Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

Dad, center, referees a group of boys

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

By this time, Charlie Arnold was my mentor and so wasn't Doris also beginning to do the same.

During this period, we did a lot of things around the outdoors. We built a stone wall a the sidewalk as the lawn was below grade. We did a good job and it looked like it would last. Also in my Junior year, he and Doris went to visit her parents in Rhode Island, and they would be gone for a couple of weeks. He had me paint all of the windows outside with a black paint and instructed me that if I ran out of paint to go to the hardware store and get more paint, making sure that I got the same kind and to charge his account. He had spoken to the hardware store owner who knew I worked for him.

They left on Friday and Saturday I went to the house. He gave me a set of keys and began to start. I opened the can and dipped the brush in the can and boy that paint was thick. I had a hard time trying to have the paint flow. I put some in another pail and began adding turpentine. I got it right, not too thin and not too thick and painted all the windows over their vacation period. The windows looked good.

On the Monday of the third week, I went to the house. They were there and one of the first things Charlie asked me was how much paint did I buy. My answer was none. I explained what I did and "Oh, no!" Doris came by and she asked what was the matter. He said, "He painted the windows with turpentine." Then he said well it's done so we probably have to do them again.

We went along. And in my last year at high school, I also was on the Honor Roll. I finished well up the top and my accounting teacher, Mr. Sullivan, no relation to my 9th grade teacher, asked if I was interested in going to college as he would get me a scholarship. I said that I would be working at the time.

Charlie's buying of the house put him in bad with the Director who had to live in one of the settlement houses that was owned by the Center. Of course, when Charlie announced that he had bought the house, those he told it to said it was a bad move because he had better than his boss who also had employees living next door to him. And I think that it was sort of a community living. They may have had dinner together, etc.

And the other thing was that Max Nelson had hired Charlie at the New York Center that he worked at with the understanding that he would make Charlie, Executive Director. In any event, either the first, or that Charlie asked him about the promotions and that may have caused him to be fired.

Anyway it put the Arnold's in a bad situation he was without a job and he lived up to his salary. So things got tough. Anyway he hung in there and in 1937 he landed a job. Director of the Waltham Boys Club.

He also spoke to Nelson about me and suggested that he assign me to a part-time after school job. I don't think that Nelsom as very much in favor, but one of the things that the regular employees we committed to was the training of the locals to take over the operation of the Center..

So Nelson said he wanted to talk with me and to call him. I called a couple of times and got him on the third call. He told me that he wanted me to be in charge of the Saturday night dances. And he wold talk with his secretary who would pay me once a month. That was all. He did not sit down and explain what was expected or what my working part-time would get me.