Back to George and Chicago
10/12/03 11:55 AM
My trip to Chicago with George Formiller continues, but first I should tell you about when he came to Pioneer Manor in Gillette, Wyoming. As I was getting him settled in his room he confided to me that he needed to get back to his trailer just outside of Casper explaining that he had "a little money there." Once we got him up and walking (well, wobbling) around we went, taking my son Bill with us. When we went into the trailer he told me to look around and see if there was anything he would be needing in Gillette and he sat down in his old rocker.
I gathered a few pieces of his clothing and went back to the front room. There he sat with a handful of $20 bills (50, I believe it was) and a big toothless grin on his face. He had hidden it in an old calendar with a pocket and stuck it up under his chair somewhere. Now he really had a problem, what should he do with it? Where could he hide it? Would they take it away from him when we got back? He was really in a tizzy. We stopped at the Social Security office and the post office in Casper then headed back, but what was he going to do with his money??? I suggested he stick it in his jock strap, surely no one would look in there. By the time we got back we decided the safest place would be in his zippered pillow cover until we could take it to a bank, or wherever.
The next morning we went to the local bank. Apparently they thought we were up to no good so the home was called and he was denied a bank account. When we got back to the home we were called in to the administrator’s office like two naughty school children and the first words out
of Mr. Spiering’s mouth were, "What on earth do you two think you’re doing?" So we explained that George was afraid that if the powers that be learned that he had any money they would take it away from him. He didn’t trust anyone. We were assured that we could have gone to the office first and they would keep the money in the safe for George, no questions asked. And when he wanted some, they would give it to him. So we did and they were true to their word.I told about us going to town to buy George some clothes "good enough to be buried in." On the way back out to the home told me to stop at the drive-through liquor store. We argued about it a little bit, I was sure that would be grounds for my dismissal, but what the heck, he wanted to have a "New Year’s Eve drink at midnight with some of his cronies" out at the home. Okay, we took him, his new clothes and his bottle back to his room. I went home wondering how much trouble I was going to be in. The next day when I went to work I had to go see if he had his drinks with his cronies. He just laughed and said he fell asleep and didn’t wake up until morning. Some time during the day they enjoyed a drink together and later he and Mr. Spiering toasted the new year.
Then we concentrated on getting him moved back to Chicago to be buried beside his wife and son. And I’ve already told you the rest of that story.