Memoirs of a Boy Without a Future: (Based on a True Story)

By Dr Marvin Curtiss

THIS IS THE STORY of a mixed-race American black boy born on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, who was never raised by his biological mother but by a Jewish stepmother, and who, against all odds, travelled the world and became a very successful, educated engineer, making an outstanding career in aerospace industry. A boy without a future who managed to make one on his own despite adversity. An inspiration for all young people coming from minority groups throughout the world!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 14, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468581966

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© 2012 by Dr Marvin Curtiss. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/11/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8195-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-8196-6 (e)

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Contents

I CHILDHOOD TO MANHOOD

II THE CAREER FORMATIVE YEARS

III THE SIKORSKY ADVENTURE

IV THE LEAR-FAN AND THE IRISH DISASTER

V THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

VI THE FRENCH EXPERIENCE

VII THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE

VIII THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE

IX INTO RETIREMENT

To my wife, Renée, who made a big contribution

to the editing of this book.

I

CHILDHOOD TO MANHOOD

In September 1937, a young, beautiful, 16 years’ old, mixed race girl, was walking home from Central High School, Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was the start of cold weather and the ground was slippery as it had already started to freeze. She was only a short distance from her home. The dark had come quick and wrapped the entire neighborhood into a dull, silent blanket. She was not frightened when a white boy she knew from school approached her. The encounter unexpectedly turned into a brutal rape perpetrated in the nearby park. The girl’s fate was sealed, her life was going to be so much different of what she would have dreamed off. Soon, the young girl found herself pregnant. Finished the life of that pampered girl who loved to adorn her hair with flowers, finished the happy days within her loving family!

Dorothy’s father was the most influential black preacher in Minnesota, he was head of the Pentecostal church, her mixed race mother was from a German Jewish heritage. This pregnancy came as a blow to that exemplary family that was considered as a model in the city. It was a very embarrassing situation that could have ruined the future of her father, Bishop of the community. In pre-war America, there was no real alternative to a pregnancy except marriage. But a mixed race girl would never marry a white boy in those days!

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Thomas, Seven Years' Old

So the family had to imagine a way out to avoid a scandal that could have negative consequences for all. Within this black Pentecostal congregation was a couple of Christians, Luce and Stone, who were devoted members of her father’s church. In order to save the preacher’s reputation, an agreement was made between the preacher and Luce. Luce had a brother, George, that would marry Dorothy and become the father of her unborn child. In return, Luce and Stone would receive a sum of money which helped them starting a business. In May 1938 at 11:35 a.m. in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a boy, named Thomas, was born to a young mother who was 17 years’ old at the time, and a supposed father who was a young 22 years’ old. The new couple was not highly educated, the girl had been obliged to get out of school at an early stage of her pregnancy to avoid a scandal, and the man, like so many young black boys, had dropped school at an early stage too. They then started a married life with a baby in a world that was in the middle of complete turbulence. Thomas, the new born baby, had a bleak future, even no future at all in those prevailing circumstances.

Life in America for blacks was very harsh. As a reminder, the Jim Crow Laws that were enacted between 1876 and 1965, established racial segregation in all public facilities in the Southern states of the former confederacy with a supposedly separate but equal status for black Americans. This separation concept led to treatment, financial support and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systemizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages. It mainly applied to the Southern states. Segregation in the Northern states was generally a de facto reality, with patterns of segregation in housing enforced by covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including discriminatory union practices. The Jim Crow Laws were a major factor in the great migration during the early part of the 20th century, because opportunities were so limited in the South that African Americans moved in great numbers to Northern cities to seek a better life. To put things into simple words and to relate to other discrimination that occurred in other parts of the world, it was a form of apartheid that had serious behavioral implications in the daily life of black people. As examples of the Jim Crow Laws, a black male could not shake hands with a white male because it implied being socially equal, black and white people were not supposed to eat together, white motorists had the right-of-way at all intersections . . . In Minnesota, a Northern state, the population was mainly of Scandinavian origin and blacks were a minority of only 9,560 souls in the entire state, so there was not such fear of the blacks and consequently life for blacks was a bit better compared to many other states.

