Transcript:

00:00 Okay. Hello, this is Melissa, Hale-Spencer, the editor of the Altamont Enterprise, and I'm coming to you from an absolutely charming home that I did not know existed. It is tucked away at the end of Hamilton Street. The walls are covered with the most beautiful artwork. We have winter scenes, summer scenes. Just beautifully done. They were made by Andrea Ebert and we're here to interview her husband up 75 years. Albert Willard Ebert, who on June 26 is going to turn 98. So thank you for having us in your beautiful home.

00:45 Hi, this is Albert. Yeah, I was born and called New York in 1920 and 118 Saratoga Avenue, north side cohoes. And we lived there with my grandparents for three years. In three years we moved to what was known as rose hail. The local people in Guilderland here would know it as Dr Lee's house and why I left the house. Uh, I, I, yeah, I was able to see and poor the first concrete road on road 20 before the habit was Mcadam mcat. I'm not black top. And uh, we, we lived there. I lived there for three years and moved up to a farm. My father bought on Hamilton Street. He a dairy farm. He raised cows and a few other chicken pig for me generally, but uh, the, the way it was situated, the person who had it before, it's sold off a roadway which became Hamilton street and this, this was separated from the farm. So we had to drive the cattle from the barns up to the pasture and the morning bring him down in the evening to Malcolm, take them back that night and then bringing them down in the morning again. So this street became known as, pardon my expression, cow flop.

02:50 And the laughter you hear in the background, I'm just going to let people know who else is here listening to this wonderful rendition of Albert's like we have wife, Andrea, and then his two daughters, Bonnie and Cheryl and his granddaughter Jennifer. So that's the, the laughter chorus of lacked or you're hearing on cow flop link. Go ahead. Well, we don't need to be on script. I would love to just back up

03:21 my education. I graduated from my Alma Mater high school and the largest class that had at that time in 1938, 33 people. That was a largest. Uh, I see.

03:42 I would just love to ask you some questions on what you've told us so far. I do remember Dr Lee at Rose Hill and for the newer listeners that's right across from the Guilderland Library, a beautiful old house that sits up on a hill overlooking route 20. And what, what was your family doing there? What, how did you end up living there?

04:04 The house belong to a local other local doctor. And my father rented it. He rented it for $12 a month if you can imagine. Oh my gosh. That point on that, that place, he was in a truck gardening business and he got a chance to buy the farm and denny started a retail milk route, which I became part of his. I got everyone. I got a license to drive.

04:36 So just to back up a little to more on the Rosehill, you said you helped pave what's now route 20, the Great Western turnpike. What was the traffic like in those days? What, what kind of travel was there on that road?

04:50 Two cars happen to meet in different direction. One of them had a pool off to let the other one.

04:56 Oh my gosh.

04:58 Was that busy?

05:01 And now you made a point and this will show my ignorance of saying it wasn't black top. It was MCADAM. Can you just tell us what that is? What the difference? There is a difference.

05:11 The uh, I'm trying to think what the car I, it was that they had the right of way a company has her right away, right away to, to, and they have to play, pay a penalty for each tunnel. Mcadam they use blacktop. They don't.

05:37 It's the same. Same mixture. Math not controlled by some company. That must've been very hard work I would think. What? Like what was your particular role? What job did you do in, in laying that down and the putting the mcadams?

05:56 No, no, no. I was only five.

05:59 Oh, you watched it being done. I see. So you were just a child then when you moved to this very area that Hamilton Street area? Correct. And how has it changed over the years?

06:17 It's now a four lane highway and uh, Eh, they, they don't put the, the highway down the way they did them. Then they, uh, they brought the concrete mixer, our dump gravel and Samantha and mixture mixture dumped it and then move their hand. There wasn't why we call concrete trucks that drove a car and create already mixed. It was, was a different arrangement.

06:50 So you told us about graduating from high school and high school graduation was certain rare in those days. Tell us about your early schooling. Where did you go to school before you went to Ultima School?

07:04 House on Willow Street, one street east, Hamilton Street. And this school house, their back yard was right in our back yard.

07:17 So you went to school there?

