As I put the finishing touches on a video tribute of my Mom’s life, I have been going through some old files of hers and Dad’s. A couple of weeks ago, I was in my basement and I came across a huge brown accordion file that contained all of Mom and Dad’s tax returns over their 63 years of married life. It brought a smile to my face for the most part, particularly as I saw the tax return for 1948, the year Mom and Dad were married. As I sifted through the large file, it was clear that every year’s tax return was telling the story of our family, all the great moments we had growing up to become a family of 7 Kirnans and yes some of the more challenging moments as well. Of course, as you look through the entire file, you can’t help but notice some broader details at play, particularly the increasing complexity of the U.S. Tax system itself. We’ll save that discussion for another time.
Mom Had 3 Different Jobs in 1972
After about 30 minutes examining the file, I suddenly found myself transfixed as I saw the tax return for 1972, the year Denny passed away unexpectedly at St. Joe’s College in Philadelphia. As I picked up the return, I noticed the larger number of W-2 forms that were included in that year’s return. You see for most of the tax filing years prior to 1972, there was typically 1 or 2 W-2 forms that accompanied the joint tax return, but for 1972, Dad had 3 different W-2 forms. Mom had 3 different W-2 forms as well, reflecting a year unlike any other she would ever experience again in her life and career: 1) a W-2 that capped off her meteoric rise at The Valley Hospital, first as an entry level clerk and then as the Director of Admissions for more than 4 years; 2) another W-2 form for her new position as the Office Manager for Dr. Leonard Gorkun which she began in early April of that year, a position that gave her the twin benefits of a higher salary and a 4-day work week to provide the better work-life balance she had been seeking at that time in her life; she had become increasingly frustrated at the long hours of the job and particularly the frequent evening meetings that she had to attend which took her away from being with her younger children; and, 3) another Office Manager’s job she would take in August of that year with Radiology Associates of Ridgewood, a Manager’s position that provided Mom an opportunity to work closely with her younger sister Susan and her now married daughter Cathy.
Dad’s New Job at The Ridgewood Print Shop
Dad had struggled in the aftermath of losing his job as a lithographer in April 1971 after having worked at the same company since 1946 when he had returned home after World War II and his service in the US Marines. The great recession of 1971 was particularly acute and was truly the first recession where we saw much more than the typical cyclical forces at work. In many ways, this economic downturn signaled the onset of a new era and how rapid advances in technology would radically transform the workplace, in this case, the traditional printing industry that Dad had been a part of. Shortly before Mom had taken on her new position with Dr. Gorkun, Dad had finally secured his own new full-time position at the Ridgewood Print Shop in March of that same year. Although Dad’s compensation was well below what he had earned in his old job in NYC, there were some clear benefits with the new job that initially none of us really appreciated, including no commutation costs as well as Dad being a more constant presence in our lives than in his earlier days working in NYC. Dad would now be there every morning before Matt, Mary Claire, and I were off to school and of course Dad would now be able to get home early enough to prepare a great dinner for all of us as his weekday shift was from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
Dad’s Experience at Value Gas Station in Paramus
But there was one W-2 form that really resonated with me as I studied the 1972 tax return records because it brought back a memorable, painful, and yet beautiful image of a moment in time I had with both my Dad and Dennis, one that I had not recalled in a long, long time. It was Dad’s W-2 form for a job he took in January 1972 when the family finances were really strained. Dennis had already decided he would leave St. Joe’s at the end of the spring semester — although none of us would find this out until years later after he had passed. Mom and Dennis had been working on an alternative plan where he could finish his studies for an Accounting degree at Fordham University in the ensuing fall term. Things were so difficult financially for the family that Dad, at this point, was looking for anything he could find and so he answered an advertisement to pump gas at the Value Gas Station on Route 17 North in Paramus. Mom and Dad had exhausted all of their savings at this point, having also cashed in their insurance policy to generate needed cash, and Dad’s unemployment insurance had already expired. No, my Dad was looking at anything and everything, even a job pumping gas that paid just slightly above the minimum wage.
As I picked up the W-2, I quickly remembered the job that Dad took for that day in January 1972. We had just dug out of a fairly large snowfall and temperatures were hovering in the high 20s/early 30s. Dennis was still home from St. Joe’s College for the winter break with a few more days to spend with the family before he would be going back for the spring semester.
Dad had been dropped off earlier that day by Dennis for the 3-11pm shift. We only had one car back then, a light blue 1966 Ford Mustang coupe. It was a real beauty and a very popular model back in those days but truth be told the heater never worked effectively. So at about 10:45pm, Dennis and I hopped in the car for the short drive to pick up Dad from his job. It was really cold that night and I can vividly remember sitting in the back seat with Dennis driving the car and Dad sitting in the front passenger seat blowing continually on his ice cold hands trying to warm them up, his face beat red, his nose very runny, and his eyes as watery as I had ever seen them.
In that one brief moment, I think Dennis and I learned a lot about the emotional toll that unemployment can inflict on a person and on a family. Here was our Dad, 46 years old at the time, with a wife and 5 kids to support, doing whatever he had to do for his family, even if it meant pumping gas at essentially a minimum wage. An older son away at college beginning to realize that his dream of living on campus until graduation would not be feasible anymore. And there was yours truly, sitting in that back seat wondering what my own future would be like. Would I be able to graduate from Paramus Catholic and even go to college myself? Would we be forced to sell the house?
As Dennis pulled the Mustang into our icy driveway at approximately 11:15pm that evening, Dad turned to both of us and said “I don’t think I can do this again and go back tomorrow!” Dennis and I looked at each other and didn’t have to think twice about it — we agreed with our Dad. We did not want to see our Dad have to go through this painful experience ever again. We hoped and we prayed that our Dad would find something better which thankfully he did a couple of months later by getting the new job at The Ridgewood Print Shop. Little did Dad or I know on that day that within 3 short months, we would suffer an even bigger life changing experience when Dennis passed away suddenly and all too soon at the age of 19. But the experience on that cold January day in 1972 was a life changing one for me and one that was brought back to real life by looking at an W-2 form on an old tax return. And as painful as that day surely was to Dad, to Dennis and to me, I am so grateful that I was able to have that special moment with my Dad and my older brother, one that I will always treasure forever.
Great reflection and amazing how an artifact such as a tax return can evoke deep memories and reflect so many facets of someone’s life.
LJ