Jon Thomas Sorenson

I was the first child born to Carl T and Ruth A Sorenson on June 7, 1936 in Sacred Heart Hospital located in Spokane, Washington. My parents then had a son Vern Daniel and Carleen after me. Vern & I both had scarlet fever at the same time and were in Sacred Heart Hospital. Our Doctor advised the nurse staff that we were to be checked every 30 minutes as there was a gland in our throat that could swell. Vern's swelled and choked him to death. The Doctor came in about 5 AM and found Vern dead. He was furious and had the staff fired, today it would be a lawsuit. My gland swelled out and I had to go to the Doctor every day and have the scab peeled off and area painted with silver nitrate. This lasted for about 8 months. My sister Carleen picked up a dry bean in the garden and chocked to death. Dad rushed her to the hospital and it was about 10 years later that we accidentally ran into nurse who took Carleen from Dad to the emergency and she told us that Carleen died in the elevator, 2 or 3 minutes might have made a difference. My parents then had another girl Ruth A. and son Charles R. They are both alive today.

Growing up on the lower south side of Spokane 122 E Celesta was a fun time. We played ball, kick the can, hide & seek, and many other games with all the neighbor kids. I had a close friend then named Larry Hicks who lived in the same block and we spent a lot of time together. Summer we lived in the swimming pool which was 3 blocks from home. Turned brown all over.. Spent the winters at the Swamp a block away which the fire department flooded for all of us. Played a lot of stick hockey with a rock for a puck Dad had to get me home for dinner and then I would sneak out and go back to play more hockey. Dad would load up trailer every so often and make a run to the city dump and I would go along. We usually picked thru the other items there and often come home with the trailer partly loaded with what Dad called goodstuff. Guess that is where I got the pack rack trait.

Dad had a revolver which he shot off blanks on New Years Eve and the 4" of July. I knew it made a lot of noise. One summer day Patty, a neighbor girl, and myself found it where the revolver was and took a bullet from the drawer. I knew that if we put in vise and then pounded on the back it would explode and make lots of noise. We did not know that what we had was not a blank. It went off with a big bang and we were lucky as the bullet just grazed my ear and drew only a little blood. Needless to say we never touched the gun or bullets again. We had across the street a couple of girls 3 or 4 years younger, whose parents had ample money, and they would always tease Larry and myself about what they had new and we did not, then laugh at us. Well one fall Saturday the girls were all dressed up to be flower girls at a wedding later in the day. Yes you can guess they were yelling at us and teasing about how pretty they were and we were not. Well it was fall and there was a crab apple tree near with lots of fallen and rotting apples. Yes we peppered them good with those apples, sure felt good at the time. I think their parents got them clean clothes and they made the wedding. I went to the woodshed and had the razor strap used on me and Larry. Went home to the basement for the Cato Nine Tails. Both of us did not sit very well for a couple of days. Still think it was worth it. Attended Grant Grade School thru the 7" grade. Never forget my 6" grade teacher. She was a retired WAC and could hit you in the forehead with an eraser or piece of chalk without ever turning around. Sure got our attention.

Between my 7" grade and 8th grade we moved to the N side 3903 N Helena. I enrolled at Longfellow grade school and guess what, had same teacher for 8th grade as had in 6" grade. What a let down. Attended Rogers High School where graduated in 1954. Played Clarinet in Band and Played Oboe in Orchestra. Went to a lot of parades and football games. I finished high school with a 3.67 grade average. Favorite subjects math and science. One of my H.S. friends was Bill Morrison. We did a lot of work on cars fixing and playing with them. One time we had a wrecked Ford and a good Ford frame and engine. We put the 2 together and made one good car when we were done. During this we got the motor, wheels, steering wheel and seat mounted. No body on yet, but we started driving around the streets like this. One afternoon we drove down to A&W for a root beer. When the girl came out with the tray she had a hard time finding where to put the tray, so we said forget it, drank our drinks and left. Almost got caught by the cops, but got car under cover at home before they found us. Lucky we are still here.

