It Was Our World War Too

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Off to Work I Go

Refusing the part of the G.I. Bill that guaranteed my old job availability proved to be a wise decision. Of course, not having a job and having a family to support necessitated that I find some way to obtain an income.

Instead of knocking on doors and asking about employment possibilities I decided to compose an advertisement seeking employment which I inserted in the local Edwardsville Intelligencer newspaper.

The ad read: “U.S. Marine veteran seeks office position in the Edwardsville area. Must have advancement potential. Have electronics, mechanical drawing, and art background. Contact Tom Kolesa, 926 Arcadia, Edwardsville, Ill.”

Soon after the ad appeared, I received a letter from Mr. George L. Moorman, manager of Bignall and Keeler Machine Works, one of the N. O. Nelson Co. divisions, expressing an interest.

I was hired under the part of the G.I. Bill that allowed me to work as a trainee in the office for a three-month period then work in the plant as a machinist apprentice for three months. I would rotate this schedule every six months.

The city’s largest employer was the N. O. Nelson Company. It was made up of a number of small divisions that included a brass foundry, a plumbing and fixture operation where brother Frank and Uncle Tom had worked, a woodworking mill, a marble-processing operation, and a machine-tool builder, Bignall and Keeler Machine Works, where I accepted employment.

This particular division was fairly small, employing less than thirty people.

Their main product line was the production of machine tools used for cutting and threading pipe in sizes from ½ inch to 36 inches in diameter.

After the first six months, Mr. Moorman was able to enter into a special arrangement that would permit me to work in the office full time as a trainee for the position of assistant to the manager.

Mr. Moorman suggested that I dress accordingly. He began taking me on trips to St. Louis where many of our customers were located.

Working in the office with Mr. Moorman convinced me that it provided many opportunities for advancement. That, combined with what I had been exposed to while working for the Bank of Edwardsville, established my career path.

I liked to open and read business mail and make decisions as to what should be done with each piece.

It was ego and character building. I would make notes concerning the contents of the letters and then discuss each piece with Mr. Moorman regarding the official next step.

If it related to shop work, I was the liaison with the superintendent. Because half of my pay came from the U.S. government and it was delayed, Anita sought employment to tide us over for several months.

She took a job at the local Ben Franklin store on Main Street in the candy department.

She did a great job and her boss hated to see her quit after my government checks began to arrive.

Soon I received a salary adjustment from Bignall and Keeler.

In 1947 the state of Illinois awarded servicemen and women a Citation of Appreciation and a cash bonus of $200.

I was reclassified by the draft board as 5-A, which meant that I was married, had children, and had served in World War II. My assigned draft number was 11-166-24-2.

The country was starting to produce automobiles. A local car dealer concocted a plan where he could get you on a list for early delivery, with up-front money.

He couldn’t always meet his delivery promises and got into trouble. The plan did draw in a lot of takers, including movie stars.

Anita saw some activity on Main Street and left her candy counter to see what was going on. She saw Clark Gable. She said he waved; she waved back.

He was one of her favorite actors. We couldn’t buy a new car, but we did buy a 1935 Hudson Terraplane for $35.

Brother Frank decided that he was not going to rush into the world of work.

Instead, he chose to draw unemployment compensation for the maximum length of time permitted under the G.I. Bill. After he used his allowed benefits he enrolled at the University of Illinois.

The following information is from a letter Anita wrote to Leslie in 1978 regarding a 1947 happening while we were living on Arcadia Street with her mother.

It reads: “When you were about two and a half years old we were living on Arcadia in Edwardsville. One morning while I was writing letters and you were playing in and around the house with your doll and buggy, you asked me if you could go to see Grandma. I, thinking you wanted to go see Grandma Rogers who lived beneath us in the same house, gave my consent. About half an hour later I received a telephone call from Grandma Kolesa, saying you were up there.”

Before World War II, Mr. Moorman made an annual trip across the country calling on owners of Bignall & Keeler machines.

This program had to be put on hold during the war, and big elaborate plans were being drawn up for Mr. Moorman’s first trip in several years.