On the international scene, some examples of the world current events occurring in May 1938 were not reassuring. In Europe, there was the opening of the first German concentration camp at Flossemburg in Germany, Dutch writer, Maurits Dekker was sentenced to 50 days in jail for offending a friendly Head of State, named Adolf Hitler, and in the United States, the House of Representatives Committee on un-American activities began its work searching for subversive people.

So the world in 1938 was experiencing some very difficult times. The little black child had arrived in the world at a very bad time. His mother Dorothy was ill-equipped to foster a child, and his father, George, was just as ill-equipped. Their forced marriage was doomed before it had begun. They soon divorced and she moved to California with her son Thomas.

Life in California for a black single mother and child was not an easy one. As she could not afford a child care person, her only choice was to lock her child in the bedroom and subsequently in a closet when she had to go out. When the child was 4 years’ old and was due to go to school, she was at wits end and gave up custody of the child to his father George. In that, he was just as ill-equipped to foster a child as a single man, so he too gave custody to an assortment of relatives, aunts and uncles in Kansas where the family originated from. So, at a very young age, Thomas was already on the move, from one state to the other. At that point, the mother’s family had decided not to have any contact with Thomas.

After a few years in Kansas city, Missouri, something very dramatic happened! It was in 1944 and Thomas was now 6 years’ old, and attended school. His teacher, Ms Toggle, fell in love with the boy, and negotiated with his aunt for temporary custody, which was given. He was such a cute, intelligent little boy with light brown complexion that had drawn the teacher’s interest! Unknown to Thomas, Ms Toggle, who had no children, started on a programmed strategy for full and complete custody of the child and eventually adoption. When Thomas went to live with Mr and Ms Toggle, his life changed completely. First, he had to master mathematics, namely the multiplication tables, become a part of the Boys Scouts of America and join their church, a Baptist church in the 2nd Avenue, where he became a member of the junior choir and a church usher. A new life had started for Thomas in that well-off community and he was enjoying it quite a lot. That was a real change to him, living in a nice neighborhood in the city, being the center of attention in the Toggle family. Thomas had never been used to being treated like that. But this was not to last long!

Three events occurred that would change Thomas’s life style once again. First, George’s father who lived in the state of Kansas was a very ill man and dying. George wanted Thomas to visit him before death. Second, Thomas’s mother who had returned to Minnesota wanted him to return in her care in Saint Paul. When she discovered that Ms Toggle had Thomas baptized within the Baptist church, a chain of events started to take place. George contacted the Toggle family and demanded that Thomas be placed in the custody of Bishop Davis of the Pentecostal Church of Kansas who was a good friend of Bishop Alfred, his grand-father who was part of the Pentecostal Church of Minnesota. Then a war began, Mr and Ms Toggle trying to adopt Thomas and his mother’s family determined to prevent the adoption.

To try to end this war, Thomas was given a choice, either to return to his mother, or father or grand-parents or stay with the Toggle family. A decision of that kind was rather difficult to take for a nine years’ old boy who, until then, had been moved from one relative to another. But blood relationship won over friendship. Thomas thought that, maybe, that was a new chance given to him to bond with his real family. So a meeting point was then arranged for the transfer of custody from the Toggle family to Bishop Davis whom Thomas had never seen before! Bishop Davis and his wife drove Thomas to the state of Kansas where he was to visit George’s father who was dying. Upon arrival at the home of Grandpa Harrison, Thomas was told that his grand-father was dead. That was the first time Thomas had ever seen a dead person. The grand-father was embalmed in his bed, dressed and placed in a coffin and moved to the living room to repose. After four days, a wake was held in which friends and family sat and prayed for the dead person all night before burial. The next day, the grand-father was buried and Bishop Davis and Thomas continued their journey