Twentyfuckingeight (Short Story) - 8/22/2019 9:32:44 AM
I read with interest your memoir about your reconnecting with Jerry Rollins after 50 years when you were both in Officers Candidate School. When I read about the way Quantico was in those days, OCS seemed to be like Boy Scout camp. An extension of basic training. But it was interesting how Jerry, with the least physical conditioning, became probably one of the most successful of the school because of his intellect and passed on, unlike basic training.
The ending bothered me. From the picture that you gave me of a very fit and healthy looking individual, perhaps Jerry's earlier physical condition contributed to him getting cancer later in life. It's also too bad that you were not there with him, his choice, to help Jerry through his suffering in the end.
At our 50th high school reunion, a student from the Catholic high school in town, Paul Derby, who went to college with me and I ferried the hundred miles between college and home a couple of times, became a Marine pilot (I don't remember him as a top student, but he was in the ROTC) and ended up MIA over North Vietnam. There is a website dedicated to him, but I couldn't find his name on the Vietnam wall.
But I did connect with the most brilliant student in our class, who joined ROTC while studying mechanical engineering and then changing his major to photography and learning how to fly on his own. He commissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Force and put in 20 years tracking satellites by photography, managing observation of the skies in space for threats, and eventually, with the Air Force Shuttle Program in Houston. He wrote his story, Standing on the Edge of Infinity, that was brilliant, but never published it except for his family. I haven't heard from him recently and hope that he is well.
Another of my high school classmates took flying lessons at 16, commercial flying lessons at 18, and was flying troops to Vietnam for Continental right out of high school. He had a long career with Continental, but died sometime before our 50th reunion. I have tried, but found no information on how or when he died.
Ron
The Grand Ole Opry (Short Story) - 7/14/2017 5:23:06 AM
I found your memoir more than memorable and much more than just the Grand Ole Opry. But I'm sure you would get more readers by posting the story here. The download is nicely presented and easy to save.
I remember as a child missing on the radio to the Grand Ole Opry and later, watching it on TV. And even dropped into the radio tent one day to see the announcer interviewing Minnie Pearl, price tag on her hat and all at our Central Wisconsin State Fair. Later, a very young Reba McIntyre filled in nicely for the headliner, when, "Dang me," Roger Miller got sick and couldn't come. I was really surprised, but shouldn't have been, when I found out that John Ritter was Tex's son.
I have passed through Nashville many times, but never stopped to see the sights or the Opry. I did stop at Loretta Lynn's for lunch, but she wasn't serving. ;-)
That coincidental spotting of your buddy from the service was both remarkable and unfortunate. I have seen many of Wright's masterpieces like having attended a service in a chapel designed on Onaway Island in the Chain of Lakes, Wisconsin, toured Falling Water and Taliesin East.
Ron
You Are My Sunshine. (Short Story) - 8/22/2014 5:40:55 AM
Thanks for filling me in on the origins of the song. I sing it often to my personal, "Sunshine."
In 1956, in our ninth-grade class, we accepted a girl from Hungary, one of the refugees from that brief, tragic revolution that failed… Later to succeed. She quickly became a normal part of the class. As for fight pickers, I seem to have run into a lot of them throughout my school years. One guy, in my freshman year in college, had a reputation for sucker punching people and knocking them out. Unfortunately, some of these characters go to jail and some, become bosses.
Ron
Where have all the nuns gone? I don't know, I'm not never was Catholic. ;-)
A Time for Heroes (Short Story) - 2/13/2014 2:14:41 AM
they do still
budd
A Toast To Tom Wilson (Short Story) - 10/9/2011 3:57:29 PM
Is this beginning of your story? Sounds interesting!
Ronnie (Short Story) - 9/1/2010 9:53:54 AM
How very true. There are no guarantees. We should use every day as if it is our last.
