Autobiography

- Earl Schlueter

Born 9/15/21 in Seattle,Wash. At home of Grandmother (Bertha (Wells)Harmon at 1127

- 27th Ave. One brother 20 mo. Older (Louis - bom 5/27/20).
EarlyYears
From birth to about June 1934 (13 1/2) my recollections are pretty sketchy. My
father
changed jobs fairly often. He moved work as a foreman for small luggage
manufacturing
plants and about the time everything was running smoothly he would lose interest
and
seek out another company that needed help. As a consequence, prior to 1934, we
lived in
Seattle, Wash., then to St. Louis Mo. (where my father was raised), then back to
Seattle,
up to Vancouver B.C.,down to San Francisco, back to Seattle, back to San Francisco,
etc.
The earliest recollection I have was at about age 4 or 5 in Seattle and I believe
we were
living on Othelo St. Dad had a Ford sedan that had stopped running and Dad "gave
the
car to mybrother and I" (we thought). We promptly filled the tires with sand, and
then
Dad Fixed the car and took it back. Some time later I recall that we all went to
St. Louis
and we set out on the trip across the Rockies in the Ford sedan. It had side
curtains and I
can recall that Mom would be sitting in the front seat patching inner tubes in
readiness for
the next blowout. One day we drove until after dark and did not realize just how
close to
the railroad tracks we were when we pulled over to the side of the road and camped.
We
had a tent like affair that fastened to one side of the car and made a room with
three sides
and a flap. I don't recall who slept where, but long alter we were all asleep, we
heard a
train whistle coming closer and closer until the train thundered by. The next
morning we
could see that we had camped very close to the railroad crossing. It is
understandable that
I would recall that incident. I don't recall much after that about being in St.
Louis but
have seen some photos of an ice cream parlor and I believe that folks ran it for a
while.
During the times we were in Seattle, I recall visiting our cousins Allan and Norma.
We
always had a great time with them but were pretty much afraid of their mother (my
Aunt
Carlos)because she was a stickler for keeping things clean and it seemed that she
was
always after us for something. Some of the fun times with our cousins were had when
our
families would go up to Puget Sound to visit at Grandma Harmon. Found out later
that
she was no relation but we all just called her Grandma Harmon. On Puget Sound the
tide
comes in and goes out. In the morning the water would be way in, then in the
afternoon
would go way out and we would walk out as far as we could with the mud squishing
thru
our toes.
One of the times we came back to Seattle, Dad was not with us and I do not recall
just
why. Mom asked Grandma Harmon to let us stay in a cabin on the property. Lou and I
were sent to a country school and would walk to and from each day. As I recall, we
did
not do so well in that school. We were strangers and didn't make friends too well
there.
Maybe the other kids were not our age as do recall all the kids were in one big
room.
The teacher taught all of the grades. I think we were there only thru one winter
and it would really get cold during the night. The cabin was one large room with 3
wood stove for heat and cooking. I can recall morning where we would wake up that
Mom would
have Lou and I stay in bed until she got the fire going. The water in the teakettle
would
be frozen over. I don't recall why we left there or where we went, probably back to
Seattle.
My next recollections were in San Francisco. Recall being in elementary school, but
do
not recall where we lived. Then at about age 11 we were renting a two-story house
built
on the side of a hill overlooking ArmySt. By going up to the top of that hill (we
could
watch construction of the BayBridge. A round device would carry each strand of wire
(1/4" I think) all the way from the Anchor base in San Fran. To the anchor base at
Treasure Island. This part of the bridge was the suspension bridge and the part
from the
other side of Treasure Island to Oakland was a Cantilever type bridge. While we
were
living here, Uncle Erv came to live with us and worked in a leather suitcase
factory with
my father. Dad became mentally ill. Ultimately Dad was committed to the State
Mental
Hospital in Napa,CA. and Mom filed for a divorce. That had to be about June of
1934. I
would have been 12 and Lou 14. Alter the divorce, Mom and Erv went up to Seattle to
stay with Grandma for a while I suppose cause Mom did not have any money to support
us. Lou and I were sent to live with Grandpa Wells (Mom's father). Grandpa had re-
married and they had a large two story white house outside of Portland in Oak
Grove.
Lou and I had a neat summer there and mostly recall hiking thru the forest over to
the
Willametta River where we would fish for bluegills from the bank. We would catch a
bunch and bring them back to Grandma to clean and cook.