He told me that was one of the reasons I was brought on board, to help keep things going while he and his wife were gone. She was actively involved in the business.

For my outdoor physical activity, I played softball with two local teams. The team playing with the city program was sponsored by the Litchfield & Madison Railroad.

I also played on an independent team sponsored by the Moose Lodge. I was the catcher for both teams that Kenny Ingram managed. The softball games went on all summer. We played as the Moose team when we went out of town and as the L & M team when we were playing in the local league. While a member of the Moose organization, we attended a few meetings other than softball games.

One was a Halloween costume party. I dressed in drag. Anita fixed me up, applied all the makeup, and we went with Mom, who was a member.

I don’t remember what they wore or what other costumes were there, but I came away with first prize.

Grandmother Kolesa had received clear title to her home and there was talk of selling her house to Mom and Dad. In anticipation it was suggested that they get all their paperwork ready. They did. Mom and Dad moved into the house on March 26.

We must have begun to realize my job was secure and we should begin thinking about a larger house for the three of us and Mrs. Rogers. We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary without much fanfare. There were still those who didn’t think our marriage would last. We had no doubts that it would. We were still very much in love and it was still growing. Eternity was a long way off.

Late in 1947, Wagner Electric, a St. Louis–based company, bought the N. O. Nelson operation. Each individual division was put on the auction block.

Needless to say everyone employed there was quite concerned with their future. I had been there two years. Anita was pregnant, in her third trimester.

Both Mr. Moorman and I were pleased with the work arrangement we had settled on and agreed there wasn’t much we could do but sit and wait to see what would happen. With the purchase of the Bignall & Keeler operation by the John Ramming Machine Company, located at 4501 McRee Avenue in St. Louis, Mr. Moorman and his wife decided to retire.

He negotiated an agreement with the new owners that they would keep me and his secretary, Esther. The agreement for my accepting the transfer included a salary increase and the promise that I would work in their engineering department instead of the shop.

Their unfulfilled promise dragged on for weeks that turned into months. Mr. Moorman tried to help but all he received were more promises.

I talked with management weekly to get an answer. Soon it became apparent that they didn’t need or want me in their engineering department.

Anita was aware of my frustration and was agreeable to any decision I would choose to make regarding my job. I quit a job that was paying well and Anita was almost nine months pregnant.

My insurance was covering Anita’s doctor bills up until now but would expire at the end of June. We consulted with Dr. Hellrung who assured us that Anita would deliver well before the end of the month.

In the meantime I began to look for another job. I followed up on an advertisement that General Steel Castings Corporation had placed in the St. Louis papers, wanting experienced draftsmen.

I called and made an appointment to meet with their chief mechanical engineer, Mr. William Krauthiem, at 11:00 a.m. on June 15th in Granite City.

Dr. Hellrung sent Anita to the Highland Hospital on Monday June 14th where she induced labor. It didn’t work.

Even though Anita had the pains and all the symptoms, nothing happened. I spent the day, all night, and the next morning with Anita in her room at the hospital.

The Sisters at the hospital convinced me I might just as well go home as nothing was going to happen for a while. I went home from the hospital and got ready for my appointment.

Scott was born at 11:55 a.m., Tuesday June 15th, while I was having my interview. I had missed the birth of our second child.

Mr. Krauthiem took me to lunch and it was about two in the afternoon before I arrived at the hospital where Anita was waiting to tell me all the details about Scott and find out about my interview.

Scott Thomas Kolesa checked in, weighing 7 pounds. He was 19 inches long and had brown hair and gray eyes. We didn’t want Thomas for a first name but we thought it would be great for a middle name.

When Anita told Sister Gregory what name we had selected and should appear on the hospital birth certificate, she tried to talk her out of the name Scott as there were no saints with that name. Thomas would be much more appropriate.

Anita prevailed and Scott Thomas Kolesa took his place on the record books at Highland Hospital.

