Memoirs of Norbert E. Gnadinger, Sr. Volume 1

1950

I studied very hard over the holidays and reported to classes pretty much prepared for my final exams. My work load that semester was eight credit hours. To my way of thinking, this was a fairly heavy work load for night school. I never again took as many as eight hours of credit until the last two semesters before I graduated in 1965. I was burned out on going to school every week and I was anxious to earn my final sixteen credit hours, graduate and spend more time with my family.

During the preceding semester, I had taken one freshman subject, English 101, Oral and Written Composition I and received a B grade. My other two subjects were in the sophomore group including English 206, Business English with an A grade and History 201, History of Civilization I with a B grade. I will not attempt to bore you with a listing of all my subjects and my grades. I’m only trying to make a point of how trying night school can become. I continued through the first six semesters with a B-plus average but I ended my degree search with a B-minus average. Of course, the subject matter became tougher as I progressed toward a degree but that is not an excuse because some of my Senior subjects produced some of my best grades. I believe the difference was a “getting burned out” process and the desire to get my degree at any cost.

None of these thoughts entered my mind during this early period of my studies. I really felt so very good that I was doing all of this to better myself, I had not failed so far in this endeavor and I was anxious to keep going with my studies. I immediately registered for six credit hours in the spring semester. I felt more comfortable with just six hours and I continued the remainder of my studies rotating between five and six hours.

I was so “Gung-ho” during this early period of my studies that I made a cardinal mistake. I registered for six credit hours in the Summer semester. Now think about that. Wouldn’t you say that this was very stupid of me? The only time that I could spend “quality” time with Helen and the kids and I messed it up. Oh! I did well with my grades but we did not enjoy that summer at all. I always learned everything the hard way and I never made that mistake again.(8-22-2001)(Harry J. Cooper, Sr. died, Mar. 12, 1950)

Working in the maintenance department and rubbing elbows with all of these journeymen technicians was a great learning experience. Most of them were very friendly and would share their knowledge with me. If I had a repair job at home I would always ask for advice before I began the work. They wouldn’t come out to the house to physically help me but they made my many tasks a lot easier. There was always “horse-play” going on in the shop. Everyone carried a rag in their back pocket to clean their hands after a dirty job. Many times they would walk into my office to change jobs and this rag would be on fire without their immediately knowing it. They soon found out. No one was seriously hurt because of this horse-play but Claude White soon put a stop to the worst of it. One incident occurred that I thought was very funny. My friend, Keith Orman, like most of the other maintenance men, “brown bagged” his lunch every work day. Another friend, “Frosty” would find and raid his lunch for any cookies or other dessert. Keith put up with this because he and Frosty were good friends. Keith’s wife, Joann finally came up with a solution. She made some cup cakes and instead of icing on the top, she melted and spread Ex-Lax(need I explain what Ex-Lax is used for?) Sure enough, Frosty got into his lunch bag again this day. It is said that Frosty spent the rest of the day sitting in the rest-room contemplating on the error of his ways. This story is still being told wherever Tube Turners’ congregate.(Mom’s brother, George B. Determann, died, June 8, 1950)

My boss, Claude White, had become a member of the Board of Directors of the new Girdler-Tube Turns Employees Credit Union(hereafter to be simply referred to as the, Credit Union). The yearly election of new officers of the Credit Union was coming up shortly and he wanted me to place my name on the ballot to run for a position on the Credit Committee. This was generous of him because if I was selected, I would have to spend one morning a week fulfilling the duties on this committee and he would need to have Jim Lorson take over my job during this time. I placed my name with the Nominating Committee and I was elected at the annual meeting. For the uninitiated, I will explain the duties of the Credit Committee. The committee met every Wednesday morning to review loan applications which had been submitted to Hugh Chambers or his secretary during the preceding week. There were a few rules in the by-laws governing these loans that we had to abide by. Otherwise, we were given a wide latitude as to whether we would approve them or not. Collateral for the loan included the money in their share balance, the borrowers signature(good will), co-signers, Bank C/Ds or notes and Real Property. Most loans were usually small and were made to buy necessities such as coal, furniture, Christmas presents and pay for school tuition and etc. Later, the greatest need for a loan was to purchase their first automobile. The Credit Union soon co-owned up to a hundred automobiles. I purchased my first car through my account with the Credit Union.

