MR. WINTHER, A VERY SPECIAL NEIGHBOR

George McGurn

March 8, 2000

My wife, Gina, and I moved into Beverly some 30 years ago. We bought an old house right on Bridge Street in the Ryal Side section of town. I was very nervous about buying this house because I had no expertise with tools of any kind. And I knew our house was going to need some work. Luckily, I had moved across the fence from Mr. Niles Winther who became my savior with all my repairs and fixing.

Mr. Winther had recently retired from the United Shoe where I learned he was a "jack of all trades." I guess he was in his early seventies then. I remember he always wore a suit jacket, tie and a felt hat.

He had kind of a wrinkled face. But when you got close to him you could see a sparkle in his eye. He was pretty quiet most of the time but he had a great sense of humor. And he had a great laugh.

And that old pipe he smoked was always with him.

He had lived part of his life in Denmark where he learned about the building trade. Not only could he fix anything in a house, but he also had built a couple of houses for his daughters.

He was a great worker. Once he started a job he wouldn't leave until it was finished. And it had to be done his way. And it had to be done up to his standards.

When I was stumped with my first "fix it" problem I asked him if he could help me out. He seemed eager to help. And he told me he would get his toolbox and take a look.

I remember that one of the lights in my house was not working. Mr. Winther took my light apart and showed me the broken part. Unfortunately, my old fixture was so old that the hardware store didn't carry the replacement part. Mr. Winther told me not to worry. Because he said he would make a replacement part that would be even better than the old one.

That's when Mr. Winther took me for my first trip down into his cellar. That's where he had his work-bench and his tools. And that's where he first amazed me with his genius. He hummed around for a while then picked out some material from some old cans in his workbench. Then he hammered and bent and fiddled around until he was satisfied. And when he put his creation in my broken fixture it worked perfectly.

Over the years I watched Mr. Winther pull off some amazing jobs with some amazing creativity. Once when he had a tree removed from his property the workers left the stump of the tree. I remember him going back and forth to his cellar and coming out with a number of jacks and vices. He dug a hole under the stump and then he put the jacks under the stump and the roots.

My boys and I watched as he manipulated the jacks around until we could hear the cracking of the roots. And pretty soon all the roots were cracked and the stump was free. We couldn't believe it.

Another time he had a dent in the fender of his car. He told me he was going to fix it himself. And I watched him drag out those jacks and vices again and attach them to his fender. Well, he started jacking and twisting that fender until I heard a pop. And then the dent in the fender disappeared. I watched him for many years fix anything that was broken. And create any part that couldn't be bought at the hardware store.

My family and I will never forget the summer when he decided to paint his two- story house. He was about 90 years old at the time and he was not too steady on his feet. But when he decided to do something there was no turning back. All summer long my family held our breath as we watched him climbing up and down those ladders.

One day during the summer of Mr. Winter's house painting one of my boys called me from my cellar. He sounded really upset. He pointed to Mr. Winther who was at the top of the ladder as high as his two-story house. It looked like Mr. Winther had invented a new ladder technique. I guess he didn't want to waste time by going down the ladder and moving the ladder when he had finished painting an area. So he began jumping the ladder until the ladder moved to a new spot. That was a long summer for me and my family as we watched our 90 year old neighbor jumping a painting ladder around is house while he was 50 feet in the air.

Mr. Winther spent a lot of time on his front porch just sitting and smoking his pipe. I used to think he was just resting. But I think that he was probably just smiling to himself about all the times he accomplished what others would never try and certainly never figure out. Mr. Winther didn't seem to need a blueprint to figure something out. He just took a look at the problem at hand and let his talent take over.

I have met some very bright people in my work. But I have never seen anyone like Mr. Winther. I have never seen a person so intelligent, so creative and so resourceful. Mr. Winther never met a challenge he couldn't lick.

Even though Mr. Winter was some 30 years older than me we became good friends. And I remember going to the hospital to say good bye to him the night before he died. He was very weak. And he was very frail. But he still had that special sparkle in his eye.

Well, I have been thinking about Mr. Winther recently. I have a little wagon I have been using around the yard for 35 years that finally has rusted out. I don't know how to fix it. And my friend isn't around to show me. And when he was around we never threw anything out. Mr. Winther felt throwing something out that needed fixing was a sign of giving in.

But I guess now I will have to throw out the old wagon and buy a new one. I know Mr. Winther is probably looking down at that rusted wagon with a smile on his face. And he is probably saying. "You know, I have a piece of metal in my cellar that just might work."