HASKELL Family Reunion

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The Story of Bob
(Robert Elliott Haskell--as remembered by Jean, his sister
with some details provided by Bob)

Bob
Robert Elliott Haskell - as remembered by Jean Krauklin with some details provided by Bob. In 1934, during the Great Depression, a very blond, blue-eyed little boy joined the Haskell family in Berlin, New Hampshire. He arrived at a time considered late in life for his mother, Lydia (39). The rest of the children heard from various sources that only the experience and skill of the family doctor, Dr. Pulsifer, saved the baby, because the umbilical cord was wound around the baby's neck. Fortunately, Bob grew up strong and healthy after his difficult start in life. As many another youngest child, Bob became the pet of the family and was especially doted on by his two older sisters; they mothered him right along with his real mother. He was good-natured and always enjoyed being taken out for rides in his carriage or his sleigh, bundled up against the cold much of the year.
Bob (Bobby for the duration of his childhood) was taken to his grandmother's boarding house in Deer Isle, Maine for summers. Since father Ben had the camp on the shore built in 1938, Bob more than any of us spent much time on the island, and came to feel it was more "home" than Berlin. The shore at Pressey Point is rocky in the extreme, but Bob played there barefooted all summer and got to know practically all of that interesting shore, with rowboats, sailboat and power boat at hand for venturing out on the water when the tide was right. Brother David was there to supervise the boating until Bob got old enough to take over by himself.
At school in Berlin, Bob was a good student, perhaps a little more easy-going than his sisters were or older brother. Piano lessons were not successful, at least not with the teacher Berlin had to offer, but Bob did lean toward music early in life and took up the clarinet in junior high after David left for the Navy. He admired his school band director and thought he would like to become one too; his dream was to lead a marching band at the games, to give the kids music lessons. He formed his first band after wrestling with the alto sax. Father Ben didn't agree to his studying music seriously with a view to a music career, however, and upon graduating in 1952, Bob went to the Bentley School of Accounting (now Bentley College) as his brother had done.
The summer he was 15, Bob and his mother went to Deer Isle right after school let out, to join his father. The same day, in the barn, Bob discovered a shiny new motorbike Ben had bought for him, hidden under a sheet. He had no license yet, but managed to avoid getting caught for most of the summer. In the fall of the following year, now licensed, Bob drove the bike to Berlin; and completed the round trip back to Maine the following June. I believe it had 21/2 horsepower. In his senior year of high school, Bob landed a job playing Santa Claus at the local five-and-ten. He may have been one of the youngest Santas on record.
While studying at Bentley, then situated on Boylston Street in Boston, Bob lived with sister Ruth and her children Jonathan and Deborah, in a basement apartment at what was then 629 Commonwealth Ave. There they played a lot of classical music for clarinet and piano, and this may have had an influence on Jon's musical future as well. They went to concerts (British clarinetist Reginald Kell was one), and heard some great live jazz too. Those were good days. After Ruth moved to Cambridge, Bob roomed with 3 other students on Beacon Street for his second year of school.
After graduation in 1954, jobs in the North Country were scarce due to the draft. But Bob took a job with the Brown Company as a "cookee" or assistant cook, for the winter in a lumber camp in northeast Maine. He worked indoors, of course, but did venture out one day to stare at a thermometer that read 37 below zero! When the woods camp closed for the season, it was back to Deer Isle.
Come fall, it was time to get serious about employment. In an attempt to land a Beneficial Finance job in Berlin, which required a car, Ben made Bob a loan of $1545 to buy a 1955 VW Bug. But the job fell through. After Thanksgiving, Bob took Dave's advice and joined him in Brooklyn NY, and soon found himself also working at Chase Manhattan Bank, in the Credit Department. The following summer the Berlin draft board caught up with Bob, and he entered the Army for his two year hitch.
After basic training and another eight weeks at Fort Dix, NJ, and some time with the 434th Army Band at Fort Gordon, GA (with the VW), Bob got orders for the Far East, the 8th Army Band in Seoul. The truce had taken place in 1953; so by 1956 it was a peacekeeping situation. Bob played clarinet by day for various functions, and in his off-hours he formed a Dixie-style jazz band called "Haskell's Rascals" (see poster in the family room at Deer Isle!), finding gigs at the service clubs.
At his favorite enlisted men's club, Bob met Soon Ok Shin, an attractive, smart and lively young lady who was working in the canteen. Bob and she fell in love, and Bob began to mention her name in tapes and letters back home. They did not act impetuously, but at the end of his tour, Bob came back to the States alone, and resumed his old job at Chase. David had since married and started his own family, so Bob found a room in a private house in Flushing, Queens. He was going to think his situation over carefully.
