“It had eight rows and each row was a different grade with one teacher,” he said.

He finished the last nine years of school in Westfield after the schools merged. He played little league baseball at a ballfield in Westfield and went swimming every day all summer long.

“There was a big commercial fishing fleet in Barcelona with eight large boats. We had to swim out and then jumped off the boats. Fish were loaded into wooden boxes on the iron scows. They were pushed to the shore where they were iced and shipped,” said Irwin.

Irwin’s father worked at General Electric in Erie, Pa., until 1951, when he started his own business on property he had purchased in Westfield. He grew and sold cut flowers and fresh produce on the land. Ed, Jr. helped his parents sort flower bulbs every year. Unfortunately, just four years after starting the business, the New York State Thruway took over the land, destroying his dream and his business.

When his short-lived business ended, he took a job driving a huge dump truck hauling soil that was excavated for the building of a canal for the Niagara Falls Power Project. The joint effort between the American and Canadian governments was one of the biggest projects at the time, employing 1,000 workers. Irwin Sr. worked 3-4 years on the project and had been going home on weekends to see with his wife and children.

On one of his trips while passing through Buffalo, he was attacked and stabbed by several men after his car stalled. The injured and traumatized man struggled to drive himself to an intersection where he met up with a cab. When he asked the driver to take him to a hospital, the man refused. Irwin drove a little further until his car was hit by another vehicle after which he was transported to a hospital. Sadly, he lost the vision in his left eye and was no longer able to drive.

He passed away in his early fifties, just a year after his terrifying ordeal.

For many years, Irwin’s mother worked in a bank in Westfield. Irwin delivered newspapers to 35 customers “in rain or snow.” Later, he worked for a landscaping business who maintained the property of many clients on the grounds of Chautauqua Institution. He took an after-school job at an Army-Navy surplus store. After graduating in 1955, he joined the United States Navy where he remained in active duty for four years and inactive duty for four more years.

“Within 60 days (of graduation), I was in boot camp,” he said.

Edwin Irwin spent eight years in service to the United States Navy. Four of those years were spent in active duty. Submitted photo

From boot camp in Bainbridge, Md., he was assigned to the USS Tanner for three and one-half years. He spent the last six months of his service on the USS Compass Island. His rank was Second Class Pipefitter.

“We maintained thousands of fittings on the ship,” said the veteran.

The first ship was a geographical survey ship. While Irwin was aboard, the ship was deployed to Turkey twice as the US had a contract with the Turkish government to survey the beaches of the southern mainland.

“In case of war, the charts were used for invading forces,” he said. “We had sound boats onboard. We would chart the waters 3-4 miles out and the bigger ship surveyed the Aegean Sea.”

During his time with the Navy, he saw Portugal, Spain, France, The Riviera, Italy, Turkey and Greece.

“It was exciting to a boy from Barcelona.”

His parents’ neighbor had relatives outside of Athens, Greece. After communicating his request to a cab driver in Greece, he was able to find the families, who presented him with cookies.

After his discharge, he attended a body work and fender trade school in Chicago for six months and then returned to Westfield where he worked in various garages. The autobody repair industry began using plastic body filler, which caused problems with Irwin’s respiratory system.

He then attended Bryant-Stratton Business College where he studied accounting for two years. He applied for an accounting job in Chicago where he had family. He worked for various companies in different levels of accounting in the Windy City, but later followed his relatives from Chicago to Florida where he worked for Sarasota Memorial Hospital for about three years before starting his own accounting business. He did book keeping for small businesses for 30 years and worked seven days per week during income tax season. After selling the business in 2003, he moved about 30 miles north of Atlanta to Acworth, Ga.

“It has tripled in size since I moved there, from 10,000 to 35,000 people,” he said.

In the past he enjoyed playing tennis, swimming and fishing. Due to declining health, he moved to Bergquist Memorial at Gerry’s Heritage Village about 6 months ago where he attends Wednesday night church services and participates in Bingo and any other activities he finds of interest.

One night during dinner, he heard a lady mention Westfield. When he approached her after the meal was over, he learned she was a classmate he had not seen for 65 years.

He is a life member of the Loyal Order of the Moose and a former member of the Elks. He has a younger brother, Richard Irwin, who resides in Barcelona.