Em's Story
When I was a kid, one of my big goals in life was to learn to drive a car. Pop had a second car which he only drove occasionally. Mom was not a licensed driver and was opposed to any of us driving since her own father had been killed in an automobile accident. I decided I could learn to drive with Pop's second car and without the knowledge of either parent. When my parents went to sleep, I would sneak out of the house and explore my home town in Pop's car. Since I feared that Pop would hear the car start outside his bedroom window, my routine was to coast the car down the hill and start it on 4th street, hopefully, out of ear shot.
One lovely summer evening after my high school graduation, I sneaked out of the house, as usual, coasted the car down the hill, as usual, and on 4th street tried to start the car. Unfortunately, the car would not start!! Did it have gas? Yes, I always put gas in the car, so, why would it not start? I coasted further onto 4th street and got a passing car to push me to a local gas station. I was beginning to visualize my Pop's anger when he woke up the next day and did not see his car. Then he would know and Mom would know and I would be in big trouble!!!! The gas station dude was unable to determine the problem and told me I would have to leave the car over night and a mechanic could check it out in the morning. With great anxiety, I returned home without the car. Could it be fixed? Would Pop discover the missing car? I barely slept that night and hurriedly phoned the station when I awoke. I was told that the rotor was missing from the distributor. With fear, I realized that Pop must have known that I was taking out his car and had attempted to thwart my efforts. When Pop finally came home that night, he found me and asked for the part that I had to buy to make the car run. I was surprised and relieved that he did not yell or punish but was really very calm about it. And I don't think he even told Mom, who would definitely not be calm.
But, I was a very persistent kid and purchased another rotor. I carried it in my purse along with a small flashlight that I used to see what I was doing when I put the rotor into place. Later that summer, I asked my best friend to stay at my house, she had never met my parents, yet. Arriving home late at night, I convinced her that it would be just fine and fun to sneak out and take the car on a nocturnal joy ride. As the car rolled down the gravely hill, I heard the voice of God: "Put that back!," boomed from the darkness. With fear and trembling, my best friend and I slinked back into the house to feel the wrath of my unhappy parents. Pop was really cool saying that he knew I was sorry because I had gotten caught. On the other hand, Mom was never so philosophical and yelled at me for days telling me that I was a really terrible person. Not long after this episode, I moved out of my parents house and began the adventure of living my life as an adult.
Martin, Joe wrote: 8/5/99
Here is a message from the jeweler working on Pop's old watches which are going into Mom's display case: "Worked on Hamilton watch today. Found/made all the pieces required. Assemble & test tomorrow. While searching for a crystal, I can across a Lexan replacement for the Hamilton, which looked really thick... so got down on my hands and knees and went through the old glass drawer, and Low and behold.. an original old glass crystal presented itself!!! I don't find those too often anymore. I think you'll like how it looks. Another neat thing I found, was one of my fathers repair marks in the back of the watch. Had to dig out the old repair ledger and found a pencil entry for Cliff Martin back in Feb. of '66. I also found one which says on the back, LA Ca. 1932 to Beatrice from Cliff."
Merry Christmas,
1999
We have something special to celebrate this Christmas! Long ago, when Mom was a little girl, her
Dad took her in a horse and buggy to visit a friend of his in Lester Park on Oneida street. It was someone by the name of Captain Richards. This was in
about 1915 or so. Many years later, Mom and Pop bought the house once owned by Captain Richards, in 1941. In the front
yard, the hitching post that Mom's father had tied his horse to was still there. Well,, when
Pop moved the Richards house across the street in 1946, the year that I was born, he also moved the hitching post. And a few years later, when he and
Mom bought the house on Fifth street, we again moved the hitching post.
By this time I was 9 years old and Pop let me dig the hole in the front yard on the boulevard to set the post. It had to go
down about 30 inches (2 and a half feet) Pop said. I remember digging for what seemed like forever. Pop checked the hole
depth periodically and said, "not quite Joe, A little deeper". Finally he said, Ok, that should be deep enough. He put the
post in the hole and said, now we can fill in around it and tamp it in really good. We used something big and heavy to pack
the dirt around the post. Then we watered with a bucket it and let it stand.
Well, there it stood for 46 years until last summer when the construction company workers dug it out while rebuilding the
street. New curbs, dug down 6 feet and put it new underground services too. When they were finished and
re-sod the boulevard, they never asked if we wanted them to put the post back in the ground. Mom recalls one day when she and
Shelley were sitting on the front porch, a woman passing by asked what happened to the hitching post. She said, "I hope it
is returned to the same spot soon, it would change the neighborhood if it was not put back there again." So time passed,
Mom didn't think much about the post and never mentioned it to me. With all the excitement and time devoted to our
wedding and other things, the post was just sort of overlooked.
Suddenly on Christmas day, mom announced that she had told Cliffy, (Clifford Geoffrey III) that he could have the
hitching post and put it in his yard. I was horrified to think that the hitching post would not stand ready in the same
location where pop and I had put it 46 years earlier. I immediately went to the garage and got the 5 foot pry bar and
started slamming into the frozen earth. After a couple of hours I was only down one foot. I hard to rest overnight and
collect my thoughts. I came up with an ingenious idea and put it to work.
The next day, December 26th, 1999, today, I finished the hole, reset the post and here is proof in the picture attached. I
know Pop would want it right back where it is. I hope he is smiling down on it standing ready in front of the home he loved
so much.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Joe and Lisa
