If he was ever going to have his own house, he realized he'd need a new approach, so he applied for financial aid to go to Seattle Community College and was given a partial track scholarship. She was mopping floors and doing laundry to make ends meet, and Tyrone's money helped her buy food and pay the electric bill. He gave everything he earned to Ostennia, never batting an eye. But still no house.Īfter lunch, cleanup belongs to Tyrone Curry and his staff. At 18, he earned $2.50 an hour cleaning offices. At 15, he earned a dollar an hour for cutting down sticker bushes. In 1962, at age 11 he earned 25 cents an hour stacking pop bottles in a grocery store. His mother, Ostennia, was a welfare agent who ended up on welfare, and Tyrone - the seventh of nine children, including a twin brother - lived in so many apartments and duplexes that Tyrone 'felt like a gypsy.' All he ever wanted was his own house, bought and paid for, and, at an early age, he became determined to help his mom land one. He might have spent his whole life in the low-rent district, but he's always been a dreamer of the highest degree. But that's what happens when everyone around you has always had the view from the bottom: They miss the big picture.

He has said this so many times, for so many years, that his wife no longer hears him or pays attention. On a clear Pacific Northwest day - three times a month, if he's lucky - Tyrone Curry swears he can see 3,700 miles to Nova Scotia. How long before you'd quit the job? Two seconds? One second? Or would you stick around and clean something else up? Now walk a whole 30 years in the janitor's soiled shoes, and ask yourself what you'd do if your ship came in, if you were suddenly filthy rich. Clean up after the teenagers who pour ketchup on their mashed potatoes and start a cafeteria food fight. Take your coffee break in an office that reeks of Clorox. Sweep the hallways on his 60-year-old arthritic knees. Unlock the high school at dawn, like he does. EATTLE - Try walking one day in the janitor's soiled shoes.

Im tyrone partil