They say when you are old enough you might try to walk in your Dads shoes. Try as I might, I will never be able to walk in my Dad's size 14 shoes…
I have just reached the age of 50 and My feet just won't grow any further... they will probably stay at #10/2 C…
My Dad stood about 6/2 and about 185 pounds. He walked everywhere. We moved into the City from the farm, and when he worked at the hospital, he was walking to work every day about 3 miles. He delivered meals to patients, and did kitchen work. Dad also mowed lawns for extra cash.
First of all it was harder in those days to find size 14 shoes, so it was prudent to have his shoes repaired. Many times the soles would come loose at the toes and also the stitching at the counters and tongue areas. That's not counting numerous pairs of heels he went through.
He faithfully cleaned, and polished, and oiled them 2-3 times each week Sometimes when the soles got thin he would cut up pieces of cereal boxes for insoles to keep his feet dry until he could afford to have his soles replaced.
Now you know why we had to visit the shoemaker quite often. I grew up seeing first hand the value of going to our local shoe repair shop.
A friend of my dad, also worked there along with one of his sons. His son was my friend and was a senior in high school, while I was a freshman. I would hang around once in a while after delivering my paper route.
One day the shoe repairman asked me if I wanted to learn how to sew rips on shoes. He suggested paying me a commission of 50% of any rips that I did. I quickly learned sewing and soon was doing $150.00 worth of repairs a week, which meant I was earning up to 75 Dollars a week! For a 15-year-old, I thought I was rich.
Alas, he found out that I was 15, and he sent me away after the summer school break and promised to hire me come back when my 16th birthday came in December.
That began my shoe repair career.
October 2004 began my 36th year in the shoe repair business