Monday, December 10, 2007

90 years ago today







Fog, Ice, drizzle, pretty nasty stuff on top of a few inches of melting snow....most of the heavy ice went north and is hitting west of us....my guess is Bruno



is getting hit with some of the major stuff, as it looks like I-44 from St Louis to Oklahoma City is in for a week of nasty weather...snow I can learn to like, Ice on the roofs, roads, and wires, has no redeeming value, to anybody.

Hopefully it will stay above 32 in the Fort Wayne area, so I can get to FWO and get the Epidural Back Injection out of the way......of course it could be worse, taking the brother to meet with his daughter this afternoon....he goes in for pre-op in Columbus tomorrow, the laser surgery on his vocal cord on Friday....will see how that works for him.

We are falling apart....Oh Hell, just getting old............who am I kidding?


12/10/1917_________If dad was still around today would have been his 90th birthday. Stan Houseworth was born in Scott, Ohio, on December 10, 1917....he passed away just after his 55th birthday on Christmas Eve, 1972....a sudden heart attack at home, after watching his favorite team, the Miami Dolphins defeat the Browns in the playoffs....the Fins went on to history that post season, going undefeated....will the Patriots match and surpass that feat? Time will tell.


Dad was a hunter and a fisherman his entire life....worked as a youngest for the Civilian Conservation Corp, out in Idaho, in 1939, doing rip rap work on the Snake(and other) Rivers.....he left that to join the Army Air Corp(before the Air Force was formed) after the beginning of WW2....Dad was lucky, sort of, he never had to go overseas...stationed in spots such as New Castle, Delaware(where he met mom), Lowery Field, Denver, and Mather Air Base outside Sacramento, California....the only major problem dad had was when working as a mechanic on a freight train...the box cars moved and caught his right hand in between the hitches...despite efforts to reattach...he ended up losing 2 fingers and part of another.....he received about 10% disability for that....enough to make the payment(about $90 a month at that time)on the house we bought in Florida.....the loss of those fingers did not stop dad from hunting, fishing, bowling, and being a life long automobile mechanic.....we kids never noticed, although mom always said dad was a little touchy about those missing parts.


One thing about the old man, when he felt like moving, he did, and we went with him....Ohio to Delaware, back to Ohio, to Florida for a decade, then back to Ohio to be near the family.....he was preparing to move back to Venice, Florida, right before he died....he had enough time working for the City of Celina to freeze his retirement, and mom was going to freeze hers as well.....but that did not happen.



I was in upstate New York when I got the call that Christmas Eve....flew from Syracuse to Dayton the next morning....Christmas morning. I was a lucky one, I got to fish, hunt, and spend time at Reds games and elsewhere with the old man.....he died when I was 23, heck yes, 55 is too young, but time is guaranteed to no one.....and I am thankful for the time we had.....If you're looking down from somewhere..."Happy Birthday Dad"



{photos....dad doing what he liked best, fishing at the Venice Jetties in the fall of 1956, studio shot with his brothers...Forrest(Housie)1912-1966, top, and John(Furl)1915-1990, ...dad is the youngest on the lower left facing us around 1937, and his AAF days in 1944}

5 comments:

BRUNO said...

You said it well---NO ONE is guaranteed tomorrow, let alone the next second. I was lucky in that way---both my parents made it to their early 70's, with Mom passing just after Dad. It was kinda fun, being the older son. It certainly had its "perks" with me and Dad---you know---"man-things"...!

Nope, the main-body of the ice went about 30 miles to the NORTH of me. I just got the "glancing-blow" that I blogged about earlier.

But, the season is still very, very YOUNG! Just wait 'til prime-time gets here.....!

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

Happy Birthday Pat's dad...I'm sure you are proud of your son. He seems like a fine "young" man.

Glad to see Bruno made it...heck, we're hittin' 70 here in East Tennessee - damn global warming!

My dad died at 57...I was 30. I've now lived 32 years longer than he did. His parents lived to near 90, ate lard, but worked hard. I think it was the Camels that got him - bladder cancer. I quit 25 years ago...hope that helps.

FHB said...

Great post man. You know he'd be proud of ya. My dad raised me sayin' that all the people in his family died in their 60s, and that was 20 years ago for him. I tell him he's older than most other living things, and he giggles. I know how lucky I am. I wish I could share it with ya. Take you to eat Chinese with us. Maybe that's what the blog is for. Anyway, happy birthday to your pappy. Consider yourself picked up, hugged and shoved around in a purely masculine way. Maybe the back would get straitened out a bit. Cheers.

Buck said...

Yep, another good one, Pat. Your Dad sure looks good in uniform!

My Dad was 72 when he went...from bladder cancer, like Mushy's Dad. That was a hard three-year fight, but the Ol' Man never gave up. Guys from that generation were like that.

Anonymous said...

I remember Mather Air Force Base. I used to catch hops out of Kirtland AFB in New Mexico and get dropped off at Mather, then get home anyway I could from there. I don't think Mather is there anymore though, I think they closed it.

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