A Memory

Friday evening: It is 6:30pm and I have finished my shower and I’m dressed for a date. I enter my car and drive to Rosemary’s home to meet her. Tonight we are going to dinner and then dancing at the Aragon Ballroom on Lawrence Ave. in Chicago. I am fifteen, no maybe sixteen, no I think I am seventeen, or could it be eighteen. Possibly I'm home on leave from the army. Or maybe it is when I’m twenty and discharged from service. It could be one evening after we are married..... We went to this ballroom all these times. Anyway, I’m in bed thinking this while I’m listening to taped music dating back to the fifties. That is when Rosemary and I enjoyed many evenings dancing to this music…………………….

I am wearing my dark blue suit and Rose is dressed beautifully, wearing a long gown with her best jewelry and she smells so sweet. We dance a few dances then we walk upstairs where there are tables. We have a beer and a cigerette, and talk for a while, then we return to the ballroom and dance a few more dances until a little past midnight, and we leave there only to find a small restaurant where we stop to have a snack and a cup of coffee or a couple glasses of wine. Then comes the worst part of the evening, when it is time to drive her home and say goodnight sweetheart. After visiting a few minutes with her folks, I kiss her and say goodnight on the front porch and walk to my car.

As I’m driving home I listen to a black radio station, "WOPA radio" a/m, with , Big Bill Hill. It is produced in a nightclub and I can hear Fats Domino or Howling Wolf or Little Richard. I like the music and it fits my mood. I have left Rosemary this evening and I am blue, that’s the type music that they are playing now. After a quick fifteen minute drive I arrive home, park my car and enter my quiet home. Mom is sitting on a couch in the living room and she asks,” How was your evening Ralph? Did you and that Irish girl, Rosemary Keene have a good time?” I reply,” Yea Mom, we danced most of the evening, and then went to get something to eat. She is a pretty nice gal.” Mom tells me,” I just couldn’t sleep tonight. Do you want a cup of coffee or something to eat?” “No Mom, I’m going to bed. Thanks anyway. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight Mom.” I say as I’m walking up the stairs to the attic where my bedroom is located. I undress and climb into bed…………

.......Where I’m at now. Thinking of all those wonderful evenings Rosemary and I had during our wonderful life together.

January 1961:

January 2nd my Mother died. She had a heart attack in her sleep. Rosemary and I are living in Riviera Beach, Florida. We moved here about seven months ago. Scott is only a week old and we decide to return to Chicago as soon as Rosemary is able to travel. There is no employment and we are broke. Rosemary is getting very homesick and I realize we must return to Chicago so I can possibly find a job.

Anyway, Bob is knocking on our door Jan 3rd. As I open the door he tells me that Mom died last night. We decide to return to Chicago for the wake and funeral... Rosemary, Grant, Scott and Shirley will fly home on a plane, and Bob and I will drive to Chicago. After the funeral, Bob, Shirley and I drive back to Florida and Rosemary and the kids stay with Grandma and Grandpa. I sell whatever I can and pack the rest of our things, and a few weeks later drive home. I believe it is the first week of Feb. when I finally arrive at the Keene home.

Our first Christmas Rosemary has to stay in bed because of complications of childbirth. The third Christmas Rosemary comes home from the hospital Christmas Eve, and she is very weak, but very happy to be home with Grant and me. Our forth Christmas we live at 2140 Monitor St. in Chicago. We use all our savings for a down payment for this house and, as usual, work is scarce at Thanksgiving. This Christmas I make the toys for Grant and Scott in the basement. We have no money, but I have a lot of 2x4 scraps and 1x4 scraps of wood. Every evening from Thanksgiving to Christmas I work in the basement building toys.

Christmas Eve, late in the evening, I drive around the neighborhood until I find a Christmas tree lot that is closed. I climb over the fence and find one I like and throw it over the fence. I tie it to the top of our car and drive home. After the two boys are asleep Rosemary and I decorate the tree with a few ornaments and a few lights that are left from my mother’s house. I bring up the cars, trains, logs and other toys from the basement. I remember I feel sad that we don’t have anything. I had bought Rosemary a comb and hair brush set and give it to her that night. She is very excited and she gives me a set of cuff links. I still have that set of cuff links. Finally, we sit in the living room and listen to music for a while, and then retire to bed.

Christmas morning is a lot of fun. The boys enjoye their toys and Scott is only a year old now. Later in the day we drive to Grandma and Grandpa’s home where we have a great dinner and a wonderful day. Grant and Scott are given tons of Christmas presents from Grandma, Ruth and Uncle Russell.

The following Christmas is pretty much a repeat of this Christmas, but finally in 1963 our sanding business begins to give us a decent living. Rose and I never complaine about our bad years. They really aren’t bad. We always have each other and our children. Through the years, our sanding business gives us some good years and some bad years, but being together is the most important thing for us. If we have a bad year, we just accept it, and hope the next year will be better.

Florida Christmas

Dec. 23, 1959 :All day I have been thinking about years ago when Rosemary and I were very young:: It was forty nine years ago today when Rose woke me at an early hour. If I remember correctly it was six or seven in the morning. She shakes me and says, “Ralph, I think it is time to go.” I jump out of the bed and help Rosemary dress and find a small case that she packed a few days ago. We drive to the hospital in West Palm Beach where a few hours later she gives birth to Scott.