Even though we had no modern methods of confirmation, we knew Leslie was going to be a girl. Likewise, we knew our second baby was going to be a boy. We didn’t give much thought to selecting a girl’s name; however, Katherine Elizabeth was our backup.

My interview at General Steel included a little extra confidence on my part. Having worked on engineering drawings involving both iron and steel castings used to build large pipe-threading machines while at Bignall and Keeler, I felt confident that I could work at any drafting job in any engineering department.

Mr. Krauthiem reached across his desk and picked up a blueprint and proceeded to unfold it. It was massive.

It looked four feet high. He began to unfold it. The print stretched out to five feet, seven feet, and nine feet. Each fold revealed an additional two feet of drawing illustrating a steel casting for a steam-locomotive bed. When he was through, the drawing must have been 18 feet long.

He asked if I could work on this. I mustered up all of my confidence, looking for a small projection on the casting.

I found one in the top view then found it on the side view, then on the end view, and answered, “Sure!”

He called in his chief draftsman, introduced me to several other engineers, and I was hired.

We set up the procedure for employment which included a waiver for any inventions I may develop while working for General Steel.

I was impressed; I signed. I did develop seven U.S. patents and several foreign patents during my career with the company.

During my interview, I met two General Steel staff members with the name Tom. I commented that Tom seemed to be a popular name. They named two more.

It was then, on the spur of the moment, I decided to become Thom again. When I told Anita, she laughed and said she wasn’t surprised.

By the time Scott was one year old, the same age that Leslie was when I returned home from World War II, I had experienced the joys and problems of raising our own babies from birth on. Leslie was now four years old.

This included all of the activities that I helped with, like changing and washing diapers, dressing, bathing, being awake with earaches and cutting teeth.

I enjoyed playing with our children while they were awake, but I also enjoyed holding them when they were not feeling well or were very tired and had to be held, rocked, and sung to before sleep came.

Some of my nicest memories are of holding Leslie, Scott, and Tim on my chest as I rocked them and sang.

I never had a singing voice, but the resonance coming through my chest seemed to have a soothing effect on each of them.

We had no favorite songs. They all sounded the same to them and to me. There never was a time that I didn’t want to hold them.

I would even read work material as I sat in a rocking chair and loved them.

It wasn’t just our children. I would at times when visiting or having visitors have one of our children on my lap as well as one or more other children of either relatives or friends such as Betty and Al Paul’s children, Kenny and Janet Sue.

In the Marine Corps, your rifle is your security blanket. As a civilian it’s the rocking chair. If you don’t have one, you should get one. Having a child to share it with makes it all the more special.

Anita and I thought about the possibility of our building a house and we decided to do it. After looking at a number of locations, both in the city and outside the city limits, we decided on several acres of land between New Alton Road and Old Alton Road.

We looked at a number of plans before deciding on one that would fit our need now and for years to come. We prepared a loan request and received approval. I rented a tractor and a slip and dug the basement.

The Korean War started and our loan request was withdrawn. They suggested a smaller house.

Anita and I went back to the drawing board and came up with a plan, half the size of our original, and received approval.

When we say we built the house, that’s correct. Anita and I built it. We both put our sweat and tears into it.

She learned lumber sizes, nail sizes, tool requirements, and did the whole nine yards.

She cut, she sawed, she painted, and she helped me meet our schedule. The only outside help we received came from Leslie who insisted on keeping us supplied with nails and tools.

We—Anita and I, Leslie and Scott, and Anita’s mom, along with several pets—moved into the house before it was completed.

There was still a lot of details plus a few major things to finish.

The next several years passed quickly with all kinds of activities relating to home ownership and raising two children. Anita and Leslie had their tonsils removed, we landscaped the yard and finished the house, and I traveled on my job.

Anita went back to high school, got her diploma, and on to Southern Illinois University for her degree.

I did a lot of traveling, we sold our house to Roy and Maureen, we moved to Granite City, and Anita got her master’s degree in social work from St. Louis University.

In the spring of 1954 Anita, Leslie, Scott, and I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Anita’s Aunt Liza stayed with her mom.

