Back to Shields
Martin Joseph Shields Jr.     June 21,1918-September 9,2000
Late 1930s ? 1950 Albany, New York 1988 San Diego, California
 
My Uncle Martin was my godfather as well as one of my favorite relatives, mostly because he didn't like New York winters and often visited me in California to avoid them. The family called him Uncle Junnie because of his being a junior, he preferred Martin which no one used.
       Junnie was a scrapper who used to box Golden Gloves. He was in the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) until he was old enough to join the Army. He wanted to make a career out of the Army. He transferred from the Army to the Army Air Corp but his plans of a military career came to an end when he contracted cerebral malaria in the South Pacific during WWII. He spent about 6 years in a bug hospital (his choice of wording) at the VA in North Hampton after his hospitalization in the South Pacific. He was discharge at Key West Florida in the late 40's. He made his way back up to the Albany, New York area where his back pay from his hospitalization period went down on a house at 118 Grove Avenue. (Along with money from Helen Moran). This is where my Great Aunt Helen (Moran), Aunt Helen, Uncle Tom and Uncle Junnie lived  during my childhood. (His sister Helen  died in November 2011 at the age of 88 and the house was sold)
     Junnie took a job with the Post Office where he worked until he retired at the age of 55. His Aunt Helen supposedly helped him in getting the Post Office job by knowing some of the right people. He wasn't a mail carrier he was a mail sorter. He usually worked nights (I assume the evening shift) and he would have a quart or two of beer and cheese and crackers after work since he wasn't home for the family dinner. After he retired, and not liking the New York winters, he used to get a Greyhound Pass and travel the country for the winter. He usually stayed in the dive hotels found downtown around the bus stations. He started visiting me while I was in the Navy at Mare Island in Vallejo in 1973 and continued almost every year until I was in Sunnyvale around 1990. After that his health started declining and he spent the rest of his winters around Albany.
     Junnie liked taking pictures, usually with a Polaroid so he had instant results at family functions while others had to wait for developing. He also like playing the lottery. He was one of the first major winners in the New York State Lottery. I remember he and his sister Helen (whom he split the ticket with) going down to New York City for a chance to spin for big bucks. They split $100,000 ($5000 a year for 20years). Actually the money turned out to be for a lifetime and I believe my Aunt Helen is still collecting her share. Junnie was also into all kinds of electronic gizmos and always seemed to be buying batteries. When he died a couple of his nephews slipped a package of batteries and a lotto ticket into his pockets as his remains laid out in the coffin.
Marty's use of "The Hamptons" may have been a reference to the time he spent disabled with cerebral malaria from the South Pacific. He also used to talk about being stationed around Plattsburg, NY and being discharged  in Key West and working his way back north.

                       

Patty, Louie & Junior 1984

Junior & Helen, NYC Lotto Winners Dinner  19xx

              

     Junnie never had a woman when I knew him. He had bad acne scars and claimed the only women he could have was a paid whore.He never denied not having one or two in his youth in the Army. He was perfect for a sad sack in the army. He never did anything around the shared home, work wise. (Tom did most of it and Helen paid for the work after Tom died.) He didn't know who to cook and lived off family cooking or restaurants. A family favorite around the turn of the millennium was the Gateway Dinner on Central Avenue in Albany. I remember him slipping after an ice storm and hitting his head coming out of the Gateway Dinner. I thought I lost him the, he hit hard and was in his 80's. He was a hoarder and his room at 118 Grove reflected it. He visited junk stores and brought home cameras, radios, paperback books and whatever stuck his fancy at a good deal used. When his sisters Helen & Mary cleaned out his room after his passing they found thousands of dollars in among the piles of books and things.
     He used to like to take baths. He would plug the overflow so he could get it fuller. He liked to lay with his head underwater. One day his sister Helen had to enter their bathroom and thought he had drowned. When I was young he always had an ear plug in' listening to the Mets on his transistor radio. He always cleaned the rollers on his Polaroid  with spit. Claimed it had pepsin and was one of the worlds best cleaners. He liked instant pictures especially at family functions.I will always remember him sitting on a cot in his boxers and sleeveless t-shirt loudly cheering for Superman against the evil super heroes in superman 2. He was watching a VHS tape in one of our spare bedrooms on Benicia Rd in Vallejo.
     After a meal he would say "and We thank you". I'm not sure if it was the royal we or the schizophrenic we. He would also loudly blow his nose on the handkerchief he always carried. He claimed the warm food made his nose run. He always insisted on potatoes (Irish apples) with every meal.