April 15, 2025 • 66 mins
Meet Floyd Price, a 98-year-old Navy veteran whose remarkable life spans nearly a century of American history. Born in 1927 during the Roaring Twenties, Floyd's journey takes us through the hardships of a disrupted childhood, his service during World War II, and his postwar success as both businessman and family man.
Floyd's early years weren't easy—his parents divorced when he was seven, leading him to live with his grandparents. Without educational stability (he attended twelve different schools and never graduated), young Floyd found his path through determination and hard work. When World War II called, he answered, joining the Navy in April 1944 despite weighing only 118 pounds, below the service's minimum requirement. "We'll fatten him up," the examining doctor said, revealing the urgent need for personnel as the war intensified.
Aboard the USS Riverside, Floyd served as a radar plotter during the Okinawa campaign, experiencing combat conditions that tested even the bravest souls. His vivid descriptions of daily life—from general quarters at four in the morning to sitting in impenetrable smoke screens while Japanese planes searched overhead—provide a deeply personal window into what our Greatest Generation endured. Floyd's candid storytelling includes moments of danger, discipline (including his five days on bread and water for telling an officer to "kiss my ass"), and the camaraderie that sustained servicemen through unimaginable challenges.
After his discharge in 1946, Floyd built a 45-year career in window cleaning, eventually founding Capital Window Cleaning Company and maintaining landmarks like the Michigan State Capitol. Perhaps more impressive than his professional accomplishments is his personal life: his marriage to Alfreda has flourished for nearly 75 years, producing two daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren—a living legacy that spans multiple generations.
Floyd's philosophy remains simple but profound: "Do the best you can, don't look back, look forward." His remarkable resilience, humor, and perspective offer wisdom that only comes from nearly a century of lived experience. Listen now to connect with an authentic piece of American history through the voice of someone who lived it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Monday, april 14th, and we're talking
with Floyd Price, who served theUnited States Navy.
So good afternoon, floyd.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good afternoon to you .
Speaker 1 (00:10):
All right, great to see you this afternoon on a nice
sunny day.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yep, yep, it's always good to be seen, isn't it?
Yes, yeah, so we'll start outtoday with when and where were
you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
born.
I was born April 25th 1927 inFoote Hospital in Jackson
Michigan.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Okay, so you're coming up on a birthday, yes,
all right.
Well, happy early birthday.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'll be 98.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you don't look.
98.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Oh, that's true.
That's true.
So did you grow up in Jackson?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, we left there when I was five years old.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I started school there and work was scarce, and
work was scarce.
My dad worked for a companythat made rims Kelsey Hayes and
they closed the factory, I think, there in Jackson.
(01:18):
He went to Detroit for a whileand then he transferred to Motor
Wheel here in Lansing and wecame here.
We lived in several places.
Then my folks divorced when Iwas seven years old, okay, and I
(01:39):
went to live with mygrandparents.
They were wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And then, where did your grandparents live?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
At that time it was in Ovid.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, and did you have brothers and sisters too?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
No, I had a brother and two sisters that died at
birth Well the one sister thatwas younger than me lived three
months.
We lived in a log cabin with mygreat-grandmother in south of
Jackson and she was born inOctober and the cabin wasn't
(02:24):
very warm and I don't know.
She got pneumonia and died.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
She was exactly the same age as my wife.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Really.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
My wife's birthday was October 26th and hers was
October 31st.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh, my gosh.
You know, my younger brotherwas born on October 26th.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
A few years later.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
So you went to live with your grandparents in Ovid.
Yeah, did you see your parentsmuch after that.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Not a lot.
My mother ran off with some guyand my dad was still working.
My grandfather also worked atMotor Wheel.
Okay, so on Friday nights I'dride in.
He worked a late shift, went inand worked at 10 o'clock and
(03:18):
I'd ride in with him on Fridaynights and my dad would get out
of work at 10 o'clock and thengo home with him and he lived in
a boarding house.
But I never knew.
Actually I never knew my realname until I was about to get
(03:43):
going into the Navy.
I went by the name of LloydMcQueer.
That was my.
I think he was my father.
He's the only man I ever calledfather.
But when I found out that mybirth certificate said I was
(04:05):
Floyd Price, Okay, and so Pricewas your mom's maiden name then.
No, that was her first husbandOkay, okay, I understand.
And she was married three times.
Oh, all right All right In myage they moved a lot.
(04:25):
I went to 12 different schoolsand never graduated.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I left home.
I was back home.
I didn't get along with mystepfather and I was in junior
high school and I worked atSparrow Hospital.
I worked in the kitchen.
I started out washing pots andpans.
(04:55):
I got 22 and a half cents anhour.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That was big money, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then they found out I was working too many hours
going to school and I'd workedfrom 4 to midnight and I wasn't
supposed to work past 10 o'clock, so I quit school.
I went part-time to CentralHigh School in Lansing, which is
(05:25):
LCC now.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And then a year later I got a job with a dry cleaning
company in Lansing.
It was a plant.
The chemical they used wasoutlawed in the city because it
was toxic.
(05:54):
So I worked there nearly a yearand then I asked my mother to
sign for me to go in the Navy.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, and that would have been.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
That would be April of 1944.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay, so the World War II was going strong yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They were looking for warm bodies, so they didn't.
They were looking for warmbodies, so they didn't.
I took my first examination.
I only weighed 118 pounds.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And they had a 120 limit.
But doctor said, well, we'llfatten him up.
You'll make weight soon enoughright, yeah, so I went in.
Soon enough, right, so I wentin.
I took my basic at the NavalStation in Green Bay.
(06:56):
Okay, and we usually it's a12-week deal, but they were
wanting bodies real fast, so itwas around about five weeks all
I was training at.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I left there and went to Shoemaker, california.
They used to say it's the onlyplace in the country that you
can stand up to mud, up to yourankles and have sand blow in
your eyes at the same time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Sounds like a great place, Floyd.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was a German prisoner camp besides a military
camp or prison.
The German prisoners walkedaround free, and the American
prisoners were locked up.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
The Germans are probably thankful to be there.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The Germans.
You couldn't have chased themout of there.
We had a guy that spoke Germanand he talked to a lot of them.
They were building.
Every place you went frombuilding to building had
boardwalks to get there and theywere building covers for these
boardwalks and so I left thereand they went to yes, treasure
(08:20):
Island, okay, yes, treasureIsland, okay.
And then I was assigned to theship Riverside, the APA 102
Riverside.
(08:41):
It was a new ship, it hadn'tbeen only commissioned for six
months and after I was there fora while they called five of us
in and sent four of us toTreasure Island.
After I had been aboard, theship sent back to Treasure
(09:04):
Island to train to be radarplotter.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Radar was pretty new.
Right it was a new.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, it was.
That's the principle of it.
That's still the same.
I guess, but the equipment isaltogether different.
I trained mostly for surfaceplotter that's what I wound up
being, but I went aboard theship as part of the command.
(09:37):
It was a command ship.
I think there was a.
I got a note there was 51officers and 524 enlisted on the
ship, but under the commandthere was 43 officers and 108
(10:04):
enlisted.
I was a part of the command.
They had built a special rightbehind the stack a special area
for this command.
We left out of San Franciscoand I was on watch.
(10:28):
I sat up on a high stool withheadphones on and when we went
out of the Golden Gate Bridge,under it was stormy.
The ship was doing a lot ofmoving.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Really.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I got sick and I couldn't wait.
I kept watching the clock,waiting for my relief to come,
and when he showed up he was assick as I was.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Oh, no so.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I spent the next four hours relieving him, but anyway
we went left.
There we were hauling a load ofammunition.
We had a load of torpedowarheads and 16-inch shells.
Unfortunately we took a crewmember on that had just got off
(11:27):
in a ship that had fallenammunition that had been hit.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So was he bad luck.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And he just got off in a 30-day leave and when he
found out what we saw and hesays, how lucky do they think
I'm going to get?
We only we took it to Pearl,unloaded it.
Pearl, or we didn't unload,stephen Doors unloaded it.
And then we left and we wentinto the marshals.
(12:05):
I very seldom knew where I wasBack then.
They didn't reveal, they didn'twant you writing home and
telling, oh yeah, so all ourmail was censored.
So you don't write on bothsides of the paper because they
(12:26):
may cut something out of it.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I didn't think about that, but you're right, you're
right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
So once in a while we'd know.
I remember we'd talk and we'dtalk after the war was blown up
by a test atomic bomb.
I guess it still doesn't exist,and when we traveled around I
(13:05):
don't know how it was at Mog MogIsland.
Mog Mog Island was a beerisland.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh, tell me about this.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Navy does not allow beer or any drinking on a ship.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So what they do is give you three cans of beer and
send you over to an island andyou get your three cans of beer
and back again and Mog Moghappened to be the island I
think it's still in theMarshalls, but then we wound up
(13:40):
in the Philippines Philippineswas.
