In 1940, dad left the family farm to be the first person in his family to go to college. Twice each year, he hitchhiked 164 miles to get home.
At college he lived on a farm where he rose before dawn, fed and milked cows before bathing and hitchhiking to his first class.
Everything changed December 7, 1941. Dad dropped out of college, reported for his medical check-up, but was declared 4-F, unfit for duty because of flat feet. So he returned to the family farm and produced food for the war effort.
In 1943, he married my mother. The reception was held in my grandparents’ house. The picture you see hanging on the wall behind my parents currently hangs on a wall in my house.
Dad’s parents and siblings left the farm shortly thereafter. Dad, newly married, took over running it single-handed. That took 10-12 hours through the winter then 15 hours or more spring through fall.
It was near the time this photo was taken that my mother contracted polio. She was hospitalized for some time then came home to a hospital bed and physical therapy. In case you’re wondering, I’m the one who didn’t have a second to spare to look into the camera.
My grandmothers helped enormously, but polio epidemics always occurred during the summer. Dad put in 15 hours then started his temporary “second job” in the house. We were old enough to help but we also needed looking after.
Dad farmed his entire life until he had an accident. He recovered and was still strong but could no longer farm. An auction was held and everything was sold.
We stood in the paddock as the cows we grew up with were sold one-by-one. First, there was Daisy then Jersey then Mary until the last one was gone. All the hay, straw, corn , farm equipment, nearly everything was sold. We moved to a 26 acre property so a few things were saved to take care of it.
Dad got a job with Delco Products, a subsidiary of General Motors. Because he had some college, they paid for him to return and finish his degree. That took years of night school. By day, he worked at Delco then 2 nights each week he attended classes. After we went to bed, dad stayed up studying. Finally, he graduated from the University of Dayton with a 3.99 in electrical engineering.
This is a long, long background history in order to answer the pot and kettle question.
I graduated from the same college dad attended then got a job in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I was single and came home frequently. On one particular trip, dad looked at me and said, “You’re working too hard. You need to rest more.”
I visualized my dad coming into the farm house dead tired. I remembered those long months when he, not only farmed, but picked up the slack through mother’s recovery period from polio. I remembered saying good-night while dad stayed up late to study after working all day at Delco.
I didn’t remind him of any of that. I just said, “You’re right. I probably am. I’ll try to get more rest.”