We drove. On the way back Anita began to feel, as she said, like she was pregnant. She was.

We made it through the summer. The first week in October Anita developed labor pains and Dr. Hellrung sent us to the hospital for delivery.

Again, nothing happened. We returned home and waited for the real thing. It came in a few days.

Timothy Frank Kolesa joined the family at 1:50 p.m. on Thursday, October 7, 1954, weighing 7 pounds and 12 ounces and was 22 inches long. He had brown eyes, a red complexion, and had a bit of straight, dark-brown hair. Dr. Cecelia Hellrung assisted with the delivery at Highland Hospital.

Anita and I had given serious consideration to having four children. As her pregnancy developed, we even hoped for twins. However, after Tim we decided three was a perfect number.

Naming him was easy. We had already avoided the problem of Thomas Jr. My Uncle Tom who was called Tim led to the name of Timothy. Both of Tim’s grandfathers were named Frank, so out of all of this came Timothy Frank Kolesa.

If he had been a girl, we would have gone with Katherine Elizabeth or Elizabeth Katherine. The Sisters at the hospital liked the name Timothy.

Leslie and Scott were not able to visit Anita and Tim at the hospital. I took them there and Anita was able to wave to them from her window. Both Leslie and Scott were thrilled with the prospect of having a new baby in the family. Anita was in the hospital five days and was really missed by all of us. Leslie and Scott made her a card and wrote her a letter. The card featured Columbus Day, October 12, 1492.

It was not part of my plan to travel over a million miles on business trips while working for General Steel. It just happened. I of course am very thankful that all of this traveling was done without any major mishaps and that most of it was done during the regular work week, Monday through Friday. General Steel was very cooperative in scheduling trips.

Early in the 1950s most of the trips were made by train. In the late 50s and 60s most were made by air. Here’s how I did a million miles, or more.

Because all of the railroads—and I mean all—were our customers and the airlines never bought a dime’s worth of equipment from us, we always traveled by rail.

However, as the years passed and some of our trips took more hours to make than our visits with the customers did, combined with the fact that we were getting more and more young sales and engineering people who thought we should fly, things began to change.

Here is the way my first flight for General Steel went. Harry Bartell, vice president of sales, was meeting with a group of Santa Fe railroad officials in Topeka, Kansas.

He wanted me along to represent the engineering department. The railroad officials were to meet with me and two of our salesmen in their Topeka office. Our sales department made our reservations with TWA. I protested but they assured me it would be all right.

This allowed me to spend the night at home and leave the next morning. That was the good part of the plan.

The three of us met at the airport and took off for Kansas City where we were to rent a car and drive to Topeka.

The problem was that the Kansas City airport was socked in with a heavy rainstorm. We had to land in Wichita and take the train back to Topeka.

As you can imagine this didn’t set well with Mr. Bartell. When we got off the train from Wichita at the Topeka station Mr. Bartell met us and read the riot act to his two salesmen.

Our meeting lasted late into the evening after which we took the first train to St. Louis.

I was very productive in the engineering department, already having two patent applications, and was placed with the product-development department which was officially incorporated into the General Steel Castings, Commonwealth organization.

M. J. Donovan, corporate vice president of engineering, was confirmed as chairman and Dick Lich was named secretary as well as manager. He would eventually become chairman of the committee and I would replace him as secretary.

After many years Dick would become president of the entire Granite City operation and I would become his administrative assistant. In the meantime, I assumed the duties of directing design activities of the department seeking new products.

The size of the department though small was quite talented and diversified. In addition to Dick Lich, who had a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, we had five other engineers, an office manager, a secretary, and from two to five draftsmen. Senior engineers were Wil Breeze, Henry Bieniecki, Ken Voertman, Jim Applegate, and Paul Vanderwall.

Ken Voertman and his wife Mary Jo were to become personal friends and would remain so until the present.

Among our favorite places to eat after ball games and other events was the Rose Bowl Restaurant in Granite City. We often drove there on a Sunday for their fried chicken. The next Sunday, while we were having dinner there we noticed a number of new homes being built directly behind the restaurant.

