SchoolGuy

New Year Twenty-Ten

2010-01-03T09:14:00.004-05:00

I thought I should at least do a post for the New Year so here we go! I am excited about the prospect of the new year. In the last year I have made several changes in my life that will impact my future. This was in no small part due to the help, encouragement and dedication of my friend and trainer Marcin. Now I know I did the work and that is true. The truth is it is not easy to make the life changes needed to have a healthy life style. People do not understand what it may take to loose 100+ lbs over a years time and then keep it off. That is were a trainer comes in for me.

I know that these things can be accomplished without help! but If I were to write down all the times that I have tried and failed to keep the weight off over the years it would be a very long blog! suffice it to say that commitment is hard. I will go out on a limb here and say that most people cannot make and keep those types of commitments. That is were a good Trainer can help motivate you to excel in this endeavor.

It is not just the 2-3 hours a week you work with your trainer. It is the whole picture of life change in eating habits, self control and dedication to the exercise regime that he/her designs for you. Not to mention the daily reinforcement that they provide with, text messages and phone calls as well as review and suggestions for your eating habits they see from your food logs. They spend allot of time on your behalf helping you make good well thought out changes for your life.

The main reason most people avoid trainers is the cost. I understand, but really can you put a price on health? In my case I have offset much of my cost with the doctor directed reduction in prescriptions that are no longer needed such as cholesterol, blood pressure, stomach medication to name a few, not to mention the future cost of Insulin for diabetes, which was a family issue due to weight problems. Cost avoidance so to speak.

So my trainer became a friend, confidant and motivator. I know that the future will require me to do this on my own and I will, but for now I will work with him to create habits that will be difficult to give up as they are ingrained into my daily routine.

I want to look back on these years when I am in my 90's (My family has some longevity in there jeans) and smile at my great grand kids and say thanks to my friend for helping me make the commitments needed to get here. I am 57 now and so that will mean another 30+ years of life (God willing) that will allow me to be apart of others lives and serve my creator in whatever he will have me do.

Join me!

My Mom and yodeling

2009-10-16T07:03:00.003-04:00

My mother to say the least was a character! She would sit on the front porch in the summer and attract all the neighborhood friends in a heartbeat. They would sit and talk about the church and the school, quite frankly about anything that seemed interesting at the time. the porch was a focal point for our little community. Everyone loved her from the old to the young. She was such a sweet spirit. She loved her family, church and friends and they all new they could depend on Anna Mae.

One of the things that always amazed us was her ability to yodel. Now yodeling was an art. you had to be able to take a note from a song and as she explained it swallow it back and push it forward in the throat thus creating the western yodel sound of Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry. She worked hours as a teen perfecting the sounds we enjoyed when she would showcase her talent!

All the neighbors and family from grand kids to siblings would ask mother to perform. She would feign modesty for a while and then with perfect pitch and eloquence she would serenade us with her western renditions of good old country songs with a yodel.

To this day when we talk about our mother with others inevitably the yodel comes up.

Well in my mothers honor I can say that she taught me to yodel and sometime in the future I will serenade my grandchildren and their friends with the yodel stiling of my mother. Heaven help us..... Yodel-lady-Who.....move over Gene and Roy here I come.. Love you mom!

Work History

2009-09-23T07:32:00.004-04:00

Jobs I have done since I started working:

1. Paper boy for Oakland press and Detroit News 1964
2. Stock boy for Kresge's department store 1968
3. Stock boy for Peoples food market 1968
4. clerk and then asst Manager for Dunhams sports 1972-73
5. sales for Rupp Campfitters 73 about 3 mo
6. Line worker for GM truck and bus 3 mo in 73
7. Custodian for West Bloomfield Schools 73-75
8. National Life Insurance sales 75-76
9. National Life Insurance sales 76-77
10. Car sales Hahn Motors 77
11. Pinkerton guard 77
12. Kelly and Company channel 7 ABC 77
13. Youth and Music Director Heritage Baptist Church 78-79
14. Youth and Music Director Lakeside Baptist Church 79-80
15. Youth Director Heritage Baptist Church 80-85
16. Teacher Heritage Baptist Schools 80-85
17. Bus driver Pontiac City Schools 79-85
18. Supervisor Custodial services Pontiac City Schools 85-95
19. Asst Supervisor Operations Van Dyke Public Schools 95-97
20. Director of Operations Maintenance and Transportation Fraser Public Schools 97-present

I also owned a business S and T Quality Printing and Advance Litho Printing from 83-87 and currently Own a consulting business called SE Michigan Facilities Management, LLC .

I also do seminars for Facilities Management at Oakland University, Saginaw Valley University, State of Michigan Department of Agriculture pest Management, Michigan School Business Officials and Schooldude.com

The New Me

2009-08-23T19:20:00.025-04:00

Well I thought I would right a little about my journey over the last 8 month's. as you can see from the photo to the left I was one big boy. I weighed in at 318 lb's and had a 48 inch waist with a 54+ chest. I could not do 1 push-up or walk a long distance without hurting for the next three days. not only that but my blood pressure was through the roof with medication it was still at 134/85. cholesterol was in the 250 range. I was definitely on the road to being a statistic on a slab in a morgue somewhere (I know to dramatic). When I saw pictures of me I would cringe at what I saw. You know when I would buy clothing I would get the expand-o pants to make me feel better about getting a size smaller than I was around the waist. A little sad I know but that is what it was like. people always said no! your not that big you carry it well. To kind to say anything bad. My friends would call me "Heavy T" as a nice way of saying your fat. It was difficult to sit in a booth at a restaurant or a seat in a movie theater. Planes were also fun! you know "hay sir could I put my leg and arm in your space so I can be comfortable and annoying to you". I think you get the point.

