This compass belonged to my adventuring uncle.
He moved from his home in small town North Dakota to the metropolis of San Francisco, California in the 1920's, I believe.
I know he lived in the heart of the city and worked as an accountant for the city water department.
Here's that serious young man, caught by a street photographer, back around 100 years ago.
It may have been that same artist who made a pastel sketch which hangs over my desk today.
Some time after Pearl Harbor he joined the army, though he was then in his early 40's, and spent his wartime years as a supply sergeant in Burma (now Myanmar) and India.
He was an award winning long distance swimmer and handball player in his Olympic Club, spent many happy years with a group of friends on overnight weekends on a beach while watching the nearby Golden Gate Bridge being built, once told me had swum in San Francisco Bay every day of at least one year, and enjoyed camping trips in Yosemite National Park, where he crested Mount Lyell.
Yes, my uncle Zenas Taylor was an adventurous man.
But he always knew where he had come from and where he was going.
You were pretty adventurous yourself!
ReplyDeleteRuns in the family, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteHandsome guy! The sketch is very accurate; it looks exactly like him. They called up my maternal grandfather for WWII when he was in his forties. He only had one leg. That wouldn't have saved him except that he was also the only dentist in his town.
ReplyDeletethecontemplativecat here. What a story! Adventures indeed.
ReplyDeleteYes, he seems serious, at least in that photo, but he was also a good looking guy.
ReplyDeleteInteresting man! Handsome too. Guess that also runs in the family?
ReplyDelete