Sharon & Harley Doak.
AKA Mom & Dad. It has always
been the three of us. Well, not
including all the dogs we adopted growing up, but that is another story. I love looking back at us eating dinner as a
family almost every night. I love that
my parents took me out to eat as a small child and it’s something we still love
doing today. My dad is a good
eater/diner but he does have limitations so mom and I explore some places
without him. I love that my mom is like
MacGyver in the kitchen and can make something from nothing. And that my dad channels Ed Hume and grows
amazing produce in the back yard to support her cooking habits.
My dad has contributed a bag of the regular pennies and a
few rolls of 1943 steel pennies aka the steel war
penny or steelie. It was a
variety of the U.S. one-cent coin which was struck
in steel due to wartime shortages of copper.
A little history care of Wikipedia: Due to copper use
in ammunition and other military equipment during World War II,
the United States Mint researched various ways to limit dependence and
meet conservation goals on copper. After trying out several substitutes
(ranging from other metals to plastics) the one-cent coin was minted
in zinc-coated steel.
However, problems began to arise. Freshly minted, they were
often mistaken for dimes. Magnets in vending machines (which
took copper cents) placed to pick up steel slugs also picked up the
legitimate steel cents. Because the galvanization process didn't
cover the edges of the coins, sweat would quickly rust the metal. After public outcry,
the Mint developed a process whereby salvaged brass shell casings were
augmented with pure copper to produce an alloy close to the 1941–42
composition. This was used for 1944–46-dated cents, after which the prewar
composition was resumed. Although they continued to circulate in the 1960s, the
mint collected large numbers of the 1943 cents and destroyed them.
My folks have and will contribute far more than pennies to
this project and a few paragraphs paying tribute seems hardly adequate. As the doors open for business at Brimmer and
Heeltap I can only hope that they will be regular customers that everyone else
gets to know them as well.
