By Edward Master
I have known three, count them three, Harold Eugenes in my life.
The first and foremost was my father, Harold Eugene Master. I guess you can hold him at least partly responsible for my being.
The second Harold Eugene was a classmate, Harold Eugene Winkler. The third was also classmate, Harold Eugene Roberts.
My father answered to the name Harold, especially around friends and co-workers. Around fellows and friends from childhood) he was Harley. I didn’t know and I never asked if his name came from a family member, distant or otherwise. To my siblings, and other immediate family, he was often referred to as H-E. One reflection of mine and my father’s name was after my mother would pick up his paycheck from Bracken Construction company I would proceed to endorse the check with his name because I could almost perfectly replicate his handwriting. She would then make the deposit and go about her needed business.
Early on, Winkler went by Gene or Eugene, especially in school (beginning in fourth grade when the Emlenton grade schoolers moved to the St. Petersburg building for elementary school). By the time we reached senior high school, he often went by Wink.
Wink became a long jumper and triple jumper in senior high track and field. I don’t ever recall him being into tied into the running events, just the jumping ones. Wink was also an accomplished trombone player, so much so that he followed that sidebar to college at Clarion University and was a member of the Golden Eagle marching band. He asked me about joining too, but I had long lost interest in the music playing side of life in high school. He did remark that the band had a good time on the trips to away football games.
We did a turn one summer together at the Quaker State refinery in Emlenton. He was assigned one time to help me with the brush cutting/mowing. We found out one day that he was allergic to bee stings. I believe he was nailed by a wasp from a nest on an open pipe. He made an emergency trip to a hospital and missed a day of work.
Wink was a chemistry major in college. He ended up working for the Johnson Space Flight Center in Texas. How he got there is beyond me. I never asked.
Roberts passed through the same deal as Winkler in school until senior high. From about 11th grade on he was Harry. I may have been responsible but I’m not sure on that moniker. The name certainly lasted in college at Clarion U and into private life.
Socially, Harry was my big brother when I pledged Phi Sigma Epsilon Fraternity in college. He joined the Phi Sigs in fall 1968; I followed in spring 1969. Harry joined with a number of guys from the same dorm/floor where he had lived. I knew most of them too and they knew me. It was a match made in heaven, at least we believed.
Harry and I became real buds in senior high school. Harry was a manager for the basketball team I played on. Later in life, he took up rowing and became a masters champion of some sort. He was a chemistry major at CSC and then taught ninth-grade science as a mid-year replacement at the Caesar Rodney School District in Delaware. That led to attendance officer that led to administration that led to a doctoral degree and eventually he became superintendent of the school district.
Harry Roberts was the last guy I thought would make a career of education. I really slotted him for industry, but it was me that did the about face. Harry passed a few years ago due to Lou Gehrig disease. I was lucky to visit with him a few months prior to the disease taking hold.
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