who knew Olive can imagine Olive's compassion and probable laughter at this! Olive's husband wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark describing Paul's birth and the earthquake and is transcribed on his Find a Grave memorial.
In 1935, Olive and John moved to Ventura County, first living in Fillmore. Olive filed for divorce on August 23, 1938. She and her son Paul initially moved to Ventura (2218 San Marcos Ave.) and Olive went to work for the Briggs Lemon Association packing house at Peck and West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, on November 1, 1938. Her divorce from John became final on September 18, 1939.
By the time of the 1940 U.S. Census, Olive had moved to a two-bedroom Mission style home on West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, close to Briggs Lemon. At the time of the census, her older sister Mary and Mary's husband John Zook were living with Olive and Paul. Paul attended nearby Briggs Elementary School.
At Briggs Lemon, Olive started as a bookkeeper and became office manager after six years. There she met her future husband, Owen Chelsea Bird, who had built and was now general manager of the packing house. They married on Saturday, February 1, 1958 at 4:30 p.m. in a small ceremony attended by immediate family, at the chapel of the beautiful Mission Inn in Riverside. Olive retired from Briggs in 1963 with 25 years of service.
Olive and Owen lived in the old and prestigious Fern Oaks neighborhood of Santa Paula (937 Greenwood Drive) and were very active in civic organizations. Olive was exceptionally active in community affairs. She was a life member and two-term president (1954-55 and 1973-74) of the Soroptimist Club, president of the Business and Professional Women's Club (1955-56), president of the Republican Women's Club (1959-1960), Chair of The Santa Paulans (1957-1958), and President of the Santa Paula High School Parent-Teachers Association (early 1950s). After her second term as President of the Soroptimist Club, she was membership chairman and under her tenure, the Santa Paula club gained more members than any other club in the Pacific Region. She also served two terms as President of the Ebell Club (1965-1966 and 1966-1967).
Olive also held leadership positions with the 12th District Parent-Teachers Association and the Santa Paula Toastmistress Club. She also served as Guardian of Job's Daughters (1954-55), headed the Mothers' Marches on Polio in Santa Paula in the early 1950s, and served with the Children's Home Society.
Olive was a vibrant, energetic, independent, "modern" and can-do woman. She had great personal dignity and integrity, and a strong sense of propriety and responsibility to community; but she was also an extremely warm and friendly woman with a great sense of humor and a smile for everyone. She was a very supportive friend - especially to the women in her life - and was a great deal of fun, with a smile no one could forget. She could relate to anyone and had many friends throughout her life as evidenced in her many pictures. Her family misses her terribly.
*******************
OBITUARY, Santa Paula Daily Chronicle,, Feb. 12, 1986
Services for Olive Edith Bird will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Santa Paula Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary with the Rev. Dr. R. Thomas Bousman officiating. Interment will be at Santa Paula Cemetery. Mrs. Bird died on Tuesday at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. She was 88.
Mrs. Bird was born July 22, 1897 and lived in Santa Paula for 50 years. She was office manager for the Briggs Lemon Association for 25 years. She was a life member and past president of the Soroptimists and a member and past president of the Ebell Club.
She is survived by her husband Owen of Santa Paula; sons, Paul Boetius of Sacramento and Owen Bird of Lindale, Texas; daughter, Sara Webb of Lancaster; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Contributions may be made to the Santa Paula Soroptimist Club, PO Box 614, Santa Paula.
Friends may call at the Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary in Santa Paula until 9 p.m. today.
**************************
Friends Include:
Robert Carey Fairfax (Find a Grave Memorial 184094124)
Eunice Winifred Morgan (Find a Grave Memorial 81651864)
Dorothy Priscilla Soeth (Find a Grave Memorial 85521919)
Hazel & Cord Beckerdite (Find a Grave Memorials 119234860 & 119235264)
Charles Matthew Klaiber (Find a Grave Memorial 117175681)
Wesley Lewis Murray (Find a Grave Memorial 142474916)
Peggy & Lou Rauckman (Find a Grave Memorials 125725900 & 125726018)
(Bio by her granddaughter Gale Boetius Perez, Find a Grave Member 47724849)
I knew my grandmother Olive very well but she passed away when I was 36 - long before I became interested in family history. Much of what I wrote below I found through many hours of research. She was an extraordinary woman.
