Hi Douglas.
Hang on a second. I got to close these windows. There is too much going on this morning on the net.
Should I call you later?
No, no, I am ready now. Just had to answer a post. These days people ask me so many questions. It’s getting really stressful.
What kind of questions?
Oh you know, at this time of the year it’s all about Christmas. And I am in charge of the Wallhaven Christmas dinner for senior residents. I’ve been doing this for years now, and since 2010 I’m responsible for the marketing of the event.
And what is your marketing strategy?
Well, you have to know the people. And people have to know you. It’s basically community work, on Facebook and around town. This year I designed a little poster. I spread them all over town. For example, I know the manager of Acme Fresh Market. He lets me put up my posters.
Did you make the poster by hand or on your computer?
Photoshop! My daughter installed Photoshop CS4 on my laptop last year, and I took the computer training course at the Akron Public Library. It’s great and it’s not expensive at all! The year before I did Excel. I met very interesting young people there who took classes because, you know, you can really increase your chances on the job market and improve your earning potential if you are young and know how to use these machines.
Can you describe us what’s on the poster?
Okay, let me get one. In the middle there’s a photo of the committee. Me, Paul and Etna at last year’s dinner, presenting our seven sixteen pound turkeys. It was a great success I tell you. We had some bands playing and a class of 5th grade created the whole room decoration: huge cotton snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and cardboard Santa Claus dinosaurs to decorate the tables.
You eat Turkey on Christmas?
Here, they like their Turkey for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. But we play with the stuffing. This time it’s all Mediterranean. My friend Sal brought his Italian touch to it. He’s from Virginia. He used to work for Avellino’s in Blacksburg. I’ve never been there, but people say it’s one of the best Italian restaurants in the US.
And where do you come from?
I was born in the city of Cuyahoga Falls, 5 miles north of Akron, Ohio, on July the 31st, 1946. Exactly six years after the „Doodlebug disaster“.
The „Doodlebug disaster“?
A gasoline-powered doodlebug rail-car collided with a freight train. Over 40 people died. The biggest disaster to our city. It gained national attention. My father used to work for Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam. Today they call it the First Energy Dam. It was generating hydropower for our streetcars and cooling-water for the coal plant. My fat≠her lost his job in 1958, when they stopped the hydropower operation. He worked at the dam for 25 years. After that he had temporary jobs here and there, but we mainly depended on my mother’s salary. She worked as a secretary at an insurance company in Downtown Akron.
Do you have siblings?
I have one sister. Betty, she is four years younger than me. We were quite close until she became a hippie when she was 18. Maybe the biggest hippie in Ohio. Organizing concerts and protest-marches. She met her husband Douglas in Cleveland at the end of the 60s. He was a journalist, working on an article about the Cuyahoga River Fires back in the days. They’ve traveled the world together, India, Nepal, Australia. She liked it I guess. It has been a while since I saw her last time. Maybe eleven or twelve years. We are very different. She’s always been very different. She felt she was born to the wrong family and the wrong place… You know how these things happen sometimes.
Cuyahoga River Fires?
You’ve never heard of this? It was all over the news at that time. Even Time Magazine published a big story. The Burning Rivers of Cleveland. A train spark put the river on fire. You don’t know the Randy Newman song? „There’s a red moon rising on the Cuyahoga river… There’s an oil barge winding down the Cuyahoga river“.
The river was on fire?
Yes, but it was not the first and not the worst fire. It had lit up a dozen times before. Back in the days the water quality was incredibly bad. People used to say that „you don’t drown in Cuyahoga river, you decay“. The concern erupted nationwide and the river became a sort of symbol for all the environmental problems we have.
Are you concerned about the environment?
Sure, I am concerned about the environment, but for me people come first. If people lose jobs because of new environmental rules, it’s problematic. But let’s not dig into that…
Where did you go to high school?
I went to Cuyahoga Falls High school. Do you know Jim Boeke? He was at the same school. Graduated five or six years before me. Played for the Tigers, like me. He later went to Heidelberg College and had a professional NFL career. He played in the „Ice Bowl“ in 67. You never heard of him?
I don’t know much about American Football.
Ah, yeah, you call it „American football“ over there. Here it’s just football. He later became a movie star.
