Memoirs of Norbert E. Gnadinger, Sr. Volume 1

1930

This was the year that I began getting smarts. This is the year that I found that I liked to read-anything. This is the year when I discovered the joys of the library. This is the year that my grades at school began to improve. I’m sure that I had a very good and thoughtful teacher in the fourth grade but I cannot recall her name. She taught me the joy of reading and introduced me to the school library. Perhaps this introduction was standard practice for every student in the fourth grade but I truly believe it made more of an impression on me than on most of the other students in my class. Before the school year was over in the spring of the following year, I had read most every book in the school library. With school over for the summer and my access to the library cut off, I felt sort of lost. Somehow it was pointed out to me that all was not lost for there was the Shelby Park Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library just another block and a half down Oak St. from the school. We all just called it the “Library”. On my own, I walked down there(no bicycle yet), went inside this large, to my eyes, building, went up to the check-out desk and asked the woman on duty how I could begin reading all of these books. There were thousands of them and I was overwhelmed. She gave me a card to fill out and when I did, she said the card had to be signed by an adult. Just by chance, I mentioned that my Aunt Rose Gnadinger was the housekeeper at St. Pauls Church just down the street and could she sign it for me. She said that this would be alright. I already knew that Tante Rose would help me out so I went over there to get her signature. Sure enough, she did agree and signed for me. I returned the card and received a permanent book check-out card and I was in business. I believe that I must have spent most of this summer reading. A whole new world had opened up to me.

The library was sectioned off into the East Wing, which contained only books for children. That’s where I spent my early visits. The West Wing was set aside for adult books and at this time I was not too interested in it. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t read every minute of every day. There was swimming, ball playing and other sports which were just as interesting as reading. But, I swear that sometimes I would check out four or five books one day, read them all that day and go back to the library the next day for the same number of books. I was hooked on reading and I still carry and use a library card today. For a little boy who was stuck in a small neighborhood where everyday life was pretty mundane, reading became an escape into a large and beautiful world full of adventure which I hadn’t known existed. At first, naturally, I didn’t understand all that I was reading. The librarian helped me by suggesting I use their enormous dictionary to look up words I didn’t understand and she introduced me to their encyclopedia. You know the dictionary I mean. It looked to me to be about a foot thick. At this age and even with all this help, I still came up with some confusing thoughts. I hadn’t learned to analyze thoughts and I took a lot of things I read as the “gospel” truth. It would be years before I determined that not all authors were as smart as they thought they were, that in most cases they were only expressing their personal opinions. But I was enthralled with this new world of knowledge I was discovering and it was like a dream.(1-12-2001)

This fact didn’t just happen over the summer, but eventually I had finished reading every book on the kids side that I found of interest to me. This event probably covered a couple of years in my life. This is when I got in trouble with Mary Catherine(my surrogate mother). The librarian knew me pretty well by now and I asked her if I could start checking out books from the adult side of the library. She said I could and again a whole new world opened up to me. Some novels were evidently pretty risqué’ for that period in time. Really, none were even close to the “dirty” books you can buy today. I was young and most of what I read in this light was way over my head(pre-puberty). I was reading this book and the basic plot revolved around a married man who had fallen in love with a young woman. They were terribly in love, didn’t know how to solve their problem and were discussing the possibility that suicide was their only way out. I remember this much because of what happened next which made a definite impression on me. Mary Catherine checked on what I was reading and ripped me up one side and down the other for reading this filth. I didn’t know it was filth and it was years later before this thought came into my mind. How come she knew enough about that book so that she could tell me it was bad reading for a young mind? The episode did make me wonder what I had missed in reading this story. I’m sure Mary Catherine had read the book and in my mind she was already an adult.(1-13-2001)(Robert’s daughter, Mary Jean Gnadinger, Born, Aug. 15, 1930)

Most of the books I read at that time were westerns and adventure tales. I remember those by Zane Grey such as Riders of the Purple Sage, The Thundering Herd, Code of the West and West of the Pecos. The library probably contained twenty or more books by Grey but these are the ones I remember even today. From the adult side of the library I learned about the sea, especially from the novels of C.S. Forester who wrote such thrilling stories, to the mind of a young boy, as the Hornblower series which took place during England’s war with France and Napoleon. Of these, I remember Captain Horatio Hornblower, and in later years, Lieutenant Hornblower and The Indomitable Hornblower. Forester is even more well known as the author of The African Queen which was made into a famous movie staring Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Other Sea adventures were written by Rafael Sabatini such as Captain Blood, Scaramouche and The Sea Hawk. A lot of these tales were later made into movies and starred Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power or Clark Gable along with the latest beautiful starlet. Each movie generally had a new and different leading lady.

