Growing Up On A Dead End Street Was A Great Beginning

By Jim Blumenstiel

As a result of the American families having to endure the Great Depression of the 1930's followed, shortly thereafter, by World War II in the 1940's, the American people pulled together, like never before, in loving their family, friends and, above all, their United States of America.

This book is about the Author growing up in the 1940's, 50's and 60's in the small town of Alliance, Ohio. Alliance was written up in Ripley's Believe It Or Not "as the only city in the United States who's Main Street was Dead End at both ends." It was a time that children were growing up learning to love their families, friends, nature's outdoor, religion and good moral codes and the value of hard work.

This is a lighthearted reminiscence of the Author's life with, his sister, brother and their many friends during this most important time in American History. There are many silly tales of events in the Author's childhood and a few sad ones, that helped shape his approach to life.

This book includes some very influential sayings that offered moral guidance to a young boy. They were taught to him by the Bible, his father, Will Rogers (the cowboy philosopher of that time) and others, which sayings helped guide the Author's growing up into adulthood. Also, there are several stories, about how unbelievably small this world is at times, which will astound you.

By the end of this book, there will no doubt that growing up in America, at that time, was the greatest time and Greatest Country in which to grow up.

This book was initially written for the Author's 7 wonderful grandchildren and thus it can be read easily by youthful readers, as well as adults.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Educational Publisher/Biblio Publishing
• Release date: May 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781622494774

Book preview

The crash of America’s economy caused millions of families to suffer financial ruin, in what was called The Great Depression. Millions lost their jobs and families were starving.

Shortly after the great depression of 1929 through the early 1930’s, the Second World War began in September 1939 with fighting Hitler’s Germany, as they were annihilating millions of Jews in Europe. Then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when they sent 100’s of war planes for a surprise bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, thus bringing the United States’ full might into the War.

Germany had invaded Poland, France and England with the intent to conquer those countries and make them part of Germany. Adolph Hitler was a psychopathic maniac intent on ruling the world, while annihilating millions of Jewish people.

War encompassed the whole world. The odds of America being able to defeat both of the marauding countries of Germany and Japan at the same time, defied logic and all odds.

The American people had suffered through the depression for the better part of 10 years and then rallied behind the United States and other world leaders during World War II. The war caused a huge need for military equipment manufacturing and caused a swell in employment, which slowly pulled the country out of the depression.

While such dual calamities of the depression, followed immediately by World War II, could have easily destroyed most countries, the American people pulled together in the defense of their country and became stronger for the experience.

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With millions of patriotic young men joining the war effort, it left untold numbers of manufacturing jobs vacant, during a time when manufacturing of tanks, airplanes, ammunition, weapons and military vehicles were desperately needed for the survival of our country.

Hundreds of thousands of patriotic women rushed from their homes and families to fill the vacant assembly line jobs in factories all over this country. This overwhelming patriotic coming together of the American people allowed this country to survive the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese and the attempt of Adolph Hitler’s Germany to take over the world.

The coming together for the defense of this country, bonded the American people like nothing before in history, since the American Revolution. During this dark period and the next few decades to follow, the American people were filled with love, pride, devotion and dedication for one another, for their Country, for their families and for the Founding Father’s Ideals and Goals for this Country and…for their belief in God.

It was the best of times to grow up.

CHAPTER # 1

GRANDPA AND GRANDMA McCLEAVE

My grandparents, on my mother’s side, were James and Myrtle McCleave.

Born in Northern Ireland in 1888, grandpa was an only child. Unfortunately, in those times, if someone in Ireland could not pay his bills, it was considered a crime and they were thrown into Debtor’s Prison. My great grandfather unfortunately was impoverished and was thrown into Debtor’s Prison leaving my great grandmother and her son, James, age 8, (my grandfather to be) alone and without a way to survive.

Somehow, in 1895, my grandfather and his mother found a way to come to America, the land of opportunity. They got passage on a freighter sailing to America and stayed in steerage with the cattle. Ellis Island was a real thrill for my grandfather, landing with hundreds of other immigrants gazing at the Statue of Liberty holding her torch high in the air offering hope and opportunity for those so down on their luck.

