Welder's Helper

When I was about 15, my brother, Ricky, and I worked in Farmersville during the summer with my Dad.

I started out sweeping the floor of the large building. I found that there was a good way to cover every inch of ground with the shop broom. Dad told me to start on one side and sweep down and toward where I will be sweeping next. Do that until you get to the other side and make sweeping motions with the broom so no dirt remains. I actually got enjoyment out of doing it and it was a great feeling when it was done.

As the days of summer progressed, I was able to learn new things. I learned to pull the hoses and chords off of the truck so my Dad had plenty of slack to work. I would unroll them and turn the bottles on so the torch would light or turn on the welding machine so he could get an arc started. Dad had a tool that would roll on a track and cut large pieces of metal. I learned to use that. It was really cool.

We built lots of beds for trucks. We would weld together, on both sides of the bed, a large toolbox. One day we were putting the toolboxes on a jack to help keep it in place while he welded it in place when it somehow came down on my hand and squished my fingers. That hurt real bad but I learned that if you put water in a coffee can and put a squished hand inside of it that the pain subsides somewhat. The pain was still there but hurt less. If I brought my hand out of the water, it would start hurting worse.

One day I was waiting for my next task while Dad was welding. I was told that looking at the bright welding light would hurt my eyes so I always avoided looking at it. I did not know that it would hurt my eyes if it was in my peripheral vision. My eyes stung for days. It was awful.

When we finished some trucks, we would travel to Dallas to deliver them. Most of the time we would stop at the Circle Grill Restaurant and eat yummy burgers, fries, and a desert.

I really enjoyed working with my Dad. I learned so much. He has always said "Take care of your job and it will take care of you." I took that to heart and I give 110% in whatever I do.