CHARLES HENRY FRIEBEL	FLORENCE CAROLINE CALHOUN
1889 -- 1962	1893 -- 1981

Charles Henry Friebel, born June 14, 1889 at Middle Creek, was the son of German immigrants. Paul and Anna Friebel left Germany with three children. They made their way to Santa Cruz where they had two more children and then to Middle Creek where Charley was born shortly before his father's death. Life was hard for Anna and her six children.

Charley started work at about thirteen at day labor jobs. As a young man he and his teamster brother, Rudy, worked for Hoefer Bottling Works at the corner of California and Trinity Streets. Charley was part of the six man crew on the bottling line. Prohibition closed Hoefers and both had to look for new jobs.

Florence Caroline Calhoun was born December 27, 1893 at Flat Creek, the first child of Robert Goldie Calhoun and Narcissus Elmore. Since there were nine more children, she started nurturing at a very early age. They had two cabins, one for the parents and the youngest baby and one for the other children. Whether he believed she should be baby-sitting or that women didn't need an education, her Scots-Irish father disapproved of school for her, but she did finish fifth grade.

Florence cared for her siblings and helped with chores until she moved to Redding to work in the kitchen and wait tables at the Temple Hotel. She and Charley were married june 11, 1912. A year later, the first of ten children was born in their home across Trinity Street from Hoefer's.

Later they bought a house on north California Street, which Charley remodeled, adding a cellar, two bedrooms and a front porch. For thirty seven years he worked for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. as a gas serviceman. He was a real mechanic --he rigged an old car to run a saw to cut wood, he had a small forge in a corner of the backyard, his garage had a pit for car repair, he could repair shoes, vacations he worked on the house and made his own fishing weights.

Devoted to her family, Florence was caring for the home -- cleaning, gardening, cooking, sewing, nursing ten children and three grandchildren. As the children grew older and moved away, Charley and Florence both aged and diminished in health. Charles died january 14, 1962, age 92, and she stayed in their home until she needed full time care. Florence died in a convalescent home April 20, 1981, age 87.

THEIR CHILDREN
Charles Robert b. May 1, 1913 m. Eda Popejoy d. Feb 27, 1982
Wesley F. (Bud) b. Jan. 7, 1916 m. Helen McKee.
Frieda Carolyn b. Jan. 7, 1916 d. Nov. 18, 1987
Lois Agnes b. Aug. 20, 1919 m. Phil Leas d. Jul. 5, 1986
Rudolph Arthur b. Sept. 23, 1921 m. Gertrude May d. Feb. 17, 1991
June Adele
Allen Calhoun
Betty Mae
Richard Ray b. Dec. 8, 1935 d. Nov 29, 1988
Shirley Louise

After their oldest son's divorce, work and erratic child care assistance caused problems. Before they went to a foster home, Charles and Florence were granted custody of his three children.

Source: Shasta Historical Society - Aug, 1998