So in December 2008 I decided this was going to be the end of this life style. I started going to Ballys ( I was a member for over 25 years but just having the card does not get you in shape ) and exercising a little 3 times a week. It helped but not a lot. I was still eating 3000-4000 calories a day or more. Grabbing a candy bar on the way home from work was not the way to loose weight and get in shape. I kept telling myself that I would not diet again because they do not work. Quite frankly I still feel this way. I new it would take more than the typical diet to get me on track. When I was 18 out of high school I weighed 155 pounds. less than half of what I weighed in at in December. I started looking at ways to get to my goal of loosing down to 220.

Now I have to tell you the idea of using a trainer scared me a little. Honestly some of these guys looked like they needed a trainer and they were going to train me? I do not think so. I checked out all of them. Some were good but their was one man who really looked like he had it together. I watched him work with other people and he seemed to know what he was doing and he was in good shape. So in March 2009 I asked Marcin to be my trainer. This was the start of something more different than I could have imagined. The first thing he said to me was "I do not want to work with you if you are going to quit". Wow he actually gave me an ultimatum. I will work with you if you commit!! I liked it and we started the journey to health.

So my weight at our first weigh in was 296 Lb's! my BFI was 36.6, way off the charts. Marcin was methodical. We started slow because I could not have done anything else. Push ups on an incline, rows, squats with a Swiss ball, balance on a BOSU ball, (a lot of exercises were done using a TRX device), light weights for muscle tone and then their was the meal log. Logging every thing I ate every week.

Every week at the start he would ask me questions like "why do you eat bread stix and pizza at the same time?" or Why do you not eat any fruit or vegetables? You know when you are answering to someone about your eating habits it is hard to explain why you do the things you do. I started changing my eating habits a little at a time. More fruits more vegetables less bread less pizza. I did not stop eating I started eating things that were more healthy. Guess what, I found that I loved them. Plus I was eating 3 meals and 1 to 2 snacks a day instead of skipping meals and eating a lot late at night. Lots of water and no carbonated beverages ( well a few cocktails from time to time but not every day or every weekend).

About two months into our training he ask me to do a 5K Marathon for Autism at Oakland University. I have not ran in years(or ever), but he thought I could do it so I did and low and behold I completed the race. He ran it with me along with our Bally friends. I was at about 275 Lb's at the time and thrilled to say the least. I run regularly now and completed a 5K in 42 minutes August 21, 2009. Not fast by any means but better than I ever thought I could in the past.

Every week has been an achievement. I average loosing 2.5 Lb's a week. right now I am weighing in at 239 Lb's with a 38 in waist and a 47 in chest and a BFI less than 27. I still have 19 Lb's to loose and already am smaller than I've been since I was in my 30's. My cholesterol is below 150 and my blood pressure is 120/75.This is a life change for sure. I now can do 50 push-ups, 50 squats, 50 rows, 50 lunges and a lot more and without my trainer leading me in the right direction it would not have happened.

2009-02-08T15:08:00.004-05:00

Bailouts/spending package

Well here we go again. A bailout! What is the problem with the servants of the masses? They cannot seem to come to a conclusion as to what is best for the nation. Why do we need to put so many spending agendas in this rescue plan? It would seem to me (really uneducated as I am on the subject) that we would be better off with not giving money to sex education, condoms, water slides, veteran Filipino of WWII, and focus on supporting the banking industry, to get us to freeing up the cash flow issue.

This should not be an opportunity to stack the bill with pork items to make senators and representatives popular in their regions. Nor should it be used to forward your agenda for a “New America”. Let the vetting process set up in the legislative branch work its magic for large scale change. Don't try to subrogation the system under the false idea that your saving the economy of the USA.

By the way this idea that the USA gave the new government the right to whole sale change the American way just is not so. 49% of the us disagree with the liberal agenda. That is significant! Believe me if they do not get it right the next election could turn them out in the street. It is at best a fragile majority. Many were willing to vote for change, but not to spend our money indiscriminately to further a total liberal agenda. We are still a moderate nation. From New York to California, the middle of the nation still believes that we are better at spending our hard earned money than the government is.

Quit blaming President Bush (43) for governing during one of the most difficult times our nation has faced. 911 changed the face of his presidency. He made some mistakes for sure but we also faced some horrific situations that clouded the path for the future of America. Remember that many believed that their were weapons of mass destruction including many Democratic politicians and the united nations.

Lets pull together and make sound well thought out decisions not knee jerk decisions based on an agenda that does not work for all American's.

Well that is my 2 cents worth. For what its worth!

New for John

2008-07-22T19:51:00.002-04:00

I am very pleased to say that I have been asked to present a program revolving around the "green roof" that we installed last year at the Operations building. The presentation will be at the www.Schooldude.com university in Myrtle Beach, SC March 28, 2009. This will be a great opportunity to show the usefulness of this energy saving/environmental initiative in a national forum. It does have many educational components.

I also will be working with MartinCompany devloping a protocal for the effeicent day to day operations of K-12 school districts and Community Colleges.

