{"id":78162,"date":"2019-09-15T13:52:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T19:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=78162"},"modified":"2019-09-15T22:16:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T04:16:31","slug":"belated-happy-106th-dad-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Detter,<\/a>
Sgt. Carl Peterson at Gmunden, Austria, ca. April 1945, by Theodor Detter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Continued:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in North Dakota. \u00a0En route, he stopped to change trains in Minneapolis\/St. Paul. \u00a0Having a bit of time on his hands before his next train, he stopped in at a bar. \u00a0There, he was accosted by some military-age German Americans who had not served, he recalled, because they were the sole support of aging parents. \u00a0For reasons unknown, they began to mock and taunt him. \u00a0The exchange turned to the idea of Nazi death camps. \u00a0They denied the existence of such camps, which they pronounced mere American propaganda. \u00a0My father, however, was still tormented by terrifying nightmares about what he had experienced as one of the liberators of the concentration camp at Mauthausen, Austria. \u00a0He knew at first hand, directly, that the death camps were all too real. \u00a0They were anything but propagandistic fictions. \u00a0My father was nothing like the \u201cloutish\u201d thug that I am. \u00a0(I read that description of me on the internet just this morning, so it must be true.) \u00a0Later, telling me about his experience in the bar, he said that it was the closest he ever came to getting involved in a brawl.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arriving home, he ended up staying with his sister because his parents had lost their farm and moved. \u00a0His youngest brother, who would have a lifelong problem with alcohol, had stayed home precisely to support his aging parents, but had mismanaged things very badly. \u00a0There was not much to be done, and my father returned to work in construction. \u00a0During the war, perhaps led by the aeronautics industry, California\u2019s economy surged, and it continue to boom after the war, accompanied by a great in-migration from other states. \u00a0In the end, the entire Peterson family would move to California, aging parents and all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1948, my father and his brother, my uncle Ernie, established \u201cE.C. Construction Company\u201d in South El Monte, California. \u00a0It took its name from their<\/em> names, Ernest<\/em> and Carl<\/em>. \u00a0It provided employment for a fairly large number of men (most of them Mexican-Americans), some of whom became almost extended family for me. \u00a0Along with my Uncle Ernie, some of the employees\u00a0were<\/em>, in fact, family members. \u00a0Some were there only in the very early years. \u00a0My brother and I and at least one cousin worked for it at various times. \u00a0One maternal uncle became a long-term employee, as did the paternal uncle who had lost that family farm. \u00a0(My gentle, patient, and forgiving father and my Uncle Ernie never held a grudge against him, never spoke ill of him, always tried to help him.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

E. C. Construction Company still flourishes. \u00a0When my father stepped away from it in the mid-70s, my brother took it over. \u00a0(Dad had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in 1972 \u2014 I baptized him and my brother confirmed him \u2014 and Uncle Ernie had died very suddenly in 1973.) \u00a0When my brother unexpectedly died in 2012 \u2014 for me, on multiple levels, an\u00a0annus horribilis<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 his son, my nephew, assumed leadership of the company.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a couple of days before his passing in 2003, my hospitalized father, whose memory had suddenly disappeared (whether as a result of a minor stroke or as a consequence of medications, I don\u2019t know), asked me repeatedly whether he had led a good life. \u00a0He was very concerned about the question. \u00a0I was pleased to be able to assure him that he had. \u00a0One of the \u201cexhibits\u201d that I was able to provide for him was the work of the company that he and his brother had founded. \u00a0In the course of its then more than half-century of existence, it had made a literally material contribution to the landscape of the greater Los Angeles area and beyond, and, much more importantly, to the lives of untold numbers of people. \u00a0In that as in so many other respects, my father could pass into the next world satisfied with his legacy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Continued: \u00a0 When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in North Dakota. \u00a0En route, he stopped to change trains in Minneapolis\/St. Paul. \u00a0Having a bit of time on his hands before his next train, he stopped in at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5550,5556,5559,5547,5553,5544,3403,2283,5526,5529,5532],"class_list":["post-78162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-california","tag-ccc","tag-civilian-conservation-corps","tag-concentration-camp","tag-construction","tag-e-c-construction","tag-mauthausen","tag-north-dakota","tag-second-world-war","tag-world-war-ii","tag-world-war-two"],"yoast_head":"\nBelated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-15T19:52:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-16T04:16:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-10.16.57-PM-831x1024.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html\",\"name\":\"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-15T19:52:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-16T04:16:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)","description":"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)","og_description":"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-09-15T19:52:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-16T04:16:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-11-at-10.16.57-PM-831x1024.png"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html","name":"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-15T19:52:24+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-16T04:16:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Continued:   When Dad returned to the United States, having been released from the Army, he went to visit his parents on their farm in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/09\/belated-happy-106th-dad-2.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Belated Happy 106th, Dad! (2)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}