The More of it. 
Early Years
I grew up in the Village of Kenmore, a northern suburb of Buffalo, N.Y.
Although kindergarten was in the public school system, I spent the next
8 years in the Parochial school of St. Paul's. The
school
and church and school were on our block between Westgate and
Victoria... so I didn't have far to go. In fact, I came home
for
lunch every day. Poor mom!
After the big graduation from St. Paul's, I went to Kenmore Jr. H.S.
for one year. Three years at Kenmore West Sr. H.S.
rounded
out my early education.
I then attended RPI for four years where I met Liz my sophmore year.
I
joined the school's Coop program and so spent the '61 summer at school.
During
the fall semester, I worked at at IBM in Kingston, NY. The next two
summers I
worked in Owego and Poughkeepsie.
Family Years
I went to work for IBM in Poughkeepsie in 1964 right after graduation.
Most
weekends were spent seeing Liz in Schenectady. My first
business trip was
to Winchester, England during Thanksgiving 1964. I was very
impressed with
a pickup at Heathrow by chauffeur with one of those little signs;
followed by a
nice scenic ride to Winchester. The hotel was adjacent to
Winchester
Cathedral. The two weeks were most enjoyable. We still have
the Mohair
blanket I brought back for Liz.
We married on April 24, 1965 at Holy Cross Church in
Schenectady,
NY. There was quite a contingent of Aunts & Uncles
who came up from
Buffalo. With my brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces; and all of
Liz's
relatives, it was quite a gathering.
Early Retirement
I had been involved with the Poughkeepsie community for quite awhile.
It all started in
the early '70s when I got involved with a county representative on the
subject
of local taxes. Shortly thereafter, I was asked to volunteer
on the Town of
Poughkeepsie Planning Board. Within a few years I became
Chairman. I
enjoyed working on this board for 13 years. There was very
little politics
during most of this time... just lots of interesting meetings.. with
many
interesting people and lawyers. This came to an end when the
Democratic
Town Board decided my position in favor of a new mall (as
opposed to 1000+
new homes) was unacceptable. A year later in the fall of '89, I
successfully ran
for Councilmen. Now we're talking Politics!
The 90-91 term was a lot of fun; and of course a pretty educational
entry to local politics. David Hinckley, an old army colnel who still
jumped out of planes once a year, presided over the board as the
democratic Town Supervisor. Although the Republicans were a minority,
unless it was an appointment, we frequently prevailed with
the
Supervisor voting with us.
After retiring from
IBM, I ran for the fulltime position of Town Supervisor.
The first years at this level of politics still seemed like they were
in a real
world.. but then an unreal element crept in little
by little. I
suppose it started in a small way when I went unchallenged for my 2nd
2-year
term in November 1995..
Many people have suggested I
write a book on the events of local politics in
the late 90's .... but for the time being, this
will have to do.
Second Retirement
This is the nice one. Hobbies, travel, Lake Home.
the end of it