I believe the hospital is St. Joseph’s, but I’m not sure of that fact. We are living in Riviera Beach, Florida at the time. I am unemployed and we lost our house a few weeks earlier. The realtor refunds our small down-payment of about five hundred dollars, saying, “I really think you kids need this money more than I do. Have a Merry Christmas.” Most of this day I spend at the hospital with Rosemary, and Bob and Shirley watch Grant for the day. Rosemary is tired, however she seems alert and healthy. She begs the doctor to release her the next day. She wants to be home with Grant and me on Christmas Eve. Her request is granted and she comes home the next day, Christmas Eve, in the afternoon.

It is a nice warm sunny day in Florida. Rosemary is happy to be home, yet I know she is homesick for her family. We had discussed returning to Chicago after the baby was born, and it is easy to see that she is anxious for the move. I keep Rosemary off her feet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We have a nice dinner that Bob brought to our house and we are happy being together during the holiday.

I have been reliving this weekend for a few days now. These are tremendous memories, yet they bring sadness to me now... We are living in a 1 bedroom duplex with a kitchen and a bathroom. I am broke; we lost our house that we watched being built. Our food supply consists of canned spaghetti and pork and beans and chili, yet we seem to be happy at the time. Or am I dreaming? January 2, 1960 my Mother dies. Rosemary, Grant, Scott and Shirley fly to Chicago for the funeral and the wake. After the funeral Rosemary, Grant and Scott remain here in Chicago. They stay with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob, Shirley and I drive back to Florida. I sell whatever I can and load everything else in our 4x6 trailer, and the second week of February I drive home to Chicago.

Monitor Street:

Soon after moving into 2140 N. Monitor, Rosemary and I decid to work for ourselves. Carpentry was still very slow and it doesn’t look as if there will be steady work for quite a while.

I drive to American Lincoln Corp. Saturday morning. It is located on Fullerton Ave. just west of Pulaski. I talk to the manager and tell him I want to begin a floor sanding company. I need a drum sander , and edger and bags and cables. I explain to him I only have two hundred dollars. After a few hours he sells me a set of used equipment for five hundred dollars. I load the equipment into the trunk of my car and drive home. Rosemary and I are excited even though we are broke again.

During the next few months I do carpentry side jobs for cash and when I am not working I try to find customers for our new company. We have leaflets and bill heads printed with Courtesy Floor Company headings. Rosemary and I take turns calling realtors and contractors on the telephone trying to solicit work. We get many promises but so far no jobs. I take leaflets containing our advertising to all parts of the city and distribute them. I place them in laundry-mats, Jewel stores, National stores, vacant buildings, buildings under construction and hardware stores.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, we get our first floor to sand. It is a living room in a residential home. The lady got my name from the add in the local newspaper. We are very nervous because I never operated the drum sander before. That night before I do the job, I can’t sleep. I can only think of operating the drum sander. In my mind I go over the procedure hundreds of times until I finally fall into a deep sleep.

I finish the floors, and the lady of the house is very satisfied with my work and even gives me a tip. This seems like a million dollars to Rose and me. As the weeks pass by, jobs are scarce.

We borrow money from "Local Loan Company" to pay our mortgage and pay American Lincoln. A few months later we borrow from "Personal Loan Company" in order to pay Local Loan and also to have money to pay a couple more mortgage payments. And during the winter we borrow again from another loan company in order top pay Personal Lone Company. But, during the next year I meet Gene Nettleton who recommends me to Riley Management Company. Bill Riley is building apartments. Some are 14 flats, 16 flats and 20 flats. I get the work and after that we begin to live comfortably.

During our stay at Monitor Street, we had some enjoyable evenings. Once or twice a month Renard and Marianne, Rich and Elane, Ken and Doris, Shirley and Ron, and Jim and Carol would come to our house. Renard and I play a guitar, Rich plays the Hawaiian guitar or the drums and Ken always plays the accordian and we all sing songs. We aren't very good. Sometimes we play until the early morning hours. It is great fun. All the couples are in the same financial situation, so we enjoy every dull minute. We never have food but we chip in to buy a few beers.

Also during that first five to eight years, our brothers and sisters visit with us and we visit them. This is our entertainment and we all enjoy visiting each other.

We visit Grandma and Grandpa Keene almost every Sunday morning, and sometimes stay the whole day. Rose and I take the Children to Lincoln Park Zoo at least three or four times a summer. It is free admission. Other days we go fishing as a family at the DesPlaines River. We live at 2140 Monitor St. for about three and half years, and then move to Prospect Ave. in Norridge.

When we move to Norridge things change. Everyone moves to different areas and we don't visit as often. Our finances improve and it becomes possible for Rosemary and me to call Joyce, our sitter, to come here to do her homework and watch the house. We go to a nice resturant almost once or twice a month to have dinner and possibly one or two drinks. While we live there, Grandma and Grandpa visited almost every Sunday afternoon and evening. Grandpa always helps Rose with the supper and also with the dishes. We usually play cards during the evening. The games are never serious, just a lot of fun with a lot of laughter. These days are a pleasure for all of us. We enjoy this pleasure for about four years.

During the summer months when the children are out of school, I take two or three fishing every Wednesday at Fox Lake. We leave the house by five thirty in the morning. We have a small boat and always come home after the noon whistle blows in Fox Lake. I usually work Saturday to make up for the Wednesday off. Also, during the summer, I usually take two of the older children to work with me. They are a lot of help and we have a lot of fun while we are in Chicago. Then we begin building this house near Mundelein, and things changed again. Soon after we move here our work dwindles, and we live above our means……….

