Just saw a post that reminded me of my Father. He was a welder. In fact one of the best welders in the East. He began welding when he was a teen and then interred the service out of High School and welded for the Air Force on Aircraft and went to Japan. When got out, he worked for various companys and then started his own shop in Dayton Ohio. We moved to Miami Florida and he had several jobs until he landed a job at Eastern Airlines. He hated it but it was a good paying job and great benefits. He continued to weld and fix others problems and rarely charged them anything for his service unless it was a business he was doing a job for. With exception when he was called by a wealthy man in the keys to come fix his sculpture that had gotten broken. The man had ask around about who to get for this project and was told, my Dad was the best welder he had heard of. My Dad was paid very well for that job... He also helped design and put together the first dumpster that was to go on a Truck for dumping Trash. He made all kinds of little metal figures and trinkets out of nuts and bolts. Sculptures and wall hangings out of metal and cut nails. When the sun dials were popular he made my mother one that hung in their home many years with cut nails. I now have a cut nail sculpture of a School of Fish hanging on my wall that reminds me daily of my Dad and how much he enjoyed welding and helping people out with his craft. My only regret was that I did not even think to ask him to teach me to weld. He had ask my brother if he wanted to learn but he was not interested. My son Leonard took an interest and went to tech school and got his Certificate in welding. Really wish that my Dad could have taught him how to weld and all his experience, but by then he had gotten sick from lung cancer and passed away, probably from the same job that kept us feed all those years. My Dad was a hard working, honest man who would help anyone. He made mistakes like everyone but had accepted Christ after we moved to Fla. in his later years and is now in Heaven with His Savior. It will be a great day when I see him and my Mother again Praising God together! Here is the School of Fish my Dad made....
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 17:00:36 +0000