I would like to devote the newsletter to our members and any one who wants to tell there story and how they got started in leather work, or a factual story of past history. I will try not to edit your story, but keep it in your own words just the way you see it.
My Story
Cecil F. Suber
My leather carving came about because of a serious problem in my young life.
I took advantage of a free X-ray offered in a bus parked by the post office.
Some time later I was notified to see my doctor- my whole life changed that day. My doctor informed me I had a spot on my lung or just plain T. B.
I entered Cressen State Sanitarium in Cressen, Pennsylvania in 1954. I was a patient for ten months and worked there eight months before I came home.
I delivered the mail and all the drugs through out the hospital- the state paid me to do it.
While I was a patient I think I tried everything the Occupational Therapy (OT) department had to offer. I painted pictures, made shawls and doilies, etc.
Saw a couple of people carving leather and I decided to give it a try. I got laughed at and was told I'd never be able to do it.
Never the less I bought a couple tools, borrowed the rest and gave it a try. The first wallet was rough but it showed promise, so I kept at it.
I became quite capable at it and my new way to put in time became full time past time for me.
Two nurses at Cressen sold wallets for me, where they found all the people who needed wallets I'll never know, but I carved and hammered as fast as I could to fill their orders.
My stay at this hospital was an experience I'll never forget. Out of approximately 750 people only eight carved leather.
I met some very nice people there. Some patients were doctors, attorneys, a nun, a priest, a rabbi and any occupation you can name. We all had one thing in common TB
The care we received was great by some very dedicated people. I will never forget their kindness to me and others.
I liked one nurse so much, I married her. The hospital wasn't too happy about that, but I was. That was 54 years ago and I am still carving leather. Three of my children have taken it up. It makes me proud that they have done so.
I know my hobby will live on in them and my tools won't be wasted.
I don't know how many things I've made but I can say I enjoyed doing every one and made some people at the same time.
Great story Cecil
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God! We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I believe it's time we stand up for what we believe!
Michael Jackson dies and it’s 24/7 news coverage. A real American hero dies and not a mention of it in the news. The media seems to have no honor and God is watching............ Ed Freeman You're a 19-year-old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't seem real because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you.. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down in to the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out, through the gunfire to the doc tors and nurses. And he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died on Wednesday, June 25th, 2009, at the age of 80, in Boise , ID. May God rest his soul. Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman
