0:02

This is the Jabber Jaw Podcast Network.

0:43

Hello everybody, and welcome to another Well

0:45

know, I'm lying, this is not just

0:47

another episode of one hundred Words or last of the podcast.

0:50

I am your host, Ray Harkins. But this

0:52

show is completely different and something that I've

0:54

never ever done before. Uh, and that

0:57

is interject a family member

0:59

into this whole weird podcast

1:01

world. But UM, I'm

1:03

sitting here in Las Vegas, Nevada,

1:06

because my my grandfather, Leroy

1:08

Payne, has died. He's ninety five

1:10

years old. He was a rock,

1:13

not only to me, but this entire family.

1:16

And uh, it's a really really sad

1:18

thing. I mean, granted, he was ninety five years

1:20

old and he lived in an incredible life.

1:23

And UM, that's who you're gonna hear today.

1:25

You're gonna hear an interview I did with him

1:28

back in I don't know, maybe about

1:30

four five years ago. I can't

1:32

recall exactly when. But um,

1:35

the reason I know is at least four or five years ago is

1:37

because you can hear my my grandmother,

1:40

who occasionally chimes in during this interview.

1:43

Um, at this time, she was completely

1:46

checked out because she was suffering from

1:48

Alzheimer's, so she wasn't

1:50

an active participant in um

1:53

realistically life, um, let alone

1:55

what was happening around her. But UM,

1:59

so yeah, this, this conversation is really emotional for me,

2:01

UM. And the reason that

2:04

I bring this to you, UM

2:06

and not the usual standard

2:08

fare of people who are surrounded

2:10

by independent music and culture and all

2:12

that sort of stuff, UM, is the

2:14

fact that I think this this interview

2:17

not only is entertaining and insightful

2:19

and um meaningful to me,

2:22

but at the same time, I hope

2:24

it inspires you because realistically, so

2:26

many people around us have incredible

2:29

stories to tell, have lessons

2:32

that you can learn from them, and

2:34

have many different things that are applicable

2:36

to your life, and sometimes we frankly

2:39

don't ask them, we don't care. We're going

2:41

about our lives because many

2:43

of us are incredibly self centered and

2:45

don't pay attention to these things. And I'm not saying

2:47

I'm better than anybody because

2:50

I got to have a really, really meaningful

2:52

relationship with my grandfather, UM.

2:54

But what I am trying to do is

2:57

have you pulled these stories out of people. Have

3:00

you look at the family

3:02

members or other people that are

3:04

surrounding you and have these

3:07

engaging conversations because we

3:09

are not on this planet for very long. And

3:12

the more connections that you were able to have

3:14

with people, the more your

3:18

life is richer. That's that's the best way of putting it.

3:20

So we're bearing him on Thursday,

3:22

and which is basically one day after you

3:24

will hear this in your earbuds,

3:27

and UM, I appreciate the

3:30

opportunity that I have to put it out there and

3:32

hopefully some of you listen to this and listen to the whole

3:34

thing. And really, here's

3:37

this incredible story because here's a guy who lived

3:39

through multiple world wars, um

3:42

had so many things change around

3:44

him. It's like, you know, whatever, here we

3:46

are in the digital era,

3:48

and we think things are changing so rapidly,

3:51

but it's like my grandfather

3:53

and many of your grandfathers and grandparents,

3:57

television wasn't a thing like it

4:00

just blows my mind. So anyways,

4:02

without further ado, this is completely

4:04

in his memory. I will miss him,

4:07

and I loved him very much and

4:09

I can't wait to share a large

4:12

bit of his story with you and hopefully,

4:14

UM, like I said, it inspires you to

4:16

pull stories out of people that you

4:18

love. So and

4:21

for some context, here you'll hear some names.

4:23

Um, So Dick is

4:26

my uncle. And get this, his name

4:28

is Richard Payne. And it never

4:30

occurred to my grandparents that Dick

4:34

Payne because Richard is obviously

4:36

or Dick is a nickname for Richard. Anyways, it's

4:38

just funny, so I make

4:40

fun of him a little bit. But anyways, Dick is my uncle.

4:43

Becky, you will hear um. She actually chimes

4:45

in once or twice during this interview. She

4:48

is my mom, and then Debbie is

4:50

my aunt. So those are those are the three children

4:52

that my grandma and grandpa had. Um.

4:55

So yeah, that's most of the context that you'll you'll

4:57

have UM and you'll

5:00

year my grandfather Lee Roy

5:02

and you can call him Roy if you're friends with him.

5:04

And now every one of every single one of you is um.

5:07

He refers to mommy and that is

5:09

another euphemism for

5:12

his wife, my grandmother that, like

5:14

I said, you'll hear once or twice

5:16

throughout the interview. So um yeah, when he says

5:19

affectionately mommy, that's who he's

5:21

referencing. So yep, now you

5:23

have all the context. Oh and for

5:25

a little treat and something on the lighter side,

5:27

um My, flour and a half year old son decided

5:30

to start a podcast, and his

5:33

episode, slash four

5:35

minute conversation will be heard at the very end of

5:37

this, so those of you that want a little uh dose

5:40

of the cute can listen to this

5:42

or just fast forward at the very end and hear

5:44

him talk about superheroes. Okay, Lie

5:47

Ray Payne, you're my dude, and

5:49

here's the story.

5:56

And I'd like to start off any interview

5:59

I do with UH usually

6:01

like memories you know that I've have,

6:04

and like, there's three distinct memories

6:06

I have that stand out heads

6:08

above the rest that I have with you. I

6:11

know, I'm sure you do. I'll

6:14

save that one for the last night, one

6:16

of them. And I don't even know if you can remember this,

6:19

but the I think one of

6:21

the first times that you made something for

6:23

me, you made me a little

6:25

surfboard like this

6:28

little because I was just really

6:30

into surfing when I don't even remember how old I was,

6:32

maybe like nine eleven

6:34

or something, but it was just this little surfboard

6:36

is like yea yea long and um,

6:39

you know you you spray painted it like bright

6:41

orange or you painted it bright orange.

6:44

Um, And then I did my own decorations

6:46

like you know, put like quicksilver or whatever these

6:48

other um. But I remember

6:51

just being like, oh my god,

6:54

Papa made this, like it just I

6:57

knew you were handy, but it was one of those things where

6:59

I like I held something physical in my hand

7:01

that it was like, oh my god, he's a

7:03

magician, Like this is incredible.

7:06

I don't know if you remember the making the

7:08

surfboard yet, I

7:12

was just what you been drinking. I

7:18

haven't been drinking anything scept coffee.

7:21

I would absolutely not remember

7:23

thinking about it. And and I think that your

7:26

memory was off on that. Really, I

7:28

I disagree with you. I'm fairly certain I still

7:31

have the surfboard somewhere. But it's this this

7:33

little thing. It probably took you all of like

7:35

five minutes to make. It was not

7:37

not a very difficult. Maybe

7:42

it was really small, like it was like maybe a little bit bigger

7:44

than my cell phone. Yeah, it was really small,

7:47

not like a surfboard. Surfboard

7:51

work for days? No, no,

7:53

no, okay, yeah I didn't. I didn't

7:55

agree to that that it didn't strike memory,

7:59

but it could have happen. Yeah

8:01

I didn't. I didn't set that up properly. Um,

8:04

and then also the

8:07

the other you know. One of the other very early

8:10

memories I have is when um,

8:13

I want to say, it was at a golf

8:15

court Mission Viejo. Like we didn't

8:17

we go to the driving range there? Yes,

8:20

um, And I just remember watching

8:23

you hitting golf balls and

8:25

being and thinking in my own head because I mean

8:27

I was like maybe five or six, I was really

8:29

young, um, and thinking in my head,

8:32

I want to swing as good as Papa one day.

8:34

Like I just I just remember being

8:36

like, this is like just

8:39

the way that he takes the club back and it's

8:41

like how far he hits the ball, and

8:43

just like you know, I mean because when you're five or

8:45

six, it's like and you know, you're a very

8:47

tall individual, and so

8:50

watching you know, and I was this little pip squeak

8:52

and just yeah, seeing you hit the ball was like,

8:54

Wow, one of these days, maybe I can hit

8:56

it as far as Papa. What

8:59

was the name of course? Was it just a yeah?

9:02

Which miss Okay?

9:04

Just like the country club but they had down there. Why

9:07

did we go to it? But I remember Mission

9:09

Vieo you

9:12

as a young yeah,

9:14

yeah, at the easter

9:16

eg gun Okay. I

9:19

vaguely remember that golf course. But

9:23

when it comes to that swing, uh,

9:26

you should really take it swing from

9:29

your stepdad and

9:32

he's he's the golfer. He's the

9:34

golfer. You've you've passed the torch. I understand

9:37

um. And then the final memory, which is the

9:39

one that I think you and I will agree on, is well,

9:43

there's that. There's another one

9:45

as well, but the when

9:48

you were trying to teach me

9:50

how to ride my bike, which

9:54

was, how do you

9:56

remember that? You

9:58

feel that you know still your

10:01

shoulder just completely, So

10:04

how do you remember that? Were you? I remember

10:06

I shouldn't ever tried to help you. But

10:11

the bike, the bier, I was about

10:14

six ft too, right now, a little

10:17

U eighteen bicyclers

10:21

right right your legs, I remember

10:23

your legs were just sticking out like bird wings,

10:25

just like I went. I went right up on

10:27

my shoulder, head over heels, and

10:30

I remember. That's

10:32

the biggest memory I have of you. Yeah,

10:36

I remember just because it was so impactful.

10:38

But I remember remember you as beautiful

10:41

little boy. Well, thank you. And we used

10:43

to when you say cark cark car,

10:46

Cark cark car. And

10:48

it's funny because a little Raymond loves cars

10:50

as well, like he gets he points at him and

10:52

he doesn't say anything, but he's just like

10:55

like he's really excited about that. I

10:58

know. And the but I remember, or

11:00

like when you fell that

11:03

I had this feel like it was a feeling

11:05

I hadn't felt before in the pit of my stomach

11:08

where it was like, you know, I was in horror. I

11:10

was in shock, like I did

11:12

this pop, but I felt so bad.

11:15

I was like, even though obviously I wasn't responsible,

11:17

I still felt so terrible because it was just

11:19

like this this you know, you were trying to help

11:22

me and here you were falling and hurting.

11:24

I was I was stupid. You

11:26

would try because it was a small bike.

11:29

It was a very small bike and showed Grandpa

11:34

or you could look at in a positive way where

11:37

you wanted to help me ride my bike

11:39

so bad, Like that's what it was exactly.

11:43

I don't want him to go because I don't

11:45

know who. I don't know who would have taught me otherwise,

11:48

Well, maybe

11:51

maybe Randy would have gone on that bike. I don't know. You

11:55

were riding it a little a little bit, you

11:57

know, yeah, riding it tonight. I don't

11:59

think I was maybe trying to

12:01

teach you as much as just see

12:04

if I couldn't see it. If that's

12:06

probably what I think you're trying to prove

12:08

it to yourself. You you did ride

12:10

the bike before that, so I

12:12

always didn't have much to show you on it. Yeah,

12:15

yeah, yeah, it was just yeah, it was furthering

12:18

my education. Um.

12:21

But then um so

12:23

yeah, obviously, like I said, those are the most

12:25

you know, the clue the memories that just jump

12:28

out at me as far as you know, our

12:30

our relationship, um

12:32

and sort of you know, backing up to obviously

12:35

the beginning so to speak of you know, where

12:37

where were you? And a lot of these questions I

12:39

personally know the answer, but obviously just want

12:41

to hear it in your your words.

12:44

Um, you know, like where were you? Where you

12:46

born and where were you raised? Born

12:50

in Denver, Colorado nine and

12:54

left Denver when I was four years

12:56

old, just

12:59

salt like she because my dad got a Ford

13:01

dealership. Okay, and

13:03

so do you. I presume you probably have no

13:06

memories of Denver right of Denver,

13:08

just like in general, like the city. Only

13:10

one thing is four years old. I

13:13

remember that the

13:15

fire that was on Equipment Avenue, right across

13:17

our house where we live,

13:21

where my parents lived, and

13:23

this house was on fire. I always remember that.

13:27

Yeah, that's that's a pretty scary thing. So

13:31

like was there

13:34

for four

13:37

one. Moved out of there in

13:41

nineteen thirty one to come to southern

13:43

California because of the depression, and

13:46

my dad um

13:49

lost the dealership because

13:51

of the deprecition. Henry

13:53

Ford thought that he

13:55

could create prosperity

13:59

when it was a by

14:02

pushing these cars onto the

14:04

dealers, and it got the point

14:06

where the dealer couldn't finance them. Oh

14:08

really dead. I didn't have enough credit at

14:10

the bank. They financed a bunch of cars

14:13

and that weren't

14:15

selling. So I just

14:17

he did hey, folded up and yeah,

14:20

got out? Did your what

14:22

did your what did your mom do the time? She just basically

14:25

raising you at home? Oh

14:27

yes, mom never

14:29

had a job other than the hard work

14:31

that he did his house. So wife right right?

14:34

And you had you had how how many

14:36

brothers and sisters? I had two

14:38

brothers Bob and

14:41

Dale, and two sisters

14:44

Pat and any

14:46

so five kids total. Yeah

14:48

it's a lot. Yeah, that's

14:52

particulars raised and all

14:54

this without garbage disposal

14:56

dish forrsers yeah,

14:58

yeah, yeah, doing remember seeing mom

15:01

on that old washboard corgated

15:04

metal washboard. Sure, like,

15:07

how did you do it? Yeah? Actually

15:10

exactly yet yeah, and

15:14

so did you like since

15:17

you brought up the depression, like, you

15:19

know, did you did you have any specific

15:21

memories tied to the fact

15:24

that, you know, the family had to kind of tighten

15:26

their belts and stuff like that. We did.

15:30

It's remember

15:35

all of possessions Dad

15:38

head and

15:40

then I wish we had that photograph, but I

15:42

think mom and my mother and dad

15:44

had had dad when they passed

15:46

away. And I don't know my sisters or maybe got the

15:48

back picture a picture of

15:50

a trader that

15:53

was loaded, just loaded, probably

15:57

ten or twelve feet high, with

15:59

a big can of this over and

16:02

uh pulling it with a old

16:04

Nash car. From

16:07

Salt Lake to southern

16:09

California. Why

16:13

why did your father feel that southern California

16:15

was the place to go? Like did he find other

16:18

work here? I'm

16:22

sure you were too young. He

16:25

just couldn't find anything in a smaller city

16:27

like Salt Lake, so he figured it's

16:29

got to be more work out there. And they

16:33

first house we moved into was

16:36

three fifty two Wish forty one

16:39

street in Los Angeles and

16:43

my dad had to page twenty five dollars a month rent

16:45

to that house. I

16:49

remember that very clearly. Did he did

16:51

he like tell you that, like, oh, this is what we're

16:53

paying here, and this is you're

16:56

just all kind of aware of it. Yeah,

16:59

the first so that was the first part of the first

17:02

Yes, my mayor

17:05

was a little foggy. The first

17:07

city we went into his Alhambra

17:12

and uh, I went to Marino Grammar

17:15

School in Alhambra

17:19

and yeah,

17:21

and it was after that that we went to Los Angeles.

17:24

So what

17:27

what what little money

17:30

Pop had, he rented

17:33

a lot car lot. We lived

17:35

at eighteen South Margarita in

17:37

Alhambra and just block

17:40

it to away. He rented a

17:43

lot for just

17:45

peanuts a month, and he

17:47

had a few bucks, and he bought

17:50

used cars like a Ford

17:52

would be ten dollars. You can't

17:54

believe how the prices are, but

17:56

he'd sell it for thirty dollars. And that's

17:59

how he got started back in Okay,

18:01

Yeah, and it was very tough.

18:03

Now I started when

18:06

I was living there. I

18:08

had a paper out nice and

18:11

uh, did you did you do that? Because did

18:13

you feel like you wanted to help the family out. We

18:16

had to buy our own clothes. Papulars got

18:19

it. Go ahead to work and to buy our own she got

18:21

it. And uh, so're like, I can't.