So my new company (SE Michigan Facilities Management, LLC) is starting to take off and giving me many opportunities to be productive. I will be presenting this new porgram at Crystal Mountain September, 2008.

Stay tuned for more on my new adventure.

RETIREMENT

2008-07-13T14:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I retired from the schools as of June 30, 2008. As of July 1, 2008 I started my new Business, SE Michigan Facilities Management, LLC a consulting company. I also started working for Fraser Public Schools as an independent contractor. I will be working for them for 220 days a year. The contract is for three years until June 30, 2011. I also will be doing work for Martin MacElroy Company as a consultant.

I do not have to worry about as much; my pension will also start some time in August 2008. So even if my company does not work I still will have my pension to get me threw the tighter times.

Tuesday I will be teaching a seminar at Oakland University on Facilities Management and the school environment. This will also give me many new contacts for the new business.

So as things go I am pretty excited about the future. Maybe by 2011 I will completely retire and travel doing the things I like (golf, camp, travel). Connie does not want to stop working until our 62 birthdays. We shall see.

Salvation

2008-03-30T13:18:00.001-04:00

Salvation

I thought I would write down my salvation experience from my earliest recollection of my need for salvation to acceptance.

You would think that growing up in a Baptist family that attended church at a minimum of 3 times a week that salvation would be a forgone conclusion. My first recollection of a need to be saved was first felt at 5-6 years old. I remember going forward at Keego Harbor Baptist Church to be saved and being told by the church worker that I was to young to get saved, that I needed to be 12 years old or in there mind the age of accountability. I left that meeting confused. I soon forgot about the need to be saved and spent the next several years going to church with my family but not enjoying being there very much.

During that time we went through many different pastors. Anderson, Kunnert, Garrett, Smith and Hott. During the Dave Hott years I became very disillusioned with the church. As a teen I lost interest. There was a great deal of infighting over the pastors and the vision that they had for the church. It seemed that the pastors that created growth were ran out by the ruling families. I will say here that my mom and subsequently my dad would always back the pastor which always put us at odds with the other church members. You can see why that at that time I focused on being involved in school activities. When I entered the 9^th grade I had little interest in church polity. That is not to say that I was not required to go to church, that was not an option in the Thompson family during my formative years. So many things swirled around life during those years that conflicted with my faith. Catholic friends, Jewish friends, apostate friends all had a profound impact on me.

In the 10^th grade I became very involved in theater and music with Mr. Smith and Mr. Asplin. I performed in plays and directed the choir as well as doing solos in the school plays and choir performances. I became very involved in school activities even going out for the wrestling team and making many “friends” who I would end up going to many after school parties with. Hanging out at HOJO’s (Howard Johnson’s) on Telegraph and Maple Rd drinking coffee till all hours of the mourning. We did this till my senior year.

The summer of my sophomore year I started working at Kressges in the Pontiac Mall. Eventually I was fired from their for eating candy from the candy bar (orange slices I still love those things). While working at Kressges I met a fellow teen, which was a senior at Waterford High School, his name was Jerry Unger. Jerry was a Christian and attended Sunnyvale Chapel, a fundamental bible believing church. He invited me to church with him and his friends Larry Armstrong and Dave Lawson. We hung around all summer; he sort of took me under his wing. He was so sure of himself and I wanted to be just like him. I read through my bible especially the books of John and Romans looking for answers to my needs and confusion. My high school friends were nowhere to be found during that summer. I decided that I would get saved that summer and went forward to profess Christ. I was baptized that summer and I wanted to be everything I could be in that church. Mom and Dad surprisingly allowed me to attend there and not Keego Baptist.

When school started back, in my 11th grade year, I started to get involved in sports and theater again. I took my bible to school and got the moniker of “bible thumper”. On some levels I was glad and sort of did the martyr thing. In January of that school year I went down to Longview, Texas to visit Jerry Unger with Larry Armstrong. That was interesting because I stayed for 2 weeks because of an automobile accident while traveling through Haiti, Missouri on the way to Longview. When I got back to school the play I was in “Arsenic and Old Lace” was to be performed in a couple of weeks. Mr. Smith was very upset with me for leaving for such a long time just before the play. I slowly slipped back into my old ways of party going and well, whatever I wanted. I lost track of the people from Sunnyvale Chapel and got caught up in the school life for the rest of the year.

My senior year was a whirlwind of events. I worked out with the baseball team. Became friends with Greg Lane and the rest of the ball players. I also performed in several plays that year. That summer we all played Connie Mac baseball in Farmington, MI and went to 20+ Tiger games. Greg’s dad got us in to so many home games (Ray Lane was a sportscaster for the Tigers). It was a fun year and summer.

After the summer Greg Lane and I went to work at Dunham’s sporting goods and I started college at Oakland Community College in the fall. Met several new friends, Sam and Stephen Manolackis and Tom Armor who worked for Dunham’s, we would go out every weekend and drink and spend time together, go on double dates; it was just a lot of fun.

After that year I decided that I wanted to continue in sporting goods and took a management job with Rupp Camp fitters to open ski shops in Lansing and Ann Arbor Michigan. I had not been to church since the summer of my junior year of high school. I was on the road 100’s of miles a day with the ski shops and getting kind of bored with the constant running but it was my job so off I went everyday.

Several times during that summer Donna and Tom Roberts kept asking me to come to a revival at their church Northside Baptist. I put them off time after time but finally they talked me into it. I had turned into quite the hippie looking guy, long beard and coveralls with cable knit sweaters. I do not think I have any pics of that time of my life. I wish I did because it was kind of cool, but I digress.

