A Man is Only as Good as his Tools

This was a saying from my Grandfather.  He worked the steel mills in Detroit as an engineer.  Not as an “educated” engineer with a degree and diagrams, but someone who could fix anything.  He worked on the big machinery with the tools provided.  Being an Austrian, he had huge hands and a big barrel chest and shoulders.  He also worked for Ford Motors on the production line, and learned the car inside and out.  As a young child growing up in the Detroit area, I remember his dialed-in garage and how proud he was of his shop.  There he would spend hours working, tinkering, and fixing anything that needed it.  I was amazed at the garage, because just as Grandma’s kitchen had “a place for everything and everything in its place” he had all sorts of storage units and boxes small and large and he knew where everything was to get the job done.  To others, it was a mechanical maze, to him it was just simple order.

My folks, aunts, uncles, as well as friends would take over broken appliances, and he would calmly state “No problem, you need a special tool for that.”  He had a passion for working with his hands.  He would also take apart the most intricate assemblies, whether from an appliance or from an auto and put them back together in working order, with no frustration, or leftover parts.  He was more than handy, this was his hobby.  A rough and tough old bird, he never went to a doctor, until he fell down one day at the age of 87.  Having advanced diabetes, the surgeons had to take a leg from him and give him a prosthesis.  Within a month, he was mowing the lawn, and working in his small shed in Florida.  There with his tools, he still loved working in his shop and did so until he was 92 when he passed.  I envision him there now, and stating “A Man is Only as Good as his Tools” a phrase I will always remember.