My Uncle Waldo

My Uncle Waldo - Page 2

The short time that Waldo spent in our home was wonderful, but then the time came when he went to live with my Aunt Mildred (my mothers sister) and her family who lived about a mile south from us. Even though it’s been about 60 years now as I write this, I still remember the phone number there where Waldo lived as “DExter 3648”. At this place he was able to get involved more creatively, and he organized a small work space on the West side of the basement next to the coal furnace. He had many tools including drills, saws, and grinding and buffing wheels. Here he would spend many hours at his work bench working away at making all kinds of things using his artistic ability. I would sometimes sit near him and watch intently as he applied his artistic skills.

From his time in Alaska, he had accumulated several pieces of tusks, mainly from the Walrus. In his workshop, he used these to make scrimshaw and all kinds of other beautiful pieces. He cut and sawed the tusks into many small shapes to make polished ivory jewelry, and he made me a bracelet which I have. He also worked with acrylic plastic, making jewelry and other beautiful artistic pieces. Many of these were shaped uniquely, accomplished by gluing several pieces together with multicolored hues applied, which then reflected the colors internally. Some were drilled with designs of roses and flowers or of nature scenes, and then filled with color. He gave away many of these as gifts, and I have several pieces (see below), which he made while I was watching.

Acrylic art piece depicting desert scene

During the time that he spent at Mildred’s place, he made the decision to take advantage of the “GI Bill” and to go to college at the University of Washington. For him, this was a good decision and it would set him up for a successful future. He took several different arts, design, and drafting classes, because that is where he had some specific talent, and because those were the required courses for his major in Industrial Engineering. He was always displaying some of the work he had done, which he brought home from college, and I was constantly amazed at what he created. One such item was a small wooden sculpture he made, which he called the “Handy”. Others included realistic and abstract artwork, graphics, highly detailed drafting designs, and constructed models. At my younger age, I wondered how on earth I could ever match such perfection, beauty, and creativity in what I saw. I was very much impressed, and it intimidated me a bit to think that this is what I would have to produce if I followed a similar route in college.

Although Waldo was now busier with more important things in his life, I did not really have the feeling of being abandoned from his attention. He would still come over and pick me up to go somewhere and to visit with me. Sometimes we would go to the ice cream shop at the corner of Holman Road and Greenwood Avenue where he would treat me to a double-decker ice cream cone that cost an expensive ten cents (compared to the usual 5 cent single cones). That was a real treat, and it was the only time anyone would ever get me a double-decker.

Sometimes we would go down to North Beach and walk the beach looking for artistic pieces of drift wood or look under rocks for crabs. When we heard a train coming along the shore, we would then rush to sit next to the train tracks and then wait as the steam locomotive and its trail of freight cars quickly approached. Just prior to the train arriving, he would quickly reach over and put a penny on the track as we sat about four feet away with our feet hanging over the rock bulkhead. He would hold me as the terrific vibrations and loud rumbling shook and penetrated our bodies with a pulling and sucking sensation as the train thundered past. After the train went by, we would then look for the penny which was usually found just a few feet away off the track, but it would now be in a different shape than it had been. It would be wide and thin in the size of a half dollar and with a bright shinny copper sheen to it. After recovering the penny, we would then practice our balancing skills by walking as far as we could on a single rail of the track.

Other times, he would pick me up and we would go fishing at Shilshole bay, at a spot between Golden Gardens and Rays Boat House. We would go at high tide and sit on the rocks next to the two lane road that hugged the bank next to the railroad tracks. We would then cast out our bated lines with worms which we had previously dug from the garden. The objective here was to catch bullheads, or flounder if we were lucky, in order to provide food for grandma’s Siamese cat named Felicia.

When I was in the second grade in elementary school, Waldo lent me his steel clarinet to take lessons with. I had that clarinet all the way into high school where I played in the school band, but I was never able to play the Clarinet Polka like he did. When my high school band teacher attempted to try out my instrument one day, in my junior year, he could not get a single note out of it and he declared that I must immediately find a new clarinet. I actually thought this was quite amusing, as it was the only clarinet I ever knew or played, and it never occured to me that it was difficult to play. This was the same one that Waldo had used and learned on. When I did get a different woodwind clarinet, it almost seemed to play by itself, it was so easy. It then impressed me all the more in how Waldo was able to get the beautiful notes he did out of that old instrument of his.

Waldo taught me the art of throwing rocks, of throwing flat ones horizontally so that they would skip for a long way over the top of the water. He showed me how to toss them vertically, very high, so that they would come down fast and then hardly make a splash as they made a “spiff” sound when entering the water. He showed me how to make a sling shot with two long strings and a leather pouch (from the tongue of an old shoe), with one string that had a loop fitted around the middle finger. After placing the rock in the pouch, the rock would then be swung around and around until one string would be let loose from the hand at the appropriate time. It was amazing how far the rock would travel before plunging far into the distance. He also showed me how to sling an arrow with a long stick and a knotted line. The arrow had a notch in it where the knotted line would be attached. And then, with arrow hanging from the line behind you, the stick would be whipped forward while taking a long quick step, and the arrow would travel for “miles” out of sight. He also built a pair by stilts for me and taught me how to walk high. And then there was the bow and arrow that he gave me which was used in shooting targets in the golf course across the street. This, however, was something that my mother was not particularly pleased with.

On many occasions he would come over and show me the techniques of putting together plastic models, or of building airplane models made of balsa wood and tissue, all painted and ready to fly. One had about a 3 foot wingspan. He showed me how to use model airplane gas engines with propellers and gave me an engine to experiment with. He also helped me build a very large “flying saucer kite” (5 foot in diameter) from a kit that I had, which used heavy nylon twine to constrain it from flying away. All of this started me in on some great hobbies that followed me through junior high school, and then continued in following years with other similar creative interests.

I always looked forward to my Birthday and to Christmas because of the gifts I received from Uncle Waldo. They were always something very special. I’ll never forget the Christmas at Mildred’s place when I received a crystal radio from him. It consisted of a red box platform, about 5 by 10 inches square, with components mounted on top. He showed me how to maneuver the “cat’s whisker” to get the best reception and how to tune it to the different stations. I then spent many hours listening through the earphones to the radio stations that I could pick up from all over the country. His gifts to me were always fascinating and they often provided a great learning experience. This particular gift of a crystal radio harkens back to his own childhood, and he knew that I would also be interested in this.

Top