Some additional memories and family history from Arline:

I (Arline) wanted to tell you something that surprised me a little.  When I wrote the things that I remembered about my brother, I mentioned that he had caught a special butterfly. I hadn't given that much thought but after all these years I said that I remembered the name of the butterfly.  Well, I googled the name and guess what!!!  I always thought that the common name for the butterfly was Morning Cloak.  It wasn't that.  It was MOURNING Cloak!  Now the meaning is clear to me after Bob had died.

Information about family:
Bob had received letters from an organization called Reunite, including letters from Victor and Yuri.  Later, Esther and Arline received some additional letters from Victor.  Esther had a friend who would translate Victor's letter.  Victor also tried to write to Arline in English, the best he could.  For one semester Arline took a night class in Russian and the instructor translated one letter for her.  They lost contact with Victor after about 5 or 6 years. 

Victor said that Bob's father's last name was Poplavsky. Bob's father had told them that his first name was Timothy (spelled different in Russian).  There were 5 siblings (from the oldest to the youngest), Thomas (Bob's father) - Ksenia - Nikolai - Stepan (Victor's father)  Petro.  Bob's dad left the Ukraine with his uncle and another young man.  However, when they decided to return to the Ukraine, Bob's dad continued on his own to gain admission to the U.S.  He lived in Canada awhile and then came through that way.

Dad's sister Arline sent these memories:


Mother did everything concerning the feather pillows.  I knew Bob liked the pillows and was so happy to take them with him when we cleaned out my parents' house.  Mother started with the live chickens (harvesting them as they say on the store labels).  She plucked the birds, washed the feathers, put the feathers into bags which were hung on the clothes line to dry, then she sewed up the pillows.  Maybe, Bob was very young when she started making the pillows so there might have been a security connection there.  He was an only child for 4 years.

The things that I remember about Bob were always pleasant.  He was always kind and never nasty (like some brothers can be). Sometimes, it is funny what you remember.  I was collecting butterflies when I was about 11 years  old.  It was summer and Bob was working at the machine shop where Dad worked (that was World War II time).  Before they left for work, Bob caught a butterfly that I had never seen before.  To this day, I remember exactly that particular butterfly and how happy I was that Bob made the effort to get it for me.  Besides, he also found a few cocoons for me.  Dad made me a cage for one of them and when it emerged out of the cocoon, it was a large Luna moth.

Bob was always pretty quiet.  He very carefully worked on making his model planes, starting with cutting the wood framing and finishing with the outer covering. They were all hung on the ceiling of his bedroom (upstairs where there wasn't any heat).  I think he was disappointed that he could not be in the air force because of his vision. 

He was very active during his teenage years. He delivered newspapers.  He was on the baseball team in high school.    I think he was a pitcher. Sometimes, he would practice with Esther. He excelled in math and science in high school and was awarded in his senior year.  He liked to swim and was an Eagle Scout. One thing I remember that he did not like to do was to play the violin.  I am not sure what year that was but I think it was before Junior High.  Dad loved the violin and wanted his only son to learn how to play.  It was torture to hear Bob's effort when his lesson was in progress.

When Dad bought a new Dodge, he gave Bob the old car.  The summer before his senior year, Bob work diligently on the old one until it worked perfectly.  So he had transportation to school that year.  When he went to the service following graduation, the man who delivered eggs every week wanted to buy the car because Bob did such a good job on it.

Love,
Aunt Arline

I remember

Fishing at Hillcrest pond.  You had to put the worm on the hook for me.  I just could not do it.

One day trips to Ocean City, NJ where we went to a section of the beach way down at the end.  Past the boardwalk where it was less crowded.  Your shins were so white that I'd tease you that planes would crash from the glare shining into the pilots' eyes.  Washing up afterwards at a bathhouse.  Shopping on the boardwalk.  And on those trips where it rained so hard we could not go on the beach, we would go to a movie on the boardwalk  usually a musical like "Bye, Bye Birdie".

Installing the garage door opener with you.

Working in the vegetable garden.  You sure loved tomatoes.

Spraying insecticide in the fruit trees.  The powder had to be mixed with water in that spray canister.  Before spraying I had to pump the top handle to build up the air pressure.  When I sprayed the trees and the wind would shift, it would end up in my face and mouth.  I did not think much of it at the time, but it was DDT which was later taken off the market since it was a dangerous substance for people to breathe in and get on their skin.  It probably wasn't a good idea to eat an apple that had been sprayed with DDT either.

