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1 OUR STORY By Bobby Floyd Fate 1 Fate/luck does play a major part in us getting married forty five years ago!! Here is how it happened. Working a little over a year in Atlanta after being honorable discharged from the Army (drafted) and my Vietnam tour, it was time for me to relocate because I was a tad mixed up mentally and the life that I was living there in Atlanta just wasn’t me. I quit my job, stopped smoking and drinking and I was on my way to Daytona Beach in my VW, hopefully to start a new and better life. As a young teenager I had worked (waiter & kitchen help) and attended many times a church camp at Indian Springs, GA that was held only two weeks every year. I say this because as fate would have it, on my way to Daytona, I saw a sign that said Indian Springs Church camp is open. I pulled in and spent the next three days there. My very first day in Daytona Beach I got a needed haircut. I asked the Barber where can someone with no real skills get a good job? He replied: Telephone Co or Power Co. Sitting in my VW, I opened up the want-ads pages of the morning Newspaper and found something that I had to have, a place to stay and it cost no money which was good because my funds were down to less than $150. After waiting almost six hours for the interview with the owner of this 200 unit Motel, he was so impressed with me for waiting as long as I had ---he gave me job. There was no money involved for me in this gig, but I now had a small clean furnished apartment on the beach side and all I had to do was to get up every time someone rang the bell at the front office between 9:00 pm and 7:00 am; check them in or help them. You see the bell was connected directly to my apartment because there was not a full time clerk in the office. The next day I walked into the personal office of Fla. Power and Light Co and fate played a part again because I was hired on the spot because I was a Vietnam Veteran and the personnel lady doing the hiring had a son that had just been sent to Vietnam and she just wanted to help me. This was a huge change from my past experience in Atlanta when looking for work because I was turned

€¦ · Web viewAfter getting my friend and her daughter back to Jacksonville, me and my VW were towed back to Daytona, I started back to work at both jobs again

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OUR STORY By Bobby Floyd

Fate 1 Fate/luck does play a major part in us getting married forty five years ago!! Here is how it happened. Working a little over a year in Atlanta after being honorable discharged from the Army (drafted) and my Vietnam tour, it was time for me to relocate because I was a tad mixed up mentally and the life that I was living there in Atlanta just wasn’t me. I quit my job, stopped smoking and drinking and I was on my way to Daytona Beach in my VW, hopefully to start a new and better life. As a young teenager I had worked (waiter & kitchen help) and attended many times a church camp at Indian Springs, GA that was held only two weeks every year. I say this because as fate would have it, on my way to Daytona, I saw a sign that said Indian Springs Church camp is open. I pulled in and spent the next three days there. My very first day in Daytona Beach I got a needed haircut. I asked the Barber where can someone with no real skills get a good job? He replied: Telephone Co or Power Co. Sitting in my VW, I opened up the want-ads pages of the morning Newspaper and found something that I had to have, a place to stay and it cost no money which was good because my funds were down to less than $150. After waiting almost six hours for the interview with the owner of this 200 unit Motel, he was so impressed with me for waiting as long as I had ---he gave me job. There was no money involved for me in this gig, but I now had a small clean furnished apartment on the beach side and all I had to do was to get up every time someone rang the bell at the front office between 9:00 pm and 7:00 am; check them in or help them. You see the bell was connected directly to my apartment because there was not a full time clerk in the office. The next day I walked into the personal office of Fla. Power and Light Co and fate played a part again because I was hired on the spot because I was a Vietnam Veteran and the personnel lady doing the hiring had a son that had just been sent to Vietnam and she just wanted to help me. This was a huge change from my past experience in Atlanta when looking for work because I was turned away because I had been in Vietnam. It was in some Newspapers that we were baby killers and we took dope. I never saw any dope or anyone kill a baby. I have to admit I did drink a lot there. Sure, I noticed this gorgeous French Canadian young lady when I checked her and her parents in the motel but I’m thinking she cannot be more than 15 or 16 years old – too young for me. Besides that, the next day they checked out to go to Miami and I took off to Buford, GA to pick up my used fishing/ski boat that was being stored at my aunt/uncle home and tow it down to Daytona Beach. The rest of the story maybe tomorrow and you won’t believe how FATE/LUCK again played a big part in getting us together

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Fate 2 On my way to GA to get my boat, I picked up a high school friend and her young baby in Jacksonville, Fla. to give them a ride back to our home town of Marietta, GA so that she could visit her parents and sister. About 25 miles outside of Jacksonville on hwy 10 a disaster happen, my VW engine blew up on the worst road in the country because there had been many rapes and murders for years on this highway. It was very hot this day and I had to leave my friend and baby and go get help. After waiting for over an hour at the nearby service station, five miles away, and a nervous wreck, I dropped the coins in the machine to get a pack of Winston and my addiction is still going on to this day. After getting my friend and her daughter back to Jacksonville, me and my VW were towed back to Daytona, I started back to work at both jobs again. By this time I was replacing some of the full time clerical staff when I was not working at the Power Co. and they paid me themselves under the table when they wanted off. My boss, owner of the motel and now a friend told me the second day back from my misadventure with my VW some news. The French Canadian family with the beautiful daughter had checked back into the motel because they did not like Miami and he had learned that she was 21 years old. That evening she came down to the lobby where I was working and next thing I know we had a date the next morning to go walking on the beach. Her name was Jocelyne, and believe me when I say she was some serious “eye-candy” but with a bikini on “OH MY”. She was so pleasantly different from any girl than I had ever met; grew up in a different world that I had; had gone to all girl Catholic school & college, played classical music on the piano for me and it did not hurt that she then had a French accent. I was truly hooked in just a short time (a few days) and I proposed to her over a cup of tea in a beach side restaurant and she said YES. Then they were gone back to Quebec. I telephoned her as soon as they returned home and she had told her parents that she wanted to married me, but first I must ask permission from her father. Was I nervous? You had better believe it. He said yes, but you must understand that she is very spoiled. Because the family was very Catholic, we must get married in a Catholic Church; promise to raise our children Catholic and get a written letter from my minister with his permission and description of my character. I had no problem with any of this. Yes, I was going to a very large Baptist Church in Daytona every Sunday and I figured that would not be a problem getting my minister’s permission to get married. Was I ever so wrong! The minister said NO because I should not be marring a Catholic and he would not give me a letter. After contacting Jocelyne about this problem, her priest said for me to go to the local Catholic Priest in Daytona for consultation. After a couple of visits to this young priest, whom I liked, he gave me the letter that we needed.