We decided to check them out. What a location, within walking distance of a new shopping center, across the street from the Granite City high school, close to the junior high school, and not too far from the elementary school. A theater was nearby.

A church of our denomination was just down the street a few blocks and the Rose Bowl was behind us.

We bought a house on Carlson Avenue. Leslie, Scott, and Tim attended their respective schools, joined their school bands, and made friends.

After several years we moved again to a larger house several blocks away on Edison Avenue where we lived until we moved to New Orleans.

We lived here until our nest began to empty. Leslie married Art who was in the Air Force and they moved to California. Scott was attending school in England.

Anita’s mom began to need more care than Anita and I were able to give her. We arranged for that care in Edwardsville where she had all of her friends and relatives.

The move was not an imposition on her and we believed it when she said she enjoyed it. She knew a lot of the residents at the nursing home. Anita and I visited her mother regularly and I sent her a card from each city I visited as I racked up some of my million miles.

Dick Lich and I spent most of our working hours as well as most of the hours at home that we could spare, working on the future of General Steel. We had been asked to compile all of the recent market-research data we had developed and present it to the board of directors in the form of “The Forward Plan.”

Hours were spent on its preparation and presentation. This was the last major project that Dick Lich and I worked on before I moved to St. Louis Car. Management incorporated much of the report in their future planning which included the decision to close the Philadelphia-area plant and consolidate its foundry operation with the Granite City facility.

The Granite City plant, in addition to its railroad products, was producing cast armor for medium tanks for the Army and castings for nuclear-powered submarines for the Navy. I was required to have secret clearances for my role in the design and manufacture of these military products.

We completed several of the priority projects that management had been wanting to have investigated.

They began to look for a permanent assignment for me. One they contemplated was a transfer to the St. Louis Car division.

Of course I could resign and look for another job, but their offer was attractive. Edwin B. Meissner was president of the division. I packed a few briefcases and settled into my new office in the sales department.

It soon became apparent that my talents were needed in production and scheduling. St. Louis Car was having major problems relating to quality and delivery.

I was asked to start attending all levels of staff meetings and began receiving executive assignments. It looked as if I had reached the corporate ladder and was about to start climbing it.

During my first staff meeting I was introduced and asked to comment on my being there. I asked if someone could summarize the most important problem they were having.

Herb went on for ten minutes. I interrupted him and asked, “You mean you can’t get the right parts, at the right time, for the right job, in the right quantity?”

After the snickering and chuckling died down, Herb said yes.

My reply was a suggestion in two parts:

“There are inventory-control experts out there. Hire one and do what they say. In the meantime, reprint all of your current job orders using a different color for each job.

You will have to pay for the first suggestion and it will take a little time to implement.

The color coding could start today and would show improvements tomorrow.”

Just another simple solution to a complicated problem.

It was only because of the love, support, and cooperation of Anita that I was able to devote the time and energy to be successful at my job. Without her none of this would have been possible. That’s not a cliché; that’s the truth.

She was able to be a den mother for Scott and Tim’s Scouts and Webelos, a Tri-Hi-Y sponsor for girls with Leslie, teach Sunday school, work with the youth fellowship, teach Bible school, and take care of her mother who was almost ten miles away. Yes, she also found time to be a good mother and wife.

One of the employees I was introduced to at St. Louis Car was Chester Bleikamp, a veteran of sixty years with the company. I was pleased that Chester and I related well to each other. I learned a lot about how the company and its personnel functioned. When he approached his last days on the job, he presented me with a draft copy of “St. Louis Car History.”

Chester was a draftsman in the engineering department in 1913. The plant was a major producer of streetcars.

They also were building airplanes in 1915. They built 450 JN-4Ds commonly called Jennies for use in World War I and had an order for 250 more when the war ended.

They built coffins during the St. Louis influenza epidemic, followed by phonograph cabinets.

Those were followed by the production of the newly designed Skelton automobile. It’s not clear how many cars were actually built and delivered, but records indicate they had orders for a thousand before the depression ended production.