Taking me and Diane to work on Saturdays.  First there was a swimming lesson at the YMCA.  I remember they had orange-pineapple soda in their soda machine.  We'd often go to a movie with Frenchie's girls.  We saw one movie three weeks in a row since it was still playing.  It was called Emil and the Detectives.   I just looked it up.  That movie came out in 1964.  I would have been eight.   I don't remember the plot of the movie anymore.  Sometimes we would play in the top floor of your work building and jump from one pile of unassembled boxes to another.  You always had candy orange slices in your desk drawer.  Occasionally we would make resistors.  I don't know if you were able to use the ones we made or not.

Many Sundays after church you would take us to Pike diner for dinner.  I would get spaghetti which had one large meatball top and center.  Sometimes our meal would be at Plymouth Meeting Mall in their cafeteria.  It was a real treat.

You built a cement wall to deflect the creek water so it would not further erode the soil from our backyard.  You had me water that cement wall every day for at least a week because you are not supposed to let cement dry too fast.  The wall was not authorized and they took it down, and put a different wall there with stones held by mesh.

When you got a splinter in your finger, you'd come walking up to me with needle in hand asking me to dig it out for you.  It made me nervous thinking I was hurting you, but you always insisted I keep digging until I got the splinter out.

You were determined to be my dog Cocoa's favorite human.  You fried her a hamburger every night on which you put dried onions.  It paid off.  You were her favorite.  Her ears would perk up when she heard your car arrive home from work.  We'd open the front door and she'd dash down the driveway and jump into your arms.

You and I would have nonsense conversations which drove mom crazy.  They would start out like Did you hear about those three people?  The other would respond, Yeah, I could not believe it.  Then I saw it on the news this morning and it sounded really bad.  Mom would walk in and ask what we were talking about.  We'd say nothing which was the truth.  She said she heard us talking and did not believe us.

Speaking of mom, you often would wait until I was home from college for Christmas break to do your shopping for mom and take me along.  You'd have a list of items you wanted to get.  One year, the stores were all sold out of those things.  You cut out the pictures of the items from the sales ads in which you'd seen them.  You put the pictures in boxes and wrapped them up for mom.  You wrote a note saying this is what she would have been getting if the stores had not run out of them.  I don't think mom was too happy with the pictures. Hopefully, you went out and bought them for her once they were back in stock.  I was back at Purdue by then.

I remember you whistling and singing old songs like It had to be you.  But when you sang that song, you'd sing the words it had to be me (yourself) instead.

When there was yard work to be done, I was often the one you chose to help you.  I was not always thrilled about that, but looking back, it's nice that you wanted to spend so much time with me.  It gave me the needed experience to take care of my own yard now.

I asked you to make me a bird house and I got one much nicer than I'd expected.  You had wooden ring insert that could make the entrance smaller so larger birds could not get in.  The roof was made with an actual shingle.  The floor pushes up and out so I can clean it every so often.  You were so cleaver with its design.  I still enjoy it today.  When I wash dishes, I look out the window to my backyard and see it hanging in my large maple tree.  There are often a pair of birds living there.  

Thanks for all the wonderful memories dad.
I love you very much and always will.

Lots of Love,

Suzie Loozie

Dad,

It's hard to believe that you are gone.  We had a wonderful visit on Father's Day, less than a week before your passing.  I am thankful for the time that we had at the end.  Visiting with you at the hospital gave me the chance to hear more of your stories, like how you never smoked because your dad said you weren't allowed to until you were 30, at which point you decided it was too expensive.  Your frugal ways led you to bridge as well, since your fellow servicemen either played poker or bridge, and poker cost money. I'm so happy you chose bridge, as it brought you many years of enjoyment.  

In looking back I remember some of the fun times like when you would Moo like a cow and speed up over the hump in the road to make us feel airborne on the way to lunch at the mall, after church.  I also remember riding on your back while you swam underwater when I was young.  Thank you for all that you taught me when I worked for you.  Little did I know that the bookkeeping I did in my teens would eventually lead to earning my CPA.  That was the one accomplishment I specifically remember you telling me that you were proud of me.

Thanks for providing for our family and for taking good care of mom these past few years.  We will all miss you.

