John D. Gudgell

 

My Father was born on August 10, 1892.  He became involved with the railroad at an early age.  He was employed by the CB&Q at the age of 15.  He would attend high school in the morning and worked at the Rail Yard in the afternoon.

 

We worked through the pressures of World War I and World War II when maintaining the tracks was essential for the movement of soldiers and supplies.

 

At the time of World War II, he was in charge of the Rail Yard.  Most of his employees were in the Army.  The railroad brought men up from Mexico to handle the labor, but few of them could speak English.  As a result, they didn’t find many things to do outside of work, and spent many Saturday evening on the front porch of our home.  Even though my father communicated by sign language (of a sort), they knew they could trust him.  My Dad planned on retiring in 1957 but unfortunately died in December 1956 and was just a few months short of his goal of 50 years of service.