Rex

Rex is a really sweet man who I always see working on a puzzle every time I come in. He is deaf, but has always been very kind. I had the chance to talk with his daughter, who visits him frequently.

(Photos to come)

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NOTE: This interview was done with his daughter.

He was born in Leslie, Michigan. His father owned a bakery store, but his father died when he was two of pneumonia, so his mother raised him and his brother. She remarried when he was in junior high or high school. He put himself through Therry (?) College. He married his best friend from elementary school, my mom.

He was drafted into the war. My mother’s father owned a farm and he couldn’t do the farming, so the last thing my father did before he was drafted was to plow all the fields, which was a hard thing to do. My mom, after I was born, drove me all the way down to see him. My brother was born in Miami. My father was on the USS Malone; he did SONAR, so he was out tracking submarines, and that’s how he lost his hearing. He probably was predisposed to it, but the constant pinging of the SONAR for four years caused him to lose his hearing at a very early age. We moved back to Leslie, and my father helped out at the farm, then he became a guard at Jackson prison. He was on the inside when there was a riot at the Jackson prison. We didn’t know if he was one of the hostages or not, and he was not, but I remember going to the outside of the prison and seeing the tanks lined up around the perimeter. He was inside for four days.

                                      The USS Dalone. (from modelshipsworld.blogspot.com)

                                      The inside of the Jackson State Prison circa 1981. (from

                                      www.mnddc.com)

Through it all, though, he’s maintained a really positive attitude. He loves dogs and horses, and at one time, he and my mother had a trotting horse. When he was stationed in Miami, they bought and raised a Greyhound. He and I did some dog training and obedience trials with Airedale Terriers. Then he went on to work in real estate, and soon after, he retired. He loved to fish, and they had a cottage on North Lake. He played golf and was very active, but dogs have always been his top interest. When he and my mom retired, they got a standard Schnauzer and then a second dog, a male. We had ten puppies from those two dogs. The scruffiest dog of all the puppies didn’t sell, and they kept her, and she went on to the Westminster Dog Show. That was a highlight of his life.

                                             Not Rex's, but another Standard Schnauzer.

                                             (from http://standardschnauzersvirginia.blogspot.com/)

He’s a great father and husband and grandfather. He has six great-granddaughters, all girls. He’s always looked on the good side of things and has always found something to take pleasure in, no matter how bad it was. He really doesn’t complain. He’s also very observant, although he might not understand everything that’s going on around him.