The Father

00:03 I am here with my dad, David Eicherly My name is Leah Cannon. I'm 42 years old. Today is June 16, 2024. I'm also here with my sister Stacy and my mom, Mickey, and we're recording at their house in Dover, Pennsylvania. So first question I have for you, dad, is about your family, your parents, what were their names and where were they from?

00:46 My dad's name was John Eikerly

00:53 Where was he from?

00:54 He was from. Well, York.

01:00 He was born in York?

01:01 Yeah. And then he went to Hershey. Hershey? Hershey. What's Milton School? Hershey, yeah. Graduated from there.

01:15 We talked about this before. Did he play an instrument in the band there?

01:21 Yes. I forget what it was. I don't know if it was the clarinet or. I forget because my mom played the clarinet too.

01:34 She played the saxophone?

01:35 Saxophone, too, yeah. I'm the only one in the family that can't do anything.

01:46 What's your mom's name?

01:48 Eleanor.

01:49 What's her maiden name?

01:51 Maiden name?

01:53 Brandt.

01:54 Brandt, right. Yeah, Brandt.

01:57 And where was she born?

02:01 Levin, I think it was. Living in Pa.

02:11 Not the country?

02:13 No, not that one. Not that one.

02:22 Do you have any sort of nicknames, or have you ever had nicknames growing up?

02:27 Oh, yeah.

02:28 What were they?

02:29 My one aunt called me Pixie.

02:31 Pixie?

02:32 Pixie, yeah.

02:34 Where did that come from?

02:36 I have no idea.

02:42 Zacchaeus is also with us today, which is their cat. So you had the nickname of Pixie from your aunt? Was that Aunt Doris?

02:53 Aunt Doris, yeah.

02:54 Okay. Did you not sure where that came from?

02:57 No, I don't know where that came from.

02:59 Any other nicknames?

03:01 Not that I know of.

03:06 So do you want to tell me a little bit about your childhood? Like, growing up? You grew up in York, right?

03:13 Mm hmm.

03:16 Do you have any stories of some?

03:18 Born at York Hospital?

03:19 York Hospital?

03:21 Far as I know. That's what they told me, anyway.

03:25 You didn't check the records.

03:30 So. In that and, yeah, we lived in York on. Of course, I had a sister before that, so she told me where we were. We were living on Market street where the numbers used to be. The nickname for the numbers was. I can't think of the name of it.

04:05 The numbers?

04:06 Yeah, numbers. It was a bar and stuff. Music plays and stuff like that. And we lived on the other side of the street, so my sister told me on.

04:18 Was that on Philadelphia street?

04:20 That was on. We lived on Philadelphia street, but before that, we lived on Market Street. 600 lot. But my sister told me that. I didn't know that. I don't remember that. Place ever being in it. But when we moved to Philadelphia street 713, and then I guess probably from about three, four or five years old, I guess I started knowing where to go to get in the door.

04:58 And that was all with your mom, correct? Because by then your parents had divorced.

05:04 Because right after I was born, they divorced. So I was told.

05:15 So, yeah. You don't have. You don't have any memories of them being together?

05:21 No, no, not at all. Now, my sister might have.

05:27 Carmen.

05:28 Carmen might have had, but I didn't. I was a too little.

05:36 Do you have any memories of some of the bad things you did as a kid? Mischievous stuff?

05:45 Um.

05:47 You told me a story the other day about putting a bunch of grasshoppers in the mailbox for the mailman.

05:53 Oh, yeah. But that was older. I was. I was. I was a young teenager at that point. A very young teenager. Just experimenting.

06:01 Yeah. Grandma said you slammed the door in a salesman's face when you were a little.

06:11 Who said that?

06:12 Grandma.

06:12 Oh, did she, like, go away, man?

06:15 You slammed the door in a salesman's face.

06:17 Oh, I don't know if I did. I don't remember. I don't remember that.

06:21 You didn't like what he was selling. I'd be curious to know what he was selling.

06:31 Yeah, I don't know. I know when. At one point, when I was trying to play trumpet, or they had a. Back then, they had phone calls, and there was a guy that quit that kept calling my mom, saying stupid stuff and all that. And the one time she just got fed up, and she said, the next time that phone rings, let me answer it. So she got the trumpet, and when she answered it, she just blew the little horn as loud as she could into the phone.

