Peter P. Prevenas Biography

Peter Peter PREVENAS was born 12 Feb 1914, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. He was the sixth surviving child of parents Peter Demetrios and Mary (ZABSKI) PREVENAS.

Peter & Katharine
at Wisconsin Dells

Katharine Prevenas
Peter Prevenas
Helen Harris

Violet, Peter, & Fani
Photo taken at 2627 W. Haddon Avenue, Chicago, when Peter was in the National Guard.

son Peter, Mary, brother Mike Zabski

"I don't think I was four years old. Anna was having a birthday party. We were living upstairs my father's restaurant. Anna was always the oldest and was always trying to make us happy. They had prizes for during the party. There was a horn there and I wanted it. At the time I was going to St. Clements catholic school. They taught us that anything you wanted you should pray for it and you would get it. So I went into another room by myself and I laid it on the old boy. 'Oh, Please. I want that horn. I don't care how I get it. I need that horn.' And would you believe I got that horn?" [*PPP]

"It was my fourth or fifth birthday and we were living on Racine. I got a brand new tricycle from sister Anna. I had never had a bicycle and this was a three wheeler. Wow! I was never so happy in all my life." [*PPP]

"That was the same time Jimmy and a friend fixed up a canoe. He used a barrel of tar. They used barrel hoops for the ribs. They hauled it down to the water. With no exaggeration, it was a good six to eight miles away. They put baby buggy wheels up in front and lifted up the back to roll it along. Then they found out they had to get a permit. So, they hauled it all the way back." [*PPP]

"Peter's bicycle was sitting up-side-down on its seat and handlebars. Mother [Violet] was entertaining herself spinning the wheel. Peter told her to stop, and she refused, so he stuck his hand in the wheel to make her stop. When they saw the broken fingers, they were terrified that Ma would find out, so they decided to hide the evidence. They took a knife and went into the basement. She told me use she tried to cut off the damaged fingers, but the bone kept getting in the way. As she was cutting, Ma can down the stairs and caught them in the act. I cannot imagine what their poor mother thought!" [*BCB]

"To tell the truth, we should never be living yet. My mother never knew what we did. We used to jump from slippery rock to rock with the waves crashing up. Have you ever seen those big boulders down by the planetarium? We used to hitchhike on car bumpers." [*PPP]

"When we were young, we would go to these outings on Remmings Farm in Irving Park. The farm is a Forest Preserve and they still pump that sulfur water. They would gather, make a big fire, kill a lamb, and sing "Sam Yatee Sa" (some love song). Once Uncle Mike was out there too and I wanted to show him I could drive that big Studabaker. I forgot to put the clutch in and it made that big grinding sound. Uncle Mike laughed and laughed. I'll never forget that day. When we would go out there and have a big dinner at the farmhouse my father would pay for the meal like in a restaurant." [*PPP]

"At one time, in 1928, we had a waiter that worked with Duplex. He asked me if I wanted to go along with me. He took me to a farm that had a big moonshine barn. He told me I would be a prefect driver. Without my mother's lessons, ... My mother told me what was right and wrong, ... I never pursued that. I don't know what ever happened to him." [*PPP]

"My father would take Tommy, Jimmy, and I to Dam #2 (in Wheeling, IL). We slept on the ground in a pup tent. The truck got stuck at night in the camp grounds and we had to get the farmer to haul us out. My father would leave us there for the week to fish and swim. There were leeches there, though. And my goodness, it was so cold up there. That was the first time I ever caught a fish in my life. It was a big carp. Some man asked me if I wanted to hold his line. I was so excited. That fish was shaking at the end of the line. I think I was about nine years old then." [*PPP]

