Memories – Uncle Donald

My Mom was part of a large Jones family with both of her parents living well into their 90s. I remember Momma and Daddy Jones being interviewed by Marvin Zindler for their 75^th Anniversary. Mom was the 2^nd oldest of 7 children. The Jones Family remained very close through the years with family meals at Christmas and on other occasions. Today, the grandchildren continue to get together as often as possible. I could write many stories about memories I have for each of them. This one is about memories of Uncle Donald.

I think it was the summer of 1965 when my Dad finally decided to get an A/C unit for their house. He had not been in any hurry because where he worked was not air-conditioned and he had never had a car with A/C, so what was the point to pay high light bills. I remember going to Sears with him to look at the A/C units there and I was suggesting he get one that would cool the entire house so Mom would be cooler everywhere she was in the house. At about that time a salesman walked up and did the “no-no”. He was using words like “If to don’t buy this one, you will be just throwing away your money!” Before I could get dad to walk away, he responded something like “It is my money, I earned it and you don’t get a say in how I spend it!” We went into another department and I asked Dad if he wanted that unit and he said “I’m not buying anything from him!” I went back into that department, found another salesman and Dad bought the unit while the other salesman looked on. Lesson learned – you could lead Dad anywhere but you could not push him an inch.

When we got home with the A/C unit, we had the ideal place to install it where it would cool the entire house. The problem that we needed help with was getting a 220 outlet installed in that location. The house was built around 1950 with a small breaker box with just a few breakers and no 220 breakers. Dad called Uncle Donald Jones and asked if he would help. Uncle Donald was quick to help get the outlet installed and working. Mom had A/C in the house for the first time in her life. After Dad passed away, Uncle Donald helped Mom several times with things I had not got done for her, I think they both enjoyed getting to spend some one-on-one time together.

After Eva and I had built our first house, we made some additions to the house to provide more space for the growing family. One of those additions was an additional two-car garage that would be my workshop for my woodworking projects. I ran all of the electrical outlets, and lights, and had 220 outlets for my large saws. I ran those circuits underground to the breaker box and was proud of my work. All the lights and the 110 outlets worked fine; however, the saws would not run. When in doubt, I called Uncle Donald for help. He came to our house and looked at everything in the shop and said they all looked good and to code. He then said let’s go look at the breaker box. He took the plate off and just smiled when he looked at me. He took out one 110 breaker and shifted the 220 breaker one slot and put the breakers back in and said go try your saws. That is when I learned the two-phase detail. When I look back on that, I am grateful for that mistake because we had some time on a one-on-one basis and we spent time catching up on things and just visiting.

I have other memories of Uncle Donald, talking to him about hunting at various locations and talking about memories he had of him and my brother. He had a smile that just made me feel like he cared about me and what was going on in my life. I am not sure if he sensed that I might be missing my Dad or if it was just family. It is not always the big events in your life that are part of the memories of the “good ole days”.