Getting to know me . . .

Yes, as you can see from the small photo, I am an old man . . . soon to be 85 years old, if the Lord is willing!

I am content to believe that senile dementia has not yet seriously eroded my mental capabilities.

I have a high school education, spent slightly more than four years in the military during WWII, became proficient in electronics by reading everything I could find on the subject, and, when I was discharged from the Air Force at the end of the war, I was able to find work as an electronic technician, repairing radios, phonographs, and television receivers when television became locally available. I took and passed the tests for an FCC Radiotelephone Operators license, and for an Amateur Radio Operators license, as well. I later was able to get a better job as a Field Service Manager for Magnavox, calling on its dealers in all or parts of seven states, and helping them to solve any service problems that they might be having with Magnavox products.

Later, I applied for a job as a Regional Sales manager for Magnavox, and was accepted for that job.

The balance of my business career was spent at factory level with various national producers of consumer electronics products. When the off-shore manufacturers began to dominate the business, I was able to continue in my chosen field, even after most of the national companies had closed their doors or sold out to the offshore companies. I was out of work for the main part of two years after age fifty, finally getting my last job prior to retirement because I was the only applicant for the position that could meet all the requirements. After about nine years with that company, I retired from a position as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Communications and Test Equipment for The Kenwood USA Corporation.

During the war, I trained to become an aircraft pilot, and was subsequently qualified to fly nineteen different types of military aircraft. I logged over 1000 hours of flight time, with about half of it being in the old DC-3 type aircraft. Periodically, since my retirement, I have purchased a flying lesson, just to see if I could still handle an aircraft, and I always do the flying, including takeoff and landing, even though I may never have flown the type before.

Don't you think that this sounds much like a Horatio Alger, Jr. story? I bet most of my readers have never even heard of that once popular author. He wrote countless stories about young men, who rose from the lowest paying jobs in the company to become the president of the company, or, at least, the manager of one of its main offices. He did all his writing around the start of the twentieth century, just about 100 years ago! I think I have read them all, as a young boy.

That is my life's story, in a nutshell, and it has been fun! I hope that all who read this enjoy their lives as much!

Henry