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I put an ad up on the bulletin board at a local college for someone to help me drive to Canada. Got a response from a young man from upper New York and we were on our way nonstop from Daytona to Quebec. Now do you believe me that fate/luck did play a part in us getting married 45 years ago today? It’s time to take my bride of 45 years to her favorite Restaurant in Lynchburg, VA. Please note the photo of a piston with a valve stuck in it. I keep it as a reminder without my VW floating this valve over 45 years ago; I would have never met nor married this exceptional lady.

Here is the rest of our marriage story 45 years ago.

The road trip to get married was long and very exhausting. I had dropped off the college student in Albany, NY in the early AM and there was a lot of snow accumulation. In some places going north from Albany the snow banks were over 10’ on both sides of the now narrow hwy with little or no traffic both ways and my speed had dropped down to below 40mph. I was also beginning to hallucinate some with visions of Santa Claus. etc. in the snow banks as I continually rolled up and down the windows in my VW bug to help keep me awake with the freezing air. Even though I was trying to make it to Jocelyne and her parents’ home without getting a motel (to save my money), I needed some sleep in the worst way, so I decided to find the first motel but none were open until after I had passed the Canadian border for many miles. When I telephoned Jocelyne from the motel early the next morning after getting a few hours of sleep, she told me that I had less than 20 miles to go. I had no clue that I was this close. I arrived the day before Christmas and was very well received by her mom Mariette, dad Maurice and younger sister Danielle. Most of the next few days are somewhat a blur now. I do remember meeting their relatives/ friends and a lot of French being spoken but all of Jocelyne’s immediate family were bilingual and when I was around they would switch to English. To my great surprise her mother Mariette, this little lady 4’11” with a great sense of humor, wonderful smile and with her heavy French accent, became my best friend and confidant. We had a few things to resolve before the wedding: (1) Change the priest who was going to marry us because he could not speak English; (2) Wedding ring and bands – her aunt/uncle owned a couple of Jewelry stores and gave me the wedding band and Jocelyne’s mother gave her her wedding ring. ; (3) Shoes for the wedding for me- again another uncle loaned me a pair, (4) Best man – Jocelyne’s father youngest brother Andy,(Mr. personality) who was totally bilingual; (5) be interviewed by her priest (requirement)-- Jocelyne translated; (6) Very important to me--find a motel where we could spend our Wedding night that was close by and a bed longer than 6’ (I’m 6’

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2”). We finally found a motel about 8 miles away but had to settle on a bed that was only 6’; and (7) Rehearsal. The Wedding day: I had all kinds of emotions going on from fear, nervousness, excitement and joy… There was a very big crowd, all relatives and friends of Jocelyne and her family was in attendance at this extremely beautiful and large Catholic Church. Most of the ceremony is vague to me now because I know that I was in a daze when it was going on. But I do remember that I was now married to the love of my life: Marie Therese Jocelyne Lefebvre Floyd. The Reception: Her dad, it seems to me, spared no expenses because the food was plentiful /delicious and the amount of wine and alcohol was unending. The French Canadian people are some of the friendliest people in the world and they know how to have a good time. We danced and they sang many beautiful French songs. Over half the people in attendance could speak very little or no English but we all had a great time even though I was the only one at the time that could not speak one word of French. Yes, there were a lot of jokes and comments about our wedding night but her Uncle and my best man said in front of everyone that he was coming to the motel with us, stand beside our bed and read the instruction manual to me on “how to do it”. I grew up in the very conservative state of Georgia in the 50’s and I had never heard this kind of talk in a mixed crowd but still I enjoyed it all. Believe it or not but by the wedding night I forgot all about the length of the bed!!! I’m sure Jocelyne had the cleanest teeth in the world that night because it took her 30 minutes to brush them and I thought she was going to spend the night in the bath room. Maybe I should not say this, but the wait was worth it as we consummated our marriage. I still remember it as if it were yesterday. “OH - MY - GOODNESS! “ The next morning early we went back to her parents’ home to load her clothes in the backseat of the VW bug, say goodbye and head south to Daytona. We had not been gone long when Jocelyne started getting sick, a flu was coming on and by the time we checked into a motel that evening she was really ill with it. I telephoned her mother for some help. She told me what medicine to give her and to put her in a hot tub of water. Putting her nude in a hot tub of water and giving her a bath was something that I looked forward to doing. I shouldn’t have said that either. We made it to just outside of Washington DC for the second night and we ran into another problem the next morning; It had turned very cold and they had an ice storm that night;. VW would not start. The battery is under the back seat where all of our clothes were and after removing them and getting a boost it still would not start. We had to be towed on the main hwy because ice was on the secondary roads did not give us enough traction. It finally started and I was back on my way to Fla. with my very, very sick bride. We were both very happy to get to my furnished apartment at the motel and rest. My boss and owner of the motel had given us a wedding present; two weeks free at the motel and the bell to my room was disconnected. Jocelyne’s flu lingered on for another week before she was back to her

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normal happy go lucky self and we were off to being a young happy married couple in Daytona Beach, Florida.

MY BRIDE AND I LIVING IN DAYTONA BEACH 1968 &1969

In the first part January 1968 we had two weeks free in our apartment on the beach side at the Treasure Island Motel in South Daytona Beach that my boss had given us as a wedding present before we had to move because the car races and motorcycle weeks were coming soon and the motel needed all the rooms that could be rented out over the next two months. This period is one of the most profitable times for Daytona. Rates for motels are double what they are in the fall. Some private motels in slow times had their clerks check to see what kind of automobiles people were driving when checking in. People with expensive autos were given the high rate. If they complained, we would lower the rates and tell them it was a different room even though it was not. My future father-in-law paid the high rate because he was driving a new Buick Riviera; he was surprised when he was told what was done to him by his now son-in-law. We found a one room basement apartment on the far north side of Daytona bordering on Ormond Beach, our stay there lasted only a couple of weeks before we moved up stairs in this divided furnished home that made two places for families to live. We now had a furnished two bedrooms, two half baths, hall way, large kitchen/living room /dining area with bay windows and a large covered patio overlooking the Ocean and the cost was only a $125.00 a month. Our back yard was the Beach. Were we lucky or what? We were in High Cotton as they say because our immediate neighbors’ home belonged to the heirs to the Maxwell House Coffee fortune and Jocelyne became friends with them. Whenever we wanted, we swam and surf fished in the ocean, which was very often the first few months. For the first month my VW had to be parked at the top of a sand dune every evening and parked on a small hill at work to be able to start it when coasting down or have someone push me until we had enough money to repair the starter. Money was really tight because my weekly check clear was only about $90.00 and Jocelyne did not work or was not able to drive a car with a clutch. Every week we sold our soft drink bottles for extra change. The second month here brought in a major problem for us because US immigration was threatening to deport Jocelyne back to Canada in a couple of weeks because the she had not signed “one” of the many forms when she applied to live in the states. The US customs would not work with us in any way and she had to go back to Canada and sign one form in Montreal at the US customs. Thank goodness that her father paid the round trip airplane ticket for this two day trip. Did I say that my new bride could not cook? She weighed 105 pounds and my weight was 175 pounds when we married and within six months she weighed 95 and I weighed 150 lbs. Jocelyne hates me saying this but we did