I started working part time in a garage for Vern Buck, a friend of my Dad, after school And weekends. Guess this where I got started working on cars. After I finished HS I worked for him for several months. In the fall I got a job with Union Iron Works taking orders for steel products on the phone and earned sales and pricing and soon was in charge of order desk, Like all guys my age was chasing girls, going Swimming, Square dancing, church outings. Spent a lot of summer weekends at Twindow, the Methodist Church Camp, on Twin Lakes, Idaho. My Mother was the cook there for many years. Sure have lots of great memories of time spent there. I finally met the love of my life. I was singing in the Hays Park Methodist Church choir, and one evening before practice, the minister said a lady needed a ride and would pick her up. Surprised it was a young lady by the name of Angie. Well I asked her to go square dancing Friday night, and then we stopped for burgers and cokes after dancing. As you know this started a long relationship. We spent a lot of time with our friends Glenn and JoAnn who also married about the same time we did. Shortly after we got married got the job of outside salesman for the Union Iron Works which meant was gone out of town quite a bit. We did manage to have 4 kids anyway. Bill, Julie, Jim and Natalie. I traveled Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho & Western Montana. Drove about 60,000 to 70,000 miles a year. I was let go by this company after about 10 years, as they said l was not doing a good job, I did not agree then, however after working at several jobs, I started to realize I was drinking too much and not making the calls I should.

I also got interested in Amateur Radio, and got the call sign of K7WNE, which I have had for 50 years. Met lots of fine people and became a very active Ham. Attended lots of picnics, dinners and outings.

I got a job with Spokane Hardware Co and it was there that I started to learn to Door & Hardware Business. I left then and went to work at Yadon Construction Specialties. Company was a partnership and worked for Lloyd, who took care of all the hardware business. Lloyd was an alcoholic and he would tell me about 10 in the morning that we had to go to a couple of jobsites and take care of some problems. Well the first stop was the bar where we spent a couple of hours and then on to the jobs. We never did return to the office. Lloyd would come back at night and do some work. After Cliff the principal owner bought Lloyd out I was in charge of hardware. I had gotten into the pattern of leaving and going to bar and then jobs, going back at night to finish up work, so Cliff would think I was keeping on top of things. He finally got tired of my drinking and let me go. He did say that my work was good and no complaints there but he was feed up with my boozing. I started driving cab for some income, still thinking I was OK. When the cab company said I could not drive anymore until I got sober, I hit my bottom. This a common term for a drunk to seek help. I went thru Raleigh Hills Hospital, which is a 10 day aversion therapy treatment. Get you sick on booze and then sober you up. This program worked for me. After this treatment I went back to cab driving to make some income until could find a good job again. One evening I saw an ad for a contract hardware estimator and department manager. I replied to the ad and was contacted by Culbertsons in Missoula, Montana. We set up an interview and I flew to Missoula. Had a good interview and a week later got a phone call that I was hired. That is how we got to Missoula. We moved and started a new chapter in my life. We enjoyed Montana, bought a house near the U of Montana. Lots of outdoor activities and we bought a tent trailer, which we used almost every weekend in the summer. Our favorite place was Medicine Hot Springs in the south end of the Bitteroot Valley. Good friends of ours Jim & Donna from Spokane, took over management shortly after we moved to Montana, and we spent a lot of weekends there. Hot tubs, big pool, fishing, hiking. - we had one of the most memorable Christmas celebrations there. We got the big cabin, cut a tree and decorated it with popcorn strings, and paper mache rings. No lights. Had a big fire in the fireplace. We were joined by Bob & Carol and their kids, Skip & Carol and Jim & Donna. No television, just peaceful and quiet. Lots of snow and we slide down the hill from above the resort, had snow ball fights, built Snowmen. Then we would put on swimsuits and jump in the pool, about 95 degrees. Had snow ball fights in pool. It was a little chilly running back to cabin, but it was worth it for all the fun we had.

Joined the Civil Air Patrol and learned to fly. Made a deal I would modify radios for CAP use and they would teach me to fly. All I had to pay for was fuel. Still have movie that Angie took of my 1st solo flight. I also was very active in the ham community, maintaining the mountain top repeater and building a new one for east of Missoula. We had hamfests 2 or 3 times a year we attended. The biggest and oldest the Galicier-Wateron Hamfest. This one got so large the Park Department said we would have to find a new location. I spent a month on weekends looking for a new location and found a new campground just outside E Glacier. Had our first hamfest there and they are still using that site today.

