Born: I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Childhood: I think that my favorite part of my childhood was going to my great grandmother's farm and riding horses. I had my own horse and his name was Dill. I had two brothers, one died at birth the other brothers name was Bud. Every summer my family always insisted that I go to bible school. I would have to go for all of June and some of July and I would always think that it was interfering with my fun. I knew that it was something that I was supposed to do because I was from a very religious family. That was the hardest part, studying the bibles and all those kind of things. I was a tom-boy and I wanted to be out playing baseball; I was pretty good. I still love it and I am a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. The last couple days they've been playing the Oakland Athletics who used to be the Philadelphia Athletics when I was a little girl. I remember when they were the Philadelphia Athletics and they played in the World Series in 1929 and we got a half a day off from school. I enjoyed going to movies. I took a dance class, but I wasn't too crazy about that, I liked the Gymnasium classes better than the Ballet kind of thing although I grew up to love the ballet. We went to the seashore with my family. Picnics and family things.

Moving Out: I moved out after I got married because it was during the war. I did go to the John B. Stetson Hospital to become an x-ray technician. I was kind-of half there and half at home, that was when I was around 19.

World War II: Then the war came and my husband went to war. In about 1945 we moved to San Diego and I had my first child soon after. The war changed our lives; my brother had to go, he went to the Air-Force, my husband went. Almost all of my friend's boyfriends or husband's went. We did things like helping out at the Salvation Army. I never really had any bad experiences from the war. My brother went to war and he came back home safe. He was very lucky, he was a navigator for a B29, and he and his crew were very close in fact the pilot was his best man at his wedding, but after the war they were delivering food to one of the foreign countries and he didn't go because he had some paper work to do, and his crew hit a mountain and they were all killed. So that was a real tragedy for him but that's the only bad thing that ever happened.

A changing way of life: It changed my life a great deal because I had always lived at home and was a pretty well protected and guided and all of a sudden I was on my own with a child. Moving from a nice home in Philadelphia to a apartment in California was a big change especially since I was with a lot of people who I didn't know or who were not my friends until I was here for a while.

Depression: I was very lucky; my dad always had a job and most of my friends were very well to do. It was a big change, I had to learn to make decisions myself instead of asking for help.

Life: The way of life is different today but I understand the change because I had two teenage boys. They did some things that I didn't approve of and some I did. I'm not sure but I think that families were a little closer than they are today. More young people are ready to leave and make it on their own. Which there's nothing wrong with that it's change. There has been so much more that has been invented that kids today do a lot more than we did. I love the computer. I think that sending/receiving letters has changed but for the better.

I want to thank the people at the Elms for being so kind and helpful to me, while I was working on my Girl Scout Silver Award. It truely seems like a wonderful place to live.
Sincerely -Morgan Manter