Richard Charles Blakesley was born Feb. 6 1934 at his maternal grandmother Willow Wave Lane & her 2nd husband Ben Lane’s farm. The location of this blessed event was about 2 miles south of Second Milo, Yates Co. NY. His parents were Charles W. Blakesley & Alice M. Bond. For more about them see LINK  CHARLES & ALICE. Stories told to Richard by his mother: It was 28 - 32 below zero that day & not much warmer inside. Her stepfather Ben stayed up all night feeding wood in the iron stove. Richard was very ill with Whooping Cough or Pneumonia & 20 some boils on head & body. She also said the doctor stayed all night in a rocking chair holding 2 new born lambs. Two weeks later the doctor shot himself. Mother never said & i never asked what the point of that story was. I can only guess. 

At left, Richard with father Charles Blakesley in 1934.

Location, probably at grandmother Lane’s home.

Shortly after birth, Charley, Alice & Richard moved to Charlie's parents home at NY 247 & Lake to Lake Rd., Town of Gorham, Ontario Co. NY. There they lived in a big upstairs room that ran the length of the house. In addition to us there were Charlie’s folks Homer & Lucy, brothers, Merrill, John, Robert, sisters Georgia & Olive & Olive’s son Donald Thayer. A big old tavern/inn/farm house, but still must have been a little snug. Fortunately Alice always got along well with Charlie’s family.

For more about Charlie’s family start with LINK

HOMER & LUCY

In Nov. 1937 Charlie & Alice bought the brick schoolhouse across the road from Charlie’s parents place at what is now #4496 Rt. 247. They converted it into a home for themselves & son Richard. Charlie lived there until he & Alice divorced in 1944. Alice lived there until 2000. Richard until 1953. Until they retired in 1946, Richard spent most of his time with grandparents Homer & Lucy.

Things went along happily for Richard with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, many cousins from both his mother & fathers sides. Included in this bunch were buddies Don & Charlie Bergman. These boys were brothers of Orabelle who later become his stepmother. The free life on the farm slowed down some in the fall of 1939. Richard, age 5 years, 7 months then started in first grade in Gorham Central. In those simpler times there was no pre-school, kindergarten, head-start or jump-start. It was, “here, see if you can civilize the little xxxx”, sink or swim . He swam in the same building for the next 12 years

Richard at left. Believe this is his first day of school in 1939, complete with long black overcoat, beret, white silk scarf & what looks like a brief case. Ma liked to have her children all dressed up when away from home. Sending your kid to a small town school like Gorham dressed like this borders on child abuse.

Photo was taken at his home. House in the background was his grandparents Homer & Lucy’s home, now #4497 Rt. 247.

      The next jolt to Richards idilic life came on Dec. 4 1940 when [gasp] a sister, Connie, was born ! No longer was he an only child. Well, she did turn out to be pretty good. Besides Ma & Pa bribed him with his first two wheel bike & he was able to escape their clutches for hours at a time. The main rule was be home before dark or ELSE.

   The next big event in Richards life was less pleasant. In late Dec. 1944 his parents were divorced. As it turned out things weren't so bad. Pa bought a farm one mile down the road. Then in Dec. 1945 Ma married Erwin Bardeen. As a step father & friend there was none better.

     In 1946 or 47 Erwin took over the operation of a farm on Crowe Rd. just east of Rushville NY. There Richard learned to drive farm tractors, farm trucks & a 1928 Chevrolet car/jalopy. The car shown above is a 1928 Chevrolet, but the one he drove had no body from the windshield back. It had a seat bottom & a wood box that made it light duty pickup

     Richard drove this around the farm hauling supplies. He had some wild adventures with this old crate, but thats another story. His first over the road trip was at age 12 driving a Diamond T farm truck thru the village of Rushville right past the local constable. In those days the law usually ignored farm boys driving farm equipment on the highway. His reward for his work on the farm was the beautiful full size bike similar to the one shown above.

