JPG Stories
Joe's story
Good morning, friends, neighbors and of
course FAMILY.
It seems as though each of us has a desire to
be part of something bigger than ourselves. Everyone wants to be in a
"club" at one time or another.
Your first club was your initial family when
you were born. You could explore your world without fear since
there was always someone to help you not get lost, be it your mother of
whom you were the apple of her eye, your sister who was your closest
friend, your father with his no nonsense banter (i was too young
and had to be updated on things later in life), your brother whom would
get on your nerves with his " I know that" all the time, and of course
you baby rag doll who heard it all but still kept silent.
Of course, these were the good ole days where
you didn't have any responsibility...it was hard enough just to stay out
of trouble. An impossible mission of sorts.
As I started my early school years, I would
soon learn that not all families were like mine and in this I was about
to form a new family that would care and nurture me through this period
of my life, and dare I say become my second family? Well for the next 12
years, and possibly they remained family for the rest of my life.
No matter where I was or what I was doing, I
would remember these times as if yesterday, but time does not stand
still and before you knew it my My third club was the Navy boot camp in
Orlando Florida. I got on a bus after leaving the induction facility and
18 hours or so i was in Florida along with the other bus load of
recruits. we arrived at night and got hustled off to bed. my vocabulary
got changed also. Yes, Sir and No Sir became my new words. As I went
through bootcamp I made $300 per month but it felt good to have made
your own money.
I think trouble followed me around though for
as you guessed it, I didn't know the speaker was 2 way and after 10 pm
it was '' Lights out and silence about the deck" i guess they heard my
accent and the next day i was in front of the company commander’s office
with a rifle above my head for 3 hours, (funny way to shoot a gun). Of
course, it wasn't the only time i got noticed (sounds better than being
in trouble).
4th family came into my life, not that I was
expecting it. One day it happened like a shot out of the blue and there
she was. An angel if I ever saw one. As we started getting to know each
other, all I could think of was why there were only 24 hrs. in a day.
She consumed my every waking thought. As the months went by, I asked her
to marry me. And before you knew it, we were married and had a little
treasure whom we promptly named Virginia after my mother. We were young
and made a lot of mistakes, but we were family and we met the challenges
head on...together. Of course, many more challenges would
seemingly run to greet us. Like the time we were in Guam and our
daughter climbed out her crib which was located on the 2nd floor. As we
listened, we hear her tumble head over heels down the concrete stairs,
and by the time we got to her she was a bloody mess. What seemed to us
to be so dire turned out to be a split lip. Thank you, GOD. Of course,
that was not the only incident in our young families’ lives. It seems
that wherever you go these days you have to use a conveyance of some
type whether it be bicycle, plane, train, automobile, boat etc., but
with each comes an inherent type of danger.
Our longest trip at that point was to Guam
with my wife and baby of 3 months. It was probably the longest
flight we've ever been on not to mention the noise, which made my
daughter wake up quite often and cried most of the way. The stewardess
volunteered to walk her back and forth on the plane, and in some ways
became our 4th extended family.
In Guam (like Texas) it was a whole other
country. The Guamanians were a friendly sort but you never wanted to get
on their bad side. Afterall we were strangers in a strange land, but it
was exciting. Nancy got a job at the Navy Exchange and also at the Car
Rental. I worked at the Naval Supply Depot. I had a few should we say
encounters of the worst kind with my then Boss. He was a second class
who made first class. But for some reason we didn't get along. He
then sent me to work at ServMart and I was there for a few months but
you guessed it. They had their own click. I then got sent to the main
bldg. and worked in Customer service with a chief who later made LDO
(Limited Duty Officer) and then was transferred. I learned a lot from
him and then I took over customer service as the fleet service rep when
he left. I worked with a BM3 and had a good time doing it. as a
ship would come in, I made sure all of its requirements were delivered
when arrived. Many times, I would receive a message from the ship saying
it was the best service thus far Westpac. As a result, I was promoted to
E6 (first class petty officer) even though it took 8 years before I
could take the test, within a year they had dropped the time to 3 years
before you were able to even take the test. (We spent 2 years there and
had to resume duty in the regular Navy since it was preferred sea duty.
My list of duty assignments.
1st duty station: USS CONCORD AFS-5,(NOW an
Artificial REEF)
2nd duty station: NAVAL STATION ANNAPOLIS
MARYLAND
3rd duty station: Guam (naval supply depot)
the duty station Naval Training Center Orlando Fla.
