Earl Mowery of Saxonburg holds a pair of skis he received for Christmas in 1943. With his father away at war, each child received one gift. While his siblings wanted bicycles, Earl asked for the skis.

During the holidays in 1943, Earl Mowery's father was away at war and his mother was left to provide Christmas gifts for Earl and his brother and sister.

“She said to us three children, ‘You can have one present apiece,'” said Mowery, a lifelong Saxonburg resident.

His siblings, Mutt and Joan, asked for bicycles, but his best friend was getting skis for Christmas.

“I said, ‘I'll get skis, too!'” said Mowery, who in retrospect wishes he would have asked for a bicycle instead. “I didn't realize that was only going to last a month or two and you have all spring, summer and fall to ride a bike.”

His mother purchased adult-sized skis for Mowery, then 12 years old, and she didn't realize he'd need ski poles, he said.

“We took brooms, cut the broom part out and used them,” he said, “They slipped out of your hand because they didn't have the loop around the wrist. My buddy had ski poles, but I didn't.”

Still, Mowery said he is thankful for the gift he received that Christmas.

“We came down in the morning and we were expecting to get what we asked for,” he said. “There were two bikes and the skis and we were all happy.”

Earlier that year, his father, Earl, left his job as a crane operator at Pullman Standard to serve in Germany and in the Philippines, Mowery said.

Within two weeks, his father trained his mother, Jennie, to perform his duties at Pullman, which she did until the end of the war. When Earl Sr. returned home in 1945, he took back his old job and Jennie became a welder there until her retirement.

“They weren't paying big wages in ‘43,” Mowery said. “She had to maintain the house and buy groceries and get gas for the car and we were happy with what we got.”

Though Mowery has not used the skis since he was a teenager, he would never part with them.

“They're excellent skis,” he said.