Born December 22, 1910, at home, Rennerdale, Pa. The house was one block from the railroad station. There was no name for this street. In the early 1980's when I was back there, the house was still like I remembered it. This town is about 10 miles from Pittsburgh and has not changed much. My parents moved here because they did not want we three children to grow up in the steel mill and railroad-yard town of Carnegie. This is a small country town but we had our own running water from a cistern that never went dry in the dry summers like other neighbors' did. There was a tank in the attic and a natural gas engine in the cellar which pumped the water up to the attic for storage. We three kids called it the stiffa-batty engine because of its noise. We had a modern bathroom with running water in kitchen and bath. So many people had a path to the back with an out- house. For lights we had natural-gas lights.

My father's name: Arthur Wills Walker. He worked in Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Railroad in the office as a chief clerk in the freight weigh-bill dept. He traveled from our home to Pittsburgh every day except Sunday by train. Dad was an only child. His father's name was Thomas Jefferson Walker. His mother's name was Nellie Walker. Papa Tom lived with us 6-7 years and died at the age of 82.

My mother's name: Fanny Belle Ireland Walker. Before she married Dad she worked in a dentist's office in Carnegie. She came from a larger family of one brother and three sisters. Uncle Bert was my favorite because he was the only uncle I had. He was a conductor on the Pennsy Railroad (this is what we called it). As a young boy his wife Alice always seemed older than he was.

My sister Jane Claire Walker Kenny was born October 14, 1906. She was good to me. When I broke my arm in school, falling down the front steps, she walked me home. Dr. Denny had to come to our house from Oakdale, about three miles away, in his model T Ford. He gave me ether and I up-chucked. She was always acting like a mother and tried to tell me what to do. I would always say, "you are not my mother and my mother is the only one who can tell me what to do." Jane worked at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, Pa. and the U.S. Post Office until retirement. She married Raymond P. Kenny from Ridley Park on August 1, 1931. He died March 29, 1984. They had no children. In 1968 they moved to 1782 Philadelphia Ct., Deltona, Florida. Summer of 1988 Jane decided to give up living alone and moved into the Deltona Health Care Center. We visited her in July and she was adjusting fine.

My brother Joseph Gladden Walker was born Dec. 19, 1908. He was a tow-head. He was also a bully to me. Always wanted to throw me around and fight. I learned how to get even by relaxing when he would throw me and then I would tear into him when he was tired and beat him up. Mother never took sides. She let us fight it out. Dad taught me how to beat up a neighbor kid named Johnny Wilcox who use to pick on me. He said not to hit him until he picked on me and then tear into him and surprise him and he would never pick on me again. I tried this, it was true, and he gave me a dime for doing it. I saved that dime for years. Joe and I fought like brothers until we got older. He married Jane Cheyney from Media, Pa. at The Little Church Around the Corner in NYC. He was an officer in the Merchant Marines. They had one son named David James Walker. My brother was killed during WWII (Feb. 15, 1943) when a Sun Oil tanker was sunk by a German submarine in the north Atlantic on the way from Marcus Hook, Pa. to Murmansk, Russia.

Early childhood was spent in Rennerdale, Pa. My mother told me that I did not walk until I was around 18 months old. I surprised them one day when the doctor was visiting and walked into the next bedroom. My mother said, "look at that boy." The doctor commented "why" and she said "He has never walked before." Living in this small town we had chickens and one cow and always several dogs. The cow's name was June and was a pet. Our picture was taken with we three kids sitting on the cow's back. One of our dogs named Teddy hung himself by falling off the back porch. The chain was too short and didn't let him touch the ground. We were gone and came home to find him. That was a sad day. Another sad day was when June, our cow, was run over by a train. She was crossing the tracks looking for a bull. Teddy was our watchdog because there were hobos who came from the railroad tracks begging for food. One day this hobo came and mother yelled out the window that Teddy will bite you. The hobo said he's a Boston bulldog and he won't bite me because I'm from Boston. Teddy wagged his tail and didn't bite him. Teddy's son Paddy was also run over by a train.

