Mr. Harold Engstrom

Engstrom collected an extensive selection of dolls from countries all over the world in their native outfits.These were the dolls used for table decorations.She has used the dolls to give talks to various elementary school classes about different cultures.

The best thing about traveling is to see other people and their countries.Its interesting to taste their food, visit their shops, see how they dress and see the different types of architecture.I wanted the children to see how different people dress by using the dolls, said Engstrom.

She shared one of her favorite travel story with friends at the party.Engstrom and her husband and her two brothers and their wives were touring Russia during the revolt that led to the breakup of the Soviet Union.
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Engstrom has lived an interesting life and seen many changes.She was born July 18, 1925, in Merlin Oregon.She was raised in Durham, where her father worked on a ranch.While growing up, the family used outhouses and crank telephones; there were no televisions, computers or microwaves.

She was born during the Great Depression, which had a major impact on her life.People only bought necessities at the grocery store.Her family was lucky they had a cow that provided them with milk and enabled them to make butter.We also made cottage cheese and grew a lot of vegetables, Engstrom said.Mother canned all the fruits and vegetables she could.
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Engstrom graduated from high school in 1943 and enrolled at Chico State College to get her teaching credential.She had a variety of jobs to support herself through school.She worked for one lady washing her dinner dishes, worked as a motel maid, lived with an elderly lady to tend to her needs, worked at a gas station and worked in a match factory until they went on strike.In addition to her jobs and schools, she was president of her sorority, Alpha Chi.

She married Harold Engstrom in March 1947 during Easter break.The wedding was timed so her husband could attend summer school to work on his masters degree.

That fall, they started teaching at a small school outside of Yuba City.Engstrom taught fifth grade and coached girls basketball and baseball.She taught fifth grade in Oakland for one year, but didnt like it so they moved back to Yuba City.

In June 1953, her husband was hired as principal of Brookside Elementary School in Willits.
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Engstrom was not happy in Willits at first.
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When there was a teacher vacancy, Mr. Engstrom would come home and tell her, Youre teaching such and such a grade tomorrow and off she would go to work.She would teach that class until a teacher was found and hired.

Eventually, her husband was appointed superintendent of schools, a position he had for over 20 years.

Engstrom had another child, Hal, in 1959.She became active in her childrens activities.She was a Camp Fire Girl leader, a den mother in Cub Scouts and music director for Jobs Daughters.

Later in life, Mr. Engstrom served on the Mendocino Community College District board of trustees and the board of directors at the William F. Harrah Senior Center.They both taught bridge there.

They also spent two months a year in Hawaii.

Even though I lived through the Depression and we did without a lot of things.I didnt feel deprived, Engstrom recalled.
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People dont take responsibility for their own actions, Engstrom concluded.

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