Seing the world

This will be a different typeof content of any other of the stories here. I will be wondering if children live different live situations growing up has an effect on how they see the world/life later. They might go through one or many periods than othe children.

This section could be inserted now, or last or both so I will insert it now. Subject will be why am I writing this? ince I was born in 1931 I lived through the great depression and WW!!. Both of these changed ones live. For me one change was spending part of summers during WW!!,another money was scarse over the world. No TV, I mention this obvious thing because in most/many towns almost all houses had porches and they were used. If you walked down the street people were stitting on most of them, Thus basically every one knew almost every family including children, It was common then if a child was behaving badly one family would tell the other. The "It takes a villiage to raise a child" theme. I cannot visualize that happening now. I can visulaze many more neighborhood friendships being formed.Yes, some areas now do have friendship neighbors.
I Had many changes regularry in my life as so many did. My question: Do I not get as excited about changes now as many do because of my many changes I had early or is is because of my non-human mind I an NOT talking only of major changes I was a Ford Dealership Service Manager in the 50's. Every change was bad. Why do I need more than one outside rear view mirror, why AC I would use it maybe once or twice a year (every one had 6-4 AC so do not need another) 6-4 AC=60 MP and 4 windows down, why powersteering or brares, why the complete change of the way tires are built and on and on

I have talked about how fortunate I was to spend a part of five summers on an Iowa farm during WW11. (An Iowa Farm Boy story is in his section) The two enviroments could hardly be more different. Where I lived in Cleveland, OH it was urban with all the plusses and minuses one would expect. The Iowa farm, especially the first two years, was one would call primative. Examples: No electricity, no running water in the house, no facilities of course, the phone on a 10 or 12 party line and a call would ring in every home and the radio was attached to a car battery in the living room. There were many many other major differences that will come up later.

I had little trouble getting used to the differences as being a City Boy I was fasinated by the new enviroment. Next I will bring up two differences they changed the "normal" daily life.
OK Dick, used that name then, this is bathing day. How do I do that, said I. First you go out to the water pump about 30 feet away and bring in sever buckets of water. The we will heat the water on the kitchin stove powered by corn cobs. scrapts of wood and once in a while some coal. Then pour the water in that big container and get in and wash. After you are done empty the container and you have completed the task.

If you are using your imagination you alread know what the next one we will discuss. Yes waste products one and two. Maybe 10 or so feet from the water pump was an outhouse. I do not think any male used it for #1, for #1 was usually the nearest fence post if clcse enough That was a change for me. Now during the night a jug was used and of course had to betaken care of in the morning,

The world was different back in the days of my childhood.  No TV until I was about 14. Computers arrived when I was in my 50’s. It was normal for rather young kids to leave the house on a Saturday and vanish from the eyes of their family for many hours. Being born in 1931 my life until I was 14 existed either in the Great Depression or WWII. Very few had any money to spare during the depression and during WWII it was common for both parents to be employed, gas and food were rationed. Many houses had porches and these porches were used. Your neighbors saw what was going on hmm, human security cameras.

The first obvious indication that I remember was when I was about eleven and in the sixth grade.  Up until then I was pretty much uninterested in grades in school. Maybe at times I felt grades were meaningless because in S(satisfactory) and U(unsatisfactory) grading, or variances of that, a 100 grade and a 72 grade were both graded S.  So why try to get anything over 72?  Or maybe it was because I was lazy, I will never know for sure.

That all changed in sixth grade.  My sixth grade teacher had a system where the students with the highest test grades had their names written on the blackboard until the next test.  Even more obvious we were seated in the room in order of the semester test average.  I had a strong wish to sit in the left front seat and I normally did.  Yes, this teacher would be in trouble for that now, but it sure helped me and I bet others.

I kept that attitude all through high school with the last three years in Akron, OH.  Regretfully I lost most of that at Ohio State and tended to really go after the high grades in classes I liked. 

In sports and games I played in tournaments or leagues in volley ball, shuffleboard, golf, basketball, horseshoes, bowling, bridge, tennis and table tennis (TT).

Table tennis, tennis and duplicate bridge will receive the most attention here as they had a bigger part in my life. In all three I was both a player and a director or tournament organizer.  In all three I had the chance to play against top national or state players.  This I really enjoyed.  I won and lost against top 10 Ohio table tennis players in my age group. In tennis my success against top players was some how missing, close at times but no cigar. The picture below sows some of the trophies I was fortunate to win.

See the pix

When I started playing my main goal was to be competitive and to play well enough to compete against most everyone I played against.  My greatest skills in Tennis and TT were finding a player’s weakness and exploiting it.  I was also pretty good at hiding my weaknesses.  My greatest failing was not improving my weak spots sufficiently to win against the very strong players. Why was this?  Good question but I do not have all the answers, probably the main reason was I was never dedicated enough to get professional coaching and to spend the large amount of time necessary to get to the next level. When TT went to sponge rubber with all its variations it became a new game that requited a great deal of time and coaching.  I will never know if that would have sufficiently raised my level of play. 

My greatest accomplishment in Tennis and TT was that I played in Ohio qualifying tournaments and went to the National Senior Olympics in St. Louis as a member of the Ohio team.  Sadly I did not play as well as I should have and the results showed that.

One TT match I will always remember was playing John Tannehill in a tournament in Cleveland. He was in the group that went to tour China in that historic sports breakthrough while Nixon was president. I considered him as the best American born player at the time.  We both won our first round matches. He won his 21-0 21-1.  I did not do as well but I did win.  John he started out our match wearing his warm-ups and talking to the crowd.  I had one very good shot that few could return, a very deceptive down the line forehand that basically no one could predict, including him. I got ahead in the first game 19-18.  At that stage he took off his warm-ups and quit talking to the crowd. He took complete control of the match, including denying my hitting my down the line shots and that was it. I prefer not writing about the rest of the match.  He did easily win the tournament. 