Then we wound up in thePhilippines.
The Philippines was just beingoccupied and it had already been
taken back, and that's where wewound up loading troops, army
(14:02):
troops, for the invasion ofOkinawa.
Okay, we took 32 ships, apas,most APAs we were.
The Riverside was the largestAPA other than its sister ship.
(14:23):
The sister ship had was I can'teven remember what the sister
ship's name was.
Most APAs were about 62 footwide and Riverside was over 90
(14:44):
feet wide and a little longer.
We hauled about 18 LCVPs andfour Mike boats.
Them are landing craft boats.
(15:09):
They were landing craft.
We hauled, I believe was 1,200troops that's a lot of people.
We left the Philippines withthree columns of APAs loaded.
I don't know if they were all.
I know some of them were justsupplies and and we weren't the
(15:32):
first there at the Philippinesor Okinawa, we weren't.
I went in the second day.
I can't remember we took.
I think we were just loadedwith supplies.
I went in the second day, Ican't remember, I think we were
just loaded with supplies.
Of course, I never set foot onthe island.
(15:57):
I can remember in the distanceof a water tank and the water
tank was up on legs and one leghad been shot.
It leaned over and it lookedlike you couldn't lay your hand
on a place that didn't have abullet hole in it.
I think that was the only thingthat stuck up on the beach
everybody shot at it yeah butanyway, the landings at Okinawa
(16:23):
were not real bad.
The Japanese had went inland anddug in, and the worst fighting
was later when the troops had totry to take out them.
Of course it wasn't too longafter that that they dropped the
(16:49):
atomic bombs.
Both bombs we were set inBuckner Bay, which is in Okinawa
it was named after.
That formed the invasion and wewould get then.
(17:11):
Of course, shortly after thesecond bomb was dropped the
Japanese surrendered, but allJapanese didn't realize it.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Especially on Okinawa , right, right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
They didn't get the word.
The people of Okinawa werecommitting suicide.
They're jumping off on cliffs,things.
I didn't see any of that butfound out later.
They were scared to death.
(17:44):
I was thinking that the thingswere going to torture them and
everything.
Right they were.
But as we sat in Buckner Bay, wewould general quarters, would
go off about at four o'clock inthe morning and stay till about
10.
And so we used to say we'd getbreakfast with an apple and GQ
(18:11):
and that went on.
One morning we had a threetorpedo or night fighters was
returning and a Japanese torpedoplane was following them in and
(18:33):
they never knew it.
He dropped a torpedo on thePennsylvania which was anchored
out and the Pennsylvania, it hitthe stern and it didn't sink it
but it put the stern downunderwater.
Yeah, we happened to have asecond-class bosun's mate that
(18:59):
his father was a first-classbosun's mate on the Pennsylvania
and he got to go over and seehis father and see if he was all
right.
First class boatswain made onthe Pennsylvania and he got to
go over and see his father andsee if he was alright and
everything.
The ship survived and later wasblown up by a test of atomic
(19:21):
bomb.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Really.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But I have run into several people in different
places that said their father orbrother or somebody was on a
Pennsylvania when they heardthat I was in Okinawa.
But we stayed.
We were there a good threemonths or more and we never
(19:49):
fired our guns.
The shore battery took care ofanything like we got raided.
We put up smoke screen so whenthe general alarm go off, you
didn't go to your battle station, you went to your fire station.
Oh okay, and you sat there inthe smoke and you couldn't see
(20:12):
your hand in front of your face.
It was more worrisome than youknow.
I got thinking well, all he'sgot to do is drop it in the
smoke and he's got you.
But it never happened.
(20:32):
Well, after three months or so,my first days, on the first day
on the Riverside, they made methe head of our command group,
(20:58):
which was a Commodore.
But he didn't wear Commodorestripes, he wore captain stripes
.
He was a retread from World WarI.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Oh, so he'd been around for a little while.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, he was a wonderful person a wonderful
person, and our executiveofficer was also a captain.
And then the ship's commanderwas a captain.
So we had three captains,captain stripes, and they told
me where to set, and when thecaptain came out, all I did was
(21:35):
follow him.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That was your job to follow him around.
I didn't know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, that lasted two days and he says I don't need
you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I said I didn't think , so Let me uh.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
At first I didn't know which captain was what, but
anyway he was a very wonderfulman.
He wasn't very gung-ho.
Messenger would come up andsalute and click his heels and
the Commodore would say don'tbreak your arm, son.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Kind of a down-to-earth person, then huh,
yes.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
The Riverside was an attack ship.
It had two 5-inch guns, twotwin 40s and 18 20-millimeter
cannon.
I was assigned I tried out oncefor a hot shellman on the 5,
(22:49):
and I didn't work out very good.
You had a pair of asbestosgloves that come up to your
elbow and you're supposed tocatch the shell empty casing.
So it didn't get banged aroundBecause Navy in a 5, the Army is
a 105.
(23:09):
Didn't get banged aroundbecause Navy in a 5, the Army is
105.
They use fixed ammo or not fixedammo.
Navy uses fixed ammo.
The Army uses projectile andpowder bags behind it and the
way the Navy uses their big16-inches Right, and so these
(23:31):
casings come.
When they come flying out ofthe gun you're supposed to catch
it and most of them go rattlingacross the deck.
But anyway, I wound up being aloader for the 20 millimeter.
I wound up being a loader forthe 20 millimeter.
But after the war ended and wecame back, we went to come into
(23:58):
San Pedro.
I can remember a banner thathad been tacked up on a building
and one end of it had kind offallen down.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Welcome home.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
That was our only welcome, we ever got.
They used to talk about theVietnam warriors that weren't
appreciated.
But we didn't get much of awelcome.
The welcomes were all over withbecause more had been over for
(24:32):
three months or four months.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Right, right, and most of the big things happened
in New York City, right.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah.
So they were no use for thecommand anymore on the ship.
So I was taken off in theriverside, uh-huh, and I was
re-obsigned to Warren, an APA.
(24:57):
Warren, which had Warren, hadserved very bravely in the
Pacific.
It was the same age as aboutthe riverside, but it was a
smaller ship.
It had lost a few of its crewand we left.
(25:20):
That was in San Francisco.
We left out of San Francisco,we were on our way to Hawaii and
we were out maybe five or sixhours and we got orders to
return.
I don't know why, still don'tknow.
And so we come back there inFrisco and we stayed there for
(25:45):
two or three days and then theygive us orders to go take the
ship to the Panama Canal and upthe Gulf into the Mississippi
and return it to a merchant.
They were selling it to amerchant and we worked on the
(26:09):
ship for, oh, I don't know, amonth or two months, taking all
of everything off from it,putting cables into, greasing
them and putting them away.
And when we got down to thepoint where we couldn't live on
(26:29):
the ship any longer, we lived inbarracks on the beach and then
we worked on the ship for Idon't know another month or so.
Well then, I was reassigned toLouisiana not Baton Rouge, but
(26:59):
the main city there.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I went to New Orleans and we every day we'd go down
and check the billboard to seeif.
But my, what they called mydeal was a diaper cruise.
I was supposed to stay theduration of the war in six
(27:25):
months.
Well, the six months was upalready, but I wasn't.
They weren't in no way lettingme out.
Six months the six months wasup already, but I wasn't.
They weren't in no way lettingme out.
And so I have to travel, godown and look at the billeting
board, see if I was going homeor I was going someplace else.
(27:45):
Well, I got in a little trouble.
We was mustering and when weleft muster, me and another guy
was traveling back to thebarracks and cutting across the
lawn and some guy says, hollered, get off the grass.
And I turned around and someguy in a T-shirt and I told him
(28:07):
to kiss my ass.
So he come and wanted my nameand serial number and I wouldn't
give it to him because hewasn't in uniform.
So he called the guy over.
It was in uniform and I gave itto them and I went up to my
(28:28):
bunk and it wasn't only halfhour.
There was a call over thesquawk box to report to the
Master at Arm.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Shack oh boy.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I reported and they said they had put me on a
captain's mast.
So I went to the captain's mast, two Marine guards escorted me
in to a guy who was sittingthere with all the brass you
could muster Pulled in theletter reading it.
(29:03):
He says this sounds kind ofserious, son.
I said yes, sir, I don't knowwhat was on the letter, still
don't know.
He says well, I'm going to giveyou five days bread and water,
solitary confinement.
(29:25):
Wow for telling some guy to kissyour ass yeah so back to the
barracks, repacked my stuff, gotmy sea bag and they marched me
up to the.
It was about a mile, mile and ahalf.
It was a Marine prison.
