My father, Henry, was born in 1911 in Boswell, a tiny Pennsylvania coal mining town. His father died of pneumonia before he was 8. After that, money was tight as his mother struggled to support their family which included Henry’s older sister, Annetta. The first Christmas after his father’s death, Dad’s present was a shiny new bike that meant as much to him as Jenna’s did to her. He said that it felt like a present from his father because he couldn’t imagine how his mother had been able to afford it. Unfortunately, very soon one of the pedals broke off. There seemed to be no way to fix it. So Dad pedaled with one foot all the way through high school and bragged that he could keep up with anyone.

Barbara