Though he tried other things from time to time, Dad lists his life’s occupation as crane operator (Operating Engineer — 49er). For about 40 years it took him around the United States.

With a little diesel mechanic schooling under his belt — “I didn’t learn much in school, but it gave me a base to begin” — he started work in the taconite mines of northern Minnesota as an oiler.

Charlie Barnum was the shovel crane operator, and everyone loved Charlie, a gentle soft-spoken man (godfather to my brother). Oilers maintained the crane while the operator had lunch. Dad finished his oiling and every day, with Charlie’s quiet assent, jumped up into the cab and taught himself how to operate the crane until lunch was over. One day a big truck came up, and Dad just went ahead and loaded it with ore. Charlie told him that was the smoothest job he’d ever seen.

“I just picked it up; I’ve got a kind of a mechanical mind,” he unassumingly commented.

Dad went on working his way up from job to job, teaching himself bigger machines — dragline, hoist, and finally tower crane. He is honored to be one of the original tower crane operators. "When you first start, they give you the thrill of your life!”

We heard him talking to Mom after work, and I always knew the work was dangerous, that he’d have to lift much more than the crane was built to do. I asked him how often he knew he had divine intervention. “Hundreds of times,” he responded. Then he went on to relive some of those lifts and how he called on the Lord's help, ending with, “OSHA would never allow it today!”

He often was out moving his cranes in the middle of the night when there was less traffic (oversized loads requiring power lines to be lifted, etc.). I didn’t know that he assembled and disassembled each crane himself, sometimes even doing the loading alone. He needed to know the security of every bolt and line, counterweights and lots of other stuff I don’t understand — lives depended on it. I was in awe of the complexity and magnitude of what he did, and told him so. “My mind is fit for rigging,” he explained matter-of-factly.

There aren’t many pictures of him at work, but take a look around the Twin Cities — IDS Center, Radisson South, Mall of America, etc. — he was the guy lifting the iron.

Offering his life, he fought for freedom, then did his share of the post Depression and WWII rebuilding of America. A stellar example of America’s Greatest Generation!

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. Proverbs 22:29