They took all my stuff away,took all my clothes, gave me
(29:51):
prison clothes had P's writtenall over it, took me to a cell
that wasn't any much bigger thantwo bunks wide and there was
nothing on it, it was just noflatbed and there was nothing on
(30:15):
it, it was just no flatbed.
And they told me that at evening, chow time, which I got two
slices of bread and all thewater I wanted, and I got a
blanket and a mattress.
I served for three days thatway and in the morning time
(30:37):
they'd give us a razor and wecould shave and we'd get our two
slices of bread and water andtalk to the guys and they said
well, the third day they got tofeed you.
So third day come and you haveto stand in front of yourself.
(30:57):
There's a window in the door.
It's only about eight inchestall and two inches wide, but
they come along and tell you toget in line.
Well, they went by me.
I said, well, wait a minute.
I said this is my third day.
He says you got a straight five.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So fourth day came up and they says you're getting
out today.
Well, I'm not arguing with them.
So I had to get dressed in myundressed blues, took me up to
the guard shack.
(31:43):
I stood at parade rest from 8in the morning until 11.
And then they said we're goingback to the naval base.
So I got all my stuff, my seabag, everything.
Marched me back to the masterat Armshack.
(32:05):
The phone was ringing when Igot there and he says what's
your prisoner's name?
And he said Price.
He says take him back, he's gotanother day to serve and I am
just about not in.
So they marched me back theguard up at the.
(32:28):
He said hey, what'd you do?
Run back.
I said no.
So he said I'm not going to putyou back in prison close,
because you're going to get outtomorrow.
So I went through the sameroutine the next day.
Well, the first thing I headedfor was a.
(32:51):
It was noon.
I got chow and of course I'mwanting more and more of
everything.
I couldn't eat half what I took, but anyway, it wasn't only
about two o'clock in theafternoon I got orders that I
(33:13):
was going to be shipped out.
I was going to the same placethat I'd already been assigned
before I got in trouble and theothers had already left.
I was going by myself.
I was assigned to twodestroyers which were tied
together in the St Johns Riverin Florida Green Grove Springs,
(33:38):
florida.
So I went there and we wasputting these destroyer escorts
into mothballs.
But anyway, when I was takingmy amphibious training in San
Diego at the Marine base, thereI took up boxing and some of
(34:09):
these guys that I sparred with Ionly weighed 128 pounds and oh,
they bragged me up how good Iwas, you know.
And my first fight I about gotkilled.
But anyway, I had got hit inthe chest and it got real sore
(34:38):
and it didn't never quit beingsore and through the years I
didn't have no problem with itwhen I was wearing dungarees and
Cambry shirts, yeah.
But when I would get dressed inmy dress uniform it was so tight
(34:59):
then it would hurt.
Well, I lived with it.
I didn't go to sickbay until Iwas aboard this destroyer escort
or DEs and finally it got sobad that it was getting larger.
I went to sickbay and thedoctor says oh, you got it,
(35:23):
that's got to go.
So they called in an amphibioustruck out to the ship and it
took me to Jacksonville NavalBase in Florida and they
operated on me and took it out.
It was the size of a chickenegg.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Oh my gosh, that was from the boxing.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Well, that's the only thing that I could lay it to.
Yeah, boxing, well that's theonly thing that I could add to
it.
So then I went back.
After I had recuperated at thehospital, they went back to ship
and put me on light duty and Iwasn't doing nothing.
We had three Chief Boatswain'smates on the two ships and all I
(36:13):
did was see if they were fed,and a lot of times two of them
would be on Liberty and theother one would say I'll go to
the chow line, you don't have todo nothing.
But then all of a sudden I gotorders to go back to Green Bay
and I was going to be discharged.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So that was in June of 46.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
So you were in for quite a while then.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
From April of 44, my time didn't start until I was
out of boot camp.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
That was in June, June sometime.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
But I went through that getting out of the Navy
well before they they'd make yousit there, and the ones that
were going to re-up you'd haveto make you sit there and go
through their re-up beforethey'd let you go.
But anyway they I got out.
(37:29):
I was down at the train stationto catch a train back to
Chicago, mm-hmm, and there wasan officer, started talking to
me and I of course wasaddressing him as sir and he
says you don't have to do thatanymore.
(37:50):
You know, I said no, I guessI've got to have it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That's kind of how you do it right.
Call everybody, sir, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
But then I left and went back here to Lansing.
We lived in the South End.
We lived in the south end and Icould have stayed off for six
months and drawn to unemployment.
But one of the guys that I wentin with had been a window
(38:22):
cleaner before he went in and hewent back with that company.
So I thought they said theyneeded somebody that could run
either a bosun's chair orsomething like that, and they
knew I had done that.
(38:43):
So my first job with them Iwent to work with Lansing Window
Cleaning Company.
My first job was a KelloggCenter and they just built it.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Oh, there in East Lansing.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
In MSU.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And they hired another guy out of Chicago to
work with me on it and he was alittle scary because he'd lost
most of his fingers on his righthand and he had a hard time
holding a rope.
I'll bet he did he used to takeit and put it under his foot to
(39:23):
tie off, I'd say, on the otherend I end, I wouldn't let go
until he got title.
But anyway, I worked for themfor 12 1⁄2 years.
Then I went into business formyself.
I went with a partner.
He'd also been in the Navy buthe was nine months younger than
(39:46):
me and he didn't go in untilNovember of 44.
And he'd kind of started up alittle business of his own and
he asked me one day if I wouldcome with him and I finally said
(40:11):
, yep, I'll do it.
So we were together 12 and ahalf years and we separated and
I started up Capital WindowCleaning Company and I run that
for over 20 years.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Oh my gosh, so you had.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I had 40, putting there 45 years in in window
cleaning.
We did.
I did the state capitol.
I did all the state buildingDid city hall for years and the
tower I did that tower for 12,12 and a half years.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
You're talking about the Michigan National.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Tower yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
I've always been fascinated by that building.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, that was the same age as I am.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Oh goodness.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
The Elfrida.
My wife was in high school atthat time and she used to walk
downtown to catch the bus out tothe south end and she'd see me
hanging out in one of themwindows on the tower and she of
(41:23):
course.
We wound up on a blind date.
That's this friend that was awindow cleaner that before went
in the navy.
His girlfriend was alfreda'sgirlfriend.
So they set us up for a blinddate.
We, I guess I think we went to amovie or something yeah then I
(41:46):
asked her to later to go to on ahayride with us later, and so
she finished high school, sheworked for a company in the
office and then in 47, we weremarried.
(42:09):
Okay.
So you got married before youstarted your business and pardon
me, you got married prior tostarting your business though.
Yeah, yeah, uh, yes, she was agood part of it, uh-huh and, but
(42:29):
we've been married 75 years Wow.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Congratulations.
Wow, that's a long time, yeah.
So have you celebrated your75th anniversary yet?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
No, the kids are waiting.
They're not going to do it.
I think my birthday's coming upon a Friday or something, but
the kids have got it all planned.
My older daughter's coming homefrom Florida next weekend and
then they've got somethingplanned.
My youngest daughter she livesout by Portland.
(43:07):
At my youngest daughter, shelives out by Portland, and a big
dinner for all my all mygrandkids and great-grandkids,
except the ones Army.
(43:33):
She stood there 20 years, comeout a major and her husband a
lieutenant colonel, and he flewthe Black Hawk helicopter and
she went to Texas A&M forculinary school and now she
(43:57):
teaches.
She's got a school of her ownand she teaches cooking.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
It must be pretty amazing to be old enough to see
your great-grandchildren havecareers.
I mean, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
My oldest great-granddaughter or
granddaughter is in her 50s.
My two daughters are in their70s.
I got a great-granddaughterthat's 34 or 35.
(44:35):
Grandson it's 30.
Another one it's 22.
One in Texas that's where thegranddaughter has her school,
and the one in Texas graduatedfrom Texas A&M
great-granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
So you have how many children do you have?
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Two daughters, two daughters, okay, two daughters,
two granddaughters and twogreat-granddaughters and a
grandson.
He was the first on my side ofthe family born since I was.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Wow, male yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
He works for a company that sells these belts
that run equipment across, youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Oh, like conveyor belts, conveyor yeah equipment.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
He lives in Grand Rapids and he's single and his
mother keeps begging him to getmarried because her daughter has
already confessed that she'snot going to have any children.
She's in her 30s.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Uh-huh.
So he's the only option, he'sthe only option.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yeah, Seems like he gets a girlfriend and something
happens, he had one that was anice girl and she wanted him to
move to Alaska.
And he's mama's boy and heain't going to leave his mama.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Yeah, yeah, that happens, that happens.
So you said you were in thewindow cleaning business for 44
years, so you must have retiredin the 80s, then the 1980s, 91.
1991.