07:18 School and came home for lunch every day. And there there was no skipping school because of it

07:26 could look right over at me and see if you were able to come and didn't know that building became the town hall. It's now a police matter, right? Yes. Yeah.

07:38 Now the police Berridge uh, there's a little, uh, my second year in Grade School, uh, I'm a Saturday. My grandfather and grandmother and uncle came out and they were going through the Alderman. Unfair old boy, let's go to the fair. So they took me to the affair. Now I was not watching the automobile races. I was walking down the aisle between the concessions and a race car. Came through the fence under the concession and hit 11 of us there. I got a broken pelvis, a broken left leg, and I was in a cast for four, six weeks and, and bad constantly all awhile and I have a good, a good dark. You're a good nurse because my mother was a nurse. I guess I was in the hospital probably two weeks and then they sent me home for my mother to take care of me. And uh, I, yeah, I didn't go to school that whole year and for her corner while in school, I wonder why am I one year older than everybody? And of course it was because I was out for the whole year.

09:11 That sounds like a terrible accident. But you flew, you recovered fully. Yeah. Yeah. So

09:17 it did leave me with my left leg a little shorter than my other leg. Bones shifted and it, it never bothered man anything.

09:29 Did you ever go back to the Ultima? Unfair again? Every day.

09:32 Day. And I said, hey, whenever there's a lot bill race, if I can get to, I get to it.

09:39 Oh my goodness. Well, so that school that you went to was quite substantial. It's not a little wooden one room school house. It's a bracket. Has Two classrooms, does it? Yeah. And so you have a mixture of grains in one classroom? You did? Yes. And what was it like learning like that? Well,

09:59 you can, you listen to a grade ahead. When they were children at a d two can you took the grade ahead when, when the exams came off. And uh, I have a buddy in high school that went to a school like this and he, uh, he ended up graduating from high school 15 years or age.

10:25 Oh. So he was smart, he could take these other classes come along. So what was it like going to ultimate high school? It's quite a trip from here. How did you get there? There were no school buses. School bus, school bus. We here, we

10:41 had a special bus here from the village. The, the district went down to the city line and there was a 8:00 bus out of all Bernie that went to our mind and that would pick the students up from mcgown veil, what? And West mayor. And the lower part of Guilderland at 20 minutes after eight, they would drive a bus out of the bus. Garage was right at the end of a willow street, actually the corner of route 20 and a foundry road there. And 20 after eight they drove the bus out and all the kids from the, from the village right here, we would get on that bus and get up the Alabama just ahead of the regular 8:00 bus out of all Benny. Of course it was a mad scramble to get into school. And uh, most of our classes where I'm the second floor and I'm a hand for it, up the stairway turn and reversed and came back to get up right away. And at this point there's a lot of hooks that you hang clothes on on this landing where you turn. And this was our place where we stored our lunches,

12:17 no cafeteria, we ate.

12:20 And then a study hall upstairs always.

12:24 So you were in high school and the depth of the Great Depression, what was that like? How did your family fare during those difficult times in the 1930 [inaudible]

12:34 he's a, well Duh Duh. Don't forget we're producing part of our own for our part of the food that we whine and supplying it to the village. And uh, uh, my, my father never, he would trust. I mean bobby and he never got held up by man of the people, the people when they weren't working, they just didn't pay and when they got government job or something they paid and he, uh, always prided himself that he never had any body on the milk. Ruled hold him up. He, he always got paid for eventually.

13:29 He sounds like a good man. So did you have a favorite subject in school or something that you particularly enjoyed studying? Namely a

13:37 mainly chemistry, chemistry. And after, after high school I had two years of, of college with a college is neither in existence. Was known as New York Digital Institute. I went two years, was getting ready to graduate. The colleague who went bankrupt, I never got a certificate yet as I went from job to job, which I'll tell you about later. Uh, I never had anybody have a question. I'm, if I told them I had two years of college, they, they believe me.

14:20 So did you use that training in diesel? Is that what you pursue? Right. Yeah,

14:24 I did file away but never in the mechanical arrange. Jeannette Raymond just uh, I worked at places that were using diesel. Uh, my first job was for John Deere and uh, uh, they, they had two, two series of diesel tractors and they always sent me, they put me to work a picking parts and uh, but whenever they send me a decent, allow a job or anything to sell, they'd always send me and his boss used to say, you can get them started.

