His uncle Leonard was a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. He served in the Army in World War II and somehow came away with a serious limp and speech impediment. He was on disability of some sort and to supplement his income, would board labor buses to rural areas outside Seattle. There, he would join farm workers and provide stoop labor to pick various types of vegetables including pole and bush beans.
Pay was two to three cents a pound and it was possible to make 3-5 dollars a day. The hayseed, while a teenager on summer break, joined his uncle on a few of those trips. It was decent, honest work and the few bucks helped him subsidize his passion for shooting pool.
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| Leonard Gladue |
Leonard passed away in the Spring of 1970 at the age of 47. To this day the hayseed regrets not asking his Uncle about his war experience.
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