|
a.
|
Note: Censu 1910 has him living with parents with the Milligan grandparents as Edward F.
Edward learned his true name at age 40 when he applied for his birth certificate. He was originally Richard Franklin Cox because family legend held a Sir Richard Cox as last ancestor on the other side. Hattie called him "Ned", however, for her little brother who died young, and the name Edward stuck.
He met Helen at the dentist's office in Shoals and walked her home. He was much impressed when her dad met them at the front door with a shotgun and encouraged him to leave the property. He had roamed Indiana as a road surveyor since the age of 17 after graduating from Cicero HS the previous year, one year early. About 1933, he became a Topographer for the State in Indianapolis. Next, he took a civil engineering job on the Fall Creek dam north of Indianapolis. He took me to the site once, but I didn't see much and almost froze to death trying to fish icy Fall Creek. As the family grew, he became a self-taught Design Engineer for Allison Div. of GM in Indianapolis. I remember him doing trig problems while listening to Jack Benny. He produced half of the 32-man Standards Dept. design output over about 17 years.
In 1955, he took a job with Lockheed in Burbank, California and moved to East Pasadena. He didn't like CA, and when the project was put off for about a year, he decided to return to his roots and resettle... again. Mother was hooked on the weather and gardening, though, and he soon found himself living in Woodland Hills, CA building test stands for the Atlas rocket engines for Rocketdyne in the Santa Susanna Mts. They will never afford demolishing those stands. The main floor of our dream house in Plainfield, IN was built with prestressed concrete beams and poured concrete inset with 2x4 nailers.
|
