The Olds Road Haskells
Generation 11: Laurence Claire Haskell (b. 8 Jun 1909) (d. 6 Mar 1981)
++ Ila Marie Showerman (b. 25 Oct 1913) (d. 12 Jul 2008) (m.18 Feb 1935)
Children
Viva Maureen Haskell (b. 7 Jan 1936)
David Daniel Haskell (b. 28 Jul 1939)
Florence Clare Haskell (b. 18 Aug 1941)
Winona Faye Haskell (b. 3 Dec 1943, d. 4 Feb 2012)
Anne Harriet Haskell (b. 22 Nov 1945)
Janice Ileen Haskell (b. 11 Oct 1946)
Thomas Laurence Haskell (b.18 May 1948)
Joe Earl Haskell (b. 20 May 1950)
Nathan Lynn Haskell (b. 21 Dec 1951)
Stephen Larry Haskell (b.12 Dec 1952)
Jeffrey Glen Haskell (b.7 Apr 1956)
(For my siblings I invite each of you to briefly tell your story for future generations. I have left space for you. It can be as long or as short as you would like. If you send or email it to me I will incorporate it into this book.)
Viva’s Story in Her Own Words
David’s Story in His Own Words
Florence’s Story in Her Own Words
Winona’s Story
(Unfortunately we lost Winona in February 2012 to Parkinson’s Disease. So she can not give us her story in her own words. I deeply regret that I did not do this book a decade ago while she was still with us.)
Anne’s Story in Her Own Words
Janice’s Story in Her Own Words
Thomas’ Story in His Own Words
My very first recollection I was still in diapers about two and we had a step down between the kitchen and the back room and I fell down that step. I cried and there was a lot of yelling about who was watching me. My second earliest recollection was when I stopped being ambidextrous and could only use my dominant right hand. It perplexed me because it was almost instantaneous.
At five I attended kindergarten in a one room country school known as the Walker School on Baseline Road a little over a mile from our farm along with my older siblings. Joan Shoesmith, our next neighbor, and I were the only two kindergarteners. During first grade we switched from going to the Walker School to the Leslie Public Schools. What a shock. There were two classrooms of about 30 kids in 1st grade. I cried the first day there because I did not know what I was doing for lunch when the teacher, Mrs. Ripley, asked me. No one had told me. Mrs. Ripley went and asked one of my sisters. That was the last time I ever cried in public. I would not allow myself.
I met my future wife, Becky Mackinder, in tenth grade. She sat in front of me in World History class and I kept bothering her. This is funny because we both had the same teacher in third grade but neither of us remember the other being in that class. Such is life.
I was a good student and graduated Valedictorian of my class in 1966 and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on a scholarship. I was really not emotionally prepared for the University. I loved learning but was not prepared for all the reading. As a result I got a couple of D’s and went on academic probation which cost me my scholarship. I left the University. By this time Becky and I had become serious about one another and I asked her to marry me on the banks of the Red Cedar River in East Lansing, Michigan. In April 1968 we were married and we started our life together with practically nothing.
I finally got a job at the Extended Care Facility in Okemos Michigan and worked there about a year. I applied for a job at the Diamond Reo factory which assembled trucks and got hired for the afternoon shift. At the same time I was attending Lansing Community College during the day. This was important to us since the Vietnam war was raging and the draft was happening and I was very high on the lottery list. I was on a student deferment and had to remain in school. But my afternoon shift was abolished so I had to go on the day shift if I wanted to make money . So that meant that I had to drop most of my classes. Becky and I talked it over and I went to the draft board and volunteered for the draft so I could pick the month I would go. We made arrangements and on February 17, 1970 I left for the army. But at the processing center it was announced that three of the draftees would be going into the Marine Corps. They asked for volunteers. They got two volunteers in the morning so in the afternoon about three o’clock they called me to a small room and told me I was selected as the third volunteer. I was not happy about it but took the oath and was on my way to San Diego California. They had allowed me to call Becky and I told her what had happened. She had her brother rush her
down to the airport. The plane was ready to leave but they held the plane a few minutes and Becky was allowed on the plane and we hugged and kissed goodbye. Boot Camp was hell.
After Boot Camp I went to my Military Occupational School as a private and became a Field Radio Operator. Becky and my son had joined me in San Diego. A week before the class ended I was promoted to private first class. Chevrons on my uniforms was a small fortune for me and Becky A week later I finished first in my radio operators course and was meritoriously promoted to Lance Corporal again: new chevrons on all my uniforms. After this school I was transferred to Camp Lejeune North Carolina.
I finished my two year military commitment but Becky and I decided to stay in the Corps. I reenlisted for electronics school, made corporal and went back to California; this time to 29 Palms. I graduated first in my Basic Electronics Class and got my choice of follow on schools. I chose Radar Fundamentals. I graduated first in this class and chose to go to Glen County, Georgia for an Air Traffic Control Radar Technicians course. I graduated first in that class, was promoted to sergeant.and asked for Cherry Point North Carolina as my duty station. After a year there I received orders to Iwakuni Japan unaccompanied. Becky and the kids stayed in Leslie Michigan and I spent 14 months in Japan.