When I was about 4-5 years old the church Christmas program was held at the Rennerdale Presbyterian church. They wanted me to recite a Christmas poem. I said I wouldn't unless I could recite Pussy in the Well. So they finally agreed and I brought down the house. Somebody in the audience asked "whose kid is that?", my Dad use to tell us.
Ding dong dell
Pussy's in the well
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Green
Who pulled her out?
Little Johnny Stout.

When I was growing up I never wanted to go to bed at night...guess I thought I was going to miss something...was always a night person.

Grandma (my mother's mother) stayed with us occasionally when mother went shopping in Pittsburgh. We three kids would get rowdy and she would say "less noise children." We would snicker behind her back and go right on. When we lived in Rennerdale, Jenny Stripp, a young Swedish lady, stayed with us when mother was shopping. She also helped with housework. There was a post office, general store, and a one-pump gas station (only one in town) in our town. This was all in one building called J.J. Walker (no relation). Most supplies were purchased here. Because of no refrigeration many foods were bought daily. We had an icebox but it didn't keep foods long.

I had several accidents and seemed to be quite accident prone in growing up. About 6-7 yrs. old I was chasing my brother around the hot-bed (this was used by all gardeners to get early seeds started). I fell through the glass and cut my wrist next to the artery. My mother thought I was going to bleed to death. We had a telephone so she called Dr. Denny. He left his waiting room and rushed to my aid sewing me up on the kitchen table. I still have no feeling in my thumb and next two fingers on my right hand. I fell on a pile of railroad ties and my eye tooth went through my lip. At nine years old I had an appendicitis attack. Dr. Denny decided not to operate immediately. He put me to bed for three weeks. I couldn't eat or drink. A milk bag hung by my bed and was constantly fed to me drop by drop through the bowels. Dr. Dennys theory of no food and not operat- ing immediately saved my life. A sack formed around my appendix. I was moved to Pittsburgh at Allegheny General Hospital for the surgery. Was in the hospltal three more weeks. Most people died of appendicitis during this time in our history. The Walker family who ran the post office/general store/gas station had a son whose name was James Walker who died of appendicitis. Right after this episode we moved to Carnegie so my sister Jane could attend Jr. High in a larger school. A year after my surgery I had my tonsils out.

Carnegie was a city. When we moved there my brother and I sat on the back porch steps and griped to my mom we had nothlng to do here. In Rennerdale we could wander and go anywhere. Carnegie was a dirty railroad and steel town. All smoky and dirty. I repeated the third grade here because I was out of school with illness so much. Because of this I was the best or next to the best speller. We played with Honus Wagner's nephews (Honus was a shortstop with the Pittsburgh Pirates). My brother and another kid were holding the ladder so I could pick cherries. They let the ladder sway back and I jumped falling to the ground spraining both ankles and couldn't walk for a week. While living here we rented an old four story mansion of a house. A fireplace in every room. There was a dark back stairway into the kitchen. One night I fell down the steps and knocked the wind out of me and couldn't breathe. Another time I was down in the cellar fooling with an old alcohol burner. I spilled the alcohol, it caught fire, I saved the house from burning by throwing dirt from the cellar floor on it. Was I scared. We rode our bikes from Carnegie to Bridgeville, three miles, to see our first airplane. When we got there it was covered up and we never saw it. What a disappolntment. Some of my school teachers names were: Miss Blue, Miss Fife, Miss Black; Miss Martha Walker (no relation) was my first teacher.

