High School and Army Years:

Four High Schools:

This will begin from the time I started my first year of high school. I always dreamed that someday I would become a priest. Therefore my first year of high school was spent at Quigley; a seminary located downtown Chicago, near Holy Name Cathedral.

It was located near State Street and Michigan Ave. It was an all boy school, and was taught by Catholic priests. Naturally respect and discipline was enforced The school was large, the class size was about fifty students, There was a swimming pool, a gym, a cafeteria, and also, consolers were available to all students. The curriculum consisted of, the study of Latin, Greek, theology, chemistry, along with the regular high school courses. Most of the students, who were from higher class families, and most completed their grammar school education with an average grade of A or B, and expected to attend at least six years of college. The teachers were much more interested in the intelligent students, and seemed to ignore the average and below average students. I worked in the cafeteria during my lunch hour. I carried five major and three minor subjects. I was a poor student, and had a very hard time learning the subjects given to us. I failed Latin, which was mandatory in a Catholic seminary. It was probably the most important subject at this school.

Soon after school was out, my father became sick. After a few weeks of bed rest his health became worse, and he was admitted to a hospital. On the fourth of July he died because of blood clots in his legs, which caused gang-green and finally destroyed his heart. If this happened today, a short stay in the hospital and medication and he would be fine. He died at the young age of fifty-four years.

A few weeks after Dad died, a priest visited our home. He was from a seminary in Missouri called Our Lady of the Ozarks. He talked to my mother, and she asked me if I wanted to return with him to Missouri to the seminary. I accepted the invitation and drove there with him. I was there for a week, and during this time they tested my Math, Latin, English and History. Again I failed Latin. It was summer and school was not in session yet. Therefore, I was the only person at the school except for the cook and a housekeeper. Both people were very nice to me, and the school, which was located in the country, was beautiful. The priests decided I would need to repeat my first year of school in order to continue my religious education. After a long talk with one priest, I decided to return home. However instead of returning home, I decided to visit my sister in Oklahoma. During the night, I packed my bag, and proceeded to hitch-hike to my sister Rita and her husband Bob Greenwood's home in Okla.. I stayed there the rest of the summer, and dreaded when I had to return home.

When I returned home, school classes had begun and I was not enrolled anywhere. I found a school on the south side of Chicago that seemed to fit my personality. Saint Rita’s High school was a technical school, and was a Catholic school located on the south side of Chicago. It was at sixty-third Street and Western Ave. The students were totally different than the students at Quigley. Many of the students carried switchblades, and it was common for a teacher to take guns away from boys during class. I remember seeing many fights around the school. It was a big school, there were four sophomore classes and the average class size was about fifty students. There was a football team, basketball team and a large boxing team. The boxing team produced a couple of great golden gloves boxing champions that year. The year I attended this school, Saint Rita won the city basketball championship and the Catholic football championship. Discipline was stressed and no nonsense was allowed. Most of the boys at this technical school did not plan to go to college, and were hoping to work in the trades as I did. I took the Addison Street bus to Western Avenue, and took the Western Avenue streetcar to 63rd Street. Some subjects I studied were Geometry, English, Algebra, Spanish, and auto mechanics. This was the first time I ever received good grades in school. I don’t know why but I was an “A” student in all the subjects I studied that year.

I had a few good friends one was named Jim. The other was a girl who I went with for about a year. There is no important news here.

The following September I started school at Saint Rita’s again. After a month had gone by a few boys caused big problems in our class. I was not involved in any way, and I decided to leave the school instead of accepting the punishment, which was distributed to the whole class. I found a school located near my home, which was Cardinal Stritch High. This was a co-educational school. It was a very quiet and peaceful school. This school did not have any gym, cafeteria, sports program, consolers, art classes, music classes, or drama classes, yet most of the students planned to attend college. The teachers were concerned and interested in both talented and untalented students alike. There was always a feeling that the teachers were concerned about your future. They even encouraged the students who were not planning to attend college. The schoolwork was very easy for me, and I received very good grades. On November 25, 1953 our school held a dance.

This is where I met Rosemary.

The following September I discovered that Saint Pat’s was building a new school, and it was located only a few city blocks from my home. I also heard that classes would only be held from eight to twelve noon in the morning. That seemed like a perfect school day for me, so I transferred to this school for my last year of high school. I do not remember all the classes, but I remember taking math, English, solid geometry and trig. Class size was only about twenty or twenty-five. There had a school football and a basketball team, however the gym was not built yet. It did not have a cafeteria, pool, air conditioning, or student consolers. Very few of the boys planned to attend college after completing high school. Most already had jobs.

The only reason I completed my high school was because my mother demanded that I graduate from high school. This was very important to her and I will always be thankful to her.

