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the school was closed and everyone
transferred to Hancock. The government used to give the schools dried fruit for
snacks in those days. This fact is important because it leads to my being
lowered down into the school’s coal bin. I guess because the other kids were
too big or maybe I volunteered. I then unlocked the front door and all of us had
a feast. This all took place when the school was closed, so I guess it was what
is now called breaking and entering. I don’t remember anyone of us getting
into any real trouble over this venture. Maybe the school officials thought that
eating all those prunes was punishment enough.
My father worked for the O&W Railroad nights and did odd jobs during
the day. He always had my brother and I helping him. We mowed lawns, painted,
dug graves, were janitors at a number of places in Hancock. We never seemed to
lack for something to do. Nights after school and on weekends I would pump gas
at DaBrescia’s Texaco Station.
Graduation was from Hancock Central School in 1959. I then started
working in the shop at DaBrescia’s, learning the automobile repair business.
Over the next six months I had to make the decision whether to enter the service
or wait to be drafted. The service won out because I wanted to get it over with
and get on with my life.
Basic training was at Fort Benning, Georgia. I then went to Aberdeen,
Maryland for automotive training. This really turned out to be training on tanks
and heavy trucks. Next came 13 months in Korea. While on leave from the Army in
Sept. 1961, I married Barbara Peckham, the youngest daughter of Harlan and Jenny
Peckham who lived on Sands Creek in the place that is now owned by Tim Bennett.
We had been going together since junior high.
The next 18 months were spent at Fort
Riley, Kansas. Barbara and I adopted two children, Debra in 1966 and Paul Jr.
1968.
The Army and I parted in 1962 and it was
time to go job hunting. My sister was living in New Jersey at the time, so we
thought we would go there. I got a job in a service station, but it only took a
couple of weeks to decide this was no place for us. The next job I had was in
Sidney working as a machine
operator, for what was then called Sintilla, owned by Bendix Corporation. I was
the last one hired and always the first one laid off for the next year or so. I
was laid off three times in less than a year.
I knew there had to be another way to
have steady work if I was to support a family. It was then that I started
looking into operating a service station. I looked at a lot of places that were
either closed or run down. Then I spotted a new Atlantic Richfield Station being
built next to the new Binghamton Plaza. I thought, what chance do I have of
operating this place, I’ve got no business training and definitely no money
and it’s probably already spoken for. Then something told me to find the ARCO
office and ask. What’s the worst that can happen? They could say no.
I walked into the office on Main St. and met
Harold Griswold who was the person in charge of the new stations being
constructed. He told me the station on State St. was not ready to be opened and
they had some people in mind but no decision had been made as to who it would
be. I asked him how do I go about applying for it. His first comment was, are
you over twenty-five, any experience, any money? I said no to all the above, but
I told him I could do this. He did interview me anyway but wanted to meet my
father because of this age thing.
Dad and I made the trip to Binghamton
for the interview and the Hancock Bank said they would approve me for the
$4000.00 needed to get started as long as dad would co-sign the loan. $4000 was
a lot of money in 1964, especially when one did not have any job. With one step
completed, I would, as they say, wing it from there. The interview as I can
remember was more about the kind of people we were than how much experience I
had. I found out a few years later that the main reason I was approved for the
station was because of the story dad told about one of our odd jobs. We would go
to Rausch’s Chicken Farm in Fish’s Eddy and load the truck with chicken
manure and deliver it to people’s gardens. ARCO Management must have figured
anyone that would do that to make money would not be afraid of long hours and
hard work.
While the station was being completed ARCO sent me to their training
facility in Syracuse for three months, with pay, I might add. Then I worked for
a month a so at some of the more successful locations in Binghamton, getting on
the job training. We finally opened on May 30th 1964. Since that time
I never had to worry about where I was going to go to work the next day. In 1976
I purchased the property and built the building that is my current location and
ARCO tore the station down.
Barbara
passed away suddenly in Sept. 1984, one day after her father had died.
This was a very confusing and
troubled time for all of us, but with help and understanding from everyone we
managed to get through. The house in Binghamton, the mobile on Sands Creek, and
the business kept us all pretty busy.
Sandra and I were married 1985 and in
1987 sold the mobile and built the house we currently live in. I now work three
days a week and trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I retire next
year. I don’t have any hobbies, never really had any time to enjoy one. The
community things that I do and the computer that I’m still trying to master
keep me busy enough for now. I also have been teaching other technicians since
1988 and would like to continue with that.
Sandra keeps busy taking care of our home
and all the animals that she is involved with. Sandra was born in Endicott, New
York, but she attended school in Hancock for awhile and graduated from Walton
Central School. While married to Wilbur Biedekapp they had three children,
Clark, Mark and Brenda.
There you have it. This bio thing is
not hard to do after
all. This was the easiest one I’ve
done yet. Must be I had insider information. I could have made it longer but I
know everyone’s time is limited. Now the question is, who’s next? Don’t
everyone call once and overload the phone lines, just kidding of course.
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