Somehow, they worked their way to the east side of Cleveland, Ohio and settled near the New York Central Railroad tracks. To help sustain themselves, at age 11, Grandpa got a job as a water boy in the NYC Railroad yard on the west side of Cleveland. All the powerful locomotives in those days were steam engines with an engineer, fireman, brakeman and a conductor. A second brakeman manned the caboose coupled to the last car of every train. The fireman stoked the furnace in the locomotives, with coal, to create the steam to drive the engines

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Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty Late 1800’s

that hauled boxcars, coal cars, oil tankers and flat cars all over the United States.

The New York Central yard was a sprawling mass of tracks, switches, mainlines, water towers (to fill each locomotive with water to create the steam) and brakemen jumping on and off of moving cars, as they were being coupled to form the next outbound freight train.

Maintenance men were constantly repairing tracks, when the spikes pulled loose or a railroad switch mal-functioned. It was hot grueling work and, the maintainers, yard crews switching cars and through freight crews, all required constant water to get through their grueling workdays.

Jimmy bring some water over here fast was a constant call grandpa would hear every day. But that was his job. He learned all about railroading and the hugeness of America by talking to the crews that brought a train in from Texas, Oregon, Boston or Miami. The country was huge beyond his comprehension, but that made it exciting and that’s part of why he loved the job so much. Plus, he was a people person. He loved to meet new people and learn how they lived, what their families were like, why they chose to work on the railroad and where they had come from.

Unbelievably, Jimmy’s mom was desperate for the financial assistance and so, she allowed him to leave the house at the crack of dawn, walk to the railroad tracks near their home, where every morning at 5:15 A.M. a slow freight was chugging by on its way to the west side railroad yard, where he was a water boy. Because a train had to be creeping at the pace of a slow walk, as it approached the west side yard, Jimmy would stand by the tracks and wait for a boxcar to slowly role by and jump on the side ladder used by brakemen to climb to the top of the car. The hand brake was mounted at the top of the end of each car and would be spun closed by a brakeman, at the top of the ladder, to stop a car rolling free in a railroad yard. It was part of the way of switching freight cars to disassemble or make up a train.

Jimmy would then stand on a rung of the side ladder and hold on with his hands, for 10 or 15 miles, until the train entered the yard where he would jump off and report to work grabbing his canteens of water for the yard workers.

As he grew accustomed to the work and the way of getting to and from the job, his gregariousness resulted in him making many new friends, one of which was another water boy about his age. He also, lived on the east side and worked in the west side yard. One day they both jumped adjoining boxcars for a lift to work, and whether it was bad weather or just carelessness, his buddy lost his grip and fell screaming to the ground across

the rail, as the train rolled over his legs, severing both legs from his body. Unaware of the young boy falling onto the rails, the train crew continued into the yard, where Jimmy jumped off screaming for help for his buddy.

That did not cause Jimmy to quit; they needed the money too bad. So every morning at a little after 5:00 A.M. Jimmy was standing at the tracks waiting for the slow freight to come and then with deep sadness in his heart, but a driving need to work, jumped back onto the side ladder for the ride into the yard. This process was repeated in reverse each night, as there was a slow freight heading east out of the yard and he’d jump off near his house, completing another day’s work.

The old phrase The Luck of the Irish did not always work out to be "good luck". One day, while walking to the tracks rubbing sleep out of his young eyes, he waited at the side of the tracks for the freight train to come rolling by. Whether he was early or late this day, was never determined, but the freight train did come slowly by. Because of what happened to his friend, Jimmy would keep an eye out for an open boxcar door, so he could jump inside to sit down and not have to risk hanging onto the ladder the whole way into the railroad yard.

Along came a boxcar and the door was open, in he jumped and curled up against the wall to doze a little, while the train pulled into the yard and stopped. Wait, what’s going on? Rather than creeping into the yard, the train began to pick up speed. As it approached the yard and Jimmy saw where he would always jump off, this time the train was probably going 50 mph on a through track on the outside of the yard. He could not dare jump. What the hell has happened??? Soon they past through the railroad yard on its mainline track and continued to pick up speed. In his early teens, he was terrified, Where is this going? Looking out, the trees were screaming by and the train actually was passing birds flying in the same direction. There is no way I can jump off, I’m stuck, and I don’t know where this train is going. As the train approached highway crossings, loud whistles blew 2 longs, a short and a long and, as the train of boxcars passed over the crossing, horses would rear as the buggy driver held the reins tight. Occasionally, there would be one of those new inventions, an automobile. Tears rushed into Jimmy’s eyes, as he had no idea what to do.