What did you do afterretirement?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
I worked at a golf course Really.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Bronson Bay and the one on South Washington.
They owned both of them.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, Bronson Bay, that's a nice golf course.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Yeah, it's gone now.
This guy bought it and wantedit for hunting.
Oh, but yeah, I worked thereover 20 years.
I took care of their drivingrange.
I didn't get paid or anything.
I was a volunteer, but I gotall the golf I wanted.
You know, that's paying off.
(47:06):
I was still able to go toFlorida and spend the winters
and then come back and go backto work on the golf course and I
don't, I only worked three days.
I only worked half a day, threedays a week, and so it was
wasn't where.
Like took all my time right, uh, right.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
Well, you rode motorcycles too.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
We were talking about that, about that before that
was right after I got out of theNavy, my neighbor bought a new
motorcycle and I bought his oldone.
Okay, and then after Alfred andI got together, After Alfred
(47:48):
and I got together, her dad wasdeadly against me because he
didn't like.
He used to call me the damnedold window cleaner.
Oh boy.
You were the damned old windowcleaner huh yeah, and it
happened to be that we bought a.
I bought a Starfire OldsmobileStarfire one of the first ones.
(48:12):
They only built them about fouror five years, and so I traded
the Starfire in for another one.
It wasn't a couple of weeks.
I went over to myfather-in-law's in-laws and it
sat in the driveway.
He'd went down and bought itafter I'd sold it.
Why would he want a car fromsome damned old window cleaner?
(48:35):
Well, his brother-in-law cameup here from Ohio and that's the
first thing he said why wouldyou want a motorcycle or a car
from a damned old window cleaner?
Speaker 1 (48:51):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
But mother-in-law died when she was only 62 or 42.
Nice lady, nice lady.
Father-in-law was like my dadand my stepdad.
They were weekend drunks.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
They were all the same age and they always worked.
They always kept their job, butfrom Friday night till Monday
morning they were drunk.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
Oh geez.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
And that's why I couldn't get along with my
stepdad.
My dad was a jolly drunk, ohgeez.
And that's why I couldn't getalong with my stepdad.
My dad was a jolly drunk.
Of course he'd remarried andthe woman had two girls and he
kind of faded out.
I went to see him a lot, evenafter my dad had passed away.
(49:52):
I even went and would go andfix my stepmother's medicines
and stuff for him.
Me and her was pretty goodtogether, but my stepdad until
(50:12):
he quit drinking he did.
Later years he quit drinking,but he was bad.
He was very good, he was amerchant marine and he worked on
the Great Lakes for.
But he soon as he was drinkinghe was mean.
(50:38):
I couldn't get.
I don't know how many times hechased me out of the house and
we'd go around around the houseand told the neighbor lady would
open her door and just holler.
Next time around I'd go acrossthe street and up on her porch
and then she'd order him off onher property.
Then they'd call mygrandparents and they'd come and
(51:00):
get me.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
Oh my gosh.
Thank God for that neighborlady right.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, she was a tough little gal too.
Well, you've lived quite a life.
Yeah, it was not a goodchildhood.
I never was able to.
I played ball until I was 55years old.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
I never played any sports when in school because I
had to work.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (51:36):
I got out of school at 3.30 and went to work at
Sparrow Hospital at 4 o'clock.
Worked till midnight, but Iplayed ball.
I started out playing fastpitch and I got hurt a little
bit.
That was after I was ball.
I started out playing fastpitch and I got hurt a little
bit.
That was after I was married.
I got hurt, nothing serious.
(51:58):
So I thought, eh, I better quit.
Well, it wasn't only a year ortwo.
Somebody come along and said,hey, they got a new game, it's
called slow pitch.
Oh, I said what Slow pitch?
He said, hey, they got a newgame, it's called slow pitch.
Oh, I said what it's slow pitch?
He said you come, you ought totry it, I don't know.
Finally they taught me and Iwent and tried it.
(52:18):
I fell in love with the gameand then I played.
I belonged to the Moose Lodge.
I was an officer at the MooseLodge.
I was an officer at the MooseLodge and I played for the Moose
team.
And then, when the managerthere resigned, the guys all
(52:40):
made me manager.
I was a playing manager and mybiggest thing was that I could
outrun everybody on the team.
I was 10 years older.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:58):
But I had a guy that I still keep in contact with him
.
He was one of our outfieldersand he challenged me every
spring to a race and he neverdid beat me.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
He didn't learn his lesson the first or second time,
did he?
Speaker 2 (53:16):
No, he was a great guy.
Yeah, his last name is Neese.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Uh-huh, yeah, he was.
I played for the Moose Lodgethere until I resigned and the
bad thing was that we I'd havewe built a ball diamond behind
(53:47):
the lodge there in Logan andwe'd have tournaments there and
to make money, well, I'd turnall the money that I made into
the lodge and then when I neededequipment and stuff I'd have to
go to the lodge and get it.
And then there was always somemembers saying, oh, we're
(54:07):
spending too much money on theball team.
You know.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
And it was our own money.
So I told them I said I'll stay, but I'll run my tournaments
and I keep all my money and I'llbuy my equipment out of it and
at the end of the year,whatever's left, I'll turn over
to the lodge.
Oh, we can't do that.
(54:34):
So I said oh, I'm done.
So it wasn't only two or threemonths they called me up and
said hey, what you suggested.
We decided that maybe we coulddo that.
I said no, I'm all done.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
You had your chance, yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
I played for the Emory County News for a while,
for a while, and then the editorof the news played on the team
and then the guy that owned DartInsurance, one of the owners,
(55:22):
he played on the team and theywere all arguing about which one
was the slowest.
One would say that the otherone run with a piano on his back
and they were going to have arace.
They'd challenge each other toa race at the high school track
there in Mason.
(55:42):
And I did a lot of work inMason and I wrote to them and
said I think they both werepikers and that I challenged the
winner and it was $100 tocharity.
Uh-huh.
Well, it was way ahead of timeto do it.
(56:05):
So it got a lot of publicityout of the paper.
So the day of the race, thehigh school it was just a mob of
people showed up.
John Dart was there.
I don't know if you knew JohnDart.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
I did not.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
He's part of LCC deal .
He was an attorney and aninsurance agent, but anyway he
was there and he says we can'tget this many people to show up
to the high school team trackteam.
But anyway, the two guys thatwould argue and the insurance
(56:51):
man and the editor had theirrace.
the editor fell flat on his facecoming out of the block oh no
so they waited a while and thenI was going to race the
insurance man.
Well, I had never run out ofblocks before.
I think that was the otherguy's fault insurance man.
(57:14):
Well, I'd never run out ofblocks before.
I think that was the otherguy's fault or problem.
So I said no, I'm not going totry it.
He did so.
When the race started they hada guy with a timer and another
one with a camera and he got alittle jump on me coming out of
the blocks.
But the last 10 yards I passedhim and the photograph they took
(57:42):
I think every store in Masonhad it plastered on there you
couldn't see my one leg, it wasup like yeah, like you were
running.
Part of the picture saysone-legged window cleaner beats
insurance executive.
I still got the picture.
Speaker 1 (58:08):
That sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Yeah, we did have there.
I've had a good time, I've hada good life, yeah it sounds like
, my childhood wasn't what you'dcall fancy, but you made the
best of it.
You made a good life for youand your family, yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:26):
Yeah, was there anything that we haven't talked
about that you want to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (58:32):
Oh, I don't know Just that, how many years my wife
has kept me going and how much Icare for her.
Speaker 1 (58:46):
Yeah, yeah, she's a good woman.
Speaker 2 (58:52):
My two daughters and I've got two son-in-laws that
are.
I'd take them as sons any day.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
They're great, mike and Bob.
Well, really, I just have likeone last question for you then.
You know, like, like you said,you things didn't start out so
great, but you certainly uh havehave uh come out pretty good
with your, your big family andyour and your wife and your
marriage of almost 75 years.
That's incredible.
You know, when someone listensto your story years from now,
(59:30):
what message would you like themto take away?
What message do you have forpeople?
Speaker 2 (59:36):
I don't know, I don't know.
Just the only thing I can thinkof is, you know to do the best
you can, and don't look back,look forward, and I don't know
(01:00:07):
how much time I got left, butI'm going to try to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Well, none of us know that, right no we don't.
Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Yeah, there's so many you know nearly every old
friend of mine.
They're all gone.
You know Navy buddies they'reall gone.
I don't know of one of themthat's alive.
I used to have a friend.
He was a barber in Mason.
(01:00:37):
He owned a Cessna.
When I was out there working,he'd holler across the street
you want to go to lunch?
I said yep, I knew what he wastalking about.
We'd go out and jump in a plane, fly over to one of these
little towns around it hadrestaurants on the airstrip,
(01:01:03):
have our lunch and fly back.