As I had mentioned previously, the Girdler Corp. had agreed, when the Credit Union was first organized, to give the CU the benefit of “Payroll Deduction”. As we, on the Committee, debated the merits of each loan, it made our decision of whether to approve a loan much easier knowing that all weekly or semi-monthly repayments would be deducted from the persons paycheck before the person who made the loan even received it. With this thought in mind, the Credit Committee would then review each loan application separately. The committee was made up of people from the plant, the office and from the Girdler operation. Supposedly, with such a diverse group, there would be someone on the committee who knew the person making the loan and therefore make a recommendation to approve the loan or not also based on the collateral offered. If you approved, you signed the application in the approval area. If all of the committee signed, the loan was approved and passed on to Hugh Chambers to issue the check. The collateral was of the most importance and if a committee member who knew the borrower recommended approval, generally then, all the others signed their approval. The process was not so “cut and dried” as it sounds. Occasionally, we had some very “warm” discussions and some loans were not approved.(8-27-2001)(Carl’s son, David Allen Gnadinger, born, Aug. 30, 1950)

I have found, over the years, that having an important and responsible position is not always based on knowledge and talent. I learned this the hard way. Some persons accept a title only to brag that they have such a title and delegate all the work to others. Many people work hard to be appointed to committees only to sit back and take it easy while others do the work while they accept the “pat on the back”. I was quite flattered when the other members of the Credit Committee voted me as Chairman of the Committee after Hugh Chambers suggested having a chairman was important. Little did I know. The chairman arrived early for the meeting, checked over all the loan applications ahead of time, pushed the applications along during the meeting and then made up a weekly loan approval sheet. I felt so good that all the members thought I was capable of handling this extra responsibility. The truth was that no one else wanted this responsibility and work. At the end of this first year as chairman of the committee I tried to pass the job along to one of the other members without success. One thing the serious and hard working members of the committee did accomplish was to have new people elected who approached this type of loan approval in the same way and we got rid of the “easy riders”. I didn’t mind the extra work and I actually remained chairman of the committee until I left to become a member of the Board of Directors.(Patricia Ann[Chapman]Gnadinger, wife of Carl, Jr., born, Oct. 14, 1950)

It was about this time that my brother Robert’s son, Bobby(Robert Francis, Jr.) adopted me. Bobby was still in the learning process about the difficulties of life and he evidently thought I knew something important because I was happily married with four children. Two or three times a week he would visit us at night. I was already in bed but reading a book. Bobby would bring me up to date about his job and the people he worked with. It was all very interesting but I believe he wanted me to help him in reacting to people and life generally. I tried, but I am not sure my advice was what he wanted to hear. I felt honored that Bobby thought I knew enough about life to help him make his life easier. These visits continued for some time.

Helen’s “Aunts” in Winchester, Ky., actually Aunt Terese’s sisters, would visit with Aunt Terese and Unkie quite often. They would ride the Greyhound Bus back and forth with Unkie picking them up from the bus station. We got to know them very well after a few visits and Katie Marshall would always invite our whole family to visit with them at their home. Finally, We got a phone call from Aunt Terese, who had taken the bus to Winchester, asking if we would come pick her up and take her home. We had no car as yet but we knew we could impose on Bernie to furnish the transportation. Bernie actually jumped at the chance to do something different and he agreed to become part of our weekend. Katie and Matt stuffed us all through out the house in make-do sleeping arrangements and I must say that we all enjoyed the experience. On Sunday, we crammed our whole group in Bernie’s car and brought Aunt Terese back home.