When summer was over, Erv and Mom came down from Seattle to get us. They were to
be married and we were all to live in San Francisco. They must not have had much
money because they rented a flat in the factory and warehouse section of town near
Flat
and Alabama St. These were depression times and jobs were scarce. I can recall
going to
the welfare office to carry home our weekly allotment of groceries. Erv got a job
in a
suitcase factory nearby and Lou and I were put in the eighth grade at Horace Mann
Jr.
High School. This must have been about September 1934 so I was just turning 13.
Shortly after starting the gm grade, they slipped me a full grade up to 9th, which
was the
reason I graduated from High School just after turning 17.

Middle Years
On Alabama St., we lived 1/2 block from the mission branch of the San Fran. Boys
Club.
The dues were cheap so Lou and I joined. They had several pool tables and a
gymnasium. Pool was the big attraction so for several weeks we spent all of our
free time
at the pool tables. One night the pool tables were all filled and long wait line so
I opened
the door to the gym and that was a turning point in my life. I picked up a
basketball and
threw it up to the basket. After that I never went back to play pool but was
constantly
bouncing the ball and shooting. One day I saw a notice on the bulletin board that
Bill
Kopke ( a college student) was going to have a series of classes on basketball. How
to
dribble, pass and shoot. He put a bunch of tires on the floor and we had to dribble
in and
out around them. Then came some practice sessions where we had teams and played
against each other. By now I had purchased gym shoes and a bay club basketball
suit. I spent all my free time in the gym. The boys club organized a league of Jr.
High ages and
they would play the branches but I wasn't good enough to make the team until one
night
alter dinner I went to the club and the team was in the lobby getting ready to go
to one of
the other clubs for a game and were short one man. When I came in, they said "Hey
Schlueter " got your stuff?" I said "No but I can get it in two minutes". I ran
home, got
my stuff and played with that team until I graduated from Jr. High. We had a great
team.
and won 21 games straight.
Erv had done good at the luggage factory and they had saved some money so about the
time I was ready for high school Mom and Erv bought a small two bedroom house in
Glen Park, a mostly Italian neighborhood. That was another great move (for me)
since
there was a park at the foot of the hill with a basketball court, tennis court and
a baseball
diamond. Needless to say I spent as much time there as I could and would do
anything I
could to get the other guys to let me play with them. During basketball season it
was
basketball and during baseball season it was baseball and the more I played, the
better I
got. Since I was a very bashful person, excelling in these sports did a great deal
in
building my confidence. During my high school days, I would die if any girl would
even
look at me and didn't even have a date until I was out of High School and had been
working for a year.

Glen Park Athletic Club

Shortly after moving to Glen Park, the Recreation Dept decided to build a gymnasium
on
the park grounds. This was great as we could then play basketball at night. One of
our
guys suggested that we form a club, get team uniforms and enter some of the city
leagues.
I was the treasurer and we started with dues, which weren't near enough to buy
uniforms
so we started a raffle. Sold tickets all over Glen Park to Finance uniforms for the
Glen
Park Athletic Club. After raffles, which parties and donations we had our uniforms
and
then on to baseball with more of the same. Basketball games were pretty much
limited to
city recreation dept. games and occasionally we would play the inmates at San
Quinton
prison. Baseball was played all around the bay area. When we weren't playing in the
recreation dept. leagues, we would play in the small bay area town. Usually the
town Fire
Dept. would have a team so Sunday after Sunday it would be Sausalito, Mill Valley,
etc.,
etc. There was no pay but to cover expenses the home team would pass the hat thru
the
crowd and that usually would be enough to cover expenses and some times add a
little to
our treasury.

High School
San Francisco had a 1/2 year school system where by each 1/2 year new students
would
enter thereby making graduations in June and December. Because of that system,I had
only two years of High School basketball. Since I didn't think I was good enough, I
didn't
go out for baseball until I was a senior but had the two years at Basketball.
Because of
being put up one grade in Jr. high, I was a year younger than the other fellows.
When I
graduated I was 6'1" and I suppose about 140 lbs. Eventually I was 6'3" and about
178
lbs.