The plant was completely destroyed in 1920 by a massive fire. St. Louis Car rebounded and was rebuilt in 1923. They then built gasoline-electric locomotives. These were so successful that General Motors bought the rights and built their own plant. The 1930s depression followed.

By taking orders for most anything available the company kept going until the President’s Conference Committee (PCC) developed a streetcar to meet the urgent needs of urban transportation.

Mr. Meissner saw the potential, worked closely with the committee, and received the first order for 100 of the new cars. This would be followed by thousands more which would take the operation into the World War II years when it built units for the military.

They built the Alligator and Water Buffalo landing crafts and once again they built airplanes. They built the T-19 and the PT-23 units, Fairchild designs.

St. Louis Car entered into a contract with the government to develop a secret glider capable of landing large groups of soldiers and equipment. The war ended before its completion.

PCC car production was replaced by larger rapid-transit cars including thousands of cars for the New York City subway system and other cities utilizing rapid transit.

Other products included main-line passenger cars, freight cars, and special jobs including cars for the New York World’s Fair monorail system and the cars transporting tourists up and down the St. Louis Gateway Arch.

After spending several exciting years at St. Louis Car, I found myself back in Granite City.

Dick Lich who was then president of the Granite City plant made me his administrative assistant. My title was Administrative Assistant to the President until my retirement.

Dad suggested on quite a number of occasions that I should retire early if at all possible. He retired early from his job at Shell Oil Company and never regretted it.

Sometime during my career Anita and I agreed that working twenty-five years for the same company was enough and we decided if everything worked out I would retire at that time.

A number of changes were contemplated during 1972 that would affect the corporation. Moves were being discussed to cut costs in an attempt to make all the divisions profitable.

Dick Lich asked me to stay after work one evening to discuss some of these changes. Dick was proposing a consolidation of my job with several others in order to reduce costs.

In addition to retaining my present position I would direct the plant safety department and assume some duties of the personnel department. He assured me that with the expansion of my duties the promotion would include a salary adjustment upward. At this point I interrupted his train of thought. I thanked him for his confidence in me. However, I felt that under the circumstances I had best tell him of a problem. The problem was that I was planning on leaving General Steel in a few months.

I didn’t think it would be ethical to accept a new assignment. I told him Anita and I had been considering this move for some time. Dick and I both made phone calls home and we talked for several more hours. The end result was a decision that changed my future.

As Dick’s administrative assistant my duties included representing General Steel on many trade and business boards, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Manufacturers’ Association of the Tri-Cities.

He told me that the administrator of the manufacturers’ association resigned and they were looking for a replacement.

“Would you consider taking the job?” “No.”

“Would you consider taking the job for a few months until we hired a replacement?” “Yes.”

So here I was. About to be out of a job with General Steel and having a new assignment already. Dick could have fired me and saved a lot of money. Instead he gave me a job.

We reached an agreement that helped both of us. I would finish several projects with General Steel and then move to the association’s office.

Dick insisted that I also maintain an office at General Steel. I was to remain on General Steel’s payroll for several months even though my duties would be to see that the manufacturers’ association’s ship was kept afloat until they found a replacement, as Dick phrased it.

What a great assignment. I had a great salary, a full expense account, free to do most anything I wanted and no responsibility. So what did I do?

I have never felt kindly toward politics and its methods of getting things done. But here I am on May 15 officially accepted as Registered Lobbyist Number 246 with the State of Illinois for the current session under the provisions of the Lobbyist Registration Act.

One of the first assignments I handled related to the separation of the east-side levee district which was supported by the manufacturers’ association.

I put together a presentation from notes I found in the files and four days later I faced the Illinois state senate.

Senator Sam Vadalabene sponsored the bill and wrote me thanking me for my presentation regarding Senate Bill 1440.

When I had agreed to assume the position of acting general manager of the manufacturers’ association upon the resignation of Bill Hoelscher on May 1st I had agreed to a 60-day assignment.