Sitting all alone inside an empty boxcar, he filled the hours with tears and shouts of desperation. He was only in his early teens.

But, wait, it feels like it is slowing down, his heart filled with hope…how long had it been, had he fallen asleep? Or Am I just a few miles beyond the west side yard? The train pulled slowly into a railroad yard, but it did not look familiar. None of the locomotive round houses were there. None of the locomotive sheds, or familiar looking water towers were seen. All the same, Jimmy jumped out of the boxcar, as soon as the train stopped.

A boxcar came rolling by, as a locomotive shoved it into a sidetrack, after uncoupling it from the train full of equipment for some industry. A brakeman was high on the end ladder twisting the hand brake to slow the roll of the boxcar and bring it to a stop. Jimmy shouted, Where am I?

You’re on the mainline kid, get your ass off there, you could get run over by the next through freight. the brakeman yelled back.

No, I mean, is this Cleveland? Jimmy screamed. Are you kidding kid? This is Chicago, Illinois. was the reply. Oh, my God, how far is that from Cleveland? Jimmy inquired. A long way kid, hundreds of miles? What am I going to do, I have no money and I am only 13, I made a huge mistake and jumped the wrong train and I have no money. Jimmy whined, almost crying by then. You better telegram your mom. Thanks, where is a western union telegraph? There’s one inside the passenger station right over there…. good luck kid."

He ran to the passenger station and found a telegraph machine and explained to the operator the mistake he had made and that he was only 13 and far away from home without any money….I need to contact my mommy for help. The friendly telegrapher said he would help him and not charge him for the telegraph. Jimmy almost broke down in tears again, due to the man’s kindness. Mommy, I made a mistake and jumped the wrong train, it was a through freight to Chicago and I am here without any money, can you help me and wire me some money, so I can get back home? the telegraph read.

An hour or so later, his telegraph had been delivered and Mommy responded…." You made the mistake; you figure out how to get back home."

Jumping several freight trains to get back to Cleveland and his home, understandably Jimmy had become disenchanted with the railroad industry, which led to him moving onto other jobs. Ultimately, he became involved with the sale of electrical supplies and it became his lifetime job.

As he and my grandma met and married and lived a life of love and hard work, they moved to a place on the Chagrin River (called Eagles Nest) that was a small ranch house with a bunkhouse that sat on a steep hillside, overlooking the Chagrin River.

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Grandma and Grandpa McCleave

Grandpa had a wonderful Irish sense of humor and adapted remarkably, as their age began to take its toll on both he and grandma. As I grew up, I grew to love Grandma and Grandpa McCleave beyond belief. I constantly looked forward to our next trip to visit them at their house on the Chagrin River. I found myself learning incredible life lessons by watching them handle their lives with grace and good humor. Grandpa wore one of the early hearing-aides, which was a small box about 4 inches long by 3 inches wide and about 1 inch thick. It hung by a thin leather strap around his neck and the box was under his buttoned shirt with small wires running to each ear. On the box, was a control that he could turn on or off and regulate the volume by reaching inside his shirt and spinning the small dial.

Grandpa added to his humorous way of handling the fact he was hard of hearing, in a way that made us kids laugh every time he did it. Grandma was no ‘Wilting Lilly’ and often would come in the room and say: Jim, you haven’t taken the garbage out for days, and you left the mower outside where it will get rained on… and on it went. But, after a few of her rather snarky comments, grandpa would look over at us kids and wink, then reach inside his shirt (with a big grin on his face) and dial the hearing aide to off. Grandma did not notice, but every time he did that, we kids would burst out laughing and grandma, didn’t know what was going on. He simply turned her off…and could not hear her anymore. He would join us in laughing, as well.

