• The facts on this page in process of resolution or correction. Will be eliminated as resolved and completed. Actually some have already been corrected. I have yet to confirm they have been corrected and removed items from this list.
Jack had written "Mother often commended dad for working so diligently to make the apartment over the 803 garage ready for Grandmother Burke. That was very important to mother, who took primary responsibility for her mother in old age. On the apartment, I recall that Jim2 did the framing and sheeting, but I wasn't involved in the early construction. Later in the finishing stages, I spent what seemed like a thousand hours as fetch helper in that apartment while dad installed the doors and cabinets, etc. While these were not jovial encounters,I learned a lot about what it takes to do that kind of work. Pop would sometimes become unreasonable -- preparing me to tolerate and cultivate all the cantankerous but productive coworkers I have known since."
Jim replies: I remember being the carpenter and holleree at the apartment over the grarage and that your “two years before the mast” were next door building an entire house. I worked on every element of the apartment construction from foundation to roof sheeting. Except for the brick laying, the worst part was nailing the hardwood floors by hand then sanding the floor to perfection. Dad brought in professionals for electrical wiring and plumbing. I recall doing all the rest with morning, evening and weekend under loud & critical supervision. One of the most interesting projects was the construction of the reinforced concrete beam over the automobile entrance to the garage. I have often thought that it was designed to withstand a 10 megaton nuclear blast in the front yard."
Jack adds: "I was assistant for various details to the carpenter (dad) while he did the doors and cabinet work, finishing, staining, varnishing. I was pressed to hold parts for nailing and screwing, endless, fetch tools, etc. All the heavy work that you did earlier was when I was too young to be much good for anything. When big brother left, then there was need for somebody to run for pieces. Much of this time, grandma Burke was actually resting in the bedroom part of the Apartment. All I remember now is the bedroom and living room. I don't remember where the toilet was, nor the kitchenette, but there must have been such because, after Gramma Burke died, when I was in high school, there was a couple living in there. What I remember most is that I would rather have been someplace else. It's puzzled me since that, given that clumsy introduction, I actually learned to prefer working on such crafts, mostly alone, rather than all the social situations that made me uncomfortable. It led to experimental physics because I had a sense of competence in adapting to building and using equipment."
• THESE FACTS ARE CORRECT; TRANSFER INTO BODY OF HBTalbum_
E. Dad with Jack and brother Jim. Here dad looks unhappy, even angry. Late 1942. For mother to include these unhappy expressions (see also picture B on this page) is almost certainly deliberate. Marriage is a terrible thing.
Do you think this picture is of the "150 yard, 3 car ferry ride" or a different ferry? I DON’T SEE THE FERRY BUT THIS COULD WELL BE NEAR THE LOCATION. THE WIDTH OF THE CHANNEL, HILLS ON THE LEFT AND LAND ON THE RIGHT ARE ALL CONSISTENT WITH THE AREA OF THE SAUVIES ISLAND FERRY 60+ YEARS AGO. I VISITED THIS AREA LAST YEAR, DROVE ACROSS THE BRIDGE BUILT IN THE 60’S? AND TOURED SAUVIES.
As to Sauvies Island, I must presume that dad had a job working there while we lived there, or was that simply the parents' chosen place to live. YES, DAD WORK ON IMPROVING THE INTEGRITY OF THE DIKE AROUND THE ISLAND SO THAT COLUMBIA RIVER HIGH WATER CONDITIONS WOULD NOT FLOOD THE ISLAND.