"My uncle on my mother's side loaned us his tent. It was like a house tent about 8 feet by 10 feet (no floor). The first time we (Helen, Jimmy, Katharine, and Peter) went up to the Dells, Jimmy took us. The second year we went up they charged us 50 cents a week. They had a light there and a wooden floor. We still cooked on the open fire. I remember the pots and pans were black with soot. My mother was in her glory. Then Jimmy would come and take us back. It was nothing for us to walk seven miles to get to town. Helen and Katharine would start walking and count their steps. They never got up to one-thousand steps before someone would stop and pick us up. They had Indian dances on Saturday night. They had a band in the camping area. It was nice. We were just kids then." [*PPP]

"When we lived on Haddon Avenue we had 25 or more 50 gallon barrels of home made wine down in the basement. It was no big deal. We had a large water glass of wine with our meals at supper." [*PPP]

"We used to make wine in the basement of Hadden Avenue. My father had people come in an stomp the grapes. Then it went through the wine press. You wouldn't believe how many friends my father had while there was wine in the barrels. When the wine was gone so were his friends." [*PPP]

"When we lived on Fullerton we also had several barrels of wine in the basement. We had about an acre or two on the side of our house that had several large trees on it. I was about seven years old. In the summer when it was hot, I would go into the basement and open up the spout of the wine barrel and quench my thirst. I think I must have over done it once. I climbed one of the large trees and started to sing Ole Sole Mio." [*PPP]

"During prohibition, on Irving Park in Franklin Park, we went to a Speak-Easy. We went into the backroom where the Greek owner had Greek wine. We had a ball there during Prohibition. The place is on Irving Park underneath the viaduct up above on the right side going west." [*PPP] "I remember that place. They had great, many-course meals and a piano that you put money into to play music." [*KPL]

"There was a time when all ten of us were sitting at the table having supper in the kitchen. All of a sudden we heard the piano in the front room. Erie music was being played. We all looked around to see which one of us was missing. There was nobody missing. My Mother told my Father to go check. My Father told Jim (James Peter Prevenas) to go see who was doing that. We were all scared. It turned out the cat decided to play Chopin. We all had a big laugh and a sigh of relief." [*PPP]

"There was another time when we were all sitting down for supper and about to dish out a large bowl of salad. My Mother remembered she didn't put any vinegar in it. So, she told Fanny to get the vinegar. She got the bottle and put it into the salad. When we started to eat the salad we immediately detected something was wrong. Fanny gave my Mother the ammonia bottle instead of the vinegar bottle. This may account for our strange behavior." [*PPP]

"1929 was the year we went to Minnesota in my $8 Model T Ford. Ma, Dodie, Helen Harris, Stanley (cousin on mother's side), and myself. I was fifteen years old." [*PPP]

"Jimmy wanted us to take his Studabaker because he didn't think my Model T would make it. We had a mattress on the top of the roof. Our spare tire was on top of the hood. The luggage carrier was on the side running board. Going there we stopped at Rockford [Waterloo, Iowa per Dodie], which was half way. We camped overnight on the lawn of a high school yard. We did our washing and everything at the hose. My Uncle Mike Zabski was so ashamed of my Ford. He told me to put it in his garage and use his car while we were there. We looked like a bunch of gypsies. I can't blame my Uncle for hiding my car in the garage." [*PPP]

"The Model T had a gas tank underneath the driver's seat. When the car was going up a hill the liquid would stall out the engine. When that would happen my mother would say, 'Everyone out!' Everyone would get out and push the car to the top of the hill. Then we would jump in and put it in neutral and come down the hill at 65 mph. We came home with three cylinders." [*PPP]

"On the way home we burned out a connecting rod. We pulled into a farmer's field. Helen Dahle held a candle for me so I could take the crank case apart. We removed a piston entirely to the burnt out connecting rod. Then we put the crank case together again. All in the middle of a farmer's field by candlelight. There were a million bugs of it being the only light around. Cousin Stanley was so ill informed he couldn't do anything to help. We rode back to Chicago with three cylinders in the Model T. Our top speed was 14 mph." [*PPP]