I went to Northside that first time and fell in love with the people and the church. I joined shortly after that service and became a fixture their for many years. Actually my whole family started going to Northside, Mom, Dad and sisters Julie and Pricilla with her Husband Dick and their kids.

The first year I attended Northside I became very conflicted with whether I had actually been saved or not. I fretted over my experience for months while attending that church and going to college at Midwestern Baptist Collage. Had I repented or not? I was so unsure and beset with so many conflicting thoughts that finally, while at work at West Bloomfield High School, I acknowledged my sin, repented of it and asked Jesus to forgive me and come into my heart. That was August 20, 1973. I was baptized shortly after. I used the pamphlet “Gods Simple Plan of Salvation” to guide me in the biblical path.

So that is the entire story of my salvation, a time and a place to remember. Many things happened around that decision that would take many pages to detail. Many things have happened since then that make for an interesting (to me) journey. Such is the story of many people’s lives. We grow, we change, we test our lives and form our standards based on what we believe. Thank God for the Gift.

Global Warming ?

2008-03-08T10:16:00.002-05:00

Global Warming?

Winter, I remember the winters of my youth in Keego Harbor, MI. The snow seemed deeper, the winters seemed longer and in retrospect the summers seemed hotter. Is this the memory of an adolescent child? Sure it is but there also is some reality to it. The winter of 1963 comes to mind, the November when Kennedy was assassinated I was 11 years old and the one thing that stands out in my mind is the snow. Cold, desolate, dreadful weather sort of mirroring the events in U.S history. The winter of 1966 was so snow bound that I believe that it was the snowiest winter on record.

Now we hear the global warming rhetoric and quite frankly it for me is a little hard to swallow. I believe that the weather is somewhat cyclic and is really controlled by the sun. Sunspots and events that are far above my pay grade affect the weather. I understand that this winter of 2007-2008 has been equal or exceeds the winter of 1966. The .75 temperature gain the alarmist had been saying was going to start a global flooding event and melting of the polar ice pack has been wiped out by one single cold northern winter. Now we have 10 inches thicker ice pack than we have ever had in recorded history, according to scientist who do studies on such things. Eliminating the 40-year warming trend in one year. “An inconvenient truth” does not seem to be so inconvenient or true.

Are we now going to go back to the fear mongering folks who will tell us we are going into an ice age? Are we going to stay with the people saying we are in a global warming nightmare? I quite frankly will buy into the notion that we are using up our natural resources and need to conserve so that we do not run out of a finite supply. I will also buy into the idea that we need to not pollute our environment so that it is usable by future generations but please don’t try and tell me something that isn’t happening is happening.

So as I set on my porch with the Franklin stove flickering it’s warm flames and look out the window as snow swirls down on the lake one hundred yards from my door supporting the snowmobile and ice fishermen scurrying about I wonder “ will summer ever come”. Sure it will, some days warmer than others. 70, 80, 90-degree days lie ahead for us in Michigan. I say conserve what you can, protect the environment at every opportunity and hope that the environmentalist get there act together and come to a conclusion that we all can support.

My thoughts on 2008 election

2008-02-05T10:01:00.000-05:00

Well with the election year at hand I find it interesting that we have 3 candidates vying for the GOP nomination. I am really not sure where this is going. What is the true conservative message? Is the Christian right strong enough to push the Huckabee train to the finish line? Is McCain really to liberal for GOP conservatives? Is Romney really a conservative and does it matter that he is a Mormon?

Huckabee is by all estimates a fine man. A good Christian for sure. The problem I have with him is that in the end he is not electable. Sorry but the nation will not elect a Christian conservative preacher to the White House even though I think he did a good job as governor. I see that not even all Southern Baptist support him because of his moderate views taken during the Convention years ago. I like him but not for president.

McCain has taken the side, often that is contrary to the ultra conservative view. Boarder security being one main one and homosexual unions another. He has cosponsored many bills with democratic liberals. He is temperamental and by all accounts holds grudges against his own political party. He is a Maverick of sorts but he does support the war effort. On spending he is conservative and many believe he is the only candidate who can beat Hillary.

Romney is the only Conservative left who gets ultra conservative support. He has changed his position many times over the last several years from pro choice to pro life. That is all right to change unless it is done just to get support for election. He is a successful businessman. He did save the Olympics. He was a successful governor but he does not have the support of the independent voters, who will swing this election.

In the end I think we will be looking at a McCain nomination for GOP. He will probably run against Hillary Clinton. My fears are that we have all three elected offices filled by liberals bent on raising taxes, passing marriage rights for gays and allowing for the further withdrawal of troops from Iraq as well as nominating liberals to the Supreme Court. Romney may be the best choice for conservatives.

Thank God in the end, He is in control and will let world events move as he see fit till we are finally called out to be with Him in heaven. Perhaps this is the final plan. The end times are near and this could just be an indicator of the coming of Christ to remove us from this earth.

Walk with Jesus

2008-01-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

I wrote this while feeling kinda bluesy. When I sang it to my daughters they laughed at the "close don't fit" line. After they said it I saw the humor but it's still kind of accurate I think. It is meant to be fun, a D, D7, G with a blues feel. If you ever see me I will sing it for you then you can laugh to. It is good for the soul.

