Uncle George

PROLOGUE: In my novella OF BRIDGES TO BURN the female protagonist was a woman in her thirties named Cindy

Anson. The highlight of the story took place when Cindy received an inheritance from her mother's paternal uncle, George

Cather.

The inheritance consisted of a ranch near Libby, Montana. Hidden on this ranch was a trunk containing biographical

information about Uncle George and several bags containing money. The money totaled almost $250,000.

This is the story of Uncle George.

* * *

George Cather was first and foremost a super salesman. From the time he was a little tyke on his parents’ hardscrabble

farm in Arkansas he could sell you buttons for your shoes even if the shoes you wore had laces and not buttons. Part of the

reason was his personality; he was a charmer. He also had the gift of gab that is a necessary adjunct for a salesman.

It was said he started to walk before his first birthday and to talk before his second. Once he started there was no shutting

him up.

His birth on February 10, 1901 was a cause of concern for his parents, Hiram and Agatha (Browne) Cather. They wondered

how they could support a child on the meager crops their farm was capable of producing. As it turned out, he was the first of

seven born to the couple during the next ten years.

However, various diseases of the time took their toll and decimated many families of that era. Such was the case with

George’s family. Of the seven only three lived to maturity; George, his sister Bedelia, who was four years younger and a

brother, Simon, who was 10 years younger and the baby of the family.

Education, such as it was, took place in a one room schoolhouse where the basics: reading, writing, and arithmetic were

taught by a strict, no nonsense teacher until the children reached age 14. Beyond that age no schooling was available.

George liked school, in spite of the almost two mile walk each way, and was a quick study. He frequently finished his lessons

ahead of others his age then helped with the younger pupils. His pervasive charm resulted in the children paying more

attention to him than to Miss Slayton, a situation that might antagonize some teachers but Miss Slayton was also caught up in

his blandishments. She also appreciated his help.

At 14 George became the muscle for his ailing father in trying to raise crops in the poor soil the farm was favored with. When

George was 16 his father, badly weakened by tuberculosis, was no longer physically able to cope with the hard work the farm

required. Because of this, the family gave up the farm and moved to Little Rock where the father obtained a job as a

machinist. By that time, 1917, the family had suffered the loss of three of the children. Also, by that time, Europe was at war.

On his 17th birthday, February 10, 1918, just a few months after the United States entered the war, George enlisted in the

army. After a few months of basic training he arrived in England ready and anxious to fight. Two weeks later he was in

France.

For perhaps the first time in his life George found a lifestyle that appealed to him. Showing absolutely no fear he was often

the first one out of the trenches when his unit went into battle. His buddies quickly looked to him as a leader, one who helped

them win battles with fewer casualties than most of the other units. By the end of the war in November of that year he had

been promoted to sergeant.

George also discovered the high life that exists when a victorious army marches into a town it has saved from the enemy.

The French girls soon discovered his charm and he theirs. Once the Armistice was signed he seldom slept in his own bed

for the remainder of the time he was in France. There was always a young French mademoiselle available to provide him

comfort at night.

When he returned to the States in early 1919 George paid a brief visit to his family in Little Rock. He learned that one more

of the children had died and only he, Bedelia, now 14 and Simon 8, survived. The father’s health had improved enough since

their move away from the farm that he was able to assure George he was now well enough to support the family comfortably.

Hearing this George reenlisted in the army.

Much to his chagrin he discovered that his promotion to sergeant was only a temporary wartime promotion and did not apply

to peacetime service. George made up his mind that he would serve with such honor and valor he would get his stripes back

within a year. He showed due respect for all the non-coms he served with, saluted all the officers and kept the neatest bunk

area and best cared for equipment in his unit. For this, he made private first class in December.

Again, he showed the leadership he had shown in his wartime service and was soon, in spite of his low rank, leading a

platoon and teaching armed combat to others years his senior. The fact that he had a great deal of blarney in his talk helped

considerably.

* * *

In January, 1920 George was assigned to Fort Benning in Georgia, a place he hated with a passion but made no complaints.

One evening in late January he was sitting on his bunk going through his usual evening ritual of carefully polishing his shoes

when his first sergeant, Aaron Flint, stopped by.

“We’re one short at the poker table tonight, George. Want to sit in?”

“I’m sorry. Sarge, I’ve never played,” George answered. This was true but George didn’t tell him he had watched the game

enough that he knew how the game was played and what a man had to do to win.

“Don’t let that bother you, George. We’ll teach you.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

This was George’s introduction to poker, a game that during his 30 year army career he became a master at.

All the other players were old time soldiers, some with 20 years of service, and all outranked him. George learned quickly

that all he had to do was watch each of the other players and try to read their expressions. He did so well he could tell when

one of them held a good hand or if he was bluffing.