Love, Renee

Bob, you have been a wonderful father-in-law to Renee and I and grandfather to Tyler. It has been fun learning your woodworking craft over the years. My friend that came to see how you made lamps is now making his own lamps. In addition to bridge, may there also be a wood shop in heaven.

If Bob had been marketing 30 years ago, he would have sponsored the letter D.  Devotion, dedication, determination, doggedness,  At the bridge table, the tendency was more subtle, though he liked to direct, double, disrupt and defend with vigor. And, to top it all off, he won a competitive game a week before breathing his last -- well done !!

I enjoyed playing in your game @ City Lights.  I missed your last invitation to play with you as I was in France at the time. You made bridge a fun time! We loved the cookies!

You were the best big brother anyone could have. I will cherish all my life the telephone call from you on June 19th, my 83rd birthday.  Love, Babe

Bob, you were a gentleman at the bridge table and that is  the memory of you that I will forever hold in my heart. Sympathy to Merry Rose and the rest of the family.

Dad Memories  written by son Robert B. Pollsen on July 2, 2015

Attention to Detail  When I was growing up, as a young boy, I still remember when Dad would be pouring over the financial books of the business at home on a Sunday .  I remember how he would be willing to spend what seemed like hours to find a missing few pennies.  Rather than just decide that the small amount of difference wasn't worth his time in trying to find it, he would relentlessly track down exactly where the difference could be found!  It is probably no coincidence that I have always been one to enjoy detail-oriented work, especially working with numbers.  Most of my jobs have required very detailed analysis  something that has often set me apart from other people, some of whom hated working in such a detailed manner. 

Boy Scouts  Dad was always proud of becoming an Eagle Scout.  As I recall Dad telling me, swimming and life-saving were the last 2 merit badges he earned, as he didn't have much of a chance to learn how to swim when he was younger.  

I remember one time that our Boy Scout Troop went on a 10-mile hike on the Valley Forge Trail.  In addition to the 10 miles of hiking, there were various questions that we needed to answer, such as how many steps were there in the tower.  I remember that it unexpectedly snowed that day, perhaps 6 to 10 inches.  Almost everyone on the Trail didn't complete it, except for my Dad and 3 other Scouts (not me) with him.  When they got to the Tower, it was closed, so they couldn't count the number of steps.  Anyway, they finished the course and received their medals before the rest of us, who went back later that Summer to complete the Valley Forge Trail.  I guess my Dad was making it a true Valley Forge experience (with the snow), more like George Washington had done many years before. 

When I was 15 years old, 3 years from turning age 18, which would be the last year I would be eligible to become an Eagle Scout, I'll never forget what Dad said to me.  At the time I had only 15 merit badges toward the necessary total of 21 (at that time).  He told me that if I didn't become an Eagle Scout, then the rest of my life, whenever someone found out that I had been a Boy Scout, they would ask me, Were you an Eagle Scout?  If I had to answer no to that question, I would regret it for the rest of my life.  Sure enough, as I got older, many people did ask me if I was an Eagle Scout.  I am sure glad that I followed Dad's advice and got my last 6 merit badges & became an Eagle Scout, before it was too late.  I am sure that being an Eagle Scout has helped me, especially when interviewed for becoming a college dormitory resident assistant (RA) and when interviewing for jobs after college.  Be Prepared!, the Boy Scout motto, has resulted in me always keeping an umbrella in my work bag, just in case it rains.

Bowling  Our local church had a men's bowling league and I remember wanting to join the league while I was in high school.  They bowled on Friday nights, as I recall.  Dad didn't want me to join, as he wanted me to keep my Friday nights free for school or social events.   Finally, when I was a Senior in High School, after seeing that my desire to join the bowling league didn't stop, and, after seeing that I wasn't usually doing anything else on Friday nights anyway, Dad allowed me to join the church bowling league.  I had a great time, although it was a little strange to be allowed to call all the men by their first name during the bowling, but never outside of the bowling league.

College - The bowling league led to something else that I never could have anticipated.  During my first year at college (Purdue, where both Mom & Dad went, as well as my 3 sisters  is there any other college?) , Dad would send me the weekly bowling sheet from our church bowling league, which listed all of the team standings, as well as each person's bowling average, and the top 3 league high games, high (3-game) series, etc.  Anyway, Dad would write a full-page letter on the back of each bowling sheet.  Mom told me that she had never known Dad to write so many letters as he did that year.  Now I wish that I had kept those letters.

