Excerpts

Recollections of My Big Brother Lee by Earl H. Pace
Remembrances of Lee by his Younger Brother Tom
Learning to Work By James B. Pace
The Scout By James B. Pace

Recollections of My Big Brother Lee by Earl H. Pace

I was born exactly 8 years and 15 days after Lee, and as such I was still rather young when he left home to the Army Air Corps. He was at the time 19 and I was 11. However young as I was, I have some fond memories of him, which have remained strong throughout my life. Through him, I experienced adventure as he built and tested his model airplanes. I experienced his leadership as he participated in Scouting programs. I experienced loss and my first realization of the fragility of life and the finality of death when he left home, and never really returned. I felt the undying love which parents had for him, and I deeply shared with their loss.

I think my earliest recollections of him were as an airplane builder. I remember setting by the table in the old bedroom of our house on 8th East, and he would be building model airplanes, either gluing them down to a board, or putting on a tricky tail section. He would let me watch, and he would talk to me all the time, but would strongly admonish me with, "Don't touch!" I admired his work and would go in several times during the day, but I didn't dare touch, not through any fear I had of him, but because I felt like he trusted me - and that meant more to me than all the fear in the world.

 

Remembrances of Lee by his younger brother Tom

About 1938 I was with a friend, Dean Cannon at this home. Upon returning to our home at 2304 So. 800 East, I heard fire engines and getting closer to our home discovered that it was our house on fire. I ran home and found the front room a shambles. Lee had thrown the Christmas tree (which caused the fire) out the window. The mantel and all the woodwork in the front room were gone. Lee was at home with Barbara and the other kids. The story is that Lee had sense enough to do something to help put out the fire. He organized a water brigade from the bathroom with the younger kids carrying the water. Barbara was in the bathroom dumping the water out as quick as the buckets were filled. Her reasoning was that you couldn't put hot water on a hot fire, you needed cold. Needless to say the fire was extinguished, and Lee was the hero of the day.

When Lee's remains were brought back from Arizona for the funeral in June of 1944, it was the custom to keep the remains in the home until the time of the funeral service. Lee's body lay in state in the front room. I remember Dad asking me, and I presume all the other children if I wanted to see Lee's body. He said I could open the coffin lid and view him if I wanted to. I opted not to. I have often wondered if I should have taken one last look, and that thought will always remain with me. The funeral was held in the Forest Dale Ward. I remember Keith Gustaveson playing "My Buddy", which seemed most appropriate. Vera, then fourteen, remembers Mother standing at the conclusion of the service, turning to face the audience and thanking everyone for their support. The military had assigned an escort to accompany Lee's body, and the fellow became a friend to the family. There was a motorcycle involved. Dad thought he could ride it. He got it started, but couldn't figure out how to stop it. He kept riding around the block, each time shouting for instructions. He finally ran out of gas, and pushed the machine home. Mother went around the ward confiscating food stamps to buy the escort a case of ketchup to take back with him. It seemed strange that ketchup would be a high priority, but for some reason, he wanted it.

 

Work

All the boys learned to work at an early age. Father was always coming up with a make-work project at home. As soon as anyone could get a job, he got relief from some of the make-work projects. Lee was no exception. At a young age he had a paper route. At one time Grandpa got Lee a Job as a fry cook in a hamburger joint just west of the Post office on 4th south. I believed everyone was afraid he would get (rolled) held up. Grandpa talked about making him a hose full of sand or lead to keep under the counter just in case. That job only lasted a couple of weeks.

The Scout


Lee as Eagle Scout
One morning, Lee and Blair Furner cooked pancakes for breakfast. They just kept cooking, and the pile grew higher. They probably could have fed the whole camp. Everyone else, however had already cooked and, ate their own breakfast and were now watching Lee and Blair cook. They finally sat down and ate all the pancakes, putting on a great show. At first they went down easy, then harder. They finally started calling them sinkers as they had trouble gulping the last of the pile. Later everyone went on a hike to Lake Desolation for a swim. Instead of being his own self, Blair got sick. First he complained about all the sinkers he had eaten. He later laid down in the trail and moaned and complained that he was sick that he was going to die. He survived and completed the hike.

 

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