18:23

I can't show up to school naked, so I need to It's

18:26

just just about it. Yeah, but

18:30

our paper route was what

18:32

supported it. And then we would

18:35

like to say to Los Angeles

18:38

he got a job with a Ford

18:40

dealer okay, as an accountant

18:43

okay, and he was so he was never

18:45

doing like sales of cars

18:48

like he was. He was an account

18:50

he was office. Yeah, he was sharp on

18:52

numbers. That's good. That's good. He was really sharp

18:54

on numbers. Got it? And

18:57

so were you always going to the when you started

18:59

grammar school we call I mean, we call

19:01

it elementary school now. But

19:03

so when you were when you were going through school,

19:06

like, did you find yourself being

19:08

interested in school like or did you kind of

19:13

I don't know. I skipped two grades, okay

19:16

because the teachers either I was bad

19:19

teacher, a bad student, or

19:22

because I was smart. I never figured that out. They

19:24

never told you. They like, either

19:27

get this roy pain out of our hair. But

19:30

I did graduate at sixteen, and

19:33

you graduated high school at sixteen. Wow.

19:36

Yeah, that's really young. Skip the third

19:38

grade and the seventh grade.

19:41

Wow. I got the report cards to approve

19:43

it, because, yeah, you

19:45

did. You have to show your parents. One

19:48

thing about the YEA cards,

19:53

the report cards, report cards was

19:56

it we had to have our parents signature,

19:59

okay, and it shows what I was. Like.

20:02

You forged what I have. A guy forged my my

20:05

mother's name. I believe Mrs you are pain.

20:09

That's impressive. And I never caught

20:11

they never caught on. Yeah, they were

20:14

coming. I think that's probably the first bad

20:16

thing I ever did, the mischievous thing.

20:18

But were you uh like like

20:21

you said you didn't know if you were a bad student

20:24

or smart like I think I think

20:26

that I was. I was always good

20:28

in mathematics and always good in English

20:31

and reading and all of that stuff that was required.

20:33

So I think I would be big,

20:38

yeah, say above average as

20:40

far as in schoolkids. Sure, sure, I

20:43

don't know why, but that's about it. Might be feeding Yeah.

20:45

Yeah, And did you as you were going through

20:48

school, um, did you like

20:50

did you enjoy it or is it one of those things where

20:52

you're just like, I can't wait to get out of here and start

20:54

working and I think I enjoyed it. But

20:57

the biggest thing was and

21:00

I wish Grandma was here, ye mother,

21:04

to tell you how

21:09

I used to get into fights really school.

21:11

That's my biggest problem in school, okay.

21:14

And and I don't know whether because I

21:16

looked like a streaming

21:20

okay, yeah, I had these glasses

21:22

on, you know, and maybe that's because

21:25

I but I, you know, the

21:28

guys picked on me, okay,

21:31

and I came him out good with it. Pop

21:34

was kind of a strong scrapper.

21:37

He didn't want to have anybody beat him either. My

21:40

dad got it, okay, and so he

21:42

used to teach us how to defend

21:44

defend yourself. So funny, I did

21:47

defend myself, and uh,

21:49

I had quite a few fights until everybody

21:52

let me alone. Really, I come

21:54

home with towards shirt, scratches

21:57

on my face, sir. Just school,

22:01

we used to get pretty good crowds around us

22:03

too. We're so

22:05

because of these Uh Like, did

22:08

you have a like kind of a group of friends that kind

22:10

of stuck together because you guys were getting picked on? Or

22:12

did were you kind of like the it

22:14

was much of a loan lone wolf? Yeah? Yeah,

22:17

yeah, I think it's could considered

22:19

me a nerd really just because it

22:22

wasn't because you were so interested in like math

22:24

and reading and could

22:27

be Yeah, and so did you uh

22:30

in in high school we call it

22:32

um. Did you play sports, like

22:34

any organized sports during that time? Or was that because

22:38

I had to work? I had paper crowds

22:40

after school? Yeah? Not enough time? Enough

22:43

time? Yeah, that's what

22:45

do you remember? So most of these fights

22:47

did you do you end up winning

22:50

them or were they kind of a draw? I

22:54

think I did good in all of it. I

22:57

just find it funny because I still

22:59

to this day, I'm thirty one years old, and I have

23:01

never gotten a fist fight. I

23:04

have never. I mean i've i've

23:06

I've maybe punched two people, but

23:08

it's never escalated into a fight. And

23:11

I think your experience

23:13

is very uh, it's it's common

23:15

for that time period, like a lot of people

23:18

just kind of fought like to

23:21

like yeah, to either to prove themselves

23:23

or obviously just make it so kids wouldn't

23:25

pick on you anymore. It's more that's what it was.

23:27

I don't know really what developed.

23:32

Yeah, knack for getting into fights

23:34

and you all and you also your your body

23:37

is kind of built for it. In the sense of you've got long arm,

23:39

so it was always strong and took

23:41

that boxing and wrestling

23:44

right. When when did and when did both of

23:46

like boxing and wrestling kind of come into

23:48

your life? Well, mostly when I was over's

23:51

lucky Okay, Well, which which we'll get

23:53

there. So you graduated high school early,

23:55

so you're sixteen years old school

23:58

Sambordino High School. Um, and

24:00

so so what then, like what did you did

24:02

you want to go to college? Like was that left

24:05

home at six? Okay? At

24:07

my own Carter. I

24:09

don't know what they finally in on a paper route,

24:12

but I just one Sunday, my had

24:14

a lot of it had too much

24:16

church, Okay. Um,

24:19

these folks were very very religious.

24:22

What what religion? Baptist

24:25

Baptist okay and sigilar

24:29

prayer meetings, go

24:32

to just a million

24:34

different things all day on Sunday. And

24:37

in fact, it's

24:40

just one of those things that so

24:44

I never played in in high school, never

24:47

had any never went to school prom

24:50

everyone with any of the other kids, because

24:52

you were bad to work and also they were

24:55

if you were to work, you were at church. Yeah,

24:58

and so they were at just Sunday and I packed

25:01

up my stuff in the cargo, were

25:03

getting very disturbed it the whole

25:05

thing. Sure, And that's that's when

25:07

I left home, gove to l A, okay, and

25:09

so the that's pretty

25:12

uh, that's pretty courageous of you to do that. And

25:14

I never went back. Yeah, it

25:17

said, did did you tell any of your siblings

25:19

at all? Or do you just want They

25:21

didn't know for six

25:24

months to where it was really like

25:26

I said, I got a job in and

25:30

the Haliburton building, which is okay,

25:33

company, sure, sure work

25:35

work the pharmacy okay,

25:37

and mall

25:40

shopping all that is sure, drug

25:43

store an old diner type place too. Yeah.

25:46

So when you and I did

25:48

dishes, okay. And so when

25:50

when you when you left, you probably you had

25:53

no plan. Really, you were just like, I just need to get

25:55

out of here, that's all I was plan

25:57

ahead of time, right. You didn't know what I was gonna do,

26:00

right right right? Um. And

26:03

that's that's interesting because a lot of people, especially

26:05

from my generation, a lot of

26:07

people still have the same experience where it's

26:09

like their parents raised them a

26:11

certain religion, um, and by

26:14

the time that they hit of an age where they can

26:16

start to think for themselves, they're like stop

26:18

forcing this on me, like stop, you know, stop

26:21

pushing this down my throat, and they end up rebelling

26:23

or you know, like you did, running away. They

26:25

were so they were

26:27

so strong on it's

26:30

his religion that the

26:34

pastor and my dad and a few other

26:37

guys in the church would hold these

26:39

street meetings, okay,

26:42

religious street meetings and go down to west

26:44

Lake Park or any place tramps

26:47

or bumblers, you know, and they try to convert convert

26:50

them. Yeah, yeah, I convert them and well

26:52

ahead to drag along and standing there with

26:55

them. Yeah. Really he streek, you know,

26:57

right in his gutter, right right, pretty thing,

27:00

and we used to that was

27:02

that was those set of the things that just it was uncomfortable

27:06

forced. Yeah,

27:09

it made you forced, honest, you

27:11

know, I'm sure sure, and it was it wasn't It

27:13

wasn't a very good I didn't have a good child

27:15

life. I don't think. Yeah you don't.

27:18

You don't have fond memories of that time. I

27:20

didn't have. Yeah, yeah, so I

27:22

remember all the struggles

27:24

we went through, and did

27:27

you my dad wasn't it easiest?

27:29

He was one of those strict,

27:32

strict parents father. Yeah,

27:35

if Bob and I get in the fight my brother.

