I started hauling my anchor soon after graduating from high
school. I had gone to Cincinnati to test for an engineering apprenticeship
program for General Electric Jet Engine Division. I did well on the tests and
interview and was notified that I would be starting work and school at the
University of Cincinnati in the fall.
In the interim, I got a job at Travelers electronics factory
in Orleans. Those that had a privilege of working there in the summer of 1961
will attest to the ‘sweat shop’ description. I commuted and worked with some
great people, but frankly management was challenging.
I married my high school sweetheart, Charlotte, at the end
of June (the absolutely best decision in my life), and we moved into an
upstairs apartment on the southwest corner of the square. I think Dave Ramsey
established a lot of his ideas from our lifestyle at that time. Fried baloney
gravy was breakfast, and cheap meat with a vegetable (usually donated) fed us
the other meals.
After being laid off at Travelers, I went to work at Midwest
Natural Gas (laying neighborhood residential gas lines). A part time job at Fisher’s Texaco at 60 and
South Main helped also (he worked there when the weather was bad). Mr. Fisher
also paid me to help with his crops at the south edge of town. Basically, when
the weather was nice, I had three jobs. When it rained, I had NO job. We seemed
to have an unusually wet summer and fall.
Due to the economy and military procurement decisions, my
apprenticeship kept getting delayed. Compounding the situation, my wife was
pregnant. As the winter approached, my opportunities to work were diminishing.
I opted to join the Air Force.
We stayed at the farm the night before I went to New Albany
to test and take my physical. We had to leave VERY early to be there before 6
AM. Mom was going with us, but Dad was still in bed. It was time to say goodbye.
The parting hour had come. It was in that tense hour that a certain timid, proud, half
defiant farm boy discovered his Dad – realized fully for the first time the
friend he was leaving behind!
Hand met hand, a smooth soft one in a great calloused one.
There was a grip that was different; there was a look that I had never noticed
in those gray eyes before- a yearning
that I did not understand then, because I had yet to become a father. Then he
said with a bit of a quaver in his voice that I had never heard there before as
he thrust a little some bills into my hand. There was a tight little squeeze, a
trace of a tear that was quickly brushed away and then ‘man to man’ we understood each other. As I looked
down into that face that day I noticed as I never had before the steel gray
hair, the toil-bent shoulders, the majesty and quiet power of the man who for
all the years of my youth had worked for me and fought for me and planned for
me. This man had mentored me as best he knew to take my place in the world and
to bear his name with honor. I stepped over that threshold into the next phase
of my life.
It was a long day at the processing center. The tests were
very easy (thanks to Walnut Grove and Salem High Schools). The physical was
daunting (how many times do I have to ‘grab my ankles’?). Almost too quickly, I
had passed and preparing to be sworn in at 6 PM. Everything around me was a
swirling blur. Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to my wife and mom while
being rushed onto a bus. A short time later, I was herded onto a turboprop
AIRPLANE (my first time) for a flight to Dallas. As I looked down at the
disappearing lights of Louisville, I could feel my anchor totally weighed. I
was underway.
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