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live off of LOVE-- a lot. Besides that we never stopped because almost every evening after my work and on week-ends we were on the go somewhere doing something. We now had my boat here and we went fishing in the river a few time and once, did water ski in this wide river called the Halifax that emptied into the ocean only a couple of miles away from where I was skiing . We could not figure out why people were not skiing on this very flat water until I found out the hard way when I fell while skiing that produced some serious cuts on one of my shoulder when hitting the bottom that was full of broken shells. Except for the channel in the center, this half mile wide river had a depth of about 2’ deep in most of it. The next time I water skied it was on a small inland lake (a mile long and about 200 yard wide) near Ocala. There were only a couple of small fishing boat out and I had the lake to myself to ski. I did really well this day on the one ski and did not fall for over 30 minutes of doing it but when I got into shore an older gentleman came up to me and said: “son I don’t think it’s a good idea to ski here”. Why, I replied? His response: “alligators and a lot of them in this lake.” Except for a few more time fishing the boat stayed parked for the rest of the time in Fla. We did play tennis a few times but we golfed a lot. I had taken up golf when living in Atlanta and both Jocelyne and I had a day class with a professional golfer when living in Daytona. We joined a par three golf club directly across the street from the race track in Daytona and the cost was only $125.00 a year for both of us. This was lot of fun because they had lights on the course until 11:00 pm every night. Every Tuesday a tournament was held for its members. Each team was made up of a low handicap player with a high handicap player. I was the novice player or high handicapper and when I had a better than normal evening, we normally won something. At different times I won golf shoes, hats, balls, t-shirts and tees. One Saturday when not many people were playing, I decided it was time to save some money and to try to retrieve some golf balls that were in one of the larger ponds and get the ones people could not reach from the shore. Jocelyne’s job was to stand on the bank and watch out for water moccasins and/or alligators that we knew were in the pond. I waded out about 20’/ chest deep and was able to retrieve about 100 balls with my 8’ ball extender…. I never said that I was very smart. Another thing that we did a whole lot of in the evening was going to Jai Alai and bet on our favorite players. I was not the only one that thought that Jocelyne looked very young because she was carded almost every time we went. Most of the players knew us by sight when we sat up toward the front because they would wave to us when we arrived. I really don’t think it was us they waved to but it was my beautiful wife with her short sun dress with a somewhat exposed large top that seem to get everyone’s attention. We also did some camping in our used army pup tent with no door flap. The tent cost us $5.00 at the army surplus store; snorkeled a lot in the inland lakes/springs and sometime I went scuba diving; visited Silver Springs in the glass bottom boats; visited historic Saint Augustine with the oldest existing

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home in the USA and its forts; and toured both Tampa and Coco Beach in search for Mexican restaurants..After a month or so I bought Jocelyne a puppy to keep her company. He name was Marquise DeBabess and she was a registered miniature poodle that I paid $125.00 for. Daytona Beach was an amazing place with almost something going on all the time: races (Daytona 500 & bike week), Dog racing track, spring breaks for colleges, Easter breaks, senior high school parties, vacationers to name a few. I’m sure you will believe me when I say it was all an accident ------Jocelyne really thought I was looking at the skimpy clad good looking girls on the beach……I stayed in hot water all the time with her about these accidents. No, I wasn’t looking honey!! What really helped us survive money wise was my overtime at work but mainly the relatives and friends that came to stay with us because they furnished most of the food. We had Jocelyne’s sister Danielle and her girlfriend, my aunt, my mother and sister, her uncle, Jocelyne’s father and mother; Jocelyne’s mother came another time and stayed recuperating from an operation for over a month, my favorite cousins Hilda and her boyfriend –they got married on their way back home to GA and they are still married, plus many other friends on both sides. Once during a 75mph hurricane work called me in early while Jocelyne stayed all alone at our apartment. She knew that maybe I might have to work some overtime and asked me to bring home some boiled shrimp for supper when finished working. She was not a very happy camper when I woke her at 3:30 am to give her the shrimp but I did do what new boss (my bride) asked. We did eat out a lot in local restaurants but my favorite places were at the Krystal (5 burgers for a dollar) or McDonalds where the Big Mac was 25 cents. I do miss the Krystal burgers- we do not have any in VA and the fresh fish directly from the boats delivered to some local restaurants. We loved the broiled fresh snapper at our favorite small local restaurant. This makes me hungry just thinking about it. We had no air conditioner in our apartment so, many nights, we would pull a bed up to the only exterior open door to get the wonderful ocean breeze. After almost a year the house that we were living in was sold and we had to move. This time the apartment with one bedroom was a couple of blocks away from the beach and neither one of us like it very much but it was all we could find near the beach but it did have an air conditioner and a place for our dog to run around in. Another drawback was that it was too small to receive guests that helped with the groceries and keep Jocelyne company. Jocelyne did very well emotionally until her first Christmas away from home. No snow and the temperature was running about 70 degrees on X-mas day. I did not help the situation much this Christmas because of my present. I had bought her some very expensive earrings and boxed/wrapped them up in a small box. You think that would be a nice present wouldn’t you? It was, but