In general, he stayed out of the hands where people were bumping heads and also those where one of them began betting

higher than he would be comfortable losing. During that first game George won $22, which was more than a month’s pay.

From then on, for the three years he was stationed at Fort Benning, he played poker about twice a month. Seldom did he

lose, and when he did it was only a few dollars. His winnings were frequently in the neighborhood of $20 to $30.

Another game he mastered during this period was womanizing. With most of his weekends free he roamed the countryside

around Fort Benning in an old Model T Ford he had acquired for a song. As was the case in France he found that Georgia

peaches were very susceptible to his charms, particularly in one of the larger cities such as Columbus.

George met Cassie Moulton in Columbus at a dance being held at the American Legion Hall. Cassie, who was 20 at the

time, was skeptical about George’s claim that he had served in France in the Great War.

“You’re too young,” she exclaimed.

“No, I enlisted on my 17th birthday in February, 1918 and, after basic training, went to France. I was there, in the trenches, for

almost seven months.”

Cassie had to teach George how to dance, but he learned quickly and soon won her heart. Having a car of his own, which

most of her townie friends did not, added to his glamour; he was able to seduce her on their second dance date.

George didn’t confine himself to dancing and women on his weekends. He also began what became a lifetime practice of

wheeling and dealing, always coming out ahead on his deals. Beginning with his old Model T, which he sold for twice what

he paid for it, he worked his way step by step to a Chrysler town car worth almost $300 at the time. This car, much more

comfortable to ride in and for seducing women, became his trade-mark during the next few years.

* * *

In mid-1922 George made a very costly blunder; he got one of his girlfriends pregnant. The parents, as soon as they heard

the news, came after George and forced him into what was truly a shotgun wedding. There was no love between George and

Mary, and except for a few months at the beginning of their marriage, they did not try to live together. Mary had a miscarriage

in the fourth month of her pregnancy and went back to live with her parents. They remained married for ten years before Mary

decided to remarry and asked for a divorce.

George realized his days of philandering in Georgia were over and requested a transfer. In 1923, shortly after he turned 22,

George was transferred to a tank battalion at Fort Lee, Virginia and promoted to corporal. Once again he was the youngest

corporal in his unit and outranked others years older.

The same year his only remaining sister, Bedelia, turned 18 and got married. Again, tragedy struck the family; a year later

she died in childbirth.

George took a leave of absence to be with his family, now reduced to the father and mother and one brother, Simon, 13.

This visit, in many respects, changed George’s life. Simon was a brilliant scholar at school but saw no future in going beyond

his elementary schooling. George put his foot down and insisted that Simon continue his education, into college also.

“I’ll pay whatever costs arise, but you’re to go to school and make something of yourself. There’s a lot more to life than

working your fingers to the bone and your body to an early grave. You have a good mind, use it.”

During the next several years George had his fill of tanks. He found them hot and uncomfortable and constantly breaking

down at inopportune times. When an opportunity arose, in 1927, to transfer to an engineering battalion he jumped at the

chance even though he would be stationed in Panama.

In the United States Corps of Engineers George found a home. Always mechanically inclined but seldom with a chance to

use this skill, the engineers provided that chance. A year after transferring he made sergeant again, after an interval of more

than 9 years. Quickly, he developed an expertise in the techniques used by the engineers in building and operating dams

and other hydraulic facilities.

In the meantime, Simon had finished high school in 1929 at the top of his class. With George guaranteeing to pay the bills

Simon enrolled at Georgia Tech University to major in civil engineering. This pleased George immensely as this was now his

field and, even though he didn’t have the education, considered himself an engineer. Hopefully, some time in the future, he

and Simon would be able to work together.

By 1930 he was the top sergeant in his outfit but the humid weather in Panama and lack of social activities, particularly the

scarcity of women, had him thinking of returning stateside. Also, the reduced opportunity to do any wheeling and dealing had

slowed his burgeoning bankroll to an almost standstill. He needed to be where he could take advantage of situations which

would increase his capital worth, which was then considerable for a low-paid army sergeant.

* * *

In his capacity as top sergeant George had many friends, some of them in the engineers. He made use of several of these

contacts to pull strings on his behalf and have him transferred to the state of Washington. The engineers at that time were in

the middle of extensive dam building on the Columbia River.

He was assigned to a facility being built near the tri-cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland. This suited George fine. He

was back in civilization where he could bolster his financial status by making lucrative deals, and also reestablish himself with

the fairer sex.

One of his first moves was to trade in an old car he had acquired during a brief family visit in Arkansas for a larger, newer

model. By successive trading he worked his way up to one that was even newer and would be more appealing to the ladies.

He returned to his earlier practice of attending local dances and soon had several accommodating ladies on his string.

