July 24, 1986

This is a transcription of an entry from a previous journal. It's long, but it' was written in one day.

I suppose that July 24th (Pioneer Day) is as good a day as any to begin my journal of current activities anew.

I have been trying, albeit very intermittently, to write my life's history.

Last Sunday I was assigned to speak in Sacrament meeting on the subject of Pioneers. The reason I was given this opportunity was my pioneer heritage. I Do have an extensive pioneer heritage and I chose to talk about my Great Grandfather, Francis Marion Lyman. In 1848, at the ripe young age of eight, he drove an ox team and wagon across the plains to Salt Lake Valley. One of the most telling stories of this adventure was when the team was about to cross a particularly rugged creek in the mountains east of Salt Lake. The men insisted that he give up the reins to an older driver to get the team and the wagon across the creek. This resulted in a near catastrophe as the wagon was severly damaged. Francis Marion privately believed that he could have successfully maneuvered the wagon safely to the other side if they had let him. He eventually died in 1916 while serving as President of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

He had three wives, the second of which was Clara. One of Clara's daughters was my paternal grandmother, Lucy. Lucy was eventually married to George Partridge, my Grandfather.

In 1917, the year after Francis Marion Lyman's death, my father was born to George and Lucy and was given the name, Francis Marion Partridge.

While researching my talk, I learned something of journals. Francis Marion Lyman wrote extensively in his journals. He apparently learned this from his father, Amasa Mason Lyman (also an Apostle) who wrote 43 volumes. Francis Marion Lyman reportedly wrote more than his father but used fewer volumes. So I'm motivated to write my journal.

Dates, prices, details and places will probably be of great interest to future readers so I will try to be informative in those areas.

I am a policeman. To use the current vernacular, I'm a motorcycle cop for the Los Angeles Police Department. My current salary is $760 per week. When I first became a policeman in San Leandro, California an April, 1969, I earned about that much a month.

I am assigned a motorcycle which is owned by the City and which I may ride back and forth from home to work. This is a nice benefit since the City pays for the motorcycle, its upkeep and gasoline.

The salary I mentioned above was effective as of July 1, 1984. We haven't had a salary adjustment in over two years even though we normally receive an adjustment each July 1st. We are getting an adjustment of 5% for last year and another 5% for this which means my new salary will be about $836 a week. Not bad for a High School graduate. I mention the figures for historical purposes only.

A Brief History:
Born: January 2, 1946
Married: September 10, 1977, to Cathleen Madison (She joined the Church as a convert earlier that year)
Step Sons:
Cathy had been married to Larry Pacheco and had two sons by that marriage. Michael Scott Pacheco and Kevin Matthew Pacheco.

Michael, who was eight at the time Cathy and I got married, very badly wanted to be with his dad and to this day has preferred to not be apart of our family.

Kevin is a superior young man who I think the world of. He is our oldest son (excluding Mike). He is fourteen years old and has been sealed to us in the Temple as Kevin Matthew Partridge.

Besides Mike and Kevin, Cathy and I have had two additional sons, Jacob Edward Partridge (age 8) and Adam Grant Partridge (age 6).

Cathy is the Stake Home Making Leader in Relief Society. She has served as a Home Making Counselor in the Ward Relief Society.

I was Executive Secretary of the Ward for a time but had to be released due to my difficult work schedule.


Our Ward meets in a building on Woodruff Avenue in Long Beach. We moved into the Ward about five years ago. At that time, it was Lakewood Second Ward and James Lamont Wright was the Bishop.

We moved into our home (6031 E. Wardlow Road, Long Beach, Ca) in October 1983. We had been renting a home on Radnor but bought this home for $115,000. The price was about average, but the house is a little bigger than average.

When Bishop Dan Davis was called we were still Lakewood Second Ward, Long Beach East Stake. After a few months, I was called as Executive Secretary. Then our Ward was changed to Long Beach 18th Ward but the boundaries remained the same.

When we bought our house, we didn't have very much money. In fact my Mother and Father Gave us the down payment. We had a little money but mom and dad contributed the lion's share. Anyway, because our down payment was relatively small (10%) we had to get a variable rate loan in order to handle the payments. What that means is that even though our interest rate is 14%, our payments for the first year were based on 9%. I don't remember the payments but they were manageable (somewhere around $1,000 per month). The problem was they were going to go up each year. Plus the amount we owed was going up due to negative amortization. After two years our payments were over $1,200 and due to hit $1,300 + this November. Also, when we bought the house, we owed $104,000. Now we owe $115,000.

That was the problem. I was hoping and praying that the value of the house would go up and interest rates would come down. Without those two things happening we were going to have to become renters again.

Interest rates have fallen to 10% and so we had the house appraised and it came in at $152,000. Our prayers were answered. we re-financed with a fixed rate loan and our payments won't ever go up again.

The money I earn by being a policeman doesn't cover our expenses. So we have a choice - Cathy goes to work, or I work extra jobs. Cathy likes to stay home. Our sons like her to be home and I honestly prefer that she be at home. So I work extra jobs.

One of my favorite jobs is working at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I work in the box office for the Raiders and for USC Football. I get to be where a lot of fun things are happening and get paid pretty good money for it.

At the moment, I'm sitting in a bowling alley - the Eldorado - on Lincoln Blvd. near Manchester in Westchester. I also work at the Aztec Bowling Alley on Beach Blvd in Buena Park. These are very boring jobs and they don't pay very well ($10 and hour). So when I decided to get busy on my journal I decided to write in it while I'm working. The people in charge don't mind. Most of these extra jobs are consistent in that we (as policemen) are paid for being present and being able to take action if needed.

This is an unusually busy week for me but we are short of money due to a wonderful vacation we just took. I worked nine hours on Sunday, five on Monday, five on Tuesday, five today and I will work five hours on Saturday plus my regular forty hours at LAPD. This is unusual, though.

The vacation we just took lasted three weeks. We spent two nights at the Grand Canyon and three nights at Yellowstone Lake Hotel. There were large, cut throat trout in the lake but we were there just before fishing season began. We saw lots of Bison, elk, antelope and even a bear.

The condo at Lake Tahoe was the highlight of the trip. We had a private beach, swimming pools and we didn't have to drive anywhere. Cathy and I took the Harrah's Shuttle to the casinos a couple of times. We saw Sammy Davis Jr. in concert at the South Shore Room.

Well, it's getting late. Six pages (handwritten) is a pretty good start. I'll be writing more this Saturday night I imagine. Until then...