World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
When Gordon returned from Nebraska, he started painting by himself. I
never knew why, but he always worked alone and had his own line of
customers. When work was hard to get just after the depression in the
early 1930's, Leon got a job as a painter at Brigham Hall. He worked
all his years there, for low wages, just for job security. He built a
house on Chapin Street just across from our house. We dug the
foundation with a scoop pulled by Clarence's panel bodied truck and a
chain. We also used a wheelbarrow and shovels. He put up a ready-cut
house from Sears and Roebuck that cost $4,500. All the pieces came cut
and numbered, with instructions to tell you how to put it together. He
hired one carpenter and all of us boys to help him. This must have
been in the early thirties and the house is still a nice looking one.
Last year I noticed that they put on vinyl siding. Leon had to sell it
years later for financial reasons and has had to rent since that time
as he never made enough money to buy again.
Dad, Clarence and I painted together and my father arranged all the
work and did the collecting. Clarence did most of the high work and
Dad did the open places as he was a fast painter. I did the windows
and became good at it. We worked together well by each doing what he
could do best. That saved time and money. When my father was in his
70's he could spread more paint than the rest of us, although he began
to miss spots when his eye sight was beginning to go. My uncles Jim
and Ed were in the painting business also; Uncle Ed wore a tie and a
celluloid collar all his life, even when painting in hot weather. His
wife did all the book keeping for him.
In 1939 my father married my Aunt Constance and I guess he thought she
was like my mother. She was just the opposite and I don't think my
father enjoyed life as much after that. He worked right up until his
death at age 75. He used to get up with the sun and work in the Garden
or mow the lawn until it was time to go to work. He was a very good
bowler and traveled to cities in the area to bowl for money. I recall
one time when he won $100 in Auburn. One time he and Leon went with a
team to bowl in the national tournament in Chicago. When he married
again I moved out of the house and rented a room on South Main Street,
staying there about a year before moving to another place just below
Clark Street on Main. I also lived there about a year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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