The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 22

B-4 THE SUN-TELEGRAM March 21, 1976 i -r V'- i t. V' i 'i i "iiiii ri i i mii tr I 11 ttl i i ir 4 ru i Hi I -ySSV Mil' mgI ijr: a I VJ "'U- ui, i ill 4Hv' TiT'ifciiin I V-JW, IIHHMIH liiilKwlglnwiUlt WiiiHM ii 1 Cv Tfme takes toll Staff photos by Juan Garcia A- (Continued from Metro page) work In it every weekend. It was a beautiful place," he said. Because transportation was such a problem, the family didn't leave the canyon very often. But on weekends, city people would drive up in horse-drawn buggies for picnics.

"And we had all sorts of wild life up there. Quail, rabbit, bobcats and coyotes. You Just had to get away from the house to find them. "I don't regret that life any. It was rugged and seemed tough at the time.

But It was a good life. You couldn't travel so blamed far in such a short time like kids can today," he said, sitting in the darkness of a cubby hole at Midway Repair. A fond memory was Console's first train ride when he was six or seven. He recalled the excitement of traveling from Highgrove to Riverside and back again all in one day. "It was kind of expensive for us kids.

So we used to collect those old brown beer bottles and sell them back to the bottlers for a quarter apiece. There was a spot on our property that was sort of a lovers' lane. Every Sunday there would be lots of bottles to be found in the bushes there after Saturday night. Things haven't changed much, I recon," he said. Console's interest in mechanics experience I gained," he said with a grin.

Eventually, he returned to repair work and moved bak to Loma Linda in 1939, after a few years in Calexico. "When I was younger, I used to duck hunt here where the shop Is," he said, pointing to the rear of his lot and along Interstate 10 near Tippecano Avenue. "This used to all be sloughs with lots of water and ducks. There were always mallards. That was long before the freeway came through." His business today is mostly with senior citizens.

"I don't do big Jobs any more. Just tune-ups and lawn mower work, that sort of thing. I've got Social Security so I don't need to make a lot. Just work for my friends," he said. He used to have four helpers but now he works alone.

Too much red tape to hire extra hands, he believes. "I used to work 18 to 20 hours a day. But I'm too old for that now. Who needs to make a big showing at my age? That would be nonsense," Console explains. He and Helen are living in Reche Canyon on 30 acres of the old homestead property.

He believes life in 1976 is as good as it was in 1900. The government has more control over people's lives now, but people have more. "We've got Social Security now and that's good. In the old days if you were old and poor you Just went off to the poor house and that was hell. But now there's so much control, so it's an even break," he said.

Currently, he has no plans to retire. "I'll Just keep going until I can't navigate any more. In fact, my son may retire first. He's a missile mechanic for Lockheed and hes trying to get an early retirement. Wouldn't that be something'" he asked.

In July, Console will turn 76. He's iern a lot in his lifetime "I got started with a heck of a century It's gone faster and faster every ear From 1920 on up, she really own booming Looking back. I've enjoyed it. It's a good life," he said quietly ill "Lrr he surfaced in 1911, when overhauled an old Model He learned the fine noints from a mechanic friend of the family. The repairman agreea 10 teacn Console about cars in return for help in bagging the limit during quail sea son.

By 1915, Console and one of his brothers were in business with a small engine shop behind one of their father's soft drink stands, which had become part of the fami ly enterprise. By the two brothers had a successful car repair business In El Centre He also married his wife, Helen, that year. "Then I sold out to my brother and went Into the trucking business 1 hauled a lot of cantaloupes. That was the most rugged Job I ever tried and I wouldn't give you two cents to go back or a million dollars for the 4 I-.