"Hi,
Christmas 1951, I received a red Radio Flyer wagon from my Uncle Dave Wilkinson. I was eleven years old then. That was the year my father died. I kept it for over thirty years. It moved from Philadelphia to Cody, Wyoming and then to Florida. When I saw one for sale in a store I had to purchase it for our grandson, Austin.When Dad died in 1951, Mom sold the car. I used the wagon to transport the groceries home from the A&P store which was over a mile away. I also used the wagon to earn money by taking groceries home from the store for ladies that hired boys with wagons; as most people did not have cars. We had a Victory Garden on a vacant lot back then. I used the wagon to haul pails of water to the garden. I had a Germantown Courier newspaper route and later a Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper route. I remember using the wagon for delivering the Sunday papers.
Once when I rebuilt the engine of my 1941 Ford, I used the wagon to transport the V 8 motor to our basement, where I put new pistons, rings, bearings a 3/4 race cam and aluminum heads on the motor. I used a tripod and chain hoist to remove and install the motor which weighed over 400 lbs. That was a tough wagon! When we moved to Cody, Wyoming the wagon went with us. We used it in gardening as we grew a lot of our vegetables. When we moved to Florida and Austin's mother, Faith, was his age, the older children used to pull her around in the wagon. Finally after years of service in Florida's humid wet climate I had to retire it."