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what I did not tell you is that I put the small box inside of some size 12 new rubber high top billy boots from the Power Co. and then boxed/wrapped up everything in one big box. She had been shaking this large box for a week trying to figure out what I bought her for Christmas. When she opened the large box and saw the boots she started crying in the worst way thinking that was her gift and continued on even after I showed her what the real present was. She was truly homesick and I was upset because I had helped create this situation and did not want to see her this way. Jocelyne is Catholic and I’m Southern Baptist so we agreed to try not to make this a fighting point in our marriage and we could go to the Church each wanted to attend. I went once to her church in Florida and what I found was a lot of Latin being spoken and somewhat disappointed in that they did not sing. I understand that they do not have Latin services anymore. Next, Jocelyne went with me to my large Baptist Church in Daytona and her response to me afterward was: Why does the preacher bang the pulpit so much and why does he yell almost every word? But I do think she enjoyed everyone singing the many songs that day. Even though I cannot carry a tune, I sang my heart out that day and she was nice to me because she did not say a word about my singing and I appreciated that. There was another dark cloud hanging over our marriage and Jocelyne worried about this a lot. Even though I had been drafted and served two years active duty, I still had a very good chance, at that time, of being called back into service because I had a 4 year reserve obligation. You see, everyone that went into the military in those days, even draftees, had a 6 year obligation and some reserve and national guards outfits were being called up at this time in 1968 because they needed more troops in Nam. We were once at a very big banquet that the Power Company had with its employees in our area. We all sat at this screened in area where the tables were put together in line to make one long table. As luck would have it, we sat directly across from the President of the Company. This older, grey headed, highly educated and pleasant gentleman was in a conversation with me and my Bride. By this time Jocelyne’s American language skills had improved a whole lot and she had very little French accent but certain words and American slang were still in its learning phase. One thing I can say about my wife is that she has never been able to hold back speaking when something is on her mind. As the President of the Company was in casual conversation with us Jocelyne interrupted him and said: I don’t understand what you are saying Sir because all I know is “four letter words”. Needless to say everyone near us broke out laughing and said to me “Bobby what you are teaching her”? Jocelyne turned to me and asked what’s so funny and I explained to her that “four letter words” is slang for curse words. She had meant to say she only knows small words in English. Later on when I was working in Quebec in the French language I too made a lot of mistakes that got a lot of people laughing. It was time to start looking for a home for us to maybe purchase. Because I knew nothing about real estate, I decide to take an evening real estate

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course. Jocelyne made me promise to not get my license because her dad was in it and was never at home. After the course we started looking for a home. We found a beautiful brick, 5 year old two story where one could see from upstairs both the Halifax river and the ocean. It was a bankrupt sale and they were only asking on $22,000. Today it would be worth a million. The next one that we could afford much easier was a duplex one street over from the beach for $10,000. But before we did anything I needed to figure out how to make more money in my work. I had worked both Line work on a crew and the service truck as a helper for over a year and enjoyed both jobs. The problem I had here was that it took “time “to move up to an apprentice lineman and then a lineman. It would take me another 6 to 8 years to become a lineman that paid $4.80 an hour at the time which was pretty good money. The other problem I had was heights and even though I practiced off duty climbing poles, it was not something that I enjoyed. A lot of my older friends at work suggested to me to apply for a Storeroom job because it was non Union and you would get promoted faster especially if you are were willing to relocate. I really did not like this storeroom job much because you were busy in the morning with the trucks but by afternoon one had to look for work or push a broom just to look busy. My friends were correct in saying if I were willing to relocate I would get promoted because within four months an opening came up for a storeroom manager in a small town in central Florida that I could have if I wanted it. This town offered us nothing that Jocelyne and I wanted. It was one of poorest places that I had ever seen in Fla. The way majority of blacks and 50 whites lived in shacks and except for farm work nothing was really there and living in central Florida was something that neither one of us wanted. So I turned down the offer and continued on with my boring storeroom job in Daytona Beach. One day, I asked Jocelyne to call my work and report me as sick. She said if you are going to do this then let’s take a trip over to Deland and see what it would take to go to one of best law schools in the country at Stetson University. I had gone to two years of college at North Georgia College in Dahlonega- dropped out at the end of second year to travel and see what’s out there (which I did), had taken correspondence courses in the Army, attended night law school at Woodrow Wilson law school for 4 months in Atlanta, taken refresher courses at Southern Tech for three months in Marietta. Stetson University wanted over $10,000 a year to go there full time. This was totally out of the question. We returned to our apartment late that afternoon when Jocelyne suggested that I telephone North Georgia College that I had gone to before. I told her it was a military college and that I was not a Georgia resident and besides that I did not think they would take a male civilian as a student. Was I ever so wrong!! The Registrar acted as if she remembered me and said please come on back and she would let me in as a Georgia resident and I would be the first Vietnam Veteran to attend the school and because of recent low enrollment in the military school that had just started accepting more civilians.

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That weekend I was playing golf with an older friend who was an engineer at GE and I told him that I wanted to go back to college but had no money. He said “if it’s something you really want—don’t think about the negatives just do it and it will work out.” On that following Monday, I quit my job, loaded my boat with our possessions (clothes, golf clubs and our small black and white TV) and hooked the boat to our VW bug and we were on our way to North Georgia College in Dahlonega, GA to register for classes. The problem was that we did not have near enough to pay for the first quarter tuition, books, rent, and food. Read about it in my next write-up about our return to College.

RETURN TO COLLEGE Before I start reminiscing about the return to college, there are a few disastrous events that did happen in Daytona Beach before we left that affected us very much. There was a help wanted ad in in a local Newspaper for a part time evening desk clerk at the motel where I had worked and I was considering taking the job but Jocelyne said NO. The young man about my age that did take the job was murdered one evening about a month later after taking the position; he was shot in the back of the head while at the switch board; all of $30 was taken from the cash register and they never found out who did it. The other was: the owner /my friend/ex-boss of the motel sold it and walked away with a huge profit; decided to travel the summer months with his wife and three young boys. While in Western Canada, he and his oldest son (about 13) were standing on the top edge of a high cliff looking at the scenery and the side of the cliff gave away and they fell a long way down. The son landed on top of the father and lived but with a lot of serious injuries ; but the father died on the spot…… When attending this four year military college in 1960-62, my parents paid everything, I was not ready then to take advantage of what they were doing for me but now it was a different story. Two years of college with no degree meant very little in the real world as I wandered across the country (Texas, Nebraska & Wyoming) taking the numerous unskilled jobs that were available to me. Because every physically able male over 18 had a military commitment, most all companies, did not want to talk with you until you had fulfilled this commitment. There were many ways to avoid the draft in the 60’s especially when the Vietnam Conflict started. The First law was if you were married you did not have to serve. A huge increase in marriages occurred so the government changed it to, if you were married with a child you did not have to serve. A whole lot of babies were born from 1964 through the early 1970’s to avoid military service. People that stayed in school were deferred; had employment that the government deemed

