MY FINAL LETTER and THOUGHTS (AKA My one-liners)

1. My hands will not be resting on my computer keyboard at work, in my final moments, after all.
2. Wish I had tried harder in the 50yd dash at the Quad city meet when I was 14. I came in
5th
3. Being late is not always bad. When I finally decided to leave Italy for the States, in 1956, I was too late to book passage on the Andrea Doria. It was all booked. Wound up taking a freighter to Norfolk. Remember the Andrea Doria in 1956?

4. I climbed the tower of Pisa in 1955 and it didn’t fall over.
5. Joined the navy at 17 in March of 1950 and got out in October of 1954. Danced on the bar at
Eddies Western Bar in Boston that night. I was 21 years and 9 months old. Another moment that will never be re-captured. But, I kept trying.
6. Saw my first separate bathroom and drinking fountain for blacks and whites at a bus station in Baltimore, MD in 1951.
7. Witnessed the first black nominee for president of the U.S. in 2008.
8. Hitch-hiked over the Alps from Cannes and Monaco, France to Genoa, Italy in 1955. It was pretty safe back then. Today it hovers between 'a box of chocolates' and 'Russian Roulette'. You never know what you'll get.
9. I got the deepest tan you ever seen during a cruise on the U.S.S. Worcester to Cuba and
Puerto Rico in November of 1953.
10. I drank (too many) Rum and cokes in Guantanamo Bay Cuba in 1953 on a beautiful beach
on a most beautiful day.

11. I went on a rowboat into the Grotto Azzuro (Blue Cave) on the Isle of Capri in 1952.

12. I travelled through France, Germany and Italy selling “Wonderland of Knowledge”
encyclopedias, to Americans living in Europe, for 6 months in 1955. Lived high on the
hog in Germany and almost starved in France.

13. Went back to Italy and Europe when I was 22 yrs old with a small bag and very little money. Hey, I was 22 and, of course, immortal!!

14. Went back to Italy when I was 72 but a little better heeled financially and spent 6 days
walking all over Rome. Shoulda’ stayed for a month!! Crap.
15. Did I mention that I really loved to travel?
16. Kayaked in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the Isle of Ischia in Italy in 1953 with
a good Navy buddy back then.
17. Worked underground in a copper mine in Calumet, Michigan for a year in 1956 -1957. A year too long.
18. Was a mail carrier in Rock Island, Ill. and Long Beach, Ca. for total of five years from 1958.
19. Worked as a Candy maker in Bettendorf, Iowa when I was 15 till I was 17 before I joined the
Navy in 1950.
20. Worked as a welder, steel fabricator and layout man for about 30 years off and on from 1962 to 1992 in Tulsa Oklahoma, Davenport Iowa, Bonner Springs Kansas, Grand Junction
Colo, Hamilton Montana and all around the Denver area.
21. The navy took me to Dublin Ireland, Toulon France, Nice France, Portsmouth England, Port
Lyautey Morroco, Ponte Delgado Azore Islands, Barcelona Spain, Gander Newfoundland,
Guantanamo bay Cuba, San Juan Puerto Rico and the home port, Boston Mass. and Bar
Harbor, Me.
22. I loaded barges on the Mississippi river for 2 months before they found that I was only 14.
Reluctantly told to leave. Had to be 16 to work there.
23. I was told by my mother, when I was about 6, not to play with my belly button. She said if I
broke the string that my arms and legs would fall off. I believed her until I was about 8.
You wouldn’t believe the lint that was in there by then!



24. I’ve had 2 convertibles in my life. In 1959, I had a 1958 black Chevrolet with a white top
and blood red interior.

In 1966, I had a cream colored 1964 ford with red interior. Every
one should have had at least one convertible in their life.