It was really enjoyable and Iforget our 50th anniversary.
I got a card from him.
I just read it the other day.
It said you're lunch, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
You're flying lunch buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
That's pretty awesome .
He was 103 the last time Iheard anything about him, but I
think he's gone now.
Him and his wife were married78 years.
Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Wow, that's just incredible.
That's just incredible.
Wow, that's just incredible.
That's just incredible.
Well, Floyd, thanks for takingtime out of your day to sit and
talk with me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Well, I enjoyed it too.
I hope I got everything in thatwas necessary, but I'm sure
I'll think of something that Ididn't say later on.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I think we all do yeah.
Today is Monday, april 14th, and we're talking
with Floyd Price, who served theUnited States Navy.
So good afternoon, floyd.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good afternoon to you .
Speaker 1 (00:10):
All right, great to see you this afternoon on a nice
sunny day.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yep, yep, it's always good to be seen, isn't it?
Yes, yeah, so we'll start outtoday with when and where were
you?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
born.
I was born April 25th 1927 inFoote Hospital in Jackson
Michigan.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Okay, so you're coming up on a birthday, yes,
all right.
Well, happy early birthday.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'll be 98.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you don't look.
98.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Oh, that's true.
That's true.
So did you grow up in Jackson?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, we left there when I was five years old.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I started school there and work was scarce, and
work was scarce.
My dad worked for a companythat made rims Kelsey Hayes and
they closed the factory, I think, there in Jackson.
(01:18):
He went to Detroit for a whileand then he transferred to Motor
Wheel here in Lansing and wecame here.
We lived in several places.
Then my folks divorced when Iwas seven years old, okay, and I
(01:39):
went to live with mygrandparents.
They were wonderful people.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And then, where did your grandparents live?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
At that time it was in Ovid.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, and did you have brothers and sisters too?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
No, I had a brother and two sisters that died at
birth Well the one sister thatwas younger than me lived three
months.
We lived in a log cabin with mygreat-grandmother in south of
Jackson and she was born inOctober and the cabin wasn't
(02:24):
very warm and I don't know.
She got pneumonia and died.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
She was exactly the same age as my wife.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Really.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
My wife's birthday was October 26th and hers was
October 31st.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Oh, my gosh.
You know, my younger brotherwas born on October 26th.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
A few years later.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
So you went to live with your grandparents in Ovid.
Yeah, did you see your parentsmuch after that.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Not a lot.
My mother ran off with some guyand my dad was still working.
My grandfather also worked atMotor Wheel.
Okay, so on Friday nights I'dride in.
He worked a late shift, went inand worked at 10 o'clock and
(03:18):
I'd ride in with him on Fridaynights and my dad would get out
of work at 10 o'clock and thengo home with him and he lived in
a boarding house.
But I never knew.
Actually I never knew my realname until I was about to get
(03:43):
going into the Navy.
I went by the name of LloydMcQueer.
That was my.
I think he was my father.
He's the only man I ever calledfather.
But when I found out that mybirth certificate said I was
(04:05):
Floyd Price, Okay, and so Pricewas your mom's maiden name then.
No, that was her first husbandOkay, okay, I understand.
And she was married three times.
Oh, all right All right In myage they moved a lot.
(04:25):
I went to 12 different schoolsand never graduated.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I left home.
I was back home.
I didn't get along with mystepfather and I was in junior
high school and I worked atSparrow Hospital.
I worked in the kitchen.
I started out washing pots andpans.
(04:55):
I got 22 and a half cents anhour.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
That was big money, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then they found out I was working too many hours
going to school and I'd workedfrom 4 to midnight and I wasn't
supposed to work past 10 o'clock, so I quit school.
I went part-time to CentralHigh School in Lansing, which is
(05:25):
LCC now.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And then a year later I got a job with a dry cleaning
company in Lansing.
It was a plant.
The chemical they used wasoutlawed in the city because it
was toxic.
(05:54):
So I worked there nearly a yearand then I asked my mother to
sign for me to go in the Navy.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Okay, and that would have been.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
That would be April of 1944.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay, so the World War II was going strong yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
They were looking for warm bodies, so they didn't.
They were looking for warmbodies, so they didn't.
I took my first examination.
I only weighed 118 pounds.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Really.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And they had a 120 limit.
But doctor said, well, we'llfatten him up.
You'll make weight soon enoughright, yeah, so I went in.
Soon enough, right, so I wentin.
I took my basic at the NavalStation in Green Bay.
(06:56):
Okay, and we usually it's a12-week deal, but they were
wanting bodies real fast, so itwas around about five weeks all
I was training at.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I left there and went to Shoemaker, california.
They used to say it's the onlyplace in the country that you
can stand up to mud, up to yourankles and have sand blow in
your eyes at the same time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Sounds like a great place, Floyd.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was a German prisoner camp besides a military
camp or prison.
The German prisoners walkedaround free, and the American
prisoners were locked up.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
The Germans are probably thankful to be there.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The Germans.
You couldn't have chased themout of there.
We had a guy that spoke Germanand he talked to a lot of them.
They were building.
Every place you went frombuilding to building had
boardwalks to get there and theywere building covers for these
boardwalks and so I left thereand they went to yes, treasure
(08:20):
Island, okay, yes, treasureIsland, okay.
And then I was assigned to theship Riverside, the APA 102
Riverside.
(08:41):
It was a new ship, it hadn'tbeen only commissioned for six
months and after I was there fora while they called five of us
in and sent four of us toTreasure Island.
After I had been aboard, theship sent back to Treasure
(09:04):
Island to train to be radarplotter.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Radar was pretty new.
Right it was a new.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well, it was.
That's the principle of it.
That's still the same.
I guess, but the equipment isaltogether different.
I trained mostly for surfaceplotter that's what I wound up
being, but I went aboard theship as part of the command.
(09:37):
It was a command ship.
I think there was a.
I got a note there was 51officers and 524 enlisted on the
ship, but under the commandthere was 43 officers and 108
(10:04):
enlisted.
I was a part of the command.
They had built a special rightbehind the stack a special area
for this command.
We left out of San Franciscoand I was on watch.
(10:28):
I sat up on a high stool withheadphones on and when we went
out of the Golden Gate Bridge,under it was stormy.
The ship was doing a lot ofmoving.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Really.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And I got sick and I couldn't wait.
I kept watching the clock,waiting for my relief to come,
and when he showed up he was assick as I was.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Oh, no so.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I spent the next four hours relieving him, but anyway
we went left.
There we were hauling a load ofammunition.
We had a load of torpedowarheads and 16-inch shells.
Unfortunately we took a crewmember on that had just got off
(11:27):
in a ship that had fallenammunition that had been hit.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
So was he bad luck.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And he just got off in a 30-day leave and when he
found out what we saw and hesays, how lucky do they think
I'm going to get?
We only we took it to Pearl,unloaded it.
Pearl, or we didn't unload,stephen Doors unloaded it.
And then we left and we wentinto the marshals.
(12:05):
I very seldom knew where I wasBack then.
They didn't reveal, they didn'twant you writing home and
telling, oh yeah, so all ourmail was censored.
So you don't write on bothsides of the paper because they
(12:26):
may cut something out of it.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I didn't think about that, but you're right, you're
right.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
So once in a while we'd know.
I remember we'd talk and we'dtalk after the war was blown up
by a test atomic bomb.
I guess it still doesn't exist,and when we traveled around I
(13:05):
don't know how it was at Mog MogIsland.
Mog Mog Island was a beerisland.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Oh, tell me about this.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Navy does not allow beer or any drinking on a ship.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So what they do is give you three cans of beer and
send you over to an island andyou get your three cans of beer
and back again and Mog Moghappened to be the island I
think it's still in theMarshalls, but then we wound up
(13:40):
in the Philippines Philippineswas.
Then we wound up in thePhilippines.
The Philippines was just beingoccupied and it had already been
taken back, and that's where wewound up loading troops, army
(14:02):
troops, for the invasion ofOkinawa.
Okay, we took 32 ships, apas,most APAs we were.
The Riverside was the largestAPA other than its sister ship.
(14:23):
The sister ship had was I can'teven remember what the sister
ship's name was.
Most APAs were about 62 footwide and Riverside was over 90
(14:44):
feet wide and a little longer.
We hauled about 18 LCVPs andfour Mike boats.
Them are landing craft boats.
(15:09):
They were landing craft.
We hauled, I believe was 1,200troops that's a lot of people.
We left the Philippines withthree columns of APAs loaded.
I don't know if they were all.
I know some of them were justsupplies and and we weren't the
(15:32):
first there at the Philippinesor Okinawa, we weren't.
I went in the second day.
I can't remember we took.
I think we were just loadedwith supplies.
