You can see then that all through my early years it was during that depression.  This is important because at the midst of the Depression about 25% of men were unemployed.  Most women stayed home as homemakers.  For the most part those women who did work did so as teachers or nurses.

My father was self employed as a welder and car radiator repairman.  There was no unemployment insurance.  Most did not have health insurance.  Disability insurance through social security did not then exist.

From the time of my birth until 1939 we lived in a house on Needham Street in Coleman, Texas.  Dad had purchased the house making mortgage payments to a Mr. McDaniel.  The mortgage payments included escrow for taxes.  The taxes were not paid for several years by McDaniel.  Delinquent tax notices were sent to the mortgage holder and not my Dad.  While my Dad was in the hospital for almost a year the property was sold for delinquent taxes. Yep, you guessed it.  The buyer was McDaniel.  This forced us to move.  We moved to a house on Ninth Street in Coleman.  The rent was $8.00 per month.  The main street in Coleman is called Commercial Avenue.  It is six lanes wide and is about 1 ½ miles long.  In 1941 we moved from Ninth Street to 1514 Commercial Avenue.  The rent was $12.00 per month.  All of our moves were by ourselves.  No moving vans or companies were involved.

Until about 1940, although Commercial Avenue was six lanes wide, only the center two lanes were paved. The others were just dirt. In fact to this day there are unpaved streets in Coleman.

In 1942 my father built a house at 205 West Fifth Street in Coleman, moistly with his own hands.  That was the family home until 1959.  My mother died as a result of burns in 1948.  My father died of a heart attack in 1959.  I shared a bedroom with my brother who was born in 1933.  My sister was born in 1944.

My father had rented space in a building on Neches Street owned by Bob Leavell.  In 1940 he bought a building at the corner of Concho Street and Fifth Street which was around the corner from where he later built our home.  He rented part of his building to a blacksmith and farrier.

From a very early age I helped my father in his shop.  I sometimes removed radiators from cars.  Radiators on cars would become clogged.  People could not afford to replace them so they were repaired.  After World War II began some could afford to replace them but they could not be bought because car manufacturers and car parts manufacturers were producing vehicles for the military and not for private purchase.  The last model car available for purchase was the 1942 model which came out in late 1941.  The next model available was the 1946.

How were these radiators repaired?  There were two basic types of radiators.  Some had tubes running vertically while others had the elements in a honeycomb configuration.  The way they were unclogged thus required two procedures.  At he top of a radiator is a tank.  At the bottom is a smaller tank.  Radiators were made of copper.

To unclog the radiators with vertical tubes the top and bottom tanks were removed and a rod was pushed through the tubes until they were clear.  The tanks were then reattached with solder.  To make sure there were no leaks compressed air was put in the radiator and the radiator was submerged in water.  Bubbles were formed if there was a leak.

Honeycombed radiators required another process.  My father had a large metal tank along side the building.  In that tank water was mixed with caustic soda and heated to a boil.  The radiator was placed in the tank for an hour or two so the caustic soda mixture would dissolve whatever was clogging the radiator.  The radiator was then removed and water was run through the radiator to remove all the caustic soda mixture.  The radiator was filled with compressed air and placed in water to detect leaks.  If any leaks were found they were soldered.

Before the War people could not afford many new things.  During the war many things were not available.  My father would also repair pots and pans and other things.  In fact, the girl who became my wife in 1987, would take her roller skates to him for repair.  He charged her one nickel.

During those days there were other craftsmen who would repair clocks, toasters, radios, etc.  Today almost nothing like those are repaired.  They are just thrown away and new ones purchased.  It is not financially feasible today to repair small appliances.  Back then there was a phrase “use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

There are two principal methods of welding.  They are arc (or electric) and acetylene.  Most of my father’s work was with acetylene.  This required the mixture of two gases – acetylene and oxygen in a torch.  He had several sizes of torches for use depending upon the size and material to be repaired or fabricated.

Oxygen was purchased in tanks from an industrial gas supplier such as Linde.  Acetylene gas could also be purchased in tanks but could also be made by the user.  Until the early 1950s my dad made his own. Acetylene is made in a device called a generator.  This is a fairly large metal tank on the bottom with a much smaller tank on top.  Water is placed in the lower tank.  There is a valve between the upper and lower tanks.  Granular carbide is put in the upper tank.  The lower tank has a pressure gauge on it.  The valve between the tanks is slowly opened allowing the carbide to mix with the water in the lower tank.  When the desired pressure is reached the valve is closed.  Acetylene is thus formed in the lower tank.  A hose is connected to the lower tank and connected to the torch.  Regulating the amount of oxygen and acetylene through the torch results in the size and intensity of the flame to weld or solder with.

A generator is not 100% efficient resulting in sludge.  This sludge we called whitewash.  We either dumped it on the ground or used it to paint rocks, etc. with.

I became somewhat skilled at welding, brazing and soldering.  My brother became very highly skilled which served him in good stead in the Navy.