Olive Edith Kullgren was born in the coal mining town of Lafayette, Colorado, July 21, 1897, the last child of Andrew Kullgren and Mary Dempster Morrison. Andrew had emigrated from Sweden, and was a shoemaker. Mary had come from Scotland with her family. Andrew and Mary had initially settled in Erie, Colorado, but in 1896 they relocated to Lafayette, where they built a home at 209 E. Cleveland St. Andrew continued making shoes but also acquired a livery shop, and served a term or two as a city trustee. Mary ran their home business of taking in miners as boarders. Their home, called Kullgren House, is on the National Register of Historic Places for the role it played during Lafayette's mining days.
In 1899, when Olive was two years old, she was riding in a buggy with her mother and her slightly older sister Hazel. It was the fourth of July and the family had been visiting a friend's ranch near Longmont. The horses started suddenly, and Mrs. Kullgren tried to catch the reins but failed, so she dropped Hazel off one side and Olive off the other, and then jumped herself. Olive and her mother broke their legs in the fall. (Longmont Ledger, July 6, 1899; Colorado Historic Newspapers.)
Coal miners struck in 1910 and violence in the Lafayette area gradually culminated in federal troops being called out by President Wilson in 1914. Olive's parents may well have decided to move their family to a safer location, and Denver would offer greater educational, cultural, employment and social opportunities for the family. They moved to Denver in the early 1910s, and lived at 3435 Shoshone St. Olive's mother Mary had purchased two lots in Denver, one at 3435 and the other at 3429, where Olive's brother Nels and his wife Etta lived for a time.
In Denver, Olive attended Woodworth's Shorthand College and Night School ca. 1913-15 (see photo). The college was then located at 1720-1726 Colorado Blvd. The proprietor William Alexander Woodworth lived at 1710 Colorado Blvd.
By 1915 Olive was advertising her secretarial services: the 1915 Corbett & Ballenger's 43rd Annual Denver City Directory lists her as a stenographer, under "Bookkeeping, Gregg Shorthand, Stenotypy, Touch Typing," She was 17 that year and had completed three years of high school. The directory lists her livelihood as "steno" (with no employer mentioned) until 1918, when she is employed with the Frederick R. Ross Investment Co.
The 1919 city directory and the 1920 US census (taken January 20, 1920) stated that she was working as a stenographer for the Boulder Creamery (located at 1801-1807 Market). She must have changed jobs soon after the census was taken, because the 1920 city directory states that she was working at "Work & Co." which I think must be J.W. Work & Co., Editors and Publishers. From 1921-23, she worked for the Continental Oil Co.
Olive's father Andrew died in 1923, and in January 1924 she moved to Los Angeles, along with her mother Mary. Her sister Mary and Mary's husband John Deitrich Zook had previously moved to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Olive found secretarial employment with oilman Edward L. Doheny, and became his private secretary after the departure of Miriam Lerner in 1925. The 1927 Los Angeles city directory listed Olive as private secretary at Mr. Doheny's Pan American Petroleum company. In 1929 Mr. Doheny started a new company, Petroleum Securities Co., and Olive is shown in the 1929 LA City Directory as private secretary at that company. Olive left a few photographs taken in May 1926 at Mr. Doheny's Beverly Hills "Ranch" which is no longer in existence (the Ranch was located near Greystone, Ned Doheny's home). In one photo (right), she poses at the helm of Mr. Doheny's yacht, the Casiana.
Olive remained friends with many of the women she worked with at Mr. Doheny's oil companies, inviting them to her son's wedding and getting together every month to play bridge. The Santa Paula Chronicle (June 11, 1953) mentions one such occasion, when a number of her former colleagues met at her house in Santa Paula.
In 1930, Olive married Johannes Christian ("John") Boetius who had emigrated from Denmark and worked as an auditor in the same company as Olive. They were married by the Rev. Paul C. Elliott, a Presbyterian minister, in Glendale. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. Olive left her position with Mr. Doheny after she was married and on March 3, 1933, she gave birth to her son Paul (my father). She was still in the hospital when, on March 10, the 6.4 Long Beach earthquake - the deadliest in California history - struck. Olive told her future daughter in law Shirley that the frightened nurse jumped into Olive's bed with her, and anyone who knew Olive can imagine Olive's compassion and probable laughter at this! Olive's husband wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark describing Paul's birth and the earthquake and is transcribed on his Find a Grave memorial.
