Person:Donald Beals (1)

What do I say about my dad... when us kids were young life wasn't real easy around our house. The fighting could and did get scary at times due to my father's drinking. He worked for a trucking company and delivered beer to the local bars and grocery stores. I also remember good times with dad...this happened more often as he got older. One day dad and I (Linda Sue) went up to St. Johns to look into some geneology questions I had. Dad seemed to enjoy it alot. He loved to talk about the old days. He would tell us all about how the Northend of Lansing was back in his day, the Anurban? which was similar to a trolly car and you could take it all the way up to St. Johns, Michigan. He recalled how when he was about 13 years old, his mother was about to get married again. She called him in and said "well son, I'm going to be getting married and you need to decide what you're going to do." Nice huh? Anyway, he moved in with his older brother Howard and began working. I believe he said it was on a farm. At one time he hopped trains all the way to California and back.

I believe the last several years of my dad's life were good one's for him and us. He retired and he and mother went for lots of car rides.. that was their favorite things to do. They would drive to all the small towns around Lansing and remenise about the old days.

Dad wasn't feeling well at all one day and actually asked my mother to take him over the Dr. McElmery's office. On the way there they passed the St. Lawrence hospital and he wondered if maybe they should have stopped there...but, they didn't and when they got to the doctor's office, he gave my dad something for his heart and sent him home to rest. On the way home dad had a massive heart attack, mom had to drive the rest of the way home with him slumped over next to her. She immediated called for an ambulance and they worked on my father in the yard and transported him to St. Lawrence hospital where he died. Mom always said that he died right there in the car although no one else told us that.