We moved to Bridgeville where my folks had a three story brick house built. Dad thought this would be our home for the rest of their life. While living here I was still a sick, underweight kid. The farmer's wife from whom we purchased the land to build this house was a health practitioner. Mrs. Lesnett had my mother send me up to the barn every evening at milklng time to drink warm milk right from the milk pail. I took a dipper to drink from. The Godwins, a family clan from Great Britain, lived down by the main road. There was a barn and several houses like a commune. We played with the Godwin boys and girls. Rode their horse and pony and played in the hayloft. They had a greenhouse, raising flowers for funerals and weddings. Since it was warm there in the cold winter months we waited there for the township schoolbus. We didn't live in the town limits so had to travel 7-8 miles to Mt. Lebanon. The Godwin boys let us ride with them when they delivered flowers.

Dad was transferred to Phila. Penn. Railroad office and almost quit the railroad. Decided not to so we moved to Lansdowne Pa. and rented a duplex house. We shipped all our furniture by freight and we went by train. Our dog Duke, nicknamed Jake, rode in the baggage car and we had to muzzle him. This is the dog that always rode on the runningboard of Dads Overland Touring car (later named Willys Overland). Duke would jump off and beat us home. We made a slide from the lumber our furniture was shipped and crated in. This slide was from the top of a two story barn down into the yard. We made carts that fit in the groove of the slide and would climb a ladder and go down about 30ft. into the yard. We called it a homemade roller coaster. My brother fell off from the top to the bottom one time. He didn't get the cart in the groove right. Our dog Duke liked babies. When he would see a lady pushing a baby carriage he would follow them home and stay for a week or so and then come back to us. We always had a piano and mother played very well.

Mother and Dad purchased a house in Ridley Park, Pa., near Chester so we moved. Papa Tom lived with us (my father's father). I made a one-tube radio with earphones. Papa Tom thought that was the greatest thing in the world. We would take the headset apart and he would take one ear- phone and I the other. About the only station we could get was KDKA Pittsburgh which was the first broadcast radio station in the country. Price of the one tube was $6.50. Everyone was making their own radio. Atwater Kent was available at a high price. I started in the seventh grade here. My brother quit school here and went to Penna. Nautical School at the Philadelphia Naval Yards. This was an appointment by a Penna. congressman. I think my Dad pulled strings to get the appointment. This school prepared young men as officers in the Merchamt Marines. It was a two year course and later he became a Jr. Officer on the Leviathan, the largest ship in the world. The ship was taken from Germany after World War I. Later he was a mate on the SS United States which traveled from NY to Hamburg, Germany.

My second year in high school I got a job as a soda jerk in the local drugstore. I sold patent drugs and worked at the soda fountain. This was four hours a night for 50 cents. I was suppose to get a raise after learning the business. Two months later there was no raise so I quit and delivered papers an hour every morning and made more money. I didn't like school and I was too small for athletics but I was equip- ment manager of the track team. In high school we had 45 min. for lunch. I had a study period after lunch so I took 1 1/2 hrs for lunch, but the teacher caught me and I had to stay after school several weeks to make it up. I delivered papers (Phila. Bulletin & Phila. Ledger) before school and often I was late for classes. One day I came in late and Mr. Shafer asked "are you late" and I said "you should know you are the teacher". The class cracked-up and the teacher smiled and said "I guess you're right." He never got mad and from then on we got along good. When I was a senior I broke my right arm cranking a model T Ford and had it in a cast. Since I couldn't write, this young, red-head teacher would give me oral tests at her desk. She was wearing a loose blouse and I said to her "I didn't know you had freckles on your back". She just smiled and was one of my favorite teachers. Her name was Miss Weldon. All of the seniors before graduation took a trip to Washington D.C. There were thirty students in my graduating class. We went by train the 100 miles. A few of us boys got into a little trouble. We squirted water from the room down to the front of the hotel on the people coming into the hotel. The principal made us leave the hotel so we went down to the Union Station and slept on the benches. Also spent some time at the Capitol Bldg. playing cards under the Capitol steps. The next morning we went back to the hotel and nothing more was said. We weren't sure if we were going to graduate. I don't think my Dad and Mother ever knew about this. I graduated June 1929.