27:38

He would make us walk around

27:40

the bot the whole block, okay,

27:43

with our arms around each other's

27:46

neck, just like

27:48

a living kid. Yeah, so that just

27:51

make us not to fight anymore.

27:53

In other words, that's the way he that's

27:56

how he solved the dispute, solved the thing.

27:58

Made us go arm and arm and right,

28:00

and he followed us behind us

28:02

and walked with us, and

28:04

the two of us was walking ahead there

28:07

sure never a minute, I like, it's

28:09

just making you more angry. Oh yeah, I was easy

28:12

here all those things that and I hadn't

28:14

thought about him for years. Yeah, yeah, no,

28:17

no, that's yeah, that's interesting. Um.

28:21

And so yeah, you're working at the mall

28:23

shop. You're sixteen. Are you just living at like a

28:25

random house you find and like

28:28

friends at all? Or I

28:30

lived in with the first

28:33

place. Well,

28:35

i'll tell you for a few quite a few

28:37

days. So until I got the first job,

28:40

I was, I was just

28:42

lived in my car at

28:45

a nineteen six Chevrolet.

28:48

And this was oh,

28:52

sixteen and some

28:54

mid thirties, maybe six

28:57

I was. I had a

28:59

twenty six Chevy for a while. I think that's a

29:01

car I had. I don't Yeah, and literal.

29:04

Later on, I did to get a pot of gact but

29:06

anyway, I was getting a small amount

29:09

of weekly I don't remember

29:11

how much, but get

29:15

some meals out of it, sure, and I

29:17

had enough to hold

29:20

up in an apartment somewhere. Room.

29:22

It was a room deal, right, And

29:28

oh guys, it was like when

29:30

you were doing that job, was it like, did

29:33

you enjoy it or did you have your eyes?

29:35

I enjoyed that. I think enjoyed more

29:38

it just being away from home. Yeah, like you

29:40

feel you feel like your Yeah, and

29:43

no, I had no I didn't miss

29:46

anybody, and I had no morse

29:48

over it. Yeah. Yeah, But

29:53

I was there, like I say, probably

29:57

six months. And

30:00

at the time when my fanny, I

30:02

told my parents where I was and

30:06

I was still working, huh. And they came

30:08

into that or that shop

30:12

and tried to plead with me to

30:14

kill them really and

30:17

I still was firm, I said, he said, no, I'm

30:19

not interested. Yea, Where

30:22

that was your I mean, I'm sure your

30:24

dad didn't express emotion, but like did you

30:26

was? Was your mom pretty broken up about it or

30:30

or was she kind of stoic as well? I think

30:32

she followed him pretty He was strong man, she got

30:35

it and she was right

30:39

right, she kind of whatever his

30:41

opinion was right, Okay, he

30:43

was he was a yeah,

30:46

the drink of the whole family as far as right

30:48

that he was the driver. I

30:52

get that. So then so yeah,

30:54

after you they knew you were

30:56

missing and or not missing, but they knew

30:58

you you would run away. Um,

31:01

and so you're working at the diner, and

31:03

so what was next? Like did you work there

31:05

for? I

31:07

finally worked because dinner

31:11

and I had one

31:14

or two other places, but don't restaurants.

31:18

Yeah, but I was getting a little bit more pay

31:20

and I don't remember how much more, but

31:22

sure I was increasing my income.

31:26

And so finally when the war

31:29

came along, Um,

31:32

this is where this is World War two. Yeah,

31:34

but the war that was in

31:37

Europe and that before and thirty nine

31:39

one day. Um,

31:42

so from mm

31:46

hmm, yeah, I did have two

31:48

lost years there. It's okay, you

31:51

know two lost years Where's

31:54

when I was nineteen. I

31:57

applied for this job in Lucky,

32:00

Okay, And it was due to my typing. I could

32:02

type in class. It

32:04

just came naturally to you. That's

32:07

maybe that's why I hate computers now, because

32:13

I got your job in typing in luck

32:16

Okay, And that was really one my life

32:20

started it really

32:22

being happy right where it started to improve.

32:24

Yeah, yeah, you felt like you landed at something I

32:26

did right right year

32:29

nineteen thirty one and I worked

32:32

there for two years. Was

32:35

one. Finally Luckied set

32:37

up this base in North

32:40

Ireland, Okay, for repair

32:43

of airplanes that were

32:45

damaged in the fight

32:47

with the water. So

32:51

I, well, you got you got that, you paid in.

32:53

You got the job in l A though, right like you landed

32:55

the typing position at lockeed

32:58

or were you know? I didn't I wasn't you

33:00

know, I lost I had this two

33:02

years I didn't have anything, okay, Yeah,

33:06

two years I had a restaurant or in

33:09

Canoga Park, Okay. And

33:12

so then then but then you got the job with Lockheed,

33:14

and then that's okay, I got the job in Locke

33:17

and uh that was

33:20

a big, big, high paying job.

33:22

Sure it was because we got

33:24

four hundred dollars a month in our room

33:26

and board. Oh you must have felt rich. I

33:29

did feel rich. So

33:31

then that's that was a

33:34

real good time. The best two years

33:36

my life was over there in Northern Ireland

33:39

and that so that was probably the first

33:41

time where you were able to like go

33:43

out at night and kind of have like a social

33:45

life you started to experience yea,

33:48

because we had no we had no restrictions

33:50

at the base there. It's just like here,

33:53

if you're out late, why yeah,

33:56

you get to work in more and next morning anyways,

33:58

yeah, right exactly whether

34:00

whether whether you're hungover or not, you'll still

34:04

fantastic job there After

34:06

a while locked um,

34:11

I met one of my closest friends,

34:13

how gracious, and he

34:16

was in procurement at the time

34:18

when I got transferred into procurement.

34:20

How procurement was where we

34:22

then wasn't tied down

34:25

to the base all the time. We

34:28

had a reverse lad the government had a reverse

34:30

land lease program where anything

34:34

that our base needed in that

34:37

we could go to British suppliers and

34:40

get that stuff. Whatever the base

34:42

needed out of care was medals or food or

34:44

toilet paper or whatever. He had a big thing,

34:47

So we'd have to go around and find

34:50

and locate these things that was needed

34:53

and then there's a little bit of paper where you can sign

34:55

up for it and it's handled through the governments. But

34:59

they gave us the products and then they

35:01

do be shipped in the base.

35:04

But they furnished this with a carve

35:07

Wolvesley car if you've never

35:09

heard of car Wolvesley, And

35:13

we could go into the army base gas

35:16

sure had a car that cace.

35:19

We were captured, list of this

35:21

is captain. We

35:23

were captains. We we go always in

35:26

the officers into

35:28

the army. Then sure we we

35:30

had a good time over there. Okay. And and

35:33

what city in particular northern Ireland were you kind

35:35

of based around? That's

35:37

what I thought? And uh so

35:39

you guys basically just drove around to other army bases

35:42

and other manufacturers or whatever. Yeah,

35:44

and when you to take the car across on the

35:47

ferry and use that over there

35:49

in England? And okay, got it?

35:51

Got it? So we were we could

35:54

a lot of traveling, a lot of travelings.

35:56

But it was it was it

35:58

was good, it was interesting. It was a great job. Sure.

36:01

Sure. And so then then I

36:05

met my mom was

36:08

sleeping there on the couch. Yes,

36:10

And that's that's how interested she is in the story. She's

36:13

heard it so many times. So then, uh

36:15

so, yeah, you you were, you know, you were living

36:17

it up, living the nightlife, you know, I'm

36:20

sure, I'm sure meeting a lot of women. Couple.

36:23

There's couple here there. Of course there should

36:25

be. Yeah, because you here in your

36:27

early twenties. I met met her though,

36:29

okay, and met

36:35

the street in Belfast, but the Grand

36:37

Central Hotel was on it, and

36:41

I was just going to go in and

36:45

see what acting it was in there. Sure

36:47

she was just coming out swinging

36:50

door out in the front of it. Sure, so

36:52

we can always say we met in a swinging door

36:55

because she was with some

36:58

friends of her girl friends of hers. Huh,

37:00

I think she's waking up now. I

37:03

was with some guys of mine. She and

37:07

so anyway, as a group there was I

37:10

think two other guys myself and

37:12

and her group was her friends, and

37:15

we all kind of out in front. At

37:18

that time. Everybody smoked and you'd

37:21

light up a cigarette bass. There was pitch

37:23

dark really just because they

37:25

had turned off all lights. Yeah, it was all

37:27

lights. But we'd go out there and uh,

37:31

we have a match. The light was

37:33

there, but the light. Match would be there and

37:35

see what they look like. That's

37:37

a good that's a good plan. You're like, I

37:40

need I need to make sure they're not ugly.

