Payday: The Dan Hughes Story

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Although still quite young, the Hughes boys had experience in
earning their own money whether from a make-believe candy store
or as farmhands. Much of the work was tough, but at the end of the
day, they liked the feeling and reaping the rewards of hard work.
One of their last summers at Swanson Hill School, they landed
weekend jobs delivering circulars for a finance company. They worked
about a year-and-a-half and earned enough to purchase bicycles for
about $30 apiece. The bikes provided transportation until they were
old enough to get their drivers’ licenses. Once they acquired licenses,
they were allowed to drive the family car delivering telephone books.
They quickly learned life didn’t “just happen.” By working, they could
make it happen!
“I remember December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed,”
says Dan. “That Japanese mission killed so many of our servicemen and
women, and changed the lives of all Americans over the next few years.
Even as young as I was, I saw the change as the United States converted
all of its industries to producing war products; and much of the nation’s
food and goods were rationed. The items that affected my family the
most were automobiles, tires, gasoline, meat, sugar, and cartridges and
shotgun shells, which we used for hunting. My father was exempted
from serving in the war because of his age and his job supplying natural
gas. His job was considered essential to the war cause. The local home
guard installed a large steamboat-type whistle on the pipeline behind
our house, which was blown with high pressure natural gas instead of
steam. This was a preparedness test for enemy aircraft had there been
a real threat.to the nation’s safety,” says Dan.
As he matured with the small jobs he had held throughout his
youth, Dan landed a job the summer after Pearl Harbor in an
automotive garage where he repaired vehicle bodies and replaced auto
windows. He found it to be a laborious job as he hammered out
crushed parts, filled in dents, and learned to spray paint. Still, he liked
the rush that he felt from having done a day’s work for honest pay. “I
felt this was important work because no new cars were being
manufactured during the war. It was up to everyone to keep the old
ones running,” he says. The job lasted all summer and was part time
the following school year.
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