Walk with Jesus

John M. Thompson

Did you ever wake up in the mourning, your feeling kind a blue.

Your close don’t fit, your car won’t start, you don’t now what to do.

You got to walk with Jesus, praise his holy name.

Lift him up and shout, your life a never be the same.

Satin will loose his power; he won’t know what to do.

If you just lift Jesus up and praise Him to.

The moral of this story is simple but its true.

Read your Bible, pray each day and go to Sunday school.

Buttons

2008-01-18T21:34:00.001-05:00

When I was going into my senior year of high school I used to go down to Detroit with my sister Priscilla. She was always active with the Southern Baptist Convention in Michigan and at that time she was working with needy people in the Cass Corridor of Detroit down by the Masonic Theater. She talked me into coming down to help her from time to time.

She stayed in a women’s home called Priscilla Hall, (seems appropriate) a place for troubled women to go and get the help they needed. Spiritual and physical, a place to go to heal the soul and body. Priscilla always has had a heart for helping others. She never looked down on these people just ministered to their needs.

Night after night my sister would be their helping those people who had no one else to turn to. The Cass Corridor was the roughest place you could find in Detroit. Drunks and alcoholics, drug addicts and prostitutes, received love and compassion from some one they had never known before. She always left them with the knowledge that Jesus loves them and had a plan for their lives. Some would get saved others would not but none left not knowing that they were loved by a savior and my sister.

I mention Buttons, (in the tag) because he was my first experience with one of Cillas street people. He also hung out around the corridor. Across the street from Priscilla Hall was the Baptist center. Buttons was a regular their who slept out in the park in front of the Masonic Theater. His coat had a hundred buttons pinned all over it. He was a pleasant old man with a very sad life. He was an alcoholic. When he was sober he professed Jesus as savior. I talked to him about it every time I saw him hoping that the salvation plan would grab him and change his life.

I grew closer to him as I am sure Cilla did to her charges. I went down several weekends the summer of 1970 before my senior year. My friends thought I was foolish going down their on the weekends. To a place so scary, were you could get stabbed as you walked down the streets helping the homeless people living in the area. Much of this was done at night when you would be most venerable.

The last time I went down was the weekend that I found out Buttons was dead. I do not know how he died but being a street person it was inevitable. I was crushed when I found out he was dead. Maybe a little disillusioned that the time I had spent ended up not being enough to keep Buttons from dieing. I never went back.

I lost sight of what was important. That introducing Jesus to the homeless gave them an opportunity to go to heaven and have a new life. It was not about me it was about them. “Go ye therefore” present the gospel to those who needed it. Priscilla never lost sight of the mission. To this day she has not lost sight of what we are called to do.

John The Early Years

2008-01-06T13:59:00.001-05:00

The Early Years

By
John M. Thompson

Random Stories and Thoughts About Growing Up

(Title needs work)

Well every story has a beginning and I think mine will start on Grahams Farm. This was a dairy farm in Lake Orion, Michigan where my father was the foreman. The year was 1952 and although I do not remember the time this is what my mother told me. My delivery date was December 10, 1952 at Pontiac General Hospital and the delivering doctor was Dr. Nosinchuck.

Sometime after that we moved to Keego Harbor, Michigan onto Cass Lake Avenue. I have few memories of that location. However, I do remember living just four houses from the lake, Cass Lake. My father by this time was working at Pontiac Motors and part time with Les and Paul’s Sunoco Station as a tow truck driver and mechanic.

Many memorable things happened to me at this location.

The first was one of my first memories of my older brother. I was lying in the grass doing what little boys do. Looking up at the sky seeing formations in the clouds. All of a sudden my older brother Darrell pushed a lawn mower over my hand and cut off the first half of the first knuckle of my baby finger on my right hand. I think it was an accident but who knows maybe he was mad at me for something. I was so young that I do not remember much about it but the section of finger is gone so I know it happened.

Another memorable event also involved my brother. This time he was giving me a ride on his bike and my foot got caught in the spokes. It cut my heel and tendon but not through. This was not permanent damage but it did hurt like $%&! Hey these two events seem a little morose, but really I am not that negative. I guess I must be having a Prozac moment (just kidding I do not use Prozac).

We also had several Harrisburg, Illinois reunions at our house on Cass Lake Avenue. Relatives and my parent’s old friends would come over and bring a dish to pass. People like Big Boy Strickland, Dan Matingly, the Smith family part of my dad’s side of the family and many others. These are vague memories but I do remember them.

I also remember swimming in the lake. At around 3-4 years old my brothers and sisters would go swimming and dive from the dock about 500 yards out in the lake. The first 300 yards were shallow, only around 2 feet deep but after that it would get deep quick to where the raft was at about 6 feet deep. I wanted to get out there in the worst way but I could not swim. Finally one day I decided to try. As the water got deeper I would go down and push off the bottom of the lake and move forward. Up and down launching myself off the bottom till I reached the raft. When I got out to the raft my sisters and their friends taught me how to dog paddle. I went out every day after that during the summer. This is one of my best memories of growing up in Keego Harbor.