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essential; joined the Peace Corp, moved to Canada (125,000), etc. The only advantage of being drafted was you had only two years of active duty service but the army decided where and what you did. If you volunteered full time for any branch of service you had a longer commitment of active duty but you generally had some choices of jobs or places of deployment. Men who signed up for the Reserves and National guards served 6 months active duty state side with 5 & ½ years of one weekend a month plus two weeks of training every year. The lottery to be drafted was started in Dec 1969 continued until about 1973 and then the US went to all volunteer military. Before arriving in Dahlonega in the summer of 1969 my mother had found us a temporary place that was down town above an ice cream store on the old town square. We did find another place a week later that Mrs. Edward’s owned that was directly across the street from the administration building at the School. It was an old restored 19 century home that had been divided into the 3 apartments and we were upstairs with a large kitchen, bath room and bedroom and we lived there for another two months with our miniature poodle. After paying the month’s rent, the funds to pay the tuition for the first quarter were very short. We put a for –sale- sign on my boat and the first person that looked at it wanted to try it on Lake Lanier which was not far away. . Sometimes the motor was hard to start but this day, we got lucky again, it started like a new motor and we sold him the boat for $350.00. The thirtyish something pleasant man that bought it had just gotten out of prison a few days before for moonshining. It’s really not that bad if you consider where we were in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. At the time this area was known for being the capital of moonshining in GA besides being the site of the first major gold rush in the USA after taking all the Cherokee Indians lands and sending them out to Oklahoma. It’s also near the end of the Appalachian Trail. We paid my quarterly tuition and I still remember having to take a mandatory English literature class and it was definitely not my cup of tea. No matter how many hours studying, it was not sinking in my thick head. If it were not for Jocelyne helping me I would not have passed this course. She had taken this type of class while in her French college and she knew this stuff as good as my professor. The first to get a part time job was my wife and she worked about 20 hours a week in the language lab for minimum wage. This was a perfect job for her because she spoke perfect French, ok English, fair Spanish and some German. Before we go any further, I must say something about my wife: She was a 100 percent behind me returning to school and after being married for a little over a year I learned that she had this uncanny ability to remember everyone’s telephone numbers and birthdays (even today); she also, had an ear for music and languages, she could hear a song and practice for an hour or so and play it on the piano just by hearing it. When she was not working,

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she lived in English crossword books and reading (for Christmas presents one year at college all she got from me was a big stack of crossword books). Sometimes in life one gets lucky. The college had almost finished building a huge student center with a large reception lounge, chapel, one apartment, two additional bedrooms for guests, offices, study rooms, TV lounge, large canteen, information booth, conference room, bowling alley, movie theater, 6 large bathrooms, auditorium and a pool hall to name some. The person in charge of it all, Mr. Reed, a retired Warrant Officer in his early forties who had his feet frozen in Korea and still had a lot problems with them, offered me a job because I was older, a vet and we were now friends. No money involved but instead: a free new luxurious furnished apartment with one bedroom, dishwasher, large fancy bathroom, carpet and velvet sofa and chair, and large dining room table. This is all I had to do: unlock all the entrance doors by 6:00 am and lock them all after 11:00 pm seven days a week; hire and maintain the students work schedule for the Information Desk that was open most hours that the Center was; check on the students for any misbehaving like making out; entertain any guests speakers or dignitaries, etc. that the school might have before or after their talk and check to make sure they were ok with their bedrooms. By the time the second month started, things started looking up: GI Bill was paying me $125.00 a month, the same they paid in the early 50’s and 6 months after my graduation it jumped to $350.00 and today it’s in the thousands a month plus rent money. Jocelyne was bringing in the needed grocery money with her part time employment and I was finally learning how to study as my test grades started improving a little. We had settled into our new apartment that was next to the two bedrooms for the dignitaries but one had to go through the beautiful very large lounge area to the only door to our apartment. My intention was to take some courses that would help me get into law school but after my first class in Psychology things changed. My professor, Dr. Coon, who was only 6 years older than me, had been a high school football coach for a couple of years before going back to the University of Georgia to get his PhD, convinced me to major in Psychology. He and I became very good friends over the next two years. My favorite of all subjects was Experimental Psychology. My three month experiment on the effects of caffeine on learning, using lab rats, was A plus work and the accolades for this professional research were many. This was really the field (Experimental Psychology) that I wanted to pursue upon graduation but later on found out that it would require me getting my PhD to make a decent living from it. Another subject that was very easy or natural for me, but not so for many other students, was Sociology (all A’s) Next, the head of the Psychology Department, Dr. Jackson, offered me a great opportunity to start and run the new experimental Psychology lab. The school bought an old small one story home very close to the campus and asked that I fix it up inside with cages/ lab rats and maintain the lab. The pay was minimum wage but could work all the hours that were needed and with

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the help of two other psychology majors as my assistants (Jack Mayer & Mike Shipp) we provided an excellent lab for the students.. Some of us worked as many as 14 hour days on the week-ends and holidays. I trained my favorite rat called BABY to go through a complicated maze first, get into an elevator. The elevator would be released due to her weight, get out and go to the jumping stand (about 5’ off the ground) and jump over a foot and half away through the closed door with a black circle that would flop down. There were two doors; one with a solid black circle and one with a solid white circle and the circles were changed left or right often. She would then climb a ladder, walk a narrow ledge about 2’ long, climb a perch that was about a foot high and get her reward (food). Overall height to the food was about 7’. Baby could do all of this in 33 seconds. We brought her to many 101 Psychology classes where she would show off her skills in this presentation. She loved to get into Jocelyne’s lovely long hair on her head and wander around in it and on her shoulders. Baby was given to my favorite professor’s young son as a pet after graduation. Jocelyne was ever so good at being a hostess to the schools dignitaries. She dressed and talked the part of a hostess. She served some tea and refreshments in our apartment on many occasions as we entertained them. We were host to two Governors, one Senator, many authors, etc. We had many a study session with other students in our apartment and Jocelyne would provide meals or refreshments. No alcohol was allowed on campus. One of the main reasons that we had study session was to learn from each other but also, some of my class notes were unreadable. One thing that was done often was for me to go fishing and catch our dinner meal. There was a trout stream only a couple of miles from the school and if there were a couple of hours between classes off, I went fishing for rainbow trout and always came back with some. The few times that we were able to get off on the week-ends, we went camping and or fishing with other students. By my senior year, Dean’s list was the norm for me. In fact, the last quarter I finally made all A’s. Even though my grades were good, the two things that even today are problems for me are: my writing and spelling skills that are deficient. Thank goodness for multiple choice questions and the Bell Curve that some of my Professors used. In May of 1971 I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with minors in Sociology & Biology. The person that presented me with my sheep skin/diploma and shook my hand was the then Governor of the State of Georgia ---- Jimmy Carter. Except for my mother paying $50 deposit on our first apartment we paid for everything with the aid of the GI Bill, me working two part time jobs and Jocelyne one. We took zero student loans out and owed no money to anyone when I finally graduated at the age of almost 29. We had considered staying on campus after graduation in some sort of position because both of us loved the area, being around students and the

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teachers was a joy, but our hopes were nixed because a new President of the College was being brought in with his cronies. Nearly all my contacts were being replaced including my boss at the Student Center.

