I am a son of a sailor, my Dad worked on the ships (I remember calling the ships boats). He sailed on the Great Lakes hauling iron ore. Everyone on the boats called him Pete, his nickname stuck with him throughout life.
As a young man my Dad also was in the US Army and he also was a Merchant Marine, sailing on the Ocean Liners. After 40 Years on the Great Lakes my Dad retired as an Officer. He had worked his way up from a Porter to become a Steward (head cook in charge of every detail in the galley which included every season he would work 2 weeks before his crew came on board arrange the galley to his expectations, cleaning, planning meals, paychecks, ect)
Son of a Sailor ~ Brief 10 year contract
I was born in 1972, at the time he worked for Cleveland Cliffs iron ore company. He sailed on all of the ships throughout the years. Up until 1980, when he was laid up, I can’t remember which one. What I do remember is that he said “after 20 years, they divorced me. He kept up his union dues and in a few years he was back sailing.
Dad used to say, “Quit duaddling now. Get on the stick.” nodding as he said it. Dad usually expects things done, done right the first time and they would get done. He was the same way on the ship expecting his crew to be as particular as he was.
My Dad was a stickler, meaning he was a perfectionist and expected his 8 children to be the same. Nine months out of the year he sailed then the boats laid up in the winter. Those three months he was home. Everything was to be spotless if it wasn’t it was done again, nothing except perfect at home as well as on the boats.
Son of a Sailor ~ Mom
My Dad raised us to be the best at what we do. As strict as he was, my Mom was easy going, unless you did something real bad then we would be in a world of trouble.
My Mom’s ambition in life was to be a good Mom. At 40 years old she went back to school to be a nurse (LPN). At 3 years old my oldest sister had the honor of bringing me to the neighbors every day to be babysat. I would get mad at my sister because I hated going there.
Mom graduated at the top of her class and passed her state boards with flying colors. We were so proud of her
I used to go to her work at southdale nursing home to visit every once in a while. spent some time with her and some of the residents that lived there.
Every week we used to go to the docks and see the dad’s ship come in, we used to go to wisconsin point just to see the ships. After that we would go to allouez Marine Docks to see the boat dock.
After the ship docks, we would climb up the ladder, and visit dad for awhile. Sometimes he would be outside waiting for us. He would take us in and walked to the galley or to his room.
Son of a Sailor~ One time he came home
When I was just a boy roughly 6 – 8 years old, I was sleeping, and my brother woke me up, or tried to wake me, telling me it was time for school, I woke up, got ready for school, came downstairs, and lo and behold Dad was home. I did not know what to think, being that I knew how mad he got when the place was not picture perfect, but he was really nice that night and within a few hours he was gone.
Conclusion
My Dad was one of the finest officers in the fleet, he served in many if not all of the Cleveland Cliffs Merchant Marine Vessels. He did his best and loved what he did. He was a Steward and proud of it. Dad (Pete) and his wife raised 8 children together, even if he was not around much of the time, he did support his family. That is honorable, for any man, husband and father. He did the best he could, and molded us to respectable adults now. Mom (Cedelia) who nourished us and took care of us, did what she knew and how to do it, like any mother can for her children. Dad did the same. He knew how to run things and make it work.
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