The Sailers

It was July and my two nephews, Chips and Tony Greenwood are visiting us from Oklahoma. Their ages are possibly twelve and thirteen years old. My brother Hank and I are going fishing at Fox Lake this morning, and we decide to bring the two boys with us. We leave my house in Norridge at about five-thirty in the morning, and that is a chore to wake these two at that time. As we drive, Hank and I discusse where we will fish and decide four people will be too many in my small motor boat. Instead we decide we will rent a small row boat and the two nephews can fish out of it. We figure we will throw them a line and tow them to our favorite fishing spot, which we do.

We stop at the bait shop for a couple dozen crawlers and a few dozen red wigglers, and we arrive at the lake about six-thirty and rent a boat. It is a nice wood boat and seems like it will be fine for these two. I start my thirty-five horse motor and we tow them to the channel where we like to fish. Everything seems ok, but the the fish aren't biting and the two nephews are making a lot of noise. Hank is getting mad.

He decides to throw the tow line in the water, and he says," Ralph we’ll lose these two. We’ll let them go and we can go into the lake and fish in peace. After we are finished fishing we can come back and throw them another line and bring them to shore with us.” I say,” Hey Hank, great idea. If they get bored they have oars, they can row into the lake and find us. It will take them hours, though.” We laugh, and throw the line in the water. With that, Chips dives in the water after us and looses his glasses, but it is too late.. We are already too far from him.

Hank and I are enjoying the peace and quiet in the lake, when Hank says," What the hell! Look at what is coming towards us.” I look back and there is Chips and Tony in the small row boat. They have a large pole they are holding up with their shirts attached to it. They are using it for a sail, and to our surprise, they are really moving fast in the water.

It isn’t long and they are next to us and we give up. Hank says, “Ralph, let’s go home. These guys are too noisy. We’ll never catch any fish today.“ He is right. So I throw the boys a line and we tow them back to shore. We hook my boat on the trailer and drive home, all the while the two nephews are sound asleep in the back of my car.

Tony is sixty years old now and he has owned a large sailboat for the last twenty years five.

Winter in Norridge:

During winter when we lived in Norridge, when the temperature was zero and below, I flooded our back yard and created an ice skating pond. Two winters in a row we did this and we skated during the months of January and February. By the end of Feb. the weather would be changing and the ice soon melted. During Jan and Feb I would have to connect the outside hose and flow water over the pond in order to keep a nice smooth rink. It was a lot of fun and the kids learned to skate pretty well. Rosemary never ice skated, but was a very good roller skater. I always told her if she could roller skate, she can ice skate. I think she just didn’t want to go out into the cold evenings. After we moved here to Mundelein, I tried to flood the yard and it never worked. I’m not sure why. I tried a couple of winters and finally gave up the idea.

I gave up boating here also. The kids became involved in 4-h and we were too busy with the horses and other animals. When Rose and I were in our late 40s, we bought another boat. We fished one or two days a week during the summer months. At first Rose was a little apprehensive about fishing in Lake Michigan, but seventeen years later she was a pro. She bought another boat at Goodwill that was a little larger than the one we had, so we rented a slip at Waukegan Harbor for the next four summers. We almost lived at the lake these four years. She never got sea sick and absolutely loved the lake. We became river-rats until the day she passed away.

Mariah:

An acquaintance of mine, Gene Nettleton takes me to a horse stable to look at some ponies. I think if I can find a nice pony I will consider buying it and presenting it to the children at Christmas time. Gene tells me I could keep the pony at his farm. There are about a dozen ponies for sale. One is blind in one eye another is very small, too small for my oldest son to ride. A couple are biters and a couple are kickers.

I notice two nice large Welch ponies. One is a bay and the other is a black. I ride both with only a halter and rope for reigns. They both ride well and responde quickly. I like the black and Gene believes either one will be a good buy. After an hour or so, I decide to buy the black. I figure she would be large enough to carry my children even when they become teen agers. I give the owner, John Coy, twenty dollars and tell him I will pay the rest when I bring my wife here to see the pony. If Rosemary likes the pony, and feels secure around her, then I will buy her.

Two days later Rosemary calls Joyce to watch the children and we drive to the stable where I show her the pony. There isn’t anyone around so I find the pony, lead her around for a while. I handle the pony’s feet and then ride her around the coral. We brush her for a while. Rose seems to like the idea and feels comfortable around her. She agrees, “Let’s give the pony to them on Christmas.”

That weekend Gene helps me load the pony into a horse trailer and we take her to his farm. John Coy isn’t at the stable, but Gene says it is ok to take the pony because they are friends . Gene has a couple geldings, a couple mares and one stallion in the pasture. We turn the pony loose and she looks beautiful running free. A couple weeks later I stop at the Coy stable and pay him for the pony. He tells me he thought I stole the pony.

The day after Christmas we take the children to Gene’s ranch. When we get there Gene had caught the pony and has her saddled and bridled. It is a cold day but not terribly cold. We have a great time. I lead each child two or three times around the ranch. Naturally, everyone is excited when they hear Santa left the pony here for them, and she is actually ours.

After an hour or two we turn the pony loose and begin our ride home. Rosemary says,” we need a name for this pony. Let’s think of a good name.” Everyone begins calling out names. There is Blacky. Horse, Speedy etc... Finally Rosemary says,” how about Mariah. I think her name should be Mariah.” Everyone agrees. It is unanimous. We call her Mariah from that day on.

We keep her at Gene’s ranch for about a year. Then we buy our land and build our house. Grant and Scott are old enough to help me build and we have a lot of fun during the process. Months before we move into our new home we fence the pasture and bring Mariah here. I drive here every day to feed the pony and also to finish building the house. In late March, a month before we move here, Sundown is born. These are extremely exciting days for us and our family even though they demand an unusually large amount of work for all of us.

