Creating a Home, 1949

Settled into a pattern of life, Al now had a career under way. He was a foreman with Schmerheim Electric and a journeyman electrician. The small family still lived on 12th St., as they had for years. However, with Al, Winnie, the young toddler, Chuck, and Jean, Winnie's sister, all in the small apartment, it was too comfortable any longer.

Al was looking for a home of his own, his first. In his entire life, he had always lived in rented apartments or rented houses. Now, for the first time, he wanted to own a house of his own. He found a lot in East Saginaw, on S. Jefferson and decided to build his own house, to save money. After work each day he worked on the small 800 square foot house. His father-in-law, Edwin, who was working two full-time jobs at the time, was the only person helping him. The house had two small bedrooms, a living room, bath and kitchen.

While building it, Winnie became pregnant again. In June, 1949, she gave birth to their second son, James, a jaundiced heart-damaged child that Al described as "so ugly a baby, it was a good thing he was a boy." With the growing family, the apartment was now much too small. Fortunately the work on the house progressed and the family was able to move in about two months after the baby was born.

The home Al built for the family on Jefferson became their residence for the next 22 years. Both boys grew to manhood in the home and left before Al and Winnie determined it was time to leave the neighborhood, which had changed so much through the years. They watched long time and short-time neighbors move in and out, the ethic and racial make-up alter, and the crime rate rise during their tenure.