My overall TT game was pretty well balanced. I preferred playing an offensive style to keep my opponent away from his best game. I could go back to defense when necessary. In both I was better with placement than power.

In tennis I had two major weaknesses,  My backhand was weak, and I had no power shots when I had to hit a ball that was over my head, serves and overheads, I had damaged my rotator cuff when I was about 19. Surgery was not an option.  Besides that I was helpless against the accurate hard hitting players.  I have no regrets about my tennis game. I enjoyed playing and won a lot more than I lost. I will always remember the many hours at Durling Park playing tennis and talking to friends.

My biggest regret in both sports is that my eyes gave out.  I was never able to keep up with the ball after my two detached retinas and even more after losing the sight in my left eye,  But I am so glad that I played as much as I did,

With help from family and friends we ran several city TT tournaments. We had many different events which led to as many as 127 separate entries.  I also helped run two or three tennis tournaments.

I have played Duplicate Bridge for many years.  I do not play as well now as I used to. When I was at my best I had better concentration, better memory and a couple very strong partners.  One partner in particular told me that she wanted me to be a Life Master and that I would be.  She was a disciplined player and expected me to be one also.  Her idea was to make the opponents earn every win. That we would not give up tricks gambling on fortunate breaks. The key to our success was discipline. We could completely depend upon each other in that what we promised we had.  She was correct I soon was promoted to Life Master.

We played in a few tournaments and did very well.  Even more fun there was a team league in Akron that attracted top players from NE Ohio as well as western PA.  Our team that she arranged held our own against these top teams. Her plan was correct

Certain basic skills I never learned.  For example I was never good at counting all four suits and remembering all the cards played. Fortunately most players have the same problem.  Due to number of games played, and the quality of my partners my Master Point total puts me in about the 87^th percentile nationally.  I treasure still being able to play as it is the only competitive game I can play.  My current main partner is a good player and a good friend. Hopefully the thinking required will delay any dementia severity.

It is hard for me to decide what to say in this story about tennis, table tennis and bridge.  I played countless games of each one.  There were so many highs and lows, victories and defeats. I loved the competition. I met so many good people.  It is hard for me to imagine my life without the games I played.  Kathleen always supported my playing.

Now back to real life.

I had taken four years of ROTC and after graduation I entered the army as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  I worked hard to do well in the Officers Basic Course so I could get a good assignment. I got one, teaching at the Artillery School at Fort Sill. OK. There is more about this job in my in the army story.

I spent most of my working life in Sales and sales management. Over all I did well in my jobs.  I did well selling, usually at or near the top of the sales group. I was a very good manager when I could be actively involved with the people I managed, for example being service manager at McD Ford.  I was not near as good managing people who worked out of my sight. 

It was obvious to me, and to Kathleen, that even though I was doing ok my jobs were not really where I belonged. Things were not going as well as they could be so with Kathleen’s support and cooperation I took the next big step in my life.

When I was in my 50’s I went back to school at the University of Akron branch in Orville to get a Computer Science “minor”. I was determined to beat those youngsters who were in my classes. I was able to as I knew why I was there and what I wanted to accomplish. During the next two years I became a house husband. I did most of the house stuff including the cooking.  Well she made up the menus and I prepared the food. She brought home the money teaching.

Wish I had worked as hard at OSU as I did at my second try at Orville. I worked hard to get top grades and to be noticed by the people that counted.  It helped that an early class was taught by the head of Computer Science.  That paid off big time as I ended up teaching part time while I was taking classes.  Yes, the teaching assignment I earned in the army and my BS degree in mathematics from OSU helped also.  After I completed the requirements and got my certificate I was hired full time at the University of Akron Computer Center.  A fellow part time teacher told me about the opening and urged me to apply. The dean of the Orville branch and the computer science head wrote letters of recommendation without my asking them to so do.  Clearly I would not have gotten the job without the support I received from Kathleen and my Orville branch supporters. I worked there until I retired. 

Looking back over my life I have noticed something that I am not sure I fully realized at the time.  Every major change in my life came about by doing something that was out of the ordinary for me. 

Here are examples: 

When I was turned down for an opening at the Cleveland District of American Motors I wrote to their home office in Kenosha WI and had the job a week or so later.

When I applied for the sales and service manager job at a major awning company I told the president that maybe he should not hire me as I might try to get his job. He told me later that was the key to his decision.

When taking classes at Orville I over heard the mathematics and Computer science heads talking about who would teach the FORTRAN class next semester, I was taking that class at the time from the CS Head. I broke one of my mother’s firm rules, interrupted them and said I would teach it. They asked why I thought I was qualified and I told them about my BS math degree and army teaching experience.  I was told that I would teach that class before I left them.  I did teach several other math and CS courses as long as I was at Orville and some after I went to main campus.  I taught about a dozen altogether.  I turned down at least one I should have out of loyalty taught at Orville after I was at the CC.  I had so much to learn that I just could not afford the time.  The variety of duties and how much I had to learn at UofA CC was more than I ever imagined.

The most important was the April day at Fort Sill, OK I picked up the telephone and called Kathleen Nitz and asked her to marry me.  The single best thing I ever did in my life.  I just cannot imagine living my life without her.

Was doing these things out of character examples of competitiveness or just recognizing reality.