During the depression around 1930 or 1931 three friends and I decided to drive to the Delaware Water Gap between New Jersey and northern Pa. We didn't have jobs or money so we started a camp for younger boys. We took ten kids at a time in my mail truck to the Gap for a ten day stay. We contacted the boys' parents. We had about six groups that summer. The summer after high school I had a few jobs; a textile print mill where I trucked dye in tubs from the dye room to the print room. One day I backed into a tub of dye and fell into it. I was a mess. Another job was in the steel mill under construction at US Steel. General flunky job. After this summer of prosperity the stock market crash of 1929 was another story. Dad and Mother wanted me to go to college and would have paid my way (with my help with extra jobs) but I did not want to spend four years at school. I heard about Bliss Electrical School in Washing- ton DC and enrolled the fall of 1929 for this one year school. It was around $1000.00 tuition. This included room and board. I graduated but there were no jobs available. I did odd electrical jobs in my hometown. For awhile I worked at the Sun Ship Bldg. Co. at Chester, Pa. as an electrical helper. Due to my electrical schooling I knew more than the electrician I worked with but I didn't let him know it. They would not hire me as an electrician I had to work as an apprentice. I was laid off because of no business so I got a job as an oiler/wiper on a small Sun Oil tanker delivering oil to power companies. The company was at Marcus Hook, Pa. The ship went to various cities like Hartford, Conn; Atlantic City, N.J.; and other river towns. Professor Bliss at electrical school told all his students to always keep a job for one year. It takes that long to find out if there is a future. I was inexperienced about ships. Was given the job of painting engine room pipes. No one told me about what to do and I painted the valves shut. We were on the Conn. river and an emergency arose and the engineers couldn't get the painted valves turned so we went aground, had to stay there until high tide. My fault. They didn't fire me but warned me. Actually, there were three of us in the engine room and the engineer should have instructed me. One time going through NYC harbor we collided with a ferry- boat. I think the captain was drunk and the mate was a crazy white Russian (white Russians were run out of the country during the revolu- ion). Another time we damaged a dock in New Jersey where we tied up for the night. Bad weather at sea kept us here. The name of this tanker is Passaic Sun. Another time we damaged a drawbridge going into Atlantic City. One time I was almost held up in Bridgeport, Conn. It was raining, I was lost looking for my ship, when this guy came up behind me and about to rob me. I was wearing rain gear, had my hands in my pocket. He thought I had a gun and backed down.

In 1933 three friends and I from Ridley Park drove my Model T truck to the Chicago World's Fair by way of Niagara Falls, Canada. We stopped and asked farmers if we could sleep in their barns or we slept out in the open. In Chicago we stayed with one friend's relatives. They lived well. He worked for the city.

