After living in several rental properties on Grand Island, Buffalo, and Tonawanda, our parent’s dream of living in the country came to pass.  There were new houses being built in the Sandy Beach area of Grand Island and we purchased one on Greenway Road.  It was a two bedroom, one floor, no basement home that seemed perfect for us – parents, Bill and Leota, and two daughters, Gail 5 years, and Nanette 6 months.  We moved there in August 1941.  After the grading, planting of grass and trees were accomplished, Dad began to make the home our own.  

 Although he never owned sophisticated tools, he build a wonderful swing set for us in the back yard.  Then he built two benches where the back could be raised up to form a picnic table when the two were pushed together.  A fireplace was built in the far corner of the backyard made of stones that were gathered from ditches and fields all over Grand Island that still stands today.  Then Dad built a small chicken coop and brought home a setting hen to inhabit it.  Later, with the acquisition of a large lot next to ours, a much larger chicken house was built on a concrete foundation.  

By that time a new member of the family had arrived.  Our brother, WFJ Jr. was born in 1942.  Things worked out OK with 3 children in one bedroom for a few years but soon plans to expand the house were made.  Dad, along with a neighbor, constructed a stairway into the attic where there was only a trapdoor before.  That complete, Dad and numerous friends and relatives set about raising the entire roof in the back of the house to form a dormer that would eventually be two bedrooms and a bathroom for us 3 kids

Now storage was a problem and Dad set about to build an attached garage on one side of the house.  During all this time Dad working full time on the mainland at BECCO Corporation.  Although the plant was later purchased by Food Machinery Corporation, Dad would work there his entire life.  His weekday job was stressful, but on weekends and evenings at home he could always be heard whistling and enjoying his building and creating. 

Dad's next project would have been to add a screened porch to the back of our home.  Stakes were already in place at the time of his death in March 1962.