My father was born May 5, 1918. His father was in the Army medical corps, stationed in New York, and they moved back to Chicago (Oak Park) when the war ended.The family lived in Oak Park until 1928 when they moved to southern California. Dad graduated from South Pasadena High School in 1936. He attended UCLA from 1936-1938. He transferred to Purdue because it offered a railway engineering concentration. He graduated in 1941 and moved to Pittsburgh to work for the Westinghouse Air Brake Company.
Mutual friends introduced Dave and Marion. They were married December 14, 1946. In early 1947 WABCO transferred Dave to the Chicago office. ("Temporarily," Marion always said, laughing. They lived in Chicagoland thereafter.)
Dave was renowned as an expert on railway air brakes. (That may seem an obscure topic, but you certainly want railway trains to stop safely!) He wrote many technical papers and several books. He was named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a life member of the Air Brake Association.
He retired from WABCO at age 65 (1983) and spent the next ten years as a braking systems consultant.
He was interested in many subjects -- natural history, archaeology, Biblical studies. He was an accomplished draftsman and artist. His line drawings and lettering illustrated his presentations (and, later, the scrapbooks from their travels). He and Marion attended many ASME annual meetings and other railway-related conferences. In 1988 he was invited to teach at a technical college in Lucknow, India. Of course Marion went with him for the five-week course! They traveled to many other places with ACE Tours and Elderhostel (now Road Scholar).
His mobility declined in his later years and he read stacks of mysteries from the library. He died on January 5, 2002. He got up from lunch at his favorite eatery (Wagner's Tavern) and his heart gave out. But today's the day to remember and celebrate all the aspects of a rich life! Happy birthday, Dave!
I can see where you inherited your many interests.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interesting post about your dad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing his wonderful story. It is always so fun to hear about the jobs from earlier years. I find them fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLove the family photos! You look like your dad. Thanks for sharing and celebrating with us.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely tribute!
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure trove of pictures! Is that you in two of them? Share all please! You did a great job on relaying his life and vitality.
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