In the recent “Healy Side of the Family” blog I mentioned my Uncle Reg as being quite a character.
He and Gramps worked together in England. I believe Reg was asked to leave the family home at the age of 11. His parents could not afford to feed both him and his little sister. Unfortunately, he lost his sister. Reg ended up in a war facility during World War I.
After that he became a machinist and then a builder. He went on to marry his receptionist; my Aunt.
Uncle Reg was a builder, and there are very few photos of him in the family album where he’s not wearing his work smock, which he always had on when he was working on projects.
According to Wikipedia:
A smock-frock or smock is an outer garment traditionally worn by rural workers, especially shepherds and waggoners, in parts of England and Wales from throughout the 18th century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smock-frock
This is actually my grandfather in a smock with my cousin Christopher, in the back of the boat under construction.
Based on the photos apparently, Uncle Reg was always working on something, even in his spare time because he always had a work smock covering up his regular clothes underneath. Like many builders of his day, he was in fact a ‘builder’ as opposed to a ‘contractor’.
Today if you build a house, you’ll hire a contractor who will coordinate the various jobs with people skilled in the specific area. Wood framers, plumbers, electricians, drywallers, painters, concrete foundation companies, roofers, the list seems endless. In Uncle Reg’s day, you just built the house!
He did have employees and my grandfather worked for him part of the time. I worked for him periodically when I was in my mid-teens. There were no ‘bob-cats’ or ‘backhoes’ in those days. If Uncle Reg needed a ditch dug, you were handed a shovel and told where to dig it.
He seemed to take great delight on Friday afternoons, which was payday, to negotiate his workers’ compensation. He’d ask what they felt their work was worth for the week, and he’d always say it was less than that before handing them the cash.
Never to relax, Uncle Reg built a boat in his backyard. When it was completed he had to rent a crane to move it out.
During one market downturn when he was unable to find a suitable paying contract, he purchased a large home and took to renovating it to resell later when the market rebounded. The home was called “Ross Hill” and was in Torquay. It was right on the coast and had magnificent gardens and views of the ocean. Photos of the house are below.
Uncle Reg passed away in the mid 90’s after he experienced multiple heart attacks! When asked if he wanted a heart procedure, he looked at his wife and said, “It was a good ride”.
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