"When we lived on Diversey and Clark we lived on the upper floor of my Father's restaurant. In the back of the restaurant under the stairs we had a pet lamb named Bob. One day he decided to take a walk down to Lincoln Park's flower house. He ate up some of the flowers. We had a lot of explaining to do. That must have been in the 1920's. My father bought his first car, a Model T Ford touring car." [*PPP]

"After Grammar school graduation I would use the car to drove to Lake Zurich to smoke cigarettes." [*PPP]

"About 1929, my Jewish friends on Hadden Avenue joined the National Guard so naturally I had to join too. Every year we had a test. I always passed with 100 percent four years in a row. I worked in my father's restaurant and I had nothing to do but study the manual. Every once in a while they appointed the best man in the regiment to receive a college education. One year the best man didn't want the appointment because he had a good job and didn't want to leave and it fell to me. Everyone congratulated me. I was told to buy a footlocker. I was going to go to Fort Monroe to get a college education in communication. It would have been wonderful! Two weeks before I was to leave the Colonel called me in for an interview. He asked me if I had any money saved. I was so naive. Honest. Believe me I was. I didn't get the drift he was after a take. If I knew I would have gladly given him all I had because that appointment was worth its weight in gold. It would have been well worth it. When I didn't make the offer the appointment was cancelled out. I felt pretty bad about it and I quit. The captain said I couldn't quit, I was a deserter. The captain told me he didn't have anything to do with it. He couldn't buck the Colonel. He said he would send somebody out and put me in jail. I told him to go ahead and then I would tell one of the newspapers all about it. The Colonel put one of his own boys into the appointment. This man failed miserably. He gave the regiment a black name.

"But, you see, this is where the story of destiny comes in. All these things have been pre-destined. If I had gone there I would have become a commissioned officer. If I became a commissioned officer, I would have gone over there to the war and who knows whether I would have been killed or what. I never would have met Helen. I never would have had the children I have. All these things are beyond your control. You have to accept life as it comes. You have to be the best person you know how. Don't hurt anyone and don't expect to be hurt. That's all you can do. Be the best person you can. That is how I look at life now. It is sad to think that I would be an ugly person. Life is too short. And it is so much easier to be a good guy. I know a lot of men who lie and cheat. I couldn't do it. I would have a conscience. I don't want to do it. I am very happy with everything I have. Fate has dealt me a beautiful, beautiful hand.

However, if I had it to do over again, I would get an education. If I had known I would have lived so long, I would even have gone back to school after retirement. I was never prepared for life. I lack an education. Anything I know I learned from experience or reading. When I graduated, I graduated with Violet. In the same class, only I never took an examination. When they graduated me, they weren't doing me any favors, they were hurting me. When I got into high school I didn't know what was going on. Math was hard for me to grasp. Everything else was hard. When I was going to grammar school I was a hot shot. Nothing was too good for me. I would go anyplace and do anything I wanted. Instead of buckling down and studying and learning I was only interested in women and cars. If I had my Father's guidance, I think I would have gone far." [*PPP]

"The restaurant was six to eight blocks away from our apartment. I used to hitchhike it. Once the President of Plastic Sign took me home. When I invited him in, he saw a fancy shelf I made with neon. He offered me a job working only eight hours a day, only five days a week, and for more money. He was interested in florescent fixtures. I was a one man show until War broke out in 1939." [*PPP]

"After I left him, I went to A Finkle and Sons for about three years. I was a night shift hack sawer. I cut pieces of steel 8 x 8. I took a precision inspectors course and got a machinist job." [*PPP]

"I was not in World War II because I was married with children. I worked in a defense plant." [*PPP]

"I made a toy machine gun for Pete, then 50 more. We tried to sell them out of a 1938 Dodge in front of Goldblatts. Al Fish bought all the rest. While waiting for Helen Harris once, I saw a flimsy toy pistol on display for a dollar in a basement window. I told the guy I could do better than that for 17 cents. For over a year we would go to my mother-in-law's to make the wooden rubberband guns in her basement. We (Helen, her Mother, her Father, and I) made over 5,000 a week for the guy." [*PPP]