High school for me was sports and taking courses that would help me get an office
job. I
was so skinny and light that I couldn't see me doing heavy work. Since college
seemed
out of the question l did not pay attention to college entrance requirements. Later
that
turned out to be a bad decision. After High School graduation, I took a job with
Equitable Life Assurance as a clerk at $65 per month. The banks were paying $60 per
month for high school graduates. When my brother and I were living at home going to
school, everything was free. As soon as we got a job, room and board was 50% of our
pay, but that was OK as things didn't cost all that much in those days and we were
even
able to buy a car together. That caused some friction deciding who would get the
car
when and then deciding who used the most gas. Eventually, we found that it was best
to
put in small amounts at a time so there wouldn't be much left when we eased the car
into the garage.

Basketball Scholarship
After working 6 months at Equitable, and of course playing basketball a couple of
nights a
week and baseball every weekend, Eddie Dunn called me one night and said that the
University of S.F. was having try-outs for the basketball team and he wanted me to
go out
with him, I took three days off from work and gave it a try. At the end of three
days I
went up to the coach and told him that if I was to go to college that I would need
a
scholarship and that had taken these three days of from work to see if I could get
one. He
said "Go down to the admissions office and sign up". The next day,I quit my job and
applied for entrance to U.S.F. I was turned down since I needed one year of
language.
Some colleges will allow you to make up courses but not U.S.F. so l had made a had
mistake by quitting my job before being accepted. I was too embarrassed to go back
to
Equitable and ask for my job back so started looking again and wound up going to
work
for Atowell, Vogel & Sterling, an Auditing and inspection company that provides
those
services to Insurance Cos. Who had an overload of work or Co's that did not
maintain a
staff for that purpose. While working there, I would deliver reports to the St.Paul
Ins. Co
they had a team in the Rec. Dept basketball league that we were in and ultimately
we lost
to them for the championship. The next day got a call from Mr. Chamberlain who was
Mgr. of the St. Paul Team and he asked me to come over to see him. He had
recognized
me from dropping off reports and offered me a job at $90 per month to work there
and to
play on the B.B. team (I was making $75 at A.V.S.) Naturally, I took the job. This
would have been probably fall of 1940 so I would have been there about one year
when
Pearl Harbor came and the draft started taking men. That gave me another break, as
the
baseball leagues needed players. Lefty Gill called me one day and said that the
Dodgers
were having tryouts the next weekend and we should go down. He would try out for
pitcher and I for outfield. We did and I was signed at $75 per month plus $15 for
cleaning
the bus and was to report for spring training at Santa Barbara. That would have
been
Feb. or March of 1942. Spring training was fun and everything was going great until
toward the end I was hit in the eye from a high inside pitch that that I was trying
to
bunt. That seemed to end my baseball career because that injury left a small scar
that
threw off the depth perception. After I had recovered, they asked me to go down to
Texas to play in the West Texas - New Mexico class "D" league. My hitting was poor
and I was batting only 170 when that league folded. They wanted to send me up to
Pocatello, Idaho to finish out the season but l said "no". I didn't feel that with
that scar in my eye that I could ever be a major league player and of course that
was my goal. I
was 21 at that time and figuring that you had to make your fortune in about 10
years of
major league play I was getting too old to be playing in the minors and I should be
looking
to making a living back in the Insurance business. Because of the war effort there
were
good paying jobs in the shipyards where Erv was working by then. Erv got me on at
his
yard where I worked until Sept. 1942. By this time Mom & Erv had sold the home in
Glen Park and had bought a larger 3-bedroom house in the Crocker Amazon district
although it was a newer, larger, nicer home, it was never the same as living in
Glen Park.
Brother Lou had joined the Army and I was subject to the draft. Many of my friends
were
already in the service and I was working the 3 - 11 shift at the yard so I was
pretty much
by myself. An old friend and neighbor from Glen Park asked if I would be interested
in
going into the merchant marine as a "ships clerk". They needed men that knew
bookkeeping and could type. The job paid $200 per month plus bonuses plus being
exempt from the draft. I jumped at the chance and signed on the SS Joseph Rodman
Drake and some time in Sept., we sailed out thru the Golden Gate headed for
Alexandria,
Egypt with one stop in Wellington, New Zealand. That was worth a $100 bonus. The
stay on the ship was great and I had never been to sea before. Had my own stateroom
and
a steward made up my bunk everyday so you can see, I was treated as an officer and
was
several notches above the seamen who had dormitory type quarters. The start was
pretty
tough because the captain took an immediate dislike to me. Seems that he wanted
that job
for his nephew so when he didn't get his way, he took it out on me. All I had to do
was
make copies of the ships log so they could be dropped off at each port so that in
the event
the ship would be sunk, the steamship would have a copy at least to the last port.
When
we stopped at a port, the Captain would give cash to the crew for leave and I would
have
to make a record of that and have them sign for the cash. Otherwise it was pretty
much of
a vacation. Eventually the Captain and I became good friends and he wanted me to
stay
with him on his next ship. The trip was pretty dull mainly because of few port
stops where
we could go ashore although we had some exciting times too. This was a liberty
ship,
rather small (9500 tons) with a navy gun crew of 21. We had a five-inch guns on the
rear
and two anti-aircraft guns topside. I was assigned to a 30-caliber machine gun as
my part
in the event of attack. One afternoon about 4:00 PM General Quarters was sounded as
a
ship was spotted against the horizon. It wasn't going very fast and we couldn't
tell what
flag it flew but it looked like a freighter. Many enemy freighters were heavily
armed and
used their appearance as a decoy so we were instructed to stay away from all ships
at sea.
At the sounding of General quarters, I took my position at the machine gun and
immediately stuck the belt of bullets in one side and pulled the lever putting the
gun in a
half-load state. Another pull and it was fully loaded and ready to fire. As I
dropped the
handle so the barrel would point upward, my fnger hit the trigger and off went
about ten
rounds (BRRRR). The Captain looked up from the flying bridge and said "For Christ's
Sake, they're about 12 miles away." We took a course away from the stranger until
dark,
and then changed to a zigzag course. By morning there was no sign of the other ship
so
we went back to our regular course headed for the Red Sea. The rest of the trip to
Alexandria was uneventful although the trip thru the Suez Canal was tense. This
gave us
another $100 bonus. The enemy would fly down the canal on occasion so the ships in
the
canal were really sitting ducks and no where to go. We stayed in Alexandria for two
weeks discharging cargo, then back thru the Suez and another $100. While
discharging cargo,
the Capt. Was asked to make some short runs to Malta. Round trip would be
about two weeks and the bonuses would have been $200 per trip. The Mediterranean
was
a hot bed of enemy aircraft so the chances of making very many trips without being
attacked was pretty slim so the Capt. Said "No". the Egyptians who were unloading
the
ship were pretty low-grade people and pretty dumb. The last day we would be in
port,
they were unloading the last of the cargo and had pulled a barge around to the far
side of
the ship to finish the unloading quicker and the Capt. Had the engines warming up
and the
propeller turning very slowly. The wags had loaded the barge and let the lines
loose
from the ship then shoved the barge away and were using poles to bring it around
the stern
of the ship and into the dock. There must have been about a dozen men on the barge
and
it started drifting into the propeller. Instead of using their poles to keep the
barge away,
they just stood there jabbering away. Pretty soon sure enough, the barge drifted
into the
propeller. The force of the blade kicked the barge away from the ship as I watched
from
the deck. It was hard to tell if the barge was damaged, but that became apparent as
it
slowly filled with water. The wags started jabbering louder as the water spilled
over the
sides and Ker-plunk, down to the bottom it went leaving all the men flailing away
in the
water. Life preservers were thrown over from the ships and the men brought to
shore.
Shortly after that, we pulled away from the dock and left Alexandria. My
recollection of
Alexandria was that everyone was very poor and lots of those living near the harbor
didn't
even have homes but lived in doorways.

