« How do you unplay a Game?| Main | So long, Johnny Part 2 »
So long, Johnny Part 1
My step-father John Fullerton passed away Sunday. I will miss him immensely.
Johnny grew up in the 1930s in the middle of coal-country, West Virginia. Everybody worked in the coal mines. His dad was a good man but drank too much. His brothers all worked in the mine as they got old enough. That's what John was expected to do also.
Johnny was a precocious little kid in school, never agreeing with the teacher and always asking smarteleck questions and goofing off. The shortest in his class, everybody thought that he would grow up and get a job in the mines like everyone else and he'd finally "settle down"
But Johnny was good with his hands -- working on things, taking them apart and putting them back together. He found an old junk car that he fixed up and he loved it dearly. He dreamed of doing something else. Seeing more things. Finding out what was over the next hill.
Tradition is hard to break, though, and when he got to be 16 he went to work at the mine just like his dad and brothers. His first week on the job he went out drinking one night and wrecked his car, destroying a tree -- a very special tree that the mayor and townsfolk of a nearby town loved dearly. In the cover of darkness he got out before people figured out who it was. But it was only a matter of time.
The next day he threw his shovel up on the stack of coal and said "You can have it. I'm not doing this any more"
Everybody thought Johnny was just being, well, Johnny.
He asked his dad to sign papers so he could join the Navy. His dad looked at him and smiled -- "Son, I'll sign this, and this will be ONE THING that you won't be able to get out of"
The only problem was that Johnny wanted to sign up in California. So -- in the late 1930s -- he took that old car, with a few spare parts, and took off across country to California. Back then the roads were nothing but dirt and mud trails. You could go hundreds of miles without a gas station. Nobody thought he would make it, but he did.
And that started a pretty incredible life.
When he got to San Francisco he worked in the Navy during the day -- and at a local factory at night. It wasn't unusual to moonlight like this. He continued to develop his mechanical skills. He was turning into that rarest of species: a mechanic who was a natural engineer. He could look at a mechanical problem and instantly he knew what it took to fix it.
When the war came, he was assigned as a mechanic for a fighter squadron in the Pacific. Johnny's small stature allowed him to reach up and get into places that other people couldn't reach.
He had fond memories of Guam -- watching the bombers take off and return during what little free time he had, and he always said that if he had a chance he would like to go back. Of course, it's all a tourist-y vacation spot now. Nothing like it was when the war was on.
At the end of the war he got a chance to volunteer to go to China, and he flew on-board bombers as they ferried Chiang Kai-shek around.
One of the jobs they had was moving the embassy. It required loading up the plane with both fuel for the flight out -- and fuel for the flight back. There was no gas where they were going.
They all carried side-arms and were told that the Chinese people were so poor that they would attack. steal, and kill on a moment's notice. So they were to always be prepared. If they ran over a Chinese person in the street they could not stop -- to stop would be to admit guilt, and the mob would surely overpower them and kill them all if they admitted guilt.
It was a very exciting time, and Johnny was sad to have to go back to the states.
After the war he left the Navy and started working at a Ford dealership. After all, he was good with his hands and he loved cars and parts. It was a natural fit. But Johnny felt like something was missing -- the service offered better security, more adventure, more structure, and an early retirement. So after just a little while, he left Ford and went back to the service -- this time the United States Army.
Johnny was a natural in the army, getting into supply and rising through the ranks, eventually earning his commission and reaching the highest level of warrant officer. In the Army John became a hard-nosed realist: he wanted people that could work and work hard. Many times it was difficult to get good workers. The civilians would come in and only goof off. You couldn't just fire them -- you had to build a file on all of their bad behavior. By the time you got the file finished, either the civilian moved on or you did. Some times they just promoted poor-performing civilians to get rid of them. It was very frustrating. People did not realize that all they had to do in life was work hard and follow the rules. The service was a great opportunity! It sure beat the coal mine.
Johnny kept thinking of his dream -- getting out of the service with his retirement and medical benefits, touring the country as part of an RV caravan. With all his knowledge he could hitch on as a mechanic -- see the country and get paid to do it!
After the service he went back to helping out with parts and work at some Ford dealerships. His wife, whom he loved dearly and was married to for many years, got cancer. Over a long period of time he watched her die.
A few months after her death, he started checking out the trade shows and looking forward to getting on the road again. But he had medicals problems too, and he needed an operation.
So he came to Virginia to stay with his daughter, who lived in Vinton, while he had his surgery. He was very lonely, but he was picking up the pieces and going forward with his life. He was a tough old soul.
And that's how he came to meet my mom.
Johnny's daughter Sharon lived on Feather Road in Vinton. My mom lived on Feather Road in Vinton. Johnny was having an operation at Community Hospital in Roanoke. My mom worked at community hospital in Roanoke. Mom worked in pediatrics as a nurse's aide, but for a couple of days she was assigned to a different part of the hospital.
Mom had been dating for a couple of years, and while there were a lot of fish in the sea, she wasn't too impressed with the fishing. The older men didn't take care of themselves, didn't dress well or have manners, and they all seemed a little too fast-moving for mom.
So that morning she comes into a room and says "Mr. Fullerton, I will be your nurse today"
John knew he had met a special person. He was floored. After his operation that day, the next morning he had managed to bathe and shave and dress and was completely squared away by the time mom got back to his room.
And with two brothers who went in the Navy, an ex-husband who was in the Navy, and a son in the Marines? Let's face it. Mom was a sucker for a guy in uniform.
Johnny didn't ask her out just yet. He found out where she lived (3 houses down from Sharon) and made it home the next day. Then he polished up again and decided to pay a visit. Time to go courting. He found my mom mowing the grass.
Mowing the grass! Heavens forfend! What was a woman like this doing out mowing the grass?
And that's how Johnny and my mother started dating.
I enjoyed reading this. I learned something new about Johnny. You are sharing a treasure with the future by recording the stories here.