"I have tried making it with inventions. I invented a crescent wrench. My invention can apply to a four-inch, six-inch, eight- inch, ten-inch The jaws open up with that gnarled part. When the jaws open up they can read on the side half-inch, quarter- inch, and so on as it opens. Also, as you open up the jaws you can read the inside as well as the outside dimensions. On the handle, inside one side is a hacksaw that comes out and locks. You can put it back in and pull out a six-inch knife that comes out and locks. On the lower part where you grab the handle is a file. At the end of the file is a slotted screwdriver. On the nose of the handle is a Phillips screwdriver. Underneath is a telescopic six-inch scale that can go to twelve inches. On the top is a hammer, not a big hammer depending on the size of the wrench. And on the hammer is a claw for pulling out nails. I have a temporary patent." [*PPP]

"I have had several other inventions. Sears has a tool that you put your power tool on so you can cut square holes with it. I've made several of those types. I made eighteen of them for Fisher Body. They would just drop it down and cut styrofoam with them using electric drills." [*PPP]

"When I worked for the display house making curtain rod displays, they used to use a jig to drill so many different holes, one at a time. It was slow work done by color code. I mounted forty drills on the display pattern. Then I would put a board in there, press the button, and forty holes were drilled. Then I figured, what the heck, I could do two boards at a time. Turns out I was doing four at a time. And boy what a racket with forty drills working at one time. I worked for a machine shop where they had power presses. That sure was noisy." [*PPP]

"I had a thing that controls a machine to pick up a pattern to mark on an irregular surface. Automobile parts have all sorts of patterns. You have to pick up a trim line. On an irregular surface how do you pick up a trim line from a blue print? Well, the pattern is first done from the sketch on the blue print. I made a three-quarter inch plywood pattern then a model on top of that pattern. Then I come in with a tool that has a ball-bearing at the end of it and I ride that pattern. At the end of the tool is a big column with an arm sticking out that has a puncher that marks pin-point lines. But this device weighs sixty-five pounds. So, I made a model out of plastic. The bottom layer had half-inch copper tubing that I weaved around in it and put sixteen holes in it. All was hidden in plastic tubing. Well, I had an airhose connected to it. When I would turn the air hose on it was just like a how a hydro-foil or Ouija board works. This sixty-five pound device was just floating. So, I would just ride my pattern and it was just as light as butter." [*PPP]

"Then I used the same device with a different arrangement. This time I put a carbide tipped router on there. Now, I could accurately cut off aluminum casting to within a thousandth of an inch. Prior to this they had to take it to the machine shop and have it machined and the closest they could come was five, six thousandths. But with the router bit traveling at twenty-five thousand revolutions per minute, it made such a clean beautiful cut. To compensate for the wear and tear of aluminum when it was turned over, we could accurately ground metal tab feet." [*PPP]

"I had so much fun, they let me do what ever I wanted to do. One time they wanted a display of a floor pan. We don't have chassis any more. The bottom floor pan is what everything is hooked up to. They want the floor pan to lay sideways and turn around so everyone can see around it. So I built a platform with a pinpoint on a hardened surface with a hole with ball-bearings. You could take that car body and just spin it around like magic." [*PPP]

"This went on and on for twenty-one years while I worked for Fisher Body of General Motors. I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed working there." [*PPP]

"We made fifty-thousand units out of three-quarter stock that had to be routed after it was band sawed. The only way it could be done was to clamp it. I asked my boss if I could make something special to clamp it, on my own time. I had a 48-inch circle with each pattern set. When you ran up one pattern you ran up to another one." [*PPP]

[*BCB Bonnie Coghlan Buchanan, *KPL Katharine Prevenas Langner, *PPP Peter Peter Prevenas]

Peter Peter PREVENAS

1914 - 2000