Wilbert F. "Bert" Askin was born at home on Davis Street in downtown Pittsburgh. His mother Martha died when he was about five years old. He remembered the little toy milk wagon he played with before she died -- this, being his only tie to her. As a child, he used to fly kites over the Golden Triangle and also on The Bluff. At the age of ten, he went to live with his father in California, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph, had remarried and Wilbert was "farmed out" to a family named Holsopple. He said they were good to him. During this time he would help herd the cows to the barn. One day, the parson came by and told him, "Don't swear at the cows Bert." Wilbert just laughed because he knew he wasn't swearing at them. Bert was also a messenger boy. After that, he went to live with his sister Edith and her husband "Mack." While living with his sister, they sent him to Reznor Company to learn a trade. He helped put the heating and cooling system in the old Allegheny Jail. He would crawl above the ceiling space with a candle to light his way. The warden would lock him in, and when he called to be let out, the warden would tease him and say, "That's what they all say, Bert." While there, he saw the famous cell where brothers, Jack and Ed Biddle escaped from. When he came to New Kensington as a young man, he worked as a tin smith for S.R. Seybold and lived at a boarding house on 3rd Ave. While here, he met his wife Flora Bish. He retired in 1955 from Alcoa where he had been employed for 26 years in the cooking utensil department. He died at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 24, in his home after suffering an apparent heart attack. He lived in New Kensington for 60 years."
Wilbert F. "Bert" Askin was born at home on Davis Street in downtown Pittsburgh. His mother Martha died when he was about five years old. He remembered the little toy milk wagon he played with before she died -- this, being his only tie to her. As a child, he used to fly kites over the Golden Triangle and also on The Bluff. At the age of ten, he went to live with his father in California, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph, had remarried and Wilbert was "farmed out" to a family named Holsopple. He said they were good to him. During this time he would help herd the cows to the barn. One day, the parson came by and told him, "Don't swear at the cows Bert." Wilbert just laughed because he knew he wasn't swearing at them. Bert was also a messenger boy. After that, he went to live with his sister Edith and her husband "Mack." While living with his sister, they sent him to Reznor Company to learn a trade. He helped put the heating and cooling system in the old Allegheny Jail. He would crawl above the ceiling space with a candle to light his way. The warden would lock him in, and when he called to be let out, the warden would tease him and say, "That's what they all say, Bert." While there, he saw the famous cell where brothers, Jack and Ed Biddle escaped from. When he came to New Kensington as a young man, he worked as a tin smith for S.R. Seybold and lived at a boarding house on 3rd Ave. While here, he met his wife Flora Bish. He retired in 1955 from Alcoa where he had been employed for 26 years in the cooking utensil department. He died at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 24, in his home after suffering an apparent heart attack. He lived in New Kensington for 60 years."
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