4th duty station: USS SYLVANIA AFS-2 IN
NORFOLK VA (NOW A REEF)
5th duty station: Commander Service Squadron
2 earle NJ USS FRANK CABLE AS 40 (SUBMARINE TENDER)
Charleston SC NAVAL SUPPLY CENTER PEARL
HARBOR HAWAII USS FRANK CABLE AS-40 CHARLESTON SC /GUAM MI
And life
goes on, as we departed Guam it was with mixed feelings. I became
friends with the office workers and they made me feel welcome. Our next
stop was Orlando Fla and I was stationed at the training center not as a
recruit but as a 1st class petty officer. My mother was with us and we
stayed in a cabin on base. Low on money I bought a hibachi grill and
each morning we made bacon and eggs until the grill caught on fire from
the bacon fat. After about a month we got our on base housing at McCoy
Annex which was an old air force housing. It was a duplex but it was
nice. we each had our bedroom and I was able to buy and sell cars on the
side. Mom loved to see the rain come down and each time flooded the
street. We made some friends, one was in the Army, and one next to him
was a mechanic. I bought a huge car from a student that was going to
send it to a junkyard. I had it towed to the house and tried working on
it. I also asked the mechanic if he knew what was wrong and he took one
look at it and said the distributor was put in backwards. He removed it
and turned it 180 degrees and Vola! it fired right up. I later sold it
for a profit, and was glad to see the 'boat" out of my driveway.
There were a couple other cars I bought and sold, each with their own
story.
Joseph Jr. was born in Dec 1982 in the base
hospital and he had a head of hair. I must admit he was the best-looking
baby in the hospital and was glad to take him home. I made chief at the
training center but the initiation was something else lots of fun but
lots of torture.... glad it is over but i learned something very
valuable...everyone needs someone to lean on, and so the saga went on as
i got transferred to New Jersey. I didn't know what to expect.
We stopped in Gettysburg national park to
visit my brother Ramon, he worked for the park and lived on the park
grounds in a little white house. Nancy and my mother thought it was
really cute. He showed us around the area and before you knew it, we
were all packed in the car and headed to New Jersey. It took about an
hour and a half to get there which was in the middle of nowhere.
Actually, it was a base that had 2 ends. Naval weapons station Colts
Neck and Leonardo New Jersey. I was on the other side of Leonardo which
consisted of a gym, trailer office and a 3-mile-long pier and seemed to
go on forever. This is where they loaded the ammunition ships, and
because of the nature of the cargo it had to be as far as possible from
the shore. It didn't matter though by the time you heard the boom it
would be over.
From there we traveled south to Charleston
SC and I was assigned to the submarine tender AS-40, I was assigned to
the stores department as the leading chief. It was fun and time
went quickly, before you knew it, I had orders to Naval Supply Center
Pearl Harbor. I ran ServMart the entire time I was there and brought
sales from 3 million to 8 million. I became good friends with a black
chief named Tawiah, I forgot when I made senior chief but for the next 8
years, I tried to make master chief but never did. Anyway, I am 8 pay
grades above where I thought I'd be. I became the senior chief even
though 2 captains wrote me outstanding evaluations, When I left Pearl
Harbor, I went back to you guessed it...... USS FRANK CABLE. This time
it was different (bad). It seemed like 2 other skcs wanted my job as
department chief. It was very stressful to say the least. The ship went
through a decommissioning and then the Navy decided to recommission it
and send it to Guam.
That was really hard saying goodbye to my
family on what could be a 2 year (earliest) I could get transferred off.
from the time I went onboard until leaving was 8 months. Mother told me
to come home so I put my papers in and left. No big celebration, I just
told them I wanted my papers after they approved my transfer papers. The
duty driver took me to the airport and I boarded the airplane for the
long trip home which was about 16 hours to the east coast and then home
at last.
It’s hard to imagine growing up, which is something I never really
wanted to do. Sort of the way Peter Pan felt, I guess. I was born the
youngest of 7 children ON 16 0R 17 APRIL 1953. (I say 16/17 because my
mother said 17 and my birth certificate said 16, everything considered I
believe my mother, she was there!), with Ramon being the eldest brother,
followed by Mona, Linda, Rosa, Milda, Mercedes, and myself. It's not bad
being the youngest sometimes, for as I was told I escaped much of the
punishment wielded by my father, whom I knew very little of other than
some pictures I had seen.
I was told I was my mother's favorite and I
followed her around as she did her daily work. I was born at Knud Hansen
Memorial Hospital in St. Thomas, which was and still is the only major
hospital in St. Thomas. Where we were living was just a stone’s throw
from the hospital, but being that close didn’t make it any the more
enticing for me. I didn’t and still don’t like hospitals. I remember
that across from our house (which we rented) from a lady named Thera
Williams was a black family. They had some children, one of which was
named June. I played with her most days along with the ducks, chickens
and our goat.
