My oldest sister, Karen, married Niels in the fall of 1959. Niels was a Danish citizen in the U.S. on a work Visa. They met through a ward member who had met Niels at a grocery store where he worked and invited him to church activities. Niels wasn't a member of the church. But after a period of time, he was baptized and he and Karen were married. They returned to live in Denmark for the first year or so of their marriage. Not long after their return to the U.S., Niels realized that even though he had a good Danish education, he needed more education in order to be well employed and better support his family.
To help with the living expenses for my sister and her family while Niels was in college, they moved into the lower level of the new home on Columbia Pike. They used the large bedroom downstairs as a combination living area and bedroom. The laundry room, with it's double cement sink, was turned into their kitchen. A refrigerator and stove were installed and I think some shelves or cupboards. Since there was an outside entrance from the basement besides the sliding doors to the patio, they had their own entrance to the lower level.
I think the set up worked fairly well for them.
But, Karen and Niels had at least one child when they moved into and there were no additional bedrooms finished downstairs. My father, and probably with Niels' help, took on the job of finishing two additional bedrooms in the unfinished downstairs area.
Karen and Niels lived with us for a couple of years. Since Karen worked full time, my mother cared for her children during the day. Often, when I got home from school, I took over the child care so that my mother could do some errands.
The downstairs kitchen and living space got more use when later, my sister-in-law moved in with her children. My brother, David, was in the Army and had been sent to Korea for a period of time. Ramona lived with us while he was gone. Eventually, the large bedroom downstairs was taken over by my father for his office.
My parents never really told me why they decided to move to a new home in 1962. But, looking back, perhaps they knew that there would be a need to help some of their married children by providing child care and housing. We hadn't lived in the new house too long before Karen and Niels moved in. So I'm guessing that the multi generational living arrangement had been discussed as part of the decision process.
We all lived happily together - grandparents, a married sister, her husband and family, me and my younger brother.
When I look back, I see our mother as devoting much of her time at middle age and beyond taking care of other people's children... the Farnsworth kids, the Todd kids, Karen's children, your son, Ramona's, her kindergarten children, and then, in her final years, the ward nursery; and if she wasn't taking care of them, she was sewing or crocheting for them. I wonder how many pairs of baby booties she crocheted over the years?
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