Wayne Bender
I was born on January 22nd, 1901, on my mother's kitchen table in Williamsbridge, NY. On Because there was a snowstorm, she couldn't get out and the doctor had to come with his buggy to the house. We lived quite a way from the city on a small vegetable farm. That's the only part I remember, up to five years. What I remember about my family is very faint. I was adopted when I was 8 years old by George and Elizabeth Bender.
What was that like for you?
If you've ever seen a little kid, 5 years old, cry his heart out... I cried for about a week and a half. I ran away from everybody because I didn't want to leave my parents and they said I had to leave. I just stood there in front of the judge of New York's Children's Society. The court insisted we be placed in foster homes because our parents were too poor to handle us. And that's why they broke us up. MY mother was only allowed to keep the baby, Grace. She's the one I've been searching for. She's still alive somewhere. She married I guess. Well, my foster mother tried all kinds of ways to try to make me stop crying. I just crawled up in a corner and cried and cried and cried. She finally broke me down. I never had much ice cream. I don't remember getting ice cream from my real parents but she would come in and got me a big old red, white and black... you know, triple decker. Back in those days they were a nickel. She had one for her daughter and one for me and a box of mixed up ice cream for the family. She handed it to me and I stopped crying long enough to taste it. And I looked at her and she said "I want to be your mother. I can't take her place but I'll try." Then she sat down and talked to me.
What's your real name?
George Billy Peat. Later on, when I went to public school, she used to check on my homework, pat me on the back and give me a quarter for having good grades and stuff. I had some grades that weren't so hot but most of them were ok. I became a newsboy, making 2 cents a paper. That was in Williamsbridge, NY, when my dad moved from Asleton, PA to Williamsbridge. I became a local delivery boy with 25 papers. For every new subscriber we got 2 cents more and I built it up to about 15 paper deliveries a night. There were morning and evening papers. Anyway, my dad had to go up to Canada, so we went to Toronto. I was about 14 then. We stayed up there for about 6 years. I went to a school up there and I later worked at Toronto General Hospital as an orderly.
When did you come to know Jesus?
When I was younger we had horse and wagons, the early cars were stick shift. Anyway, we used to follow the horses around. Up in Toronto it was just a little village then, it's a big city today. Then my dad had to go back to PA. I worked on a farm for a while. I hated it coz I had to get up at 4 a.m. so I could milk the cows, feed the chickens, do this and do that before the birds even got up. I gave that up. Then they wanted miners. I became a miner in 1934 . And I was put on the afternoon shift. Our job was to get the coal from the base to the surface. We would fill carts with coal and waste and the donkeys would haul the carts along the tunnel to the “bottom”, and then send it up the lift to the surface. We had a cave-in. I was buried with 60 other people for almost 7 days. That was in 1935. We were losing oxygen because there was no air. I got down and said "If there is a God, please help us" and I was sleepy and tired. Our lamps went out because there was no oxygen. We heard a pounding on the rocks. We got tin cups and banged and banged. They answered real quick. And then they drilled through the rocks to put a pipe in there with air. They wanted to know how many were alive and we said "All but two". Two couldn't take it. They sent food down and pulled the debris away and made a hole big enough for the guy to fall in and check us out. And they passed the dead ones out first. When they got us up out of there we were unconscious, passed out. They took us to the hospital. After that I thanked God, thanked my parents. I dunno, I sensed somebody call me. Call me by my birth name. I didn't see nobody. I believe I heard a voice. That's hard to believe. I believe that it was either my parents or God almighty himself calling me. Nobody knew my birth name except my parents. The adopted ones. So I got out of the hospital, recuperated. I was about 18 at the time. I gave up the coal mine. After that there was riots and stuff. I just told my parents that I wanted to go and seek my brothers and sisters and they told me where they got me from. I went back to NY and I looked up the different addresses. I looked up the doctor's children that gave birth to me. And he told me that my father was dead and my mother was dead. My youngest sister was married and my older brothers were out somewhere. In 1945 I found out that they died and I went to the cemetery After that I went into hotel work. I became a page boy for Sheraton Hotels and I worked myself up in different categories. I was in charge of laundry for a while. I was in charge of the dining hall. Then I got clerical work at the desk.
Did you ever go into WW1 or WW2?
I volunteered in WW1 when I was real young. In 1917 I believe. I didn't even have fuzz on my face and they told me to come back when I grew up. So I never went back. Then during WW2 I got a job in Chicago. The job was essentially making aircraft flight components. I volunteered to go in (to war) but they said, "No, you got an essential job, keep it, don't leave." So I had to stay on the job until the contract was over, so I couldn't get in. Then I went back to hotel business after that. And I've been in the hotel business most of my life. I retired in l992, and then started going too church. I remembered my promise from the coalmine. I picked out a church to go to, and I’ve been going there ever since. They think well of me. They’re a family-style church. The congregation ain’t big, but they’re sincere. Something like you people. They believe in getting together and doing things together. They support the church, not just in words, or promises but financially. When the church is down, they help them out. It’s a good church, I support it whole-heartedly. I had an interesting life. I recollect back when I was young and used to go into the country and pick pansies and violets on the side of the road. We'd make bundles and sell them to the people who'd come by with their buggies. We'd get a ride on a fire engine with the horses. Six horses pulling the firemen. We had fun. When Halloween came we'd take an out house and put it on the court house steps or something like that, it was a prank you know, but we did it. I remember when we moved to Chicago, there were about 25 or 30 different street car companies and the rides were 3 cents a ride. And they were building extensions on the loop. And then it used to go all over... stockyards... Humble Park... and different lines, finally they cut down some of the lines. They built the northwestern line and that ran to O’hare. I ride that every once in a while just for a ride. It's a good ride. To relax sometimes I take the metra trains because I like to ride the trains. When I get a letter from New York, I go down to the station to arrange to go to New York for a couple of nights to see what's happened to my sister, Grace. We're trying to trace my youngest sister and if we find her... Well, if she's alive I'd be grateful. But until then I have to consider I'm Wayne Bender and that's it.