IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER #18

As we traveled back to New Jersey which is home we enjoyed going through the Southern States and going up the East Coast. We couldn’t dilly dally because we now had two of the kids in school and it was already the end of September.

The California school system had started a new program that did not teach Reading, Writing and Arithmetic and the grading system were not A – F, but check marks. The report cards were teacher’ remarks on each subject pass, needs more effort, can do better.
No child failed. Believe me this created a problem in the New Jersey school system.

Our children according to California were ahead in all subjects and New Jersey did not know in what grade to place them. They gave them a written test and placed them in the grade they thought they would fit. In the 5th grade my son had the same teacher I had when I went to school. They remembered me and my brothers and sisters. They never forget and always bring it up when they can to the student always comparing. Our kids were behind according to the N.J. schools.

All through school my son would not apply himself to do better, he sat and dreamed away his time and on his report card were all c’ and the comment would be, sits and dreams, he could do it, just won’t apply himself. When my children went to school I saved all their report cards and saved just a few of the work brought home. One year after they all married and left home I made a scrap book for each of them. I filled it with all the report cards and the work that referred to year including pictures of them. They liked them and I was happy to find a home for all those savers.

Both my girls did well in school and it was a pleasure read nice comments, “pleasure to have them in my class”. My two girls wore their hair in pigtails until they were 14 years old. The second grade teacher of my youngest told me that she kept getting her pigtail pulled by the boy sitting behind her and he wouldn’t stop and one day my child just turned around and belted him and knocked him off the seat. The teacher said she never had any more trouble with that kid.

I felt at this age they could take care of their own hair and I was glad I didn’t have to wash and comb out their hair anymore. Of course it became easier when hair conditioner became available making it easier to comb through the tangles. They both chose to cut their hair. They are as different as their hair, except it being straight, one had thick light color hair with body, and other had fine dark hair like mine. One was tall and the other short. Sisters that did not look alike.

new job at Lakehurst, N.J. was very interesting. The blimps were several stories and filled with helium. The bag part that held the helium had a ladder in a sleeve going up through it allowing the men to get out on top of the blimp. C told me the top was several football fields wide so there was no fear of falling off. The blimps were used to protect the coast from being infiltrated. They were capable of staying low to the ground or over the water for patrolling the coast.

The blimps can also hover without movement. Landing was a challenge for the men on the ground holding on to the landing pole for the blimp to hook up to. When the blimp was low enough they would grab the lines hanging down to hold it still for hook up.

The gondola beneath the bag held the men that flew the blimp and it had a kitchen, a head (the bathroom) and bunks giving them what they needed. I think the motor home copied its’ compact design, a place for everything and everything in its place. After use it was necessary to put things away.

One trip out the men climbed up through the bag to get out on the top of the blimp. Often the men did this to get exercise by playing ball and horsing around. The base got so many calls from the public that the officer in charge radioed the blimp and said “get those b------- off the top and report to base immediately. Some heads did roll, because this happened close to N.Y.C.

Every year Lakehurst Naval Station would have an open house for the public could see the blimps and the hangers where they are stored. The hangers are very large because they house more than one blimp. allowed the people to get in the gondola and see how the men lived in close quarters. But the people were not allowed go up through the bag because the helium when ingested is quite dangerous. It changes your voice to a high squeaky sound and cause unconsciousness.
The last time C monitored the airways from the tower he was involved with directing traffic to help the crash victims of a blimp accident off the Jersey Shore. One man died and others hurt. The newspapers had a hay day with this because of the Hindenburg accident that happened years before, ending in flames. Wind has quite a bit to do with the move ability of the blimp, making it hard to control off shore. Blimps can get close to the shore in emergencies allowing men to get off to help.
C had 20 years in the Navy and decided to retire. We had purchased our first home in Toms River and liked the area because it was on the water. C had been working with the court system and Judge Novins had taken him under his wing and paved the way for C to go to school to become an attorney. C did not graduate from high school, but had taken many courses the Navy offered and he had more than the required credits needed. He received his GED certificate but needed a foreign language for college entrance.

Plus he had the common sense learning you can’t get out of books. While doing this court work he sold real estate for the Singer Real Estate firm and his boss also encouraged him to further is education. C just lacked confidence but their encouragement made him want to enroll in college. We lived across the street from a lady that was that was a French teacher in the local school. She told C she would help him with French, the language, he needed to get into school. But he just believed he couldn’t pass.

In the meantime my brother in law came to us and said Mystic Island is looking to find someone to open a luncheonette so the workman would have a place close for coffee. Until next time, I am Immigrant Daughter.