Soldier's Son

12. A Moment's Riches

12 i i n t i i i n mcus Masontown, Pennsylvania April 1953 One Saturday morning a hard shaft of late April sun pierced through the TV glare in the living room at 201, luring us out onto the second-floor porch. The gray floorboards, the outdoor furniture, and the aluminum screens lay under a heavy winter sifting of black dust from the passing coal trucks. But the promise of spring drew us away from Sky King to a game of chase around the chaise lounge and the glider. "Get in here before you look like you belong on the other side of the tracks with the Dotsons," Grandma barked. "June's coming to clean today, so I want you {154} In my high school graduation portrait, taken in 1961, at age seventeen, I bear a close resemblance to Dad. Formal army portrait ofLt. Ewing R."Pete" McClelland, ca. 1943 Dad and Mom on an outing in the summer of their first year of marriage, 1941 Dad, walking through Sather Gate, the main entrance to the University of California-Berkeley campus, ca.1939 Our young family in the yard at 201, on Dad's last visit home before shipping out for the war in Europe in the summer of 1944. My brother Petie Dick is standing, Mom is holding Mary Jane, and Dad is holding me. Mom, just before taking her new job as postmaster, ca.1950 With his army unit, Dad is seated third from the right in the front row. The newspaper article my brother and I came upon, discovering details about Dad's life and death, some of which were erroneous. Handwritten V-mail letter from Dad The last handwritten V-mail letter from Dad. The first portion is addressed to Pete and the second to Mom. Telegram notifying Mom of Dad's death Pop, ca. 1925,tuning up the engine of the Lincoln Touring Car, which the Wright family used for its outings, including frequent trips Up East to visit relatives. We referred to the building at 201 North Main Street, Masontown, Pennsylvania, as "201" (pronounced "two-oh-one"). The family business , Wright Motor Company, was located on the first floor. The center door led upstairs to our home on the second floor. Taken about 1916, this picture shows Pop's employees, Gordon Wright, Sief Bowers, and Nick Brolek,in front of the showroom window. On August 20,1911, the family posed in front of Wright's general store in the coal patch in Ronco, Pennsylvania. From left, the family rooster perched on the Ford's windshield, Uncle Bill Lewis,Cousin Deborah Lewis, Pop, Grandma, Uncle Tom, and Gram. Uncle Lloyd is mounted on horseback. A Wright family portrait taken in the living room at 201, ca. 1950. From left, seated: Grandma, Mom, Uncle Ben, and Pop; standing: Uncle Tom and Uncle Lloyd. Mary Jane, Petie Dick, and me with pups in the yard at 201, ca. 1946 An informal portrait of Pop and us grandchildren, no doubt arranged and photographed by Uncle Lloyd, ca. 1949. Clockwise from the left: Rosemary, me, Tommy Dick, Petie Dick, and Mary Jane. Entering the service as a sergeant, Uncle Ben later received a battlefield commission with promotion to ist Lieutenant. In an army portrait taken at the Villore Studios in Rome, Italy, ca. 1943, Lt. Ben F.Wright proudly displays his new rank. Uncle Ben with us twins playfully posed in Mary Jane's baby doll stroller in front of 201, ca. 1948 Uncle Lloyd rows us on the lake near the Soxman's cabin at Lake o' the Woods, West Virginia, ca. 1945> prior to the building of the Wright's cabin next door. From left, Rosemary, Petie Dick, Uncle Lloyd, and Mary Jane and me in our nanny Ella Spagin's lap. Grandma McClelland with a large straw basket over her arm on Easter Sunday, 1976 My dog Pepper seated on the grand piano bench at 201, ca. 1960. Long unused, the piano holds a tinted portrait of Rosemary and Tommy Dick and a rack of 45rpm records. My class picture at fourteen, ca. 1958 My niece Amy and I visiting Dad's grave near Margarten, the Netherlands...