Saturday, November 13, 2010

Helen, my Mom at Western Union


My mother brought me a few of these dolls from Western Union where she worked.  They were from the 60's. Wish I had one now.  I saw some on Ebay.


My mother Helen worked at Western Union for over 35 years.  She saw lots of telegrams come over the wire...strike notices, call back notices and ones like this one sent to my Aunt Mary, telling her  that her son was gravely injured in Vietnam.  (1968). She was very deeply moved by this.  She may have actually sent this telegram to her own sister in law.
She worked at the Congress and Shelby office in Detroit. She took the bus every day and a few times she took me there. I saw the skinny strips of paper being printed and  glued to be delivered shortly thereafter.
Once  she took me to the fireworks at 4th of July on the Detroit River. We watched on the 6th floor.
Sometimes she would bring me a pack of western Union paper, usually the Christmas paper, for me to draw on. I loved to draw!
In 1968 she worked in the press box at the World Series with the Detroit Tigers. She brought me a souvenir each day from the game.
She loved her job, it was important to get info out as quickly as possible.  How things have changed.

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