Only three fingers
One of the most enduring physical features of my dad was that he only had 3 fingers on his left hand. This was due to an accident that happened while visiting his Uncle Oro in Payson when he was 5 years old. As I remember the story he was outside playing in the yard while his parents were visiting inside, there was water pump that he was playing around. While playing, the pump engaged pulling his hand into the cogs of the pump. The cogs smashed 3 fingers. At the time, 1925, there weren't the necessary medical services in Payson, so his parent got him in the car to drive to a doctor in Spanish Fork. On the way to the doctor the car got multiple flat tires. His dad changed at least one tire, but ultimately finished driving on a flat tire. The doctor was able to save one of the 3 smashed fingers, but had to remove 2 fingers. My dad told me that the hand took years to heal. Because of the hand he felt that he didn't participate in some of the rough and tumble of boys while growing up.
People who knew my dad for years never noticed the hand. He told me a story of being in a typing class, probably in high school, where he was compensating for the missing fingers. Because of the compensation he wasn't using the proper technique. The teacher swatted his hands to try and "teach" him to use the proper technique. He lifted his hand to show the teacher why he was typing the way he was. The teacher felt awful and apologized.
I am including a picture of my dad holding me in his left hand while I was a child. I like it because it clearly shows the missing fingers.
One other story about the hand that I really like occurred at the time he was completing Officer Candidate School. He went in for the final interview with the commanding officer. The commander noticed his hand, and was take aback. To become an officer at the time required that the officer not have any physical deformities. My dad asked the commander what he should do and the commander told him to keep his hand in his pocket and then completed the interview. My dad became an officer.
One recent treasure I found was a newspaper clipping from the Spanish Fork Press with a story of my dad losing his fingers. What I actually found was the whole front page. I was able to scan the whole page and will include it here. The article about the fingers is in the lower right hand side. I found including the article in context was really very amusing.
The image of the whole page is too large to upload, but here is a link to the image: John loses his fingers (link updated to better work on mobile devices)
People who knew my dad for years never noticed the hand. He told me a story of being in a typing class, probably in high school, where he was compensating for the missing fingers. Because of the compensation he wasn't using the proper technique. The teacher swatted his hands to try and "teach" him to use the proper technique. He lifted his hand to show the teacher why he was typing the way he was. The teacher felt awful and apologized.
I am including a picture of my dad holding me in his left hand while I was a child. I like it because it clearly shows the missing fingers.
One other story about the hand that I really like occurred at the time he was completing Officer Candidate School. He went in for the final interview with the commanding officer. The commander noticed his hand, and was take aback. To become an officer at the time required that the officer not have any physical deformities. My dad asked the commander what he should do and the commander told him to keep his hand in his pocket and then completed the interview. My dad became an officer.
One recent treasure I found was a newspaper clipping from the Spanish Fork Press with a story of my dad losing his fingers. What I actually found was the whole front page. I was able to scan the whole page and will include it here. The article about the fingers is in the lower right hand side. I found including the article in context was really very amusing.
The image of the whole page is too large to upload, but here is a link to the image: John loses his fingers (link updated to better work on mobile devices)
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