I went in the second day, Ican't remember, I think we were
just loaded with supplies.
Of course, I never set foot onthe island.
(15:57):
I can remember in the distanceof a water tank and the water
tank was up on legs and one leghad been shot.
It leaned over and it lookedlike you couldn't lay your hand
on a place that didn't have abullet hole in it.
I think that was the only thingthat stuck up on the beach
everybody shot at it yeah butanyway, the landings at Okinawa
(16:23):
were not real bad.
The Japanese had went inland anddug in, and the worst fighting
was later when the troops had totry to take out them.
Of course it wasn't too longafter that that they dropped the
(16:49):
atomic bombs.
Both bombs we were set inBuckner Bay, which is in Okinawa
it was named after.
That formed the invasion and wewould get then.
(17:11):
Of course, shortly after thesecond bomb was dropped the
Japanese surrendered, but allJapanese didn't realize it.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Especially on Okinawa , right, right.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
They didn't get the word.
The people of Okinawa werecommitting suicide.
They're jumping off on cliffs,things.
I didn't see any of that butfound out later.
They were scared to death.
(17:44):
I was thinking that the thingswere going to torture them and
everything.
Right they were.
But as we sat in Buckner Bay, wewould general quarters, would
go off about at four o'clock inthe morning and stay till about
10.
And so we used to say we'd getbreakfast with an apple and GQ
(18:11):
and that went on.
One morning we had a threetorpedo or night fighters was
returning and a Japanese torpedoplane was following them in and
(18:33):
they never knew it.
He dropped a torpedo on thePennsylvania which was anchored
out and the Pennsylvania, it hitthe stern and it didn't sink it
but it put the stern downunderwater.
Yeah, we happened to have asecond-class bosun's mate that
(18:59):
his father was a first-classbosun's mate on the Pennsylvania
and he got to go over and seehis father and see if he was all
right.
First class boatswain made onthe Pennsylvania and he got to
go over and see his father andsee if he was alright and
everything.
The ship survived and later wasblown up by a test of atomic
(19:21):
bomb.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Really.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But I have run into several people in different
places that said their father orbrother or somebody was on a
Pennsylvania when they heardthat I was in Okinawa.
But we stayed.
We were there a good threemonths or more and we never
(19:49):
fired our guns.
The shore battery took care ofanything like we got raided.
We put up smoke screen so whenthe general alarm go off, you
didn't go to your battle station, you went to your fire station.
Oh okay, and you sat there inthe smoke and you couldn't see
(20:12):
your hand in front of your face.
It was more worrisome than youknow.
I got thinking well, all he'sgot to do is drop it in the
smoke and he's got you.
But it never happened.
(20:32):
Well, after three months or so,my first days, on the first day
on the Riverside, they made methe head of our command group,
(20:58):
which was a Commodore.
But he didn't wear Commodorestripes, he wore captain stripes
.
He was a retread from World WarI.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Oh, so he'd been around for a little while.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, he was a wonderful person a wonderful
person, and our executiveofficer was also a captain.
And then the ship's commanderwas a captain.
So we had three captains,captain stripes, and they told
me where to set, and when thecaptain came out, all I did was
(21:35):
follow him.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
That was your job to follow him around.
I didn't know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Well, that lasted two days and he says I don't need
you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
I said I didn't think , so Let me uh.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
At first I didn't know which captain was what, but
anyway he was a very wonderfulman.
He wasn't very gung-ho.
Messenger would come up andsalute and click his heels and
the Commodore would say don'tbreak your arm, son.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Kind of a down-to-earth person, then huh,
yes.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
The Riverside was an attack ship.
It had two 5-inch guns, twotwin 40s and 18 20-millimeter
cannon.
I was assigned I tried out oncefor a hot shellman on the 5,
(22:49):
and I didn't work out very good.
You had a pair of asbestosgloves that come up to your
elbow and you're supposed tocatch the shell empty casing.
So it didn't get banged aroundBecause Navy in a 5, the Army is
a 105.
(23:09):
Didn't get banged aroundbecause Navy in a 5, the Army is
105.
They use fixed ammo or not fixedammo.
Navy uses fixed ammo.
The Army uses projectile andpowder bags behind it and the
way the Navy uses their big16-inches Right, and so these
(23:31):
casings come.
When they come flying out ofthe gun you're supposed to catch
it and most of them go rattlingacross the deck.
But anyway, I wound up being aloader for the 20 millimeter.
I wound up being a loader forthe 20 millimeter.
But after the war ended and wecame back, we went to come into
(23:58):
San Pedro.
I can remember a banner thathad been tacked up on a building
and one end of it had kind offallen down.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Welcome home.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
That was our only welcome, we ever got.
They used to talk about theVietnam warriors that weren't
appreciated.
But we didn't get much of awelcome.
The welcomes were all over withbecause more had been over for
(24:32):
three months or four months.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Right, right, and most of the big things happened
in New York City, right.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah.
So they were no use for thecommand anymore on the ship.
So I was taken off in theriverside, uh-huh, and I was
re-obsigned to Warren, an APA.
(24:57):
Warren, which had Warren, hadserved very bravely in the
Pacific.
It was the same age as aboutthe riverside, but it was a
smaller ship.
It had lost a few of its crewand we left.
(25:20):
That was in San Francisco.
We left out of San Francisco,we were on our way to Hawaii and
we were out maybe five or sixhours and we got orders to
return.
I don't know why, still don'tknow.
And so we come back there inFrisco and we stayed there for
(25:45):
two or three days and then theygive us orders to go take the
ship to the Panama Canal and upthe Gulf into the Mississippi
and return it to a merchant.
They were selling it to amerchant and we worked on the
(26:09):
ship for, oh, I don't know, amonth or two months, taking all
of everything off from it,putting cables into, greasing
them and putting them away.
And when we got down to thepoint where we couldn't live on
(26:29):
the ship any longer, we lived inbarracks on the beach and then
we worked on the ship for Idon't know another month or so.
Well then, I was reassigned toLouisiana not Baton Rouge, but
(26:59):
the main city there.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
New Orleans.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I went to New Orleans and we every day we'd go down
and check the billboard to seeif.
But my, what they called mydeal was a diaper cruise.
I was supposed to stay theduration of the war in six
(27:25):
months.
Well, the six months was upalready, but I wasn't.
They weren't in no way lettingme out.
Six months the six months wasup already, but I wasn't.
They weren't in no way lettingme out.
And so I have to travel, godown and look at the billeting
board, see if I was going homeor I was going someplace else.
(27:45):
Well, I got in a little trouble.
We was mustering and when weleft muster, me and another guy
was traveling back to thebarracks and cutting across the
lawn and some guy says, hollered, get off the grass.
And I turned around and someguy in a T-shirt and I told him
(28:07):
to kiss my ass.
So he come and wanted my nameand serial number and I wouldn't
give it to him because hewasn't in uniform.
So he called the guy over.
It was in uniform and I gave itto them and I went up to my
(28:28):
bunk and it wasn't only halfhour.
There was a call over thesquawk box to report to the
Master at Arm.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Shack oh boy.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I reported and they said they had put me on a
captain's mast.
So I went to the captain's mast, two Marine guards escorted me
in to a guy who was sittingthere with all the brass you
could muster Pulled in theletter reading it.
(29:03):
He says this sounds kind ofserious, son.
I said yes, sir, I don't knowwhat was on the letter, still
don't know.
He says well, I'm going to giveyou five days bread and water,
solitary confinement.
(29:25):
Wow for telling some guy to kissyour ass yeah so back to the
barracks, repacked my stuff, gotmy sea bag and they marched me
up to the.
It was about a mile, mile and ahalf.
It was a Marine prison.
They took all my stuff away,took all my clothes, gave me
(29:51):
prison clothes had P's writtenall over it, took me to a cell
that wasn't any much bigger thantwo bunks wide and there was
nothing on it, it was just noflatbed and there was nothing on
(30:15):
it, it was just no flatbed.
And they told me that at evening, chow time, which I got two
slices of bread and all thewater I wanted, and I got a
blanket and a mattress.
I served for three days thatway and in the morning time
(30:37):
they'd give us a razor and wecould shave and we'd get our two
slices of bread and water andtalk to the guys and they said
well, the third day they got tofeed you.
So third day come and you haveto stand in front of yourself.
(30:57):
There's a window in the door.
It's only about eight inchestall and two inches wide, but
they come along and tell you toget in line.
Well, they went by me.
I said, well, wait a minute.
I said this is my third day.
He says you got a straight five.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh no.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So fourth day came up and they says you're getting
out today.
Well, I'm not arguing with them.
So I had to get dressed in myundressed blues, took me up to
the guard shack.
(31:43):
I stood at parade rest from 8in the morning until 11.