During my last three years of school. I worked at a gas station for six months, pumping gas and doing minor repairs on cars. I would do oil changes, grease the chassis, replace plugs, points, oil filters, gas filters, replace wiper blades, replace switches that were bad and a few other repairs. Soon after, I worked for Frank Lynch Buick in Chicago. I did the same repairs on cars as when I worked at the gas station, except I was able to do more, and learned more about troubleshooting problems. I worked at John's Poultry Store on Grand Ave. just east of Austin Ave. in Chicago. My job was to kill and dress chickens, geese, turkeys and sometimes doves and rabbits. I worked here about six months. I worked at Zenith near Grand Ave and Austin Ave, for two days. I couldn't handle working in a factory assembly line.

I worked during the summer vacations. I also worked during Christmas and Easter vacations with Bob building garages. He built garages and remodeled homes for Atlas Garage Company. We did all the carpentry; drywall, flooring, shingled the roofs and also built the garage doors and installed them. Sometimes we helped the concrete crews. Most garages we built within one day or two. After graduation from high school I continued working with my brother Bob building garages and small ranch houses. and a few cape cods. During the summer my brother Rich joined us

Summer of 1952: A 1942 Olds:

I was fifteen years old when the Kaiser that I have been driving finally ended in the junk yard, where most of my cars would go when I was finished with them.

I found a real nice 2 door 1942 Olds. It drove nice and the body was in good condition. It had 150,000 miles on the odometer, but it seemed dependable so I bought it. Hank and I drove it for about three weeks and we decided to drive it to Fox Lake where we were going fishing.

We got up early, about five am, and loaded our fishing poles, tackle boxes and minnow bucket. It was a long drive to the lake. RT 12 was only one lane in each direction. It drove beautifully during the drive to the lake. We fished all morning and most of the afternoon and then loaded our fishing equipment into the trunk and began our drive home.

While driving home, I was driving about 80 mph when I felt a vibration so I slowed the car to about 50 mph. By the time we arrived home we could hear a rod knock coming from the engine. I checked the oil and it was ok, but it definitely was a rod knock. I drove the car for a couple of weeks, hoping I was wrong and the knock would fade away, but that wasn’t going to happen. So I removed the oil pan and found the bearing that was making; the noise. I removed it and instead of replacing it, I filed the bearing cap until it was tight enough where I didn’t think it would knock. I refilled the oil and drove the car. It sounded ok, however after a few weeks the knock reappeared. One evening I was parking the car into the garage and I heard a loud clank. Yes, the rod broke and crashed through the engine block.

Weeks later I bought an engine from a junk yard. They unloaded it in the ally behind our garage. I dragged it into the garage and began to prepare the car for the new engine. I removed the front bumper, front grill, radiator, both front fenders and removed the engine from the frame and transmission. Then I took two 2 x 10s and tied them to the frame in front of the car making a ramp; greased the 2 x 10s and with 2 x 4s on each side lifted the engine onto the 2 x 10s. Then I slid the engine out of the car. That was the easy part. I knew I couldn’t slide the new engine up the boards and drop it onto the frame, so I called my two cousins for help.

Bill Naylor and Dave Gilmore came to my home early one Saturday morning and within a few hours we had the engine slid up the ramp and then dropped it onto the frame. I put a couple bolts in to secure the engine then visited with the cousins. Later that day and the following day I installed all the parts and tested the car. At first it would only backfire and after hours of checking, I found the distributer was 180 degrees out of time. I kept this car for about a year when I bought a 1946 Buick Super.

I taught Rosemary how to drive a car using this car. This was my favorite car and I drove this car until I entered the army.

1953 Dance:

Tonight is Nov. 25, 2008 and it is 6:45pm . I am sitting in my living room remembering the day Rosemary and I met, fifty five years ago. It was Nov. 25 and I am sixteen years old. It’s 6:45 pm and I’m driving to 55th St. and Kedzie Ave. to meet a friend named Jim F. We are going to a dance that is being held in the gym at St. James Church on the north side of Chicago.

It is called The Turkey Strut and is sponsored by Cardinal Stritch High School seniors. I told Jim this will be a great dance. There are only a couple dozen boys that go to this school and many, many good looking girls. I buy a ticket at the door and enter the hall where the dance is being held.

There are quite a few people here and I know only a dozen or more people.