37:44

So here here, here's

37:46

a light for your cigaret and so we held it. We

37:48

we connected in because we

37:50

held hands right right

37:52

away there we held hands. We always grease each

37:54

other's hands, Okay, okay, and I

37:57

don't know from that time on I did it just but

38:02

he's moving on. So

38:06

anyway, we we

38:09

enjoyed. I

38:11

enjoyed going with her. We met

38:13

in September, okay, and

38:16

uh, I got married to following February.

38:19

And it seems like because you gout like

38:22

it was very common because at this time you were like, what right,

38:27

So it seemed like it was very

38:30

common, especially if you were in your

38:32

situation where you were traveling and you

38:34

know, you were you know, you were part of um.

38:37

You know, you're obviously part of Lackey and everything. And

38:39

it seemed like a lot of people had those like

38:41

whirlwind romances where it was like you

38:44

met a person, You're like, let's get married.

38:46

It was kind of that it just happened

38:48

so quickly. We

38:51

just that

38:53

same night, we right across to the White

38:57

Cross every kind of a drug

38:59

store there, Oh sure, sure, and we sat

39:02

and talked for a while and got a horse

39:06

horse carriage you know, with the O and

39:11

took her home in takes

39:14

having that's where she did, and

39:17

then I took it back into the base to

39:19

the to the station. Huh where

39:21

it would get your train to get out to the

39:24

base, which is probably ten

39:27

or fifteen miles out of fast got

39:30

it, got it? And uh so

39:32

many times I'd get in it two

39:34

o'clock or however, because the dance

39:37

we we did dance, and yeah, it was

39:39

it was like it was like night like

39:42

night clubs and stuff like yeah, okay, I got

39:44

it. Yeah the four Club and

39:47

yeah, then money names. He'd

39:49

probably remember it.

39:53

The I mean that that's

39:56

a listen to this morom me. Yeah, A I

40:00

just I'm

40:02

once there and we wanted yeah,

40:05

all the nightclubs. Anyway,

40:08

it's just you did. I should say

40:10

we had

40:12

an interesting we

40:16

were married in in February.

40:20

How did how did you how did you propose her? Sorry

40:22

interrupt, it's

40:25

a good question. Was

40:28

it just one of those things you guys were talking about. It just

40:30

kind of like, hey, we should get married. More

40:33

or less we knew it, Her family knew it. And she

40:36

had a guy's

40:39

in officer and

40:42

captain or what major, and

40:44

she dumped him. Oh so when

40:47

you when you met her, she was kind of already going with someone.

40:49

Yeah, and then she I was so also go

40:52

with VARA's lack of bitch. It's a girl that

40:55

I left in Los Angeles when I took off,

40:58

Okay, and presume

41:00

was getting married, you know her, I guess

41:03

sure, sure that had given her ring and areying

41:05

and usually

41:07

usually women presume you might get married to them

41:09

if you give him a ring. Yeah she did.

41:14

I don't sure, there's

41:17

lack of it. And she dumped Ken

41:20

Ken can we

41:24

call it Ken last name? Yes?

41:29

Okay, so you got you guys both

41:31

dumped your respective That's right. That's

41:33

right, because you guys are like now they're not. Then three

41:35

months later, just when the base started closing up,

41:38

okay, and in June,

41:42

we'd have to February.

41:46

I mean we got married Favruary in June

41:48

okay, arriving in Boston and uh in

41:51

June of n So did

41:53

you when you you you

41:55

knew that basically at the end of your tenure

41:58

with Lockheed as he wanted to come back to this States.

42:00

Yeah, okay, got it. But then

42:03

but I wasn't through with Lucky, Okay,

42:05

I went to or when that, like you said, when

42:07

that base was closing up, You're like Okay, I'll go back,

42:10

got it. So we got on the train. We had

42:12

a wonderful train trip across the country.

42:17

Everything was by train in and

42:19

uh, but the the bull ride, the bull

42:22

ride from Ireland to Boston, that was

42:24

terrible. It was it was during

42:27

the war. Were still worried about all the German

42:29

sub submarines and uh

42:33

zig zagged that we took us ten

42:36

or twelve days. I know it was about

42:38

two weeks. Al jez zig

42:40

zagged. M just got

42:43

us say, that's why we

42:46

were thankful that we of course,

42:49

and and we were she sick,

42:52

but we kept from shea sickness

42:54

after we learned it, we just kept walking the deck

42:58

all day long. Really, Uh,

43:00

is that you just woke up and just started walking? All

43:02

right? People would be sick

43:05

and all we started walking

43:07

and then findly we got used to it. Wow.

43:09

Okay, but that was a long towards

43:12

yours. Yeah. And it was I'm

43:16

sure brew state rooms and always dirty,

43:19

I'm sure. Yeah, But before that we

43:21

wouldn't. I had to go through a lot

43:23

of paper to get her to go with me, and

43:26

uh saved enough money

43:28

and paid paid for her. That

43:32

brought us back, Okay, And

43:34

guys when you stopped and think of all these different

43:36

things by experience. Yeah, so

43:40

we had this wonderful training trip then from

43:43

Boston to l A. Mommy used to love

43:45

to drink with all of guys

43:47

that was on this Oh I did. She

43:53

did. She loved being around with the guys and they'd

43:55

buy her drinks, I'm sure, and they liked her,

43:58

you know, because she was They were all

44:01

lucky guys. A lot of him in the surin

44:04

it was coming back and so

44:06

we had little small

44:09

quarters. But we did have fun on that range,

44:11

right sure. Sure, And we

44:14

got back here and and

44:17

we had my mother

44:19

and father who we had right

44:23

got back together with you know, was very close

44:25

and and we went to

44:27

live with him for about it. We how

44:30

did be so after you? Because I'm sure

44:32

during all of that time, like did

44:34

you like send letters to your parents and kind of like

44:37

rostly keeping touch? Okay, got it? They

44:39

sent said hair

44:41

things to us, you know, Okay, okay,

44:44

So they had known that you got married

44:46

and your they knew I like popcornation.

44:50

They didn't have popcor in England, so you

44:52

were like, where is my popcord? I

44:54

took this popcorn over

44:57

to tases to have it at her

44:59

house. Sure, this was why

45:01

we were going together, and

45:04

send me the popcorn and

45:07

they didn't. I couldn't

45:09

believe what this was when

45:11

you Friday in a Friday

45:14

and fan with a little Greek popped

45:18

a new thing for them, right, They're like, what is happening?

45:21

Yeah? Yeah, and so

45:24

those are little things that yeah, I know, those

45:26

are incredible and I hadn't thought about for years.

45:29

And so you So when

45:32

you went back to l A and you you

45:34

met up with your parents, like were they were?

45:36

They first of all excited to have you back

45:38

and excited that you had married. And you know, you

45:40

guys were a grown man in a way. Were

45:43

but we were we

45:45

had a little family while there.

45:48

Uh huh. See

45:51

we were smoking, both of us, okay, and

45:54

if we were in the bedroom, and there's sure

45:56

and that thinking at all was selfish.

45:59

I guess we did light up

46:01

cigarettes okay in their house and they were

46:03

in the house. They weren't keen on that. And

46:05

that again made

46:08

me think, jeez, you gotta get you.

46:12

I can't. I can't even smoke in this house, like really

46:14

well everything, you know, everybody

46:16

could smoke in the house, but they didn't

46:19

like us smoking at all. Oh,

46:21

so it was a double stand. Yeah, they didn't like a smoking

46:24

period, right, right, So it was

46:26

time to find something here and

46:29

I did have I recalled when came

46:32

back. We couldn't get an apartment for some time.

46:34

You had to sign up for him. I was very

46:37

scarce. So, uh.

46:42

One of the first things that we

46:44

did, what we got here was foolish,

46:47

but we did it. We

46:50

got a buick.

46:54

I believe it was this buick

46:57

because we had buicks quite a bit, but we

46:59

got this buick. Okay,

47:03

that's pretty expensive at the time, right, yeah,

47:05

yeah, yeah, that

47:07

was new boy. We didn't go for this. Yeah,

47:10

and that wasn't a secondary yeah, but

47:13

um so

47:15

that took most of our cash.

