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Mel Haas: Life History 1936 -

A baby standing on the floor

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Easton (1936)

I was born 06/23/1936 in Easton, Pa. (Easton Hospital in Wilson, Pa.). My father, Melvin (Mel), was a student and football player at Lafayette College. He was originally from Youngstown, OH. My mother, Dorothy (Dot), was born in Buenos Aires but raised in Evanston, IL. Mom had one year at Swarthmore College. Her brother George graduated from Lafayette with Dad. Her brother Dick graduated in Electrical Engineering at MIT and later got a master's at Case.

Dad's family was large and included his twin sister, Melva. We were not close to any of the Youngstown family. Mom had four siblings, and we were close to them and her parents. My grandfather, George Cobean, was an executive of Butler Paper Co. in Chicago. Later, President and Chairman of Bulkley Dunton Paper in New York, a huge international paper distributor. For most of my life, they lived in Scarsdale, NY. I was the oldest of 15 grandchildren.

Family Tree

A screenshot of a computer

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Here are the particulars of my family tree, as recorded on the
Mormon Family Search Site. This is the definitive genealogy that has a whole lot of information about my/our family. Both my mother's and father's family have been traced back several generations by various relatives. There is a bit of Betsy's family tree put there by relatives we do not know. I am not much interested in the history of the family. Our 6 adopted kids have no backward contact with our biological ancestors. If you are interested, click on the figure to enlarge it, and visit the site with the tracking codes for each person. Na is a valuable resource through her Mormon church, as is my cousin Jeph and niece Laura.

Pittsburgh (1937-1942)

Melly pulling Edith in a wagon
Melly & Edith

My father became a salesman for a steel and iron company. We moved to Denver, CO, and later Sheridan, WY, where my sister was born. We had a live-in maid to take care of us kids, cook, clean, and do the laundry. That was typical for the era, and my grandparents always had a maid to tend to Mom and her siblings. Mom had a tough time adjusting to wartime reality, as we did not have a maid in Pittsburgh and thereafter.

We moved to Mt. Lebanon, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where I started kindergarten. The first part of my life that I remember. It was wartime, and everything there was filthy from all the steel mills. We had to wash the soap before taking a bath. Edith and I learned to swim just like this.


Typical swim class of the period

They called me "Melly" at home, sometimes "Smelly Melly." Dad was called "Mel" by adults. Neither of us was called "Melvin" -- I hate that name. My sister was always called "Edith" and never "Edie" or anything else. Life is not fair.

Mom was "Mom" to us, "Dot" to adults. Dad was "Dad" to us. "Mommy" and "Daddy" were reserved for our grandmother and grandfather and their whole family, including themselves. To us, they were "Granny" and "Grandpa." Our uncles, aunts, and cousins were called by their first names with no prefixes (i.e., "Grace" was "Grace," not "Aunt Grace").

One thing I picked up from my family is the vocabulary often used by my elders. I try to use these appropriately as the curmudgeon of the family. Elder Words

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