Page 56 - San Diego Woman Magazine

OL DAN Dan’s dad had died during a My grandmother and my step choke and fell to the floor. The

New England hurricane in 1937
man couldn’t breathe because
grandfather Jack owned a
he had swallowed a large olive.
rooming house on High Street.
when his fishing boat was lost at
now writhing man on the floor.
ing some last minute grocer-
ty years old before he died. His
By C. F. Illingworth sea. His dad had just turned fif- Jack had been down town buy- Quickly, Dan rushed over to the
mom passed away a year and a ies for the house guests, when He could immediately see that
half later, and so Dan became he saw Dan slumped down on the man was losing conscious-
Ol Dan was a hobo in the late despondent with a feeling of the ground outside the library ness because of a lack of oxy-
1940’s. He would ride the rails worthlessness. building. He, like many Port- gen. Dan asked for help in get-
back and forth from Boston Dan liked to visit the pier when land residents, knew Dan and ting the now unconscious man
to Portland Maine looking for the fishing boats came back from his circumstances. As Jack was up so that he could grab him
part-time work. He was getting catching cod or halibut. When talking with Dan, he found out around his chest and force the
close to sixty years old when he the fish were offloaded onto the that he had no place to go for obstruction out. As soon as Dan
began to work by cleaning up at pier, the fishermen would cut the night. Jack knew that Dan gave the man a sudden squeeze,
an Italian restaurant down by up the catch before taking them would probably freeze if he was the olive popped out of his
the South-Portland docks. He to the market. There would al- to stay outside in the cold. Jack throat. However, the man was
would clean the floors and wash ways be fish heads and guts left invited Dan to come with him still unconscious. Dan laid the
out the dish rags in exchange on the chopping benches. Dan to the rooming house where he unresponsive man back down
for a place to sleep in a storage would collect some of the nicer could stay until Monday. Dan onto the floor. He immediately
shed in back of the restaurant. fish heads and a few of the inter- could return back to his regu- initiated a CPR procedure. Soon
The restaurant owner had wired nal organs. He would take them lar sleeping place the day after the man began to breathe on
the shed with electricity and in- back to his little shed and clean Christmas. his own. In the meantime, the
stalled an area heater to ward the fish pieces before frying When Jack and Dan reached fire department had been called
off the cold. and was pulling up outside the
them on a small hotplate that he the house, many of the resi- rooming house.
Ol Dan, as the local folks knew found in the trash. dents were in the main room
him by, was a friendly guy with On Christmas Eve while Dan for a Christmas gathering. It After the man was checked out
a good heart. He had no family was down on the wharf talking was tradition for my grand- and taken to the hospital for
after his brother died of con- to some of the fishermen, one parents to have all the house observation, Jack put his hand
sumption fifteen years earlier in of the restaurant workers was residents gather for a special on Dan’s shoulder and asked
Boston. In those days, the med- closing up for the Christmas Christmas Eve dinner and him where he learned how to
ical practitioners didn’t know holiday. He mistakenly locked celebration. When Jack and administer CPR. Dan said that
much about cancer, so they the shed that Dan was using to Dan came into the house, the he was a paramedic helper in
would say that the person had sleep in. It was the day before smell of the food and the tree WWII where he learned how to
died of consumption. was a welcoming experience. help many soldiers. That night
Christmas, and in the 1940’s, It brought back some pleas- everyone kept thanking Dan for
nothing was ever open on
Christmas day. ant Christmas memories of his saving the man’s life. Two days
childhood. As the two of them later, Dan returned to his shed
walked into the common room, in back of the Italian restaurant
one of the boarders began to knowing that he had gained
respect during this Christmas
season. Using his CPR knowl-
edge made him feel useful once
again.

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