PART 1

Arlien's story begins with her mother

Charlotte Elizabeth Petersen

Charlotte's parents, Charles C H Petersen and Caroline Elizabeth Petersen ,
were living on 20th Avenue in San Francisco in 1910.

By 1920 they had moved to 1370 Thomas Avenue and
Charlotte and her first husband George Baldwin were living with them.

Their divorce took place around 1922.

Charlotte's next husband, Rutherford B White, lived close by on 3rd St in San Francisco.

Bayview Map

They were married around 1924 and Arlien was born in 1925.
Her sister Pearl was born in 1927.

Arlien had some health issues as a child and her parents moved to
the Cupertino area sometime between 1932-1934.

By 1935 Caroline and her husband Charles were also in the Cupertino area.
Charles died in 1936.

Both families lived on Stevens Creek Road.

Charles and Caroline's home was on the corner of Stevens Creek Road and San Juan Road.
This is where some of the photos were taken

( See below map )

Next door to this large lot was the home, gas station, and store built by Arlien's father.

Stevens Creek Road led up to the Stevens Creek Dam that had been built in 1935.

Caroline and her sister Bertha owned the Picnic Grounds on the shore of the reservoir
and may have owned the Camp Grounds.

Unknown is when Caroline and Bertha purchased the property and built the store and restaurant.

Bertha's home / cabin was in this area.

Bertha died in 1936.

( PART 2 CONTINUES BELOW THE MAP )

BACK TO TOP

source: Google Maps

BACK TO TOP

PART 2

Sharlien Continues :

Magnus Bertel Bendixsen (Norwegian), forever known as Papa or Ben,
was living around the corner on San Juan
with his daughter, her husband and their son.

Magnus would become Charlotte's third husband.

Papa was in charge of security, under a man named Highstreet, also a longtime friend of the family,
at the Kaiser Permanente Magnesium plant just a couple of miles away.

Mother’s first job when in high school, 16-17 years old, was to go to
school in the morning and work at the office afternoons, ‘making name tags for new employees.’


I called her every evening. One night several years before she died,
I asked her about the plant, what else did you do?

She said ‘oh yes, I fingerprinted the new employees and we sent them to Washington’.
Also, ‘there was a huge fire department with lots of fire trucks, I never understood that.’

I said, I thought it was a quarry.

Caroline ( Arlien's grandmother ) and her sister Bertha owned the
Stevens Creek Campground where the fellows
are swimming, inner tubes, diving board etc.

My grandmother ( Charlotte ) took daughters and their girl friends
to Moffett Field hangar and USO dances.

( In a straight line, Moffett Field is about 8 miles from the homes on Stevens Creek Road )

The girls of course met guys, they would help cook, clean the kitchen and goof off.

The gals in photos were mother, her sister Pearl (2 yrs younger) and ‘Sandy’, mother’s dear friend for life.


Several other friends, not from USO, just local gal friends.

Sandy married Joe Burke who was also in the Navy,
and as youngsters would spend lots of weekends with their family.

Charlotte invited the sailors who were from everywhere in US to come and stay, spend their time off.
That’s why so many different guys, my mother’s friends etc. were always cutting up.

The Stevens Creek Dam was just up the road, so many photos from that location as well.

BACK TO TOP