I quit the tanker and worked as an electrician at Ridley Park, working on houses. The next job was on the Sea Train NY ship that carried 100 loaded freight cars including 25 refrigerated cars (fruit, eggs, etc.). We went from NY to Havana and New Orleans. On return trips we carried sugar from Cuba, general cargo, etc. The sugar was going to Hershey Chocolate Co. in Penna. This was a better job. $100 month plus room and board. I had a room with the deck engineer and we became good friends. This ship was built in England and the crew was mostly English. I was the only electrician on this ship. The ship was AC current, which was unusual because most ships are DC. I got this job because I had knowledge of AC current from Bliss Elec. School. Worked on this ship a year and was con- sidered an officer but didn't wear a uniform but ate with the officers. We were in several hurricanes, never damaged but our sister ship the Sea Train Havanna was damaged and almost broke in half. It was so rough that one freight car jumped the track and the wheel went through the deck of our ship. Batista was in power in Cuba. Sometimes we had to go to shore at our own risk because of the fighting. There were shell holes in the National Hotel in Havanna. A noted cafe was Sloppy Joe's, a nightclub. I stayed on this ship one year. It docked at Hoboken, New Jersey. I was tired of this job so I applied at the United Fruit Co. I passed the requirements except I couldn't urinate. The doctor said he had to have a urine sample. I told the doctor give me half an hour. Walked across the street and gulped down three or four beers. I told the doctor he had pure beer. They hired me as an electrician to work on the ships as they came in port. This job was a few months then they put me on the SS Peten, the flagship of the Great White Fleet. It had turbine-electric propulsion and I was the third electrician. About six months I was promoted to second. This ship was a passenger and freighter. It carried 125 passengers. In the summer it was 80% women schoolteachers. About 100 crew. We left lower Manhattan, not too far from the Wall St. area, went to Havana, Cuba; Kingston, Jamaica; Panama; Limon, Costa Rica. On the southern trip we carried general cargo and coming north was mostly bananas. This was before they bagged them in plastic. The whole ship was refrigerated so the fruit would not spoil. We stayed overnite in Costa Rica. They were my favorite foreign people. one time I lost a camera there and the people that found it had the pictures developed and saw what ship it came from and returned the camera. This was my sister Jane's camera and she was mad. Costa Rica had a stable govern- ment then and did not have an army. Nicaragua at that time was like it is today, internal problems, we never docked at their ports. We never stayed overnite in Panama. Since I was on duty I never saw the Panama Canal. I plan on going back someday. Another trip I hope to take is a narrow-gauge train trip from Port Limon to San Jose, Costa Rica. I was on this ship one year.

Bliss Electrical School supplied more servicemen to IBM (International Business Machines) than any other school. Their main office was NYC and I applied for a job. The man in NYC said they were not hiring from Bliss Elec. School anymore, they only took college graduates. I quit the ship and drove to Endicott, NY where the factory is located and they hired me right away. This was May 15, 1935. Later in California, about 1970, this same man that didn't hire me in NYC was retired and visited our office. I introduced myself, reminding him he wouldn't hire me in 1935, all he commented was "We all make mistakes." I really enjoyed that. After IBM school at Endicott they sent me to Philadelphia. Six months later I went back to post-graduate school at Endicott. I asked to be sent to Detroit which was granted. While living in Detroit I rented a room in an old mansion once owned by Ferry Morse Seed Co. family. This was a room/board arrangement. All of us renters ate our meals together family style downstairs. We didn't trust the cook so always ordered poached eggs which do not poach if they are old. The landlady did not do the cooking, she hired someone for this job. There must have been about thirty of us, both men and women. One evening I was sitting in an easy chair smoking, fell asleep and burnt a hole the size of an orange in the seat between my legs. When I moved out no one knew this because I had turned the cushion over. I smoked cigarettes, Lucky Strikes, Camel, etc., up until 1970. Was smoking Kool cigarettes and noticed my lips would feel numb when I inhaled. Quit cold-turkey but carried a full pack for several weeks to test myself.

From Detroit I went to Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Indianapolis, Muncie, and Anderson in Indiana. While serviceing machines at Delco Remy in Anderson I met and married Jane Sears of Pendleton, Indiana. We were married June 14, 1940 at the Methodist Church in Pendleton across the street from her home. I was 29 and Jane 20. A week after we were married IBM sent all the employees to the NY World's Fair. We used this as our free honeymoon since we had very little money. In NYC we stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The dance and banquet were held here. Jane had bought a new formal for the trip. It needed alteration so the hotel sent a seamstress to our room to alter it and IBM paid the bill. From NYC we went by train to Endicott then back to Indiana. All this trip was by train. September 1940 I was transferred to California. We drove out in my 1939 Nash Ambassador. The back seat made into a bed.

We rented a small court apartment in Hollywood on DeLongpre St. one block south of Sunset Blvd. It was $35.00/month furnished. There was living room, bedroom, kitchen and bath. We experienced our first earthquake here. Just shook a little. Several months later we moved to 2129 Whitley Ave. renting a better apartment for $50.00 month. This was near the Hollywood Bowl above Hollywood Blvd. Jane worked as a secretary at Lockheed (Vega Division) in San Fernando Valley. I was working for IBM at the movie studios. The first movie star we saw was Cary Grant. From then on they never impressed me. During these war years we had blackouts. I was a volunteer in the civil defense. We were trained by the Hollywood Fire Dept. We had a small fire truck. I was the driver but we never had to fight a fire.