And then they said we're goingback to the naval base.
So I got all my stuff, my seabag, everything.
Marched me back to the masterat Armshack.
(32:05):
The phone was ringing when Igot there and he says what's
your prisoner's name?
And he said Price.
He says take him back, he's gotanother day to serve and I am
just about not in.
So they marched me back theguard up at the.
(32:28):
He said hey, what'd you do?
Run back.
I said no.
So he said I'm not going to putyou back in prison close,
because you're going to get outtomorrow.
So I went through the sameroutine the next day.
Well, the first thing I headedfor was a.
(32:51):
It was noon.
I got chow and of course I'mwanting more and more of
everything.
I couldn't eat half what I took, but anyway, it wasn't only
about two o'clock in theafternoon I got orders that I
(33:13):
was going to be shipped out.
I was going to the same placethat I'd already been assigned
before I got in trouble and theothers had already left.
I was going by myself.
I was assigned to twodestroyers which were tied
together in the St Johns Riverin Florida Green Grove Springs,
(33:38):
florida.
So I went there and we wasputting these destroyer escorts
into mothballs.
But anyway, when I was takingmy amphibious training in San
Diego at the Marine base, thereI took up boxing and some of
(34:09):
these guys that I sparred with Ionly weighed 128 pounds and oh,
they bragged me up how good Iwas, you know.
And my first fight I about gotkilled.
But anyway, I had got hit inthe chest and it got real sore
(34:38):
and it didn't never quit beingsore and through the years I
didn't have no problem with itwhen I was wearing dungarees and
Cambry shirts, yeah.
But when I would get dressed inmy dress uniform it was so tight
(34:59):
then it would hurt.
Well, I lived with it.
I didn't go to sickbay until Iwas aboard this destroyer escort
or DEs and finally it got sobad that it was getting larger.
I went to sickbay and thedoctor says oh, you got it,
(35:23):
that's got to go.
So they called in an amphibioustruck out to the ship and it
took me to Jacksonville NavalBase in Florida and they
operated on me and took it out.
It was the size of a chickenegg.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Oh my gosh, that was from the boxing.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
Well, that's the only thing that I could lay it to.
Yeah, boxing, well that's theonly thing that I could add to
it.
So then I went back.
After I had recuperated at thehospital, they went back to ship
and put me on light duty and Iwasn't doing nothing.
We had three Chief Boatswain'smates on the two ships and all I
(36:13):
did was see if they were fed,and a lot of times two of them
would be on Liberty and theother one would say I'll go to
the chow line, you don't have todo nothing.
But then all of a sudden I gotorders to go back to Green Bay
and I was going to be discharged.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
So that was in June of 46.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
So you were in for quite a while then.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
From April of 44, my time didn't start until I was
out of boot camp.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
That was in June, June sometime.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
But I went through that getting out of the Navy
well before they they'd make yousit there, and the ones that
were going to re-up you'd haveto make you sit there and go
through their re-up beforethey'd let you go.
But anyway they I got out.
(37:29):
I was down at the train stationto catch a train back to
Chicago, mm-hmm, and there wasan officer, started talking to
me and I of course wasaddressing him as sir and he
says you don't have to do thatanymore.
(37:50):
You know, I said no, I guessI've got to have it.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That's kind of how you do it right.
Call everybody, sir, yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
But then I left and went back here to Lansing.
We lived in the South End.
We lived in the south end and Icould have stayed off for six
months and drawn to unemployment.
But one of the guys that I wentin with had been a window
(38:22):
cleaner before he went in and hewent back with that company.
So I thought they said theyneeded somebody that could run
either a bosun's chair orsomething like that, and they
knew I had done that.
(38:43):
So my first job with them Iwent to work with Lansing Window
Cleaning Company.
My first job was a KelloggCenter and they just built it.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Oh, there in East Lansing.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
In MSU.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
And they hired another guy out of Chicago to
work with me on it and he was alittle scary because he'd lost
most of his fingers on his righthand and he had a hard time
holding a rope.
I'll bet he did he used to takeit and put it under his foot to
(39:23):
tie off, I'd say, on the otherend I end, I wouldn't let go
until he got title.
But anyway, I worked for themfor 12 1⁄2 years.
Then I went into business formyself.
I went with a partner.
He'd also been in the Navy buthe was nine months younger than
(39:46):
me and he didn't go in untilNovember of 44.
And he'd kind of started up alittle business of his own and
he asked me one day if I wouldcome with him and I finally said
(40:11):
, yep, I'll do it.
So we were together 12 and ahalf years and we separated and
I started up Capital WindowCleaning Company and I run that
for over 20 years.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Oh my gosh, so you had.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I had 40, putting there 45 years in in window
cleaning.
We did.
I did the state capitol.
I did all the state buildingDid city hall for years and the
tower I did that tower for 12,12 and a half years.
Speaker 1 (40:47):
You're talking about the Michigan National.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Tower yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
I've always been fascinated by that building.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Yeah, that was the same age as I am.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Oh goodness.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
The Elfrida.
My wife was in high school atthat time and she used to walk
downtown to catch the bus out tothe south end and she'd see me
hanging out in one of themwindows on the tower and she of
(41:23):
course.
We wound up on a blind date.
That's this friend that was awindow cleaner that before went
in the navy.
His girlfriend was alfreda'sgirlfriend.
So they set us up for a blinddate.
We, I guess I think we went to amovie or something yeah then I
(41:46):
asked her to later to go to on ahayride with us later, and so
she finished high school, sheworked for a company in the
office and then in 47, we weremarried.
(42:09):
Okay.
So you got married before youstarted your business and pardon
me, you got married prior tostarting your business though.
Yeah, yeah, uh, yes, she was agood part of it, uh-huh and, but
(42:29):
we've been married 75 years Wow.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Congratulations.
Wow, that's a long time, yeah.
So have you celebrated your75th anniversary yet?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
No, the kids are waiting.
They're not going to do it.
I think my birthday's coming upon a Friday or something, but
the kids have got it all planned.
My older daughter's coming homefrom Florida next weekend and
then they've got somethingplanned.
My youngest daughter she livesout by Portland.
(43:07):
At my youngest daughter, shelives out by Portland, and a big
dinner for all my all mygrandkids and great-grandkids,
except the ones Army.
(43:33):
She stood there 20 years, comeout a major and her husband a
lieutenant colonel, and he flewthe Black Hawk helicopter and
she went to Texas A&M forculinary school and now she
(43:57):
teaches.
She's got a school of her ownand she teaches cooking.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
It must be pretty amazing to be old enough to see
your great-grandchildren havecareers.
I mean, that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
My oldest great-granddaughter or
granddaughter is in her 50s.
My two daughters are in their70s.
I got a great-granddaughterthat's 34 or 35.
(44:35):
Grandson it's 30.
Another one it's 22.
One in Texas that's where thegranddaughter has her school,
and the one in Texas graduatedfrom Texas A&M
great-granddaughter.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
So you have how many children do you have?
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Two daughters, two daughters, okay, two daughters,
two granddaughters and twogreat-granddaughters and a
grandson.
He was the first on my side ofthe family born since I was.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
Wow, male yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
He works for a company that sells these belts
that run equipment across, youknow.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
Oh, like conveyor belts, conveyor yeah equipment.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
He lives in Grand Rapids and he's single and his
mother keeps begging him to getmarried because her daughter has
already confessed that she'snot going to have any children.
She's in her 30s.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Uh-huh.
So he's the only option, he'sthe only option.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Yeah, Seems like he gets a girlfriend and something
happens, he had one that was anice girl and she wanted him to
move to Alaska.
And he's mama's boy and heain't going to leave his mama.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Yeah, yeah, that happens, that happens.
So you said you were in thewindow cleaning business for 44
years, so you must have retiredin the 80s, then the 1980s, 91.
1991.
What did you do afterretirement?
Speaker 2 (46:34):
I worked at a golf course Really.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (46:38):
Bronson Bay and the one on South Washington.
They owned both of them.
Speaker 1 (46:43):
Yeah, Bronson Bay, that's a nice golf course.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Yeah, it's gone now.
This guy bought it and wantedit for hunting.
Oh, but yeah, I worked thereover 20 years.
I took care of their drivingrange.
I didn't get paid or anything.
I was a volunteer, but I gotall the golf I wanted.
You know, that's paying off.
(47:06):
I was still able to go toFlorida and spend the winters
and then come back and go backto work on the golf course and I
don't, I only worked three days.
I only worked half a day, threedays a week, and so it was
wasn't where.
Like took all my time right, uh, right.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
Well, you rode motorcycles too.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
We were talking about that, about that before that
was right after I got out of theNavy, my neighbor bought a new
motorcycle and I bought his oldone.
