What you find when you least expect it.

As so often happens in life, we go through cycles. At one point, we had one kid moved out and on his own, one in college, and only one left at home. The oldest had an accident that forced him to move back home, and now our middle son is moving back for a while. The oldest has been pre-approved for a home loan and is in the process of searching, and once he has a house, my middle son will be moving in with him. Lots of change, but the more things change they stay the same, right? Kids finding their way, parents showing pride, and if we’re lucky, we’ll share a few laughs and probably some tears along the
way.

In the process of cleaning out a room for my middle son, I came across a folder that I thought I had lost. It contained an interview I did with my Dad probably three months before he passed away. I promised myself I was going to do this, so when he was sitting at the table working on a puzzle, I simply grabbed a notebook and started asking questions, jotting down his responses as legibly as I could. I wanted to document this history for my sons and my nephews so they could have a glimpse into the life their
Grandpa had. He saw more ‘life’ then they most likely ever will. A world war, a depression, serving in the Marine Corp in war time and going overseas, being dirt poor, and building a life for himself that eventually lead to my brother and I and our boys. So here goes – my interview with Dad. Pardon the formatting. I wrote it in Word and copied/pasted to this blog, and I’m not tech savvy enough to get things re-aligned. Questions, followed by answers. I hope it makes sense.

Where were you born and when?

• Atchison, KS, August 19, 1930. I think it was in Atchison Hospital, but I never really heard much about it and didn’t think to ask.
  
• Tell me about the house you grew up in.
• Well, it started out as a garage for my grandparents. We all lived in a small two story house for a while, so on the lot behind the house, Dad started to build a garage. He later added a sleeping porch where we’d sleep in the summers, a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen. He was in that house until he died. He was famous for covering one mistake with another. It wasn’t much, but
  it was ours. Dad was a fireman and was gone a lot. I slept alone most of the time, then shared a bed with him and Virginia slept with Mom. Dad snored a lot, and I guess it kept Mom up. In the winter, we’d load up blankets on the bed so tight that once you were in, you couldn’t turnover. I had to wait for Dad to get up before I could move. Dad got a deferment and didn’t serve
  in WWII. He was a fireman, which made him too important at home to send off to war. He had many jobs during that time, including being a mechanic. There wasn’t much he couldn’t fix when it came to motors.
  
• What about the neighborhood?
• Well, again, we didn’t have much. We had dirt streets and we’d watch the WPA, the Works Projects Association, or as Dad called them, We Piddle Around eventually pave the street. We spent a lot of time as kids just playing in the streets, and we’d eventually find a coin or two someone dropped. That was like finding gold to us. There was a store down the block my Grandpa would send me to for tobacco. A nickel would buy you a pack of Bull Durham tobacco and rolling papers. He would sit on the front porch and roll cigarettes with this gadget he came up with. Everyone knew everyone in Atchison.
• What was it like during the Depression and WWII?

• Well, we had to ration most things. Gas was rationed based on your expected travel, meaning they only gave you enough to get to where you were going and back. Sugar was tough to get too.
  
• Who was the disciplinarian in the house? Grandma or Grandpa?
• Well, Dad wasn’t around much, so it was mainly Mom. Her weapon of choice was a pancake turner, or she’d make us go pick our own switch off a tree out back. And we’d better get the right one because if she didn’t like it, she’d get her own. But she really didn’t have to get on us much. Dad was kind of a mystery. He didn’t spank us or anything like that. He did slap me once and I saw stars, but that’s the only time I remember him disciplining.
  
• I know Grandpa was a fireman and did odd jobs. What did Grandma do?
• You mean to help support us? Well, I remember she took in laundry, mainly ironing. Times were tough for everyone, but Dad always found a way to make sure we had Christmas presents. I remember getting roller skates one year.
  
• You said in the winter, you all had loads of blankets. How was the house heated in the winter?
• Oh, we had a cast iron stove. The one we used for heat burned oil and then we had another that burned wood for heat and gave us something to cook on. We had to go to South Atchison to get wood, and they’d deliver oil in these big drums. They’d hook ‘em off the back of an insulated truck. Dad had three of everything, so he kept a third stove just in case. My job was to keep oil in the stove and Virginia was responsible for keeping wood in the other. Later on, he went to work for his brother in law doing some kind of finance work, and we were
  eventually able to get a gas stove. That was a treat. We’d wrap bricks in newspaper and warm them in the oven and put them in the bed for warmth. Nothing better than wrapping your hands around that warm brick or having one down by your feet.
  
