p. 38
In the six years between my mother’s death and my fi rst 
year in college he did the following; re-married and had four 
more children; sold our Portland home and moved us all to 
a rented house in Palm Springs while he built a new home 
there; moved us back to Portland in a rented house; moved 
us back to Palm Springs; took us to the Gearhart home for 
the summers while he commuted to Portland each day by 
plane; purchased the Tatum house and moved us there; 
moved the company headquarters and some 800 - 900 
employees to Phoenix where he bought two offi ce build-
ings; completely reorganized the company and conducted a 
series of seminars (1962 Lecture) to re-educate personnel 
to the realities of a more sophisticated company; saw to it 
that Mike and I attended the Los Angeles presentation; and 
introduced rental trucks into the company.
In the midst of this he found time to fl y to Los Angeles from 
Palm Springs to pick Mike and I up from Loyola High School, 
which he had found and selected for us;  bought me a 
needed baseball glove without being asked; converted the 
garage at Gearhart into a family room without hiring anyone; 
taught me to drive on the beaches of Oregon; showed Mike 
and I how to dig and install a drain fi eld in Gearhart; visited 
college campuses and selected Holy Cross for myself and 
Mike; arranged that the correct laundry service was set up 
at Holy Cross; bought and installed a commercial swing set 
over the pool in Palm Springs; set Mike and I up with fl ying 
instructors; and a thousand other things.
Amid all his accomplishments, he gets the most credit for 
being a loving and supportive father, a life long mentor, and 
providing me with the living example of the courage, wisdom 
and perseverance of an imperfect man on a troubled sea.      
Oral History SWS

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.