Alter leavingAlexandria, we sailed back thru the Suez Canal, thru the Indian Ocean,
then
the long trip down around south Africa and over to South America where we stopped
at
Bolivia,Brazil. We stayed about a week waiting for a convoy to form for the trips
up the
Atlantic. Eventually, our forty-ship convoy was ready to leave Bolivia with three
or four
British Corvettes as our protection. These Corvettes were small naval Vessels
carrying
ash cans, small cameras and anti-aircraft guns. After dark one night the convoy
left
Bolivia. Later we learned that just forty miles below Bolivia was a neutral Dutch
port
where German Submarines could pull in the re-fuel so it wasn't all that difficult
for them
to know where we were leaving Bolivia.

About midnight, general quarters sounded and by the time I got to my battle station
(my
good old 30 caliber machine gun) the sky had been lit up by flares from the
Corvettes and
a seaplane was circling overhead. The flares were to make it easier for the
Corvettes to
see the subs. Our Capt. had fought for a land-side berth in the convoy and we now
found
out why. He ordered our ship "Hard Left" and we headed away from the Convoy. Just
then, one of our lookouts hollered, "Torpedo off the port bow". As I looked to the
left,
sure enough, coming right at us was a white wake. As it got closer, we could see
there is
was one of the Corvettes trying to push us back into the ConvoyThe Capt. had his
mind
made up and stayed on his course "away" and that was the last we saw of the convoy
as
they faded away into the darkness. We never saw a sub, but later learned that three
of the
ships were sunk. Each day the escort 'fixes a meeting point for the following day
so that if
the ships got scattered, they can re-group and proceed together. That created some
sad
news for my mother when the following day, the Navy had to advise the owners of the
ships that the SS Joseph Rodman Drake was "missing in action". On our own now the
Capt. headed for Guantanamoe Bay,Cuba where we took on a load of "Bauxite" and two
weeks later pulled in to Mobile, Alabama. After unloading the Bauxite and
completing the ships reports,those of us who wanted to be discharged, paid off and
given train fare back
to S.F. I decided that I was ready to stay ashore for a while, so accepted the
discharge
and got back to S.F. sometime in March 1943. After a couple of weeks,I decided that
I
wasn't doing my share toward the war effort, in the Merchant marine, so decided
that the
Air Force would be more exciting and there would be more action so I went to
Hamilton
Air Force base, north of S.F. and applied to be pilot. I failed the "depth
perception " test
because of that scar in my right eye so then thought the Marine Corps would be
right up
my alley. They thought my eyesight was just fine so off I went to San Diego for
boot
camp training at the Marine Base. Since my draft number still had not come up, I
was
what they called a voluntary drafter, which meant that instead of being in for a
normal
four-year hitch, I was in for "the duration plus six months".
Since I had joined the Marines to see action, I had to be careful not to be
sidetracked. I
learned that they needed clerical people badly so if they found out you could type,
you
would be headed for an office type job. After boot camp, we were given a series of
written tests. I should have faked the answers not realizing that the top 10% would
be
assigned to radio school. Sure enough, instead of being sent overseas, I was sent
to Radio
School for six weeks learning to send and receive Morris code and have to operate
the
radio sets that they used. After radio school, I thought for sure I would be sent
overseas
as a replacement but it was not to be. My name appeared on the bulletin board one
morning and I had been assigned to the 'just being formed', Fifth Marine Division.
So, the
next day we were put aboard trucks and found ourselves headed to Camp Pendleton,
near
Oceanside, CA. This was to be the staging area where I was to remain for a full
year,
although I did not know it would take that long, plus I was assigned to
"Headquarters
Co.". This would be the Division Command and Company where the General would be,
so the chance of getting near the front lines was pretty slim. One day a notice
appeared on
the Bulletin Board that the Forth Division wanted "forward observers" for the
Artillery
Regiment. Here was my chance to see some action, as a forward observer was put way
out in front so he could see where the shells were landing and call back to the
guns to
raise elevation or lower and left or right. I could see why they needed more of
these guys
cause they generally don't last very long. I signed up but was turned down. Reason,
they
could not use valuable radio personnel for that job. It cost too much to train us
and
anyone who could use a telephone could be a forward observer. Eventually, The Fifth
is
fully staffed and sent over to Hawaii. We landed in Hilo and trucked up to our
"Permanent base" on the Parker Ranch. This was to be our home from where we would
have to complete assigned missions, then return and wait next assignment. It seemed
like
we were there forever. I had signed up m April 1943 and here it was now about Sept.
1944 and still no action. It must have been about Feb. of 1945 when we started a
series of
practice landings using the standard Marine landing craft to put us ashore. This