Nancy had now joined the ranks of the little angels. In this year she had also made her First Holy Communion at St. James Church. Yes we had the usual family party. There was no way any of us would break this tradition. I must admit that Mary Catherine and Bill Wantland gave a much larger party for their daughter Eileen’s First Communion in their new home on St. Michael’s Street. Her First Communion was held at St. Vincent dePaul Church. Mary Catherine and Carl would educate all of their children at our old family school and church. At this same time, Frankie was just finishing the first grade.

Monk(Harold)Buchter was now a member of the U.S. Marine Corp. All of Helen’s brothers and husband had now served in the Navy or the Marines. That was quite an accomplishment and we were proud of them all. I am sure that Grampa, always talking about his experiences while in the Army, had a lot to do with the decision of his son’s to spend time in the various services. Monk didn’t impress me as the type who would enlist in the Marines but I was wrong, as usual. He ended up as possibly the toughest of the three. I found that, out of the four children, Harold and Helen were of similar characters, were very dependable and of a tough nature. Don’t get me wrong. Those two had a very loving nature. Monk received his basic training at Parris Island, North Carolina and remained on that base for some time. I don’t remember what other Marine duty he performed until he latter was shipped to Korea for their “War”.(Frank Joe’s son, Craig Thomas Gnadinger, born, Nov. 8, 1950)(8-29-2001)

At the end of World War II, the country of Korea, which was released from the control of Japan, was split into two areas of control. North Korea was communist oriented and both China and the Soviet Union maintained a direct interest in and control of the government. South Korea, on the other hand, had become an independent, democratic country. In this year of 1950, the North Korean armed forces invaded the South Korean Republic across the 38th Parallel without warning. This was immediately reported to the United Nations. The UN Security Council, with the absence of the Soviet Union who could have vetoed this, called for immediate action by all its’ members to help repel this invasion and aggression.

President Harry Truman called on General Douglas McArthur to assume command of the U.S. forces then stationed in Japan and to give the South Korean people any help that he could. Soon, other member countries of the UN were also sending troops and various supplies to South Korea.

At home, our armed forces had been cut back almost to the nub at the conclusion of WW II. A lot of service people had signed up in the reserves though and a great many of them were now called up into active service. At Tube Turns, quite a few ex-servicemen were called up. Their common gripe was that they had won one war and now they were being asked to win another. That really sounds like a good attitude.

Brother Frank was called up almost at once. The high brass in the planning area thought there was a chance we would have need of long range bombers so Frank went into training and was checked out in the B29, four engine, heavy bomber. As he was finishing his training and was set to go overseas, the strategy was changed and Frank ended up flying the C47 transport plane out of Japan and into Korea. He mentioned many times the dangerous landings and take-offs from the beaches of some of the islands. He also reported that in Japan, he, and a group of officers, had hired a Japanese house-boy to take care of their personal needs. When Frank returned from Japan, he brought Helen and I a very nice Japanese vase which we still have and an opium pipe which we must have given to one of our children. Emma Lee stayed at their house on Rosemary Drive with the baby, Craig. We all visited with her many times and I can remember putting up her storm windows in the fall.(8-31-2001)

Monk(Harold) was sent to Korea in the first group to leave the United States. The South Korean Army had been driven back to a small bit of real estate surrounding the port city of Pusan where they were barely holding on under pressure from the North Koreans. Our airplanes, flying from Japanese fields and from air-craft carriers made it possible for the defense to hold on to their positions. Reinforcements were landed at Pusan. In September, enough troops from the U.S. and member countries of the UN had been assembled so that a surprise landing could be made north of this fighting at the port city of Inchon. This is where Monk joined the fighting. Within a month, the North Korean Army had been driven back across the 38th parallel all the way to the Yalu River which separated China from North Korea. China, fearful that the Noth Korean government would be wiped out, dressed up their own troops to look like the North Koreans and with a heavy force counter-attacked against the UN forces. This was in the dead of their winter, the UN supply lines were overextended and the UN forces were soon in full retreat. Once again the airforce planes saved their neck. Most of the UN forces were eventually evacuated from the port of Hungnam in North Korea with a terrible loss of materials and supplies. All of the UN forces regrouped in the south and eventually fought back to the 38th parallel where the war(police action) pretty well stalemated until a truce agreement was signed in 1953(?).