• What can you tell me about your grandparents?
• Well, Aubrey and Edith were their names and they lived right behind us. I think I said we lived with them when I was younger. They were Dad’s parents. I only saw Grandpa Allen a couple of times. When his wife died when my Mom was young, he sent her off to live with Aunt Clara. He got remarried and had another family and Mom was raised by Aunt Clara. I guess back then, kids ended up in an orphanage, and instead of that, he felt it better to split up the family,
  but I don’t know much about all that. She had a sister and a brother. The sister was in Liberty and got married. Gooch was the last name, but I forget the first. Her brother, Otto, lived in Nebraska. Mom went to high school and then to nursing school, but didn’t finish. Aunt Clara was a Smith, and married John Harris and they had Joe. I never looked forward to going up there because I’d get car sick.
• Did you ever have any pets?
• No pets except for a few stray dogs. They’d get run over or would run off. Dad did raise pigeons for a while.
  
• What were you like as a kid?
• I was always outside playing sports or just outside. We’d go to Jackson Park and dam up the creek so we had a place to swim and cool off in the summer. We’d take feed sacks and would gather walnuts. We’d fill them full then try to drag them back home. We didn’t have as much muscle as we had eyes. We’d go to Aunt June’s on the edge of town and play in the field, but only if we made sure to close the gate. They eventually moved to Hollywood, FL. We loved
  rainy days in the summer because it meant things would cool off. We’d go play in the mud and had a big time. Virginia worked at drug store/soda fountain. Our family doctor, Dr. Bossey got her into nursing school..
  
• What kind of clothes did you wear?
• Anything Mom made for us, really. But to school, I mainly wore bib overalls. No shorts. Or belted overalls on denim. Mom used to make us shirts out of feed sacks. They were pretty unique.
  
• How did your family celebrate holidays?
• Oh, it was just another day. No celebration I can think of. Virginia was sick most every holiday, so we’d be quarantined. Grandpa would come knock on the window and wish us Merry Christmas.
  
• What were you like as a teenager?
• Well, from 13 on, I was all sports. Baseball, football, basketball, track. In my late teens, I worked at Pilsbury. I was 17-18. I’d shovel box cars of grain. It was hot and there was no A/C.
  You got a drink when you could. Five cents could get you a Coke, and the bottles had their origin printed on them. The person who had the bottle from furthest away paid.
  
• What were some of your favorite memories from being a teenager?
• I played club baseball and we played St Joe Central. I had two triples and our coach was mad at me because I wasn’t fast enough to turn one into a home run. I pitched, and played first base and outfield, like most left handers did. I just loved playing any sport.
  
• Why did you join the Marines?
• I didn’t want to get drafted. By enlisting, I at least had some choice in where I ended up and what I did. And the government was offering the GI bill, so I felt like I’d better make it back to take advantage of that. I joined when I was twenty, and already had some college completed and knew I wanted to finish my education.

What are some of your memories from the Marines?

• Well, in boot camp, I think our drill instructor only knew us as ‘you dumb son of a bitch’. He took pride in us doing our heel clicks in unison and would fall apart when we messed it up. One time, during inspection, he took my rifle and asked for it’s serial number. I got so nervous, I spouted out my social security number, which at the time was our serial number. He responded
  with, “well ain’t that a goddamn coincidence? That’s the same as your serial number!” I learned to never volunteer for anything. I was fine trying to fly under the radar during boot camp. If the drill sergeant knew your name, you messed up. You’ve heard the story of me locking my key in my footlocker. He knew my name after that. Luckily, we were about at the end of boot camp at the time, so it wasn’t too bad.
  
• So what was life after high school?
• I originally went to work for Electra in downtown Atchison. Keith convinced me to go to Manhattan second semester, then we went to Warrensburg. It was Warrensburg State Teachers College at the time. It wasn’t considered out of state and was much cheaper than Manhattan.
  Term was $24 and books were covered. We lived with a family and ate roast beef sandwiches for what seemed like every meal. We went one year in Warrensburg, worked the summer at Pilsbury, then joined the Marines.
  
• Why did you choose engineering?
• Well, it paid well, it was interesting to me, and I was good at math, so it seemed to be a good fit all around.

And that is where the interview ends. I’m sorry I didn’t go back and pick up where we left off, but after
this time, he spent most of his days sleeping due to his meds, and Mom couldn’t get him to the
basement to work on his puzzles anymore. But I think I grabbed some great stuff here that paints a
pretty good picture of my Dad. If you read this far, thank you. I know this means little to anyone but me
and my family, but I hope you enjoyed getting to know my Dad a little bit.