Working Man
It seemed to me that dad was always working. Even when he was relaxing, he was working. There was some project that needed to be done, eggs to be gathered, leaves to be raked, something had to be done somewhere. I guess because he started working at such a young age it was all he knew. Dad went through several jobs during his lifetime, fisherman, bus driver, and gas station owner, before settling on carpentry -the only profession I recall.
I know at some point during the late 1940s he bought a surplus PT boat in New Orleans. He, mom, Uncle Jack, and Aunt Dee made the necessary repairs to the boat and dad piloted it back to Gulfport. I never learned how well dad did in the fishing industry, but it's telling to note that by 1949 he no longer owned the boat. He did tell me two stories about his time on the boat.
Once when he was headed back to port, he came across another shrimp boat that was having engine trouble. He stopped to help, but there was nothing he could do, so he had the captain tie up to his boat and he proceeded to tow the boat towards port. As they were underway, they came upon another stranded shrimp boat. He told that captain tie up, but the man was hesitant about it. He thought dad was off his rocker. No one could possibly pull two fully loaded boats at the same time. Dad told him that if he couldn't make it back to shore that all three of them would be spending the night at sea. The man eventually tied-on and dad towed both boats into port. He took a lot of pride in that accomplishment.
His other tale from those days wasn't so pleasant. He was out near the Southwest Pass between Ship and Cat Islands. He said the area was teaming with sharks when someone on another boat fell overboard. Dad said the man went under and never came back up.
Dad may not have wanted to sell the boat, but I guess it was a good thing that he did, because not long after he sold it, a hurricane struck. He said, "The next day I saw my boat sitting on the lot where the library is."