Best Friends

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Subjects: Steve Holasek and Joseph Frank Forrai(age 27).
Date: 1940.
Location: Cudahy, Wisconsin.
Occasion: Unknown.
Photographer: Unknown.
Relationship to me: Father.

Once my mother retired, she went through the boxes of photographs and created historical photo albums. She made one for myself and one for my brother. This is a photograph from the album made for me.

This is a photograph that I have of my father and his best friend, Steve Holasek in their adulthood. My father looks a lot happier as an adult then he did as a teenager. They remained friends throughout their entire lives. My dad told the story that Steve's dad was a moonshiner during prohibition. He eventually got caught, and was jailed. This put an economic hardship on Steve and his mother.

The Holaseks did have more money than my father's family. While my father longed to attend and graduate from college, this dream never did come true. Steve, on the other hand, attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and obtained a Bachelor's degree. I remembered that Steve was married, but I believe they had no children. When I graduated from High School, Steve provided me with a very generous gift that help pay for my college education. Perhaps in a way he felt bad that he was able to attend college, but his best friend never had the chance.

In response to Karen's comment:

Steve Holasek was born July 13, 1913, and passed away in September 1987, 12 years before my father passed away. Steve's life had plenty of ups and downs. He was married and divorced. I remember him as a young adult living in a trailer park because he lost most of his fortune in the divorce. He would visit my father often, and I remember him having dinner with my folks and going out to eat with them.