15:07 That's a good starting is important. Well, I want to go a little to the personal side. When did Andrea come into your life? How did, how did the two of you meet? My, uh, my brother.

15:19 What is from Borys Vale and uh, I had a chiropractor. I had a car before I could get a license,

15:28 what kind of a car?

15:30 A model, a model, a for android thing. Then everybody had a model, a Ford and I'm over at my brother in law, his parents house and I happened to, I'm a nice sunny summer day like today, ish. And I happened to go over to the window and next door here is a beautiful girl, pain hopscotch.

16:03 I see.

16:04 I'm going to take her out. The kids that were there with me and like grabbed basis, they're not going to let her go out with, are you married or in a couple years? Three years later I married her.

16:19 And you've been married for 75 years. Yes. I salute you. That's incredible. So what is the secret to a long marriage?

16:32 Whatever the wife

16:34 going go along with that. So I'm the House that I described at the opening. You told me that you would build yourself. At what point did you and Andrea move here and how, how did you go about building this? We moved here

16:55 and a 1950 search. We weren't quite completed with the house, but we want to get in by September. Saw that a girl could, uh, go to this school. And as I mentioned, the girl will, we have three girls, Lma, our oldest, Cheryl, Cheryl, who lives. I'll put second daughter right now. And uh, uh, Cheryl who lives up in Maine, a town by the name of. Well, just, just south of Bangor. And Bonnie land, our youngest who is up in Eastbourne.

17:48 So what was like raising three daughters?

17:51 Hectic. Three girls, three of them. Oh, here they, they, uh, the, they are seven and six years apart. So they were spread out pretty well.

18:15 So what you must have done more than diesel if you knew how to build a house, how did you learn those skills?

18:23 Well, I'm, I'm a, I'm a farm and you pick up these trade by, uh, by just assuming memory. If it got to be done on you doing them

18:38 well that's a good way to learn but you to. It's one thing to learn, but another thing to actually build. Did you have like blueprints or did you sketch out? Yeah,

18:49 was a blueprint out of a trade magazine that it was known or it's a split level. It's flipped front to back. Not trying to, not side to side, like most people do because they utilize, uh, the one split over a garage generally where this hair is just split from, to back the garages under the kitchen

19:20 from here, it's just charming. We're sitting in the living room and it opens into a dining area and I'm assuming there's a kitchen on the far side and then there's a stairway that you can see leads to and part of the charm is just the decoration, which I'm assuming is Andrea, but there's just beautiful wallpaper and cabinets filled with dolls and everywhere you look are things that seem very, very special. So it was a very nice home to come home to all these years. Yeah,

19:51 always a nice happy, happy place too. So don't allow one. I'm happy.

20:02 Well that's hard to keep out. So you mentioned your very first job. Tell us about some of your other jobs that followed from that.

20:12 I stayed with wood diesel and the company and like that I went from John Deere. They went on strike and uh, I went to work for a bus company which ran out rue 21 disconnected a, a diesel buses. I mean I never got to work on them. I got to drive them. That was all I drove bus and this company eventually took over Schenectady transportation. They went bankrupt and the Brown Ale was a company here and uh, he took over the biggest part of disconnected a when, when they went out and I, I drove bus for five years then, then I put my carpenter trade to work. I worked for Montgomery Ward up in and, and, uh, I, I changed jobs. Someone might say he always, he couldn't keep a job. It wasn't, I couldn't keep a job. And every time I changed jobs I can look back and I can tell you I moved up and like that, I, uh, from Montgomery on wards, I, uh, I went with the railway express driving a, what we refer to as doubles over the road and uh, I, uh, tractor trailer to tractor trailer, trailer tractor and that, that was a, uh, the aid that is telling job, hooking these things up.