The search committee couldn’t come up with a replacement that met their requirements. Dick Lich, Bill Hoelscher, and the entire board again offered me the position. Again I refused.

I did agree again to stay on until they found a replacement. I worked as the temporary from May to September during which time I was preparing myself for my next career.

Anita was working for The Family Service Agency and was asked by the executive director Harold Bruns to prepare an annual-meeting report. She agreed and asked me to help.

Anita told Harold confidentially that we were moving to New Orleans but it was not yet general knowledge.

Harold announced it at the meeting. He later apologized for publicly announcing it.

He complimented both of us on the annual report. From that point on we began to let everyone know and started resigning from our civic obligations.

St. John Church required a formal resignation from the church council. Anita and I had already been replaced as youth-fellowship leaders and Sunday-school teachers. I resigned from the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce.

Reverend Dr. Surbey paid me a generous compliment that I quoted several times. His comment was, “Thom is so flexible in his work that he would get down on the floor of a Sunday-school class and arbitrate the ownership of a book with two students. Then the next day he would be at the state capital presenting his employer’s position on a bill.”

We sold our house on Edison Avenue in Granite City and found a place to live until we were ready to move to New Orleans. We took a two-bedroom apartment nearby.

We decided what we wanted to take with us even though we hadn’t any idea what kind of living facilities we would have in New Orleans. We had a yard sale, gave a lot away, and threw some away. We didn’t have any pets at the time to worry about. We were down to two cars. Tim was going to start college in Edwardsville at SIU. We left him our blue Falcon. Scott had his yellow Mustang for use at the seminary and Leslie was married, living in California.

Tim graduated in June. Both Anita and I felt we had accomplished a great deal in seeing all three of our children graduate from high school and having all of them continuing their education. We were living in our apartment on Center Street and had an outdoor party for Tim’s graduation.

When we had all of the important things under control as best we could Anita and I packed several suitcases and headed for New Orleans.

We made one overnight stop and continued on the next day spending the night at a Holiday Inn in New Orleans.

The next morning we got our map out and started to look for a place to live.

The city was growing toward the east. We settled on a new apartment in Huntington Park. It was a two-bedroom two-story townhouse complete with a swimming pool and a recreation room on Crowder Road. We signed a lease and started our return trip to Illinois. We rented a trailer and loaded it. Tim agreed to accompany us to New Orleans and help us get settled.

We drove back in two days pulling the trailer, with Tim following us in his Falcon. The trip was uneventful until we got near our apartment.

There is a large canal between the main part of the city and New Orleans East. I-10 goes over the canal via a high-rise bridge that allows ocean-going ships to pass under it. We had only been this way once and our instructions were not clear. We got separated from Tim on the bridge approach. In anticipation of something like this happening, I had made a map for Tim and he was able to find his way across the bridge and to Huntington Park.

After inspecting the apartment, Tim commented, “Well, it looks like it might be able to stand half a hurricane.” He helped us unpack and after a few days he headed back up I-55 to Edwardsville.

There was an important event that took place during 1972 that had a lasting effect on the United States. All citizens over the age of eighteen were now allowed to vote.

St. Louis Car ceased operations the next year. The plant was closed. Lukens Steel bought General Steel Industries in 1981. They sold the engineering part of the operation in 1989 and sold the remainder of the corporation in 1994.

Our decision to move to New Orleans was not made in haste. We spent many months, days, and hours before we just looked at each other one day and said, “Yes, New Orleans!”

Anita’s mom was well settled and adjusted to living in the nursing home where family and friends could visit her. Her oldest daughter, Verna May, the one who called me Tomás, and her two sisters, Florence and Liza, were now residents at the home with her.

Scott was enrolled at Concordia Lutheran Seminary and working on his master’s in divinity, Anita had her social-work master’s, Leslie was living in California continuing her professional education. Tim would transfer to the University of New Orleans.

Anita and I were both unemployed. Dad asked me what I intended to do for a job. I replied that I didn’t know, but they always needed workers that could head shrimp and shuck oysters.