It is now 8:00 and I have been drinking from flasks that classmates brought to the dance. I have been trying to dance with a girl named Chris all evening and I’m beginning to get a little noisy. A couple of people have asked me to quiet down so I am walking around talking to various people and still taking a small sip once in a while. (It is now nine o’clock) and a couple classmates have escorted me to a table where two young girls are sitting. They are sipping Cokes and watching everyone dance when they are asked, “please keep him at your table and don’t let him get up. He is getting too boisterous and we are worried police will come here and break up the dance.” I looked at the two girls and decided I wasn't going to sit here for long. I was trying to dance with Chris, but she was going steady with another guy. Somehow these two girls keep me quiet and calm.

They talk to me and every time I want to get up they convince me to remain at the table with them. It is nine thirty and I ask the one girl with red hair to dance with me. I promise I will be quiet and act decent. Finally she agrees and we begin to dance. We dance for the next half hour and at ten o’clock she says she has to go home. I try to talk her into staying and when that fails, I ask her if I can drive her home in my car, I have a 1946 Buick Super. She says, “I am supposed to call my mother and let her know when I’m ready to come home and, my brother is will drive here and bring me home.” I ask her, “Call your mother and ask her if I can drive you home.” At first she doesn’t think this is a good idea, but after a few minutes she does call and is given permission to drive home with me.

It is now twenty-five after ten o’clock. I had to have this girl home before ten thirty. I arrive at 4512 N. Kildare at twenty five after ten and walk her to the front door.

I am going to return to my car, but she asks me to enter her home and meet her parents. I really don’t think that is a very good idea. However, I do follow her into her home. Her parents are in the living room watching TV. I talk with them for about fifteen minutes, about what, I don’t remember. Then I tell them I have to leave. My friend is still in my car and I have to drive him home to the south side of Chicago. The girl walks me to the door and walks outside with me. I ask her for her name and telephone number. She goes into her house and returns with a piece of paper and gives it to me. I don’t read it. I just put it in my pocket and say good-by. (It is now eleven o’clock.) At this time I am at Jim's house. He exits my car and walks into his house, and I begin my thirty minute drive home to the north side.

Monday after school, I travel to the south side, and am talking with a few friends. Jim drives up and joins the group and we begin talking about the dance. I ask him, “Do you know the name of the girl I met at the dance? What do you think of her? “ He replies,”I think your steady girl, Mercedes, is better. He said, the girl at the dance is a red head and her name is Rosemary. She is way too skinny.”

One evening during the week, I find a piece of paper in my pocket. On it is written, Rosemary Keene, KI5- 8689. I put a nickel in the telephone box and tell the operator I want KI5- 8689. She dials the number and someone answers. I ask to talk to Rosemary Keene. The voice on the other side says, “ This is Rosemary, who am I talking to?” I answer, “This is Ralph Dittmer, the guy that danced with you at the "Turkey Strut", and took you home that Sat. evening.” She says, “You know, we both go to the same school? I am not in any of your classes, but I see you in the hall sometimes.” I tell her, " No, I have never seen you at school."

After a half hour or so, just before we said good-by, I ask her to the movies the following Saturday and she accepts. Since then Rosemary and I have been terribly in love with each other. We spent many Saturday evenings at The "Aragon Ballroom", The "Gateway Theatre", The "Irving Theatre", "Lake Michigan" and coffee shops. We break up a few times, but some how we always know we are meant for each other, and that we are always supposed to be together forever. Rosemary gives me fifty five years of love and respect which is impossible to explain. I only hope that I showed her the same love and consideration. This day Nov. 25, will always be the most important day of my life. St Patrick’s Day will be my second favorite day of every year. Hopefully, soon we will be together again where we belong.

Cousins in Army:

I am eighteen years old. During this summer I spent many of my evenings with my favorite cousins. Billy Naylor,Dave Gilmore, and Betsy Brand. We had a great time together. One evening the three boys decided to join the army together, which we did the very next day. During this time there was a draft, and we would have to serve sooner or later, so we decided to join and get our time over with. Billy was called to duty in November, I was called in December, and David was called in January. Our basic training was at Camp Chaffee, in Ark. so We visited a little during basic training at Camp Chaffee, in Arkansas then Billy was sent to Korea, I was sent to Germany, and David was stationed here in Texas. I spent eight weeks in basic and eight weeks in artillery training at Camp Chaffee Arkansas. Rose was able to visit me in Arkansas the weekend before I shipped out to Germany. Then I took a ship for eleven days to Germany. I spent eighteen months in Baumholder, Germany at the company “C” in the 66th tank battalion, 2nd armored division in the 3rd army. I began as a loader on a M47 tank, and after a few months there was an opening for a radio repairman. At 5:30am reveille, the first sergeant asked," Is there anyone who wants to go to radio school?" I said," I do Sarge." He hollered back, " Private Dittmer, Put your damn hand down Dittmer." He asked a second time and I answered again, with the same answer. The next day I went to the company commander's office and asked him if could go to school, and soon after that I was accepted. Sgt. Huntly wasn't very happy about this, but the company commander is the boss.