Mark was born Dec. 4, 1942 at the Coleman Hospital in Alhanbra, Calif. We were still living on Whitley Ave. The apartment was on a hill. Our apartment was over the garages. When Mark was a toddler he threw a ball over the patio railing, it went down Whitley Ave. to Cahuenga Blvd. where we found it. I built a picket fence for the patio railing for his protection. March 1944 Jane's mother died. We took the Sante Fe train back to Indiana for the funeral. I borrowed her Dad's car and Mark and I drove to South Carolina to see my folks. This was the first time they saw Mark. While there he drank goats milk and liked it. Before that he wouldn't drink cows milk after being taken off baby formula. My folks had three goats and many chickens. We left California Sept.1944 for a transfer to Dayton, Ohio with IBM. After we were back there a couple years we knew we made a mistake because of the climate. I serviced machines at Wright Field, Army Signal Corps and various war industry manufacturing. May 5, 1945 Joe was born at Dayton, Ohio. We sold the Dayton house in May 1947 and transferred back to California. We had a terrible trip out pulling a Superior house trailer. Burned out a clutch in Kentucky on our small 1942 Nash. Had flat tires every day and the dolly hitch broke down in Texas and had to have it welded. We stopped at Irene and Tom's in Colton, Ca. Later located a trailer park in Pasadena on Foothill Blvd. We looked at a house in Whittier but saw an ad for new homes in Arcadia. After checking it out it was just what we wanted. We bought the lot and chose the floor plan from the builder. We moved in November 1947 to 84 West Magna Vista Ave. The lot was purchased from Burkholder Realty for $2600.00 The house was financed through the Prudential Ins. Co. of America, So. Calif. Mtge. Loan. for $10,500.00. Payments were $60.00 a month. We had to get a small loan from the contractor in order for him to finish the house. We were the third family to build here on W. Magna Vista.

We sold the trailer and moved into the new house November 1947. We didn't have money to buy much furniture so we bought two army bunks from war surplus for the boys. Found a studio couch for Jane and I to sleep on. A redwood picnic table and two benches served as our table and chairs. Since we didn't have much living room furniture we lived in the den and used the fireplace on cool evenings. Late 40's we bought our first TV. Bought it on a Friday night in South Gate. It was called a Hoffman Easy Vision 12" black/white with a wooden cabinet with an AM-FM radio in the same unit. The bottom of the cabinet is now on the patio where I store pool cleaning tools. The TV worked Friday night and we were so excited. On Saturday morning we turned it on and it blew up. White smoke poured out. Put it in the car and took it back to the store. The guy wanted to fix it but I said "No, there's one out on the floor working, we'll take that one." It was good for years.

My Mother and Dad had moved from Penna. to Aiken, South Carolina in the late 1930s. They had a modern log cabin built of native pine on 115 acres. This was their home until they moved to Florida. While the cabin was being built they lived in a small house that caught fire and burned down. All my high school yearbooks, pictures, etc. were des- troyed. They raised chickens and believe the incubator started the fire. The first year we were in our new home they pulled a travel trailer out to visit us. They parked it in a trailer park on Peck Road and stayed for the winter. Dad helped me put in the front yard. Mark and Joe called my folks Bop and Dode. My brother's boy Dave called my folks these names so this is where it came from. They had about a 20-foot travel trailer and a Ford car and pulled it over a good part of the USA. My mother did most of the driving because she liked to drive and my Dad didn't. They sold their log babin and moved to Penna. living with my sister and her husband for a year then moved to Florida where they rented a little house on a lake near Orlando. They lived here until they moved into a small house in Orlando they rented. Dad died Sept. 24, 1968. Mom died November 14, 1975. They were good parents and always seemed to do the right thing. They instilled good values in we three children.

