[PRCo] Seasonal thoughts

[Schneider Fred]

I love your sentiments, Dennis.

Sorry that you didn't have your dad during World War II.    I was  
lucky.   Every time my father got a draft notice, his employer went  
to the draft board and asked them if they would prefer having the man  
or the ships for which he was designing electrical switch boxes.    
Dad was working for Penn Electric in Irwin throughout the war.     
 From age one to five I remember very little  ... maps on the front  
page of the Pittsburgh press showing the invasion of Germany ... my  
mother screaming in terror the night the birds got the pie that was  
cooling on the window sill after she had hoarded enough rationed  
sugar to bake the pie ... taking Deere Brothers bus into Wilkinsburg  
and the Pennsy local to Irwin on a Saturday morning with Mom so we  
could get a ride home in the family '39 Chevy (remember tire and gas  
rationing) when Dad got off work at noon.   I vaguely remember those  
red meat ration tokens and somewhere I still have the last meat  
ration book in my name.

On December 7, 2008, I was remind that the day was the anniversary of  
the day when I didn't quite drown.   My mother remembered that she  
was giving the infant a bath when the news came over the radio that  
Pearl Harbor had been bombed.   She said, "You were lucky you didn't  
drown in the bath tub."  I was two days shy of 21 months old.

My wife had much different and very bitter memories of the war.  She  
has always been angry that she didn't have her father.   He  
volunteered and served as a doctor in a place called Iraq.     When  
he came home in 1945, he remarked that if ever a war starts again,  
that will be where it takes place!   He didn't live long enough to  
see his prophesy come true.

On a more joyous subject ... and life is bother bitter and sweet.   I  
worked for several years in college taking pictures of kids on  
Santa's lap in a department store.   Nice job.   It was nice seeing  
the kids happy.  Actually the kids were better than the Santa in one  
of those jobs ... he bitched all the time that he was underpaid.     
The kids are the reason why, for the last fifteen years, I have  
picked the weekend after Thanksgiving to work at PTM.   It's a  
pleasure to see the happy children.

But damn it, can't we teach them how to count so that they don't  
infect the history channel and tell us that the years with 19 in them  
are the 19th century?   That was on the cable last night.   Must be  
the new math.   (I deliberately didn't capitalize the name of the  
channel ... doesn't deserve it.)

WHAT CAN I HIDE IN HERE ABOUT PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS?   (YOU'LL HAVE TO  
GET OUT YOUR PITTSBURGH ELECTRIC RAILWAY CLUB MAP TO FIGURE OUT WHAT  
I'M B.SING ABOUT.)

REMEMBER THE TROY HILL VIA NORTH AVENUE LINE?   IT LOST BASE SERVICE  
SEPTEMBER 20, 1920 AND LOST THE MORNING AND EVENING RUSH HOUR CAR  
FOUR YEARS LATER AND PERHAPS ABOUT 1930 THE FRANCHISE CAR THAT RAN  
THROUGH THOSE ALLEYS BETWEEN NORTH AVE AND EAST STREET AND TROY HILL  
ROAD DISAPPEARED.   EVEN THE ROUTE CARDS DON'T SHOW WHEN IT QUIT.    
I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE TROY HILL LINE THAT WENT OFF OHIO STREET  
THAT WE ALL RODE.   THERE WERE TWO LINES THAT RAN UP THE HILL.

AND WHEN DID THE FINEVIEW (NUNNERY HILL) LINE QUIT RUNNING UP ARCH  
STREET AND ACROSS FEDERAL ST. AND USE FEDERAL ST INSTEAD?   TRY  
OCTOBER 11, 1925.

MUST HAVE ALL HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH PEOPLE BUYING AUTOMOBILES AND  
THE RAILWAYS COMPANY DECIDING THEY DIDN'T REALLY NEED A LOT OF  
REDUNDANT TRACK. REMEMBER THAT PENNSYLVANIANS BOUGHT A MILLION  
AUTOMOBILES BETWEEN 1920 AND 1930.


On Dec 22, 2008, at 11:28 AM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:

> My dad served with Company "H" from Washington in the 28th  
> Division.  It
> never ceases to amaze me that he was 28 years old when we invaded  
> France
> through the Normandy coast and 30 when he was finally shipped home  
> after VE
> Day.  He rode the Washington interurban from Pittsburgh to  
> Washington as the
> final leg of that journey.  If it were not for Truman, he was going  
> to have
> to go across the Pacific to invade Japan.
>
> Some of my happiest times come from playing Santa at PTM.  I never had
> children, so it was joy; most of the time.  I knew to never promise
> anything, unless their mom was nodding to me as I listened to the  
> child.
> The saddest was a request from a little girl who told me all she  
> wanted from
> Santa was to have her parents get back together after a divorce.
>
> Having spent 33 years working with young adults, I know they can bring
> intense joy and intense sorrow.
>
> Remember the song, "Letter from Camp?" sung by Allen Sherman to the  
> tune of
> The Dance of the Hours?  Life is good, sometimes it just takes a  
> little
> time.  If it is not good, get off you butt and fix it.
>
> Dennis F. Cramer
>       Trombone
>
>
>
>