Not long after Mert’s father died in 1927, his mother married Clarence John "Jack" Wade (1888 – 1957). The merging of the families brought my father a younger step-brother, William Larson Wade (1920 – 1988). About 1928, Jack bought a house at 1738 Rosemont Blvd; Dayton, Ohio. My father said that during the “great depression,” they were one of a very few families on the block that managed to keep their home.
Young Mert attended Belmont High School in Dayton but did not graduate. He worked delivering newspapers from an early age and owned and operated his own automobile from age 14. He is listed as a “student” in the 1936 Dayton City Directory.
Sometime about 1937, he met my mother, Cora Virginia Kratz (1917 – 1995) at a dance at the Bus Station and married her 11 Jun 1938 in Newport, KY. They moved into the little house on Rosemont Blvd in Dayton with Jack and Dorothy Wade. The plan was to defer starting a family and save cash for buying their own home.
In 1939 he is a bookbinder, but in 1940, Mert is in the Dayton City Directory as a machine operator. By 1942 he is listed as a Compositor and was into his apprenticeship to become a Journeyman Union Printer for McCall Printing. Jack Wade was also working for McCall Printing as a machinist and metal worker.
From 2 June 1943 to 13 Jan 1946, Mert served in the US Navy during WWII. About 1944 he made a Pacific tour on the Aircraft Carrier, Boxer. I know they made a stop in Tsingtao, China. He was an Aircraft Electricians Mate (AEM2). The Boxer came under Kamikaze attack on more than one occasion. He told a story about needing to push new aircraft overboard to make room to recover defending planes. Also, during 1944 he was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and my mother joined him for a while.
In 1946 he returned to his job at McCall Printing and finished his apprenticeship. He could run the Linotype machines, set type by hand, read proof in multiple languages, and do any job in the Composing Room. I was born late in 1947 and we all continued to live with Dorothy and Jack. My dad worked lots of overtime at double and triple pay. The home savings continued to build. About 1951 we got a television set and my dad was busy adjusting the antenna and replacing tubes. In 1955, the new house at 3915 Kittyhawk Dr. was purchased with a $10,000 down payment.
My dad was well liked and a very social person. He was a Mason (Mystic Lodge) and a bowler (Allied Printcraft League). After the move to Kittyhawk Dr., he expanded his friends from his coworkers to the neighbors. In the mid-1960s he became assistant foreman in the composing room and by the early 1970s, was promoted to general foreman. By 1982, when McCall Printing (then Dayton Press) went out of business, my dad was about at retirement age and out of a job. His neighbor, Charley Oaks, ran a funeral escort and removal business for several funeral homes. My Dad was hired to help and liked that he needed to “dress up” for work. He was ready to go, day or night, and continued his job until he died in 1989.
Bio by: Wade Davis on 7 January 2015
Stepfather: Clarence J "Jack" Wade (1890-1957)
Stepbrother: William L Wade (1920-1988)
Young Mert attended Belmont High School in Dayton but did not graduate. He worked delivering newspapers from an early age and owned and operated his own automobile from age 14. He is listed as a “student” in the 1936 Dayton City Directory.
Sometime about 1937, he met my mother, Cora Virginia Kratz (1917 – 1995) at a dance at the Bus Station and married her 11 Jun 1938 in Newport, KY. They moved into the little house on Rosemont Blvd in Dayton with Jack and Dorothy Wade. The plan was to defer starting a family and save cash for buying their own home.
In 1939 he is a bookbinder, but in 1940, Mert is in the Dayton City Directory as a machine operator. By 1942 he is listed as a Compositor and was into his apprenticeship to become a Journeyman Union Printer for McCall Printing. Jack Wade was also working for McCall Printing as a machinist and metal worker.
From 2 June 1943 to 13 Jan 1946, Mert served in the US Navy during WWII. About 1944 he made a Pacific tour on the Aircraft Carrier, Boxer. I know they made a stop in Tsingtao, China. He was an Aircraft Electricians Mate (AEM2). The Boxer came under Kamikaze attack on more than one occasion. He told a story about needing to push new aircraft overboard to make room to recover defending planes. Also, during 1944 he was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and my mother joined him for a while.
In 1946 he returned to his job at McCall Printing and finished his apprenticeship. He could run the Linotype machines, set type by hand, read proof in multiple languages, and do any job in the Composing Room. I was born late in 1947 and we all continued to live with Dorothy and Jack. My dad worked lots of overtime at double and triple pay. The home savings continued to build. About 1951 we got a television set and my dad was busy adjusting the antenna and replacing tubes. In 1955, the new house at 3915 Kittyhawk Dr. was purchased with a $10,000 down payment.
My dad was well liked and a very social person. He was a Mason (Mystic Lodge) and a bowler (Allied Printcraft League). After the move to Kittyhawk Dr., he expanded his friends from his coworkers to the neighbors. In the mid-1960s he became assistant foreman in the composing room and by the early 1970s, was promoted to general foreman. By 1982, when McCall Printing (then Dayton Press) went out of business, my dad was about at retirement age and out of a job. His neighbor, Charley Oaks, ran a funeral escort and removal business for several funeral homes. My Dad was hired to help and liked that he needed to “dress up” for work. He was ready to go, day or night, and continued his job until he died in 1989.
