In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks for sharing Uncle Paul with us! I spent some time imagining all the characters we’ve known and loved getting together for big bs session wherever they are now, made me smile.
Missing our neighbor Charley lately as well, we lost him at nearly 96 in October. My last memory of him is a big smile as I was telling him how I’d used a cross vise he’d given me on my drill press to hold a snowblower part so I could drill out some broken bolts. He was the classic use/maintain/repair or do without guy, he loved talking shop. I’ve got a few things he gave me and always say “thanks Charley!” as I’m working with them. It was better when I could use them and then tell him about it...
He was something, bought a Harley with a suicide shifter in the early 50’s and rode it from MA cross country hitting many of the national parks, down the west coast back across the Southwest stopping in LA where he had relatives. Mostly him and the bike camping wherever, about 3 months in all and a claimed 15,000 miles. He kept a log, took pictures with a Brownie camera as he went along and got it all published in a Harley club magazine of the era in 1955. The magazine and photo albums were his prized possession from the trip of a lifetime. When we heard he’d passed, I had my wife grab the magazine and the pictures and I scanned them all so we could preserve them and then put them back. Another one that had never had any kids of his own, we hope the few remaining family members would keep them but just in case... I framed a picture of the title page of the article with a picture of him sitting on the bike at the start of the trip, it’s on my desk when I start work every day. Thanks Charley!