07:25 Grandma did this?

07:26 Yeah, grandma did it. My mom. And when everything calmed down, all you heard was the voice of my dad going, Ronnie, is that you? I didn't hear that myself, but that's what they did because. Oh, it was. It was funny. And then she stopped going.

08:02 And you said you played trumpet.

08:06 Well, I tried. My grandfather tried teaching me trumpet, and it didn't. It didn't happen.

08:17 Did you not like it or.

08:19 I just didn't have the. I don't know, to read music and stuff like that. It just. Maybe I was just too young at that point. I don't know. But anyway, I didn't. I stopped playing it because he was. He made fixed interest in instruments, musical instruments and stuff, so, yeah, that's what he did.

08:49 Did he have a. Like a store?

08:51 Yeah, he had a store over in Palmyra.

08:54 Do you remember the name of it?

08:58 Actually? The. They had a pretty good sized house. I think that the second floor had a lot of. It was like a shop for him, so he could fix stuff and, and stuff like that.

09:17 This was grandma's Paul.

09:22 My, my Stanley Brands.

09:26 Yeah. So grandma's dad.

09:28 Yeah, yeah, grandma's dad. Yeah.

09:32 That's cool. I didn't know that he had a shop and fixed instruments. I knew he played a lot of stuff.

09:38 Oh, yeah, yeah, he played a lot of stuff. I mean, they had, for Christmas and stuff. They had like a quartet or a quintet maybe, of brass that did caroling. And they go out and do caroling. I think it might have been. I think they had a. A saxophone and I think french horn. I think it was five pieces of brass that they used. And they leave about, probably because they were out till about four or five in the morning.

10:31 Really?

10:31 Yeah. And they did that for 50 years.

10:34 Was it just around Christmas time or a certain date?

10:38 Well, no, they did it actually Christmas Eve. It was on Christmas Eve, yeah.

10:43 Over in.

10:45 Well, that was in Lebanon, but they went over to Palmyra. They had different people they went to at different times.

10:51 Oh, that's cool. That's awesome. Do you have any favorite memories of being a kid?

11:07 Favorite memories from being a kid? We spent a lot. I spent a lot of time over in Lebanon because we go over there a lot. We go over there for Christmas. I really didn't know many people over there. I mean, when I grew up, that was younger. So as I grew up, I went over to less and less. I can't really think of any. I mean, it was fun with Christmas time, it was always fun because they'd come back and then they'd play four or five songs, christmas carols, to get everybody up.

12:01 Oh, that's how they wake you up on Christmas morning.

12:04 Yeah. They go outside the house and then.

12:06 They play after they, like, came back from doing their Christmas Eve.

12:11 Yeah.

12:12 With the brass.

12:13 Yeah, with the brass, yeah. And my mom. My mom actually played with it because she could play, played with them because she could play the saxophone.

12:25 Yeah.

12:26 And call her saxofeminelli.

12:29 Oh, saxophone.

12:30 At one point, just to carry on, but, yeah.

12:33 Do you know what did she play? Was it an alto sax that she played?

12:37 Probably, but I'm not sure about that. I can't. I'm not quite sure what my, what my dad played. Didn't he play? I think he might have played the clarinet, but I'm not sure. Cause my sister played the clarinet.

12:58 Oh, Carmen played.

12:59 Carmen played clarinet, and she could sing, too.

13:04 I thought. There was a newspaper clipping we saw one time with grandpa on it with the Milton Hershey band. And I thought he was playing saxophone because I thought. I remember being surprised that they played the same instrument, but maybe I'm not remembering that correctly.

13:25 Yeah.

13:26 Do you remember Stacy, either way, he played something because he was in band. Grandpa.

13:35 Grandpa. Yeah, he could. Yeah, he played. I think he played. I think he played a saxophone and. Well, actually, he could play the saxophone and trumpet and brass stuff. He can play.

14:05 Your mom brought something. What's their picture? Oh, she brought a picture. Can you point out who all is in the picture?

14:15 My mom. My mom. That's what we call him. Paw paw. That is his dad who played instruments. And that's Carmen. She played clarinet.

14:28 Oh, my gosh.

14:30 So right there, that's only. That's only four. But later on, they did have up to five, I think.

