Happy Birthday Evie Gottbreht Pilkington (DHS ’65): Irvine, CA
Class of 65 reunion 7-12-07
L To R: Angela Berube, Evie Gottbreht, Gary Stokes, Bill Grimme
Standing in back: Allen Richard & his daughter Alaina. Sitting in Back: Bob Lykins
Alcide Lajimodiere Memories
From Jim Metcalfe (’52): Kingman, AZ
I have been reading the anecdotes about Alcide Lajimodiere and felt compelled to add one of my experiences. I also remember Alcide well and agree with the observations about what a good and interesting person he was. Anyway, one summer after the crop was in, it was fencing time and my dad, Jim senior, decided he would like to have a new fence put through a field near a creek and meadow. It was a long and straight fence. If it wasn’t straight it would need to be done over. Anyway it was about the hottest muggy day in June I ever remember when Alcide, who was our hired hand at the time, and I set out with post maul, wire stretcher, fencing wire and home cut oak posts. We had a good start and were sweating profusely when we were maliciously attacked by hordes of mosquitos, which we had disturbed, that came swarming out from the meadow to chew us out. Never-the-less we kept to our task although not exactly in good humor. Finally it was lunch time. We were relieved to get out of the sun and away from the insects. My mother, Ella, seeing our plight, decided that we needed some protection from the pesty little beasts. She dug through her sewing basket and come up with some old lace curtains that she had kept in case she should find some use for them. So Alcide and I were fitted out with some pretty lace coverups that we wore under our hats and over our shoulders for the remainder of the day. When my dad came home. he seemed to find some humor in the fancy accoutrements of his hired hands. I think my mother took a picture with her old Brownie Kodak, but I don’t think I kept a copy.
Alcide Lajimodiere picture
From Dick Johnson (’68): Dunseith, ND
Gary and Friends, Here is a picture of Alcide from a quite few years ago. This
came to me from Debbie Poitra Rondeau who got it from her mom, Betty
Counts Poitra, at my request. I had no pictures of Alcide Lajimodiere
or Ward Anthony so I asked Betty and she looked until she found one
with both of them on it and I really appreciated it. I did separate the
two of them for picture enlargement reasons. These two guys were
‘fixtures’ in the neighborhood for many years and I wanted a picture of
them to keep for old times sake. Thanks Gary!Dick
came to me from Debbie Poitra Rondeau who got it from her mom, Betty
Counts Poitra, at my request. I had no pictures of Alcide Lajimodiere
or Ward Anthony so I asked Betty and she looked until she found one
with both of them on it and I really appreciated it. I did separate the
two of them for picture enlargement reasons. These two guys were
‘fixtures’ in the neighborhood for many years and I wanted a picture of
them to keep for old times sake. Thanks Gary!Dick
Reply to yesterday’s ‘Post of the Day’
From Dick Johnson (’68): Dunseith, ND
Gary and Friends, Thanks to Sharon and Mary for the ‘Post of the Day’ about old
terms not heard much anymore. Being I do a lot of work on old
vehicles, I still use many of the terms mentioned. Other old car buffs
use the same terms so we all know what part we are talking about but
younger folks think we’re talking in a foreign language. One
example—-One day I went into the big NAPA auto parts store in Minot
and a younger kid with a spiked haircut came up to the counter and asked
what I needed? I told him I was looking for a ‘points’ screwdriver with
the little clamps to hold the screws when putting in a set of points.�
He stood there dumbfounded and asked, “What are points?” I take it
that his Honda Civic with the painted windows and 6″ boom pipe exhaust
doesn’t have points. I noticed another parts man, with gray hair,�
behind the counter and told the kid maybe we better ask him. He said, ”
Hey Joe, this guy wants a ‘points’ screwdriver.” The older man said,�
without hesitation, ” It’s on the back blue board, 839150″ (or some
similar long number), and the kid walked back and picked it off the
board. When he got to the counter with the screwdriver, has asked what
it was for and I explained it’s use. He had never heard of such a thing
or what it would be used for. Moral of the story—Find the older parts
man first if you work on old cars. Another example was when I took a pair of heads for a 409 Chevy
engine to a rebuilder for getting new hard valve seats installed. He
was an older gray haired guy and he just took a quick look and told me�
no problem. These heads are very spendy and I wanted to make sure he
knew EXACTLY what he was doing as some of the 409 heads are lighter duty
and can be ruined permanently by cutting out the valve seats and going
into the water jacket. He was just too sure of himself so I asked him
if he was sure these heads are OK for the job or might he go through
into the water jacket while cutting the seats? He looked at me with a
disgruntled look and pulled out an old dirty ring binder and flipped it
open and pointed to the number on my heads and then pointed to the top
of the page where he had written ‘Good to Go’. The other column said
‘NO Good’. He knew what he was doing and had done it many times when
409s were common. He knew the 6 digit head numbers by heart and there
are lots of different heads with different numbers. I left with
confidence and he did a great job. As I said, find the old guy. Thanks
Gary!
terms not heard much anymore. Being I do a lot of work on old
vehicles, I still use many of the terms mentioned. Other old car buffs
use the same terms so we all know what part we are talking about but
younger folks think we’re talking in a foreign language. One
example—-One day I went into the big NAPA auto parts store in Minot
and a younger kid with a spiked haircut came up to the counter and asked
what I needed? I told him I was looking for a ‘points’ screwdriver with
the little clamps to hold the screws when putting in a set of points.�
He stood there dumbfounded and asked, “What are points?” I take it
that his Honda Civic with the painted windows and 6″ boom pipe exhaust
doesn’t have points. I noticed another parts man, with gray hair,�
behind the counter and told the kid maybe we better ask him. He said, ”
Hey Joe, this guy wants a ‘points’ screwdriver.” The older man said,�
without hesitation, ” It’s on the back blue board, 839150″ (or some
similar long number), and the kid walked back and picked it off the
board. When he got to the counter with the screwdriver, has asked what
it was for and I explained it’s use. He had never heard of such a thing
or what it would be used for. Moral of the story—Find the older parts
man first if you work on old cars. Another example was when I took a pair of heads for a 409 Chevy
engine to a rebuilder for getting new hard valve seats installed. He
was an older gray haired guy and he just took a quick look and told me�
no problem. These heads are very spendy and I wanted to make sure he
knew EXACTLY what he was doing as some of the 409 heads are lighter duty
and can be ruined permanently by cutting out the valve seats and going
into the water jacket. He was just too sure of himself so I asked him
if he was sure these heads are OK for the job or might he go through
into the water jacket while cutting the seats? He looked at me with a
disgruntled look and pulled out an old dirty ring binder and flipped it
open and pointed to the number on my heads and then pointed to the top
of the page where he had written ‘Good to Go’. The other column said
‘NO Good’. He knew what he was doing and had done it many times when
409s were common. He knew the 6 digit head numbers by heart and there
are lots of different heads with different numbers. I left with
confidence and he did a great job. As I said, find the old guy. Thanks
Gary!
Dick