Someone once said, “Family is not an important thing, it’s everything”. And if you were to ask anyone from the Lacy family, I’m sure they’d all agree. But sometimes having a greater knowledge and understanding of where a family comes from is everything too, because once you lose a loved one, they take those memories, stories and even the stories that were passed down with them. So even though this is a story about “Dad”, it’s more than that.
It was a cold and rainy day on Thursday, January 14th, 1937 in Cincinnati, Ohio the last son of Louis and Eva Lacy was born. Harry Pete was now the youngest of four brothers (Jack, Victor & Elmer), and an older half-sister (Alene). He grew up in an apartment building on Victor Street with only 2 rooms on the first floor. His parents owned their own butcher shop in Findlay Market on W. Elder Street. His mother’s parents, Peter and Julia Ulvocki also owned a butcher shop as well, next door to theirs.
As a child, he loved to play baseball as most kids did. He attended Fairview Public school which was a short walk from their home. He didn’t receive very good grades in school but he did enjoy math. At the age of 12, he got his first job at the grocery store working after school every day for $12 a week. He worked there until he started Hughes High School in 1950. In that same year in December, he would lose his father to cancer. He was 57 years old and Harry was only 13. While in high school, he worked for a business across from the high school developing film. He went to school there until he decided to quit in his junior year. After quitting high school, he went to work for Grippo’s Pretzels. His mother, now a widow, was feeling the stress of trying to support the family on her own, so he did what he could to help out. In 1955, at the age of 18, he decided to join the Navy. He served his time on the USS Bennington CVA-20 from September 1955 to the beginning of 1959. During his time of service, he visited places like San Diego, the Philippines, Japan and Sydney Australia.
After returning to the US, he was asked if he’d like to play fast pitch-softball for the Navy as a way to finish out his service. He gladly accepted. And it was during one of this game weekends in Jacksonville, Florida that he’d meet the love of his life.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18