47:18

But then along came along

47:21

came the uh

47:26

opening for this apartment that we went

47:28

to. Okay, that you would apply to, Yeah, sure,

47:30

sure, we loved it there. We had a lot of fun there

47:33

in that apartment. That was another one. That's

47:35

where we met our a

47:38

lot of our friends, a lot of your friends. Yeah, budding

47:41

maize done, you know, I went in business with But

47:44

later Yeah, so

47:47

did you get when you like? Did you guys? Once

47:49

you had your apartment. Did you guys like you know, host

47:51

like dinner parties and like people over

47:53

gravel? We played monopoly?

47:56

Sure, so you guys were pretty social coming Yeah,

47:59

Tater another family it was

48:01

there that we liked, remember Taylor's mama.

48:05

But then let's

48:08

see, and

48:12

so you still were working for Locke to the

48:14

time, right, Yeah, I come back to

48:16

work for Luck, sure, and we still do.

48:18

Were you doing typing still for them or did you transfer

48:21

into some other position that was got

48:23

back into the identification department? Okay,

48:26

and that was where we started. I was able to read

48:29

fingerprints. I learned a lot in that

48:31

one wow investigative part

48:34

of lackage operation. But

48:37

then, uh,

48:41

this is when we saved a little bit of money

48:44

again and we bought

48:49

from Bill Roberts, who was a executive

48:52

for Disney. Okay, we

48:54

weren't looking around for for lots.

48:57

We heard about this place in Luck

48:59

or su that had

49:03

some lots. So we found this

49:07

Bill Roberts was at

49:09

these lots and he

49:12

was such a nice guy. He

49:15

just I don't know what's for fIF a

49:19

lot? And

49:21

I was so green, but it changed.

49:24

This is when I started changing into a whole new

49:26

compared new job.

49:31

Yeah, career, sure, career it

49:35

h let's see

49:37

we went. It's

49:39

just paid for the lot. I

49:42

guess he had the mortgage on it. But we

49:45

I started building. I

49:48

still was working four

49:50

locky okay. And

49:53

that was about the time Dick

49:56

was born. Just before that in the apartments. That's

49:58

right, we were there in apartments.

50:01

It was my started. Then it was I was with

50:04

lockeed and there's about

50:06

this lot okay. Um.

50:11

Then it just developed it. I thought,

50:13

well I could just put

50:15

a little bit from my shalary and buy stuff

50:19

and you just you see that was

50:21

that was that sort of like do it yourself

50:24

at its Oh you I

50:26

wish I had the pictures to

50:29

show, but we did have

50:31

his nineteen this

50:33

car every year of it. I

50:36

had two cars at that time. We had the nice car

50:39

and then I had no work cars. And

50:42

on this work car, I had a drum made.

50:45

I could take the wheel off, put

50:47

the hub on this and it was a pulley thing. I

50:50

pully use

50:52

it as a pulley. I used it a pully to pull

50:55

a cement mixer. Mix it up. You

50:57

can't believe this. I just you're

51:00

just poured, okay. I worked

51:02

my ass all I can imagine

51:05

poor and concrete mixing

51:08

it up shovel inn't that that

51:11

house must have a thousand cold joints in

51:13

it. So why

51:16

why why did you feel like you had to do it yourself?

51:19

Was it just because you didn't have the money to come Okay,

51:21

so you're just like, I'm gonna roll with my sleeves and figure

51:24

this out. Um I

51:26

did. I did borrow eleven

51:29

from my folks and

51:32

uh at Bottomore bought

51:35

bottom stuff got it, and

51:40

jeez, I don't know all

51:44

the all the lumber in there was re

51:46

saw and lumber after the war from

51:49

the wharfs, and that that that they two

51:53

befores and shirts whipp ripped into

51:55

two before. But I

51:57

framed that thing what the library

52:00

and learned. I went to construction

52:02

sites to see how how they did it. And

52:05

that's that first house I built that

52:10

I finally wound up with

52:15

ten dollars in it to

52:17

pay off the lot to pay off the folks. Huh,

52:20

and everything was sweat Eckerty, she

52:23

was there out there. That's why we used

52:25

to have Dick in a cradle or a little

52:27

bassinet, because you guys were busy

52:29

working back crime

52:32

in the door jams and we

52:35

just worked our tails off. So essentially

52:37

you built this entire house from the foundation

52:40

to the roof to be electrical whatever

52:42

else, all on your guy's zone. Oh, which

52:45

is when I mean it was. It

52:48

was the biggest that was, but it was still

52:50

fun funny. Yeah, we had this apartment.

52:54

We were living in Crystal, so it was nice,

52:56

nice to go home there. But how

52:58

long did it take, you, like, from start to finish that building

53:01

that house, Like it was about six months

53:03

I think. But we

53:06

didn't have was some of our friends

53:08

come and help us like that. I

53:11

mean Don Dora and uh and

53:13

his wife. You guys

53:15

would make a little party out of it, like, oh, come

53:17

over, let's work on the house. Don Dora and ed Nadora

53:20

and he used to help

53:23

us. He came over in

53:25

the roof. Sure, sure, you

53:28

take him out to dinner or something. And anyway, it's

53:32

so stupid though, you know, mix all

53:34

this country. But anyway, when the

53:36

house was finished, which

53:38

was real big struggle, but it was at

53:41

ten minutes and we sold

53:43

it to play Rice okay, who

53:46

remained a good friend of ours for years,

53:50

and they were happy to

53:52

get the house they bought for seventeen

53:54

thousand. Wow. And then

53:56

that's when we started. Then this give me

53:58

enough enough on our owned it. So

54:01

I bought another house a lot from Bill

54:03

Roberts. Okay, and he saw

54:05

what we what you were doing, sure, sure,

54:08

and so he had faith in this and we built

54:11

that and that's we were living in that house. That was

54:13

a nice house at the time her parents and came

54:15

over and and forty

54:19

nine or something that over her

54:23

parents. Well, anyway, that's

54:26

then things start. From then on I left

54:28

luck. You felt like you had enough

54:31

money in an idea of how to do it right. And actually

54:33

this again, see okay, which is

54:35

what we did. We bought and build

54:37

a house, live in it, sell

54:40

it if you would move moved on, moved

54:42

on to the next one. Backing up

54:44

just a little bit like when you guys had when

54:47

you guys had Dick, Like was that did

54:50

you guys always have the idea of like, okay, we really

54:52

want to have kids, or was like did Dick

54:54

come along as a as a surprise or

54:56

was your business? I

55:01

mean, no one's feelings get hurt and laughing,

55:04

no one's feelings get hurt if they are surprise.

55:09

She thought it was funny. Why, Yeah,

55:13

that's good, that's good. I

55:15

couldn't do I couldn't remember where we planned

55:18

or whether we didn't. Yeah, but it

55:20

happened. It happened, right right, right, right, Well,

55:22

I mean, I'm sure you guys always had the intention of having

55:24

kids, but like at that particular time might

55:27

have not been your original plan. He

55:29

was Actually she was very

55:31

fertile because well

55:35

obviously I think we had it three times

55:37

and we had three kids. That's

55:42

incredible. You're just you're very precise

55:44

about it, right, we're both

55:46

working so hard, you know. Yeah,

55:50

you just didn't didn't have a time she was she was

55:52

her like, couldn't toucher right right, You

55:55

held her hand and she was pregnant. Yeah, okay,

56:00

and so the so yeah, once you once

56:02

you quit lockeed and then obviously you started to uh,

56:05

well when did uh when did when

56:07

did Becky come along? In that sort of by

56:09

that time you would quit lockeed and you were just doing the

56:11

house to thank you would have been worn.