Donna
Stones of Remembrance (Article) - 8/25/2019 12:42:35 PM
You covered a lot of territory in this memoir. I've never been to West Point. But I happen to have a 1901 edition of "100 years of West Point," that I acquired from a cabinet in a West Virginia cottage that I bought in 1975. Two years later, my brother came to stay with me and study chemical engineering at West Virginia University. During that year, he was in constant letter communication with a high school buddy, Shawn. Shawn was a plebe at West Point and harassed to no end by his older brother who was a senior there. Shawn wanted desperately to leave, and my brother wanted to be with him, so after that first academic year, they both left and entered chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin. My brother washed out after about two years, but Shawn graduated, joined 3M and a career in chemical engineering that eventually led him to China. Shawn died young of cancer in his 40s. I strongly believe that he probably acquired that cancer while working with chemicals for 3M. Two other members of Shawn's family went to West Point. Their father was a personal secretary, a very good one, in our hometown. Military tradition and smarts ran in the family.
My twin brother and I skipped rocks throughout our childhood. I have a picture of us doing it when we are about six or seven at Lake Superior. It seems to me that I probably came close to that 88 Guinness record a few times. But it would probably take high-speed video photography to verify, there was no counting the multiple skips there were so many when the water was mirror calm. You didn't mention surface tension. Surface tension is what enables water to form droplets and waves. The molecules at the surface are in tighter formation and therefore make it harder to penetrate like when one dives fingertips first, breaking the surface versus when one lands on one's belly and does not break the surface tension. So, your explanation of the water "forcing" the stone back up is really just the reaction of surface tension like a trampoline where the stone actually bounces on the water--very nicely, I might add.
Finally, I had the pleasure of going with my Dad to watch Eddie Feigner more than once come to our hometown and beat a local team with his pitch and four man squad. Quite a showman! And athlete to boot!
Ron
Thank You For Your Service. (Article) - 7/26/2017 12:07:39 PM
I'm with you on the polite but, misuse of terms like, "Thank you for your service," and "God bless America" along with "God bless you." Rather empty for misuse.
The United States should have a draft of two years of either military or public service like some countries do around the world. It creates a period of growing up, becoming more aware of more than your local community and doing some good rather than following your own desires.
Most of today's military service is fed by those who see little opportunity beyond high school, buy into the idea of a free college education, can get a job, and wish a fast track to United States citizenship. Much of service is learning a specialized trade that may or may not be useful in civilian life.
I have the same problem with the overuse of the word, "hero." Being a victim of an accidental or happenstance situation does not make one a hero. A hero is someone who acts above and beyond to do good in many forms. We seem to have lost that definition.
Ron
George's Catechism (Article) - 6/22/2017 7:33:45 AM
You should have posted the entire article here… It's not too long. More people will read it that way and get its message. George certainly was an accomplished person. Perhaps the competitive nature of your ballgame buddies led to his ambition that took him far. When I moved here in Southwest Houston in 1982, there was a fully employed Texas Instruments plant about 2 miles away. I thought of applying. Very shortly the site was vacated when calculators lost out to personal computers. The plant is still there and has never fully recovered.
We moved from a town where Little League meant you had to have juice--usually rich parents to even play. But in our new town we had a pony league where I learned that I could pitch fairly well, but couldn't get a good piece of the ball when batting because my myopia wasn't directed by glasses yet. I don't recall any stars that came out of those summer games. But one of my classmates who didn't play ball, used the field and his cardboard box astronomical camera to photograph Sputnik and get in the papers. He went on to watch the skies while in the Air Force and save the country from hair-trigger nuclear war twice. Another classmate who was good at playing ball became a surgeon at the University of Wisconsin. Our valedictorian became a professor at UT Austin. Others excelled in other ways, but none like George. As father of the liquid crystal diode LCD, he truly was the stuff that makes us great.
Ron
Frank Justin's Photo Album (Article) - 5/22/2016 12:54:13 AM
Exactly - each photo in an album is a preservation of family history and bespeaks 1,000 words.