Returned to college stories 1. Jocelyne and I were taking a casual walk back to our apartment for lunch when she asked me: “what does a ball bearing do?” Curiosity got the best of me and I asked her: why do you want to know this? She explained to me that after lunch she had to go to one of the classes and tell the students that Mr. Simpson was not going to be there because he had to be a “ball bearing” at a friend’s funeral. I shouldn’t have, but could not help it when I smiled. She had never read or heard the words pall-bearer before but the words ball-bearing were close. Thank God, the situation was remedied before she said it in class. Can you imagine the students’ reaction? 2. One Saturday Jocelyne and I spent the day fishing in a small lake on a side road up in the mountains going to Blairsville, GA. After catching our limit we returned to campus but had forgotten that the school was having a reception in the lounge of the Student Center for US Senator Herman Talmadge that evening, all in formal attire. Remember, the only door to our apartment was inside the student center. Somehow we needed reach the other side of the Student Lounge area to get to our apartment door without being noticed or drawing any attention from the large crowd. We were dressed in our worst clothes, me with a white T-shirt and shorts; Jocelyne had decided this day to wear “my” old light yellow Bermuda shorts that went almost to her ankles. Jocelyne’s hair was a mess, not much make-up on and both of our clothes were covered with dirt, slime from the fish and especially worm goo that accentuated the colors even more. We figured our best chance was to hug the wall as I carried the small chest full of trout while Jocelyne who was almost glued to my back (very, very close behind me with the fishing rods). You guessed it! About half way around the wall to our apartment, Senator Talmadge spotted us and made a bee line to us with part of the crowd following him. He just wanted to see the fish that we had caught, so I opened the cooler to show him and now everyone else too. Gee, I wish I had of photo of Jocelyne’s face and her attire this evening as she was introduced to the US Senator. 3. Dr. Oliver, who was from England, spoke three languages fluently, studied to be a minister, married three times at this time, my French teacher, Jocelyne’s boss, head of language department came to our apartment (when we lived at Mrs. Edward’s) with his then wife and enjoyed a dinner meal with us as we consumed three bottles of wine one evening and we all became friends for the remainder of stay at college. 4. After the end of the first summer session Dr. Oliver offered us his brand new diesel Mercedes to drive to Quebec for vacation to visit Jocelyne’s parents/sister if we would just drop him off at Kennedy Airport in NY and pick him back up a week or so later. When returning from our visit in Canada, I

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had lost or misplaced my driver’s license and here we were in this crowded, traffic congested, high speed, New York City in a borrowed expensive car and I was more than just a tad bit nervous when a two ton flat-bed truck pulled alongside of us and two scruffy looking African American men yelled to me: “get the hell back to GA.” By the time we had arrived at Kennedy Airport, I was a nervous wreck and was so looking forward to Dr. Oliver taking the wheel and getting us out of town. But it wasn’t to be because Dr. Oliver could barely walk when he got off the airplane. He was drunk!!!! 5. Sometimes as part of our job at the student center, we also had to prepare for receptions in the large student lounge in front of our apartment. We had done this for the then present Governor of Georgia, Lester Maddox and someone had provided a birthday cake for him with his famous word that he said often: “Phooey” put on it. The Governor tried three times to say Jocelyne’s name but could not when I introduced her to him. I never understood how he got to be Governor. He was an arch segregationist and the Rev. Martin Luther King said the results of the vote made him “ashamed to be a Georgian” It was my understanding that the governor did not graduate for high school and his claim to fame was selling axe handles in his gift shop at his famous restaurants in Atlanta. Welcome to Georgia in the 60’s. If you don’t know his reasoning for selling the axe handle then ask someone of the time period. I’m too ashamed to say. 6. Very sad but true: Jocelyne and I had befriended a freshman; an 18 year old who liked to be called Blue who I think was the first one of African American descent to attend this college. The first quarter, while he was downtown (a couple of 100 yards away from the campus one night), by himself, he was pulled into an alley and beaten by some men of the area just because of his skin color. He stayed for only two quarters in this college before he transferred out. This was 1969 and there was not only prejudices in the Deep South that still existed in a lot of places but there was true hatred of some minorities. This is a subject that I’ve tried to understand; why this happens since I was a teenager growing up in Marietta, GA in the 50’s where everything was segregated: water fountains, movie theaters, bus station, buses, schools, sports, restaurants, swimming pools, etc. 7. There was still a lot of moonshining going on in the area but the Sheriff was clamping down on some of them. The Sheriff’s double-wide trailer, about a mile from campus, was blown up with dynamite one night but he and his family were not at home at this time. 8. Our VW bug was just about finished because it was not really made to pull a boat hundreds of miles like we had, we needed another auto. My father-in-law who had been a bank manager for long time, went into real-estate sales and did very well for many, many years, gave us $2000.00 to purchase another automobile. We compared prices at a lot of dealerships and finally found the first year made: a red, stick shift, 1970 Ford Maverick that we both loved and paid cash $1800.00 in Cummings, GA for it. 9. It was time for Jocelyne to get her driver’s license so we found a secondary paved road with little or no traffic to practice on to learn how to

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drive a stick shift and she did very well except when the car was at dead stop on a hill. Coordinating the clutch and gas was a real problem for her so we found a mountain with a straight away for about a mile going up for her to practice on. The car would jerk then go dead every time she tried, it seemed. Then along came a state trooper (the only automobile we had seen this day on this road) who got out his car, came over to me and asked me what the trouble was? My response, “I’m teaching my wife to drive”. He smiled/chuckled, turned around and walked away then yelled back: “GOOD LUCK”. 10. Jocelyne hates me telling part of this story but I’m going to do it anyway. We went camping/trout fishing with a young couple Charlie Olinger and Liddy Black from college next to a stream up in the mountains near to the side of a dirt road with no one else around us. We had caught a bunch of rainbow trout, wrapped them in tin-foil with butter and cook them on the open fire and believe me when I say they were delicious. The four of us only had one tent, the army pup tent with no door, so the girls were in the tent and we men were outside at the girl’s feet in our sleeping bags. As we were lying there talking in the dark, I decide to run my hand up my wife leg and all of a sudden, with the sound of urgency, I heard Liddy’s voice: BOBBY! BOBBY! My hand turned loose of the leg ever so fast. And then the girls started laughing hard. You see it was Jocelyne leg all along and she had put Liddy up this joke. I’ve always heard that pay back can be hell. The next morning early, it was my turn to pay my bride back. There was no restroom facilities where we were and when the city girl who had never camped primitive style said what do I do? I said: there is a big oak tree up the hill, which was about 4’ around, and go behind it. So off she went. I told our friends watch this. When Jocelyne was totally out of sight behind the big oak, I yelled “We can see you” waited a few seconds and yelled again “we can still see you.” I guess now you know what happened. Then, I yelled even louder “you’ve gone too far.” 11. The lizard story: We decided to go bass fishing and for bait we needed some spring lizards (salamanders) that they sold at bait stores for $4.50 a dozen but to save money decided to go to the mountain creeks up near Murphy, NC and wade the creeks to get my own that cost nothing. I collected about four dozen, put them in a cooler with a little ice and kept them in our apartment until we were ready to go fishing. One Saturday morning Jocelyne was really being lazy and would not get out of bed. My solution, pull the covers back and let her share the bed with four very live, active, spring lizards. I had never seen my lovely wife move so fast. Did I ever tell you my wife has a temper? As I ran from her swinging fist, I held her back by my long arms stretched out with my hand on top of her forehead. I was laughing so hard that I lost my concentration and all of a sudden my hand slipped from her forehead and she connected; knocked the air out of my sails as she landed a good one to the side of my chin with her right hook.

