Lydia Christina (Adam) Wacker

Lydia Christina (Adam) Wacker

Lydia Christina (Adam) Wacker, Centenarian

Lydia-Wacker

December 28, 2018

Key to the City Recipient

Lydia attended Franklin Elementary School and lived on 20 acres with her family who owned dairy cows. Although she said she never had to milk them but her brother did. They lived on the same road as the Kloss and Kammerer Families. They raised a lot of their food and never wasted anything. Her mother saved the cream for butter, which they churned. She had two sisters one older and one younger and a brother 14 months younger. They had no telephone. She doesn't remember when she got her driver's license but said they didn't care much about whether they had one then. She learned to drive on the public roads since not much traffic. Her memories of Elk Grove are a few businesses on Main Street (Elk Grove Boulevard, now) which all closed at 5:00 pm. But her favorite place was Candy Craft store, which was in the location where Warren's Shoes later were. They had a counter, which served delicious milk shakes. She could remember going to the library some too. She attended classes for two years and had to quit school to earn money for the family. During her years at the campus they added the Science Building and the gym. She took Home Economics classes, which were held in the kitchen on the S/W corner upstairs of the main building. Most mornings and lunchtime they would dance primarily girls with girls. But first they had to wait for the piano player to show up for the music. Her first work was housecleaning and meal preparation for a Family in Sacramento. She got around town by bus. She made $15.00 a month plus room and board. When she met her husband, he was a Service Station Attendant. Later worked on motors and learned to build houses and sell them. They lived in the Florin area and raised their children who also attended Elk Grove High School. In their later years they were able to travel from Alaska to Mexico.