Frances Rutz Corso:  

First of all I should tell all of you that you knew me as Frances Catherine Rutz. I am called Fran by most of my family and friends. For those of you who do not know me I will fill you in on my history. My family moved from OK to Long Beach, CA the month I turned 5, in 1942. Dad had moved 6 months prior to Mom, myself and 2 younger sisters, Jean and Pat, because of a job at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard where he worked as a ship fitter. It was great fun to go visit the big ships once they were finished and ready to be launched. The family home was at 603 West 36th St. in the Wrigley Heights area of Long Beach. Dad purchased the house in 1944 for less than $5,000 and they moved out in 1956 just a few weeks before I gave birth to my first child. He will be 62 yrs. old in this coming June of 2018. There were 3 children, 2 sons and a daughter during that marriage but I was divorced by 1960 and on my own with the babies 'til I remarried in 1964 and had 2 more daughters. I met my husband on the job at Autonetics in Downey where I worked as a secretary and he had a brief stint there with the construction co .he worked for. I was widowed in 1987 when my husband died of ALS - also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. We had moved to our home in Paradise, CA in 1979 and had 8 great years here together. We knew one another for 2 months and 8 days before our wedding and, against all odds had more than 23 years as a married couple. I still live in the...Expand for more