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I know most of you women are thinking that I deserved it-------- and you are probably right. ----- Pay back can be Hell.

Canada 1 One of the best days of my life was when I got “my piece of paper” because it was long time in coming, and no one could take this away from me. We had a wonderful party for my graduation in our apartment in the Student Center where Jocelyne’s parents came from Canada, my mother and sister; many of my professors and their wives, plus other friends (students) were in attendance. Her parents wanted us to move closer to Quebec, Canada and both Jocelyne and I were open to a new adventure, so, why not. We moved in with her parents as I checked with McGill University (the Harvard of Canada) about their doctoral program. My interview went well but they were looking for A plus students for the 3 year doctoral program but they did like my research on the effects of caffeine on learning. Next, I went to the University of Vermont that did not have a three year accelerated program but would accept me in their master program and then maybe the Doctoral program afterward. I really was not that upset about not continuing my education because: my two year GI bill was used up, we were nearly broke and it was time to look for employment. Because Quebec was only 10 percent English and 90 percent French, I was, at the time, not even considering looking for work there because of my inability to speak French, but instead concentrated on Vermont or New York State. We moved to her parents’ beautiful retreat log home on a lake near the border of US to start my search for employment in the states. My first test for a job was in Burlington Vermont for a social worker’s job did not go as expected. Of the eight or so people taking the test for this job, I was the only one without a Master’s degree. All the other people were willing to take this $7,500 a year job just to be close to the snow skiing resorts. My next offer after taking the State exam was to be a New York State trooper. The pay was good ($17,000 a year) because they gave me credit (more money) for having a four year degree and more points for being a vet. I wasn’t totally thrilled of the prospects of doing this kind of work even though the pay was good, but Jocelyne again said she did not want me to take it because of the danger involved, shift work and not being home on the week-ends. Because we were living in Canada at her parent cottage and was not having any luck finding work in the states, decided to try Canada. Got my Quebec driver’s license and my immigration green card (landed immigrant) which meant that one could do everything a Canadian could do, except to vote.

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There were a few small towns in the area we were living at the lake that were mainly English speaking so I searched for work there but to no avail. After being in Quebec for about two months, a friend of Jocelyne’s family, Jimmy Petts and I were out fishing for small mouth bass on the lake at the cottage and he asked if I would be interested in working for Bell Canada as a manager trainee in this huge warehouse in Montreal where he was a 2nd level manager. About 100 people were employed there. I jumped all over this opportunity; we found an apartment in Beloeil where her parents/sister and a lot of relatives lived and started my new job. Within a month or so Jocelyne went back to the job that she had once had as a Service Representative in downtown Montreal with Bell Canada. I was making about $16,000 a year and she a little less but now we were trying to settle into a new life. My job was good but it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had been there over a year when I quit it to take a job paying $6,500 but first had to learn to speak French and promise to take some advanced courses at York University in Toronto in this new field, to get it. Needless to say, my father-in-law was furious that I quit my job with an excellent future for such low paying one with no security.

Canada 2 The first evening when returning home from the manager trainee job at Bell Canada was both good and bad. The good part: was a job and it paid well but the bad part was that I was doing the same type of work that I had been doing before going back to get my degree from college (unloading trucks, stacking material, and driving a fork lift). I worked about three month downstairs in this huge warehouse with all the noise of conveyer belts running all over the place, fork lift trucks, and other machinery doing every job that they had downstairs. Finally they put me upstairs with my suit/tie and now I was one of about eight inventory controllers. The bosses, as part of my training, were running me through the different inventory controller jobs. I met a lot of good people there that became my friends, both English and French, but when I looked at the managers, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd levels, it was not looking good because most all had problems (ulcers, alcohol, or heart problems). I guess, what I’m saying: there was a lot of stress for the ones sitting behind a desk in a managerial position. We (Jimmy Petts, another 2nd level manager & I) car pooled almost every day the 20 or so miles but stopped at a lounge on the way home very often and sometimes on Friday nights our wives would join us. One morning when we went to pick up the 2nd level manager, who was about 37, he had died of a heart attack early that morning. Jimmy Petts and his wife Cristal, who had three beautiful young daughters, became our best friends the first year in Quebec.

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Bell Canada had gotten part of a contract to install a new telephone systems in Saudi Arabia and Jimmy was offered and later took a year contract to go there ($50,000 a year clear- no taxes) and he asked if I was interested in going. As a 2nd level manager he could bring his wife and his children’s private school in Europe would be paid for. If I took it, I would go as a first level manager but could not bring my wife, so I said no thank you.

Here is Jocelyne’s and my entertainment the first year there: 1. buying furniture for our apartment,2. going to the cottage to be with family3. taking many trips to Saratoga Springs, NY to golf and playing the

horses in the evening4. touring historic sites like Upper Canadian Village in Ontario 5. Eating out at the great international restaurants in Montreal. 6. Pawn shopping in old Montreal on Craig St and Notre Dame St. 7. Spent a week-end at Quebec Ice (winter) Carnival in Quebec City, it’s

like our Mardi gras. We had no room to stay in because everything was booked so we decided to take the train and spend the nights on the church pews like some others had done before. Everyone on the train was singing in French and having a great time and Jocelyne befriended a girl who invited us to stay at her friend’s apartment in Quebec City. There were about 15 others there in this single room apartment, sleeping on the floor. I slept in a clothes closet. A whole village, castles, etc. were made of Ice. Outside was the coldest that I had even been in ---minus 40 degrees not counting any breeze. No matter how many layers of clothes I put on, I was freezing. Everyone had their hollow walking canes with some sort of alcohol in them and we were no different because we had ours full of Scotch and as you walked in the crowds you would see all the canes pointing up in the air as everyone consumed their choice of alcohol and partying. Even though I could not converse with anyone at this time, we had a very cold but wonderful time.