I spent two months at school, which was eight hours a day. When I got back to my regular company, I discovered the last repairman was discharged and I was the only repairman in the company. The next year and half I spent repairing Army tank radios, a job I enjoyed. I was very proud of the fact that I could keep all the radios operating all the time. I was discharged with the rank of pfc. stripes I was discharged on December 23, 1956, and lived at home until I married Rosemary September 19, 1957.

Bob, Rich and Ralph at the Lake:

I am twenty years old. This year I am released from military service. It was the middle of winter and Robert, Rich, and I went to the lakefront to check the ice at the skating rink. The ice skating rink was located here at Waveland Street and this particular evening, the rink was being used for ice skating competition. It was a field in the park that was flooded every winter for skating. The public could not use the ice this evening so we decided to walk by the lake before going home. The lakefront had seven or eight large concrete steps leading down to the lake water. Robert and Rich stood at the top and I decided to venture down a few steps.

I started down the steps jumping down each step until I jumped on a slick of ice and fell. Unfortunately the bottom five steps were solid ice which I did not see. I had enough momentum that I slid down three stairs and was trying to dig my hands into the rocks. My heart was pounding for I knew if I fell into the lake I would be in tremendous trouble. Finally I stopped at one of the bottom steps, and I still could not stand because these rocks were solid ice. I crawled on my hands and knees very slowly until I finally reached dry ground. That was the last time in my life that I ever underestimated the lake conditions.

Starved Rock:

During a cold January morning Hank and I were hunting near the Starved Rock area in Illinois. I was about 24 years old at the time. A week before, we had a terrific storm and most of the fields had flooded, only now they were frozen. While we walked the area we kept breaking through the ice and it did not matter because there was very little water under the ice. Finally as we were walking I broke through the ice but this time there was water and I went under. I fought my way up and Hank saw that I was in trouble. He pushed a long stick for me to grab hold and helped pull me from the water.

I wasn't afraid because I knew I could get to high ground soon. However, the temperature was below zero and our car was about a half mile from where we were. We hiked back to the car and as Hank warmed the car, I stood outside and I removed all my clothes, then I covered myself with a blanket. Fortunately we had hot coffee and while we were riding home, we thought this hunting trip was one cold trip.

A Very Good Job

A month or more, after I was discharged from the army my Mother said," Ralph you have to get a job. You have been out of the army for quite a while". I knew she was right, but there were no carpenter jobs available at this time. I began looking in the want adds in the Chicago Tribune for carpentry or laborer jobs, with no success. One day my Mother says," Why don't you look for radio or electronic jobs. You repaired radios for two years in the army." I began looking in the electronic want adds after checking the carpenter section. I saw an add reading, "Electronic teck needed. Two years experience needed to repair electronic equipment".

I read this to my brother Rich and he said, "What do you have to lose? Apply for the job. All they can say is no". So I did. I applied at Belmont and Crawford Ave. in Chicago one morning. I had a short interview with a manager who asked what I did in the army. I explained what I did and answered a few questions, and he hired me. I couldn't believe it, but I was happy to have a job.

The job consisted of this: Students at Devry School (It is now DeForest ) studied electronics. They built small power supplies, a/m and f/m radios, scopes, signal generators, multi-meters, VTVM, and if they stayed with the program they finally built a TV.

If the project the student was building didn't work properly, then he or she sent it in the mail to this school. I would repair it and write a small summery explaining what was wrong with the project. If the problem was a bad part or a missing part I would state that in my letter and the student would have no extra charge, however if by chance, the part was destroyed because of the student connecting something wrong, then the student would be liable for the cost of the replacement. It was very rare when I wrote a summery stating that the failure of a unit was the students fault. DeForest probably lost money on me.

Monday morning mail came to me in the shop. There would be a tremendous amount of units to be repaired, but by Tuesday night I would have most of the easy units repaired. The rest of the week I would work on the difficult units, and there weren't many of them. It was a great job and I loved working with electronic items. It gave me a great satisfaction repairing these units.

Spring arrived and I would eat lunch outside in the parking lot and have a cigarette. Each day more and more, I craved working as a carpenter. I knew I would make much more money and I would be working outside in the sun instead of in a basement shop with no windows. Finally, one day I stayed home from work and drove to different construction sights looking for a job. I met Ralph Smith who was a carpenter contractor. He needed another carpenter to work with him and another man. I immediately told him I would work for him. The next day I went to DeForest and told them I was leaving them. They tried to convince me to stay, but that was no option. I did work for them Saturdays and evenings until they hired another person to replace me.