As the years rolled by, during the summers, mom and dad, together with mom’s sister aunt Ruth and uncle Harold, would plan a get together at Grandma and Grandpa’s house on the Chagrin River. Aunt Ruth and uncle Harold had 2 daughters, Roberta (whom we all called Bobbie) and Donna. Bobbie was about Carol’s age and Donna was about my age. All 6 adults wanted to spend the afternoon having a glass or two of wine and get caught up on all that was going on in their two daughter’s lives (Mom and Aunt Ruth).

Sister Carol, cousins Bobbie and

Donna and me.

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Our Grandpa was fun to be around!!!

.

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Carol, John & I, with cousins, Bobbie and Donna

As most adults would do, they sent us kids to the Bunkhouse, which was the perfect place to send kids, so the adults could have adult conversations without interruptions. But apparently that was not satisfactory to the older girls, Carol and Bobbie. On the first visit, all 5 of us kids went out to the bunkhouse and the girls tried to play cards. John and I thought it was great fun to run over to the table and brush all the cards off the table onto the floor. This resulted in a private conversation with Grandpa, Carol and Bobbie.

Grandpa, Jimmy and Johnny are being obnoxious, and we can’t have any fun with them around…they are absolute pests. Can’t you do something and get them out of our hair? Carol whined to grandpa. Let me give it some thought and see if I can’t find a way to distract them and get them out of your hair. Grandpa promised.

Before Johnny and I knew it, grandpa came out to the bunkhouse and said: Jimmy and Johnny, come with me, I have something really exciting that I want to show you. Without a second thought, Johnny and I went running out the door to follow grandpa to whatever exciting thing he wanted to show us. Follow me guys. And grandpa walked briskly out to the front of his house, over to the huge pine tree growing at the side of the house. Jimmy, Johnny, last week when I was pulling weeds around this tree, I heard Chinamen talking right under the tree. I think, China may be just a couple of feet under this tree. Here are two shovels, why don’t you dig as deep as you can and see if you can find China. This could be so exciting. Have at it guys, and he walked back into the house.

Johnny, can you imagine how famous we would become if we dug down and found China. This is incredible!! And with that we began to dig. We kept at it for at least 2 or 3 hours and had a hole at least 6 feet wide and almost 2 feet deep. Then, Mom and Dad came out and announced it was time for us to leave and drive back home. We hated to leave, because we were about to discover China. Grandpa, we dug as deep as we could, the next time we come back up, I’m sure we will find China, we said with the utmost of confidence. I’m sure you will, be sure to come back soon, guys. Oddly enough, though we were on the verge of becoming famous for finding China, all of the adults and even the girls had grins on their faces. Perhaps they were just envious.

This went on for the next 3 or 4 visits over that summer and the next and, after a while, the girls even joined in. Each time we went back, he had filled the hole back up, but heard the Chinamen again. So, back at it we went, with vigor and enthusiasm. It took us the better part of 2 summers to finally figure out that grandpa made the whole thing up in order to get us out of the hair of the girls and the adults.

As I tell the story over and over again as an adult, people love it and then I always add, It took me until my second year of law school, before I figured out the whole China thing was a hoax.

Grandma and grandpa were getting older and by our late grade school days, grandpa was completely deaf in his right ear and had impaired hearing in his left, thus the need for the hearing aide. Grandma was blind in her left eye. Neither one ever complained, they just dealt with it and went on with life. Grandpa, however, always told us kids a story, that gave us great insight into how to live gracefully and enjoy life, even when you had some serious health problems.

You know kids, you always notice that when grandma and I walk together, she is always on my right side and I am always on her left side. Do you know why that is? he said with a slight grin on his face. No grandpa why is that? one of us would respond. Well, when grandma walks on my right side, she can hear everything my right ear can’t because I’m deaf in that ear and when I’m on her left, I can always see what she can’t see with her left eye, because she is blind in that eye. Then he would break out laughing and those infirmities, never seemed that big after-all. He taught us a lot about accepting things you can’t change and to move on with life and be happy.

But those stories still really make me laugh hard. The next joke of his is a real rib tickler.

In the living room, next to their kitchen, they had a round low coffee table and in the center of that table was always a brightly colored canister with a lid. If you lifted the lid, they always had the best chocolate candy on earth. Of course whenever they were out of the room for a minute, John and I would reach in and grab a handful of candy and hide in the closet and eat it all as fast as we could. Frequently, we would get caught and mom would scold us for taking candy without asking first, because it could ruin our lunch.