meant
using military troop ships to just off shore, climbing down the rope netting that
hung over
the side of the ship (carrying our combat gear). Getting into the landing craft was
tricky
since we were fully loaded with our radios, rifles, etc. and the landing craft
would rise and
fall three or four feet as you were trying to board. We usually had a few injuries
in that
operation but I don't recall any that were serious. About this time, my Mother died
in San
Francisco and I requested emergency leave. Request denied which meant we were too
far
into our preparations for a combat mission. Sure enough, about April 1st we were on
troy
soups, headed for the Japanese held Island of Iwo Jima. We landed in waves on a
black sand beach right at the foot of Mt. Surabachi. I suppose my bunch was about
fourth wave
in but the first few waves hadn't made much headway. Too much firepower coming from
Mt. Surabachi. Even though the Navy had been shelling the Island for several days,
they
had not been able to penetrate the defenses of Mt. Surabachi so the Marines had to
proceed up the side using flame throwers to rout the Japs from the honey combed
system
of Caves. By nightfall, the airstrip had been taken, Mt. Surabachi neutralized, and
we had
Headquarters company set up at the end of the airstrip. Our protection was pretty
good.
Our rear was exposed to Mt. Surabachi but there wasn't much coming from the
direction
any more. Our front was somewhat protected by the height of the airstrip. As the
Japanese shells came at us from the front, they would either explode on the end of
the
airfield or go overhead. That was more the 75 mm guns were set up so they lost a
few of
them. Typically, the Japanese launch a heavy counter-attack the first night that
meant they
would be coming across the airfield. If they got past our defenses, at the end of
the
airfield, then they would be right in our laps. All we had were carbines and
radios, so that
would probably have been curtains. The counter-attack failed so it was just a
matter, after
that, of slowly moving forward until the remaining Japanese were bottled up at the
end of
the island. This operation was supposed to take 3 to 4 days, but the island was
more
heavily fortified than we thought, plus having to root everybody out of those
caves. So far I
have been in the Marines over two years and been involved in the taking of Iwo Jima
but
have not fired a shot nor even seen a Japanese, let alone fight one. Alter we had
been on
Iwo a couple of weeks my next opportunity presented itself. A notice on the
bulletin
board was asking for volunteers to clean up the rest of the Japanese who were holed
up in
a tree-covered area at the end of the Island. I signed up and the bunch of us were
issued
ammunition for our rifles, and hand grenades. I remember we were sitting around, in
full
combat gear, sharpening our bayonettes, when the word came down that the deal was
off
In fact our cormnanding General had given our Captain "hell" for volunteering
valuable
communications personnel for a combat mission. So much for my last chance. We were
sent back to our main base on the Parker Ranch for replacements and wait for our
next
assigmnent. Little did we know that our new mission was the occupation of Japan. By
the time the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Germans had
surrendered shortly thereafter, the Japanese surrendered and we were on our way to
Japan
to occupy the Southern island. We used the landing plans, that were already set in
place
for the Fighting mission of Japan and in August or September of 1945 land at the
Sacebo
Naval Base in Southern Kyushu, then worked our way inland to the town of Buquoka,
where we remained until being sent back to the states for discharge. In March of
1946 I
was discharged and was on my wayback to San Francisco. My mother had passed away
about a year ago and Erv had remarried so I was not sure of just where I was going
to
live. Erv had sold the S.F. home and he and Agnes were living in an Apt. with Agnes
daughter. Erv and Agnes asked me to stay with them, but soon Agnes' son (Wayne)
came
back and there were five of us living in a relatively small apt. I had the car that
Lou and I
had left behind so I could get around and started looking up my old buddies and
looking
for a job. Within two weeks I had a job with American Associated Insurance Company
and I was back playing baseball and basketball with some of the old guys I had
played with
before. By now many of the old guys had gotten married so basketball during the
week
was sort of out but baseball on weekends was still in. After a couple of months of
working in S.F. and living across the bay got tired of going back and forth so
found a
rooming house m S.F. where I lived for several months until Erv and Agnes moved
back to S.F. and rented a 3 bedroom apt. I moved back with them and it was a lot
better for
me as Agnes did all the cooking. Agnes was working for the telephone Co., Erv for
Safeway, Wayne went to work for H.S. Custom Service and I don't remember just where
Ginny worked. It was pretty crowded but we all got along good. Brother Lou had
gotten
married while in the service and had come back to S.F. where he and Evelyn took an
apt
I was progressing in my job but had no real direction. My main interests were still
baseball