14:37 Would Carmen go out on Christmas Eve with them or grandma or was it just grandpa or your grandpa?

14:46 Um, I don't. I don't know that. That they did. I know. I think my mom. Yeah, mom went out with them already when they needed somebody. When they needed. If someone couldn't make it or something like that, she could. She could play it.

15:06 Were there any traditions that you had growing up that you still carried on later in life? Like now?

15:23 I don't know. It's too long ago now.

15:29 Yeah. We don't wake you up on Christmas morning.

15:32 No. You don't do that.

15:33 You never did that. That would have been pretty cool, though. Is that key us again?

15:44 He's gonna.

15:45 He's not feeling well.

15:47 He's not. He's gonna throw. Oh, that's crazy.

15:55 You have a reputation for being funny. Do you know where you get your sense of humor from?

16:00 I have no idea. I don't know. I mean, I have a reputation to get. Being funny. I don't know.

16:09 Well, all my friends think you're funny. Oh, everyone thinks you're funny.

16:16 But, you know. I don't know.

16:20 I saw mom mouth paw paw and Stacey say grandpa.

16:26 Yeah, cuz that would be paw Paul. That would be grandpa.

16:31 No, I meant. Oh, I meant your dad. Sorry, I get confusing. Yeah. My grandpa meaning your dad and then also paw paw. Your grandfather. So your dad and then. And your grandfather from your mom's side.

16:46 Yeah.

16:52 Can you tell me about how you and mom met?

16:57 Mm hmm.

17:03 Really?

17:07 Yeah. That's pretty simple. We went through. We met at Votech school. She was in Dallastown, and I was in. Went to West York, and in our senior year, we went to. We went to Votek and she got in one class. She was in Dallastown, I was in West York. So our senior year we met there.

17:50 And what were you. So vo tech is like the vocational school where you can, like, take a class. Class for something you can do when you graduate, a career or whatever. So what. What was your.

18:05 Well, I took all the mechanics, but I really didn't do anything with it. I mean, I like messing around with scars and stuff, but I didn't. I didn't make a. I didn't make a.

18:20 Career out.

18:21 Career out of it. Yeah.

18:23 And mom was there for Cosmog. So you did not have the same shop class?

18:28 No, no, we didn't.

18:31 Do you remember, like, the first time you guys talked or met or anything? You just had a. You had a class together?

18:41 Yeah, well, we had a. We had a. There was. She was in our mechanical drawing class.

18:57 She was a mechanical drawing.

18:59 They put her in mechanical drawing because they. I think they thought she was a guy because the name. Because of the way her name was Makila.

19:13 Yeah, but she. Mom.

19:15 Hey, Honda, you were in mechanical drawing class, right?

19:21 Just for a day or two.

19:23 Oh. And it only lasted that long. Okay.

19:28 And that's. That's how you guys first met, was they put you in the wrong class by accident? We were in a bunch of classes. We were in English, science and ink and pod.

19:41 Pod problems in democracy.

19:45 There's a lot of problems. So when did you realize that you were interested in her? Was it right away or after you talked to her for a while?

20:06 Well, I'm trying to think. Ouch. That was the same year that we met.

20:22 Which was. What year was that?

20:24 That was 70 in 1970. 1970, yeah. So we actually met in 68 or 69. Okay, wait, would that be right?

20:39 Probably 69 would have been the beginning of the school year.

20:42 Yeah, something like. Yeah, like that. Yeah. So. Because we graduated in 70.

20:50 And you still remember the date of your first date, though, right? Because you guys still.

20:57 It was. It was Friday the 13.

21:04 March.

21:05 March? Yeah, march.

21:08 Cause every time there's a Friday the 13th, you guys still always go out on a date?

21:13 Well, we used to there for a long time.

21:16 You don't anymore?

21:17 Well, I guess we did a while ago. When was the last Friday the 13th.

21:23 It's been a while.

21:24 Well, we went to. Or wasn't that. Wasn't there Friday the 13th in March?

21:34 No, it was Saturday the 13th.

21:36 Oh, but it was, you know, it was Friday the 13th.

21:44 Did you. How did you propose? I guess let's get married.

22:04 I don't think we did. No, we started dating, and.

22:17 And the rest is history.

22:20 All you gotta do is fill it in.

