This man was born in 1932, quit school at 7th grade to help his family survive by working odd jobs then getting a chauffeurs license at age 18. This man wasn’t an imposing figure at the time, He met his wife who was a short order cook at a burger joint, for three years he drove semi up from leesville, Louisiana to the twin cities in minnesota. After Meeting her they dated for 6 weeks before deciding to get married. Their honeymoon wasn’t spectacular,(per her moms teachings, kissing will get her pregnant) he spent the night in the bed, she spent the night in the recliner in the room. Needless to say she finally learned what makes babies……LOL she went on to have 6 that survived, she miscarried quints in 1964.
In 1954 they married, had their first kid 1956, then in 1957, then in 1960, then 1962, miscarried quints in 1964, 1965, then the last one in 1970. In 1967 they had to move from Hobbs, New Mexico to Saint Louis Park, MN, his wife was needing open heart surgery & the University of Minnesota was the only place doing open heart surgery, the 6 doctors refused to release her to go back to Hobbs.
So this man went & looked for a job, he was hired by Span Crete, in Osseo MN. He started out at the bottom as a crew runner for the company, in 1969 they won a bid to help build the IDS tower, the first building in the United States where the structure was entirely made from steel beams, he was promoted to crew chief with his ability to dance the steel beams as they were being connected to the structure, even the top of the building structure, he could walk the 3 inch wide surface on each steel beam.
The company put in a bid to build a dorm facility on the university of Minnesota campus, in 1969 two months into 1970, the grout pump(equipment that send concrete mixture up to the higher floors, one day the grout pump the strap tie down equipment failed, the pump started rolling towards the industrial power lines adjacent too the construction site. A total of 10 men that day tried to stop the pump from hitting the power lines(the electric company informed the company that the man was working was safe, no electricity was in the lines. That day the first of the 10 men died from electrocution. This simple man died at the site, he came back to life, got up, grabbed the remains of his jacket he wore for construction. Walked to his car, drove home, he told his wife that his back was hurting and a nap would help him. She helps him take his jacket off, she noticed his entire spine from his neck to his tail bone was exposed, her first thought was to him to the hospital.
She grabbed every pillow in the house, laid the middle seat of the station wagon, then told him to get into the car laying face down on the pillow, she called the cops & informed them she was going to be taking this simple man to the ER & was going to break every driving law, by the time she got onto the highway, 4 state troopers were waiting and escorted her to the ER, they made it there in 11 minutes. A miracle occurred at the ER, the on call surgeon just happened to be the pre imminent doctor that specialized in the spine. The head ER nurse called him to get his ass to ER for a emergency medical case. When he arrived, the looked at this mans back, ordered him to be taken to the nearest surgery room asap. The simple man was prepped for surgery, the surgeon quickly arranged for 6 surgical teams, this simple man was in surgery for 96 hours, the surgical teams worked on 6 hour rotations, the specialist slept very little, the man died on the table 3 times.
The doctor took a detailed examination as the surgical teams were fusing his spine into one bone, the right leg lost an inch in the shin area, the soles of his feet were blown off, his jaw was fractured in 12 places. It took the surgical team 5 hours to construct a 3/4 quarter body cast that he would be in for 8 months, the surgical teams took the body cast off to inspect everything. They placed him in another body cast for another 4 months. All the while his family was split up among her relatives, his wife slept at the hospital, never left his side. After living in the hospital for 15 months, they approved a hospital bed for his house, everything was rearranged the living room became his bedroom. This simple man in 1970 had elevated his family to the upper middle class, that fateful day his family went from upper middle class to 1800% below poverty level, the only saving grace was the attorney that was representing him, paid the monthly mortgage & all the bills.
The simple man realized he needed to find a way to provide for his family, he swallowed his pride, & applied for family assistance in 1972, the first public assistance person literally told him that had he died, his family was be better off. The attorney stepped in, the intake worker was fired for her words, family assistance was approved, but he wasn’t one to sit back & do nothing. From his hospital bed at his house, he study for the GED test, after 7 weeks he scored 100% on every test, he had his GED, he then applied to a technical school, in 18 months he earned his certificate as a master machinist operator. A new company had gone to the technical school to hire machinist specialists, the company Medtronic hired this simple man to be lead technician for the company, they bought a special vehicle & they would pick him up every day for work. The ones picking him up everyday, were the owners of Medtronic, the simple man worked for 5 years for the company till he wasn’t able to stand or sit at the job. He still provided his 6 kids with private school edification, he was a Cajun southern Baptist(his parents built the church).
His wife was a northern Yankee Lutheran that converted to Catholicism, he agreed the children would be raised Catholic. In 1979 he became a certified electrician, he knew how to read electrical blue prints, he would help solve electrical issues over the phone. He lived til June 1990 3 days shy of his wedding anniversary. In 1976 he won his court case, 2 weeks before congress lifted the restrictions that monetary awards that was limited to 999,000.00 that was what he was awarded 1 week before the restrictions were lifted, had they come back after the restrictions had been lifted, he could have been awarded 35 million dollars per his attorney.
Everyday, his day began with a simple prayer,(lord I’m not done yet, I need another day) in 1988 he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx, they removed the larynx, but he still learned how to speak, it didn’t stop him. After all the treatments, he calls the entire family to a meeting with his doctor, the doctor explained that the cancer had exploded all over his entire body, including all his organs, thats when his family learned that he wasn’t doing the treatments anymore, he surprised his family by stating, he had accomplished what he needed to, its time for him to rest, he went into hospice care the following day, he passed away a week later. None of his siblings came to see him, all because he married a yankee, they never forgave him.
You can tell that I know this simple man very well, I was his fourth child of six that survived, funny story as my mother nearly died from giving birth to my older sister, a friend suggested that his daughter be giving his wife first name as her middle name. His wife nearly killed him, she stated the next child they have will carry his full name, 2 of his sisters where holding 8 inch cast iron skillets just waiting for him to even say a word. I was that child that carries his full name. I am a year older than my father who died at age 58, 4 of his children are now older than the simple man. In 2031 all six of his children will be older than him.
I laugh at people who complain that they have suffered during this pandemic, yes its bad but nothing compared to the twenty years of 24/7 constant full body pain, but it never stopped him from acknowledging Gods power of prayer. By 1985 it was discovered that the spine was literally dissolving in 1987 from the tail bone to just below his waist the spine was gone. I could add more but I only focus on his strength to continue to live, he never became a drug addict or a alcoholic his own doctor stated he earned the right to become either one.
thank you for reading his story…..
A Man's Musings 