What did your folks do for work, from early to late?

[tynyphil]

Seems like I’m the subject of good old songs as I’m a true ‘Son of a Preacherman’ and a true ‘Okie from Muskogee’. I guess I should share dad was a Battle of the Bulge survivor. He was pinned down in the snow long enough to have his feet develop frostbite. He made a pact with God to survive. He did and kept his promise. Pastored all over Oklahoma, retired and passed away at the age of 94

 

[Roadking Larry]

Dad grew up the youngest of four kids on a dirt poor, dirt farm in NE Oklahoma. Fields were plowed with a team of mules. He joined the Air Force in 1955 when he finished school. He spent 20 years in the AF retiring in1975. He spent time in Japan early in his career as a carpenter and later retrained in to electronics and RADAR maintenance. We moved a lot. We moved back to Oklahoma after he retired and he worked as a carpenter for a few years with his dad and older brother. Eventually he went to work for the Oklahoma State Employment Commission. Medically retiring from there in the late '80s due to MS. He's still kicking along, his health isn't good but still here.

 

[dan45]

Dad was a carpenter / cabinet builder up until I was 18 or so. Then he purchased a marina and ran it until he figured out that was a wealthy man's occupation. Sold it, retired, then passed from lung cancer just a few years later.

Damn I miss that man.

 

[Cat City Slim]

My dad is a welder, my mom worked at the local high school as a custodian and lunch lady. They are both past 70 and still working the same jobs. I get exhausted just watching them.

 

[clintbailey]

Mom: worked for her family's walk up hamburger stand off/on, as well as waiting tables at other cafe's, and a few other odd jobs including school janitor, then went full time with Walmart going as high as assistant manager, been there since mid-90's

Dad: worked for grocery stores, dairy's etc early on, then worked for Sherwin Williams Paint Co in Dallas when he started preaching; also did other "side jobs" while pastoring like real estate, etc. He retired several years back from preaching, due to health issues from a bad car wreck in 1983

I didn't follow either other than a stint at WM when I was in HS and just after. I worked all kinds of jobs before moving to OK, from Pepsi to plywood mills. Been in the oil/gas field since 2004

 

[Okie_dave]

Dad grew up on a farm. Joined Air Force during Korean War. Uncle Sam let him finish his degree at OSU. Once discharged, he worked at McDonnell Aircraft for over 30 years.

 

[cboss]

Dad was a bus driver until he got a DUI, then worked as an elementary school janitor. Mom was a teller at Navy Federal, until she promoted to working on food contracts for the Navy.

 

[retrieverman]

My biological Dad worked on my grandparent’s chicken farm growing up until he got drafted during Vietnam, and when he got home he worked at his best friend’s Dad’s gas station for a short time before getting a job at a local foundry until he was killed in 1974.
My step Dad grew up in Enid and farmed with his grandparents growing up. He started a spinner bait company in college and moved the business to Texas where he sold the business and became a fishing guide. He ended up getting a job with a company as a sale rep for fishing tackle companies and later started his own rep group. He sold his company in 2000 and started a real estate business which he ran until cancer got him in 2014.

My mother was a high school science teacher until my brother was born in 1978, and at some point in the late 90’s or early 2000’s, she started selling Pampered Chef kitchen stuff.

 

[Capm_Spaulding]

I envy those who lived in a more simple time. Inflation adjusted, you could do a lot more with a lot less back then. You didn’t need a 6 figure income to be comfortable.

 

[Dumpstick]

Mom waited tables through high school, then went to Nursing School in the early 1950s - back when Nursing School was a live-in thing at a teaching hospital. Got her RN, married Dad, worked nights while Dad went to college.

Dad worked for his Dad - a drainage contractor - in the 40s. Was a postman for a while, drafted into Korea.
Came back, went to college on the GI Bill. Worked full time, carried a full class load, and helped raise 3 kids with Mom. Mom worked nights, took care of kids in the day. Dad went to school and worked during day, took care of kids and studied at night.

6 kids eventually.

Engineering degree, worked on jet engine technology, and lots of DoD classified stuff. Retired in the early 90s.