22:26 You always will, like, greet everyone that you pass by. And I noticed that there are times that people will just ignore you, but you still always do it, which I think is really nice, but how does that. Nothing stop. Like, when people are rude back, but you always keep greeting people. I don't know, you just like to talk to people and you never get mad.

22:57 Oh, yeah, never get mad.

22:58 Well, I mean, like, you ever get mad at, like, people being rude to you because you. You'll be like, hi, how are you? And they just, like, third times, and they'll just look at you. Why are you talking?

23:06 Well, that's. Some people do that, but. So.

23:17 Switching gears a little bit to some more, like, serious questions. What are you most proud of in your life?

23:26 Oh, my.

23:32 Your mom also said you were the good one. The good one? That thing with the man where he was like, go away, man was the only thing he ever did. Oh, that was the only bad thing he ever did. That was. Yeah, he was. He was the good one of all her kids, Carmen. And then you also had your brother J, your half brother J. So they must have been. They were pretty bad, huh? He was the really good one.

24:03 She never had to worry about him. That ain't. Oh, Lord. Um, I forget. What. What was your last question?

24:17 Oh, what. What are you most proud of in your life?

24:21 Picking. You pick the very, very beautiful and lowly girl.

24:25 Aw. And she's not in here to hear you say that. Um, do you have any hopes for your kids or your grandchildren?

24:40 Oh, yeah. I would hope that they'd all come to know Christ, Jesus Christ, as their savior, because with the world, with. That's the only hope for anything in the world, really. So I would hope that all of them would come to know Christ because he died for him. That's about the most important thing there is.

25:16 And when did you become a Christian?

25:21 That was probably around June. Somewhere around June. Was it June? June 73, I think. I think it's getting so far away, I can't remember, but I think it was around somewhere in June 13.

25:47 Do you remember what led you to that?

25:50 Mm hmm. I had a. With my mick. Her one sister invited her to come down to a church where they went to. And trying to think how that was.

26:13 That.

26:14 That was Bethe. No, it was. Well, Beth and Marion, one of them I forget which. And they had, because they had a guest speaker there. And so we went down in the morning and then.

26:38 Was that in New York?

26:40 Yeah, that was in red line.

26:41 In red line?

26:42 In red line. Little. Little church down there. Assembly of God church.

26:46 Was that the same church you guys got married in?

26:49 Mm hmm. Yeah.

26:51 So that one right there on. Is that considered Main street?

26:56 Mm hmm. Yeah, I guess that would be main.

26:57 Street, like, by the McDonald's. There's a McDonald's?

27:02 Yeah, down in. Around there. So the. So he gave an invitation to accept Christ. So I didn't do it at that time. But what he was going to talk about in the evening, for some reason, it interested me about Christ coming back and some things, some prophecies about it. So I thought, hey, that might be interesting, not nearly knowing what I was doing. And so we left, and then we went to the movies. Went to see a Jimi Hendrix movie.

28:00 A Jimi Hendrix movie, which is ridiculous.

28:06 So when.

28:09 What was the Jimi Hendrix movie?

28:13 Rainbow Bridge.

28:14 Rainbow Bridge.

28:18 Rainbow Bridge, yeah. And so when I, we went back to the church, and the guy explained about Christ and what he's done, what he's done for you and that everybody. Everybody's a sinner and needs to have. Needs to be redeemed. And only Christ can redeem and give anybody a new life that they want to, but he's the only one that can do it. So. So that was about it, that part of that. And that's what happened then. When I got a. When I got a. When I graduated from high school, my parents got me a Bible, and I never used it, never opened it. And when I accepted Christ, I remember what my dad and stepmother wrote in the beginning of it. I still have the Bible, but it's used pretty hard. So I don't use that particular Bible much, but it has special things in it that I don't want to get rid of. I just have it. So there's parts of it you can read, parts of it you can't, but.

30:16 And they wrote a special note in there.

30:19 Yeah.

30:20 Do you remember what it said?

30:22 I mean, I can read it on the Bible, but I can't. I don't have it memorized.

30:27 Yeah.

30:31 Totally. Because actually, I had four parents at the same time because my mom had married and remarried. So I had her for a mom that I had a stepdad. And for quite a few years. Cause they got married in. Oh, I forget what year they got married. I know the date was February 10. I just forget the year.

