[...]
RW> I've had friends like that.
 
With friends like that...
 
RW> He was in one place his 50+ years on the railroad. My maternal
RW> grandfather traveled the rails as a conductor between Chicago and Des
RW> Moines, IA. He probably started at the bottom like everyone else, but I
RW> only knew him when he was a conductor. I've heard many stories over the
RW> years about his gambling problem and my grandmother accompanying him to
RW> the pay window so there would be food on the table and a roof over their
RW> head.
 
Those were tough times for her.  When my father died in June 1941, we had
nothing but a car, which my mother had to sell.  We then moved around a
lot, mostly to family on my mother's side and then when mother got a job
with Sears, we could move out on our own.  It was tough even then because
$18 per week didn't go far.
 
RW> My paternal grandmother used to take me on that same train to the Chicago
RW> Stadium, where we saw Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Skipalong Hotspurs,
RW> errrr, Hopalong Cassidy. Of course I had to wear my cowboy hat, chaps and
RW> two gun holster when we went. Those were the good old days.
 
My paternal side of the family, as I may have written you about at one
time, couldn't be classed as congenial, but they were relatives
nonetheless.
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

... Def. of a beetle : A fly on steroids.
--- D'Bridge 3.48