Margaret(Egan)Gnadinger, my brother Frank’s first wife, before they married, introduced me to a broader range of authors. She was a prolific reader and her tastes in literature were quite similar to mine. Pretty soon I was into Percival C. Wren who wrote of the French Foreign Legion and the Northern African deserts in the novels, Beau Sabreur and Beau Geste. There was a new world in the mystery novels by Agatha Christie whose main characters as amateur detectives were Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She must have written forty or more books and also some plays for the stage. Carl Sandburg, well known as a Lincoln scholar is famous for his series of books on Abraham Lincoln. I remember him for his fiction, especially Remembrance Rock. Joseph Conrad would take you into the heart of darkest Africa in his novels, Heart of Darkness, The Nigger of the Narcissus and The Secret Sharer. Edna Ferber wrote of the river, the mid-west and the early west in the novels I remember, such as Show Boat, So Big and Cimarron. You, no doubt, remember Charles Dickens from your required reading assignments in High School. I remember him as an excellent writer of interesting stories. Maybe you recall Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations and the especially famous A Christmas Carol. I have listed these authors, part of the thousands of great ones available, to share with you my joy in reading their works and hoping that you would read them also and gain a wonderful experience.(1-14-2001)

A lot of these novels are historical. I have always been intrigued with history. When I was getting my degree from the University of Louisville in later years, my business major was directed toward Industrial Engineering but my minor was, through choice, in History. Every Elective subject that I could arrange had a history connection of some sort. I never did find history dull in any respect. I do find present-day political history dull and boring only because of the seeming hate that shows through most of the day-to-day happenings all over the world. They say that “what goes around, comes around” and what we are seeing is no different from what has occurred over the centuries. It hits us personally for we are very close to it on a daily basis.

I really have a thing about Ancient History and still read every word of the National Geographic, especially those articles describing the excavation of ancient cities and other sites. It is sad that we know so little of the way the little people lived in those days. We know ancient history through the recorded lives of the rulers and the generals and from artifacts taken from their burial sites. The common man died, was buried and then forgotten. The little we do know come from a few areas like the City of Pompeii, in Italy which was buried in its’ entirety along with most of its’ population when Mount Versuvius blew its’ top and covered the city with volcanic ash. Excavations there showed how the peopled lived, day to day.

There are many novels which have a historical plot such as Leo Tolstoy’s, War and Peace which described Napoleon’s invasion of Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century and some that I mentioned above which I found very interesting. There are also the novels based on actual history but with a fictional context which are easy reading. One of the best authors, I found, who writes of history with real and fictional characters and locations is James A. Michener. He carefully researched all of his data and I felt as though I was there with the characters in his books. You will remember his most famous book, Tales of the South Pacific. The movie, musical, version will be remembered and shown for many years. Michener was also a prolific writer. I found all of his books were well written. I especially enjoyed The Bridges of Toko-Ri, Chesapeake, Caravans,The Source, Space, Centennial and many, many more. Another author quite similar in his writing approach to Michener is Leon Uris. I enjoyed his writings but James Michener held him in low esteem. Some of Uris’ writings included Exodus, Armageddon, Topaz and QB VII. For light, fast, easy reading, I found Tom Clancy enjoyable and I let my imagination run wild when reading Science Fiction books.(1-15-2001)

At this point I believe you should know how we all learned to swim. That is, you could, if your mother, who was deathly afraid of water and was scared to death that you would drown even in six inches of water, would allow you to go near the creek. My Mom was not afraid and she did own a swimsuit which she used and ice-skates which she had used before. We didn’t learn to swim at the “Y” or at a private club. Our private club was Beargrass Creek just back from Eastern Parkway. It was private because we would swim in the nude for no one could afford a swim suit and therefore only boys were members of the club. The Momma’s would warn the girls not to go out to the creek because those bad boys who would swim in the nude were there. We were never bothered by the prissy girls(?).

