SOME JORDANESE
By: Stan Jordan
• He is not the sharpest knife in the drawer
• He is two french fries short of a happy meal
• She is wound a little too tight
• News to her is in both ears and out the mouth
• That ain’t worth a plated nickel
• She is some kind of typo
• He had up a full head of steam
• It was up hill both ways
• His car had seen better days
• His feet didn’t match
• She wanted to be a big frog in a little pond, but she was a little frog in a big pond
• You can’t be optimistic with mistyoptic
• Speed on big boy, Hell ain’t full
• Cheer up son, life is never fair
• She laid down the law
• Tell it like it is
• It was not the apple in the tree, but the pair on the ground
• On down the road
• The key is in the mailbox, come on in
• I’m a fixin’
• You win a few, you lose a few
• Slim is dead and gone
• I will do it tomorrow
• Not by a jug full
ME, ME, ME
By: Stan Jordan
I was thinking, if I am going to write my life history, I had better get started, because I am over the hill and started down the other side.
I was born June 27th, 1924 up on Wentworth Road here in Antwerp. There were three of us boys and I was the youngest. I remember quite a bit about that area, but we moved down on East Canal St. about 1929.
I started to school in the fall of 1930. My first grade teacher was Lucile Carr Stiver. The Depression came along about that time and I can remember that alright.
About the middle of the 1930’s things started to be better. We three boys spent a lot of time fishing, playing ball or in the park playing.
The city ball diamond was at the east end of Stone Street and lots of boys played there. We had all the kid diseases and that included “the itch”, yes everyone had that.
The world rolled along and I was soon in high school. I played football, basketball and baseball. I soon had my letter “A” for sports along about the end of 1939. We lost our father, Jim was called into the army with the Ohio National Guard. Brother Jack quit school and worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad shops and kept the family together: Mom, my two sisters (Grace born in 1932 and Ruby born in 1934) and I.
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and we were at war whether we wanted it or not. Now that war changed the world, the times and everyone’s lifestyle. I don’t mean it was bad, it was certainly different. Everyone done their part in one way or another.
Life went on and I enjoyed my junior and senior year at Antwerp High School and we graduated in May of 1942. As soon as I was 18 I worked at Bowers in Fort Wayne Defense Plant. Everybody worked somewhere. Then in November of 1942 I enlisted in the army.
I spent the biggest part of the year here in the states and then a few months over in Europe. Then the war in Europe ended May 8th, 1945 and we were rushed around and sent home to the states to be ready to invade Japan on November 1st of that year, but Japan surrendered after we dropped the ‘A’ bomb, thank goodness.
In November of that year I ended up in Camp Shelby, Mississippi and I was discharged there around November 26, 1945. Pauline and I were married in January of 1944, so I was very glad to get home.
I started the post office July 1st, 1946. We lived in some of Taylor Long’s new apartments at that time. After two years as a window clerk, I started in the Railway Mail Service for a few months, mostly from Fort Wayne to St. Louis and from Delphos to Akron. I worked for the RMS until January of 1949 and then I received my appointment as Rural Carrier on R1 out of Antwerp.
Pauline and I moved in 1948 to the corner of Archer Drive and North Main St. She worked for Carl Langham at his Chrysler dealership. Along about then, Gale was born, December 31, 1950. Around that same time the Weatherhead Plant was built, so was the roller rink and pretty soon the bowling alley…Antwerp was growing!
A couple of new churches, some lodges and the midway organizations were all moving along. The firemen held a big day and parade for years and Pauline and I would help out.
We went on vacation a couple of times out through the west and visited the National Parks…
EDITOR’S NOTE: We know Stan’s story definitely didn’t end here, unfortunately, he was never able to finish writing it down. He spoke of many fishing trips to Florida, years spent on his mail route and times helping emcee events. Stan loved his lunches at “the round table” (as he always called it) at the Oasis with his friends and he enjoyed getting visitors here at The West Bend News and could sit and chat for hours. We love you Stan. You will be missed!