25. Stood below the balcony (Romeo and Juliet) in Verona, Italy about 1956. They didn’t show!
26. Never got to hitch-hike to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina which was one of my goals in life. Only got as far as Beaumont, Texas. That was probably a pretty good thing.
27. Stood in front of the Louvre Museum on a Tuesday in about 1956. They are, of course, closed on Tuesdays. Crap!! I was only there for one day.
28. Drove over the San Bernardino Pass from Italy to Switzerland in a rented Citreon touring car (Shown below) that had the gear shift in the dash in around 1956.

29. Rode a train from Italy through Switzerland to Germany. Most beautiful trip of all. Ever! The stuff that post cards are made of.

30. Boxed in the Golden gloves at 16. Not too bad. Boxed in the Navy while in boot camp at Great Lakes Training Center. Won one and tied one. That's me on the left.
31. Went thru Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes near Milwaukee and Chicago and transferred to Quantico, Va. Military hospital and stayed 2 years.
32. Shipped to Naples, Italy in 1952 at a small Naval Infirmary in Afragola, Italy. I stayed 2 years. I was in Heaven. (Again).
33. Worked in a bowling alley in Long beach California as a desk league co-ordinator by day and a bowler by night and slept on the beaches in the early mornings 3 days a week
back when you could actually sleep on the beach, legally.

34. My uncle in Milan, Illinois was a clever and talented man. In about 1947, he took a regular boys bike and mounted a small engine on it, making it into a motor bike. I paid him about 25.00 for it and drove it back and forth to work from Illinois to Iowa for about a year. I don’t remember what happened to it. I also have a memory about his Home Brew. More about all that later.



35. Sent off for a Charles Atlas body building course in about 1946 or 1947. Nobody ever
kicked sand in my face after that.
36. My Heroes were Jim Thorpe, Joe Louis and Billy Conn in the early 40’s. And of course, FDR. in the 50’s and 60’s there were many. Paul Newman, Dwight Eddleman, Jackson Pollock, Phillip Wylie, John Kennedy and others. At this writing, I have to include Curtis Hicks and Jack Seeber. They made me realize that one can overcome anything and go on in life. Today, my new hero is Barack Obama. I wish him well and success.

37. I drank the incredible Pernod Absinthe (or Pastis) in Toulon, France and listened to Lili Marlene being sung by everyone in the bar, in french, of course. I was 20. It was 1953. I knew then I would remember that moment forever. I can still seem to smell the bar rag and the smoke if I really try.

38. In 1952 and 1953 while in Naples, They played the old Neapolitan music in most clubs with just an accordian and a violin. Such as Ole sole mio, Torna Sorrento, Mala Femmena, Anema Core, Ciao Ciao Bambino, Piscatore e Pusilleco, Nel Pinto di Blu and many more. And all that could bring tears to your eyes. Today, you can hardly hear these old songs. It is like here in the U.S. Too loud, too fast and you can't even understand the words. But the world turns, alas..

39. The good thing about being retired is that you get weekdays and weekends off.

40. If you eat lots of fruits and veggies you will eventually die.

41. God, I'm really getting old.

42. MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS EVER:

1. The Blue Grotto in the Isle of Capri.
2. The blue translucent sea water around Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You can almost see
the bottom.
3. The smell of pizza in Naples, Italy for the first time and the old Neapolitan music in the air.
4. Spending a week-end in Santa Maria, Italy with a beautiful girl in 1953. I wish it could have gone on forever. Alas, it was not to be.

5. The final play when the Denver Broncos won the super bowl the first time. WOW..

6. 1945. Walking home from school one afternoon and seeing my dad on the front porch
after 2 years away in the war. I was 12. The world was right again.
7. Standing outside in the clear dark of a night in the hills above Hamilton, Montana and seeing the billions of stars that seem to nearly touch each other. Such as never to be seen living near a city.
8. Winning a “nickel” from my dad on the “Friday night fights” on the radio in the early ‘40’s. I always picked Louis, Marciano, Graziano or Billy Conn. My dad was a prize fighter when he was young.
9. November 4th, 2008. Election night. At 9:00, the election was called and Barack
Obama was Elected the President of the United States. A moment I will remember forever.