Bio by: Wade Davis on 7 January 2015
Stepfather: Clarence J "Jack" Wade (1890-1957)
Stepbrother: William L Wade (1920-1988)
Not long after Mert’s father died in 1927, his mother married Clarence John "Jack" Wade (1888 – 1957). The merging of the families brought my father a younger step-brother, William Larson Wade (1920 – 1988). About 1928, Jack bought a house at 1738 Rosemont Blvd; Dayton, Ohio. My father said that during the “great depression,” they were one of a very few families on the block that managed to keep their home.
Young Mert attended Belmont High School in Dayton but did not graduate. He worked delivering newspapers from an early age and owned and operated his own automobile from age 14. He is listed as a “student” in the 1936 Dayton City Directory.
Sometime about 1937, he met my mother, Cora Virginia Kratz (1917 – 1995) at a dance at the Bus Station and married her 11 Jun 1938 in Newport, KY. They moved into the little house on Rosemont Blvd in Dayton with Jack and Dorothy Wade. The plan was to defer starting a family and save cash for buying their own home.
In 1939 he is a bookbinder, but in 1940, Mert is in the Dayton City Directory as a machine operator. By 1942 he is listed as a Compositor and was into his apprenticeship to become a Journeyman Union Printer for McCall Printing. Jack Wade was also working for McCall Printing as a machinist and metal worker.
From 2 June 1943 to 13 Jan 1946, Mert served in the US Navy during WWII. About 1944 he made a Pacific tour on the Aircraft Carrier, Boxer. I know they made a stop in Tsingtao, China. He was an Aircraft Electricians Mate (AEM2). The Boxer came under Kamikaze attack on more than one occasion. He told a story about needing to push new aircraft overboard to make room to recover defending planes. Also, during 1944 he was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and my mother joined him for a while.
In 1946 he returned to his job at McCall Printing and finished his apprenticeship. He could run the Linotype machines, set type by hand, read proof in multiple languages, and do any job in the Composing Room. I was born late in 1947 and we all continued to live with Dorothy and Jack. My dad worked lots of overtime at double and triple pay. The home savings continued to build. About 1951 we got a television set and my dad was busy adjusting the antenna and replacing tubes. In 1955, the new house at 3915 Kittyhawk Dr. was purchased with a $10,000 down payment.
My dad was well liked and a very social person. He was a Mason (Mystic Lodge) and a bowler (Allied Printcraft League). After the move to Kittyhawk Dr., he expanded his friends from his coworkers to the neighbors. In the mid-1960s he became assistant foreman in the composing room and by the early 1970s, was promoted to general foreman. By 1982, when McCall Printing (then Dayton Press) went out of business, my dad was about at retirement age and out of a job. His neighbor, Charley Oaks, ran a funeral escort and removal business for several funeral homes. My Dad was hired to help and liked that he needed to “dress up” for work. He was ready to go, day or night, and continued his job until he died in 1989.
Bio by: Wade Davis on 7 January 2015
Stepfather: Clarence J "Jack" Wade (1890-1957)
Stepbrother: William L Wade (1920-1988)
Young Mert attended Belmont High School in Dayton but did not graduate. He worked delivering newspapers from an early age and owned and operated his own automobile from age 14. He is listed as a “student” in the 1936 Dayton City Directory.
Sometime about 1937, he met my mother, Cora Virginia Kratz (1917 – 1995) at a dance at the Bus Station and married her 11 Jun 1938 in Newport, KY. They moved into the little house on Rosemont Blvd in Dayton with Jack and Dorothy Wade. The plan was to defer starting a family and save cash for buying their own home.
In 1939 he is a bookbinder, but in 1940, Mert is in the Dayton City Directory as a machine operator. By 1942 he is listed as a Compositor and was into his apprenticeship to become a Journeyman Union Printer for McCall Printing. Jack Wade was also working for McCall Printing as a machinist and metal worker.
From 2 June 1943 to 13 Jan 1946, Mert served in the US Navy during WWII. About 1944 he made a Pacific tour on the Aircraft Carrier, Boxer. I know they made a stop in Tsingtao, China. He was an Aircraft Electricians Mate (AEM2). The Boxer came under Kamikaze attack on more than one occasion. He told a story about needing to push new aircraft overboard to make room to recover defending planes. Also, during 1944 he was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida, and my mother joined him for a while.
In 1946 he returned to his job at McCall Printing and finished his apprenticeship. He could run the Linotype machines, set type by hand, read proof in multiple languages, and do any job in the Composing Room. I was born late in 1947 and we all continued to live with Dorothy and Jack. My dad worked lots of overtime at double and triple pay. The home savings continued to build. About 1951 we got a television set and my dad was busy adjusting the antenna and replacing tubes. In 1955, the new house at 3915 Kittyhawk Dr. was purchased with a $10,000 down payment.
My dad was well liked and a very social person. He was a Mason (Mystic Lodge) and a bowler (Allied Printcraft League). After the move to Kittyhawk Dr., he expanded his friends from his coworkers to the neighbors. In the mid-1960s he became assistant foreman in the composing room and by the early 1970s, was promoted to general foreman. By 1982, when McCall Printing (then Dayton Press) went out of business, my dad was about at retirement age and out of a job. His neighbor, Charley Oaks, ran a funeral escort and removal business for several funeral homes. My Dad was hired to help and liked that he needed to “dress up” for work. He was ready to go, day or night, and continued his job until he died in 1989.
Bio by: Wade Davis on 7 January 2015
Stepfather: Clarence J "Jack" Wade (1890-1957)
Stepbrother: William L Wade (1920-1988)
Family Members
Children