Frank Justin's Photo Album (Article) - 5/21/2016 9:26:29 AM
We need to get all of those photo scanned and appropriately labeled so that future generations of these families will know what their ancestors actually lived like. Photo albums were the social media of the 20th century. When we throw away a photo album, we throw away history.
Ron
The Edwin Forrest Home at Springbrook (Article) - 2/16/2015 12:52:43 PM
I'd be interested in the story of the Edwin Forrest Home. Only it's not here. Perhaps you need to paste it into the editor or add a link?
Ron
By the Numbers (Article) - 1/5/2014 9:09:42 AM
Your thoughts were not posted. Looking forward to reading them when they are.
Ron
They Died With Their Boots On. (Article) - 8/22/2011 8:59:51 AM
Excellent memoir! I must have been part of that group of "older kids" that Mrs. Wilson took to Shibe Park the day before, because I remember vividly seeing Pete Gray do his remarkable one-armed thing in the field -- and I think (but can't be certain) that he also got a hit that day as well. And Mrs. Wilson made the same comments to us about Gray's poor prospects for Big League longevity after the war.
What really surprised me was the info about "Cousin Ludwig". Interesting.
Jack
A Song in My Heart (Article) - 1/27/2011 9:26:12 AM
I'm surprised to note (pun?) that this story dates back to December 2006. Where was it hiding; I don't remember seeing it before. You won't be surprised to hear that virtually all of them reverberate with me, too. But then I guess there's no surprise in that, given our respective ages and genetic makeup.
Bravo Zulu. (Did they use that expression in the Marines?)
Jack
A Common Enemy (Article) - 11/28/2009 2:58:40 PM
Ger, I can hardly believe that I read this back after you first wrote it; I certainly did not recall that it was so extensive and complete. A masterful job! I'm going to send copies to each of my kids; although they never knew Mom & Dad all that well, I think they will appreciate their story nonetheless.
Jack
The Dutchman (Article) - 11/7/2009 10:03:39 AM
Loved it! As you know, I saw most of those doubleheaders.
Jack
09 Wisconsin (Article) - 8/28/2009 9:16:54 PM
Grew up in Wisconsin, love it.
Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
09 Wisconsin (Article) - 8/26/2009 2:58:22 PM
Welcome, we hope you enjoyed your stay in one of the few States that has all 4 seasons proper. Shawn ~ Fond du Lac
The Fall Guy (Article) - 3/12/2007 5:57:28 PM
I think that too much time has passed for believing they'll now take Cheney down. Darn it. If anyone has or ever should be considered a scumbag, it's Cheney.
James Wilson: A Forgotten Father (Article) - 7/6/2006 4:49:40 PM
Good article. I read many biographies of the signers. Most died in poverty or obscurity.
Elizabeth
Mulligan's Tie (Poetry) - 11/1/2014 1:12:47 PM
A lot of images come forth, especially those gaudy ties of the era. I do recall one time driving out of Philly to the north on Broad Street where "law and order" was in place and there were cops on every intersection directing five lanes north with one measly lane going south. One politicians way of improving traffic flow.
Ron
Photo Joe (Poetry) - 11/28/2006 12:39:14 PM
Interesting prose/poem Gerald.
Your use of simile: "like a wrinkled pyramid among discarded jackets." Is very visual and pleasing.
Light and Wisdom ...
Richard Lloyd Cederberg
Shackamaxon (Poetry) - 11/20/2006 12:09:03 PM
captivating stroll down memorylane
boy how things change....
enjoyed
Ma Brown's (Poetry) - 5/31/2006 7:20:40 AM
we all must have had one when we were growing up. kids today are missing something special.
The Boatie (Poetry) - 5/30/2006 7:16:17 AM
Knew as soon as I saw Pennypack Creek (crick) that you must have been or are now a Philly boy...I used to enjoy walking & biking the trails along that creek, though I did so after moving to NE Philly in my late 20's...didn't know that lifeguards once existed there though, way before my time I imagine...though my dad would have probably remembered....Enjoyed this piece of nostalgia, Ed & Rufuz (w00f)