22:09 And I had the help always up at the terminal and all of any here. And then we run a run the threw away. And, uh, the first roots I had, I went to malone in the winter in the snow country. You went all the way up to rouses point at the border and then turned west and really went through smell. And uh, I, uh, here, here we are with dethrones again, diesel trucks here once in a while. I got to do something because they, they slapped on the road. Yeah, I, I, uh, went from railway express to Otis elevator a little. Well, one rate and the reason I went with oldest, uh, my, uh, my uncle was an elevator man and uh, I don't know whether many of you are acquainted with, with the elevator. Not now. We're not talking about running the elevator. We're talking about installing them and keeping them running.

23:26 And my Grad, I had a, I had a route that included, uh, the South Mall. A parts are, we were available for the Al Smith Building that was handy. And the tower, the tower was separate in this respect from the front, from the rest of them all. You got the elevators go down into the garage. He, you all over. I had a, I had 26 escalators. The escalators in the museum I had and I found shade with their track. I, I, uh, sort of pride myself. I come up to 65 years old, ready to retire and the boss comes down and says, can't you stay? We don't have anybody to replace you. So I said, uh, I will stay on till my salary starts interfering with the social security and advanced. So I stayed on fish 60, 66 a or I in, in April. Next, next salary I do, they would reduce my social security. I'm like, that's all. I said, Whoa, this is it.

24:56 Wow. So that was 30 odd years ago. Yeah. Thirty 2:32 good math

25:05 irony. I worked for oldest for 20 years, 20 calendar year, but I had 22 years. And with the uh, over time, uh, the, this is a job where you're snuggled down in bed, it's 2:00 in the morning, it's snowing and the wind is blowing is two below zero at the time. And Hey, this elevator is snuck down and queen the Queen Mother down to one. That was always breaking down with Friar Tuck. If you know anyone knows where that there a quick, the town of Friar tuck his in his Kiska town.

25:52 Oh my goodness. Well, I bet the people were so grateful though, that were trapped in an elevator to have you there to rescue them. Were there any stories of people just having been in? Can you find generally? Yeah. So as you look back on all those years of work, do you have a favorite job or a favorite?

26:15 No question about it. I, I, uh, uh, they, uh, elevator job. What was your best job? And uh, I don't know if you know it or not, are there, but yeah, an elevator mechanic is the second best job in the country. It's only exceeded by operating engineer.

26:40 What makes it such a great job.

26:44 You're, you're on your own and you better

26:50 be doing.

26:52 And uh, uh, the, the, the salary and a pension and everything is. I happened to be in, I don't know why they didn't, just local I, I'm the oldest person they ever hired at a j. hired me at age 46 and they liked to get from right about a high school or while I have to have two years of college to get in the elevator business now. Anyway.

27:25 So what about your retirement years because you've had over three decades, what have been some of your major accomplishments or happiness is there?

27:36 Well, a strange thing there. Uh, uh, I have all my, a branch and, and things go directly prize and I am getting more direct deposit and salary when I was working.

27:56 That's a nice. Later in the tire, I know that

27:59 things have gone up because of inflation and like that, but it's still nice to have a pension and income more than your salary when you were working at the tap and a street. That's great. And the, and the entire family. The uh, elevator business has always been a parlor. What my grandfather back in the 18 hundreds, he, uh, he installed elevators for a company that made elevators in cohoes Gerhard Iron and Brash. It was known that his son, my uncle, he, he, he lives in the business. Then you come along to my generation that is may, that Louisiana, my, uh, son in law is in my grandson is in now and my great grandson, he is a, he is in the elevator business.

29:08 It is fascinating how families and trades kind of intermingle when you're mentioning some family history there. I wanted to ask you about, I think it was your cousin who had emailed me that your mother, Gertrude Frederick, had been related to the Frederick's, you know, from guilderland center where they're historic house still stands. Can you tell us any of that family history? Do you know any about the Frederick's? Well, when you go back, my, my grandfather actually worked

29:42 for Thomas Edison and disconnected I and he's working there and doing very well. And He, uh, he's going to quit. Well, I said to him, his name was William Frederick show. I said, Bill, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Well, he said, I'm going out to French's hollow and I'm gonna raise my schmeling. Well, he went out the French is how now he was from Gil and center and the way up to, to Gil and center from Guilderland used to be through French's hollow and there was a whole full winding twisting road on the other side of the, the uh, norman skill. Well, grandpa went out there and he had a plan and his mind and he, he, he bought two farms and I don't know if he ever raised my smell lunch, but I know the following winter and at the town meeting of Watervliet and jen in February, it was incredibly wary. He went through the meeting and they're discussing where they're going to get water. They were getting water out of the Hudson and didn't like it. And he was there and he got up and he said, if you want water or the, all the water you'll ever need. And he left.

