Picture of Jerold Bishop, in 1967.
"Everyone in the family got into the place at the start. My
sister Sue rode the desk during most of the days the first few years until she
got married. My mother kept us fed and on schedule, later doing a shift on the
desk after my sister got married and moved on. My other brother tackled the
laundry with the woman who was part of the permanent staff; I got into that act
as well. I ironed on a mangle-system and Alan folded sheets after they came out
of the dryer for about three hours each morning. I can still fold a sheet (or
towel) better than about anyone I know. It was years before no-iron sheets came
out and even then we weren’t off the hook. We also hired a couple of university
students each year who split the family room just off the office, doing
alternating nights as the night clerks" - Jerold Bishop
"My problem was the outside. I cut the grass, clipped the
hedges, and kept the place weeded and swept. I hated that part, by the way,
because it was hot and sweaty work. Dad paid me $0.35 an hour, though and that
made it all (almost) better." - Jerold Bishop
Kent, Thelma and their young family had recently moved to California for work, but still came back for regular visits, in order to help and keep in touch with the majority of family still living in the state.
"The pool was a money sink as well. We had to meet county
health standards which required us to install a fresh chlorination system and
rebuild the entire pump system and filtration setup, and on and on. That part
was the blindside, the one dad didn’t see coming I think. Yes, my young memory
was in the dark because I wasn’t an adult and not part of all the process, but
I recall some frustration. Kent did a good job getting it running finally and
we made good friends with the county health inspector who taught us a lot as
well. Later it became my problem as my older brother moved on, but he set the
standard and got it going right during those first two years." - Jerold Bishop
No comments:
Post a Comment