In 1935, Olive and John moved to Ventura County, first living in Fillmore. Olive filed for divorce on August 23, 1938. She and her son Paul initially moved to Ventura (2218 San Marcos Ave.) and Olive went to work for the Briggs Lemon Association packing house at Peck and West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, on November 1, 1938. Her divorce from John became final on September 18, 1939.
By the time of the 1940 U.S. Census, Olive had moved to a two-bedroom Mission style home on West Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, close to Briggs Lemon. At the time of the census, her older sister Mary and Mary's husband John Zook were living with Olive and Paul. Paul attended nearby Briggs Elementary School.
At Briggs Lemon, Olive started as a bookkeeper and became office manager after six years. There she met her future husband, Owen Chelsea Bird, who had built and was now general manager of the packing house. They married on Saturday, February 1, 1958 at 4:30 p.m. in a small ceremony attended by immediate family, at the chapel of the beautiful Mission Inn in Riverside. Olive retired from Briggs in 1963 with 25 years of service.
Olive and Owen lived in the old and prestigious Fern Oaks neighborhood of Santa Paula (937 Greenwood Drive) and were very active in civic organizations. Olive was exceptionally active in community affairs. She was a life member and two-term president (1954-55 and 1973-74) of the Soroptimist Club, president of the Business and Professional Women's Club (1955-56), president of the Republican Women's Club (1959-1960), Chair of The Santa Paulans (1957-1958), and President of the Santa Paula High School Parent-Teachers Association (early 1950s). After her second term as President of the Soroptimist Club, she was membership chairman and under her tenure, the Santa Paula club gained more members than any other club in the Pacific Region. She also served two terms as President of the Ebell Club (1965-1966 and 1966-1967).
Olive also held leadership positions with the 12th District Parent-Teachers Association and the Santa Paula Toastmistress Club. She also served as Guardian of Job's Daughters (1954-55), headed the Mothers' Marches on Polio in Santa Paula in the early 1950s, and served with the Children's Home Society.
Olive was a vibrant, energetic, independent, "modern" and can-do woman. She had great personal dignity and integrity, and a strong sense of propriety and responsibility to community; but she was also an extremely warm and friendly woman with a great sense of humor and a smile for everyone. She was a very supportive friend - especially to the women in her life - and was a great deal of fun, with a smile no one could forget. She could relate to anyone and had many friends throughout her life as evidenced in her many pictures. Her family misses her terribly.
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OBITUARY, Santa Paula Daily Chronicle,, Feb. 12, 1986
Services for Olive Edith Bird will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Santa Paula Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary with the Rev. Dr. R. Thomas Bousman officiating. Interment will be at Santa Paula Cemetery. Mrs. Bird died on Tuesday at Santa Paula Memorial Hospital. She was 88.
Mrs. Bird was born July 22, 1897 and lived in Santa Paula for 50 years. She was office manager for the Briggs Lemon Association for 25 years. She was a life member and past president of the Soroptimists and a member and past president of the Ebell Club.
She is survived by her husband Owen of Santa Paula; sons, Paul Boetius of Sacramento and Owen Bird of Lindale, Texas; daughter, Sara Webb of Lancaster; 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Contributions may be made to the Santa Paula Soroptimist Club, PO Box 614, Santa Paula.
Friends may call at the Chapel of Skillin-Biby Mortuary in Santa Paula until 9 p.m. today.
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Friends Include:
Robert Carey Fairfax (Find a Grave Memorial 184094124)
Eunice Winifred Morgan (Find a Grave Memorial 81651864)
Dorothy Priscilla Soeth (Find a Grave Memorial 85521919)
Hazel & Cord Beckerdite (Find a Grave Memorials 119234860 & 119235264)
Charles Matthew Klaiber (Find a Grave Memorial 117175681)
Wesley Lewis Murray (Find a Grave Memorial 142474916)
Peggy & Lou Rauckman (Find a Grave Memorials 125725900 & 125726018)
