On the Job

My grandfather was a tradesman. He worked doing plumbing on commercial buildings. This picture was taken on one of his jobs probably in the late 1920's or early 1930's. My grandfather is the first person standing on the right. He lived in New York and during most of the Great Depression he was lucky to have a job, but he worked in Baltimore, Maryland. For several years, every Friday night he would drive to New York to visit his wife and two young children. He was often very tired and one night he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree. Because his body was so relaxed, he suffered only minor injuries. Another time, he fell into a vat of gasoline on the job, but his long woolen underwear kept him from getting third degree burns. He did not die from an on the job injury. Instead, after all his years of hard work, he died of a heart attack at age sixty after he retired.

Unfortunately, there are shadows which appear on this page, because I photographed it in late afternoon. I'm also unable to add products, because there seems to be a problem with this website.