09/06/2021
It is my sad duty and my great honor to announce that my father is now Hot Rodding with the greats in Heaven….
Cotton was called upon to end his Earthly work Saturday afternoon Sept. 4th….and transition to building cars for all those in Gods Kingdom who passed on before him. To his family he was Dad, to his friends he was loyal….and to the hot rod world he was an icon. His spirit is carried on by his loving wife of 65 years Arlene and his 3 children Mark, Ellen and youngest Matt…..along with his Grandchildren Nate, Taralynne & Faye and a host of great grandchildren and others.
He was born in 1932 in Hoboken NJ to Ella & Henry Krinkle. His childhood was unconventional to say the least, especially at that time in history. He took the last name Werksman when his mother divorced and married Mr. Werksman. He attended Valley Forge and was a veteran of the Korean war where he worked for the A.S.A. (Army Security Agency) Like most veterans he did not speak often of his service but we understood what we needed to anyways. When he returned from Korea he was stationed at Ft. Devon in Massachusetts. It was there that he and his best friend Gordon Bumpus (affectionately known as Bump) were cruising in Bumps’ 1951 Mercury convertible on Cape Code when they spotted 2 cute girls walking to the beach. Of course, they had to stop and investigate as most young men would. The 2 girls were my Aunt Barb and my Mom Arlene. Dad initially struck up a conversation with Barb but within minutes his attention turned to Arlene and they both knew almost instantly that they were meant for each other. Little did they know that that journey would last over 65 years!!!
They were married months after meeting and started a family. My older brother Mark was born in January of 1957. He was a few months premature and very small. 2 months in the hospital but he was then strong enough to come home. No doubt a hard way to start a marriage but the 2 of them were committed and true partners. Dad was always into cars even as a much younger man and started back up with his love of cars at that time.
Most of you know my dad as “Cotton” but that’s not his given birth name. I won’t share his actual name as he hated it…. but there’s 2 stories of how he got the nickname of Cotton. Dad’s version is that he was always hanging out at the gas station or junk yards messing around under the hood of people’s cars and the old guys would chase him off yelling at him to……” get your cotton-picking fingers outta there”!!!! Dad claims that’s where it came from…. Mom’s version is a little different. My Moms Mom (grandma) said that my dad was a very sweet and loving guy and she used to call him Bunny. Dad being a man’s man didn’t want to be called Bunny but thought that Cotton (as in Peter Cotton tail) would be acceptable. You decide LOL!!!!!!
Then at the very end…..and I mean VERY end of 1961 my sister Ellen was born. December 31st to be exact. Mom always teased that she was the very last second tax write off of that year!!!! By now Dad had already built a few cars that were making it into magazines and well on his way in the industry. As the 60’s rolled on Dad now having a family decided to “settle down” and leave a bit of the traveling for car stuff behind and took a job as a machinist at the Quaker Oats facility in Barrington IL. where he worked for the following 35 years until retirement.
Then in 1968 Mom & Dad had their third (and some say best lol) child…..Matthew Henry……. Me 😊 lol
At the very same time dad was building what was to become the first of many iconic cars he built. It was simply known as “The Yellow Car”. It was a super advanced and “far out” build for its era. It took the hot rod world by storm and launched Dad into stardom. A year later he and 3 of his closest friends would start a little something called The N.S.R.A. (The National Street Rod Association) and things were off and running. As the 70’s rolled along his children did well and the NSRA grew and he was building cars for magazines and all sorts of famous people. I vividly remember going to car shows with him when I was 6 or 7 years old and people pointing at him and whispering…..”hey, that’s Cotton Werksman….lets get his autograph.” As a kid I thought….why would anyone want his autograph….It’s just Dad….?
Little did I understand at that time just what he’d meant to the hot-rodding world. I could go on for hours and hours about him and his place in the automotive history books and it would be apropos…..but if you asked Dad what he was most proud of it wouldn’t have been his cars…..it would have been his family. My Dad was old school. Almost never said he loved you but you always knew he did. You never for a second had to think if he loved his family, he would have thrown himself in front of a bus to save anyone of us.
But his greatest accomplishment…..his greatest love of all….was his wife. He would always say without her he was nothing. While that wasn’t true, we knew what he meant. He certainly hit the jackpot when he pulled over that day and flirted with Mom….
Later in life Dads passion for cars was joined by and in a lot of ways replaced by a new found love of nature. I can’t even begin to count how many walks in the local forest preserves we all have taken him on over the last 10 years he was alive. He loved the trees, the birds, the water, the fish, the animals…. anything in nature. He loved picking up broken tree branches or tree roots and turning them into walking sticks. As time rambled on, he became chattier about his childhood, things he’d done and things he’d scene. It was cathartic for him and if you listened closely, it was helpful for those around him to begin to understand him a little better as a person. His life was both complicated and simple…..tough but yet loving.
My Dad was famous for having little sayings and what not to make it easy to remember whatever point it was he was trying to get across. One of his favorites was “Do a job big or small, do it right or not at all.” He instilled a work ethic in me that way and I was unaware at the time he was even doing it. He led by example. He was hard working, dedicated to his wife and family above all else, loyal and true to his fiends and you never had to wonder where he was. He was home with his wife and kids…..in the garage working on his latest project.
I could go on and on about the man I was lucky enough to call Dad but I’ll leave you with 2 things he said to me. One was another favorite saying……”A place for everything and everything in its place.” Well Dad……you’re in the right place now….you’re at peace and with God, of that there is no doubt. The second thing is this……he recently said to me……”I’m not scared to die, I just don’t to be without my family.” Dad, you are now back with Grandma & Grandpa. You are with your family. At some point you will for sure be joined by your wife…..your son Mark and your daughter Ellen, and I promise to be the best person I can be to make sure God allows you to see me again one day….
Your work here is done…..it’s time to rest. I love you Dad and you’ll forever be in my heart….
