Happy Birthday, Dad - Peter F. Provenzale
As much as I try, this is always a sad day for me. It's my father's birthday and although I know he's around, I miss him. So a tribute and a story about a wonderful man:
If you've read my blogs you probably remember that my Father served in WWll and reach Lt. Colonel. He flew when Clark Gable was filming a movie there called "Combat America" and is in many parts of it. Here's one if you care to watch it:
I had the phenomenal blessing to have been contacted this last year by the son of the last remaining Crew Member of the "Argonaut" (their airplane's name). Mr. Alvin Hulse contacted me and I was able to speak to his father Phil Hulse who flew alongside my dad in the 8th Air Force, 351st. Division. He found me through an Activerain Post!
My father did not speak much about his Air Force days. I do know that he had a secret pocket built into his flight jacket in which he carried my mother's engagement ring. He would not marry her before going off to war because he didn't want to leave her a widow....and always told us that ring was what kept him alive.
My father flew with Phil Hulse and he shared some amazing stories and photos with me. For example, I did not know this sent in part of an email he wrote me:
"My father informed me that your father did not have to fly his final 8 missions and could have returned home with his crew members. Instead, he chose to fulfill his 25 mission requirement and stayed behind to fight the war. The crew members of the Argonuat were nearly broken up before their group formed in order to spread more experienced crew members to other planes. There was near revolt, among the crew, over this decision to break up the crew and, in the end, the Army Air Corp. elected to keep crew together. This happened in Tuscon Arizona just before they flew overseas in late April 1943.
The Argonaut 3 went down in the English Channel while returning from Germany on their 24 mission. The plane was low on fuel and the pilot made it to land and he truned the plane around and the crew whet out at night over land from an altitude of 2,500 feet. The plane was on autopilot and crashed into the channel when it ran out of fuel."
Courtesy of Mr. Alvin Hulse
When my dad was coming home, he wrote directly to Mr. Levitt having heard about his new community, Levittown. He received a reply and had a rental home available for my dad (and his new wife!) when he arrived back in New York. So began their life in Levittown, NY. A year after renting, they found a home they absolutely LOVED-and purchased it.
My father went to college and was interested in the fact that so many men lost their hearing after the war. He began to study Audiology and eventually opened the first store on Long Island NY for the Hearing Impaired. At a long ago time when people were pulled in kicking and screaming because they didn't want to wear one.
He loved giving people the gift of hearing. As technology grew, they came willingly. One thing my father always did was take them outside....to hear the birds sing. It sounds like such a simple thing but they'd get tears in their eyes.
I went to work for him for many years and became a NYS Registered Hearing Aid Dispenser. When my father passed, he left me to run the business...a difficult task for someone so young. When I had to make a decision, I would often wonder what my father would have done and it helped me a great deal.
I could not see people after he passed. I hired someone for the front (my old position), had two other consultants there and took my Dad's old seat. Although I wasn't up to seeing anyone, one day a man insisted he come into the room I was in. He told me a story about my father I will never forget:
Years ago he had taken his mother in because her hearing was failing. My father had tried a hearing aid on her after testing her and saw her face light up. The man was so upset because he had no money at all to pay for the hearing aid. My father proceeded to make the earmold even as the man kept telling him he didn't know when or IF he could ever pay for it.
"It's a gift" said my dad. "If you can't pay for it, don't worry about it---everyone deserves to hear." Even as this man told me so many years later, he still got tears in his eyes. Through the years I heard almost the same story from many others....It taught me more lessons then I ever could have learned but most of all that it's not about the money in life, it's about HELPING PEOPLE. That gives you more satisfaction and happiness then money could ever buy.
Happy Birthday, Dad!
*Carole Provenzale, Certified Feng Shui Consultant New York NY
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