Post #32

There is no Thought for the day, just an observation:

If my brother Dave had lived, he would have been 86 today. Over the years he brought a lot of fun into my life, as well as a lot of pain and suffering--both physical and psychological. We were the best of buddies at times and the worst of enemies at other times. He knew every button to push to raise my terrible temper to a boiling point, but he also knew how to be a helpful, nurturing older brother.

I was very proud of Dave when he enlisted in the US Navy shortly before WWII started. I worried about him all those months that we didn't hear from the government after his ship was sunk in the South Pacific, just as he worried about me while I was in the army. Ironically, the war that separated us geographically brought us closer together than we had ever been before.

Dave was a very talented writer and aspired to be a journalist for a newspaper when he got out of school, but the war put that dream on permanent hold. When he finally did return from the service he had his own little family waiting for him, a family that had to be taken care of. Since the job market at that time was overcrowded, Dave had to take whatever work he could find. He took a job as a bank teller--about which he knew very little, if anything--and worked his way up to a prominent position before being recruited by the National Cash Register Company, one of the Fortune 500 at the time. When he retired from that company he was Sales Manager, in charge of training all of NCR's sales people.

Over the years I have forgotten most of those arguments (and occasional fist fights) we had as kids; but I have many pleasant memories of the fun things we did together.

I miss you Dave; you left us much too early.

Happy birthday Buddie.