John Klein, who has lived on the streets in downtown Springfield for several years, collects cans for some cash. Reporter Maureen McKinney lives near where he hangs out downtown and they’ve become friends. McKinney and Klein recently had a conversation on Adams Street, which was his preference because he didn’t want to leave his shopping cart with his belongings. This is an edited, excerpted version of the conversation.
Tell me a little bit about your history before you became homeless.
I lived in Shreveport-Bossier. I moved back here when I got out of the army. I don't know why I came back to Springfield. I should have went back to Shreveport.
Did you have family here?
Yes, my dad. But I went back and forth when I was younger, went back and forth, and I ended up staying here, which was a bad call. But I had a good job at the time. You know, I was working at the convention center at night, doing part time security down there, working at Suzy Q’s during the day, so I was keeping busy with that. And then I ended up working in Saputos for a while. Somehow or another, their grandkid came home, they gave him my job, so I was out of a job, and then they condemned my building down there, so I ended up on the street.
How long ago was that?
Almost seven years now, in November. It was two weeks after my birthday I got evicted. Wow. I'll never forget that. That was back in 2018.
I'm sorry that happened to you. What's the hardest part about being on the streets.
Loneliness, I'd say, late at night. You know, during the day, it's not too bad, I know, because, like I said, I go to my girl's house, spend the day over there with her. Late at night when I'm sitting there by myself reading a book or something like that. I get lonely, Sometimes it's just too quiet, you know, right? I like it quiet. That means there's no trouble going on. But at the same time, when it gets too quiet, where you can hear a pin drop out here, kind of tedious, you know?
Yeah, right, makes you want to go to sleep. That's all you want to do, sleep. Yeah, and you can't sleep because you're worried about what's going on around you. That's the worst part about it, not being able to sleep, worrying about stuff, thinking about things, thinking about people, worrying about other people. I do that constantly, and which is really a shame, because I need to start worrying about myself. Yeah, I'll tell you what. Some nights when I'm sleeping over there, I toss and turn and toss and turn. It's so hot out overnight. It gets really sticky. You know what I mean, that humidity gets real hot. One morning I woke up and it was cold. I guess it was because I was underneath that blanket, all bundled up, underneath that blanket, then I got up and air hit me hard
I imagine its hard to be out in the elements.
Well, you, I'll tell you what, rain is not, my friend, that's the one thing I hate, is rain, especially when you get soaked, and then late at night, when you hit that wind.
You get sick. Yeah, I'm surprised I haven't had pneumonia yet this year.
You're 53?
I'm 53. I'll be 54 in November. Yeah, too old to be out here. I need to figure something out. If I had a place to stash my stuff, I could go back to work. You know what I mean? That's what's killing me. Not having a place. You would think as many homeless people as we have here in Springfield, you would think that we would have a public facility for lockers. Yeah, you know, a locker that you could rent, right? Put your stuff in. I don't know why we don't have it. I know up in Chicago, they do, but why not here in the capital city? I mean, we’ve got a lot of homeless people in Springfield. Per capita, I bet we got more homeless people in Springfield than they do in Chicago.
I wouldn’t be surprised. Why do you think there are so many homeless people in Springfield?
I think a lot of them been in jail, a lot of the ones that I know. Or they're alcoholics, drug addicts, criminals. Yeah, that's, that's 90% of what we got on the streets.
Do you get scared?
No, like I said, I sleep with one eye open every night. But no, I don't worry. I try not to worry.
Tell me a little about your history. I know you were in the army and got hurt.
.
Well, I got five kids, I told you that didn't I? All by different mothers, and
my oldest is 32 going on 33 in September. So yeah, and I haven't seen any of my kids.
I'm sorry.
Well, I'd hate them to see me like this. You know what? I mean it's kind of embarrassing. So,
but yeah, my kids, they range in age from going on 33 to 18. My son, Jack, he's 18. I see him every now and again.
Oh, that's good.
Yeah, he was working at Walmart, and he was a stock dude. He was living in Springfield somewhere here. I haven't seen him in a while. But yeah, like my oldest daughter, I haven't seen her in years. She's an architect up in Boston. Then my third daughter, she passed away. Got into a car accident, was in a car accident with her mother and was killed, and then my youngest daughter, she had cancer.
Was it ovarian?
Yeah, that's what it was. And you know what I was thinking to myself, man, that girl's too young to have ovaries.
It must have been so hard for you to lose your kids
.
Oh, man, yeah. Nobody knows heartbreak like that. I'm telling you what. No one should ever have to bury their own kids. They're supposed to bury you. Yeah, The
hardest one was my Katie, was killed in that car accident. That was, that was tough.
How old was she?
She was 18. Went through the damn windshield. Drunk driver. They were going from _– I guess her and her mom was going from New York back to Boston. They were shopping and they were t-boned and that killed her. Well, at least you didn't suffer. But my youngest daughter, she went to hell with that cancer. I mean, that was terrible, just to watch her go downhill like that, you know, yeah. Talk about heartbreak, right? That was tough, yeah, yeah. I think about them all the time. I think about all my kids all the time, wondering what they're doing, where they're at, you know, yeah, but I guess everybody goes through that with their kids Constantly thinking about what they're doing, how they're doing.
You were helped when your daughter died with some people down here?
Oh, yeah, when my youngest daughter died, yeah, yeah, John from over there, the Elf Shelf. He was really cool. And Beth, she really helped me out a lot. They talked me through. It made me feel a lot better. It was nice to have friends at that point, believe me, because, man, I was low. Yeah, believe me, that took the wind out of myself big time.
How long ago was that?
Three years.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that.
