For the first years of Phil’s life, he was happy and safe in his family life. He had two older sisters, Marjorie and Ruth, who were quite adoring. His younger sister Jo was like a pal. The family lived an idyllic life in the countryside, in a big rambling house, a large yard, surrounded by nature.

Phil’s maternal grandfather was a visitor and his paternal grandfather lived with the family for the last years of his life, so Phil had an extended family. Dodo, the father of his mother, was an important influence on Phil. He died when Phil was 10, The other grandfather died when Phil was 8. Phil is seen in photos with lots of neighborhood children putting on plays and other antics, The documentary evidence is that up until his early adolescence, Phil was happy, energetic and busy.

Phil kept a scrapbook from an early age which supports the idea that he was content with his life. One story he told his children is that he was doing some electrical experiments at home, something about putting a penny in an electrical socket, and nearly burned down the house. His mother called him a young Thomas Edison, certainly Phil’s hero.

Another story involves a school bully who wanted to meet Phil after school for a fist fight. An arrangement was made to gather at a certain part of town. His mother instructed Phil that the way to win the fight was to hit his opponent square in the nose, which would create a nose bleed and all the blood would immediately scare the challenger and end the fight. Phil took the advice and it turned out exactly as planned.

Whenever Phil talked of his mother, it was with much admiration. There was a lemony dessert she apparently served the family which Alma in later years tried to duplicate, but in never matched up to Phil’s memory.

The following is a letter written by Phil to his mother when he was 13 years old. It was sent from Idaho to an address in Beverley Hills, California. Presumably Clara was there getting some kind of treatment as she was ill at this time of Phil’s life.