My father whom we called Poppy drove a black
VW which he flipped over once, and he had a jeep wagon which was red and
I have a picture of me on it with my cowboy boots. I don’t remember much
about the house except that it was all brick and we lived in the upper
section. My brother and Sisters told me about the many episodes that
happened there. Luckily, I don’t remember them or just blocked them out
of my memory. I don’t know where we lived first but my earliest memories
of growing up, was in a house in Bovoni, which is on the east side of
St. Thomas, it was a solid block house with a porch and nothing around
except ketch and keep (which if you just barely touch your skin and
would become embedded in it). It was very painful to remove and most
times stuck in your hands while you were doing so.
I do remember that we went to church each
Sunday and on one particular Sunday after we arrived back home, we were
getting out of the car and I guess everyone thought I was out because
someone slammed the door but it caught the tip of my finger and the end
of my finger was hanging by a piece of skin. I was rushed to the
hospital and after surgery they were able to sew my finger back on. To
this day both fingers look different.
There was a man named Mr. Lima who lived just
down the hill from us. I was told by my sister that he was very nice and
we would visit him often. Back then the roads were dirt, and the land
was sparse. It's funny the things you remember growing up, I
remember going to church every Wednesday and Sunday since I attended a
catholic school and there were nuns who made sure you were there. I was
also an altar boy. For those that don’t know what that is, you have to
make sure everything is ready for the priest when he says mass. The wine
and water, holding the Bible for him to read, being at the right place
during the mass. I don’t remember all the things I had to do, but I felt
special when I was doing it as a servant to the lord. We wore a red
outfit with a white outer shirt. It is a big church and when the
organ played it filled the church with melodies and songs.
I had a bicycle like most other people on the
island and it took me far and wide selling lottery tickets to help
support Mom. Ever since I could remember we never owned our own home but
rented. I guess I didn’t know any different. We lived with my
sister and brother-in-law Sammy from the age of 8 when my father died,
until I was 18. It’s funny when you think about it, it always felt
normal to me. I looked up to Sammy and he became a surrogate dad to me
filling the void left in my life. He enjoyed hunting and had many
guns in the house. I remember one time He; David (Rosa’s husband) and I
were in the back bedroom and he was showing David a 9mm handgun. He said
it was empty and for some reason pointed it at David and pulled the
trigger. David immediately jumped out of the way and the gun cracked
sending its deadly projectile towards David. The mirror shattered behind
David and Sammy dropped the gun and stood there white as a ghost... We
never spoke about that incident again but I know how close we came to
having a tragedy that day.
During the years leading up to my leaving
what has affectionately become known as the “rock”, I had many
adventures of one sort or another. Some of these were going to my very
first party and not knowing to dance. I felt nervous and out of place.
The first dance I learned that night was the horse which was shown to me
by the most popular girl in class. I still remember the girl who threw
the party. Her name was Patsy Claussen and I hear she is still around.
Like I said I rode my bicycle all over
selling lottery tickets which left me very little time for a social
life. I rode my bike one time to the power plant which is located by the
airport. (There was a fairly high hill at one end of the airport which
had to be removed because of the danger (when jets were landing.) it was
where I first met my nephew algie.. (Carlos jr.) he was much older than
I and joked about me being his uncle. What I later came to know was that
my father was married before and had many other children whom I didn’t
know. Heck, I didn’t know my name was Joseph until the 11th grade since
everyone called me Patrick or Pat.
I didn’t have many friends growing up, and
the ones I had lived a distance away or was always busy. I was very
immature growing up and that caused me not to have dates... besides
where would I go on a bicycle? School was the only place where I could
play with my friend. One of the games in grammar school was playing with
tops. You would curl a cord around the wooden top and try your best to
aim it at your friends top and hopefully damage it. To aid in this you
could pull out the original small nail at the base and put a BIG nail
in. Now you had something to go after the other ones with. Of course,
when not playing tops there were always the girls to go after. I guess I
was not the dating type. Now don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of
good-looking ones but I could not get pass being immature. I would ask a
girl out and if she did say yes, I would kind of go nuts and I guess I
embarrassed her and she would change her mind.
On weekends my thoughts turned to having fun.
Before I moved to the country, we lived in a place called Sugar Estates.
