1984

The Big Fish

Pyrex cups that I inherited after Dad died

In the fall Dad caught the “Big Fish”, a twelve pound bass. Dad would often go fishing with his friend Gene who was a salesperson for Corning Glass. Dad handled all the ordering of glassware for the Chemistry Department which used a lot of glassware. When I mean a lot, like tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of beakers, test tubes, flasks, and so on.  The biggest manufacturer of glassware was Corning Glass and the Gene was the salesman would woo Dad with gifts.  While now there are all sorts of laws about state employees accepting such gifts, it was common practice in those days.  I remember Dad bringing home the Corning housewares catalog, telling mom to pick out anything she wanted, and Dad would then give the “order” to Gene.  Our family was well supplied with Corning cookware and Pyrex mugs.  Dad and Gene were fishing buddies and would often go fishing together in the lakes and rivers in the area and catching the “big fish” was the highlight of his fishing.    In 1984  Dad received a 30 year plaque from the Chemistry Department for outstanding service.  The picture of Dad with his Big Fish hung on Mom and Dad’s back porch.  Dad continued to fish with Gene for many years after he retired from the Chemistry Department.  In 2018 my brother in law Mark invited Dad and I to a lobster cookout at one of his friends who he goes lobster diving with and low and behold there was Gene.  Dad and Gene talked for some time their days of fishing together and the Big Fish.

Corning hotplate like the one I used to have

CorningWare that Dad gave me, these were a later design having the newer “Spice of Life” pattern on them.  The early sets of dishes that Dad got had the “Blue Cornflower” design on them. In the 70’s Dad gave me a Corning Electromatic hot plate that had the old Blue Cornflower design which I used for many years until the bottom hot plate stopped working.  I still to this day use the dish that sat on top of the hotplate.

My Blue Cornflower hotplate dish

IBM PC/XT