and basketball and the scout who originally signed me for the Dodgers asked me to
go
back and try pro baseball again. I was 24 by that time and said "no". The few girls
that I
had dated before the war had married and I hadn't found any that made me sit up and
take
notice until one night, Wayne and I were out together and decided to stop in at the
Edgewater Beach dance hall to see if we could do any good. There I was Mom, with
Francis Fisher. Since S.F. was filled with a variety of Italians, Chinese,
Japanese, Spanish
and Mexican, etc. it was difficult to find someone that I felt had a background
similar to
mine. Since most of the girls I knew were Italian, I was at a disadvantage. I liked
slim
girls and I knew by looking at the mothers of the girls that they would be fat. Not
that I
felt I was that great of a catch or maybe I did, but I was very picky about who I
was going
to commit the rest of my life to. I was pretty naive about marriage but I was ready
to
settle down and have some children. Although my income was small, I felt that I
could
support a wife and a couple of children so when Mom accepted my invitation to
dance, I
really fell pretty hard. Here was a pretty blond girl of who obviously would never
be fat
We both came from modest backgrounds but different parts of the country. Mom from
small town and farming and me from big city and somewhat faster pace of big
business
After the dance I asked for another date and it seemed that we were together almost
every
evening and weekend until we were married. Our courtship lasted three months. Could
have lasted longer but lack of places to be together caused problems. Erv and Agnes
's
apt. was too small and the nurses quarters where Mom lived had tough restrictions
plus no
Extra space. As a consequence, we had to go out somewhere. Soon I found that of my
$200 month salary, I was spending $300. Fortunately I had about $3500 in the bank,
but I
didn't like the idea of going in the hole. Seeing so much of each other must have
made
Mom disenchanted about the arrangement for she refused me a date one Saturday night
As Sat. approached,I became suspicious. Maybe she had another date. I decided to go
out to the Edgewater Beach ballroom and just wait around. In case she came. Sure
enough in came Mom and Francis (Moms roommate). I was really burned and figured
that she had changed her mind for we were engaged at that time and planned to have
the
wedding in June back in Iowa. Francis saw me first as I approached them and her jaw
really dropped. I came up and said I think you and should have a little talk. We
talked
in the ballroom for a while, and then took a ride up to twin peaks. It seemed that
Mom
was undecided. I told her that I thought we had what it took to make a good
marriage
that we were from similar backgrounds and had similar goals, but if she had changed
her
mind that she should return the ring and we would call it quits. I felt terrible
but said I
would get over it eventually and start looking again. Mom couldn't quite bring
herself to
retuning the ring so I said that our living arrangements were probably too tough on
us
Mom in the hospital nurses quarters and me in an apt. with five other people. I
said that
we would we would not last until June so probably we should get married now and set
up
housekeeping. We picked a date out of the air (Dec.12th). It was about Dec. 1st
then.
We proceeded then to look for an apt. for $50 a month that I thought we could
afford and
found small apt. built in the basement of a home. On December 12th Erv and Agnes
drove
us to Reno and we were married. In about three months Greg was on the way and we
needed a larger place to live. Eventually we purchased a two-bedroom 1000 sq. ft.
house
at 3822 Cabrillo (about two blocks from the beach). We lived there from Sept. 1947
to
Aug. 1950. Greg came along in Jan. 1948 then Rick Sept 1949. Mom was busy taking
care of two kids and I had pushed my salary up to $360 per month. Mom got homesick
pretty easy so she had gone back to Iowa a couple of times to visit by herself and
the two
of us had gone once. Eventually it got so bad that I gave up and said that maybe we
should move back to Iowa. That was great with Mom so we sold the house, quit my
job,
shipped our furniture ahead, put the two kids in the car and took off for Iowa.
After
selling the house, our bankroll was about 2500 so that had to last until I could
find a job
and get settled someplace. We moved in with Gam and Bank and I put an ad in the
statewide newspaper asking for a job in the insurance business in Davenport, Des
Moines
or Waterloo. Bob Beal saw the ad and we got together for an interview. By that time
I
had been offered a field mans job at $325 a month plus a company car. Bob Beal was
offering 50% of the commnissions with a $200 per month guarantee to run the
Insurance
Agency in the Des Moines office. I told Bob that I would like to try his deal and I
had no
hang-ups about the $200 per month but I didn't think I could live on that. If he
would go
Up to $300 I would take the job deal otherwise I would have to take the other job.
Bob
finally gave in and that started a 31 year association with Iowa Securities
Company,
renamed to Banco Mortgage Company in 1969 when the company was sold to Northwest
Bancorporation and renamed to Norwest Mtg. Inc. 1982 when the whole organization
went thru a name change.