Rosemary’s petting zoo:

I have great memories of when Rosemary ran the small animal zoo at the Lake County Fair.

Rosemary volunteered to operate a petting zoo for 4-h when the kids were young. It was a lot of fun. The boys were able to stay over night at the Lake County Fair in order to keep watch over the animals at the fair. Although Rosemary was great at organizing this project, Rose asked me to help to build the fences, and cages for various animals. Many of the animals that were used were our own animals from our small farm. We supplied the ducks, pigeons, rabbits, calves, goats, baby chicks, and of course, Mariah. Someone brought piglets for us to exhibit. Another person brought a peacock. Russ and Jimmy know all about this one. We took pictures of children sitting on Mariah which we charged a dollar. Rosemary took pictures with her Polaroid camera. Rosemary charged .25 admission and allowed any clubs in for free. It was a lot of work and was time consuming but, it was also a lot of fun. Everyone in the family helped with the work and they seemed to feel like they were part of the Lake County fair. We would get up at five-thirty in the morning and by six-thirty we were already at the fairgrounds. We checked the animal zoo tent, and then went to the cafateria for breakfast. Following that we went back to the zoo tent and began cleaning and feeding the animals. By nine in the morning, Rose opened the tent for the public. I believe Rose operated the small animal zoo for five or six years before she turned it over to another 4-h family to run.

Kazaba the Horse and Winter:

I am looking out my bedroom glass doors and see a beautiful sight. It has snowed all day and the ground, trees and roofs are covered with a heavy blanket of white snow. The wind looks calm and the moon is in its third quarter. It is bright outside even though it is past eleven o’clock pm. I remember when I was young there were a few winter evenings similar to this, and I would saddle a horse and take a trail ride. These two writings are about evenings that were similar to this one::

The first ride is with a horse named Kazaba. He is a trustworthy horse and is about three years old at the time. The second ride is with Cindy Horse.

Rosemary is asleep and I lay here looking out the window. I sit up in bed and admire the beauty of the outdoor scenery. It all looks so nice. I get dressed, put on my winter jacket, boots and gloves and walk to the barn. We keep our horses in the barn at night during the winter months, so I lead Kazaba from his stall.

I brush him, saddle and bridle him and begin my ride away from the barn. I have taken this ride many times, but usually during the day. I ride along the railroad tracks heading towards Diamond Lake. After a half hour or so I turn towards home. We pass Bob Alton’s house and come to the wooded area that is between his house and the Hertle house. It is a large wooded area so I turn Kazaba into the woods. When we are about 200 feet into the woods the horse stops and doesn’t move. He doesn’t look scared, but he doesn’t want to move forward, even though I am urging him forward. I look ahead and it looks pretty here in the woods, then I see directly in front of us a deer and her faun lying on the ground a few feet in front of us. I talk quietly to Kazaba and gently bring the reigns back, and he begins to backup. Both deer are looking straight at us, but they never get up.

We finally get clear of the woods and I turn Kazaba towards home. As I am unsaddling the horse I can’t help thinking about the perfect ride I just had. There was a cover of snow, no wind, and temperature not extremely cold and walking up to deer. I enter the quiet house, remove my jacket, boots and gloves and lay down in bed next to Rosemary. After a few minutes I finally fall asleep remembering the incredible evening ride.

The second remembrance is also a winter evening. Only this evening we have a huge amount of snow which added to a big snowfall we had earlier during the week. It is well past midnight and I walk to the barn and lead Cindy Horse out of her stall. I brush, saddle, bridle and finally lead her out of the barn.

I slide into the saddle and begin my winter ride. The temperature isn’t very cold. There is little or no wind, but there is a huge amount of snow on the ground. Cindy horse has to jump through the snow drifts as we ride through the country side. There is a quarter moon, so visibility isn’t great, but it is sufficient. About a half hour into our ride, the horse stops. She will not move forward. I think she is just being stubborn because of the high snow. I spur her a few times and she still will not move forward, so I decide to dismount and lead her for a while. I walk forward and trip on something buried under the snow. I push the snow with my feet and see something metallic under the snow. The farmer left his hay rake parked here after using it and it is buried under the snow. I think I have one smart horse. She must have sensed that the rake or something was buried here and that is why she wouldn’t move.

I ride a while longer but, now I am a little worried that there possibly could be something else buried under the heavy snow, so I turn Cindy Horse toward home. Whenever I think of this evening I realize how lucky I was. I could have lost a good horse and I could have been badly hurt.

CW Radio:

Oct. 28, 1998 When I was a young boy, I was always interested in radio and electronics. My life was shaped by the events resulting from this interesting hobby:

It always has been intriguing and mysterious to me. Whenever I find a book concerning radio, I will read it many times, from cover to cover. My favorite book is “Amateur Radio” which containes details of the procedures to acquire an amateur radio license. It also includes drawings of many different radio circuits, explaines how radio circuits operate, and also includes the procedures to build and repair them. I read these books many times, and hope I will get an Amateur radio license someday. I want to operate a transmitter and possibly build my own radios. Unfortunately, I am too young and not capable of learning the technical information at that time.

My mother takes Hank and me to visit Aunt Betty and uncle Mack who live in Villa Park. When I go in the basement of their home I found it is filled with electronic parts and equipment. One thing that always sticks in my mind is a project Uncle Mack is working on. It is one of those new things we call television. He is building a TV in his basement and it looks like the greatest thing I have ever seen. I can close my eyes today and visualize that chassis with all the different colored wires and tubes. It mesmerizes me forever.

