World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
In 1954 we were painting a house on North Main St. when my father
complained about chest pain, but for more than an hour he kept going
up and down the ladder holding his chest. Finally he said he couldn't
work anymore and was going to drive to the drugstore for something to
cure indigestion. After about fifteen minutes we heard the ambulance
and feared it might be for him. The phone rang in the house and the
lady came out to tell us my father had been taken to the hospital
with a heart attack. He lived about a week and we all took turns
sitting in the waiting room, but were never allowed to see him for
more than a minute at a time. The doctor told us he had suffered a
massive heart attack and knew he wouldn't live. I never forgave the
doctor because if he knew he wasn't going to live I think we should
have been allowed to spend more time with him.
This occurred in October when Dad was 74 years old. He was only a
couple of weeks away from his 75th birthday in November and had
planned on retiring and taking a trip to Florida. I made up my mind
to retire before my health would prohibit me from enjoying a few
years of retirement. I have always considered myself lucky to have
had the chance to work with my father for so many years and get to
know him. He once told me that it gave him great satisfaction to have
raised nine children nobody getting into serious trouble even though
none were a great success.
I continued working with Clarence until 1959 when I was offered a job
as a painter in the maintenance department at the hospital. It took
me almost a year to make up my mind because I didn't want to leave
Clarence working alone. It was one of the hardest decisions to make,
but I know the advantages of steady work even though I had to start
with a cut in wages. The first few years I tried to help Clarence
with some of his work on weekends when I could. I have never
regretted the move because I would have ended up working alone when
Clarence retired. I had only worked at the hospital a few months when
I had my first serious illness. I entered the hospital acutely ill
and the doctors decided to operate for appendicitis. They found an
adhesion from the appendix to the intestine on the other side and I
was suffering a bowel stoppage. I was back to work in two weeks, but
had to take it easy awhile.
The only outside activities my father participated in were pitching
horseshoes and bowling and he was good at both of them. He was
especially good when bowling for money. He and four other bowlers
would travel around the area to bowl in pot games and he always made
a little money. He also bowled in one nationals tournament in
Chicago. After his death I bowled for about ten years on a team with
Leon, Clarence and, sometimes, Ken Montanye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account