Well, you know, you live through stuff like that, and it's hard to shake. It stays with you. Yeah,
I can just see, I can still see the look on her face, the pain was in her eyes, oh yeah, she was, she was in pain, seriously, oh yeah. Then they had her on that medical marijuana, and that seemed to help her a little bit. Yeah, with the pain, right? My dad used to take it for his back. He had a real bad back, bad back, and his doctor prescribed it. So, I mean, he said that really helped him a lot.
Is he still living?
No, he passed away. He got that Agent Orange over in Vietnam. Oh, and he had cancer. Everybody in my in my family, seems like they die of cancer. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's hereditary. I don't know. It doesn't help me smoking like a chimney, you know? Yeah, hey, the way I see it, you only got one shot at life. You might as well enjoy it while you're here.
Agent Orange, in Vietnam reminds me, I want to talk about your time in the military.
Oh, well, I was, I was out in the open. We were in the desert, so we didn't have to worry about all that Agent Orange stuff. Yeah, the biggest thing that I remember was in napalm. A lot of people forgot about napalm. We used it a lot of it in Vietnam, for defoliating the jungle. We just used it as strictly a weapon over there in Iraq. So that was pretty wicked. First time I seen one of those go off, it freaked me out. It really did. I was scared, yeah.
Then I got popped through both of my legs. One bullet went through both legs, man and my C.O. said, ‘Well, Klein, what was she standing still for?’ I said, I wasn't standing still. We was running through sand. I said, you know, carrying 50 pounds worth of gear and a 25 pound rifle. I mean, yeah, I got, I got plugged.
And you haven't gotten anything from the VA?
You know what I filed a grievance with them to get my pension. I don't even get a pension. Yeah, I don't get squat. Wow, I got shot from my flag. And don't get nothing.
I'm sorry. When was that?
That was back in 1990 I joined in ’89 and was in service until ’93 so that would have been ‘91 – We were in Iraq from ’90 to ’91.
Tell me about why you went in the military.
Well, me and my cousin Charlie, we were going to join the Marine Corps together, and at the last minute, he backed out, so I was going to join the Marine Corps, and my dad said, ‘No, you're not.’ He talked me into joining the army. So that's how I ended up being in the army instead of the Marine Corps.
He was in the army too?
Yes, he got all kinds of medals and all that. You know what? By the time I got out of the army, I outranked my dad. I was a sergeant first class when I got out.
Excellent
I'll tell you what. He was my hero. When I was growing up, I wanted to be like my dad.
You kind of got to see the world.
Yeah, I've been to Germany. I've been to Japan, Austria, Sweden.
Was that because of the army?
Yeah, yeah, it's put me in all kinds of different places. Before I actually went to Iraq.
What do you think should be done to help the homeless population in Springfield?
Honestly, they need to stop moving things way out of out of the way. I mean, like Helping Hands. You know how far that away is away from here? Yeah, you know. And most homeless, most homeless people, don't have access to money for busses, to take busses back and forth. So that's one of the main reasons I'm on the street. Or else I'd be in a shelter, you know? I just like just to commune back and forth, you know?
Although they have a shuttle.
Is it hard to get services?
Well, it depends on where you're going. You know what I mean? I need to try to get back on SSI because I'm blind as a bat and deaf as a tree stump. And I got tendinitis in my right elbow. Oh, so being a dishwasher is out. I was doing that down there at Saputos. Dishwasher. And I remember my elbow was on fire, so I went over here to Memorial Hospital. Doctor said, Oh, you got tendinitis. They gave me a glove. It restricts your movement. Give me prescriptions for narcos. Other than that, it comes back. It'll go away for a while and come back.
I'm sorry
Some of the way you pass the time is to drink beer. Can you speak to that about your relationship with alcohol?
Well, I use it more of a crutch, you know, I'm be honest, it makes you seem like it's not so bad being out here on the street. Yeah, you know what I mean, at least you got something to medicate yourself with. You know, it's a way to escape because I'll tell you what, I don't have much to look forward to out here. I’ll be honest with you, when I wake up in the morning, I get up in the morning, I don't know where in the hell I'm going. Yeah, you know, I stash my blankets and head over to my girlfriend's house basically every day.
Tell me about why you're downtown?
Oh, I've been down here for my whole life, basically. I used to live right down there on Broadway until they condemned it, and I just never thought about leaving. I've been here on Adams for 30 years now, because I lived down there for 25 years. Wow, been on the street for seven years. So it's actually been longer than 30 years that I've been here on Adams in one one spot or another, down here at the bank. I was at the bank when I first ended up on the street, and I went over here at the Elf Shelf until it burned down. Then now I'm over here at that white building. Yeah, I've been, I've been fairly lucky, yeah, yeah. I met some good friends out here on the street. Yeah, I tried to keep to myself. Mainly, you know what? I mean, that's a good way to be when you're out here. Yeah, keep to yourself.
But you've been a helper. Oh, yeah, tell me about that. How you helped out?
Oh, I look out for everybody around here. Yeah, if I see trouble, I try to stop it. You know what? I mean it's like that guy that was out here that one day, that got into Nathan's car. Remember… a couple days after that happened, I come walking up here, it was like five thirty in the morning. I come back here to stash my blankets, and this guy was looking in another friend of mine's car. I just walked up and clocked him.
You have a good outlook. Will you speak to that?
I'll tell you what. The only thing that keeps me grounded is my girl. If it wasn't for Doreen, I'd be lost, believe me …that's what keeps me grounded. Yeah, she's my rock.
I'm glad you have her.
Yeah, you know, I think about it every once in a while, what my life would be without her. You know, it would be tough. It would be tough.