After I graduate from high school, I join the army. My basic training takes place at Camp Chaffie, /> which is near Little Rock, Arkansas. When this training is complete, I am sent to Germany and am assigned to the 66th tank battalion as a loader on a m-47 tank crew.Soon afterwards, the radio person, who is called the commo chief, leaves our company to be discharged from the army. Because of this, my company needs another radio person. I volunteer for radio school and fortunately, I am accepted. The class time is eight hours a day, besides our military duties, and lasts eight weeks.

After I complete the schooling, I spend the next two years repairing tank transmitters and radios. This is an exciting and incredibly interesting job. Later, I am discharged from the military and return to civilian life but, my thirst for electronics does not end. De Forest, a school that teaches radio and electronic theory, needs an electronic technician to repair the student’s assignments that have problems. I apply for the position and work there about a year. When I marry and start a family, I find a job in construction for higher wages. After a few years, I become self employed and remain this way for the next twenty-five years.

When I am about forty-six years old, a drastic change begins to take place in my life. My two older sons studied electronics and computers at De Vry Tec, and are now repairing computers. We discuss computers and electronics often at dinnertime or whenever we are together. Because of this, I decide to return to school to study computer technology. A year later, I change my lifestyle completely. I quit my construction job, apply, and am accepted for a position at Digital Computer Company, and begin repairing computers.

This is when amateur radio begins to surface again in my life. A friend Dick Amundson, who I work with, tells me he had recently received his amateur radio license. He convinces me that I could also get an amateur radio license. Russell and I study the rules and also learn Morse code, which consists of sending and receiving code at seven words per minute. Within three months we acquire our novice licenses. I resume my studies and within a short time, qualify for a technician, advanced, and finally I pass an expert license, sending code at twenty-two words per minute.

Since acquiring my license, much of my time operating a radio is spent sending code. This is called cw, and is very similar to telegraphy. The majority of people that I make contact with are from different countries. I work England, France, Germany, Japan, and many other countries around the world. Unfortunately, there are only a few days during the month when the radio waves are good enough to make good contact with Europe or Asia.

The radio transmitters and receivers that I use do not cost much, however, some radios we actually build. They are interesting to build, and many hams, like myself, enjoy adjusting and aligning the radios. When we finally use them and make contact with another country, we get a great feeling of accomplishment.

After a few years of sending cw to various countries, I notice everyone sent in English. Also, when we discuss temperature we use fahrenheit, although all other countries use Celsius. This seems strange to me. I begin to assemble notes with different radio-related phrases, in different languages. I begin to use my notes to converse in their language. If I made contact with France, I will use my French notes, and then if I contact Japan I will use my Japanese notes. When we discuss weather I use celsius. This is a totally new concept to amateur radio. The people of various countries enjoy hearing from an American who tries to communicate in their language.

Rosemary observes this for years and thinks it would be a good idea to assemble all my notes and arrange them in book form. I follow her suggestion and soon, with her help, we compile all my notes in a couple of books that we name "Speak to the World". I'll write a paragraph about the books later.

These books, many friends, my job, and my life have been shaped by the deep interest in radio and electronics. It is a great hobby, which has been part of my life since I was a young boy. Even today, it is possible to find a radio book in almost every room in my home.

Our Radio Dream:

Before my heart attack and surgery, Rosemary and I are buying old radios and repairing them. We try to make every radio operate loud and clear. We repair the large and small cabinets and a few of them we refinish.

We meet a few other radio collectors while we are at flea markets. We discuss different radios we saw and the prices people wanted. We are always looking for parts and literature concerning radios. One man we talk to is Joe Willis. Joe has an idea to start a radio club where people like us can swap parts and information about radios. We discuss the idea many days and then decide to go ahead with the idea. It is a great success. Joe is the president, Rosemary is the secretary of the club. She remaines secretary for four years and then decides to retire from the position. She is a great secretary and everyone loves her. The club is huge now. We have only been to a few meetings during the last five or six years, and I only visit one meeting since Rose is gone.

We really enjoy doing this. We have hundreds of radios in the basement. It is our idea that when we get old, we can sell one or two radios a month in order to have a little more cash for our retirement. Every radio we work on is a challenge and exciting to work on. Every radio is beautiful and works perfectly when we are finished. Whenever I struggle with a radio, Rosemary always looks for, and finds the schematic for me, this is one part I don't like and Rosemary does.

After years of collecting these radios and repairing them, I have heart surgery. And after a few months pass, I believe I will never be able to lift, carry or work on these radios again. Most of these old radios are very heavy so we decide to sell them, and only keep a few very old sets. We do, we sell them to a couple of radio collectors at a very low price. The transaction is a huge disappointment to the two of us. We love working on these radios and each one had a sentimental value to us.

Years later my strength returns and again Rose and I decide to buy old broken radios and fix them only this time we decide to sell them on eBay. Rose checks eBay, newspapers, Craig’s list, antique stores, garage sales and Goodwill store. She is good. If a radio is advertised for two hundred dollars, she will offer twenty dollars. She will e-mail many people, sometimes four and five times and finally she will get the radio. I will drive and pick up the set and we will begin the restoration. Even though the people try to sell their radios at a high price, they are almost always in very bad condition and the majority don't work.

We will spend a day or two working on a couple radios, and when they are finished, Rose advertises them on e-bay. We will list three or four a month, and by the end of that month almost all are sold. Then Rose would packs them in boxes, and I will drive her to the post office where she mails them. This works very good for two or three years until e-bay kept increasing their fees. Also, for some unexplained reason, the radios aren’t selling very well. We will list six radios and only sell one or two in a month. We don't understand why, and we see other radios advertised on e-bay priced much higher than ours.

