Found this post from last January and wanted to share it again!

 

Hugh John McInnes    AKA  “Stuffy”

Hugh John “Stuffy” McInnes was born to Hugh & Alma McInnes on January 30, 1912 so we want to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birthday of our fabulous Pop. He married our equally fabulous Mom, Thelma and they raised four fabulous children, Dick, Kay, Judy & Terry. Pop worked at the West Penn Power Company in Springdale for most of his adult life alongside with his dad and his baby brother, Bill.

“Stuffy” was the nickname of a famous baseball player, John McInnis He gained his nickname as a youngster in the Boston suburbs when his spectacular playing brought shouts of “that’s the stuff, kid!” He even played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1925-26) as well as five other teams and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Pop worked different shifts…we had to be very quiet when he worked the midnight shift and when he worked daytime, dinner was served promptly at 5 PM. We didn’t have much money but we were always taken care of by our loving parents. I fondly remember the day he bought us our first TV set.  I was on the front porch of 621 Roup Street anxiously awaiting its delivery, jumping up and down as the delivery truck pulled up. It began my love affair with TV.

Stuffy was a funny man and he loved doing the NY Times crossword puzzle….I still can’t do it.  Pop was a sensitive man. The first time I saw him cry was when they announced the death of President Roosevelt. I was so touched by his tears that I went out on Fentzel Alley and wept for our president. They shared the same birthdate (Roosevelt was born in 1882). Every year on their birthday, relatives in Pittsburgh, the Naves would send Pop several cards with dimes in it for The March of Dimes just as people sent to FDR.

Whenever I’d come home, we had good times but when the day that I was leaving arrived,  he’d stay up in his bedroom because we’d both get very sentimental. You see, I didn’t leave Tarentum because I didn’t love my family, I just hated cold weather. I remember when I was 5 years old, they’d put us out on the alley to ride our sleds…five minutes l was back in the house….too cold!  If I could have talked him into moving out here I would have been the happiest guy in the world. My mother, on the other hand, loved to come out.  Judy, my sister the nurse, went home when Pop was really sick and took care of him for a couple of months at the end. That’s how we were raised. You take care of your family.

Stuffy enjoyed his beer and when he’d come home from his favorite hangout, The Eagles…you could hear him coming up Fentzel Alley and every else could too, singing his heart out, St James Infirmary and laughing. One year Judy, Lauren and I came home and I brought my movie camera and when were at Kay’s on Christmas, I talked my dad into rendering his version of the Louis Armstrong classic. Even though there was no sound, Pop was once again smiling and singing his heart out. I didn’t need sound, the look on his face and watching him break into a hearty laugh was perfect!

This year I just might have a couple of beers and burst into St James Infirmary and hope that Stuffy, our dad is smiling down on us and maybe he’ll even sing a chorus with me. Won’t you join us??

“It was down in Old Joe’s bar room, on the corner of the square, Drinks were being served as usual,  And a goodly crowd was there,  When old Joe McGuinny, his eyes  bloodshot red, as he poured himself more whiskey, this is what he said. I went down to the St James Infirmary, I saw my baby there… " 

We loved you Pop & Mom..

                                    We will always love you!

 

 

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