My life shaping memories (#2)

By 1944 World War II had ended . Our days of hosting British sailors from the Union Jack Club in Boston were over and I dearly missed them. Of course I was happy that the boys could finally go home but, with the exaggeration of youth, I felt like my life was forever doomed to boredom.

Of course this was years before TV but I did find solace in the big wooden radio that was proudly displayed in the living room. In those days all the shows were “live” and would often go off script which made them even more fun to listen to. So, slowly, I recovered and realized that life was what I made of it.

I doubt if I knew it then, but I was very fortunate. My parents and my 4 older sisters were the backbone of my life and, although we had little money, we had an overflowing love that made up for that. Basically we did our best to see that each of us would thrive.

Here are some of the highlights of my life for the next 14 years. We lived in Wellesley Hills, Mass, and I was fortunate to have Mr. Crockett as my English teacher for the last 2 years of High School … sitting next to Sylvia Plath who we would never have dreamed would become one of the greatest poets in the world.

My parents made known to all 5 of us that they would encourage a college education, but the lack of money meant that we had to obtain scholarships in order to make that a reality. I am proud to say that all of us did just that. Mine was $1,000 a year for 4 years and, believe it or not, that covered the admission to Boston University and I graduated in 1954 with a degree in Journalism.

The next 4 years I managed to crunch together a variety of jobs in different areas of the country ...Type setter in an Ad Agency in Boston, “Jack of all trades” in WWNY Radio station, Watertown, NY., Advertising and Promotion Mgr, KEY-TV in Santa Barbara, Cal. and finally, after each and all of these jobs helped to shape my life, I decided to follow my dream of a lifetime ... a bite of the BIG APPLE ...so I headed to New York City.