But, whenever the adults and our obnoxious sister and cousins were outside or in the kitchen, we’d risk everything to get more candy. So, we hung around that table frequently.

Then one day, when John was probably 9 or so and I was 11 or 12, the adults and the girls were all gathered in the kitchen and seemed quiet and intent on something important. So, as was our habit, John and I darted over to the table to get some candy. John, look at this !!! There on the table was a book entitled: Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask and it said it was……Illustrated." Oh, my God John, this could have pictures of naked girls, we’ve got to take a look at this. I agree completely. John said with an anxious look on his face. I reached down and picked up the book and it was fairly thick, so there could be lots of pictures of naked girls. This is too good to be true, everybody is out of the room, let’s take a look, I said, as I pulled the book closer to us, so we could both see the pages as I turned them.

With that I began to open the cover to get the first lewd and lascivious look at the anticipated naughty pictures. All of a sudden there was a loud buzz and I felt a shock of electricity surge though my body. I yelled in pain and dropped the book on the floor. Within 2 seconds of my scream, all of the adults and the girls came racing into the room. At first, I thought they were being kind and concerned with what made me scream. But I was wrong. They were all laughing their asses off and shouting, How’d you like the dirty pictures of the girls and the naughty sex illustrations? It was a completely rigged plan. The book was a trick book grandpa bought, just to pull a trick on Johnny and I, cause he knew we were of the age to be really curious about sex and girls. It had batteries inside and no pages at all. It was hollow and had a device that would shock whoever opened it.

After everyone had a good laugh, at our expense, he then patiently showed us how the electric shock was created and how opening the book, would cause the holder to get shocked. He even stood us all in a line and told us to hold hands and then he had the person at the one end of the line open the book and the electric shock would pass from one person to the next and only the last person felt any shock. I’m still not sure how that worked.

That man had an ornery and fun-loving sense of humor, until the day he died.

CHAPTER # 2

GRANDPA AND GRANDMA BLUMENSTIEL

AND DAD AS A YOUNG BOY

Dad’s family came from Germany. His father, John F. Blumenstiel, married dad’s mom and of that marriage they had four children, Uncle Bud, Aunt Jane, Aunt Bernice and dad (Orvin Victor Blumenstiel, the youngest of four children).

During the Civil war there was a Nurse Blumenstiel who was decorated for her service and bravery serving wounded soldiers during the War. Likewise, there was a Civil war General in the family, General Blumenstiel and his statue is proudly on display in a Civil War Museum in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

Dad and his brother and two older sisters all helped in the family laundry business in Sebring, Ohio, just six miles from Alliance. They delivered the cleaned laundry by horse and buggy.

Dad, as a very young boy, took up the saxophone and would sit in his second-floor bedroom practicing many nights. He had a good ear for music and enjoyed watching the festivities outside his bedroom window in an open field next to their house. There was a strange group that would meet about once a month, late at night, and build bonfires and sing what seemed to be their anthem. There was something very unusual about the group that caught dad’s eye, as a young boy, because they always wore white sheets over their heads and bodies, with holes cut out for their eyes. What in the world did they dress like that for? he would ask himself. No one would talk to him about them, so he just gave up asking and just watched and listened to their song, which he learned by heart. It was the first song he learned to play on his saxophone, as a young boy.

Years later, dad was to learn that the strange gathering outside his bedroom window as a boy, was the meeting of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was a racial hate group active in the 1920’s and 30’s. Obviously, dad immediately deleted that song from his saxophone repertoire.

Tragedy struck the hard working Blumenstiel family in Sebring, Ohio. By the time dad was only 16 years old, both of his parents had died. Aunt Jane and Aunt Bernice were the two oldest siblings and were about in their late teens or early 20’s when they had to take over the task of raising the family.

Defying all odds, dad went to high school and never had to take an exam, because he aced all the quizzes given throughout the year. If you accomplished that feat, you did not have to take the year-end exams. Dad graduated high school with a 4-point average.

That wasn’t all he accomplished, during high school. He also played on Sebring’s high school football team and, by the last year in high school, was honored as the all tri-county quarterback….all without any living parents to cheer him on.

