Audio

This audio message was on their home phone for years.  Whenever I called their number (920) 735-9627, I expected to reach one of them.  I was always disappointed when I got Dad’s voicemail message…now I miss him so much I look forward to hearing this.

Dad and I rehearsed this message a few times.  He did not know how to create the wave file and then how to upload it into Skype.  I remotely controlled his computer and helped him with it.  He loved Skype!  He had established friends all over the world by using Skype.

I received countless voicemail messages from Dad.  Here is just one.

This was the first of a series of reel-to-reel tapes my father recorded.  It is a little creepy that this was the same day of the year (May 3rd) that my father died.  The tape begins with Dad capturing my voice at an early age.  Later my grandfather and grandmother come to our house to play a Poker game.  I had forgotten my grandfather’s voice.  It was nice to hear it again.

This audio recording is a continuation from the previous recording.

This clip is long and starts out with the end of the Poker game with Eddie Cottrell, Florence Cottrell, Carol Yonan and Dad.  It is followed by the John M. Yonan Sr. “Bull Session” at John Sr.’s home at 4 Winona Ct. in Appleton and features John Yonan Sr., Lucille Yonan, Sally Ann Yonan and of course Dad.  This audio occurred on January 29th, 1965 (Lucille Yonan’s 65th birthday).  It was one of the coldest days in recorded history.  At the end of the recording, my Grandfather (John Sr.) tests my Bible memory of Psalm 23.  I acted silly during some of this and I was too close to the microphone, so the audio is distorted.  Hey…I was only 5.

This audio clip brings back many fun memories.  Dad once again does his best to capture the family and the many events surrounding him.  We lived at 959 W. Cecil Street in Neenah, WI.  Cecil St. stretches east to west throughout the center of the city.  It used to cross Hwy. 41 with no highway overpass while we lived there.  Cars would stop at a stop sign and wait for an opportunity to cross the highway, hopefully without getting killed.  The highway traffic was traveling at 65 MPH.  One day, a young family with a newborn baby was not successful at getting across and the baby was killed.  It affected my brother greatly and in this audio he repeats this scene over and over.  “Two car boom…baby kill…police car come…wooooooo”

A continuation from the previous audio clip.