{"id":74461,"date":"2022-10-20T04:15:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T11:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=74461"},"modified":"2022-10-15T07:11:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T14:11:51","slug":"grandfather-says-signs-of-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id74461-grandfather-says-signs-of-the-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Grandfather Says: Signs of the Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"neon<\/a>

Original oil painting by: Grandfather’s wife<\/p><\/div>\n

While awaiting his turn to be drafted into the Army during the UN’s “Korean Police action,” Grandfather took advantage of a friend’s neon sign business.<\/p>\n

The friend pumped and sealed leaking neon sign tubing Grandfather took off defunct signs for repair and re-installation.<\/p>\n

Grandfather designed a business card and got them printed …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… painted “Lite Rite Neon Signs” on the doors of his ’36 Chevrolet sedan, tied some ladders on top and set out doing business.<\/p>\n

Grandfather had to be careful, because the Teamsters Union, under Dave Beck in those days, was running a legalized protection racket in Detroit, whereby small businesses, often sole proprietors like grandfather, had to purchase a Union card or suffer the consequences (the cards weren’t cheap either!)<\/p>\n

Anyway … Grandfather made a few bucks for a few months and Grandmother-to-be<\/a> had to ride in that old car with the ladders on top when we went roller skate dancing. We were plush, with Chicago Precision roller skates in carrying cases with “Riverside Rollerdrome” painted on them – a favorite hangout, in 1951.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

About the Author: RD Blakeslee is a nonagenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While awaiting his turn to be drafted into the Army during the UN’s “Korean Police action,” Grandfather took advantage of a friend’s neon sign business. The friend pumped and sealed leaking neon sign tubing Grandfather took off defunct signs for repair and re-installation. Grandfather designed a business card and got them printed … … painted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":52358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[455,490],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"category-grandfather-says","9":"pmpro-has-access","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nGrandfather Says: Signs of the Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While awaiting my turn to be drafted into the Army in the 1950s, I took advantage of a friend's neon sign business - 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