In the end, in July 1959, Bob sold his VW to buy a ticket to Korea. He arranged to marry Soon and start proceedings to bring her to America, returning to New York after a short honeymoon. Soon followed about six months later. Red tape (passport, visa and other documents) prevented her coming over sooner. The young couple was happily reunited in New York, and Bob set about introducing Soon to the family. She won all our hearts very quickly, although Ben had some serious doubts at first (years, actually). And Soon seemed pleased to be starting life anew in New York, where she found other Korean women friends who had also married American servicemen. Her English improved rapidly. They lived in Jackson Heights, Queens for a time, then nearer to friends in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn.
Their first child, a son named Daniel, was born early in 1961, followed by sister Susanne in the summer of the following year. Things got rather snug in their tiny second-floor apartment, and thanks in part to a loan from sister Jean, the little family bought their first home, on the south shore of Long Island, at 206 O'Connell Street in Massapequa Park, and Bob started commuting.
When Danny was three and a half, an accident took his life near his home when he ran into the street, and was struck by a car. There is no tragedy as appalling or as devastating as the loss of a child, and Bob and Soon's lives were very sad for a long time; the entire family was of course feeling a great loss too. Danny was laid to rest in Deer Isle, where Bob's heart seemed to belong; Milt Gidge and Doctor Kopfmann were among the pallbearers.
In spite of the help of several dear neighbors, both Bob and Soon felt that they needed to be where more was going on, to ease the pain of Danny's loss. So, they moved to an apartment complex on Staten Island, with a view of the great new bridge to Brooklyn, the Verrazano, and Bob started taking the ferry to work.
In September 1966 father Ben had a heart attack in Deer Isle; mother called Dave and Bob at Chase with the news. They drove together through that Friday night and visited Ben in the Blue Hill hospital the next day. Returning to the Island, they got the call from the hospital that a second attack had occurred, and Ben was gone, at age 75. In his will, Ben left Bob one quarter of his financial assets, plus all the land he still owned in Deer Isle, including the Farm. And, a 1963 Oldsmobile 98, which would do (and did!) 105 mph.
Sue and Carol Chase was expanding into South America at this time, and Bob volunteered to accept an assignment in Venezuela as part of a 2-man team to study computer implementation. After preparing with months of Spanish lessons, his young team partner came down with a rare disease and passed away, despite a bone marrow donation from Bob. The focus then changed to Brazil, and Bob began the study of Portuguese. After a grand family send-off party at Trader Vic's, Bob, Soon, Susanne, and Carol took off for 4 years in Rio; lock, stock and 35-HP Evinrude.
(Continued on page 2)

Any comments or questions? Contact
louise@loesch.net
S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r

Home Family History Family Tree Photo Album Reminiscing Reunion Info Family News Address Book From Our Kitchen		The Story of Bob (Robert Elliott Haskell--as remembered by Jean, his sister with some details provided by Bob) Robert Elliott Haskell - as remembered by Jean Krauklin with some details provided by Bob. In 1934, during the Great Depression, a very blond, blue-eyed little boy joined the Haskell family in Berlin, New Hampshire. He arrived at a time considered late in life for his mother, Lydia (39). The rest of the children heard from various sources that only the experience and skill of the family doctor, Dr. Pulsifer, saved the baby, because the umbilical cord was wound around the baby's neck. Fortunately, Bob grew up strong and healthy after his difficult start in life. As many another youngest child, Bob became the pet of the family and was especially doted on by his two older sisters; they mothered him right along with his real mother. He was good-natured and always enjoyed being taken out for rides in his carriage or his sleigh, bundled up against the cold much of the year. Bob (Bobby for the duration of his childhood) was taken to his grandmother's boarding house in Deer Isle, Maine for summers. Since father Ben had the camp on the shore built in 1938, Bob more than any of us spent much time on the island, and came to feel it was more "home" than Berlin. The shore at Pressey Point is rocky in the extreme, but Bob played there barefooted all summer and got to know practically all of that interesting shore, with rowboats, sailboat and power boat at hand for venturing out on the water when the tide was right. Brother David was there to supervise the boating until Bob got old enough to take over by himself. At school in Berlin, Bob was a good student, perhaps a little more easy-going than his sisters were or older brother. Piano lessons were not successful, at least not with the teacher Berlin had to offer, but Bob did lean toward music early in life and took up the clarinet in junior high after David left for the Navy. He admired his school band director and thought he would like to become one too; his dream was to lead a marching band at the games, to give the kids music lessons. He formed his first band after wrestling with the alto sax. Father Ben didn't agree to his studying music seriously with a view to a music career, however, and upon graduating in 1952, Bob went to the Bentley School of Accounting (now Bentley College) as his brother had done. The summer he was 15, Bob and his mother went to Deer Isle right after school let out, to join his father. The same day, in the barn, Bob discovered a shiny new motorbike Ben had bought for him, hidden under a sheet. He had no license yet, but managed to avoid getting