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Pittsburgh Stories_Earl A. Faust

 Earl A. Faust was born in Castle Shannon in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in 1926, and enlisted in the navy when he was seventeen years old.  Until then the deepest body of water Earl had ever been in was the swimming pool in the South Park.  He worked as a motor machinist mate maintaining the propeller shafts on the U.S.S. Springfield CL66 Cruiser.  He saw action in the Battle of Okinawa, the Philippine Liberation, and The Last Battle of Japan.  The mission of the Springfield was to protect the aircraft carriers, and his crew did their job shooting down 7 Kamikaze attack planes.  Due to a bit of luck he got to sit on the barrel of one of the U.S.S. Missouri’s 16 inch guns to watch the signing of the peace ceremony that ended the second world war…  After the war he got into the business of buying and selling boats, which ultimately led to Earl running a marina between the 7th and 9th Street bridges in 1965.   That ended when the city redeveloped the Northside, forcing Earl to open up a new marina up river near the 62nd street Bridge in Lawrenceville.  Earl had to retire from the marina business 6 years ago when the city once again bought that land for redevelopment.  Earl continues to buy and sell boats, now conducting his business at the Washington’s Landing Marina.  In his day Earl was a world-class water skier winning the Pennsylvania State Championship in Men’s Slalom at 40 years old.  Finally, at 80 he hung up his water skis.  In addition to slalom skiing, Earl also jumped over ski-ramps and one day due to a malfunctioned harness attached to a ski-kite he fell a hundred feet over the Allegheny.  Through it all, except for a bad back that ails Earl when he stands for long periods of time, he is as healthy as an ox.  If the back bothers him he doesn’t take any drugs, only his evening nightcap of Jack Daniels.  After our photoshoot, Earl, his lovely wife Eddy, and I chatted over a beer at nearby Silky’s Crow’s Nest in Sharpsburg. I asked the cocktail waitress, “If man has lived a life at sea he’s called an Old Salt, what do you call him if he’s lived a life on the river?”  Her reply, “an Old Worm!”

[tommjohnson]

When I called Michael Ashley to ask him if he new of any interesting characters that fit the mold for my project Pittsburgh Stories, without hesitation he referred me to Tom Walker.  Michael told me that when Mullen was in existence Tom would kayak from the Millvale Marina to the riverbank near the Crane building on 24th, then park his ride in his cubicle.   Upon hearing this I couldn’t wait to meet and make a portrait of Tom, especially after I saw the profile photo on his Facebook page, where he looks like Teddy Roosevelt.  Although Tom was not one to wear a suit to work, I thought having him wear one for the photograph would add a little panache to the image.

A bit about Tom:

He grew up in Lawrenceville, where in the summers he and his friends would walk to either the Pittsburgh Zoo, the Carnegie Museum, the National Aviary, the Phipps Conservatory, or Forbes Field to watch Clemente throw out a base runner unwisely attempting to stretch a single into a double.  Or, he and his buddies would merely stroll down to the Allegheny for a swim.

Tom’s favorite place to grab a beer is either the Grist House or Draai Laag, both only blocks away from his home in Millvale.

Finally, and I suppose you have to be a true Pittsburgher to get this: he says the 10th Ward always smelled better than the 9th.

Cheers, Tom

[tommjohnson]

Pittsburgh Stories_Lou Castelli   Lou is the Director of External Affairs of Pittsburgh Public Theater.  This was image was made on the stage of the O’Reilly Theater’s current production: Buyer & Cellar.