Thelma

James Evans
Sep 13
2 min read

One of my mother’s best and earliest friends in Auburn was Thelma Cooper Hughes Goodman. Thelma’s father had been a district manager with PG&E, and she could probably be classified as one of the community’s elite young ladies. By the time I came along, she was married to Bill Hughes. I was too young to know much about Bill. I do know that he was drafted during WWII, and that this left Thelma to her own devices and desires.

Thelma, of course, was a member of San Souci and was also a member of the heavy drinking group that made up my parents circle of friends. I’ve often thought about how typical my parents’ friends were compared to people of their generation in general. It seemed to me that there was a lot of drinking going on during the Depression and the War in my parents’ generation. I don’t know how to compare them to my generation or my children’s generation, but alcohol was the preferred recreational drug.

It seemed to be no surprise that Thelma and Bill Hughes were divorced at or near the end of the War.

My next memory of Thelma was after she had married Ray Goodman. Ray, according to my mother, was a house painter who Thelma had taken up with after her divorce.

From let to right: my father, Bill Hughes, Mansel Huff, and Andy Dorer. The calendar on the wall indicates 1936.

My first recollection of Ray occurred when I came home from the movies on a Sunday afternoon. Thelma and Ray were in the living room with my parents enjoying a drink. Ray had this little pencil thin mustache and was wearing sandals with no socks. My first impression was that he was some sort of weird bohemian; not a reliable sort of chap.

My assessment was wrong about Ray. He and Thelma stayed married in a stable life until he died at a ripe old age. I also learned that Thelma cared a lot about me as well as my parents. They lived in Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley for a long time. Thelma almost always sent me a Christmas card and note after I grew up, and continued to do so after my mother died. I did the same. She was a wonderful woman with many facets of beauty. I can well understand why she was a close friend of my mother for all those years.