He also got into a lucrative business, his first venture into something illegal. Boot-legging was big business during the

prohibition era of the 1920’s and early 1930’s. George, among his many contacts after arriving in Washington State, met

many of the proprietors of the illegal bars that were called speakeasies. One of those contacts suggested to George that he

would pay top prices for booze being brought directly to him from Canada instead of being the third or fourth person down the

line.

“I’d like to eliminate all the middle men,” he told George.

George’s main concern was that if he interfered with the business the middle men would eliminate him. To prevent this from

happening he searched out the middle men and, using his wiles, got them to accept him as one of them.

Soon, he and a sergeant friend were taking weekend trips to Canada using a ‘borrowed’ army truck. By sharing the driving,

and the profits, George and the sergeant soon had snowballing bankrolls. This went on for more than a year before the

sergeant in charge of the motor pool complained about their excessive use of the truck. George and his friend decided to

quit while they were ahead. They didn’t want the army investigating their use of the truck.

Family news was not good. George’s father, who’d had tuberculosis for years, had been placed in a sanitarium. From

reports George received his father was near death. George immediately took a leave of absence to return to Little Rock, but

he arrived too late. It took three days of hard driving for George to reach Little Rock; his father died a day before George

reached his side.

George extended his leave to re-settle his mother in a small apartment. She had adamantly refused to move to Washington

State to be near George. “My life and all my friends are here,” she said.

Shortly after he returned to Washington George decided he could make money in the business of farming. It was the middle

of the depression and many farmers were having difficulty getting bank loans to buy seeds for their crops. With property

mortgaged to the hilt banks were not willing to extend any more credit.

George had met many of the farmers during his frequent visits to the local dance halls. In fact, many of their daughters were

quite familiar with the back seat of his car. When the farmers openly discussed their predicament with George, as many did,

he agreed to subsidize them for 10% of their crops. It was a windfall for all parties. Each of the farmers stayed afloat and

George more than doubled the money he invested.

* * *

In 1932 Simon graduated from Georgia Tech with honors. George again pulled strings to get Simon a job with the civilian

company involved in constructing hydro-electric plants along the Columbia River. Simon’s job was in the Grand Coulee area,

almost 150 miles from where George was stationed. This prevented the brothers from living together as they had hoped to

but they did get an occasional weekend together.

George soon found out that he and Simon had different interests in life. George had two main drives, women and money.

Simon, on the other hand, was more serious and talked about meeting the right girl and settling down.

“Having a family is the most important thing a man can do,” he told George, and he meant it.

While George was dating women with seduction in mind the women Simon dated were the quieter home bodies who were

looking for a good husband.

Strangely enough, Simon met this girl in 1933 through George. For almost two years George had been trying,

unsuccessfully, to date an attractive farm girl ten years his junior. She was one of the few who had not succumbed to his

charms and to the lure of the back seat of his car. One Saturday night Simon accompanied George to a dance in Richland

and was introduced to this young lady. It was love at first sight for both of them.

In June, 1934 Simon and Christine Trent were married, bringing another change in George’s lifestyle. As Simon and his

bride settled in Richland George once again had family close to him and spent more time with the newlyweds than he did

carousing.

* * *

George’s business successes continued in spite of the country being in the middle of a great depression. Profits from his

farming ventures were invested in commercial enterprises that became successful beyond his wildest dreams. Instead of

lying back and hoarding his profits George reinvested, sometimes in additional stock options but also in land. By the middle

of the decade he owned over 7000 acres of prime farm land in east central Washington, land which he acquired for a few

dollars an acre. These acres he sold in small lots to young farmers for a huge profit as the dismal years of the depression

receded.

In April, 1937 Christine gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte Anne. George was as proud of her as were her parents and

spoiled her with gifts and toys from the time she was born. This was the child he didn’t have and would probably never have;

a loving side of George that had never been evident before.

The loving side still did not show up in his relationship with women. Although he spent many hours with Simon and his family

George still went to his dances frequently and, more often than not, sweet-talked his dance partner into a rendezvous in

lovers’ lane, or a night at a motor hotel, as motels were called in those days.

By 1939 George felt he had gone as far as he could possibly go in the army and was thinking of retirement and a possible

job working with Simon when war broke out in Europe. With his usual clarity in war situations George was certain the United

States would soon be involved and decided it was his patriotic duty to remain in the army.

When he informed his commanding officer, Colonel McKay, of this decision the colonel complimented him on the decision

and then surprised him. “I need someone to replace Captain Werther, who has committed himself to retiring; I think you

would be an excellent replacement for him. With it would come a promotion to second lieutenant. Are you interested?”

George knew Captain Werther’s job as well as he knew his own and didn’t hesitate. “I would be happy to accept, Sir.”

In November, 1939 George received his commission as second lieutenant and assumed the position of project director at

the facility where he had been stationed for 9 years. He would be working in collaboration with Jerry Tuttle, the manager of

the civilian company working on the project. He had known Jerry for years and knew they would work well together.

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