No, he completed only 8th grade at St. John's parish school in Manayunk. He went to work for his father John as a carpenter's apprentice after that. But he was remarkably self-educated. He read a lot and was a quick learner.

I know for sure that he did not golf, but he had a strong interest in baseball and football and liked to listen to both on the radio. He also attended sandlot baseball games.

The piano was definitely there, but as for the old style record player, it's possible but not likely. I say that because father was always upgrading and bought the latest record playing equipment. I can vividly remember him saying: "Let's get rid of this one and get a new one, they're better."

Oh yes, and he like to sing, as did mother (Annie Hennessy). She had a very fine soprano voice, and he was a passable tenor. In those days it was common for someone in the household to play the piano and we'd all sing along. Mother's family the Hennessys, came to visit every week and her sister Ethel often came by and played the piano, and we'd all sing with her.

No, he didn't but he strongly encouraged his children to do so. Your Uncle James played the saxophone, your father's twin brother Val played the drums, John played the violin, and your Uncle Joe played the piano.

He was actually named and christened Leo after Pope Leo the pontiff at the time of his birth. But Leon Hart was a famous Notre Dame football player in those early days of your father's youth, and it was common for young men to adopt the Leon nickname. Your father was a very big fan of Notre Dame football.

His favorite song was 'My Wild Irish Rose' and he liked vocal harmony in particular. He was partial to a harmony group called ' The A&P Gypsies,' (possibly associated with the early food market chain of that same name. Ed.) and mother and he liked opera. We had a lot of opera records around.

Oh, he and mother loved to dance! In those days, St. John's Parish Hall was a focal point of the social life of those who lived in the area, and there were a lot of dances just about every weekend. Mother and Father went to those often. (Editor's note: I personally recall going to those Friday night dances for young parishioners at St. John's Hall with our Wissahickon-based cousins in the early 1950s. PTS)

No, on the contrary, he was an easy-going, mellow person with a very sweet disposition. I can say that from my earliest recollections of him, at say age 5 in 1917, to the time when he died in December of 1943, I never once heard him raise his voice in anger. Now his father John (1829-1906) whom I did not know, and who died before I was born, was apparently another story. Mother clearly did not care for him, and told me repeatedly that she found her father-in-law to be rigid, ill-tempered, and occasionally a mean-spirited person.

My paternal grandfather John owned the houses where Dad and his brother my Uncle Nick made their homes on Main St. in Manayunk when they were first married. They must have had what is commonly called a "purchase money mortgage" type of arrangement with their father. Meaning where some of the rent money they paid would apply to the future purchase of the house, or he may have co-signed the mortgage note. I say that because Mother told me that she vividly remembered her father-in-law John Stimmler slamming his fist on their kitchen table and shouting at her husband, his son, and my father in a very loud voice "the rent is due the first of the month, and that's it!!" So I conclude they must have been a little late with the rent payment, but mother never liked him.

To illustrate what a conniving person my grandfather John could be, my parent's rent money apparently went into some kind of account at a local savings and loan (S&L). I recall mother Annie telling me that on one occasion when she was first married, grandfather John and two of his daughters took a train trip to visit Stimmler relatives in Minnesota, and at about the same time, my father Joseph went to the S&L to inquire if their house loan balance was nearly paid off. The bank teller told my father that, no, the mortgage balance was actually higher than it was after his last house payment, because his father John had taken out a loan to pay for the train tickets and other trip travel expenses and debited it to my father and mother's home mortgage account.

After his father John and sisters returned from Minnesota, my father went to see his father and inquired why he had done it, and even if he was going to charge it to his mortgage account, why not also charge it equally to his other son Nick's mortgage? . . . who appartently had the same savings/loan arrangement? Apparently his father's reply was that: "Well, you know, Nick and Nora are not as well off as you and Annie." So my mother told me my father came home from the meeting and said: "That's it; we're moving." And so he subsequently took his equity and bought another house on Larson St.

Oh yes, he certainly was interested. I remembered he had a black Velie around 1926. And before that, he had a two-toned green Moon 4-door convertible phaeton. He expected his sons to contribute to the gasoline expense. When they failed to do that and got into arguments about whose turn it was to take it out on dates, he sold it abruptly. His last car was purchased in 1932 when he retired. In his plumbing, heating, steam and gas fitting business he was always partial to black Ford pickup trucks. Mother told me he had horse wagons, when he first went into business for himself, which he kept in stables on Manayunk Ave.

Oh sure, for example he did all the work at St. John's Parish, and for a substantial discount. Often he did things there for free. He was also an usher at church on Sundays sometimes for multiple masses, and an active member of the Holy Name Society there. He objected to swear words and obscene language, and I never heard him use curse words or take the Lord's name in vain. I was 20 years of age, married, and living at home when he retired at age 65 in 1932. He worked very hard, including a half-day every Saturday. The main meal of the week at our house was Saturday shortly after noon, when he would come home from work. We'd sit down and eat together as a family.

Yes, mother told me that in the early days before autos were popular, they had a horse and carriage which they took there in all seasons. But in colder winter months, she could remember my father heating bricks in the fireplace before they went out, and place them inside the carriage to generate some warmth. They would sometimes stop there for hot chocolate, which she loved.

Yes, we had a tavern across the street from our house on Roxborough Ave. And on weekends Dad would usually buy one pitcher of beer there for himself and your Uncle Dick and bring it home. He was a very moderate drinker; I never saw him tipsy. As a matter of fact, my brother and your Uncle Joe, in later years tried repeatedly to interest my father in hard liquor. He always declined saying he had 5 sons and he wanted to set a good example and never wanted to appear inebriated in front of them. That cautious sentiment might also have originated from his younger brother Nick, who was clearly a problem drinker most of his life. He worried about Nick. Annie my mother was very fond of Dad's brother Nick, but I recall that just one beer would make Uncle Nick tipsy, and he'd start to slur his words.

Dad was extremely fond of your mother. He seemed to have a special sensitivity toward her sometimes difficult situation as a second wife, and navigating with a very boisterous Stimmler clan. So I vividly remember when your mother and father would visit our house on Roxborough Ave. when they were first married in the late 1930s, and later in the early 1940s. Dad would make them both a cup of tea and then they would retreat to one of the porches together by themselves, and talk quietly. All the while, your father and his brothers and sisters-in-law would be making animated conversation in the parlor or dining room. That routine would repeat itself every time she came. And your mother seemed very fond of him as well.

Yes, he often took very long walks. He liked to walk from our house in Roxborough to the shrine of the Blessed John Neumann on Ridge Ave. On December 9, 1943 he had been on a very long walk and we had a telephone call from a neighbor around 4pm who said: "Mr. Stimmler is sitting on our front steps. He seems confused or ill and doesn't respond to conversation." So my husband, your Uncle Dick, went to the neighbors to guide him home. He seemed to recover somewhat, and ate dinner with us but was very quiet. We had hot dogs for dinner that night and I recall he ate just half of one before excusing himself to go upstairs to take a shower. Shortly thereafter we heard a loud thump and went upstairs and found him slumped in the bathtub. We surmised then that he had had a stroke or cerebral hemorrahage and fell, striking his head on the bathtub. We dressed him in pajamas and called a doctor.

He lived for another 6 days in a state of semi-consciusness and my brothers and their wives came to his bedside to see him. But I vividly remember his brother Nick coming to his bedside and kissing him on the forehead and quietly saying through tears:

"Good Joe; Bad Nick."

He died the following day, December 15, 1943.