So we finally give up this venture. We still will buy a cheap old radio once in a while and I will repair it and possibly refinish it, but we keep them. To this day, I will buy a radio cheap, repair it, polish it, but now I just stack it on a shelf.

Newspaper Delivery:

Twenty-five years ago Rosemary and I decided to deliver newspapers in order to supplement our income. We began delivering the Daily Herald News and it had to be delivered seven days a week::

We start our day with the alarm clock ringing at three thirty in the morning. By four o'clock we are at the newspaper office. The papers are in the rear of the building and I bring them to our table. We roll about one hundred and fifty papers and stuff them, into plastic bags. After an hour or so, when they are all rolled and stuffed, we load them into the car. Then we will drive to the beginning of our route and I deliver to all the houses on my side of the street, and Rosemary delivers to all the houses on her side of the street.

When we finish, ordinarily at six o'clock, we will drive to the "Rainbow Restaurant" and have coffee. Rose is usually very hungry by now so she will sometimes eat breakfast. We will arrive home about seven in the morning and, most days we return to bed and sleep until ten or eleven.

We deliver papers for two and one half years and finally give up. We are always tired. We have to deliver every day, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, and every Saturday and Sunday. After we quit, we feel like we have a new life. It feels so good to sleep until six or six-thirty in the morning. It is great that we don't have to deliver on holidays.

Even though we didn't like the hours of the job, we still had a lot of fun delivering papers. We met some nice people there at the office and we did make a few dollars to help with the bills.

Speak to the World:

I have been an amateur radio operator for quite a few years. Now I only operate cw, unless I am talking with Rosemary on our two meter radios. For about seventeen years I sent Morse code about two or three days a week for a couple of hours each day. I sent to people all over the world. Many contacts were Russia, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Japan and many many other countries. After years of making contact with people I began to send in their language. I would look up sayings like, good-morning, have a nice day, my radio here is a Kenwood, I like fishing, I am working on my car today, good-by and a few other expressions. My contacts always seemed to like this, since no one sends code in foreign languages. Operators from Japan, Brazil, Germany, France and many many other countries sent me letters and cards. It was fun and it was exciting.

Rosemary would watch me send and read the return messages and thought it was interesting to see how much the people liked this. I kept a small notebook with many of my sayings. She always liked reading the comments that were sent to me, and the letters when they arrived.

Sometimes when we had coffee together we would talk about the people I made contact with and she would say," You should put all your notes in a book. Maybe we could sell the books." At first it didn't seem like a good idea, but the more I thought about it, the better the idea seemed. Then one day as we were talking about the book, I told her I would try to put these sayings in an organized book form. She said she would help.

I began to copy my notes. Then I went to libraries and collected many more sayings. If they were German sayings, I would test them every few days by sending code to someone in Germany. I did this with most of the languages, and before long this became a full time job. I was working at the libraries six days a week and Rose was editing the pages whenever she could.

Rosemary bought a book binder and bindings, a paper cutter and a few boxes of paper. I entered all the information in the "DecMate computer". After the information was entered, Rose would print a language and edit it, sometimes three or four times. Finally, Rose had printed a front and back page for our books and we began printing and assembling them. This took endless hours. Some evenings we were printing and assembling from seven in the morning until ten in the evening. We had six language books. Each book contained five foreign languages with English translation.

We printed these books and sold them sold them for about six years until we noticed our sales were getting sparse. We checked a few Radio books where we advertised, and and found that a couple people were now selling language CD and tapes. They only had one language, but our sales dropped significantly. Finally, we decided to scrap our project, but it was a lot of fun working together with Rosemary on this venture.

I forgot to mention, Rosemary had a copyright for each book in the name of "Rose".

During the period when we were working on these books, we decided we needed a day off. A day when we would just relax and forget our work.. We decided to go to a few Cubs baseball games. We found a guy named "Ticket Teddy" who sold tickets at a tavern near Cubs park. He sold us great seats for a few dollars over gate price. We went to the games about twice a month for two years. We drove to Addison and Clark St. at ten thirty in the morning and parked the car on Clark Street. Then we walked to New Town, Belmont and Broadway, and had breakfast at a resturant. After breakfast we walked back to the park, found our seats, and watched batting practice. When the game was over, we drove to Broadway and Irving and bought chicken sandwiches at Burger King and drove to the lake. We ate our sandwiches, had coffee and spent the evening at the lake. About ten in the evening we drove home. But the expense was beginning to increase, not just the ticket fee but, everything else also.

We were sitting in the yard on the swing one day discussing the price of going to the games and Rosemary asked,"Why don't we buy a boat and instead of going to baseball games, we can go fishing once a week. It can't be as expensive as this. We like to sit at the lake, why not spend the whole day at the lake?" We did buy our first boat and we have been going fishing together for nineteen years. It was a great idea and we had some great days on the lake, not only fishing, but just spending a lot of time together at the lake.

Our Gift

It was on a beautiful sunny summer day. The only drawback of the day is the wind. It is blowing extremely hard. Rosemary is working in the yard and I have a few errands to attend to this afternoon. It is nice and, I am driving a Saturn car that Kurt gave us last week. It handles well and traffic isn’t bad today. I finish my list of places to visit and I turn the car towards home. As I pull into the driveway, my radio is playing a tune from the sixties. I turn the engine off, exit the car and enter the house looking for Rosemary. I look down our hall and into the kitchen. I don’t see her.