When the boys were young we went to the dog pound in Pasadena and picked a mongrel similar to a beagle. It was the only one that came right over to us out of the litter. We took her home and named her Dutchess, Dutch for short. This is our dog that slept in her dog house on the patio. In the evening she came in and layed by the fireplace. She would do anything for a bite to eat. Speak, rollover, sit up and shake hands. She lived to be 13 years old. Mark wanted to name her Benny but I said "you can't name a girl dog Benny." We got Dutch for the boys. They thought she was great but I think she thought she was my dog. I've always loved dogs and kids. Forget about cats.

The summer of 1957 the boys were taking swimming lessons at the local pool. Mark was doing okay but Joe swallowed water and got sick. We let him quit and decided to put in our own pool in the back yard. This was a wise decision because in less than a week Joe was diving and swimming. Many happy days were spent here at our pool with the neighbor- hood boys Steve and Sandy Palmer, John Wolfe, Eddie Scanlan.

Mark graduated from Arcadia High in 1960 and Joe in 1963. Jane and I were very proud that they both graduated with high honors and through the years gave us many happy times and never any trouble.

In 1964 Mark graduated from the University of Calif. Santa Barbara. July 18 Mark married Nancy Milburn in a beautiful wedding in North Hollywood. In August they left for Indiana where Mark attended Purdue University. Later he taught at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Lisa was born here October 5, 1971. Our first grandchild. Mark then taught at the University of Toronto, Stanford University and the Univ. of Arizona at Tucson. The family moved to Stony Brook, LI, New York in 1976 where Mark teaches economics at the State University of NY.

In 1967 Joe graduated from Pomona University at Claremont, Calif. Then he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The summer of 1969 Joe was drafted into the Army. Took his basic train- ing at Fort Ord, Ca. and spent the remainder at Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia. August 1971 he was discharged and returned to Univ. of North Carolina. 1975 he taught at Binghamton, N.Y. and later accepted a professor teaching position at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Ga. Joe teaches math and statistics. September 14, 1985 Joe married Marilyn Rifkind in Atlanta at the Sheraton Hotel. Joe's aunt, Ann Rowlison, and I attended the wedding. July 30, 1986 Stacey was born.

As a family our last trip together was by auto to Jane and Kenny's near Philadelphia, on to Washington D.C. where we visited the Senate, saw the historical sights, then to Kentucky to visit Ann and Whitey. Jane's Dad drove from Indiana to see us. Returned to California after about three weeks. This was the Summer of 1960.

Jane and I continued to work. She as Executive Secretary of the Arcadia Board of Realtors and I was still with IBM as a customer engineer servicing IBM machines out of the Los Angeles office. We planned a number of trips every year together.

May 15, 1971 I retired from IBM after 36 years on the job. I started May 15, 1935 at Endicott, New York. This was a good company to work for. It was never for unions. If anyone tried to organize one they were moved to a one-man office real quick. I was happy to retire be- cause most of my years were spent repairing punch-card machines. The last few years I worked, computers entered the picture and I was not familiar with them. Most of the years I worked all employees wore suits and white shirts, ties and clean-shaven. This was company policy and we didn't mind. The last few years things changed. A whole new group of people were hired. They lowered their standards for hiring. One reason was the laws passed against discrimination. At one point it was generally known that you had to be a minority to be considered for employment. Every year, usually in the fall, the company has a dinner/dance called the Quarter Century Club. About 500 people now attend this affair at one of the Los Angeles hotels. This includes anyone with 25 plus years with IBM. When I first began working in the L.A. office in 1940 it was one office serviceing San Diego, Phoenix and north to Bakersfield. There must be fifty offices just in southern California now. The company has grown through the years. I worked on punch-card, bank machines and some computers all over the L.A. area in every type of business. My hours were 8:30 to 5:00. Any overtime was without pay until about late 1940's. Vacation was two weeks with pay. Twenty five years with the company was four weeks with pay. I also re- ceived a Swiss Atmos clock as a gift for 25 yrs. service.

