True Story, and sad.
Remember I was born in '55.
There was one small block of houses , with an alley, and near a Filling Station.
This nice guy, he always waved, always kept his front yard cut and everything ...well his wife died. He started being a bit less "neat" and was working more hours.
It looked like he was a carpenter, or plumber, or something to do with building houses. His truck always had materials, new and used tools in the bed.
Folks around him just said he was having a hard time and needed time to grieve. All this time period Civil Defense drills , JFK shot in Dallas...
Green Army Sedan was parked in front of his house one day. Then for a few days these Army vehicles, sedans, some pickup trucks and some civilian ones were in his back yard and in the alley.
A Mentor that had been in the Service and I went for a walk, and Mentor and this Army Person, spoke.
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This was beautiful two bedroom house built on pier and beam, as was the they houses were done. The front of the house was immaculate. I mean perfect in every detail. Sparkling clean, not a fingerprint on a picture, no dust to be found anywhere.
Back of the house was a shelter. He had taken out the floors, gone deep into the earth beneath. He had done an incredible job of basically putting an underground storm shelter in the back of the house.
He was in Korea, in Intelligence, and extremly smart. His IQ was extremely high. He had been captured and escaped his Captors in Korea, the only one that did so, others had died. When his wife died, he lost it. She had keep him going all the time he served. With the Cold War, and threat of Communism, he went into survival mode.
His house was put back as it was originally, and later sold to a young married couple, and the husband in National Guard.
This guy they moved him to a private place, and being as he was smart, they took care of him, and he was consulted on things.
It was very very sad. Just he hit a breaking point and broke.
I watched this guy use a fountain pen, and he had the most beautiful handwriting, and could draw really well ...
Share with folks at the Filling station how to do something, or at the diner how to fix something in a house, or anything.
He could do math so fast in his head, and do big calculations on paper, in fountain pen.
Lots of Vets around this area, made a lot of folks sad to see him have to leave.