About the only memory I have of my dad doing anything with me was also around my 4^th year on earth. My mother talked him into going swimming with me. He did not have a swimming suit so he used his boxers. We were in the water for around 15 minutes. This event is only memorable because it was one of 3 memories I have of doing things with him. At about my 9^th year I bought a baseball glove from Groaners Five and Dime. He played catch with me one time. That is not to say he did not play ball from time to time. He truly enjoyed pitching for Keego Baptist Church softball team but he did not enjoy spending time with his kids. He did provide for us although he would rather save money for cigarettes than give us a dime for candy (this really does sound whiny). The last time I remember doing anything with him was a fishing trip, in my 11^th year, at night with some of his shop friends on the Clinton River near Cass Elizabeth Road and Cooley Lake Road. It was for catfish and as I remember it we were skunked. I do not want to imply that he was a bad man he just was not a family man, at least not like my friends fathers. I would characterize him as a selfish man. The thing I remember him most for is sleeping. Sorry if this seems a little bit like a pity party. Maybe this is the way he was because of the way his father treated him or maybe his family doted over him so much that he was spoiled and expected the world revolved around him. But I am done with this line of thinking it is not very productive.

At around 4-5 years old we moved to the house on Cass Lake Road by the curve between Cass Lake and Sylvan Lake. Gerald Pete owned it. He had a son, David my age, one year ahead of me in school. We became friends along with Bobby Owen, Kim Woodruff, and his brother Keith Woodruff. Another Friend at this time was Linn Seedick. My younger sister Julie was born here. My brother also turned 16 here and joined the Marines (simper phi). He could not wait to get away from our home. There seemed to be a lot of anger in his life. It seems as though my dad and his brother Cecil gave him a rough time as a youth on Grahams Farm. I do not doubt it based on my limited experience. He seems to have had to do all the work while my dad sat around. Based on what I know of my dad it could be true. Oops I whet back into parent bashing mode.

Sorry!!

My elementary teacher was Mrs. Schilling. She was a sweet woman who also lived in Keego harbor near the dairy queen. One of my first memories was of me hiding in the block box in the kindergarten room. The rest of the kids thought this was funny. I guess this was my first induction into class clown world.

Another memory was 1^st grade with Mrs. Ryan. I had my first experience with Reading Dick and Jane books. I remember her offering to let me go outside the classroom to practice reading. I thought it was a punishment so I did not want to go she told me it was a reward so when I said yes to her then she was mad or something and said forget it, because the opportunity had pass. I also had a problem with the “th” sound and the “st” sound so I started speech therapy in first grade. It worked and now I talk and talk and talk to the point that some people would think I talk to much HUMMM!!!! Wonder were that came from (MOM).

On around my 9^th birthday in the 1961-1962 era we moved into our house at 3023 Norcott Street in Keego Harbor. I lived there until I was 22 years old minus a few months here and there when I tried to experience growing up. I will go into detail about these experiences as I expound on my life.

Kim Woodruff was my friend and nemesis until our high school years. Kim was one year ahead of me in school. But in grade school we spent every day together.

The tree fort was the first big event in our lives. At the end of Norcott and Cass Lake Front there was this huge Oak Tree. Every bit of 60 feet tall with multiple branches reaching out in angles and y’s just right for building a tree fort. It was on a hill at the corner of a vacant lot. We decided to build a double-decked tree house. We all went home and scavenged all the wood we could from our garages and underneath our houses. This was going to be the best tree house in town. Used wood and nails arranged in such a way as to produce a 6’ by 8’ two story open walled house in a tree. All that was left was to create a club and elect the officers. Of course Kim became the President, his brother Keith was the vice president and Bobby was the Sergeant of arms. I was the youngest so I was the gofer. I did not mind I just enjoyed being one of the gang. Go get food, drinks and things like that. We spent summers from 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade hanging out there planning our days event, playing tag (flashlight, Marco polo, etc), bike trips baseball games at Roosevelt school, swimming, you name it, everything started from there.

My brother-in-law Ron Brown taught me how to play ball. He would spend hours with me in front of our house throwing a ball to me. We called it “burn” this entailed him moving in closer and closer until he was within a few feet of me. It would burn my palm like crazy. This will forever be a favorite memory of mine. Ron is a great Brother. He and my sister Di are two of the best people in the world. There love was without obligation. I am truly blessed to have them in my life. I love them without limits.

Cass Lake is huge. And in the summer of 1962 the gang decided to ride our bikes around it. We started at Norcott and went south up Cass Lake Road to orchard Lake Road went west to Commerce Road then north on Hiller Road and right onto Cooley Lake Road then another right onto Cass Elizabeth Lake Road and then south again onto Cass Lake Road. It was a huge trip. We were so pleased with ourselves and independent for 10-year-old boys. I wish that we were able to bring that feeling of independence and safety to the current days. We did not fear the way we do today. This I know is not a new sentiment, but still I wish it were true.

Hey, here is another Kim woodruff story. As I mentioned before Kim and I had a friendly but sometimes adversarial relationship. I always got into fights with him in our pre teen years. It really seems as though it was weekly. As a matter of fact we did get to a point were he would just slug me in the arm as a way to get past the fight. I would say ok you win. He always won those fights. On one occasion my older sister Priscilla decided that he was not going to beat up her brother anymore. So when he got me penned on my back she came running out of the house and tackled Kim and fought him off of me. I admit it was a little embarrassing but she did win. The big thing is she had this heavy brace on her leg and the guys were genuinely afraid of her. Getting kicked with the brace after all would hurt. It seems as though the fights did slow down after that but maybe we just grew out of the fighting stage. Who knows??? Viva La big sisters, another sister whom I love.