I think I hear her calling me. It sounds like she is outside, so I walk out into the yard. I see her, she looks very concerned and she says, “Look! Look! the car rolled down the hill into the lake. It just missed hitting me. I heard an odd noise and when I looked up; I saw the car rolling toward me. Look, it’s in the lake.”

She is right. I didn’t put the emergency brake on and it’s not in gear. I run down to the pond and try to hold the car from sinking any farther into the lake. The wind is blowing about 30 mph, and is blowing the car across the pond, almost as if it is a boat. I need a rope and I don’t see one anyplace. I release the car and run to a shed, looking for a rope or a chain. There is none in this shed. I run to the garage and look without success. As I turn to look at the car, I notice it has floated farther into the pond. I am in panic mode now. I run to the tractor and find a chain so I start the tractor and drive it to the pond, but by now the wind has blown the car to the other end of the pond.

By the time I get the tractor to the car, only about a foot of the trunk is above water and it is beginning to float toward the deep part of the pond. I quickly hook a chain on the bumper which is plastic and slowly pull with the tractor. The Saturn moves slowly with the tractor, and now I have to release the chain and connect it to the frame in order to pull it completely out of the pond. I release the chain and lie in the water and reach two feet under the water to reconnect the chain. It’s connected and I pull the car out, but the steering wheel is locked because the ignition is off. The decision now is, should I turn the key on and possible short out the computer or do I drag the car the way it is. I make the wrong decision. I turn the key on. All this time Rosemary just stood there. I believe she is in shock.

I pull the car to the driveway and Rosemary and I begin to try to wash it. Just then Kurt drives up. He gets out of his car, not knowing what has just happened, and says, “Are you guys washing the car?”

With that Rosemary begins to cry. She knew we just lost a very nice car. I explained to Kurt what happened and we all decided the damage is done. Rosemary says,” Let’s have a cup of coffee and relax. We can figure what we’ll do after we calm down.”

The car was ruined and we junked it, unfortunately. I honestly believe that was the first time in my driving career that I didn’t put a car in gear when I parked it, and it had to be a hill. No sense crying over spilled milk. This sounds like a very funny story, and it is, but it was a terrible nightmare at that time. Now, it is a very funny story to tell people, but I never want to experience anything like that again.

The Irish Rose:

It is the second week of June, 2002. I return home early after working on one of Russell’s rental houses. I walk into the kitchen where Rosemary already has coffee poured. She is sitting in her regular chair at the kitchen table that is facing the field. While we are talking she asks me to bring the truck to the Goodwill store.

She says,”I bought something today at Goodwill, and we need the truck to bring it home. I hope you won’t be mad at me.” I tell her, “I’ll start the old truck after we have coffee.” I can see she is anxious to leave, and I’m sure she is worried that if we don’t leave soon, someone might buy the item she bought so I get ready to leave. Rose is already waiting for me by the truck.

We climb into the truck, I start the old Ford, and we drive to Rt. 60 and Midlothian Rd. where Goodwill is located. I drive to the door and let Rose out and then park the truck. When I enter the store Rosemary is talking to the manager. She is excited because today is Thursday and everything in the store is discounted by ten percent. I can hear her ask the manager for the senior discount and I can see the manager smile and he agrees in order to make the deal. While she is talking and paying the bill, I drift to another part of the store where I am looking at electronic products.

A short time later, she walks up to me and says, “Follow me. I hope you won’t be mad because this is big and it isn’t in good shape.” As I look around I see there aren’t many large items in the store so I ask,”Babe, what did you buy?” She says, “It’s not in here. It’s outside. I’ll show you.”

I think that the manager or the workers at the store brought something outside, but as we get outside I don’t see anything. Rosemary says, “There it is.” And she points to the end of the parking lot where a large 22 foot boat, in very bad shape, is parked on a trailer. I walk over to it without saying a word. The inside is in a shambles. It has no floor, no sides, no door for the cabin, and the instruments are missing. Rosemary says, “I hope you aren’t mad. The manager says that the person who donated the boat says the engine is good and all the instruments are in the cabin. I know we can fix it. You can build the floor and the sides. I’ll help. Look there is a new roll of floor carpeting in the boat.” I just laugh. “Babe we can fix it up. It will probably take most of the summer, but we can do it.” Rose says,“ He wanted five hundred dollars for it, but I got the Thursday discount and he even gave me a senior discount.”

I hook up the boat trailer to the truck and we drive home. Rosemary feels like she got the bargain of the century. And she was right. The only things we needed to buy was the plywood for the floor and the vinyl for the sides. Everything else was in the cabin as the manager of the store told Rose. It took us the whole summer to fix the boat, but we had a lot of fun doing it. Finally the second week-end of September we launched the boat for the first time. Grant, Kurt, Scott and Russell came with us. I believe it was one of the happiest days for Rosemary. Everything was perfect. We drove the boat to the gas dock and filled the tank and then brought it back. The water was rough and Rose rode with us to the gas dock but, wouldn't ride back with us. The engine performed nice and there were no leaks.

For sixteen years we couldn't decide on a name for our first boat, and For four years we could never agree on a name for this boat. Every so often I would say, "Hey, I have a great name for our boat. Let's name it The Squid," or something like that. Rose would always disagree and she would call out various names that I would disagree with. Every time we used our marine radio we were asked the name of our vessel and we always said the weekender because that was the model of our boat. so it still has no name. This spring I decided that I will paint a name on this boat. Knowing that Rose loved fishing and loved being on the boat, and also the fact that Rose bought this boat, I think it is ony proper that it should, and it will read “The Irish Rose”.

