Rich Hedges to receive chamber Mayor’s Award

“I grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. A block away from my house was the nearest railroad tracks. The slaughterhouses were two miles from my home. When the wind blew, we knew what the major industry was in our city.

The effects of the Depression did not end with the beginning of World War II. My father could not find work. He rode freight trains all over the country looking for work. He caught a freight to Beaumont, Texas and worked running pipelines during the oil boom in the late ’20s. When that work ran out, he followed the wheat harvest from central Texas to North Dakota. When that work ran out each year, he would go back to his aunt’s house and do odd jobs for people who needed help.

My father married my mother in 1937 and then lied about his marriage status to get into the Civilian Conservation Corps. He earned $30 a month and $25 was sent to his aunt who reared him. She turned that money over to my mother. This is how they survived.

My parents never owned a home. They always rented old houses. I went as a child to union meetings with my father. He worked political campaigns with his union. When I was 15, I became a runner for the precinct committee man. He sat at the voting area at our local fire station polling place and would tell me to go knock on doors and ask voters to come with me to vote. In other words, he taught me poll watching.

FDR was our political god. No one ever considered voting Republican or crossing a picket line. I remember one long strike in 1947. It was hard, but my folks always said they went without in the present to ensure the future.

What they could not have known, however, is that they gave birth to me at the beginning of the golden age for working class kids. Thanks to everything they suffered through, I was able to build a life that they only dreamed about.

When I was 10 years old, I became a paper boy. I built my route to the largest route in Kansas City. I used my paper route to build other businesses. I mowed lawns for my customers in the spring, summer and fall. I cleaned gutters in the fall. I scooped sidewalks and driveways in the winter. I collected soft drink bottles and sold them for the deposits. I also sold magazine subscriptions. I remember one week in the mid-’50s, I earned a total from all of this of $100. That was more money than my father earned.

When I was 14, I went to work for the Granada Theater in Kansas City. I worked from 6 p.m. to midnight five days per week. Before I went to work one afternoon, my parents sat me down and told me my father was ill and had two years to live. I continued to work at the theater, but things began to get tight financially at home because my father was off work a great deal and then he had to go on light duty and take a large cut in pay.

As luck would have it, I heard about Safeway hiring for a new store. I applied and was hired along with 29 other young guys and gals for the grand opening. When the grand opening ended, every one of the new hires were laid off but me and one other guy. I eared minimum wage at the theater of 50 cents per hour. Safeway was a union job so I earned $1.30 per hour with an increase every 530 hours. This money allowed me to take care of all my expenses and relieve my parents of buying me clothing, food and books. Later, I helped with rent.

I did not know it then, but the job at Safeway set my career for later years.”

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.