Mom and Pop Who?
In my mother’s memoirs she writes that my brother was named Clifford for his grandfather.1 I had forgotten that fact because I never called my brother Clifford. His name was changed to Ross when we were small children in Calgary. On 28 Oct 1948 Margorie and Jack officially changed their names to Kory and Ross.
Search for Clifford
I searched Canadian census for Clifford Graves and found him as a lodger with Harriet Lemon in Ontario census of 1891. He was 1-year-old.2 In my mother’s notes, Pop was orphaned young and raised by an older aunt. Was this the aunt – Harriet Lemon?
Also listed in the 1891 Canadian census are Joseph (21), William (20), Syrenus (17) and John Lemon (14). Harriet Lemon and her four sons and Clifford Graves all lived in Aldborough, Elgin West, Ontario, Canada and their religion was Baptist. This census lists Clifford as a lodger.3 But Clifford wasn’t really a lodger. A lodger is someone who pays for room and board and Clifford was only one year old! The 1901 census lists Clifford as a nephew with birth date 16 March 1890 living still in Aldborough with his aunt and cousin John (24).4
Clifford Marries
In 1916 Clifford is living on Milton Avenue, Killam, Victoria, Alberta with a wife, Viva (21).5 In 1921 she is listed as Viola Graves, born in the USA. They are living in Calgary and he is a drug clerk. His father is reported as being born in the USA. Two children are listed, Arthur and William.6 The facts found in the 1916 Canadian census helped me to recall my two uncles, Art and Bill. Our family only stayed in Calgary four years after my father returned from the war. I then recalled my father talking once about having a sister who died young. Her name was Ruth. This fact helped me later as I searched various databases of names.
We left for California in 1950. So my contact with my uncles and aunts and grandparents was limited to two or three road trips up to Canada over the years.
Fanny Viola McMullen
I still didn’t know my grandmother’s first name or maiden name. I remember my mother talking about the McMullens. I found a Fanny McMullen born in Oregon in 1894.7 In this census Fanny’s mother’s name is Ruth. So I assume my grandmother named her daughter after her mother. My mother does mention in her notes that Mom Graves came from Oregon when she was a child. 
My father once told me that his mother hated the name Fanny and went by Viola. In an earlier census Clifford’s wife was listed as Viva. I took another look at the 1916 census and the name could have been Viola.
Border Crossing
In August 1934 Clifford William Graves crossed the border into Sweet Grass, Montana. On his admission manifest he states that he was born in St. Thomas, Ontario and that he is a grocer. He is accompanied by his wife, Viola F. and his three sons, Arthur (16), William (15) and Jack (11). His last address was 725-4 A Street, NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He lists as "relative or friend," Mrs. Edith Morgan, 546 7 Ave., N.W. Calgary. He lists a cousin, Joe Lemon of West Lorne, Ontario. He drove a Ford V-8 Coach.8
In 1940 Clifford was back in Calgary, Alberta at 725 4A Street.9 This is the address he wrote on his manifest, so he probably just went to Sweet Grass for a vacation. Thinking about that vacation caused me to wonder if my grandparents visited some relatives in Oregon.
Visits to B. C.
Around 1956 we went to visit my grandparents who now had retired to British Columbia. 
It was a hot summer at White Rock. My brother and I lay in the sun and he fell asleep. He got second degree burns and the doctor was summoned. He lay in bed with blisters on his body. My grandmother sat and talked to us. She said her birthday was on Christmas and we talked about feeling cheated out of presents! She also told us that she loved violets. Perhaps this name is why she called herself Viola. There was another story about Indians and covered wagons but I was getting sleepy by then.
Mystery Solved!
So Mom and Pop Graves turn out to be Clifford William Graves and Fanny Viola McMullen. Clifford died on 17 December 1964 in White Rock, BC at the age of 73.10 Viola's death preceded him by 8 months (6 April 1964).11