One of my IBM calls was to a black insurance company called Golden State Insurance Co. located on south Central Ave. in L.A. The original black area. In the parking lot this big black dude asked me what I was doing there. He could have picked me up with one arm. He wasn't a security officer. I said IBM. He said "what do dat IBM mean?" I mumbled something and he must have thought it sounded like FBI. He left and didn't bother me. On one of my flights to Florida I sat with the president of the Golden State Ins. Co. He and I talked and compared company notes and enjoyed the trip across country.

I owned three Volkswagons that I drove to work every day. A 1960, l964, and 1967 (I'm still driving this one in 1989). I used to park in skid row and leave the VW open because of the heat. A few times a skid-row bum was resting or sleeping in the back seat. There were newspapers he left. When President Kennedy was killed I left Security Pacific Bank to move my VW to another parking place. Turned the radio on and I heard that our president was just shot. Went back to the bank and no one had heard it yet.

Like many seniors I welcomed retirement. Jane worked several years after I retired. Her last day at the Arcadia Board of Realtors was March 30, 1979. We planned a trailer trip back east but Jane found she had a tumor and had to go in for surgery on April 4. The tumor was cancerous but we felt the operation took care of things. Her treatment was chemotherapy. Her retirement party took place June 22. Her sisters Irene and Ann were here for it. In the following six years between treatments we had a good life together and made several trips visiting our boys and relatives.

After Christmas 1984 Jane started feeling worse. In January she was in the hospital a few days and the doctors said it was terminal. I brought her home and the hospice and visiting nurse arranged for her to stay home. Irene and Ann were here to help also. She died March 27, 1985.

I continued to live here in Arcadia. Things kept me busy with the yard, pool, etc. Purchased an Eastern Airlines yearly ticket. Cost $1300.00 could fly to a destination three times a year. Used it making trips to the east. In the summer of 1985 Mark, Nancy and Lisa made a trip to England. I joined them for the two weeks. We rented a car traveling throughout England and spent the second week in London.

October 17, 1986 when I first got up in the morning my chest hurt and I had left arm pain like I was having heart trouble. On Oct. 20 I saw Dr. Walstrom. He took tests, EKG, etc. Oct.24 I saw the doctor. He gave me prescriptions for Donnazyme, Taganet and Nitro pills. He was not a heart doctor and I didn't particularly like him so I asked his office girl the name of a heart doctor. Dr. Milton Smith in Pasadena was recommended. He is associated with a cardiology group. Nov.26 at the Huntington Hospital in Pasadena Dr. Smith did catheterization and angiogram. Heart was okay but some blockage in arteries (rusty pipes). Joe, Marilyn and Stacey were here visiting June 1987. I saw Dr. Smith. After they left June 15th I had another angiogram at the hospital on June 18th. Dr. Heger of the cardiology group performed the angiogram and said I didn't need the balloon treatment. We saw Dr. Smith January 9, 1989 and his comment was I had many years to live.

On March 1, 1987 I was at Desert Hot Springs visiting Tom and Irene Jackson. Irene invited Phyllis Long to have dinner with us. Phyllis, a widow, lived at the same mobile park. We took several trips together. Were married in Honolulu April 22, 1988 and spent a weeks cruise on the SS Independence to all four main islands. We were at Volcano National Park on the big island of Hawaii the day after it had stopped flowing lava. We walked on the lava while it was still warm. We brought back black sand and lava but Madame Pele's curse has not hit us. Decided to keep both our homes to spend time in Arcadia and Desert Hot Springs.

This story started when Phyllis and I were talking about our growing- up years. I mentioned something I did as a kid and she asked if my boys knew about this. I said I didn't think so. So two years later here is my story up to this writing.