The Drive to Chester’s:

March 11th 2007 --- I am working on a radio in the basement. I come upstairs and tell Rosemary that I need a few parts and I’m going to Chester’s Electronics in Kenosha.

It’s only about eight thirty and I ask Rosemary, “Why don’t you come with me to Chester’s? I need a few parts. We’ll be home before lunch.” She replies,” Why not? It will be a good morning to take a ride. The sun is out and it isn’t too cold.” With that she puts on her coat and I start the car and soon after, we are driving down route 137. This is the route we usually drive when we drive to Lake Michigan when we go fishing or boating. Chester’s is a few miles north of Waukegan Harbor on Sheridan Road. As we are driving north on Sheridan Rosemary sees a restaurant named Bob and Anne’s. She says, “Bob and Anne’s, they talk about this restaurant all the time on WGN. They say it is a good place to eat.” I reply, “Well, we’ll stop there for breakfast on our way back. We’ll try it out. It is close to our slip.”

We spend possibly an hour or more shopping and talking to the counter lady in the store then we drive south towards the harbor. I see the restaurant and pull the car into their lot. We enter, are seated and order breakfast. After breakfast and while we are having our coffee, Rosemary says, “The breakfast was good, the service is good, the prices are ok and I can smoke in here when we have coffee.” I tell her that it is only a couple of minutes from the slip, but she doesn’t believe me. She says,” No, I think this is a long distance from our boat. I don’t think it is close at all.”

After she extinguishes her cigarette we walk to the car and Rosemary opens her door. The alarm system goes off and the siren is blaring. Neither of us knows how to disarm the alarm and it takes us at least ten minutes, thanks to the owner’s manual, to silence the horn. For a few seconds or longer, we sit in the car laughing. Then I begin the drive to the harbor. “Watch Rose, you’ll see it only takes a few minutes for us to get to our slip”, I say.

When we arrive at the harbor, she is shocked to see that the drive is only a few minutes from our slip. We decide to get out of the car and walk around the harbor, but that idea changed quickly. It was terribly windy and even though the temperature is in the forties, it still is very cold and there is still snow in many places. We immediately returned to the warm car. We sit here for a while talking and planning for two weeks from today.

“Rosemary, not this Saturday, but the following Saturday I’m launching the boat.” I say. She says, “I don’t know. It’s awful cold. I hope it gets a lot warmer in two weeks.” With that, we begin our 20 minute drive home. Only four days later was March 15th 2007. Rosemary and I haven’t seen the lake together since that happy and enjoyable Saturday of March 11, 2007. Our day will come.

A beautyful Lady:

Aug 21 2005 2:15pm As I gaze upon the person that I love, I notice that the past years have changed her from a young, proud, beautiful, and very intelligent woman into a beautiful grandmother. And great- Grandmother. When I first met her, she had striking auburn hair, smooth firm skin, and sparkling eyes and stood proud and tall. She was determined to become the best secretary in the Chicago area. Now, fifty-four years later, I see a woman with gray hair, wrinkling skin, and one, who walks slowly, as if she is tired. Is she just as pretty a before? Does she still have the pride that was present years Earlier? No, she looks much more proud and beautiful.

Rosemary has a tremendous amount of love present in Her eyes. Even though she walks slower, the pride which she had earlier is still evident in her attitude and manner of speech today.

March 15 2007, the worst day of my life. Last night my wife, Rosemary, woke me and said she was having problems breathing. I called 911 and although it seemed like hours, within a few minutes the rescue people arrived and took control. As I left the house to follow the Ambulance to the hospital, I told Mitch to call my sons. I didn’t like the way Rosemary looked and I thought they should be at the hospital to cheer her up .

We all know what conspired during the next few hours. We lost the greatest gift that God gave anyone here on earth. She was my love, my greatest friend, my helper, my fishing partner and My reason for living. We tried to spend every hour with each other since we got married. We only needed each other. Our interests were shared by each other. We were only separated four times in our marriage. Once when my mother died and we came home for her funeral. Afterwards, Rosemary stayed here with Grant and Scott, who was only a week old, and I drove back to Florida to bring back our possessions. Another time Rosemary visited Bob Keene in Louisiana, and twice I had to go to Boston for computer training.

Midnight Mass:

I first attended midnight Mass when I was in fourth grade. After that I went to that Mass every year until I married Rose. Rosemary also attended midnight mass when she was single. After we married, we always wanted to attend the Mass as before, but the children were little and the opportunity wasn't possible. Years passed and Christmas was celebrated with Grandma,Grandpa and Father Tom on Christmas Eve. We never got home until late in the evening or sometimes in the early morning of Christmas so we never went to Midnight Mass then. As the years passed, Grandpa died, and then Father Tom, but we still celebrated Christmas Eve with Grandma so we still didn't go to Midnight Mass.

after Grandma died, Ruth had Christmas a week before Christmas which left Christmas Eve open, but a couple years Scott and Cathy had their Christmas then. Finally, only four years before Rosemary passed away, we began to attend Midnight Mass together, at Santa Maria in Mundelein.

The Mass ceremony is beautiful, without all the silly ideas that the church includes in their ceremonies these days. The church has plenty of room, no need to stand during the Mass. We always get there early because they play Christmas music from eleven-thirty until twelve. Then the Mass begins and it is really beautiful. After Mass we would drive to the I-Hop in Vernon Hills, and have breakfast and coffee before driving home. The evening was very special to Rose and me.

We attended Midnight Mass three years and the last Christmas Rose was here, I noticed she was extremely tired. I didn't think it was right to wake her for the Mass, even though she enjoyed going there.