My Youth in my Father's Darkroom

This was my Father's favorite place, and where I got to know him best.

All his best friends (and they were all men of his age) socialized with him there. There was always something interesting going in the processing of his prints. I stood on a box and ran the prints through the hypo that made it possible for them to be exposed to the light, washed, and dried.

One of them was a Catholic Priest from Ft. Madison, who got an offer from the Church he could not refuse. There was a parish somewhere else in the Midwest, that was in bad shape. If he took it over and made it profitable again, he would advance rapidly in the church. If he failed, he would remain an assistant priest in Ft. Madison for the rest of his life.

He accepted the challenge.