No, there was no sugar. The roads at that time were made of dirt, and We
lived not far from the projects (low-cost housing). I would make kites
from pom leaves and flour and water. They flew pretty good. Mercedes
(Sister) and I would also go to Yacht Haven and play tourists so we
could swim in the pool. We got caught since our skin was lighter
than normal islanders. We would also go and ride the new tram up
the side of the mountain which was by the West Indian Company docks. We
were the first ones to ride it during their test. It was scary but at
the same time pretty as it was pretty high.
I remember one time we were walking to the
beach and my swim trunks got away from me and blew into the water. My
sister's boyfriend dived in the water and got it for me. I didn’t go
after it because there was a sewage pipe that dumped in the area.
At the beach was a raft which was a diving platform. I swam out to it
and the thought of sharks was always in my mind. It took forever to
reach it and it was pretty deep... We would stay all afternoon then walk
back home. must have been about 8 miles more or less.
I got a bike for Christmas one year and was
outside riding it. I remember it was a red road-master bike. I had a
transistor radio with me at that time and heard the news that the
president Kennedy was assassinated. It seemed the whole world just
stopped, even on my island. It was never the same after that... I
remember I had a friend that lived in a trailer one street over named
Michael. Him and his brother Ralston were black and wild. His younger
brother always wanted to fight and I stayed away from him. He
seemed a little touched in the head. One day we were outside and he
wanted to fight. I waited for him to throw the first punch but his
brother called him off just like a mad dog. I don’t know if he
graduated to watch dog or not. I never had to fight him though.
My aunt lived across from the school and I
would visit her after school. Now just to show how naive I was, my
mother and brother and I went in the country to visit someone a long
time ago, He was tall, white hair and lived by himself. I liked it there
and we even butchered a pig there from start to finish and made souse
which was the best I’ve had. When we got there my mother gave the man a
hug and a little kiss. I got upset since I thought that was her
boyfriend. I later learned he was my uncle Louie (Mom's brother).
He let me use a BB gun and I went out looking for big game. All I could
find was mountain doves.
Mom and I would go to visit on Sunday and
afterwards we would go with Ramon for a Sunday drive. Along the way we
would stop at a Puerto Rican store where there was a big wheel of
cheddar cheese and we would buy some and saltine crackers and eat them
during the drive. Boy was it good. The cheese was especially good since
it wasn't refrigerated and was very soft and oily. It was fun but we
only did that on Sunday as everyone had to work during the week. Looking
at some sparse trees, and of course a lagoon.
Sometimes the things we leave behind in our
madness will still tug at our heartstrings our whole life through. Our
friends, smells, sounds, relationships both new and old make us who we
have become. Be it as it may, you can't turn back time, take things back
that you have said in haste, both good and bad. Your decisions have put
you where you are today. My decisions made for or by me have sculpted my
life and gave me a beautiful wife, and two beautiful children not to
mention an extremely intelligent grandson. No, he didn't get that from
me. In life you lose and you gain but your memories are yours to keep.
I enjoyed my growing up on St. Thomas, a trip
to the BIG city of Puerto Rico, moving to Red Hook and meeting my Nephew
Hans Dohm Gimenez. Getting in trouble with my brother-in-law Sammy.
Going places like Frenchtown to buy fish from the local fishermen with
my mother (miss her very much, also my brother and sister), and a host
of other events which spanned 18 years. I didn't see snow until I left
the Island, but I saw something much better. A blue-green sea with sand
of white...clean and welcoming.
I try to return when I can, but like I said,
you can turn back time and the things of my childhood no longer exist.
The shops like Peppermint Stick, The Marketplace, the old bus stopping
by the post office to take me home to Sugar Estate or Red Hook. Kund
Hansen Memorial where I had my first operation...but that's another
story. The lady at the end of 6th street in sugar estate that baked
French bread and made pates. Guava berry trees, hog plum, sugar apple,
sea grapes, genip fruit, tamarind (best ones were in the cemetery) my
sister and I didn't care about the ghosts.
I miss ALL my classmates from high school. I
regret not learning to play the steel pan (at least i have a CD). Trips
with my brother fishing and catching a 67 lb. king fish (you are
supposed to grab the rod and not the line) ouch.
There are many more memories that I have. Way
too much to write here. i.e., Death of my father (Jose) RIP, Death of my
mother (Virginia) RIP, Death of my brother (Ramon) RIP) Death of my
sister Mercedes (RIP). and recently the death of my older sister Gloria
Ramona (Mona), Rosa, Milda.
But for myself I have my Wife Nancy of 44
years. My Son Joseph Jr, My Daughter Virginia, My Grandson Carlos to
fill the void.