College Bowl Games

The first Rose Bowl football that was nationally televised was in 1962. I had been married for 7 years and had two children, Kurt-2- and Mark-1 and I was an USPHS officer-dentist serving in the Federal Prison system.

There were only 4 bowl games then--Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Rose, and two parades, Cotton and Rose. All were played on NY Day. NBC was the first to televise the Rose Bowl parade and game on color TV, a big sales coup for NBC-RCA.

Billie and p00-paw went to a Rose Bowl game in 1991 only to see Iowa get the corn shucked out of them, Washington 28, Iowa zip. Our seats were in the drunken Eskimo section so we were happy for the skunk.

Now there are 32 Bowls, come rain or come snow.

A Christmas Story

A stray tomcat came to our Iowa City home and I loved him. I was allowed to keep him if I took care of him. I must have been about 10 y o.

Tootsie, our fox terrier, quickly enjoyed her new buddy, "Cha-cha-kootsa".

They would chase around the house, through or over pillow barriers that I constructed. There was grey fur everywhere.

He slept with me except when he had to take a crap, then he preferred to deposit under Gene's pillow.

Christmas was soon and my folks decided that the cat would be taken to Grandpa's, to live in his barn. So on Christmas day off we went to Grandpa's for dinner, cat in tow.

I coudn't leave the cat so I secreted him under my topcoat as we were leaving on that cold, December night. I succeeded in bringing him back home. They allowed me to keep him.

Afterall, it was Christmas.

P.S. Grandpaw saw the cat's tail sticking out but did not snitch.

That's the role of a Grandpa.

Honeymoon speed

It was about this time of year.

Jet and I were on our honeymoon, driving from Iowa to Reno in December in the year of 1955. We were both just 20 years old.

She said she had to use the toilet. The next town in the northern Nevada desert was 200 miles so we sped along in my Dad's funeral home black cadillac.

Finally we arrived at Cactus Jim's gas station and headed to the rest rooms. After I finished I asked if she felt better. And she said,

"I couldn't go, the bathroom was too dirty" !!!!!!!

"But the next stop is another 200 miles". There was silence.

I learned another lesson between a man and a woman that day.

Pearl Harbor Attack

Dec 7, 1941

JAPS BOMB PEARL HARBOR

SNEAK ATTACK

I was 6 and this event has impacted my whole life.

I was born in the middle of the great depression of the 1930's in Iowa. Everything was rationed while I was in grade school--meat, other foods, gasoline; no candy, no gum, no bottled pop, no metal toys (plastics weren't invented yet) so sticks and creativity were our toys. Water and bottled milk were our beverage.

Government controlled everything. After WW2 the government built infrastructure, like highways, huge dams. Wars began again. None were as supported like WW2 was, including our present ones.

In grade school, a student would bring in a dime a week to place in one's war bond stamp book. No dime. no stamp.

As I was finishing my tour at the Bureau of Prisons, I had an excellent record (the inmates called me Dr. Toothout). They offered me a transfer to Hawaii to check in/out Peace Corp kids if I would stay in the USPHS. I said I preferred to be my own boss.

Billie and I flew to Vegas and on to Hawaii for our honeymoon. 1st class, in the 747 lounge. Our 1st time to Hawaii, with many more to come.

There was one flight that all were very silent, for a few minutes. We were flying from Kawai to Honolulu, going right over Pearl Harbor. It was 07.55 AM, exactly the time of the morning that the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.