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The Keesler Family Story |
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| THE TRIP TO ARUBA | ||
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This is the story of Gene and Norma Keesler and their three children: Bruce, Robert and Norene Keesler. My parents came from Northern New Jersey where my Brother Robert and I were born. My Dad worked as a salesman for the Best Foods Company where he was a branch manager. In 1942 a friend of my Father by the name of Jim Brennan came back to New Jersey on vacation and told him about the wonderful jobs in Aruba. My Mother always wanted to travel and talked my Father into going to the New York Office to apply for a job. He was hired and went down six months before us as no house was available right away. We finally took the train (The East Champion) to Miami and checked in at the Columbus Hotel. We flew to Aruba on a KLM DC-3 airplane leaving at 4:00 A.M. in the morning. Just before landing in Aruba, they put masonite covers over all the windows, so nobody could see the island from the air as WWII as on and they did not want any German sympathizers taking pictures from the air. We landed at the old airport and Vic Schulz and my Dad were there to pick us up for the ride to Lago Colony. We stayed at Bungalow 27 with the Coy Walker family until our house (Bungalow 424) was ready to occupy. Bungalow 424 was a nice two bedroom house just East of the Ladies Dormitory and not too far from Slim’s Garage. My Dad built a patio and a car port and had a wall constructed in front of the house. Our neighbor on the right side was the Nick Schindeler family in 426 and on the left was Neal Rae’s family in 422. Across the street was the Mechling family and on the corner was the McGrew family. |
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| EARLY YEARS | ||
| My Dad worked at the Cat Plant on shift work working the graveyard shift. He seemed to enjoy his work and always wore khaki clothing. After a few years, Lago asked my Dad if he wanted to run the Commissary as Manager since he had a background in food sales. He ran the Commissary for several years, then Lago asked him if he wanted to run the Company Laundry. They sent him to the National Institute of Dry Cleaning in Silver Spring as part of his training. My Dad took over Manager of the Laundry serving all the ships that entered the port and all of Lago Colony. In 1948, my Sister Norene was born so we needed a larger house. We moved to Bungalow 1526, one of the “new houses” as they were called because they were made of pre-formed concrete. My Mother never liked that type of house and so we moved to Bungalow 502 which was centrally located near the Commissary, Junior Esso Club, Youth Canteen and the Lago High School. | ||
| MIDDLE YEARS | ||
| Life was great growing up in Aruba. I always had a bike to ride and thousands of places to explore like the hospital caves, Burson’s Caves and the areas around Colorado Point and the natural bridge. I learned to swim at the Baby Lagoon and always liked being around the water and watching the boats go by. When I turned 14, I joined the Sea Explorer Scouts under the leadership of Herb Shierenberg, Ira Kirkman and Gene Goley. We had a nice 35 foot boat named the “Pescador” which we used to ride around the big lagoon at Roger’s Beach on the week-ends. I learned to operate the boat safely and Dave Massey and Bruce Kilpatrick were always ready to serve as my crew members, as we needed a minimum of three to operate the boat. I stayed in the Sea Scouts from 1951 until I graduated High School in 1955. I also enjoyed playing soccer, bowling and track. | ||
| My Brother Robert kept busy with many activities around the colony. His nickname was “Runner” as he was a very fast runner in races around the Jr. Esso Club. Robert also had a nice Monarch bicycle which he rode all around the area. The only thing my Sister Norene remembers about Lago was picking almonds and sea grapes and walking on the pink path in front of our house. She was age 7 when we left Aruba. | ||
| My Father kept busy with the Men’s Bowling League, Masonic Lodge and the Golf Course. My Mother was a member of the Women’s Club and the Ladies Oil Painting Class which met every Saturday morning at someone’s patio. We used to make long rides out in the Cunucu countryside to find typical Aruban houses for my Mother to paint. There was always so much to do at Lago that no one could be bored. My Dad later was elected to the Esso Club Board of Governors and he organized the popular Bingo Games and helped bring down top entertainers from the U.S.A. to perform at the new Esso Club. | ||
| LATER YEARS | ||
| In 1954, Lago started to “down-size” some of their personnel requirements, so in June 1955 my family left Aruba and transferred to the Amuay Bay Refinery in Las Piedras, Venezuela, where we lived in Adaro and Judibana. I worked in the company’s accounting department during the summers, when I came home from Gettysburg College | ||
| My Father moved to Florida and bought his own Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company which he ran until his retirement in 1979. After my Dad retired, he played Golf five days a week until his death in 1981. My Mother lived until 1992, when she passed away in Dunedin, Florida. | ||
| IN SUMMARY | ||
| The 12 years that we spent in Aruba were the most delightful years of my life. The adventure of traveling to the states on the oil tankers “Esso Aruba” the “Esso Bolivar” and the “Esso Raleigh” was fascinating and later came the Grace Line Ships, “The Santa Rosa,” The Santa Paula” and all the smaller ships like the “Santa Clara,” “Santa Maria” and the “Santa Monica.” We Lago kids are indeed fortunate to have grown up in such a nice place that created lifetime bonds of friendship. My family now makes Florida our home and we travel back to Aruba on vacation as much as possible for relaxing and remembering the good old days of Lago Colony, Aruba N.W.I. In 1996, I married the former Margo Honey, Class of 1961, Lago High School and we have been on a continuous honeymoon ever since, I am happy to say. We met at the Aruba Reunion in Tampa in 1994. Needless to say, we had our honeymoon in Aruba and stayed at Coach Jim Downey’s guest house and visited with his wife Ida Lee and his Daughter, Donna Lee. We took many DePalm tours including the Submarine Ride and the snorkel ride to the “Antilla”. We covered the colony and Rodgers Beach quite well and had a wonderful time. The best part of Aruba is that we had no TV, no Computers, no CD players, no cell phones, no X-boxes, no TIVO’s and we were perfectly happy figuring out if we wanted to go swimming or hang out at the Esso Club! | ||
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