PLAYING IT WELL
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JACK O'LEARY PART I
by
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In 1950 segregation of whites and blacks was in full force. There were separate black and white facilities for just about everything from public bars to public toilets. Buses were segregated with blacks relegated to the back of the bus. One day I boarded the bus that took us from the Naval Station to the heart of town. The front of the bus was about half full with plenty of seats for the sailors traveling to Norfolk who now occupied the remaining seats. Meanwhile, the rear of the bus was crowded with black passengers and all of the available seats were taken while a large number of the rest of the passengers remained standing. An elderly and frail black woman entered the bus at the first stop after we left the base and was dutifully headed for the back of the bus as the law dictated. As there were no more seats available anywhere else on the bus, I rose from my seat on the aisle and offered it to her. She declined but I insisted that she should accept the seat. The bus driver saw through the rear view mirror what I was attempting to do and yelled back at me to “…let the nigger git to the back of bus. Ah haint movin’ this bus ‘til she gits where she belongs.” This only stiffened my resolve to give the poor woman my seat and most of the sailors on board loudly supported my attempts and told the driver to move on. The old woman looked at me with eyes wide with fear and said, “Please don’t cause me no trouble.” I looked to the rear of the bus and that same fear was in every face back there; it was like looking at a field of bright stars in a black velvet sky; all waiting for the Nova to explode. The bus driver kept ranting on about ‘gittin’ the pol-leese’, and ‘damn Yankees’ while adamantly refusing to put the bus in motion. Seeing how frightened these folks were made me back off for their sake. While I wanted to punch out the driver and confident I would have the support of the sailors on the bus, I let the woman go to the rear and sat down. I realized that further confrontation would only make their life miserable while this ‘Damn Yankee’ could go back to the safety of the base. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************ …The New York City subways were an endless source of interesting happenings and amusement. Hardly a day went by without another memorable event. One of the funniest things happened one day as I was traveling home from downtown where I had been working at the time. A middle-aged man was sitting in a seat directly across from me when I sat down upon entering the train. From his working attire, I assumed he was a laborer headed home after a day’s work; his head was down and his eyes were closed as he caught a few winks. A young lady entered the train and took the only remaining empty seat, alongside the sleeping worker. After a short time, she noticed, as did several of the passengers, including myself, that the man’s fly was open. He was probably unaware of this as he slept. The young lady tried to ignore this obvious breach of decorum by continuously putting her handkerchief to her face as she purposely averted her gaze in the opposite direction from the open trousers. As she dabbed at her face, the handkerchief slipped from her hand and landed directly on top of the man’s open fly. She looked a bit perplexed and evidently wanted to retrieve the errant handkerchief, but dared not just pick it up as it may have looked like she was reaching into the man’s pants. After a brief time she tapped the man on the shoulder to wake him up, and pointing down at the handkerchief, wordlessly requested him to return her handkerchief. Still a bit disoriented from having been awakened, the man must have thought that his shirttail was hanging out and quickly tucked the handkerchief into his trousers and quickly buttoned up his open fly; unaware of what he had just done. The young lady turned as red as a beet and knew that the handkerchief was now lost to her. As the few passengers who were aware of the incident were stifling the laughter which we all felt inclined to, the young lady rose from her seat and got off the train at the next stop. I don’t know whether this was her final destination or if she just wanted to escape the embarrassment of the moment. The more interesting question is, how did that man explain to his wife when he removed his trousers at home, how he was in possession of a delicate, lace handkerchief - and in his trousers at that?....
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About the Book
“Playing It Well, The Life and Times of Jack O’Leary” is a book in two parts about a man who was born into poverty who rose to become a successful Engineer, an elected and appointed government official and a much exhibited Photographic Artist. It starts with Part One and his birth in 1932 and his early days on the streets of New York, his misspent early years, and his later service in the Navy during the Korean War, after which he spent 35 years in the Aerospace Industry, helping to put a man on the moon while playing a key role in assuring the nations defense. It tells the story of the tragic loss of a wife and son and the subsequent remarriage and raising a family on Long Island. Part one ends with his introduction to New York politics when he is enlisted to seek the Conservative Party nomination to run for Governor of the State of New York in 1966 leading to his eventual elevation to the highest levels of party leadership on Long Island in 1972. Part Two follows Jack’s adventures through the end of the twentieth century to the early years of the twenty first.
About the Author
Jack O’Leary is a man of many talents. Emerging from a dissolute life on the streets of New York, he has gone on to lead parallel, successful careers in aerospace engineering, in politics as a leader of the Conservative Party and as an elected and appointed official in local government, and as a renowned photographic artist. As an Engineer he has played a key role in the lunar landing, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO), the F-14 Navy fighter aircraft and more. In 1994, after the election of Governor George Patacki, he served on the new Governor’s transition team to help organize the new administration. After sixteen years as a member and Chairman of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals, he served six years as the elected Receiver of Taxes for the Town of Oyster Bay followed by service to the town as Commissioner of General Services and Deputy in the Human Resources Department. His photographic art, featuring much of his international travels from the jungles of Panama to the mountains of Tibet, has been featured at many public exhibits on Long Island. He served honorably in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War where he was the recipient of numerous service awards. He has lived in Plainview on Long Island for 49 years where he and his wife, Jean, have raised two daughters; Patricia and Eileen.