Remembering Bob and Audrey

From Cheryl today:
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Two years ago today my dad passed on.  I still miss him so much.  He was a great dad and wonderful storyteller.  Thank you, Bruce for listening and hearing dad's stories and starting a blog for him.  I still look back at it, appropriately named for a Navy man, "Tacking Through Bob's Head".

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These two pics are from a secret fishing trip to a secret lake on Mother's Day.  Audrey was thrilled, even though she didn't know where she was...she caught the largest fish of her life.  A tiger muskie.

 Bob loved his Cuba Libres...he had quite the beard towards the end.  He was such an old salt!

Bob's Dad...from an old newspaper clipping...a notice of his death

Response to Bob's Letter From The President of the United States of America

 

April 26, 2011

Dear Friend:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on education.  I appreciate hearing from you.  I am committed to providing the best possible education for our Nation's students because our children deserve it and because, today more than ever, America's prosperity rests on how well we educate them.

Across the country, we have many great schools and dedicated teachers.  We should be proud of these successes, and eager to discover and support what makes them great.  We must also realize that not all children get the education they deserve, and many schools need urgent reform to better help our students reach their full potential.

Through the Recovery Act, my Administration has made a historic investment toward improving public education and providing greater access to a complete and competitive education for every child.  This investment will make high-quality, early learning programs available to more young children.  The Recovery Act will also help strengthen the teaching profession by recognizing talented teachers who improve learning and by encouraging them to stay in the schools that need them most.  We are committed to exploring innovative approaches that advance teaching and learning through high standards and expectations for all students, and to developing meaningful assessments.  These steps can ensure our graduates are prepared for success both in their higher education and careers.

A child's education does not begin and end with a school bell, and responsibility must extend beyond a school's walls.  Our future success depends on a greater level of engagement between parents, communities, and schools on behalf of children.  We all share the duty to educate our students, and if we hold them to the highest standards, they will meet them.  Please join me online to read more at:  www.WhiteHouse.gov/issues/education.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

 

As I Recall

Grandma Kate and her two sisters, Mary and Rose, both spinsters, raised me in Minneapolis, at 316-14th Avenue North. Kate McGurk was my father's mother. My father was Sidney Myers, and my mother was Helen Maxine Weghorn. My father had once owned a bar in Anaconda with Sap Ilackovich. The name of the bar was Sit and Sip (with Sap and Sid). My mother had left Montana and was an elevator operator in Minneapolis and lived alone in an apartment downtown. I left Montana to live with my grandmother when my parents split up. I was a year and a half at the time.

Grandma Kate was well connected in the upper crust community...one of her friends was the wife of the newspaper publisher in Minneapolis and would come to her house in a limousine. She'd pat me on the head and give me a dollar, which I'd thriftily save. Grandma had been married to a gold miner. They owned a home in Anaconda and the home in Minneapolis. They were friends with the folks who owned the "Going to the Sun Resort", which is now located in Glacier National Park, and would often be their guests. I never met my grandfather...I recently went on a trip to Montana with my son, David, to seek my roots. There were no references we could find in any of the libraries in Montana. Our searches came up empty. As near as we could determine he is probably buried in a potter's field near Anaconda. I was disappointed because I had always imagined him to be a very rich and famous man. I remember reading an obituary for my grandfather in the Minneapolis paper when I was very young. It said something to the effect, "Ira Myers succumbs after (x amount of years) as a pioneer in Montana."

The Great Depression was a very difficult time for most people. Even for my Grandma Kate. I would walk up to 6th Street and Plymouth Avenue to Baron's Grocery Store with her. She would often pay for our groceries with luxury items from her safe deposit box at the bank. Earrings of silver and gold, bracelets...slowly depleting her valuables in order to keep us fed. The gifts of a by gone era from my Grandfather Ira. There were often runs on the banks back in those days. The banks would close for days at a time and when they reopened people would attempt to get any of their savings out that was possible. I'd go with my great aunt Mary to the bank on these occasions. She was a long time schoolteacher. I remember the bank had a raised letter fresco which had been chiseled off, although the name "German-American Bank" was still legible. I had a 100 mark note from the Weimar Republic which had been overstamped with a 1000 marks. Times were tough all over.

I found a picture of the Steamboat mentioned in the story...

This is the "President"

Tramp Steamer

When I was little I wondered what the great big world was like outside of my neighborhood.  I began reading newspapers.  I was about four years old at the time.  I read the funnies first, of course...but there was an article about how all the chinese walking four abreast would never end...there were so many of them.  Another thing I learned from newspapers was about how most people never traveled more than 50 miles away from where they were born.  I was already over 1100 miles away from where I was born in Anaconda, Montana to live with my grandmother in St Paul, Minnesota.  That most people never traveled in their lives made a big impression on my young mind.  I was already a traveler...and I was determined to travel the world throughout my life.

I wasn't yet old enough to travel the paddlewheel steamers that would pass St Paul on the Mississippi River.  Fortunately, I lived close to a library.  My love of reading and my love of the idea of travel were a natural match.  I found Howard Pease, who wrote stories about tramp steamers...which were coal fired paddlewheels that would travel the Mississippi with no itinerary...picking up a load here and taking it there, where they would find another load to take somewhere else.

When I was maybe six years old I was able to travel by streetcar unaccompanied by my grandmother or aunt, or any adult for that matter.  I got street car tokens and fifty cents from my grandmother, caught the street car to the boarding dock and paid my fare for the "President", a sidewheel steamboat that was ready to depart right now.  I was treated as an adult and had a lot of choices of seating.  There was a calliope playing all the way to Hastings, Minnesota...my destination.  The music filled me with joy.  The trip took us through one lock on the river, which dropped the waters level...was very exciting...feeling the boat going lower and lower and lower.

 I bought a coca cola from the soda fountain on board and drank my refreshment slowly while watching the water on the sides of the boat.  When I finished my drink I noticed what was at the bottom of the glass...a cockroach.  I went right back to the fountain and, showing the soda jerk the glass and roach, demanded a coke without any insects, please...and got one, for free of course.  

On the return voyage to St Paul I wondered how many 6 year olds had the opportunity of traveling the Mississippi on a tramp steamer...alone.  Not many, I bet.