Before my grandfather retired, my Dad had a couple of different jobs. Before the war (WWII), he was employed by the local Grange Supply. Our Mom said that after he was drafted (late in the war as he had two children), she was told they had to hire two people to replace him!
After Dad returned home, he ran a service station. This was pre-freeway days when there was a service station on every corner of the town on the highway. There is now a bank there where his Union 76 station was. Sometime later Dad bought the Richfield bulk distributorship. He added on to the length of our garage there in town to accommodate his delivery truck. I recall him trying patiently to explain to the Senator's wife who lived next door that her demand that he only park an empty truck there was actually more dangerous than a full truck...
After my Grandfather retired, we moved out to the Haight farm in the Carico Hills and my Dad became a full-time wheat and hog farmer (both there and later in Moses Lake's Block 40) until he finally retired.
Forry was the 3rd generation to farm the land that his grandfather had homesteaded (though he lost the land during the Great Depression and Forry's Dad bought it back from the insurance company).
Forry and I farmed for thirty-five years on that same farm (I went back to school and got my nursing degree during that time, but that's another tale). What I am trying to say, is that I come from a long line of hard-working people that were not afraid to get their hands dirty. While all of the guys on both sides of my family look great in suits and ties, that was never their everyday attire.
Celebrating Labor Day gives us an opportunity to salute all these wonderful folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment