Heartbroken by the loss of his grandpa, he insisted that he wanted to fulfill the plans that they had. So at the age of 14, our son, John Michael built a free-standing shingled wooden 12ft by 12ft shed on a cement slab in our rear yard with no carpentry training except for assisting and watching his grandfather in the past. This project was scheduled to be built during 1986 summer vacation with his grandfather, however because his grandfather (my father) passed away unexpectedly on that day in June, John Michael planned to complete this project by himself. Saddened by this John Michael told his father and me that he would still build this shed. This shed was built with so much love that we felt that his grandfather was with him giving him the knowledge and ability to complete this project. 
These internal carpentry genes come from his grandfather, Edmund Joseph Pacheco and his great-grandfather, Manuel R. Pacheco, who were professional carpenters their entire lives. In the early years they worked as Pacheco and Son, building many houses. Later when Manuel died, Edmund continued working as a carpenter building and repairing Almacs supermarkets on salary rather than maintaining his own business.Another project John completed at an early age was re-doing the basement of our church as an Eagle Scout project.
Another major project he did along side his dad (who also was not trained in carpentry) was to gut out the front and partial sides of a building we purchased to become our real estate office.
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