Ah yes?
He played in ‹Star Trek›. He was a Klingon. And then he played a football coach in ‹Forrest Gump›.
I don’t remember the football coach.
It was a small role. He died a couple of years ago.
What did you do after high school?
We couldn’t afford college. So, I started working at Firestone down in Akron. It was before they were bought by the Japanese. It used to be an all American company. They even produced the helmets during the WWII. I worked in the office. I’ve always been good with people and communication. First, I worked at HR and then I switched to customer support. I worked there for seven years. It was a good time. I liked talking to customers on the phone the whole day. But in the 70’s economy got rougher, and the early 80’s the company moved its headquarters to Chicago. Many people around Akron lost their jobs. Including me.
What did you do after that?
It was a tough time. The economy changed. No office job without college. In the early 80’s, I started working for the Summit Metro Parks and Recreation Department. We managed over a dozen parks and over 10’000 acres. I did a whole bunch of things there. Worked in the office, the restaurant, I even became a part-time park ranger for a while. The nature here is really beautiful, and trails are well maintained. It’s very safe for families and children. You can even see wild turkeys in some of the Summit area parks. If you don’t see them on the ground, you have to look up to the trees, that’s where they sleep.
And you worked there till retirement?
Yes, I retired four years ago.
Are you married?
Yes, since 1972. We celebrated our 40th anniversary at the Silver Lake Country Club. How time flies. I met Daisy at Firestone. She was a secretary. Like my mother. She had a phone on her desk, too. You can’t imagine how many hours we spent talking from desk to desk, sitting in different offices. At lunch we used to meet in the cafeteria.
Do you have kids?
We have two sons – Daniel and Dillan. And one daughter, Dorothy. She’s our youngest. This summer our fifth grandchild was born, his name is Sidney.
Where do you live now?
We recently bought a small house on Bryden Drive. We bought it from Daisy’s cousin, Sheila. She lived there until she got too old and decided to live with her daughter in a neighboring town. It’s a simple one-story wooden house with an attached garage. I did some repairs and upgrades here and there. But the house is perfect for us, not too big not too small and it’s easy to keep tidy. In the smaller room, which is about six feet large and seven feet long, I’ve installed my office.
Can you describe the room you’re in?
Right now? I’m in my office. That’s usually where I am when I talk on the phone. It’s tiny, but I don’t need anything more than a table where I can put my laptop and a comfortable chair that’s good for my back. Because I have back problems, I had to spend a bit more money for a good office chair. I paid half of it and my children paid the other half. The table, a friend gave it to me, after he cleaned up his house. What else is in here? I have a pile of documents waiting to be sorted out, copies of bills, Christmas Dinner posters, and on the wall on my right, there is a calendar which my daughter-in-law, Dillan’s wife, made with photos of their children. November is Debbie and Dougie lying on the ground covered with golden leaves, and all you can see is their faces coming out of the leaves and they are smiling. That’s all. That’s how the place where I’m sitting right now looks like. I have to say it’s a very modest house, but it’s cozy and Daisy and I like it here. The only thing I don’t like about the house, is that is has no porch. I am planning to build a deck next spring though. I want to have a covered sitting area in front of my house. I could drink my coffee there in the morning, and see what’s going on in the street. My neighbors would see me when they pass by and come and say hi. We could chitchat. Neighbour things, you know, nothing special.
Your grandson’s name is Douglas?
Yes! My son named his son after me. But he’s Dougie rather than Douglas. And I am a Doug for my family and my friends.
And how do you feel about being named Douglas?
How do I feel? Douglas Jones, I don’t know, it’s my name. It just feels right I guess. Douglas, Daisy, Daniel, Dillan and Dorothy. We are a „D“ family!
And one last question: how would you like to be remembered?
Remembered? Hmm… Maybe I would like to be remembered as a man who cares about the little things. These little things which are important for our community. For example, I’ve recently read, that during Halloween the pumpkin-sales are going up and up every year. There are pumpkins everywhere, on every single porch. But I have the feeling nobody carves them anymore, like back in the days. People are losing their creativity. They are losing their sensibility for the small things. Maybe I want to be remembered as someone who still carves his pumpkins.