My Father's Way

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My Father's Way

My father came back from his war in the Pacific and went to work in a supply house because they were hiring strong, young men who wanted to work six days a week.

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Larry Weingarten

My father fought in the Pacific as well. Maybe it's a generational thing, but he was rather stubborn too. Challenging him only made his heels dig in deeper. When he finally did buy a new car, he said "I've been buying day old bread for forty years, so I could do this." And like your dad, he had many good qualities that helped balance things. Great story Dan!

Yours, Larry

EBEBRATT-Ed

LOL, lost my father 40 years ago. He was only 56. Stubborn, Irish. Good guy, Navy WWII. But couldn't see the forest through the trees. Didn't buy his first new car until he was 50. Buy that time my brother (the youngest) was 15 and my two older sisters were out on their own. Unfortunately, sometimes I am the same way (stubborn & can't see the forest) I have to fight that sometimes.

But they survived the Depression. I think that everyone that grew up and went through the Depression and WWII had a completely different outlook than we do.

How could they not?

Not many of them left

PS.
Nice story. Love the old rotary dial phone. No one under 40 would know what that is!!

DanHolohan

Well said, guys. Thanks.

SlamDunk

Great story! Reminded me of my Dad too. WWII Royal Air Force. He was a building superintendent and I worked for him during the summers during high school.

One of the guys, who worked for him full time watched me get blessed out for not doing something right. He said to me afterward, " You're father! Even when he is wrong, he is right. He is so hard headed".

Mad Dog_2

You and Big Ed were BOTH right. That's just family and different generations. My Irish-born grandparents are buried at St Charles.
Someday were gonna visit together and pour a shot of Paddy's for them! Enjoyed the push-pull of that epic family debate. Mad Dog

Mad Dog_2

They didn't go in to deep debt, either. I admire them for their ruggedness, stoicism, and frugality. Different times. Mad Dog

PeterGasperini

Great story...been in the plumbing and heating business for over 35 years and grew up working for my dad who was also in the business . This was spot on and makes you understand why they were the way they were!

flat_twin

A "darned good story" for sure. The photo says quite a bit too.

DanHolohan

Thanks!

TommyB

I wonder if my father knew your grandfather. He was stationed in the Philippines in WWII. His unit was selected to "spearhead" the attack on Japan. If the bomb hadn't been dropped he wouldn't have come home and I wouldn't be here. I can't ask him if he knew your grandfather, he passed away in 1954.

DanHolohan

Much too young. I’m sorry for your loss.

Mad Dog_2

They all "knew" their band of brothers. God bless them all. God bless America. Mad Dog

StephenPelosa

Great story!!!!!

DanHolohan

Thanks, Stephan. If you’re still lucky enough to have them, hug your parents. I wish I had one more day with them, and the wisdom that I have now to soften my frustration during those years. I should have been kinder, but I was too young and too busy then to truly understand them. I do now.

SlamDunk

DanHolohan said:

Thanks, Stephan. If you’re still lucky enough to have them, hug your parents. I wish I had one more day with them, and the wisdom that I have now to soften my frustration during those years. I should have been kinder, but I was too young and too busy then to truly understand them. I do now.

Well said.

DanHolohan

Thanks, my friend.

DanHolohan

Too late.

Fred

DanHolohan said:

Too late.

Not too late Dan. They are part of us and we of them. They know your heart.

DanHolohan

Thanks, Fred. I’m trying harder with my grandkids.

Mad Dog_2

I would say it would extremely rare to find anyone who didn't have some regrets about how they acted toward their parents growing up. I share with my kids so that they can think about it and learn from my regrets. It's all good. You were a great son, Dano, and you've honored your wonderful parents as long as I've known and read your articles & books. Mad Dog

DanHolohan

Thanks, Matt

Roohollah

It was an amazing and eye opener story for those lads who never think how treasure are parents . The above story recalled my father who I miss him for couple of months . I wish for all fathers who left their families to meet God rest in eternal peace .

Thank you for sharing the story ,

Your loyal student,

Roohollah

DanHolohan

Thank you, my friend.

