Michael Pearon as a one year old. He was a good baby. His mother, Ruccell, worked all the time at the hospital, working in dietary. Mother Eliza took care of the kids. I got of work at 2 pm, I worked from 6-2 so I was home when they got out of school. She was in Dubuque, moved to to Muskeegan, MI to help her sister run a boarding house..Her husband , Willie Commack was a recruiter for the Illinois Central railroad, to work on the Ice shoot (they would put ice in the refrigerator cars). Willie put kerosene lamps past Evansdale to light up the track at night so the engineer would know which direction the train would go. Willie was a Switcher as well. When we were youngsters, we used to go down and sit in the shack where the Switchers were sitting in if it was cold (they had a little heater). We would take him lunch every day. By Bates Street and Mobile Street, the ice cars would stop. The Rath Packing plant would pack those cars with ice. They would throw some ice down and we would sell it in the community. A lot of times we could go places like Michigan with a railroad pass.
Comments:
Michael Pearon as a one year old. He was a good baby. His mother, Ruccell, worked all the time at the hospital, working in dietary. Mother Eliza took care of the kids. I got of work at 2 pm, I worked from 6-2 so I was home when they got out of school. She was in Dubuque, moved to to Muskeegan, MI to help her sister run a boarding house..Her husband , Willie Commack was a recruiter for the Illinois Central railroad, to work on the Ice shoot (they would put ice in the refrigerator cars). Willie put kerosene lamps past Evansdale to light up the track at night so the engineer would know which direction the train would go. Willie was a Switcher as well. When we were youngsters, we used to go down and sit in the shack where the Switchers were sitting in if it was cold (they had a little heater). We would take him lunch every day. By Bates Street and Mobile Street, the ice cars would stop. The Rath Packing plant would pack those cars with ice. They would throw some ice down and we would sell it in the community. A lot of times we could go places like Michigan with a railroad pass.