Page 29 - REALLY What A time Book IX

REALLY SO WHAT
What A Time

MY FAMILY

There were four of us Pop, John Uriah, Mom, Kathrine
Margretta Williams Zimmerman, my older brother Joe Allen,
and myself, Richard Edward. We made up the Zimmerman
family of Arlington Virginia.

POP:
Pop was a city fellow, born in Allentown, Pennsylvania before
th
the turn of the 20 century, 1896 he had little to do with the
outdoors, working in the mills at Bethlehem Steel, yet in the
years after his marriage Mom and he spent so much time
camping and traveling. He adapted to it. Together they taught
both Joe and me to love and respect the great outdoors. We
camped every year on his vacation from 1940 into the ‘50’s.
Once, in 1946 for an entire summer using work time saved
during the war.
Pop worked for the Navy Department from 1938 until he
retired. He was a serious, stern man that often over did it. As
a Civil Engineer in Washington during those growing years he
helped design many buildings including the Truman White
House restoration that added a concrete bomb shelter 4 levels
below the ground, and the Blair House, across Pennsylvania
Avenue where foreign dignitaries stayed while visiting the
President. There might have been others, including some
boats, as he also worked at the Navy Yards and Docks. It’s
hard to say because he never discussed his work. His security
clearance prohibited it, and he stuck to it.

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