Where Mom was unhappy in San Francisco, she was happy in Iowa. We bought a new
home in West Des Moines and made frequent trips to Clutier. In 1958 we were
transferred to Waterloo where I would manage the Waterloo Insurance Agency and
over-
see the Agency's the other branches (Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids and
Ottumwa). In about 1960 I was put on the Board of Directors and we were doing
pretty
well We had two more children, Mark and Susie. When Greg and Rick started college,
Mom went to work as a school nurse. In 1969 Bob Beal accepted an offer from
Northwest Bancoporation to sell Iowa Securities by an exchange of stock. The few
insignificant shares of ISC stock that each of the board members had been allowed
to
purchase were over night worth a good sum The sale of ISC meant that the Co. Home
Office would move to St. Paul and Bob Beal had offered my services to Banco to take
over supervision of their 58 insurance agencies and in general handle the insurance
needs
of the banks.

This meant another move from Waterloo to St. Paul. I had heard that St. Paul was
the
coldest place in the U.S. and it is almost. In any event it seemed like an
adventure and an
opportunity that we should not pass up and that turned out to be right so off we
went to
St. Paul and I took over my new responsibilities. This was a sort of left handed
arrangement since I would be on the ISC payroll, working out of an ISC office but
working for Banco and reporting to a man who new nothing about Insurance. Realizing
the bad part about this move, I asked Bob Beal if he was sure this was what he
wanted me
to do. He said yes and I said OK.
At the end of about 3 1/2 yrs. I could see that this was no win job for me.
Although I was
spending all my time on Bancos insurance operations, the holding co. would only
reimburse us for half of my cost. Finally, I told Bob that if they thought that I
was only
worth that much to them, that I would not let ISC Pay me more, but that I was not
willing
to work for that amount. He could offer me another job in the Co. or I would offer
to
resign and look elsewhere. It was kind of ticklish to tell Banco to take their job
and shove
it, but Bob did it in a diplomatic way. It took Banco five months to get a
replacement
and then they wound up hiring two men and a secretary. That made me feel good. Good
to his word, Bob assigned be to the residential loan operation of the company which
was
small potatoes and they had even thought of dropping residential and devote all
their
energies and people to Income Loans (Apt., offices blogs, etc.). We were in need of
Investors to whom we could sell our residential loans so I was put on the road to
contact
S.L's in the Midwest and all over the country to establish outlets for our
production. The
1st part of 1972, the sale of residential loans took a decided twist. Up until that
time
residential FHA & VA loans were sold one at a time to Investors who gave us forward
commitments. We kept the originator fee to cover our origination costs and our
profit
was the net servicing fee. Someone came up with the brilliant idea of putting
FHA/VA
mortgages into a form of security and sell the securities on wall street. Since
Govt. Nat'l
Mtg. Assoc. (GNMA) guaranteed the securities they were readily salable (at a
price). Our
residential loan production began to increase from $43,000,000 to 90.000.000 our
first
year of dealing in GNMA's. At about this time, Owen was brought up from Waterloo to
do the marketing from the Home Office and I was continuing to call on potential new
investors. There was no real head of the Residential operation although we
gradually fell
into our own riches. Owen marketing and me production. There followed about eight
years of increasing production in Residential while the other parts of the company
fell
behind and suffered severe losses. So the one lonely part of the company became
the most profitable. We had started a steady plan of expansion adding branch
offices to all
parts of the U.S. We had established a bonus system and a production incentive
system
that awarded great one week trips and cruises to the winners.