Driveway  I remember one time when Dad decided that our driveway needed some patchwork repair.  He had a tool that was used to flatten the material used to patch up the driveway.  It was a long metal pole, with a square flat heavy metal piece at the end of it.  Anyway, I was helping him make the repairs, and decided to have some fun doing it.  So, while using this tool to flatten the driveway, I started pretending that I was an (American) Indian doing a war dance.  It didn't take too long before I slammed this heavy metal tool onto my big right toe, right through my sneakers.  I remember my Dad rushing me to the bathroom tub, where I took off my sneaker & saw the red blood seeping right through my white socks.  I distinctly remember my Dad crying (one of the very few times I can ever remember him doing so), as he blamed himself for my accident.  At that very moment, I realized just how much Dad loved me!  (Also, from that point on, I have always worked around the home in shoes with a steel toe.)

Earth  Working with the earth or ground was something that Dad loved to do & something that he passed onto me.  Whereas some boys didn't like to cut the grass, I actually enjoyed doing it (and still do today!) & took great pride in how the lawn looked afterwards.  I remember Dad had a long row of shrubs in the back yard, and every year we needed to add fertilizer to the ground around the shrubs and mix it into the dirt.  Also, I can remember root watering, where you can put a fertilizer stick into the small compartment near the top of the root waterer, then attach it to a hose, put it into the ground, and the water & fertilizer can get down to the roots of the tree or bush.  I still have one of those root waterers that I bought for myself after getting my first home. 

Flood of 1967 -  Earlier that Summer, I went to a Boy Scout camp called Philmont scout ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.  While there, I had received a letter from home, telling me about a flood that happened in our basement, where a little water had covered portions of the floor.  At first I felt bad that I had missed all the excitement of a flood while I was away.  Little did we realize that a real flood would occur later, after I had returned home.   I remember my Mom & Dad had just reached the top of the basement stairs, after carrying the TV upstairs, so it wouldn't get wet.  I was leaning against the wooden door between the garage and our basement, and I heard my parents say not to let the door open.  Well, our wooden door was no match for 40 inches of flood water, as it ripped the wooden door right off of the metal doorknob and latch, and the water quickly pushed me into another room, 2 rooms over, past the laundry room and into the storage room.  I remember seeing a lamp floating on top of the water.  The water was so deep in our basement that we opened the windows to let the water out!  We lost a lot due to the flood.  We had recently had the basement furniture fitted with new slip covers.  Also, the water was high enough that it completely covered our washer & dryer, and we had to get new ones.  For weeks afterwards, I remember the mud oozing up through the floor tiles, despite how many days we spent mopping and cleaning the floors.  It smelled bad for quite a long time.  Long after that time, just a few years ago, the flooding in that area got so bad that eventually they condemned all of the houses (including my parents' former house  having already moved to Texas to be with 2 of my sisters & away from the winter weather).

Investing in Stocks  in addition to the attention to detail that I previously mentioned, it was my Dad's love of the stock market that was passed onto me.  My Dad was the ultimate long-term investor, having held Heinz stock for over 30-40 years.  It got to the point where Dad & Mom received quarterly cash dividend payments that were more money than they had originally paid for the stock many years ago.  They continued to hold Heinz stock until it was bought out and taken over by Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway.  It is probably no coincidence that Dad loved to go to the library weekly and pour over the Value Line Investment Survey to obtain information about 1,800 stocks.  I have read that Warren Buffet himself has used the Value Line Investment Survey when he analyzes stocks.  Toward the end of last year (2014) or earlier this year (2015), I received an advertisement in the mail regarding an inexpensive, smaller version called the Value Line 600.  I gave that monthly publication as a gift to Dad  one of the rare times I felt like I was giving him something he would really use, besides aftershave.

I am sure that there are other stories that I may think of later, but I will stop here.  Thank you for letting me share my Dad with you.

Love, prayers and sympathy to Merry Rose and all of Bob's survivors.  He was a great neighbor and we will miss him.

Dad, you got your wish...your mind outlasted your body.  So here's to you!!  I'll miss your bridge stories, even though I didn't understand the game.  I hope you are in heaven and that you can play bridge up there and I also hope you found Cocoa and Hershey and that they are running up there with you....Love you.  Diane

OBITUARIO

Robert "Bob" Pollsen

27 marzo, 1926 – 27 junio, 2015

Cook-Walden Davis Funeral Home

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