A Father's Legacy / A Lasting Heritage

Saturdays were our chore day and Mernie and I had to clean the house every single Saturday before we could go outside to play. We had to vacuum and dust the entire house plus clean the bathrooms. We also had to do the dishes each night and we would take turns "washing" or "drying" the dishes. Mom had a set of copper bottomed pans and if she used them to cook, we had to use this special cleaner to make them shine again. We would take turns doing the dusting or doing the vacuuming. I much preferred to vacuum because I felt like I could do it faster. If you did the dusting, you had to pick up everything off of the tables and then dust. It seemed like it would take forever to pick it up, dust the tables and the put it all back. I felt like I could fly through the house with the vacuum and get it all done quickly. I remember that I knew exactly how far the vacuum would reach from one outlet to another. I knew when I was done with one room that I could plug in t...

I think that I only got into one fist fight as a kid. It was with Tom Stiegemeier and it happened behind Hudson's Chiropractic clinic off of Kingshighway. There was also a florist shop in the same building and I remember the empty flower boxes being in the alleyway. We were walking home from 7th grade and he said something mean about my Dad. I think he called him a "Pig" - which was a derogatory term for a policeman. I remember that I got so mad at him that I swung around and hit him square in the jaw and I felt like I broke my hand. I had never punched someone before and it scared me to death. I immediately started crying - I was just so upset and mad that I guess that I didn't know how to handle those emotions. Tom swung back at me and I avoid the punch but then he grabbed me and we started wrestling to the ground. I remember that I got my coat really dirty and I was scared that I would get into trouble because of my coat. I have absolutely no recollection...

I always thought that Mom was a very good cook. I remember fried hamburgers in the skillet, eating breakfast steaks, pork chops, spaghetti, liver & onions! and my favorite was meat loaf. We used to all sit down at the kitchen table and say our blessing. We had to ask if we could get up from the table and be excused. "May I please be excused from the table?"....We would say a very Catholic dinner blessing - "Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." Our food was very good and I remember having a lot of food - or what seemed like a lot. We always had meats, potatoes and vegetables. They were put into bowls and served on the table. We would eat spaghetti and Mom would make garlic bread. If we were ever still hungry, we could eat a butter bread or a gravy bread. Those were used to fill us up. We drank milk with our meals and tea - sometimes. We used to have "junk suppers...

We didn't have too many pets when I was growing up. We got a rooster one year for Easter. We appropriately named him "Easter". We kept him in the garage until he started waking us up in the mornings! We gave him to a farmer down in Boschertown to raise and keep on his farm. We used to keep turtles frequently when we would find them in the neighborhood yards. We had a few hamsters but nothing too exciting. When we were in early junior high school years, we finally convince Mom and Dad to let us get a dog. I don't even remember where we got the dog from but we got a small poodle and terrier mix. She was black and grey colored and we named her Pepper. She was a great dog - very friendly and playful but I didn't care much about her. I guess that I was too young to be concerned with a dog. Pepper kind of became Mom's dog....Pepper loved Mom and Mom took care of her most of the time. We used to drive through McDonalds and get a plain hamburger for her a...

My earliest memory of going to a baseball game was when I went with my Dad and my Uncle Donnie. I remember that we went to see the Pirates play and that I was very young. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I remember walking up to the stadium and holding my Dad's hand and feeling like I could only see everyone's knees. We got inside the stadium and we were seated in the upper deck in the outfield. The grass seemed so green and the colors all seemed so vibrant. I remember the red of the Cardinals jerseys and their bright red hats. I also remember the bright yellow of the Pirates jerseys and their dark black caps. Everything seemed so bright and colorful. I got a hot dog to eat and a thing of popcorn that was in a cardboard container that could be used as a megaphone after the popcorn was gone. Baseball has always been a great connector in my family. It was something that I was able to share with my Dad and Grandpa and then also with my girls. I have great mem...

I became a Christian on January 1, 1980. I started dating Lori Bernard on December 21, 1979 and she invited me to attend a New Year's Eve Communion Service. I had already promised some friends that I would meet them at a New Year's Party at Vicky Holliday's House but decided to go to the church service first and then head over to the party. I didn't know anyone there except Lori but I wanted to impress her since we had just started dating. I don't remember much about the service but I wore my SCHS Letterman's jacket and had my hands buried deep in those pockets. One of the guys leading the service asked everyone to bow their heads and he started to pray. He said that there was someone in the room that needed to surrender his heart to God. That person was very popular with his friends but never really had a close relationship with God. He wanted to give that person a chance to make his life right with God before he took communion. I remember that I blurt...