Dr. Irving Cooper is the one who convinced me to go work for Williamson. By then I was having a hard time working all day because of my war injuries, so this was a good offer in a lot of ways. Nancy’s brother-in-law worked on Nancy because she didn’t want to leave her mother. Before I make the decision, Williamson, he invite me to California to visit. He pay for everything.
The first time I go to California, he give me the address, downtown San Diego in a big building. His office took up the top two floors. So I go upstairs, ring the bell and they open the door. His secretary let me in. There’s Williamson sitting in the corner at this huge desk. He stood up – ‘Hi Henry, come in. come in!” The secretary sees me, smiles big, and says ‘So that’s Henry.” Williamson told everyone about me. Then we went down and we went to the parking lot for the building. We stop in front of a brand new Mustang. Williamson says ‘Henry, this is your car. I have a Jaguar, so you need a Mustang. Get in! Then you can follow me.’ I try to get in but I’m so tall, I laughed and asked him if he had a shoe horn. He laughed at that. I always make them laugh.
It was my first time in a Mustang.* In my life I never have a car before; in the Bronx I learn to drive on drive Nancy’s car. He gets in his Jaguar, moves out in traffic, and goes Zoooom very fast. I follow him. We stop at a good Mexican restaurant and we have lunch. Finally we end up at his big house on Fairway Road, overlooking the La Jolla Country Club. I was very impressed. He had a big pool in the backyard; I always like water.
“Henry, let me show you the room I’m going to build for you, for therapy. It will have the ladder exercise, and bicycle. You just tell me what you need and I get it. You take this job I’ll buy a house for you and Nancy to live in that’s close by. You’ll have nothing to worry about. – Henry Zguda
*According to http://corporate.ford.com/vehicles/ford-mustang-story the first Mustangs didn’t debut for sale until April 17, 1964. A brand new Mustang at that time would have been a huge deal.
Photo is from Henry’s scrapbook captioned ‘learning to drive, NY.’ Even though Henry had a 1939 Polish driver’s license, he never did mention driving a car before coming to the United States. The Polish document could very well have served just as an official ID.
“Henry, let me show you the room I’m going to build for you, for therapy. It will have the ladder exercise, and bicycle. You just tell me what you need and I get it. You take this job I’ll buy a house for you and Nancy to live in that’s close by. You’ll have nothing to worry about. – Henry Zguda
*According to http://corporate.ford.com/vehicles/ford-mustang-story the first Mustangs didn’t debut for sale until April 17, 1964. A brand new Mustang at that time would have been a huge deal.
Photo is from Henry’s scrapbook captioned ‘learning to drive, NY.’ Even though Henry had a 1939 Polish driver’s license, he never did mention driving a car before coming to the United States. The Polish document could very well have served just as an official ID.