Then, again defying the odds, he and uncle Bud both went to OSU for undergraduate college and both decided to go on to OSU law school, where they both graduated and formed the Blumenstiel law firm in Alliance, Ohio. Years later, Louise Strong, joined the firm and was one of the first female lawyers in Ohio.

Those four, orphaned, brothers and sisters are living proof that, with hard work, clear vision and a belief in God and yourself, you can accomplish almost anything you want in America.

The next chapter tells about how Mom and Dad first met in Cleveland, Ohio, who’s industry was booming on the waterfront, like many cities, in America, in the 1930’s and 1940’s. But, the environment was being polluted, at the same time, by the industrial boom.

CHAPTER # 3

MOM AND DAD MEET AND MARRY

Coming out of law school in the 1930’s and finding a job for a brand-new graduating attorney was not easy. Dad ended up taking a job in the Union Bank in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. He wasn’t crazy about the job, but he loved Cleveland and being on Lake Erie.

In the 1930’s, Cleveland was a heavy industrial town, and so in order to allow the workers a chance to escape the downtown congestion and heavy smoke from the factories lining the lake, several boat companies offered lunch excursions where they would take you out for a beautiful boat trip out into the middle of Lake Erie, for the fresh air and to enjoy a lunch with friends. It afforded the diners a chance to get out into the fresh air and look back on the skyline of downtown Cleveland. It was a favorite way to take lunch, for all the young single workers in downtown.

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Industry Polluting Cleveland Earlier in the 20th Century

Mom, who was born and raised in Euclid, outside of Cleveland, was likewise working in the downtown area. One of her best friends was a girl they always referred to as Dirty Neck Ward. She had gorgeous long brown hair that hung down to her mid back and she always kept it in beautiful sweeping waves of gentle curls. While Mom had told me her real name on numerous occasions, I only remember her nick name… Dirty Neck Ward. How in the world did you nick-name her such a name? I asked. Well in order to keep her hair in such stylish and wavy condition, she would go weeks without washing her hair, and therefore would not raise it up in order to wash her neck, because she might get her hair wet and lose some of the curl. Thus, she always had beautiful wavy hair…but also a very dirty neck, for not washing it for weeks at a time. explained mom.

Despite all odds, it turned out that Dirty Neck Ward was dating a young man who also worked at the Union Bank and was a friend of dads. Apparently, this young man did not object to necking with Dirty Neck Ward as they were in love and frequently would meet and go out into Lake Erie for the lunch cruises. One day Dirty Neck offered to fix mom up with a blind date with her boyfriend’s co-worker, Attorney Vic Blumenstiel.

About 11:30AM, they both walked into the bank where there were dozens of desks of Attorneys and clerks working side by side. Dirty Neck pointed dad out, and as mom looked his way, he was bent over in deep concentration on whatever he was working on. Mom thought to herself, He looks so absolutely serious, how can anyone like that be fun to be around. Nevertheless, she went through with the blind date for the Lake Erie lunch cruise. They sat outside on the deck and watched the white seagulls swoop around the ship and the people throwing food for them to dive to the water and grab the tasty morsel. He laughed and talked about his fishing trips and asked about mom and her job and how long she lived in the Cleveland area. He was so different from her first impression of a serious studious young banking attorney. He was human, fun and interesting. Shortly, after their blind date lake lunch, he called her and they went out again.

Soon thereafter they fell in love and got married. For a while they continued their jobs and lived in Cleveland near the lake. The depression had just ended, and industry was booming again. In those days there was no EPA and most industrial complexes assumed nature would take care of the waste product from all the factories lining the lake. So they dumped their waste into the lake, resulting in signs all along the shores of Lake Erie near Cleveland, reading Toxic, no swimming or drinking of the water allowed.

Not too many years thereafter, with the breakout of World War II, American industry jumped into high gear, due to the sudden demand for the manufacture of tanks, airplanes, mobile cannons, guns and ammunition. The water became intolerable in both the Lake and the Cuyahoga River, that came off of the Lake. In fact, by the mid 1940’s, the industrial sewage was so bad, that Ripley’s Believe It Or Not (an annual publication that put out a listing of the most improbable, unbelievable events that took place around the country that year), reported that the Cuyahoga River, outside downtown Cleveland was the only river in the history of the world to actually catch on fire. In fact, it had caught on fire due to the accumulation of industrial waste including oil and gas product, and it burned for days.