caught for most of the summer. In the fall of the following year, now licensed, Bob drove the bike to Berlin; and completed the round trip back to Maine the following June. I believe it had 21/2 horsepower. In his senior year of high school, Bob landed a job playing Santa Claus at the local five-and-ten. He may have been one of the youngest Santas on record. While studying at Bentley, then situated on Boylston Street in Boston, Bob lived with sister Ruth and her children Jonathan and Deborah, in a basement apartment at what was then 629 Commonwealth Ave. There they played a lot of classical music for clarinet and piano, and this may have had an influence on Jon's musical future as well. They went to concerts (British clarinetist Reginald Kell was one), and heard some great live jazz too. Those were good days. After Ruth moved to Cambridge, Bob roomed with 3 other students on Beacon Street for his second year of school. After graduation in 1954, jobs in the North Country were scarce due to the draft. But Bob took a job with the Brown Company as a "cookee" or assistant cook, for the winter in a lumber camp in northeast Maine. He worked indoors, of course, but did venture out one day to stare at a thermometer that read 37 below zero! When the woods camp closed for the season, it was back to Deer Isle. Come fall, it was time to get serious about employment. In an attempt to land a Beneficial Finance job in Berlin, which required a car, Ben made Bob a loan of $1545 to buy a 1955 VW Bug. But the job fell through. After Thanksgiving, Bob took Dave's advice and joined him in Brooklyn NY, and soon found himself also working at Chase Manhattan Bank, in the Credit Department. The following summer the Berlin draft board caught up with Bob, and he entered the Army for his two year hitch. After basic training and another eight weeks at Fort Dix, NJ, and some time with the 434th Army Band at Fort Gordon, GA (with the VW), Bob got orders for the Far East, the 8th Army Band in Seoul. The truce had taken place in 1953; so by 1956 it was a peacekeeping situation. Bob played clarinet by day for various functions, and in his off-hours he formed a Dixie-style jazz band called "Haskell's Rascals" (see poster in the family room at Deer Isle!), finding gigs at the service clubs. At his favorite enlisted men's club, Bob met Soon Ok Shin, an attractive, smart and lively young lady who was working in the canteen. Bob and she fell in love, and Bob began to mention her name in tapes and letters back home. They did not act impetuously, but at the end of his tour, Bob came back to the States alone, and resumed his old job at Chase. David had since married and started his own family, so Bob found a room in a private house in Flushing, Queens. He was going to think his situation over carefully. In the end, in July 1959, Bob sold his VW to buy a ticket to Korea. He arranged to marry Soon and start proceedings to bring her to America, returning to New York after a short honeymoon. Soon followed about six months later. Red tape (passport, visa and other documents) prevented her coming over sooner. The young couple was happily reunited in New York, and Bob set about introducing Soon to the family. She won all our hearts very quickly, although Ben had some serious doubts at first (years, actually). And Soon seemed pleased to be starting life anew in New York, where she found other Korean women friends who had also married American servicemen. Her English improved rapidly. They lived in Jackson Heights, Queens for a time, then nearer to friends in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. Their first child, a son named Daniel, was born early in 1961, followed by sister Susanne in the summer of the following year. Things got rather snug in their tiny second-floor apartment, and thanks in part to a loan from sister Jean, the little family bought their first home, on the south shore of Long Island, at 206 O'Connell Street in Massapequa Park, and Bob started commuting. When Danny was three and a half, an accident took his life near his home when he ran into the street, and was struck by a car. There is no tragedy as appalling or as devastating as the loss of a child, and Bob and Soon's lives were very sad for a long time; the entire family was of course feeling a great loss too. Danny was laid to rest in Deer Isle, where Bob's heart seemed to belong; Milt Gidge and Doctor Kopfmann were among the pallbearers. In spite of the help of several dear neighbors, both Bob and Soon felt that they needed to be where more was going on, to ease the pain of Danny's loss. So, they moved to an apartment complex on Staten Island, with a view of the great new bridge to Brooklyn, the Verrazano, and Bob started taking the ferry to work. In September 1966 father Ben had a heart attack in Deer Isle; mother called Dave and Bob at Chase with the news. They drove together through that Friday night and visited Ben in the Blue Hill hospital the next day. Returning to the Island, they got the call from the hospital that a second attack had occurred, and Ben was gone, at age 75. In his will, Ben left Bob one quarter of his financial assets, plus all the land he still owned in Deer Isle, including the Farm. And, a 1963 Oldsmobile 98, which would do (and did!) 105 mph. Chase was expanding into South America at this time, and Bob volunteered to accept an assignment in Venezuela as part of a 2-man team to study computer implementation. After preparing with months of Spanish lessons, his young team partner came down with a rare disease and passed away, despite a bone marrow donation from Bob. The focus then changed to Brazil, and Bob began the study of Portuguese. After a grand family send-off party at Trader Vic's, Bob, Soon, Susanne, and Carol took off for 4 years in Rio; lock, stock and 35-HP Evinrude. (Continued on page 2)
		Any comments or questions? Contact louise@loesch.net S i t e d e s i g n b y W e b f a i r