Kim died on the 3rd of December 1997. He was a good man. I had not seen him for 26 years. We went our separate ways in high school. Ran with different people. He was a year ahead of me and was very athletic. He played football and was on the ski team. I wish that we had stayed close over the years. I heard that he never had any children. I understand that he was saved. That is good news.

Dave died back in the early 1980’s. He had moved to California. I heard that he died of aids. We had lost contact during the high school years. Dave was one of those guys that got lost in high school. I am not even sure if he finished. Frankly I don’t even remember him after 7^th grade. That’s odd since we were so close up to that point and he was only one year my senior.

Dave, Kim and I were so close in elementary school. We did everything together. I guess it all started when Kim got involved in sports and was a star and I was not. My parents would not let me play sports on Sunday and that is when the teams started. I wonder how things would have been different if we had started peewee football together. We’ll never know.

Let me tell you about my mother (Anna Mae). She really is a very loving and caring mother. We would sit for hours talking about life and family on our front porch in Keego Harbor. As a matter of fact everyone in the neighborhood would congregate on our front porch to talk and enjoy the summer night with my mom, Donna and Tom Roberts, the Graves family, Di and Ron my sister and her husband. We would sit out there and drink ice tea or Pepsi, but let me get back to my mother. Mom is the original church lady. Dedicated to a fault and really she is responsible for most of my brothers and sisters being very involved in the work of there local churches. Me included. She truly loves the Lord and is dedicated to his service. This is 2006 and she is 83 years old. To this day she is the Godliest woman I know and as a prayer warrior she would be the first person I would call. I do not care what subject you start out with in talking to her it will always end up focused on her church work or her kids work in the church. It is the focal point of her life and I love her for it.

This story will illustrate my mother’s vigor. She told me this story. My dad and mom when they were young and living in Indiana during WWII where he worked as a Forman building troop transport boats like the ones you would see landing on the beaches of Normandy and Iwa Jima. Dad on paydays would stay out late and drink beer and gamble. When he would come home he would be very short on money for living expenses. Needless to say mom was upset with this choice and decided to do something about it.

Mom started buying bibles. When dad would see a bible he would tell her that they could not afford them. She pointed out that they could not afford his drinking and gambling ether. After some time my dad decided that she was right and according to the story stopped drinking and gambling. Now that is a character story if I ever heard one. As with any story I am telling it the way I remember it. If it is a figment of my imagination it is still characteristic of my mothers slant on living in this world and serving God.

Growing up in church as a child was sometimes difficult. Not bad by any stretch, however, it was the center of our lives so everything else took a back seat. I always use to say that I could miss school before I could miss church on Sunday. No kidding when other kids would stay home to watch the “wizard of Oz” on Sunday nights we would be in church. I did not see the movie until I was an adult. I could not play organized sports because they practiced on Sundays. This is not a complaint it is just a fact. I think that perhaps we except excuses for not going these days from our family members that my mom would not have bought into. On another note maybe doing other things on Sundays is not so bad as long as they do not take the place of serving the Lord. Just food for thought. After all it is saved by grace not works. This is not a commentary; I also know that by your works they will know you. I also understand the idea of not forsaking the gathering together of the saints. I guess the truth is it is between you and the Lord. You know to him that knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin. Wow this is to deep for this memoir I will stop now.

I am a Keego kid. I’m not sure that will ever change. Growing up in a small community in Michigan probably is not any different than any other small town story. There were the poor the elite and all the in-betweens. However, from time to time I find myself going back to when I was young. Our problems seemed far and few between in those days.

In Keego Harbor during the 60’s you could go all over town without being afraid. Oh we had our crime I suppose but not like what is common today. Two times a day you could go to Roosevelt Elementary and pick up a baseball game at 8am and after lunch during the summer. Even if you were not very good and I was not, Or sometimes you could build a fort in the woods for you and your buds. There were a few of those places, small sections of wood. One was located on the curve by the Baptist Church and one by the Roosevelt school. It was simple and it was fun. The days passed so quickly.

Besides the play ground time there was the lakes. Four of them surrounded the community Cass, orchard, pine and sylvan lakes. You could spend all day going from lake to lake getting rides on boats and skiing. The lakes were practically across the street from each other. The people that lived on the lakes were so friendly. No one ever turned you down for a lift. What a life of leisure for a young kid.

My mother never worried about were I went. She new (or believed) I was safe. You could not go very far without seeing the “Keego cops” cruising down the street and they all seemed to know us by name. From time to time they would give us a ride in the car and buy us ice cream. We were not afraid of them. We looked up to them. They were bigger than life, important members of the community Ken Sisk, Holloway, Gomer (nickname) they always looked after us.

For ten cents you could get a whole bag of candy from Sunnyside Market. The only hard thing was facing Bobby Stewart. She and Orville Stewart owned the store and she had a grumpy disposition. Candy was two for a penny and I always wanted one of everything. After about three choices she would blow a gasket and just start putting the candy in a bag while grumbling about not having time for this foolishness. She would wink as we left. We new she loved us. I went back to see her several times before she passed away. She was always her sweet grumpy lovable self.

One day I was going to the store to get candy. I could always take the empty Pepsi bottles back for money. At two cents apiece a carton would get me 12 cents to spend on candy, 24 pieces all to myself. Well, I tripped in a hole on Moss Street and down I went. Broke all the bottles and cut my stomach up. I still have some scars on my belly from the glass cuts. I cried pretty hard that day. Not because I cut myself up but because I couldn’t buy ANY candy that day. That is pathetic but true.

