Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The Way We Were Wednesday - Dad's Drivers License


My Sunday Five on Learning to drive a couple of weeks ago, reminded me of the story of my father getting a driving license.  He was barely 15 years old.  

Bob, one if his close childhood friends was a couple of years older, and had owned a car, or two or three.  Bob was not rich, far from it, he was a talented mechanic and would take junkers that everyone else was ready to send to the breakers yard and make them run, and drive the wheels off of them, then sell them for a profit.  

Dad was been pulled over by the local police, driving Bob's car, probably a little fast through town.  My grandmother was summoned to the local police department, dragging my father along.  The chief of police boomed at my grandmother, "if you are going to let him drive he needs a license and he needs to slow down."  She meekly said yes, "George SLOW DOWN, or you know what I will do!"  The chief asked my grandmother "does he know how to drive?" then started to laugh saying "I know he knows how to, he nearly outran my officers."  He said to my grandmother "if you will vouch for him, and promise to watch his speed, I'll sign off on it."  And that is how my father got a driving license. 

He drove well into his 80's.  He only had a couple of tickets.  Until the last few years of his driving only one accident.  In his early 80's he hit a farm wagon one summer in Michigan, and hit the curb hard enough to break the suspension twice.  He quietly stopped driving a couple of years before he died.  His choice, as it should be.  He never did slow down, I don't know how he avoided speeding tickets for seven-decades.  

The photo is my father at 18 or 19 years old, he drafted into the army near the end of World War II, and defended New Jersey, the Germans never took the state.  

10 comments:

  1. FUNNY STORY!

    "the Germans never took the state." But who'd want New Jersey?

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    1. The Garden State? Summer home of a former president? - Well that seals it, they can have it for the summer

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  2. Truth is, the Germans took New Jersey and immediately gave it back. Great photo of your father. SG’s grandmother was known as Leadfoot. Whenever they bought a new car, she’d ask how long it took to get from Zero to 60.

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    1. Jay's mother had two speeds, stopped and full blast.

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  3. Your father made Jersey safe for democracy!!

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    1. I could never tell if he was happy or disappointed that NY and NJ were as far as he made it. He waited several months for orders to deploy - and the entire base was closed and everyone discharged one week.

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  4. Your line about New Jersey and everyone's comments on it made me laugh! Poor New Jersey. That's where my United Empire Loyalist forebears fled from after the American Revolution. They didn't want to live in New Jersey anymore either!

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    1. I don't think I have any family from there, though part of my mother's family was in western New York, Pennsylvania 150 years ago.

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  5. What a great story!

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    1. Thanks! A life well lived is filled with stories worth telling

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