In Remembrance

My Father was born in Cozad, Dawson Co., NE. He was a Renaissance man. He learned carpentry from his father and built our family home including the kitchen cabinets. He played trombone in his high school band, then played in a swing band as an adult. He also played the saxophone, violin, and organ. He was so proud of his organ just like the one on Lawrence Welk. He taught himself whatever interested him. He built and flew his own airplane. When televisions became prevalent he learned how to repair them and started a small repair business. He also taught himself how to repair watches and anything mechanical.

He was a mechanic and always wanted to take everything apart and put it back together. During World War II he wasn't required to serve since he had loss the hearing in his left ear as a child. His sister was living at home during the war. While her husband was in the service she worked in their parent's grocery store. It was necessary to have a car because she was pregnant and needed transportation to the doctor. My Father took the car apart and put it back together just to see if he could do it. His sister was apprehensive about this since she was not so confident in his abilities. The car was put back together and ran wonderfully except she was again distraught when he would use up her gas rationing.
My Father worked at the city power plant. While he was there the company who installed a new generator, was so impressed by his work they offered him a job. In 1955 he went to work as an erectional engineer installing turbine generators around the world. With all his frequent travels we rarely saw him. During one of his infrequent visits home he was at the city power plant trying to help them get more power when an accident occurred, completely burning his entire body. I was still home at this time and went with my Mother to the emergency room. I was the only child to see this horrendous sight. He was taken to a burn unit then to dialyzes. He died 3 days later from kidney failure. He was only 45.

All I can remember is that he spent hours playing the organ and we always had to watch Lawrence Welk when he was home. I remember him teaching me how to use a slide ruler. Mathematics seemed to be the only thing we had in common. My sister's have a lot of memories. It is difficult to believe we grew up in the same house, since our experiences where so completely different.