These were the greatest years of my working life. We had chosen a method of
protecting
our production from adverse market conditions and were able to make huge profits by

being able to sell at the highest price. Gradually, we increased our branch office
system to
38 branches and our annual production was $800,000,000 and our servicing volume
was second largest in the U.S. Owen Carson has said many times that what we had
accomplished during those years was fantastic in bringing lonely, insignificant
Iowa
Securities Company to the 2nd largest Mortgage Banker in the U.S

In 1981 I announced that I would retire effective, Jan. 1. 1982 partly because I
was tired
of working and partly because didn't think I would make it much beyond 65. A
chronic
leukemia condition had been detected about 1971 so I pretty much figured that as I
got
older it would develop into something that would shorten my life unless the
leukemia
would do it all by itself

In 1973 we had purchased the lake place and the following year put on a sizable
addition.
The plan was to have the builder do the framing the roofing and put in the new
windows
and then I would do all the finishing. I liked to do the carpentry, but it was
Mom's idea to
have the lake place and it has been a great place for weekends and vacations. By
the time
I retired, the cabin was pretty much finished so with prodding by Mom I spent the
first
summer of retirement finishing up. There really isn't any such thing as finishing
up on a
cabin seems that there is always something to either finish and or repair but that
is what I
enjoy most about the cabin.

With the cabin all finished, the St. Paul property sold and the Scottsdale property
purchased, we settled down to a life of retirement.