After 4 years working for Culbertsons I saw they were getting in financial trouble and started looking for another firm that I could go to work for. After many phone calls made contact with Gottwalt Products, in Minneapolis, Minn. We flew back there and had discussions for 2 days. About a week later I got a call and he wanted to hire me as his General Manager. I made the decision this would be a good move and took the job. We moved to Minneapolis, and started to work. This turned out to be a big mistake. Virg, the owner, was great for titles for everyone and dress like you were the most successful person. Lots of lunches and dinners with the “quote” elite. He also would not tell the employers the truth about what was going on with company. I knew we had to get out of there as soon as possible or get stuck in a dead end position.

Again started looking and through some of my contacts back in Seattle, I got an interview with NW Builders Hardware as Sales Manager. I flew to Seattle and spent 2 days there being interviewed by 5 or 6 people. I flew back to Minneapolis not knowing whether I had job or not. After a week passed called them and was told I have the job. We packed up and headed west, leaving Julie behind as she had her sweetheart and they were planning a wedding. The marriage did not work out and I later moved here out to Seattle with us.

We bought a nice home in Shoreline and finished putting kids through school. I enjoyed my work there, Had 6 sales people working for me. We were a big firm bidding jobs in Washington and Alaska, which was a big market for us. My sales people did not want to make sales and service calls to Alaska as it took too much time away from the bidding jobs. They were all paid on commission and had to scramble to make any money. I took over making all their calls and started traveling Alaska about every 6 weeks. Had the experience of seeing all of Alaska form the North Sea, Barrow and Prudoe Bay, to SW Alaska and out the Aleutian chain. Flew in a lot of Bush Pilot planes. After NW Builders Hawe merged with Henry Bacon Materials and moved to Issaquah, I told management that this would not be a good move as we were a Wholesale supplier to contractors and Henry Bacon was basically a retail outlet with some sales to contractors. I again started looking for a firm that suited my background in Contract Sales to contractors. Tried a couple of firms however they were not very well positioned in the marketplace. I went to work for Cascade Steel Door in Everett, starting as purchasing manager, I soon decided that I needed to be in sales, so I trained a couple of women in the company to do the purchasing and scheduling, and I went back to sales for the company. After about 6 years with them I was not getting paid what the owners favorites were so I left. I went to work for Hardware Northwest Builders, owned by Gene Gouker. Gene and I had worked together at NW Builders and were good friends. Gene dealt in High end residential hardware and made contact with commercial Suppliers, so I could bid and furnish commercial jobs. I worked on commission and this worked out for both Gene & I. Gene contracted cancer and was with us for only 5 months. Gene’s wife Leslie decided she would run the company, however with her lack of product knowledge, sales were dropping and she decided to down size and only deal in residential hardware. I left in good standing with her and contacted another old friend. Dan & Vikki owned Security Door Fabricators, located just out of Olympia. We struck a commission arrangement that was good for them and myself. I am still doing sales with them.

A year after we moved to Seattle, Jim and I joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary. We learned a lot about boating and spent many hours on Puget Sound, doing safety patrols. We also taught Boating Safety Courses to the public. We were in a very good Flotilla with a lot of very knowledgeable people and learned from them. One of the members Bill Houger, who was a master with a boat, had a 48 ft Sport Fisher. This was powered by 2650HP Supercharged Detroit Diesel engines. He was a Lawyer and took his boat to Alaska to entertain clients. He took some of the Auxiliary members up or back to help him. I went to Ketchican Alaska on 1 trip and we spent a week coming back to Seattle. What a trip. Saw lots of sea life and scenery along the way. Things you would never see on a cruise ship. One day we stopped and fished for Halibut and caught our limit. We had Halibut for dinner that night. Wow was it good and fresh 4 hrs from water to frying pan. After moving to Port Orchard I stayed active in the Auxiliary and after 21 years turned in my retirement from the Auxiliary.

I also was an active bowler. Started when I was 14 and bowled every year since then. Had some very good teams over the years and made a lot of friends. Angie bowled with me most of those years except when she was having the kids. This year 2012 I am not bowling yet due to my cancer, however as my strength comes back from radiation treatments, I will try again.
I have had a very good and active life and have 4 great kids that I love dearly. Also 6 Granddaughters but no grandsons, but love them all.

I now have a great grandson, Mason. Aimee's little one. Seen lots of pictures. Hope we can see him one day.