56:16

Dr Roberts was her doctor, and Dr

56:19

Roberts, let's

56:21

see, I'm trying to figure out what house

56:23

we're you

56:26

were born in nine she

56:28

was well,

56:31

it's just daye end of the

56:35

lock percentage. She born when they

56:38

because that's when then we advanced from

56:40

lock percent and when we filled up most

56:42

of the loss that Bill Roberts had and

56:45

then we went to Lagnada

56:49

and we started building stuff there. And

56:52

in the meantime, during all this time,

56:54

our friend but Done that owned

56:57

that gun's paint company down

56:59

Edward Experience. Yeah. Well, Frank

57:02

Dunn, it was our buddy, and really, wow,

57:04

that's funny. Now it's an empire man,

57:06

Okay, okay. So he financed

57:10

a bought this tract on Manhattan

57:12

Avenue in La Prishna and

57:15

we built about twenty

57:17

or thirty houses there. Wow, well,

57:19

I know then and that's the time. That was four

57:26

Uh, that's because that's when we took

57:29

this trip dire and then you were Becky was

57:31

about five or six. So

57:35

I don't remember the house we lived in when

57:38

we had taken

57:41

her to the hospital, and sure

57:44

it took Bomby Hospital really right

57:46

right right? But anyway,

57:50

So did you like as your as your business

57:52

was growing, like, did you have a name for the business that you were

57:54

doing or it was basically just well we had

57:56

different ones. John pay Dunne

57:58

was a corporation with Doune and Pain okay,

58:01

and then uh Loco we had

58:05

uh partnership

58:08

with Frank Gus

58:10

Frank okay, and so

58:12

it was but I

58:15

know my name was in that was Frank.

58:18

Yeah. Anyway, Yeah,

58:20

anyways, it doesn't matter. He was in the read

58:22

eshape business and they

58:24

were they were friends of ours there on Flanders

58:27

Road. Okay. So I'm trying to think

58:29

what but I have to say that

58:32

we were living on Willow

58:36

Lee at

58:38

a red barn house. I

58:40

think that's what it was. Which when don't we built

58:42

there? And and and

58:45

by this time, like it was the fifties and there

58:47

were there was such a housing boom

58:49

in Los Angeles, so like everybody was moving

58:51

there right, Like there was a lot of people

58:53

that were Yeah, like in the nineteen

58:56

fifties. I mean that that's why, yeah, And that

58:58

was always that was good grow with the right

59:01

right right after the war and the things

59:03

where you got going right. What what

59:06

I always find interesting too with

59:09

you know, different generations is you

59:11

know the invention of things where

59:14

what came along, um maybe

59:17

not even specifically like during the fifties, but like

59:19

you know, in obviously there's a lot of things

59:21

that have happened during your lifetime. But what were

59:23

you know, maybe one or two things that came along

59:26

that sort of just blew your mind as far as

59:28

inventions were concerned. Well, it's television.

59:31

It just we bought a little eleven inch television,

59:36

Admiral television, and

59:38

I know about eight or nine hundred dollars sure,

59:42

yeah, yeah, yeah, Well

59:44

anyway that that was one, and

59:47

then naturally going to get into later on

59:49

and get the moon

59:51

stuff and all that, you know, right at the moon

59:54

and right. It was just it was a very

59:57

progressive period for in

1:00:00

mention and improvements because that's when

1:00:02

these things were in

1:00:04

the kitchen, for instance, of dish watchers

1:00:06

and nice microwaves

1:00:10

and stuff come along. But

1:00:15

there's not much more left now except

1:00:18

to get to Las Vegas. And I

1:00:21

remember we

1:00:23

came to Las Vegas because we were losing.

1:00:29

Oh, Atlanta wasn't land to buy around much

1:00:31

anymore. Oh, I want to meet

1:00:33

this guy, um

1:00:39

Dural Bradley, col Bradley,

1:00:42

And that's

1:00:44

when I had had a lot of experience

1:00:47

down construction by this time, and

1:00:52

h took a job with

1:00:55

him as a vice president in the

1:00:57

company of his company, and

1:01:00

uh, he

1:01:03

was able to get these contracts for

1:01:07

Cape Heart Housing, which was government housing

1:01:09

for for army

1:01:11

families. And

1:01:14

we had guys, she

1:01:16

was seven hundred houses in Fort

1:01:18

leonard Wood, Missouri. There

1:01:22

was two hundred homes in you test

1:01:24

site. We had to

1:01:29

see that human

1:01:32

then one in New Mexico. Coach a place

1:01:37

that was about well

1:01:43

it's close their that was his

1:01:46

name. But unless

1:01:48

we built hundreds of houses for the army and

1:01:52

you guys, would you would actually move to those

1:01:54

places when you were I was a project that

1:01:56

was that was a top job for it

1:01:59

was a big it was a big confructing company. And

1:02:02

uh so then he completed

1:02:06

all those projects and there

1:02:09

was no problem. You know, we just had a good

1:02:11

time there sure and all trans

1:02:14

We came back. Oh

1:02:16

yeah, and we bought a new home are in Coventry

1:02:19

in in thousands, California

1:02:22

because that was Port Leonardward

1:02:24

was the last Cape Cape Heart housing

1:02:27

project. Because they weren't given

1:02:29

out contracts anymore. They like, we've done

1:02:31

it. Yeah, yeah, government finished

1:02:33

that program. So we came back. I

1:02:36

bought the house and

1:02:39

Sunset Canajo which

1:02:42

was thousand oaks and

1:02:45

uh we we

1:02:48

uh moved

1:02:51

there, brought to I came first and bought

1:02:53

the house and went

1:02:55

back there. I set it up and then we went

1:02:57

back there and drove the are

1:03:01

road trip into

1:03:03

into the housand notes. Unlet's

1:03:06

see then as when I I

1:03:10

was continued on with Bradley because

1:03:13

he came with some of the projects

1:03:15

that he put together.

1:03:17

Here she was a

1:03:20

hundred twenty on Tropicana

1:03:24

there Land Parkway,

1:03:27

and the first one that we built was

1:03:29

about sixty houses up on Valley View.

1:03:33

And so

1:03:36

in this construction again with the Darrol

1:03:38

Bradley and all that, that finally

1:03:42

uh tapered off and

1:03:46

I did meet some

1:03:48

some helpful France people

1:03:51

that got us another project

1:03:56

to go. I had a chance to buy

1:04:00

this air conditioning thing

1:04:03

through um the

1:04:07

subcontractor in air conditioning and heating

1:04:09

Billow Carroll. Uh

1:04:12

he after

1:04:15

Bradley's and we were finished with that stuff.

1:04:19

UM I didn't let's

1:04:22

see, well

1:04:24

with the no I know, I know we

1:04:29

had a chance to buy this special service supply

1:04:32

and it was I

1:04:35

went in to work for for

1:04:40

raymore House, who

1:04:42

was a manufacturer

1:04:44

of of sheet

1:04:47

metals, pipes and stuff for air conditioning,

1:04:51

and he was going down the two okay,

1:04:55

and so the day

1:04:57

and night company held

1:05:00

big mortgage

1:05:02

you're debt on on on their

1:05:04

hands and they didn't.

1:05:07

This guy was a big shot flying

1:05:10

from Los Angeles to Las

1:05:12

Vegas and the airplane flight

1:05:15

and go back, and it was haphazardly

1:05:19

run. Got it. So I

1:05:22

got the job to Baro Carrol

1:05:24

because he told Ray Moorehouse that you

1:05:27

want somebody to run that company,

1:05:31

try him. So Ray

1:05:34

Moorehouse and gave me the job and

1:05:39

I started. We would clear out there on the

1:05:42

north Las Vegas airports and

1:05:46

uh, it's kind of kind of built

1:05:48

the reputation up a little bit of the

1:05:50

company. And and uh,

1:05:53

Mommy, I

1:05:55

thought, well we were growing up. We go

1:05:59

into Las Vegas and building

1:06:02

right in closely and so we

1:06:05

built it. The

1:06:08

first we rented she found this warehouse

1:06:11

and rent it was on island,

1:06:13

Okay. And

1:06:16

then uh

1:06:20

that we built that up for business is

1:06:22

going good there and through

1:06:26

Cliff Miller another

1:06:28

right now went in partners with me to build

1:06:31

a big building. And

1:06:33

when you when you first joined in, was

1:06:35

the company, like you said,

1:06:37

the company wasn't pretty bad disarray like

1:06:40

you had were. You just

1:06:43

build it up and it was a good it was a good, solid

1:06:45

company. It was yeah, you know, it was

1:06:47

like it wasn't it wasn't broken, but you

1:06:49

had to really do a lot of work

1:06:52

to make sure the size of the yob. Yeah,

1:06:54

and uh Sie Day and Night helped

1:06:57

the originally got into the company because when

1:07:00

they foreclosed on ray Morehouse, they

1:07:03

were this was not published, but

1:07:07

uh it went up for sale.

