How My Father Helped Me Become a Maker

• I was born in the early 1950s, and our first family home was in a rural area of Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. My dad, Karson Albert, worked as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, but during WWII he served in the Merchant Marines as a Midshipman on the Liberty ships. At the start of WWII, […] The post How My Father Helped Me Become a Maker appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers .

I was born in the early 1950s, and our first family home was in a rural area of Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. My dad, Karson Albert, worked as a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, but during WWII he served in the Merchant Marines as a Midshipman on the Liberty ships. At the start of WWII, the US did not have the capacity to ship goods and people at a level needed to support the war effort overseas. Liberty ships were built at a breakneck speed and became the essential cargo lifeline to foreign ports. However, because of their design, they also split in half on numerous occasions, and “crack arresters” were an essential part of each ship’s supplies. You have to be resourceful if something goes wrong and you’re far out at sea, lumbering along at 8 knots. I heard many a tal