BrianO

I loved your story. My dad passed away after being diagnosed with cancer in June, 2015. He was a big, strong New York City Irishman, who was a Master Plumber in Manhattan and the Bronx; where I grew up. He moved us upstate when I was 11, and he started his own plumbing & heating business. My brother and I were his helpers whenever he needed us, and there was a bit of that stubbornness in our dad as well. He was a tough man. A man of steel and velvet. Hands like granite, and a voice that could lull you to sleep. He laughed hard, and cried hard. I'm forever grateful to be called his son, and I treasure all of the memories, of steam radiators, boilers, submersible pumps, and millions of feet in pipe put together; by the greatest man I ever knew. He worked harder than anybody I ever met, and my brother and I are the men we are today, because of him.
Bernie O'Donohue 6/30/40-6/7/15

DanHolohan

Thanks, Brian. I wish I could have met him. He raised a fine son.

D107

What a great story! Heartbreaking and funny, the best kind.

DanHolohan

Thank you, David.

Moreno

Hi Dan. I am an old student of yours. Articles like that one are simply priceless for me. Thanks for writing it.

DanHolohan

Thanks, Moreno!

gfrbrookline

My great grandfather was a steam man, not heating, he designed steam engines that powered ships. My grandmother saved all of his papers and I found them in my parents basement a few years ago. I love looking through them. I think its a huge reason why I am trying to preserve the steam heating system in my building and make it run as efficiently as possible. I wish I could figure out a way to make the steam generate electricity.

He also never bought a new car, in 1937 he bought a 1932 Packard and drove it until he died in 1966. My grandmother kept the car until she died and drove it periodically until she died in the 1990's. She said he always told her he kept it because there was never a better car made and a good engine if properly maintained should last forever and should be preserved and respected. The same should be said for our old heating systems.

Erin Holohan Haskell

Well said, @gfrbrookline. Thanks for sharing!

Paul1981

Great read

hot_rod

Great story Dan, thanks. We can hope our kids write about us in the same way. Some day, in the distant future

DanHolohan

Thanks, HR. I hope Erin puts in a good word for me. ;-)

GBart

Awesome story Dan.

My dad was a depression era baby, last person born in a real log cabin in East Haven Ct, dirt poor, I have a picture of him hoeing a potato field with his dad when he was 2 so they could eat. My grandmother complained that the hoe was too big so my grandfather snapped the handle in half and said "here ya go kid, get to work".

He used to tell me stories of him and his buddies taking Henry J's and putting Caddy motors in them with straight pipes and racing, he was a hell raiser.

He served in the Air Force as a crew chief on a Recon Fighter, he took to mechanics, he altered the jet engine to increase thrust, his plane got up several hundred feet before the other pilots, drew attention, got in a bit of trouble for altering US property or something but ended up with a job offer from Boeing, my mom wouldn't move to the west coast so that ended that, he got into HVAC passed up through the ranks to Instructor as did I, I wanted to be a drummer, he made me do HVAC as a back up, good thing, I hated it at first but it gave me the ability to have a good life.

He passed at 71 due to smoking, if you smoke quit, trust me, it's not the way you want go. As a family we were lucky to be able to say what we wanted to say still he could be here today if not for smoking.

DanHolohan

Thanks @GBart. I love that story. My dad was also a smoker. It was rough.

GBart

Yeah the last few years were extremely hard, I learned a lot about the ins/outs of what happens to the lungs and why people are on oxygen.

Shalom

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

Love the old rotary dial phone. No one under 40 would know what that is!!

That's a Western Electric 302. I've got one (or two) of those,, as well as a 352 wall phone. I had one neighbor's kid come over to use the phone because he was locked out. He looked at the phone, tried sticking his fingers in the holes but didn't know he needed to turn the dial... when I was in second grade they had a guy come down from the phone company to teach us how to use the telephone, had a call simulator with two phones, called us up two by two to the front of the class and demonstrated dial tones, ring tones, busy signals etc. I suppose the kids today are born knowing how to use that stuff, but not when it's older than they are.

I found my dad's birth certificate once, born 1944, it said his father was a machinist in a defense plant. I asked my grandfather shortly before he passed what that was all about, I thought he'd always been an accountant. He said he'd started out as a photographer, but when the war started he tried to sign up. The army wouldn't take him because it already had three (or four) of his brothers and they didn't want so many from one family, also he was flatfooted and colorblind, so he went and got himself a job in the Brooklyn (later Philly) Navy Yard building ships or something like that for the war effort, went back to his old job as a photographer after, and became a CPA in '49. I still have one of his old stainless steel Honeywell Nikor developing tanks and reels; he said he paid something like $200 for it on the black market (in 1944 dollars!) because all the stainless was supposed to be going to the war effort. It's a weird thing, has an adjustable spiral so you can load 135, 127 or 120 film sizes.

BradHotNCold

Happy Father’s Day, Dan!

DanHolohan

Thanks!