About

ABOUT ME:

It’s difficult to write about me.  My wife is of the opinion that if you write anything positive about yourself or family, you are bragging.  Me, I just relate the facts and if that is bragging, so be it.

To begin at the beginning, (thats original), I was born late in the year of 1931.  That year was possibly the height of the depression.  No one in their right mind would plan to have a baby that year, adding one more mouth to feed, with no job, no prospect of a job and no hope of things getting better.  This was before poverty became popular.  There were no food banks, food stamps, school lunches or rent subsidies. That is why I have always leaned toward the pro-life position.  if abortion had been as popular then as it is now, we would have lost an entire generation, possibly including yours truly.

I was born at home into a family consisting of a husband, wife, and three older sisters.  I was the first and only boy in the family.  My father was working at a foundry at the time.  He broke his leg and was fired the next day.  There was  no unemployment, no medical insurance, no disability social security, in short, good luck and good bye.  He had his leg set by a doctor in exchange for cutting his lawn in the summer.  That is why I have always felt sympathy and a connection to labor and their concerns. My father died when I was 7 years old.

Living in a home with a mother and three older  sisters was like having four mothers. There was not a raised toilet lid in the house.  My odest sister taught me a little poem early  in life It was “Be like Pa, not like sis, raise the lid when you ____.  My mother would tell me to do something and then my older sister would tell me to do it, then my middle sister would tell me to do it and then my younger sister would tell me to do it or she was going to tell.

I was told that when I went to kindergarten, that the teacher asked me what my name was and I replied that I wasn’t sure, but I thought it was “Shut Up”. I went on to elementary school and learned to read very early in my life. Learning to read was a godsend.  it opened up a whole new world for me.  Back then, there was no television, no Sesame Street,
or Saturday morning cartoons.  But now, I could read.  There was a public library close to the elementary school and I was one of their most consistent patrons.

They gave out a certificate for each ten books that   you read and reported on.  The first ten got a red star, the next a green star and so on up to a silver and gold.  I received them all.  I read a lot of books by a author named Pease, who wrote books about the sea and I enjoyed them.  I also had a book of Aesop’s Fables which I read and reread.  That book had a lot to do with the formation of my character.  Each of those stories had a  moral tale and I can still remember  most of them.  If I ever had to recommend one book for a child to read, that would be it.

While I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, I saw a picture of Abraham Lincoln studying in front of an open  fireplace.  The story went on to talk about his poverty and his becoming a lawyer.  I was so impressed that I took the picture up to show the teacher.  I decided to become a lawyer.

I went to junior high school at a school out of our district.  I went there because it was the only junior high school offering Latin and I had learned or was told, that if you wanted to become a lawyer, you should learn latin.  When I was in the 9th grade, the principal of that school, called me to the office and told me that I was in the wrong school.  He said that since I was almost through, I could finish up there.

I graduated junior high school and started the  10 th grade in the local high school on a pre-college curriculum.  At that time which was in the late 40′s, every one who was warm could be hired by the local factories and make pretty good money.  Most of the boys would go to the factories, get a good job, buy a new car on credit, get a girl friend, get married and start having children and getting in debt.

I started college at the local Teachers college, which was on the quarter system at that time.  I borrowed $35.00 from a local finance company and started college.  I paid the finance company back in time to apply for a loan for the next quarter.  They refused another loan as I had paid the first one back to quickly and they had not made any money.  I went to a local bank, talked to a loan officer and he loaned me the money.  We eventually became friends.  About this time, the Korean war was starting and the draft board was looking for bodies.  They kept sending me draft notices and I would appeal, being in college.  I then took a Selective service qualifying exemption, passed the test and was exempt until I got out of college.

At that point I dropped out of ROTC.  I graduated from college in 1954 and was drafted in the army in August of that year.  The Korean war was ending at that time and I joined the 25th infantry division as it arrived back in Hawaii from Korea.  I served in Hawaii from l954-l956.  Those times made me qualify as a Korean veteran.  When I started Law school in l956, I received a stipend from the government of $100.00 a month and payment of books.  I gave the $100.00 to my mother and I taught school while I was going to law school at night.  I went to the Indianapolis division of Indiana Law school and graduated in 1960.  Little did I know that my son would graduate from the same law school in 2000.  By that time it was IUPUI law school.  When I graduated from Law school, I passed the bar and started practice in Muncie, IN where I was born with the son of a former Mayor of Muncie.

I met my wife about this time through mutual friends.  We were married in Panama City Florida in a  Judge’s office with his clerks as witnesses.  I used a $29.00 ring that I had bought across the street.  She is still wearing it today some 41 years later.  We were married Jan 9th, l969.  I found out later that is the same wedding date as my mother.  On November 10th, our first child, a girl, Rebecca Ann was born.  Then on September 1, 1973, our son Samuel Roy was born.  Rebecca graduated from Hanover college and then a master’s degree in public relations from American University In Washington, DC.  While in DC she worked for  the congressman from our district Phil Sharp.  She now lives in Austin Texas, is a very good actress, winning awards, does commercials and is a Director of a charitable foundation.

Our son graduated from Asbury college in Kentucy, went to law school at IUPU graduating in 2000, is married to our lovely daughter-in-law Julie, who is also a lawyer, and they have a son Hudson Robert. Sam is a partner in an old Indianapolis area law firm.

Since I was born in 1931 and my wife in 1936, we were too early for the greatest generation and too late for the Vietnam generation.  We are becoming the AARPers who are crowding and becomming part of the health care problem and becomming an active part of the voting solution. I hope that this answers a few of the questions if any about me.