    A some point during this time frame Richard got a summer job at two local chicken farms gathering eggs, cleaning pens, etc. Even though he had some pet Bantam chicken he developed a lifelong dislike for chickens. “The only good chicken is a dead chicken, preferably fried”.  

    Things took a real turn for the worse when in the spring of 1948 Richard came down with Rheumatic Fever. He was taken to Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua NY where he received a shot of Penicillin every three hours around the the clock for a week. Then he was sent home with strict orders from the Dr. Ludwig Mayer to stay in bed, lay flat, do not get up or set up until he said so.. This went on for three long, long months. His only entertainment was reading, drawing cartoons, listening to the radio [no TV  then] & driving his mother half crazy. One strange thing happened during that time. A pure white barn cat showed up at our door. When Ma opened the door it ran into my room & jumped on the bed & curled up next to me. Ma had never allowed any critters in her house before, not dog, cat or rat. The cat stayed during the day but went out at night. It must have sensed something wrong & was there to offer comfort.

    After about 2 months the doctor said he could get up to eat or use the bathroom then back to bed. Richard found it a long way to the floor as he had grown 4 inches in height. Then he was allowed to go outside but was to lay on a cot and out of the sun. One day Dr. Mayer arrived and found Richard sitting in the sun. He cane roaring out of his car giving Richard and his mother HOLY HELL ! BACK TO BED !

Finally after the third month Richard was set FREE. No lasting damage except he was very thin & quickly tired but got better as time went on. By fall he was able to go back to school having somehow managing to get thru his freshman year while still in his sick bed. He was also able to resume working on his step fathers farm. Richard was damn lucky to have a great doctor and good folks.

    Richard continued to work on both his stepfather & fathers farms & go to school. On Feb. 6 1950 he turned 16 & like any young country boy he had to have a car. In those days it was the old cowboy philosophy. “a man afoot ain’t no man a’tall”. He had his heart set on a 1937 - 39 Ford convertible. His father & stepfather entered into a conspiracy. They both said “ Oh no with that flat head V8 engine. mechanical brakes & no steel top you’ll kill your self. Here’s $ 50 form each of us”. At the time he wondered why his father would unbend with $ 50 & where his stepfather got a spare $ 50. He soon found out what they were up to. More later. With their $ 100 & some of his own money he got the

“safe” car above.

    As can be seen in the photo above, Richard is pretty cocky with his “new” car. Some notes about the car. It had a flat head 6 cylinder engine that got 15 miles to a gallon of gas & a quart of oil ! A real smoker. Got it fixed later on.  It had two hood ornaments, the standard Dodge Ram & a swan with plastic wings that lit up a night, a 2” straight exhaust, white mud flaps, truck fog lights & a lot better paint job than appears in the photo. Alas, no radio. COOL CAR !

     He found out what his father & stepfather were up to when they were so quick to give him money toward a car. When he asked his Dad to use his new Mercury, a 1949 or 51 with a V8 engine, overdrive, radio, for a hot date his answer was “You have car, drive it”. He got the same message from his stepfather. Ah, thats life.

    Finally after 12 grueling years Richard managed to graduate from Gorham Central School in 1951. He passed all the Regents exams scholastically just a notch above dead center in a class of 26 kids. His favorite subjects were history, mechanical drawing & girls. That fall he started attending the Rochester Institute of Technology [RIT]. At that time it was located at Plymouth Ave & Broad St. in downtown Rochester NY. He studied Mechanical Engineering/Tool Design. This was a three year course with the first year full time & the next two co-op, alternating between working in industry & studying. This would lead to an Associate in Applied Science degree [AAS].

    During the first year at RIT [Sept. thru June] he stayed on campus in student housing that were two story converted WW2 Army barracks that were guaranteed to burn down in 10 minuets or less. He went home on weekends to help on the farm & visit friends. One week end with no date he decided to stop in Burke’s, the restaurant in Canandaguia NY. where his mother worked & mooch coffee & pie. Another reason was to check out the young counter waitress his mother often spoke about. What he found was the young lady shown in the photo on the right.