8. We took our first vacation together to the Grand Bahamas. The resort was owned by a Canadian company and they had including in the package price: flight there and back from Montreal, use of three 18 hole golf courses, all the booze you could drink, tennis, boat rides, two great (all you eat) meals a day, Olympic pool, billiard hall, ping pong room, nice large suites, maid service, parties and all of this for only $250.00 each for a 7 day stay.

A few things that I learned about the people and area around Montreal, Quebec, Canada our first year there:

1. French Canadians are some of the friendless people that I’ve ever meet. They enjoy a good time. They truly appreciate it when you try to speak French.

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2. Most English people there are tight lipped and straight laced like in England but are good people.

3. I never did see spring or fall but was told that you could smell it in the air.

4. Baby, it is really cold outside in the winter time and it’s really a long season.

5. Great snow removal: Never missed a day of work because of snow.6. Your automobile in the winter time must be plugged in to warm the oil

or water or it will not start; I learned the hard way. 7. Electricity is the cheapest anywhere.8. Some of the best restaurants anywhere.9. The cheapest (free), best, faster medical care that I’ve ever had.10. Very little welfare or unemployment.11. Construction workers are unionized and take their two week

vacation the same time every year. You personally could work on your own home but dare not get anyone else like neighbors, relatives, or friends or you would pay a fine if they were not part of the construction union.

12. No one drives slowly13. They love their summer time.14. They all enjoy their alcohol.15. Wine is a very common drink with dinner. We had it every night

and bought it by the gallon.16. The primary language spoken in upper management in most

large companies was English, all others French.17. I did learn some French curse words while in the warehouse at

Bell Canada and my wife told me not to repeat them. Most anything associated with the Catholic Church like chalice or tabernacle are as bad as an American saying GD.

18. Appliances and automobiles were more expensive there at this time, but many other items were cheaper.

19. Wages were much, much better than in the States at this time.20. The Canadian dollar was about 85 percent of the US but today

they are about the same.21. Sales tax as well as provincial & federal taxes were higher than

in the States.22.

OH, one story that I forgot to tell you. The first couple weeks in Canada, while staying at Jocelyne’s parent’s home, we had a guest from college. Jack Mayer who had worked with me in the psychology lab in college, a friend of both Jocelyne and I, came to visit from his home in Penn. Danielle, Jocelyne’s younger sister, who was just returning from a vacation in Europe, was not pleased to see someone else at her home when she arrived back, because she just wanted to be with the family. It all worked out because Jack and Danielle hit it off; in a couple of months, Jack transferred to a college in

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Montreal, changed his major to computer science and they were married two years later and moved to Penn. Someone told me about a non-profit organization in our small town that for quite a while had been looking for a General Director. Here was the deal: They had rented an empty furniture store, where we had bought our furniture, and had just started what we in the States would call a sheltered workshop for mentally handicapped adults. The manager was who helped start this was a French (from France) lady, Madame Cormier who spoke very little English, was not paid but volunteered with another English (from England) Lady Mrs. Norman who spoke very little French and at the time they were taking care of 8 to 10 trainees, as they called them. They had a board of directors whose President was Mr. Boucher, totally bilingual. They were looking for a full time bilingual person to set up run the whole thing. They had no French or English Canadians willing to take on this project because the pay was so bad at $125.00 a week which was provided by a small grant from the provincial government with no guarantee for more funds the next year. Call me stupid if you want but I wanted this job. To be totally in charge, use some of what I had learned in college, to work almost totally in the French language, to help the disadvantaged and to give back and not take. Madame Cormier and Mr. Boucher hired me on one condition that I learn to speak French by taking a three month full time classes that the Quebec Government offered every immigrant. The government also paid a $125 a week to take this eight hour a day class that was about 30 miles from where we were living. Within three days after quitting my job at Bell Canada, I fell ill, had to have an emergency operation and stayed in the hospital for a week all of which made me postpone the start of the French classes. After recuperating for three weeks at home, I started my classes at La Prairie, Quebec. I drove to Longueil near Montreal and from there took special buses just for immigrants taking the French classes. There were over 100 people taking these emersion French classes. The class was a lot of hard work but also fun. Our cute petite blond teacher about 35 was from France and after introducing herself in both broken English and French said: “I know most of you know some English but starting now no English or other language will be spoken here except for French.” And no one did. Our class was a melting pot of Nationalities. Some were: three Americans, one Greek, two Germans, one Portuguese, one from Spain, one Honduran, one from Mexico and another from El Salvador. No one was under 25 and the oldest maybe 40. It was made up of men and women and the small class of about 12 was perfect. To understand my situation: my IQ is normal, I do not have an ear for sounds like music or languages, the worst subject in college for me was English, not as bad as it was but still had a strong southern accent at that time and had two quarters of French in College that I made C’s even with my wife’s help.

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I was not the only one in class having a hard time, most were. The Germans were having the hardest time and the easiest were the Spanish speaking nations. After two months, we students decided on our own on to meet at a bar after class. Great experience because we were able to talk to each other in broken/bad French, in fact the guy from Honduras invited us to his apartment in Montreal on the following Saturday for a home cooked traditional Honduras meal that he prepared. Many of us went and it was great. After graduating from the class I went to work as Madame Cormier’s assistant for about a month. Before I could become the General Director, the board of directors required me to take nearly two months of classes at the National Institute of Mental Retardation at York University in Toronto. I stayed with one of Jocelyne’s uncle in his 10th story downtown apartment in Toronto (I called downtown the concrete jungle, it was cold and windy) After finishing the classes, I was “ le Directeur Général de L’ Atelier Richelieu” (translated means the general director of the Richelieu Workshop) in Beloeil, Quebec Canada. I increased the clientele from 10 to about 25 in 6 months, hired Claude Langevin, a French Canadian, as an instructor to replace Madame Cormier who now only volunteered some times, also increased the number of part time volunteers and got us some paying contracts. We were still on a shoe string budget but everything was about to change!!!! The Quebec Government who was now controlled by the Québécois Party (separatist party that was very socially ordinated), after seeing what good we were doing, decided not to give us a grand but instead made us part of the Government. I still had total control of everything with no government interference, summited a budget every year to them and reported to my Board of Directors each month. “I loved this work”, let me repeat, “I loved this work”. None of us had taken this job to make money but now that we were government employees we had been given a great salary plus benefits. My pay in the first part of 1973 went from $125.00 a week to $450.00 a week over night.

More of our life in Canada will be in the next report.