BE '69
I lived on Staten Island, and I graduated high school in 1957. I had to go to work because I could not afford to go to college. I went to work at Western Electric, which was big telephone switchboards and telephone apparatuses. I worked in a section for repair and restoration of switchboards and telephones. The layoffs came, and my boss called me and said, 'You were one of the last hired and we've got to lay off, but I'm giving you this note. On your way home stop off at the unemployment insurance office in Staten Island, it was right next door to Staten Island Community College.' I took the ferry home from New York from Manhattan. I went over to the unemployment insurance and I got in line. The lady said, 'You don't have to go look for a job. Cause normally they would set you up with looking for a job.' I went to college at the community college level, in the pre-engineering course of study, and took drafting as one of the courses at night, German. After graduation I was drafted into the Army. I ended up at Fort Benning, Georgia. I was in the division, which was the precursor to the first air cavalry division, which was sent to Vietnam. I was in the training division before the Vietnam movement. I got out of the service, took my separation pay, and re-registered at CCNY to finish off my civil engineering degree. I took one more year.