I finished my second six months and came home. During my time at Fort Brady, I played football and basketball on the team. We played other camps and even went to Canada to play against a prep school.
After a few weeks at home and no prospects of a job, I signed up again in the CCC and this time we went to Ontonagon in the U.P. with a group of fellows from Illinois. After getting organized we were sent to Isle Royal to set up a camp. The camp was all tents with wood floors. I was the doctors assistant and had my own tent and first aid equipment. The men worked making new trails and widening the existing ones. We came out to the Island in a large boat that once was stationed in Alaska and a lot of the men got sick. Any time we had to go to the mainland at Houghton, we had to go in small inboard powered, twenty five foot fishing boats and it was a really rough ride.
Had a lot of cuts from axes and saws as most of the boys from Illinois had never used anything like that. I had to take one boy all the way to the Fort Brady Hospital (at Sault Ste Marie). He had a mental problem. We went to Houghton by boat, train to Fort Brady and I made the return trip. Was gone five days.
When the weather got too bad, we left the Island and went to a new camp at Paulding, Michigan (Ontonagon County). I was doctors assistant there also. Had a room in the first aid station. Had to cut wood for the stove and keep the place clean.
When six months were up, I came back home to stay. My parents now lived on the south corner of Munith Road and Gypsy Lane. I worked with my father painting and doing roofing.
I got a chance to try out for the baseball team at Jackson Bumper and made it, and they gave me a job in the factory. Gerald Boyers also worked there. I worked in the painting and packaging department. It was a hot, dirty job and low wages. I didn't have a car so walked or got a ride with someone if I was lucky.
In 1937 with the help of my cousin Rex Lubahn (Francis Rex Lubahn), I got a job with Goodyear Tire on Chapin Street. Made 28 to 32 dollars a week for 40 hours. Enjoyed the work and the crew I worked with-- Rex Lubahn, McClintic, C.P. Williams, Rex Baker, Paul Vising, Gladys Hirshman. We ran a callendar unit that made the plies that was used to build the tire body.
I played soft ball on a shop team. We played other factory teams in Jackson and in other cities nearby.
In 1937 I began dating Grace Boyers and we went on picnics with a shop group and to shows and on short trips as I now had a 1934 Ford (2 door faded red or burgandy color).