Monk was involved in all of the fighting in the far north of Korea. He was very fortunate to come out of it alive and with only some frost-bitten toes. When Monk’s enlistment ended he left the service as a Sergeant. He was also able to bring back home as a souvenir a Chinese rifle.

I am now into budgets. See, as I am getting older, I am getting smarter(?) You must have gone through what I was at this point in my life. You might say that I was “living from day to day”. Meaning, I never thought of or planned for the future. Except for the little bit I saved with the Credit Union each week, I had no savings. I had no checking account. When I cashed my paycheck each week, I then carried the cash in my pocket until it was all spent. This worked fine until a large bill would sneak up on me. I was then in big trouble. Hence, my new approach to living with a budget, and, living within my means. My first budget, in these modern times, would make even a second grader smile but it worked. for me. This was, necessarily, a cash budget. First, I needed a box to keep my money in. Then, week by week I would come face to face with new bills and debts. I would extend them out to a year. average them to a weekly amount and then deposit that amount of money into the box. Pretty soon I had all of my bills under control. Each week, at payday, I would add an amount of money and record it on my running tab. As I paid a bill and removed that amount of money, I would subtract it from the tab. If I accrued a new debt, additional money was added each week. The greatest joy was when something was finally paid off. The budget system was really important because, between it and my use of the Credit Union, I finally knew how I could afford to live. I began buying things with cash money and saved what money I used to spend paying interest on purchases. The rest of my life after this, I paid cash for every purchase except when buying an automobile or a house. In a separate box, Helen and I began putting away loose change as a savings for future vacations. I was really “straining at the bit” in my desire to begin traveling.(9-02-2001)

That fall, the Tube Turns Bowling League moved from Broadbrook Lanes to the Madrid Bowling “Alley”. This was fortunate for me because I could still get there by riding the Broadway Bus. The “Madrid” building was familiar to us all. It was, and still is, located on the South-east corner of Third and Guthrie Sts. On the first floor were offices. The second floor held the bowling lanes and the third floor contained the, area famous, Madrid Dance Hall where, if a big band was to appear in Louisville, you would find it either at the Brown Hotel or at the Madrid. There were two “odd-balls” in our league. Jerome(Romey) Spayd and I must have had some odd imperfection in our throwing arms because we both threw a “back-up” ball. Romey evidently knew what he was doing for he always carried about a 190 average. I was barely in the 150 range at that time. I would suppose that ninety-nine percent of bowlers threw a hook ball. With a hook ball, you would throw the ball straight out from the middle of the approach and it would curve(hook) to the left, you would hope, into the one-three pocket for a strike. I tried throwing a hook ball several times but I had a very difficult time picking up my spares using it. I threw the back-up ball from the right corner of the bowling lane. The ball would rotate to the right as it rode straight toward the one-two pocket. If it went into the one-two pocket either lightly or heavily, the chance of getting a strike were good because this type delivery would give you good pin action, a strike, and everyone would say you were lucky. Very often. if you just barely touched the head pin with the ball, the pin action could produce a strike. I do know that I could pick up my spares a lot easier using the back-up delivery.

Wouldn’t you know that I would have to work overtime again on Christmas day this year. This seemed to be habit forming but I was assured by the other maintenance workers that this was an unusual occurrence. All the men complained about it but didn’t turn down the extra money in their pay check. All of the repairs went smoothly this year and we were able to enjoy the annual dance on New Years Eve knowing we wouldn’t have to work the next day. We had bought tickets to the dance at the Madrid and, until the last minute, I thought I would have to turn them back in for a refund. Grandma Buchter, as usual, took care of the kids and we had a New Years dinner with the Buchters’.(9-03-2001)