1:07:11

There amount that was

1:07:13

old them or something went up for sale. And

1:07:16

so day and I told me, if you just got

1:07:18

the attorney's meat on the front

1:07:20

steps of this building and

1:07:22

they're older nock in, why you'll

1:07:25

be dealing on the big fifty bucks bought

1:07:29

special service for fifty bucks. That's

1:07:32

incredible. They like, we only want you to have

1:07:34

And it was roy Chapline who

1:07:38

Roy Chapline helped us through the whole thing.

1:07:41

And and they finally

1:07:44

waived the fifties some thousand

1:07:46

dollars at Morehouse, and

1:07:49

then we turned around. We sold more Day and Night units

1:07:51

in this town. And anyway, it was

1:07:54

the number one air conditioning

1:07:56

in town. Which is it's so funny

1:07:58

anytime I tell and Buddy,

1:08:01

Well, first of all, when I told people I was born in Las Vegas,

1:08:03

They're just like, that's weird. No one's born in Vegas.

1:08:05

But then when I tell people like you know what my family

1:08:08

was a part of as far as like you know, the construction,

1:08:10

and like, oh, air conditioning, and they're like, oh

1:08:13

my gosh, of course they're conditioning in Vegas.

1:08:15

It's like, yeah, I mean that's an extremely

1:08:18

profitable thing to work in in here. Everybody

1:08:20

needs air conditioning. Um.

1:08:23

And so kind of to wrap things up because

1:08:25

a lot of the you know, a lot of the stuff

1:08:28

that you experienced here in Vegas is stuff

1:08:30

that I remember and obviously my mom

1:08:32

remembers. UM. But you

1:08:34

have such a um,

1:08:37

you know, do it yourself attitude and spirit,

1:08:40

Um you

1:08:43

know where for well, if you can pinpoint

1:08:45

kind of where that came from, and then what

1:08:47

sort of a lot of a lot of it

1:08:50

is just luck. Nos,

1:08:52

you know, at the right time, Yeah,

1:08:55

at the right place at the right time, and um

1:08:58

took a gam along what ever, sure

1:09:02

ever did. But I mean you needed

1:09:04

to back it up with hard work though. Oh it's

1:09:06

true. Yeah, it's true, no question

1:09:08

about it. Because I think there's something to be said

1:09:11

about you

1:09:13

you have. Timing is everything. You have to be at the right

1:09:16

place at the right time. That's where a lot of

1:09:18

breaks comish. Yeah, but then

1:09:20

but then in order to the

1:09:22

real challenge in life is being able to deliver

1:09:25

on that this is to be able to capitalize on that

1:09:27

time. Um, but

1:09:31

it's it's been a great

1:09:33

trip. Yeah, I had

1:09:35

spanks of service supply and uh

1:09:39

sold it for retirement more or

1:09:41

actually know what? Right? Right? Right? And

1:09:44

uh we've had

1:09:47

a good easy life since. Yeah,

1:09:50

and now wind

1:09:52

up, we've been married for sixty eight

1:09:54

years, right, which

1:10:00

is incredible because obviously there

1:10:04

the rest of the five show

1:10:06

years here is just just

1:10:09

golf and experiencing

1:10:13

experiencing all the easy I say,

1:10:15

a very easy retirement. Yeah, it

1:10:18

should retirement, which is good, that's what it should

1:10:20

be. But anyway,

1:10:22

that's yeah. Well, one last

1:10:25

question I wanted to ask where basically the what

1:10:27

sort of advice would you give to a

1:10:30

person in regards to you know, maybe like

1:10:32

they're you know, whatever their profession.

1:10:34

Maybe, um, you know, what sort

1:10:36

of advice would you give to be like all right, you

1:10:39

should do you know these

1:10:41

things in order to be successful

1:10:43

or you know, you know, what sort of advice would

1:10:45

you give to younger people? Well,

1:10:48

it's

1:10:51

hard, it is a hard question because

1:10:53

yeah, there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. People

1:10:56

are so different. Yeah, yeah, for sure,

1:10:58

and I think that, uh, some

1:11:01

people recognize opportunity

1:11:04

a lot easier than other people. And

1:11:08

some people are very happy with

1:11:11

their normal job

1:11:14

and happy to stay right there where they are. And

1:11:17

other people are, you

1:11:20

know, ones that take the risk

1:11:22

or gamble or going to

1:11:24

the unknown, and they

1:11:27

come come through at times.

1:11:29

And we

1:11:31

were ones that took all these different

1:11:33

gambles and came through. We were happy. But it's

1:11:36

a it's a it's hard to tell what

1:11:39

you're telling any specific person

1:11:42

except we'll just just

1:11:50

you do what you're doing. Are if

1:11:52

you if you're really

1:11:56

an opportunist, way go

1:11:58

do it. Sure if

1:12:01

a chance comes along. But it's

1:12:03

it's yeah,

1:12:06

no, I mean that's that's that's definitely the way you have

1:12:08

to look at it. So yeah, well,

1:12:11

I really appreciate you, obviously taking

1:12:13

an hour out of the day to speak to me about

1:12:15

this. But yeah, thank you, Pop, I appreciate

1:12:18

it. Very good to have you interested

1:12:21

in We appreciate that, of

1:12:23

course. Grant.

1:12:27

Well, I only learned from the best.

1:12:35

All right. Now here is my

1:12:38

four and a half year old son's debut on a

1:12:40

podcast here you go. Hello

1:12:43

everybody, we're welcoming you to a new

1:12:45

segment of my podcast on

1:12:47

Words or Less. But this is called

1:12:50

Villain's Land, right Raymond? Okay,

1:12:53

I'd like to welcome my co host, Raymond

1:12:56

Harkins, my son. Can you say hi to

1:12:58

everybody? Hi? Yes.

1:13:02

Now we're gonna be talking about one of Raymond's

1:13:04

favorite subjects, Finity,

1:13:09

Disney Infinity. And

1:13:11

so Raymond, can you tell me a little bit about Disney

1:13:14

Infinity? What is it? Yes, I'll

1:13:16

show you everything display. Oh

1:13:19

what we're not We're not recording video. This

1:13:22

is this. I just took a picture of us, but

1:13:24

this is actually on

1:13:27

audio. See like how I'm recording this. So

1:13:32

remember talking to your microphone. Okay, So,

1:13:36

but just tell tell people what Disney Infinity

1:13:39

is. Is it? Is it a book? Is

1:13:41

it a video game? Yes? Perfect?

1:13:44

So could you please tell me about

1:13:46

one of your favorite characters, Venom?

1:13:51

And for those people that don't know who,

1:13:53

does Venom fight all the time Spider

1:13:56

Man and also fight Disney

1:14:00

He fights the Avengers too. Okay, awesome,

1:14:03

So tell me what you like so much about Venom. He

1:14:06

has a little tongue. I

1:14:11

love that. So is he big?

1:14:14

And strong or is he small and

1:14:17

strong like microphone

1:14:20

and half? He would punch a microphone

1:14:22

in half? Yes, that's crazy.

1:14:26

So you seem

1:14:28

to like villains a lot, and that's why we

1:14:30

name the show villain Land. Yes,

1:14:34

right, right, So why do you like bad

1:14:36

guys so much? Will

1:14:38

fight good guys? Right? That tiny

1:14:43

and definitely get tiny?

1:14:45

That's pretty cool. Here, let's put the microphone

1:14:47

back on the stand. So yeah, there we

1:14:50

go. So Venom,

1:14:52

what color is he? Black?

1:14:55

Black with white? That sounds amazing.

1:14:59

And where did you get the Venom

1:15:01

Disney Infinity character? Wow?

1:15:06

And that was like the first character that

1:15:08

you wanted, right, yeah,

1:15:11

So is there anything else that you'd like to share

1:15:14

about Venom? Now?

1:15:17

Do you think this is a good first episode of

1:15:19

our of our show? Okay,

1:15:22

well, thank you very much. Podcast listeners

1:15:25

and Raymond give them maybe

1:15:27

you say goodbye or give them a good

1:15:30

guy perfect. Thank

1:15:32

you very much, everybody you've

1:15:35

been listening to the jabber Jaw podcast network,

1:15:37

jabber Jaw Media dot com S,