Glenn Allen Minnix was my father. He was a member of the greatest generation - a radio operator and navigator on a B-17 bomber during WWII. But that's a story for another day, one that I will defer to my brother, Jay, because he is the true expert about that time in our father's life. Today I'll tell you a little more about Dad's special, MacGyver-like engineering genius.
I honestly can't remember the year, but one day, probably in the late 60's to early 70's, I came home from doing whatever it is teenagers do to find my dad and several other men working in our basement. They were making a terrible racket. Groaning, creaking, pounding, (and a few curses,) followed by the ear-splitting shriek of a metal saw, emitted up the stairs and rang throughout the house.
Trying to make myself heard above the clamor, I asked my mom what was going on. She explained, loudly, that Dad and his helpers were replacing the broken water pipe feeding our house from the street. I knew that the old, galvanized line coming into our house from the meter had been leaking for a while, so it didn't surprise me that my father was trying to fix it. But what did baffle me was how he was going to manage that from INSIDE the house when logic told me that they should be OUTSIDE digging up the old pipe and replacing it with new. So, taking my ears (and potentially my life) into my hands, I went downstairs to find out what sort of feat of creative engineering my sweet dad was attempting this time.
I found Dad and two other men (apologies for not remembering who) wrestling lengths of muddy galvanized pipe out through a hole in the front wall of the house's foundation. One end of a huge wench was attached by a huge chain to one of the support poles holding up the house. The other end was attached to the pipe. The men ran the wench until a long segment of the pipe emerged through the hole and into the basement, then they used the saw to cut it off and tossed it aside. The process was repeated. slowly and painstakingly. I stayed and watched for awhile, my heart pounding with worry that this crazy, time and energy saving scheme would literally bring the house down on top of us.
After a while, it became obvious how Dad planned to get the old rusted and broken pipe out of the yard, without digging, but what wasn't nearly so clear to me was how he was going to get the new pipe installed. That was until I saw the end of the old pipe come through the wall firmly attached to the new pipe. So, I realized, there was method to his madness after all. Dad had cut loose the old pipe at the meter and coupled it to the new pipe before beginning the wenching process, and so, the new pipe was pulled along into the space vacated by the old without having to disturb the turf in the front yard or move the first shovelful of dirt. Genius.
