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Discovering My Japanese Heritage, Harry Michael O’Hare Jr. Part 2

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-teller- Michael O’Hare-

The company my dad worked for in the early sixties would send him from time to time to the Los Angeles area for business. My dad had a pilot’s license and would fly the company plane there. He always visited Uncle Harry on those trips and we, (my brother and sisters and I), enjoyed the stories he told us about his visits with his brother.

Uncle Harry at the family reunion 1985. His daughter Cynthia is directly behind him. You can see part of her face.
Uncle Harry at the family reunion 1985. His daughter Cynthia is directly behind him. You can see part of her face.


When they lived in San Jose they had a big old house. I have memories of an elevator in the house and we kids would ride it up and down. I wasn’t sure if my memory was correct so I asked my cousin Ron and he says he thinks it might have been a dumbwaiter. He’s probably right. Whatever it was we had a lot of fun riding in it.

In the front of the house was a big swimming pool that needed to be repaired. My father along with Uncle Harry and I think Uncle Richard was there, worked on repairing it. There was no water in the pool and I walked around in it and went to the deep end. I thought it was so cool to be in the deep end with no water. The edge of the pool seemed so high up.
The house was later torn down and a six lane freeway now runs through where the house once stood.


Uncle Harry was an inventor. He created many different products. His most famous one is Ty-D-Bol, which is a toilet bowl cleaner. He developed it in 1958 and sold the company in 1960.


From 1968 to 1984 one of the most famous commercials on TV was for Ty-D-Bol. It featured a man in a yachting uniform driving a boat in the toilet tank. He was called the Ty-D-Bol man. It became an American icon. People today still remember the Ty-D-Bol man and comedians sometimes mention him in their monologues.

He invented other types of cleaning materials, a swimming pool chlorinator and a water filter system.


He was developing the water filter system in the 1980’s. The company was called HOH Water Technology. He lived in Thousand Oaks, California at that time. That’s a city about an hour drive north of Los Angeles. My father and mother lived there for a few months so my father could help Uncle Harry with building the filter.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-19-fi-37149-story.html

The rights of the filter were sold a couple of times to different companies and Ron taught the workers the technology of how to use it until he retired last year.

Some of Harry's Children. From left to right Daniel Timothy, Cynthia. Roger and Ron.
Some of Harry’s Children. From left to right Daniel Timothy, Cynthia. Roger and Ron.


My father always told us a story that in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s Uncle Harry invented an anti-gravity ball or machine. The U.S. military learned about it and took it away from him.

Uncle Harry was fun to be around. He always had us laughing.
When he lived in Thousand Oaks he kept asking me to move down there. He told me he had committed his life to Jesus Christ and became a Christian and wanted me to teach the Bible to him. I eventually did move there in 1985 and stayed 2 years.

Harry and some of his children at the family reunion 1985
Harry and some of his children at the family reunion 1985


Whenever I visit with other relatives, Uncle Harry always comes up in conversation and memories of him shared.

Harry's daughter Cynthia and her husband Joseph at the family reunion 1985
Harry’s daughter Cynthia and her husband Joseph at the family reunion 1985
Harry's Son Timothy at the family reunion 1985
Harry’s Son Timothy at the family reunion 1985
Family TreeNews

Jujiro Wada’s only daughter Helen Silveira —Helen Silveira (married 5 times): children Eddy, Harry, Donald, Juanita, Leonard, Adamae and Edith O`Hare; Harold, Lorraine, Lucille, Robert, Ruth, Norma, and Melvin Wight; Richard M. Medeiros; Marilyn Peters

-by Michael O’Hare-

Uncle Harry was the second child of Harry O’Hare and Helen Silveira Wada. He was named after his father.
He was born May 4, 1920 in Waterloo, Iowa. This past May 4th was his 100th birthday.

He and my father were close growing up since there was only a year’s difference in their ages.

Harry O’Hare(center) Ron(on his right), Frank(on his left)
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<Jujiro Wada’s only daughter Helen Silveira                                                              –Helen Silveira (married 5 times): children Eddy, Harry, Donald, Juanita, Leonard, Adamae and Edith O`Hare; Harold, Lorraine, Lucille, Robert, Ruth, Norma, and Melvin Wight; Richard M. Medeiros; Marilyn Peters>

(Continued) Linda was pregnant with her third child and a surprise party was planned and organized for her. Everyone gathered at the restaurant waiting to surprise her, but the surprise turned out to be on them. Linda went into labor and never made it to the restaurant.   

Fidel and Linda Aragon. Linda is Uncle Eddie’s Eldest Child

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Jujiro Wada’s only daughter Helen Silveira —Helen Silveira (married 5 times): children Eddy, Harry, Donald, Juanita, Leonard, Adamae and Edith O`Hare; Harold, Lorraine, Lucille, Robert, Ruth, Norma, and Melvin Wight; Richard M. Medeiros; Marilyn Peters

-by Michael O’Hare-

Edward was the first child of Harry Michael O’Hare and Helen Silveira Wada.

He was born February 2, 1918 in San Francisco, California. He would be 102 years old this year.

Part1_1.Grandama-Helen-and-Uncle-Eddie-in-Waterloo-Iowa-about-1918
Grandama Helen and Uncle Eddie in Waterloo Iowa about 1918

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more details on Helen Wada Silveira and Jujiro Wada`s Life History

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Jujiro Wada’s only daughter Helen Silveira —Helen Silveira (married 5 times): children Eddy, Harry, Donald, Juanita, Leonard, Adamae and Edith O`Hare; Harold, Lorraine, Lucille, Robert, Ruth, Norma, and Melvin Wight; Richard M. Medeiros; Marilyn Peters

By Michael O’hare

I was born in 1953 so I had 12 years to be with my Grandmother. She lived on Plum Street in San Jose, California. That was about 18 km from my parent’s house in Santa Clara. We went to visit her often………….

Helen’s house on Plum street

 

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Jujiro Wada’s only daughter Helen Silveira —Helen Silveira (married 5 times): children Eddy, Harry, Donald, Juanita, Leonard, Adamae and Edith O`Hare; Harold, Lorraine, Lucille, Robert, Ruth, Norma, and Melvin Wight; Richard M. Medeiros; Marilyn Peters

I, Michael O’Hare, was born in 1953 so I had 12 years to be with my Grandmother, Helen.

Helen Wada Silveira

She lived on Plum Street in San Jose, California. That was about 18km from my parent’s house in Santa Clara. We went to visit her often.

Her house had a basement that was converted into a home. The basement house had its own entrance in the back of the house and my Grandma lived there. My Aunt Lorraine lived upstairs in the main house. 続きを読む

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