31:14 I think your cat's trying to jump on your counter.

31:19 Oh, yeah. Oh, what's up there? No, don't let him do that.

31:29 Zacchaeus came in to hang out with us, and he's being bad, so he distracted.

31:36 Is that anything hot up there?

31:38 The coffee pot, but that's probably us. No. So how would you like to be remembered?

31:55 Is that her? Oh, I don't know.

32:14 That's a tough question.

32:15 Yeah, it is. I don't know how everyone will be remembered. Like, the. Just. That is a hard question, especially when you have a minimum amount of vocabulary.

32:38 I know how that can be. I must get that from you. I don't have the words all the time to express. I was gonna actually ask Stacey if she had any other questions for you, but now she walked away. Stacy, did you have any other questions that you wanted to ask daddy? Well, what. What did you like most about your parents?

33:25 Well, the, um. The first two. My mom and dad. My mom and daddy. I don't really know because I was only probably three, four years old before I knew what was. And at that point, I just had a mom because they had gotten divorced right at the. Right, right after I was born, so. And then the same time we had our. My sister told me that we had. They would bring us food in just about every weekend because didn't have a whole lot.

34:27 Who would bring you food?

34:29 Grandparents, my grandparents. So we always had food.

34:37 Was there a period of time where you didn't see your dad for a while?

34:42 Yeah. Yeah, for a while. Yeah. Till. Well, when I started, when he. When he'd come and pick my sister and me up sometimes, and then we would go over to my aunt Doris's place and visit and then other. Other relatives, the Dyberts, my cousins. We go there sometimes, but he, um. Well, he. He actually went into, you know, when the war started, when there were. When he got out of Hershey. He went right into world war two because the war wasn't over yet. But he was in the navy. I don't think he saw any. He was on a boat. He was on a ship and stuff, so he didn't see any action.

36:06 But where was he. Was he stationed anywhere? He was in the South Pacific or something.

36:12 I know he was in HawaIi for a while, but I forget exactly where. Where he. Where he. Where he. Where all he went.

36:29 And he. He couldn't swim, right?

36:31 Yeah, that's what they said. They had three men, and he had to go get him.

36:36 Do you normally have to be able to swim to join the navy?

36:39 Yeah. Well, it's. It sure helps.

36:48 Did he learn how to swim then, after.

36:51 I don't know that he ever learned how to swim. I mean, he used to take us to the beach and stuff at times, but he never swam anything. But he wasn't in the. I forget how long he was actually in the. Forget what year he graduated at Hershey. I just can't think of it. But he wasn't in. He wasn't in any foot patrol or anything like that. It was just the boat he was on. The ship he was on. It was. They. It was a. Like a ship that was a supporting ship for the rest of those ships. Had support details with it, but. But he never got shot.

37:59 Well, that's good. Were there any other questions that you wanted to ask Stacy? What do you like about being a parent?

38:21 That was fun. Crazy at times. Yeah. I wish I would have been more prepared for it. Don't regret it, though, at all. Trying to think.

38:50 Do you have any funny stories of us as kids that stand out?

38:57 Mmm. Where's mom at? She has to have. Oh, funny stories. Boyden.

39:25 Well, who gave you your favorite Father's Day card today? That was a question Stacey asked you earlier? No, I asked him what his favorite car was. Oh, I thought you said this whole time. I thought it was after we gave him his cardinal, and you're like, which card was your favorite? That's why I said the car show first. I was talking about the cars. Did you have a favorite car from the car show?

40:00 I don't think all of them were good. I mean, they were funny.

40:07 No, the car. See, he looks at car, too.

40:16 Where are they, by the way?

40:17 Right behind me. Right behind you. That makes more sense than you said. Favorite car. Favorite car. You saw a Chevelle. You saw some chevelles you really liked? 63. The 63 Chevelle.

40:38 72 Chevelle. What did you say?

40:41 She said 63.

40:43 Oh, 63 Corvettes.

40:45 Oh, a 63 Corvette. Oh, yeah. Oh, with the split window thing that you taught me about today.

40:50 Yeah.

40:54 Now I know a little something about 63 Corvette. Well, we're getting close to running out of time. Time. Thank you for letting me interview you. It was fun, even though we had some interruptions. And thank you, Stacey, for joining and participating. It was fun.