Looking back

the long version

This autobiography had its beginnings over fifty-five years ago as an eighth grade graduation requirement. It told the story of a young boy growing up in a middle class home in a middle class, Mid-Western town in the middle years of the twentieth century. The little book still stands on my book shelf. Its binding is worn down; its pictures are turning yellow but its hand-written story is still clear and legible. Picking up the story line a half century later, new chapters have been added on the High School Years in Crystal Lake, Illinois; the College Years at the University of Idaho; the Navy Years on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific; the Newlywed Years, with my marriage to Valerie and the start of our family; and concludes with the Italian Years, describing our eight years spent living on the Italian Riviera on an overseas assignment with the 3M Company The author has lived in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, since returning from Italy in 1973, shortly before his 40th birthday.