It was the beginning of the public interest and realization that pumping industrial waste into the lakes and rivers made it seem to disappear, but it did not go away, it just accumulated and ruined the most needed and valuable natural resource on this earth…. our fresh water.

Soon, mom and dad began to talk about moving back to Sebring, Ohio, where dad grew up, so he could join his brother, Bud, in the practice of law at his new firm in Alliance, Ohio, just 6 miles from Sebring.

Once back in the Alliance area, my older sister, Carol, was born about 3 years before me. My younger brother, John, was born about 2 years after me.

Soon after the move, mom and dad decided to move to Shunk Ave. in Alliance, Ohio, so as to be closer to the law firm where dad and his brother, Uncle Bud, practiced law together.

CHAPTER # 4

MOVE TO A DEAD END STREET NAMED

SHUNK AVE.

The small family of mom, dad and little Carol moved from Sebring to Shunk Ave. in Alliance, Ohio, around 1940. It was a small 2-story house, with an alley between us and the Wright family. The garage was off in the back yard and behind that was a field, with a large water tower. All the neighbors seemed to know each other and were openly friendly.

As 1942 came, the Second World War was in full explosive bloom. Adolph Hitler and his Nazi henchmen were terrorizing the world by attacking England by air, France by ground troops and the Jewish population in Germany were being forced into the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. Millions of Jewish women, children and men were forced into gas chambers and were gassed to death, or ordered to lay down in pits where the SS Troops, with machine guns, murdered them in cold blood.

America was on full alert, because the Germans had the capacity to fly over America and drop bombs on any city they wanted. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, so America was fighting on two fronts in vastly different areas of the world.

It was common for Alliance to order lights out, as a practice, in the event either Japan or Germany decided to bomb our cities. The whole city would go black at night in preparation for the possible invasion. All the people took this threat very seriously. Through it all, the people of America still loved their country and their families, so, as would be expected, the population grew even in wartime.

On Dec. 25, 1942, mom was rushed to the hospital in labor and delivered, "Yours Truly."

After a few days in the hospital, as was customary in those days, mom and I were brought home to Shunk Ave. Aunt Mary and Uncle Bud were staying with my sister, Carol, while dad went to the hospital to bring us home. Little Carol was wondering what this new baby brother was going to do with her happy life, without having to share the attention of mom and dad, with anyone.

Carol was only about 3 years old when I was brought home from the hospital in a carriage, just a few days after Christmas. There was 6 inches of snow on the ground. Being only 3 or 4 days old, I only knew the sensation of warmth and breast milk. Life was simple and very pleasant.

While I had no clue what it meant at the time, dad yelled to Carol at the door, Come meet your new baby brother!!! He sounded excited, but Carol said oh… alright with a sort of disdain in her voice. Warm and still full from breakfast…life was good and I was contented. As I laid in the carriage, suddenly I saw a face of a little girl peering over the edge of the carriage …but there was no smile, there was just a faint snarl on her face. Without any warning she said, Hello little brother and with that she pushed the carriage over and I fell out into the snow.

Holly shit I thought. What in the Hell just happened? Instantly I understood what the phrase Cold as ice meant, thou I had never heard that phrase before in the short 4 days of my life. The adults were all extremely upset and soon I began to feel sorry for…. What’s her name? Oh, yeah…Carol. Well she and I are going to have to reach an understanding or I am going to want to go back to wherever I came from.

Soon as warm weather came and I had forgotten all about my big sister, Carol pushing me over into the snow, when I was only 4 days old, she became my all-time favorite older sister.

As the early years past and the War continued on, everyone hungered for news from the war front. That was before television, cell phones, I-Pads and computers. On Shunk, the gathering spot for the family each night was laying on the floor at the base of a wooden radio and record player. It was a piece of furniture 4 feet tall, and about 2 1/2ft. wide. The radio dials were on the front and a lid on top opened up and had a 78-record player inside.

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Within the first year, Carol became my favorite sister.

Each night the city ordered lights out as a war precaution, the family would lie on