Around my 10^th birthday I became interested in reading. I discovered the Hardy Boy mysteries. The first one I read was The Mystery of the Chinese Junk, it hooked me for life. Every time I could put together a $1.50 I would go up to the 5and 10 store to buy another book. At one point I had all the original 38 books of the mystery series. They took me to places I had never been and allowed me to dream of things I wanted to do. The books took place in exotic places such as Alaska and the Amazon or the Yucatan Peninsula. They were great fun. I have since passed those books on to my nephews my sister’s boys in the late 1980’s (Priscilla). I still buy and read them from time to time just to take me back to the good old days of dreams and wishes. If that is juvenile I do not care because it is a good escape.

At 11 or 12 (1963) I was also a paperboy for the Detroit News and the Pontiac Press (now the Oakland Press). I delivered newspapers everyday of the week for the Detroit News including the Sunday paper. For the whole city of Keego Harbor. I got my first bike, a Huffy, for helping with delivery of the papers. I was out in all four seasons delivering, collecting for the paper and trying to get the monies needed to pay my bill. It was hard sometimes. People would always try and avoid the collection days and some got really far behind. I did win a trip to camp one summer for getting the most subscription for the Detroit News. I got to ride my first horse at that camp north of Lapeer, Michigan. I thought I was quite the horseman after that experience. Often I would spend my profits on candy and during the summer I would stop up at the Root Beer stand on the corner of Cass Lake Road and Orchard Lake Road. I would buy a hamburger and Swamp Water a mixture of orange drink and root beer.

I also would spend my paper money on going to the movies at the Keego Theater. On Friday nights I would go and see movies like Dr. NO and the original Thirteen Ghosts. On the way home I would walk down the back streets from Cass Lake Front to Norcott Street. I would always get spooked out and start feeling like things were hiding behind trees and things. I would break out with goose bumps all over fear welling up inside me. I could not wait to get home. Someone once told me that when you got goose bumps it was a sign that the devil was close by. I would talk myself into seeing all kinds of weird things before I got to my house. What an imagination I had. As I look back on those experiences I feel that they…. Well I am not sure how I feel about them but they did have an obvious effect on me. As a Christian I do believe in the spirit world so who knows. Where there are angels and a God there must be demons and satan.

One mourning I was collecting for my route and went up to a house next to the dairy queen in Keego Harbor. The lady came to the door in a skimpy shear nightgown and talked a little while. I mentioned this to my mom who then told the mayor Bill Graves who then told the police and that started the process for them watching the house. It turned out that it was a “ house of prostitution” and the girls were ran out of town, my first and only experience with ladies of the night.

I was into Music and Theater in High School. I went out for the wrestling team and was on the baseball team but I never excelled in these sports. It was good for me though. Music was my favorite activity. Mr. Asplin gave me a lot of opportunity in his classes. I even was allowed to lead the choir on several occasions. I sang my first solo at a Christmas concert as a junior (1969-1970) it was “I’ll be home for Christmas”.

It seems that I was always searching for my place in life. There was minimal self-confidence in my early years. My parents took little notice of activities that I was involved with. Dad seemed only interested in himself and sleeping. Parenting is so much more than paying your kids way in life. You should take an interest in what they do. Help them reach their goals. Apart from my mother being proud and supportive as she could be I attribute much of my experience to people like Mr. Asplin, Mrs. Sieve, Mr. Smith teachers in school and then the youth directors at Sonny Vale Chapel who saw potential in my abilities. Later in life there were people Like Rev. Jack and Gerry Turner and Chuck Sanders from Northside Baptist Church (now Heritage Baptist) who encouraged my music and ministry.

I did several plays in high school but three of them I acted in, they were: “bye bye birdie”, “Arsenic and Old Lace” and “Waiting for Ghedo”. I also learned about stage make-up during those plays and have used that knowledge on many occasions throughout my life. I did the make-up for dozens of church plays since then as well as four Shakespeare plays while I went to Midwestern Baptist College. This was an interesting skill. I was especially good at crepe beards and doing aging. I really enjoyed doing these things and I am sure I will do more in the future. For many years I was a member of Faith Baptist’s theater group doing make-up and theatrical parts like a sergeant in the Roman Army. Great fun and interesting as we did large theatrical productions costing many thousands of dollars to produce.

First Blog

2008-01-06T09:51:00.000-05:00

Well this will be my first foray into the world of blog. My nephews inspired me to put together my thoughts in writing. As Jason said to me "this will be a way for your future relatives to see what you were thinking". That intrigues me.

So today is the first.

I am not sure that I have a lot of interesting things to say but I will say them.

I do have a strange since of humor (this is a title my kids and nephews have put on me), so if for no other reason look in from time to time to get a giggle.

I am also very political. Conservative on most issues especially the moral ones. Maybe not as conservative on the financial issues but not a believer in a free ride for anyone who can work.

I am a Christian, Baptist by choice; however, not a baptist only type of guy. I have a diverse Christian family with many Godly people who hold a few different views. Not on Salvation but perhaps differing on other doctrinal issues. We can all discuss this in heaven. by then we will have the definitive answers.

I am very proud of my family! They are good people who care about each other and those around them. They all seem to give far above what is "normal" in our society.

I named this site SchoolGuy because I could not think of another name. I was going to go with BigGuy but that says something about my size and really I do want to change that image.

I will add as I feel moved so talk to you later.