Left for the US Army right after graduation. Spent the next 4 years overseas; 14 months on the DMZ in Korea, then 2 1/2 years on the Iron Curtain in West Germany, nose-to-nose with the Godless communists. In the process, I pretty much lost touch with everyone back here (You gotta remember, this was in the pre-Internet days, or as my daughter likes to say, the "stone age"...).

After I came back home I was (for most of the time) a plumber, both new construction and service work for a number of years before I finally got into US Steel. There was a 7-year period during the '90's that I owned a collectible record shop in Merrillville, since I'm a music nut (as long as it's pre-1985 or so - can't stand what passes for music these days). I remember Beth Fulkerson, John Hook & Linda Pickering stopping by.

I currently live near Roselawn with my wife Kim, who's originally a Hammond girl. I still get up to Hobart regularly, since my Mom's still there. And that's the Reader's Digest condensed version of my last 30-odd years. Exciting, huh?

Favorite school story? Let's see... Getting out! I was no big wheel in school, couldn't even buy a date back then (my wife doesn't believe that...).