First summer job at the lake was as a short order cook at Dorothy's Restaurant in Glendale, now the Lyons Den. There were lots of family style restaurants and small motels in those days, so lots of kids jobs. Lots of kids living on the islands and commuting through Glendale, as I did. You could literally hitchhike to almost any Gilford island up until 1-2 am when the late night dinner places, and Weirs dance halls closed. Sometimes the band from Huffy's at the Weirs (Bobby and the Twisters, right?) would pack everything up and play again at the Goodhue Boat Yard storage building. Great parties.
I was paid, I think, $0.90'hour and I got meals.
The next year, we got a lot busier with the installation of air conditioning and a liquor license, and I moved out front to the counter. I think the same pay, but now I got tips, and had more interaction with customers and waitresses.
Both of those years I had Wednesdays as my day off. I loaded my boat onto a trailer and drove it to Half Moon Lake in Alton. I unloaded and taught water skiing at Camp Mi-Te-Na all afternoon. $7.00/hour for me and the boat, skis, and gas.
The next job was to drive the Miss Winnipesaukee speedboats at the Weirs. Again, I could commute by boat. And what teenager didn't want to just be at the Weirs all day every day? Of course in June before the boat season started, we were up on big ladders painting and washing windows in the Winnipesaukee Gardens, and all the stores along the boardwalk. Occasionally, they needed extra help at the ballroom or the Bingo Hall and I was able to add that to my regular hours and get paid as overtime. I never thought I'd be a professional BINGO caller!
Irwin Marine stopped running the Winni's and I moved to their Lakeport facility. Now I had to boat to Glendale and drive to Lakeport. We had (there were three of us) duties of picking up and delivering boats all around the state. I had my own tools, so I got a little mechanical training and did a lot of rigging of new boats. Boat, motor, trailer and accessories, horn, fire extinguisher etc. were all packaged by the dealer then, not the manufacturer. We, (married now) rented a house on Foster Ave in the Weirs.
The Irwin's (Jim Jr and Jack) were great people to work for, and we are still loyal customers.
After that last lake summer job, I got a job at a cotton brokerage while I waited for the Navy to call me up, so we could head for Pensacola for basic/flight training.
Twenty five +/- years later, my daughter and my niece lived on the island and commuted to Glendale. They were both dispatchers for Marine Patrol.
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