Growing up Benicia: Marleen Deane – Part 1, Benicia in the 1940's

Marleen Deane has lived in Benicia since 1941. Her family moved here from Penryn near Sacramento when she was just eight years old. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the same weekend Deane's family landed in Benicia - a home they found by accident. Deane's father was a miner looking for work at Mare Island when he got lost and found the Benicia Arsenal instead. There he found a job as a laborer.

There was no family housing at the time, so the family had to wait until government housing was built. The family moved into Ridge Circle, where East Fourth Street now meets the freeway that was built much later. 

When Deane began third grade, the grammar school was on East Third Street, where  the Benicia Unified School District office now sits. The military was building up munitions in anticipation of joining World War II, so the population was growing rapidly. The school was so crowded, that students were split into morning and afternoon shifts.

The police department is now housed in the original high school building and the post office sits where the football field was. Deane's class of 50 students was first class to graduate in the gymnasium, which is now the Youth Center.

Interstate 80 was not yet built, so the old Benicia road (now Military) was the only way out of town. The Carquinez Bridge was in place but only a train bridge sat where the Benicia Bridge now stands. There was no shoe store in town and Deane would take the ferry from East Fifth Street to go shopping in Martinez.

Although First Street has been a constant, Deane says many areas had no sidewalks, just wooden boards or mud. The surrounding fields were full of reeds and grass. The bottom of First Street from F Street down, was a red-light district. Deane remembers walking a playmate home through the area, then running back home as quickly as possible. She also recalls her mother taking her and her three siblings down to the pier to go fishing. 

Growing up during the war, everybody did their part. Deane worked from the time she was 12. “I worked down one side of First Street, and back up the other side,” she recalls. “I worked at a little store called Rankin's that had boxes of produce out front. People would call in orders, and I'd pack them. They had an open-ended delivery truck and two teenage boys would deliver the orders. Most people had charge accounts and Ray Rankin never got paid for a lot of them.”

City Park is one of the few things unchanged. “The outline of the park has always been the same. It's interesting, the park is the focus for me. It's the same as it always was.” The fire station was a white adobe Spanish-style building inside the park. Across the street where Safeway is, stood a Catholic school, a chapel and rows of trees."

In 1976, Deane bought a 1912 Arts and Crafts bungalow at the park's edge. The house was originally built for Dr. White, a local dentist, but was inhabited by the Barkley family. “Mrs. Barkley was the home economics teacher, she taught me to sew.“ Deane still lives in the same house, which has been well kept thanks to her son Scott Deane, a local contractor. Her two daughters and four grandchildren are close by as well.

Because of her house's history, Deane became interested in arts and crafts furniture. As a  collector of art pottery, she loves to thrift shop and find gems. Every so often, she has garage sales to thin out the accumulation of treasures. If you are a collector, this is a sale not to be missed.

Deane has been in real estate in Benicia for over forty years, currently working with . She stays fit with weight training and walks regularly. “Benicia is very walkable, and just minutes away from all kinds of trails.“ Deane enjoys spending time with friends, loves to read, attend movies and an occasional musical in the city.

Having traveled quite a bit throughout her life, Deane is happy in Benicia. “It's very comfortable for me, familiar. I've met so many wonderful people that have become friends,” she explains. “Most people who've come into town are amazed at the length of time I've been here. I see people around town who grew up, probably born here, that I went to school with.”

Deane's recipe for happiness is simple, “Do what you like. When I like something, I spend a lot of time trying to get it right and enjoy it. That's true even if I'm thrift shopping. When I find a special thing, I spend the time to polish it up.”

Part two of Deane's story; The First Street Foods years, will run next week.