Known
to me as “Pop”, George Edward Lyons was born on June 6th, 1928. His
proud parents were Anna and George Lyons Sr. Being one of two children,
his younger brother is named Joseph. Born in the busy city of Jersey
City, New Jersey, he lived in an apartment most of his life. He never
had any pets until marriage, and never moved. My grandfather
attended Public Elementary School #27. Despite the fact that it was
over a mile away, he had to walk there every day. His favorite subject
was math, and it still was when he got to Dickinson Middle School. He had
to walk there too, even though it was farther away than his elementary
school. Pop belonged to the Spanish Club and the Stamp Club. That
was his favorite hobby, collecting stamps.
His neighborhood was small and filled with friendly people. Some of his
best friends were Peter, Paul, Charlie, and Henry. They called him
“Shorty”, on account of his height.
Living
in Jersey City, Pop was near New York City, so sometimes he and his friends
would take the subway there. It only cost 5¢! “I wish it still
only cost five cents!” said Pop. When they got there, they would
go to the movie theater and see movies like “The Paramount” and “The Capital”.
Those were his favorites. Then another subway would take them underneath
the Hudson River. When they got off, they went to Times Square to
see juggling acts and magic shows. They all really liked the magic
shows. Sometimes they would go to Coney Island. It was only
a half- hour away and it was filled with great amusement parks and sunny
beaches. The amusement parks were stacked with roller coasters, Ferris
wheels, food stands and refreshments. The beaches were sunny and
warm and a nice place to go. In the winter, they would sometimes
go to Rockefeller Center to watch the ice skaters. At the end of
the day, they would take another 5¢ subway ride home.
The most
HI- Tech possession he and his friends had was a radio. His favorite station
was the Mystery Theater. The radio was popular, but the big fad back
then was a dance. It was called, “The Jitterbug”.
His first job
was working on a farm, and he only got paid 10¢ per hour, he says
it was good payment back then. He was 12 years old and worked there
for two summers. He had to walk 1 ½ miles to get there and
go back. His working hours were 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Some of
his duties there included planting romaine lettuce, weeding between the
vegetable rows, and picking, washing, and crating the produce. Then
it was shipped to a market in New York City, New York.
Pop attended Dickinson high school and graduated in 1945. In his
high school years he liked to play many of the popular sports that we play
today. He played football, baseball, street hockey, and many others.
He still liked stamp collecting, and then he got into coin collecting and
erector sets, which are like mechanical Legos. They are still around today.
His college was Baltimore College of Commerce from 1956- 1962 at night
while staying at home. He got a degree in Business Management.
He served in the Air Force, too. He did that from 1946- 1953.
He was a technical sergeant and worked as a control tower operator instructing
planes for takeoffs and landings. Later he was a Radio and Electronics
Instructor at Scott Air Force base in Illinois. When he was done
with college, he got a career in computer programming. He once built
a computer!
When my grandfather was 21 years old, in 1949, he married Ruth Doris Seim.
They had three children. They were Dorothy, Alice and Kathy.
Dorothy is my Mom. “The greatest accomplishment in my life
was raising kids.” said Pop. They also had a couple dogs, one cat,
and a parakeet. They all lived in Illinois until 1953 and then moved
to Baltimore. Pop retired from computer programming at the
age of 60. Pop has 5 grandchildren; Jennifer, Deana, Sara, Anna,
and me, Josh. He also has one great-grandchild named Alexa.
Today,
my grandfather still likes stamp and coin collecting. He now also
likes reading, listening to music, and watching Broadway shows. I’ll
always remember going there and cleaning, peeling, and sticking stamps.
You have to get them completely lined up on a piece of paper. It’s
fun! He still likes math too, and he’s really good at it. Pop
now lives in a rancher house in Essex, Baltimore with Elaine Hundet.
He has four birds. I think my grandfather has and still does lead
a happy life.