Okay, and then after Alfred andI got together, After Alfred
(47:48):
and I got together, her dad wasdeadly against me because he
didn't like.
He used to call me the damnedold window cleaner.
Oh boy.
You were the damned old windowcleaner huh yeah, and it
happened to be that we bought a.
I bought a Starfire OldsmobileStarfire one of the first ones.
(48:12):
They only built them about fouror five years, and so I traded
the Starfire in for another one.
It wasn't a couple of weeks.
I went over to myfather-in-law's in-laws and it
sat in the driveway.
He'd went down and bought itafter I'd sold it.
Why would he want a car fromsome damned old window cleaner?
(48:35):
Well, his brother-in-law cameup here from Ohio and that's the
first thing he said why wouldyou want a motorcycle or a car
from a damned old window cleaner?
Speaker 1 (48:51):
That's funny.
Speaker 2 (48:53):
But mother-in-law died when she was only 62 or 42.
Nice lady, nice lady.
Father-in-law was like my dadand my stepdad.
They were weekend drunks.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
They were all the same age and they always worked.
They always kept their job, butfrom Friday night till Monday
morning they were drunk.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
Oh geez.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
And that's why I couldn't get along with my
stepdad.
My dad was a jolly drunk, ohgeez.
And that's why I couldn't getalong with my stepdad.
My dad was a jolly drunk.
Of course he'd remarried andthe woman had two girls and he
kind of faded out.
I went to see him a lot, evenafter my dad had passed away.
(49:52):
I even went and would go andfix my stepmother's medicines
and stuff for him.
Me and her was pretty goodtogether, but my stepdad until
(50:12):
he quit drinking he did.
Later years he quit drinking,but he was bad.
He was very good, he was amerchant marine and he worked on
the Great Lakes for.
But he soon as he was drinkinghe was mean.
(50:38):
I couldn't get.
I don't know how many times hechased me out of the house and
we'd go around around the houseand told the neighbor lady would
open her door and just holler.
Next time around I'd go acrossthe street and up on her porch
and then she'd order him off onher property.
Then they'd call mygrandparents and they'd come and
(51:00):
get me.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
Oh my gosh.
Thank God for that neighborlady right.
Speaker 2 (51:06):
Yeah, she was a tough little gal too.
Well, you've lived quite a life.
Yeah, it was not a goodchildhood.
I never was able to.
I played ball until I was 55years old.
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
I never played any sports when in school because I
had to work.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Right.
Speaker 2 (51:36):
I got out of school at 3.30 and went to work at
Sparrow Hospital at 4 o'clock.
Worked till midnight, but Iplayed ball.
I started out playing fastpitch and I got hurt a little
bit.
That was after I was ball.
I started out playing fastpitch and I got hurt a little
bit.
That was after I was married.
I got hurt, nothing serious.
(51:58):
So I thought, eh, I better quit.
Well, it wasn't only a year ortwo.
Somebody come along and said,hey, they got a new game, it's
called slow pitch.
Oh, I said what Slow pitch?
He said, hey, they got a newgame, it's called slow pitch.
Oh, I said what it's slow pitch?
He said you come, you ought totry it, I don't know.
Finally they taught me and Iwent and tried it.
(52:18):
I fell in love with the gameand then I played.
I belonged to the Moose Lodge.
I was an officer at the MooseLodge.
I was an officer at the MooseLodge and I played for the Moose
team.
And then, when the managerthere resigned, the guys all
(52:40):
made me manager.
I was a playing manager and mybiggest thing was that I could
outrun everybody on the team.
I was 10 years older.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:58):
But I had a guy that I still keep in contact with him
.
He was one of our outfieldersand he challenged me every
spring to a race and he neverdid beat me.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
He didn't learn his lesson the first or second time,
did he?
Speaker 2 (53:16):
No, he was a great guy.
Yeah, his last name is Neese.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Uh-huh, yeah, he was.
I played for the Moose Lodgethere until I resigned and the
bad thing was that we I'd havewe built a ball diamond behind
(53:47):
the lodge there in Logan andwe'd have tournaments there and
to make money, well, I'd turnall the money that I made into
the lodge and then when I neededequipment and stuff I'd have to
go to the lodge and get it.
And then there was always somemembers saying, oh, we're
(54:07):
spending too much money on theball team.
You know.
Speaker 1 (54:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
And it was our own money.
So I told them I said I'll stay, but I'll run my tournaments
and I keep all my money and I'llbuy my equipment out of it and
at the end of the year,whatever's left, I'll turn over
to the lodge.
Oh, we can't do that.
(54:34):
So I said oh, I'm done.
So it wasn't only two or threemonths they called me up and
said hey, what you suggested.
We decided that maybe we coulddo that.
I said no, I'm all done.
Speaker 1 (54:53):
You had your chance, yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:58):
I played for the Emory County News for a while,
for a while, and then the editorof the news played on the team
and then the guy that owned DartInsurance, one of the owners,
(55:22):
he played on the team and theywere all arguing about which one
was the slowest.
One would say that the otherone run with a piano on his back
and they were going to have arace.
They'd challenge each other toa race at the high school track
there in Mason.
(55:42):
And I did a lot of work inMason and I wrote to them and
said I think they both werepikers and that I challenged the
winner and it was $100 tocharity.
Uh-huh.
Well, it was way ahead of timeto do it.
(56:05):
So it got a lot of publicityout of the paper.
So the day of the race, thehigh school it was just a mob of
people showed up.
John Dart was there.
I don't know if you knew JohnDart.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
I did not.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
He's part of LCC deal .
He was an attorney and aninsurance agent, but anyway he
was there and he says we can'tget this many people to show up
to the high school team trackteam.
But anyway, the two guys thatwould argue and the insurance
(56:51):
man and the editor had theirrace.
the editor fell flat on his facecoming out of the block oh no
so they waited a while and thenI was going to race the
insurance man.
Well, I had never run out ofblocks before.
I think that was the otherguy's fault insurance man.
(57:14):
Well, I'd never run out ofblocks before.
I think that was the otherguy's fault or problem.
So I said no, I'm not going totry it.
He did so.
When the race started they hada guy with a timer and another
one with a camera and he got alittle jump on me coming out of
the blocks.
But the last 10 yards I passedhim and the photograph they took
(57:42):
I think every store in Masonhad it plastered on there you
couldn't see my one leg, it wasup like yeah, like you were
running.
Part of the picture saysone-legged window cleaner beats
insurance executive.
I still got the picture.
Speaker 1 (58:08):
That sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
Yeah, we did have there.
I've had a good time, I've hada good life, yeah it sounds like
, my childhood wasn't what you'dcall fancy, but you made the
best of it.
You made a good life for youand your family, yeah.
Speaker 1 (58:26):
Yeah, was there anything that we haven't talked
about that you want to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (58:32):
Oh, I don't know Just that, how many years my wife
has kept me going and how much Icare for her.
Speaker 1 (58:46):
Yeah, yeah, she's a good woman.
Speaker 2 (58:52):
My two daughters and I've got two son-in-laws that
are.
I'd take them as sons any day.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
They're great, mike and Bob.
Well, really, I just have likeone last question for you then.
You know, like, like you said,you things didn't start out so
great, but you certainly uh havehave uh come out pretty good
with your, your big family andyour and your wife and your
marriage of almost 75 years.
That's incredible.
You know, when someone listensto your story years from now,
(59:30):
what message would you like themto take away?
What message do you have forpeople?
Speaker 2 (59:36):
I don't know, I don't know.
Just the only thing I can thinkof is, you know to do the best
you can, and don't look back,look forward, and I don't know
(01:00:07):
how much time I got left, butI'm going to try to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Well, none of us know that, right no we don't.
Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
Yeah, there's so many you know nearly every old
friend of mine.
They're all gone.
You know Navy buddies they'reall gone.
I don't know of one of themthat's alive.
I used to have a friend.
He was a barber in Mason.
(01:00:37):
He owned a Cessna.
When I was out there working,he'd holler across the street
you want to go to lunch?
I said yep, I knew what he wastalking about.
We'd go out and jump in a plane, fly over to one of these
little towns around it hadrestaurants on the airstrip,
(01:01:03):
have our lunch and fly back.
It was really enjoyable and Iforget our 50th anniversary.
I got a card from him.
I just read it the other day.
It said you're lunch, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
You're flying lunch buddy.
Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
That's pretty awesome .
He was 103 the last time Iheard anything about him, but I
think he's gone now.
Him and his wife were married78 years.
Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Wow, that's just incredible.
That's just incredible.
Wow, that's just incredible.
That's just incredible.
Well, Floyd, thanks for takingtime out of your day to sit and
talk with me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Well, I enjoyed it too.
I hope I got everything in thatwas necessary, but I'm sure
I'll think of something that Ididn't say later on.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
I think we all do yeah.
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