There were three swimming holes in the creek stretching back as far as a mile. Our favorite was Baby Hole which was close to Eastern Parkway, close to Eleven Jones’s Cave which had a flowing spring coming from a large stone cave and just right for thirsty boys, and, was just opposite Caroline Schurch’s dairy farm. Her corn field was next to the swim hole and we were always raiding the field for ears of corn. My favorite ear was what I called a baby ear. It was about a half inch in diameter by six inches long. They were so tender, you could eat the cob and all. I can still taste them. Delicious! Going further up the creek, the next swimming hole was Blue Hole. It was also next to a clear spring which was called Seven Sisters Spring. I have no idea how these names originated but everyone in Germantown and Schnitzelburg knew them. The third and farthermost swimming hole was called Bath Tub. It was wider and deeper than the other two but we seldom visited it for it was farther away and on a real hot day we jumped into the closest cool water. I would say that Baby Hole and Blue Hole were from three to four feet deep. I know the water was over my head when I first started swimming there. Our favorite swimming stroke, at first, was paddling Dog Fashion.

My Pop liked to talk about how he and his friends also would swim in Beargrass Creek but not necessarily in the same swimming holes. At that time, there was one hole very close to Eleven Jones’ Cave and Spring which they used. Pop always said that the opening in the cave, in his day, was large enough to drive a horse and wagon into it. I believed his story at the time but later I felt he was exaggerating more than a little. I feel, with my knowledge of engineering, that, unless there is an earthquake, caves with running water usually get larger, not smaller, and there was barely room for me to stoop and squeeze through the cave opening at this time. Pop lived most of his early life just off Shelby Street close to St. Vincent de Paul Church and School so Beargrass Creek and the swimming holes were very convenient for him. One more mention of Eleven Jones’ Cave. When Norb., Rosie, Nancy and Frank were little and we lived on Stevens Ave., Helen and I would walk the kids from our house to Helen’s parents house across from St. Xavier High School. If the weather was right, we would walk back the creek, get a cool drink of water from the spring and continue through the fields to the Buchter’s house. Naturally, I told them all about my experiences along Beargrass Creek. I would not recommend anyone drinking from the spring today because of pollution.(1-16-2001)

Up to just a few years ago, the present Wharf boat now used by the Belle of Louisville and the Spirit of Jefferson as an office and supply boat was a Coast Guard Station. Because of the danger to navigation caused by the Falls of the Ohio River, The United States Coast Guard set up this floating station as the only inland Coast Guard facility in the United States. Just about a block from our house on Ellison Ave., there lived on Thomas St.(St. Michael St.) a little boy whose father was a member of the Coast Guard. Because of my friendship with this boy(name forgotten), his father took the two of us down on the Coast Guard station for a tour. It was interesting and mysterious. In the down-river end of the station were two openings large enough for rescue boats to float directly into the station and overhead doors were then shut to keep out the weather. Even now, if you look at the end facing the Belle, you can see the patch welded to the hull where the openings were. I only remember the rest of the station having bunks for sleeping and a kitchen area. If there was an officers quarters, we were not allowed to see them.

My brother, Frank Joe, as he was called at that time, passed through the school system of St. Vincent de Paul quite successfully. His main odd-job which he used to pay his way through high school was a paper route. He delivered the Louisville Times through the length of Samuel St. and, I believe, one side of Goss Ave. in Germantown. You collected from your customers, personally, on Saturday morning and after you paid your bill to the Paper-Station manager, you may net ten or eleven dollars depending on how many customers you had. In those days, the largest paper and your heaviest load was the Friday paper. All the advertisements were in the Friday paper because Saturday was the day everyone did their shopping. It was largely unknown for any stores to be open on Sunday as they are today. Sunday was a day of rest and a religious day. I call it a day of rest but not for the women who probably worked harder than usual preparing a large meal to feed all the relatives who visited on that day. It was a day of rest for the men for almost all work weeks were five and a half to six days long.