31:19 Who is that man? Months there. They had bought the farms and the water reservoir is now on. The was fine. Oh my goodness, that's a great guilderland story. Have you got any more of those up? I got a story. Uh, there, there was four of us fellows before I looked out the window and seeing that beautiful girl next door. They used to get together two or three nights a week and fool around. One of the things we did, you probably heard about it and I know how Wayne went around valid mind and took all of the blinds really could get out of the house, put them over. Well, hey, here's another worry that the four of us, did. They, I don't know who started it, it wasn't me, but we ended up on the west band of Thompson's lake and one of the fellows had brought back a 10 a can for a coffee in the bottom of the can. He poked a hole, me pull a string through it and I'm pulling on the string. Now if you've taken hold is cam and pull this rouse and this sounds just like a bobcat.

32:56 Oh my gosh. So we're on the western

33:00 gotta like pull on that. And by and by, we began to hear, uh, people coming and talking and wondering where is. I thought, well, we'd better get outta here. So we got out of the American, went up to camp panicle. Now we did the same thing here,

33:25 pulling the string, making the bobcat screen,

33:31 hydrate the. I got, assume these guys were in Honduras. They were looking for where is this bobcat too? Um, because bobcat can't travel that far though. So after, after making a couple of passages like this, we, we let it, the thing rest. Now you probably heard that had been bobcat up around these burned and minecraft.

33:56 I have heard that people call our paper irregularly to say, so

34:02 I was on my way in the elevator, but I was on my way going down to reveal. Now I know, where are we going? I was going to her shut down and Atlantic Salmon and I grabbed my radio one and I hear, Oh Sha somebody, a monitor on the radio. Uh, I interviewing this woman and she's telling the how she drove me burns and she's telling him how, uh, the, the, the things we're like, I tell them now, uh, the years ago and she come out with this name and that her grandfather says there used to be bob around here, but we never could locate.

34:53 I gotta think this, this was the night of the bar. Now, hey, here's the bobcat.

35:00 I'm the only one of the four last year

35:03 I was going to ask her, your compatriots were still around, want to come after the bobcat? Here he is. I live up there. It was warner's like, wasn't it? I live right up there and people up there still talk about the night. There was a big box, big cat around in case people can't hear in the background. This is Bonnie saying that she lives near Warner's like, and people are still talking about that bobcat. So you, you created a myth. Well, so you were the only one left to these rabble-rousers. What do you attribute your long life to? What advice can you give people?

35:46 I don't smoke. Don't drink, don't go. And didn't go with the girls.

35:53 Those are pretty simple, pretty simple pieces of advice. I, our half hour went so fast. I sometimes miss the most important thing. Is there anything more that you want to share before we close out of our podcast?

36:13 The injury at the fair and along about 20, 20, 30 years later, uh, I haven't been on the farm is uh, a piece of equipment broke and I happened to be between it and it got my head and I was unconscious for over a week. Really? I'm an off.

36:39 Oh my gosh. Your family must have been so worried. This,

36:44 the, the, this prompted me to say that, hey, this isn't a profitable business. Let's get out of it. And strangely enough, he had built the milk business off and uh, were uh, a. originally I dare say I don't remember because I was a young kid, but I would say he had five or six cows in the beginning. In the end we, we were driving 40 cows up and down the street to be milked. And we had, he had probably 20 others that we were raising the horde into. And he, he, he was tickled to death. No, no, he went, he started healing and a carpenter work. He did carpenter work over at the depot.

37:40 And that kind of led the way for you to do carpentry work. Well, thank you so much and thank all of you. This has just been a wonderful visit and I wish you a very, very happy. What are your plans for your birthday celebration?

37:58 Well, uh, the, the, the family came in last, last.

38:05 Oh, so you've had the celebration. You can just relax on the 22nd. Well, very good and happy birthday.