After that we were assigned to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), El Toro, California. While in Iwakuni, I had applied for the Enlisted Commissioning Program and was selected. So I was only in El Toro for six months when I received orders to Quantico, Virginia to Officer Candidate School. I left El Toro in February or March of 1976 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on 1 Jun 1976 and assigned the Military Occupation Specialty of Air Defense Control Officer (ADCO) and stayed at Quantico for 6 more months attending The Basic School. In December I received orders to Marine Corps Base, Twenty-Nine Palms California for my Air Defense School where I learned how to control friendly fighter jets to intercept enemy aircraft. That was a 12 week School.
Next, I was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron 7 (MACS-7) at Camp Pendleton. I was at camp Pendleton for three years working as an ADCO and as the radar officer, because of my enlist experience. Here I made 1st Lieutenant. During this tour I had applied for the Degree Completion Program so I could finish my college. So from Camp Pendleton I was assigned to the University of Michigan for 18 months to complete my undergraduate degree. After completing my degree in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry, I was assigned to an unaccompanied tour to Okinawa, Japan.
However, this time I was in a position to take my family over at my expense. It was one of the best years of our lives. I worked at Marine Air Control Group -28 at MCAS Futenma. We lived in a rented house on Pig Farm Road in Awasse. The Kids attended school at the DoD school at Kadena Airforce Base. We had so many adventures touring the Island.
In 1981 I was assigned to MACS-7 at Cherry Point. As it turned out Cherry Point became like our home because over the 1980’s we were there 6 of the 10 years. Here I made Captain, my most favorite rank. A close second rank was as a Sergeant in Iwakuni. I left Cherry Point for three years to go back to Quantico, Virginia as a Development Project Officer for a computer system called the Tactical Warfare Simulation Evaluation Analysis System (TWSEAS). I was in charge of developing a new upgraded software system. I spent one week in Quantico, the next week in San Diego where the two companies who were hired to write the program were located and the third week in Quantico again and the fourth week in Orlando, Florida at the Naval Air Development Center who were the project support. Repeated for three years. Then back to MCAS, Cherry point for three years
. In 1990 I was assigned accompanied by my family back to Okinawa (the government paid for this one). Here I obtained a master's degree in Educational Leadership from Troy University extention in Kadena, Okinawa. In 1993 I was passed over for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel a second time and was ordered to retire. We came back to MIchigan in summer of that year and I was hired by the Buena Vista School District in Saginaw, MIchigan to teach the Junior Reserve Officer Training Course (JROTC) at Buena Vista High School.
I taught the JROTC for two years and then the Superintendent asked if I would take the job as Assistant Principal at the Middle school. I accepted and worked at the middle school for three years. Then in the fall of 1996 the Superintendent again asked me if I would take the job of Assistant Principal at the high school. For the rest of my time at Buena VIsta I was Assistant Principal at the High School. In 2004 and 2006 I was acting Principal at the high school and in 2008 I was assigned as the Assistant Principal for the At Risk Program. We would take seniors who were behind in credits but who had taken all the course work but had not passed and work with them the fifth year. This was a very successful program and we graduated over 30 students in the three years of the program who would not have graduated. I retired after the 2009/2010 school year but worked half time in the 2010/2011 school year to keep the program going but the district let it go after I left and after the 2013/2014 School year, the whole school district was dissolved due to financial problems.
Becky passed away in September of 2011. I had taken a part time job as an educational consultant with good friends who created software for teacher and staff evaluations. I worked there part time until Sept of 2016. I remained in Michigan but spent the winters in Jacksonville NC with my daughter. I moved down to Jacksonville NC in 2018. I stayed with my daughter until August and then moved into my own apartment.
Becky and I raised five children - 2 boys and 3 girls. The two youngest girls were twins adopted in 1990 just before we left for our last tour to Okinawa. I now have 12 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. This is Becky’s and my greatest achievement and our legacy.
Joe’s Story in His Own Words
Nathan’s Story in His Own Words
Stephen’s Story in His Own Words
Jeffrey’s Story in His Own Words
(I have ended my narrative with my siblings and me. In Chapter 8 I have included the next generations to the year 2020. In Chapter 9 I have given a genealogy of Henry(1) Haskell as detailed as I have been able to research. In Chapter 10 I include the incomplete genealogy of William Abraham Haskell, our progenitor from generation 1. There may be mistakes and some information is missing because it just wasn’t discoverable at this time. If I had discovered differing dates I picked the date that seemed most probable but again it was just my judgement. To future generations I hope that this will be of interest. I only know I do appreciate those that left snippets of information for me to find.)
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