Charlie Poekel, 74, an attorney and author living in Marion, Mass., and Palm Beach, Fla., on his 1941 Dodge pickup, as told to A.J. Before I was born, my father had an appliance store on Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, N.J. He had two degrees in engineering and worked for Curtiss-Wright aviation, but because he was an electrical engineer, he opened this store to supplement his income. He sold radios, ranges and refrigerators, and he had a sign above the door: Poekel Electric.

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