Frank also attended Ahrens Trade School. His shop major while there was Machine Shop. I don’t know what got him interested in the printing trade but he remained with it the rest of his life. He graduated from Ahrens before I started there. After finishing school he began working for The Courier Journal and Louisville Times Co. in their printers apprentice program. Ahrens had a linotype program under a Mr. Beierly. Frank was encouraged to take a post-graduate course in linotype while he was working at the Courier at night. For this reason, I would sometimes see Frank at school while I was going there. Frank successfully completed his linotype training and worked within the large linotype department at the newspaper as a linotype machinist. He worked diligently and later became foreman over that department. Later, as major changes were made in the way newspapers were printed, Frank had to attend electronic school to keep up with these changes and successfully made the adaptation. This was not easy.

As Frank settled into his job and began making “real” money he struck up an interest in flying. But first, he bought that Indian motorcycle I mentioned previously and then a second hand automobile. A Chevrolet, I believe. Then he began taking flying lessons. After getting his basic license, he and a friend actually purchased a second-hand Piper Cub, a well known small plane at that time. I remember his plane being hired out to take up photographers from the newspaper to get special photos of the area. As World War II approached and it was found that we would probably need a large and well trained Air Force, Frank signed up in the Air Force as an Instructor and spent the entire war years in Texas putting his life into the hands of young boys who were to be our ace pilots throughout the war. Instructing was not a glamour job like the hot-shot pilots in the war zone so Frank ended up as a Lieutenant. After the war, he returned to The Courier at his old job but was called up to active duty when the Korean War(?) began. He was trained to fly the B29 heavy bomber at Gulfport, Miss. because the government felt we may have to bomb either China or Russia or both. This strategy changed and Frank was checked out on the C47 transport plane flying out of Japan and Korea. I believe he was officially promoted to Captain before this time. After the Korean War(?) no longer needed his presence, he returned home to his job at The Courier-Journal and joined an Air Force Reserve Unit where he flew out of a field in Indiana once a month. His promotions improved while with the Reserves and when he finally retired from the unit he was a full Air Force Colonel.(1-18-2001)

Mary Catherine was not only my surrogate mother but I believe she thought she was also Franks’. Among the many things that she tried to control when dealing with Frank was his cursing. I don’t recall his cursing at all in his grown up years but when he was young, he could curse up a storm. I do believe that a young boy and cursing was important at that time to show and protect his manhood. Mary Catherine didn’t like to hear it and continually told him about it.

Between St. Michael’s Cemetery and Goss Ave. was a large open field now covered with a shopping mall(what else?). This was one of the fields which we took over for playing football, baseball and other sports. Somehow, Frank got hold of a couple of golf clubs and practiced hitting balls there. I thought this was great so I took his driver and some balls without his permission and headed for the field. The golf club shafts were wood and my first hit at the ball ended up with me hitting the ground instead of the ball and I broke the shaft in half. When Frank found out about what I did he started looking for me and I ran. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me but I didn’t stay around to find out.. I headed out to Beargrass Creek with him behind me and I kept going. He must have stopped but I didn’t know this. Hours later I came home but nothing happened. I guess Mom must have calmed him down because I’m still living. Frank now says he remembers none of this.

In this same field, St. Michael’s’, a few years later, I played on a mixed age team of baseball players and our pitcher was an older fellow named Arch Heady Jr. son of the owner of the Arch Heady Funeral Home. Again, much later when Bernie and I had our home on the river, I ran into Arch, Jr. who maintained a houseboat in a marina just up the river from our place.

This is no reflection on Frank or his habits but Frank had a friend named Andrew(Ahna)Vitt who lived on Thomas St.(St Michael’s’). Ahna would do anything you double-dared him to do. I don’t know if he was brave, off his rocker or just had good balance and reflexes. More than once, I saw him climb a utility pole, steady himself, and walk across the heavy electric line to the next pole and then come down. He was amazing. Every time I see squirrels doing this same thing, I think of Ahna. Speaking of Andrew’s nick-name, Ahna, reminds me that everyone had a nick-name and the one they gave us to signify Gnadinger, was Nanny-Goat. We learned to live with this because our name for them was more than likely even worse.

I had mentioned Margaret Egan previously. Frank was married to her for several years and had a son, Frank Joseph, Jr. This marriage didn’t work out for the two of them and they were divorced. Later, he re-married a friendly little girl, Emma Lee Hudson and they are presently just over the 50th anniversary mark.(1-18-2001)