That's Me In 1962

****** A Short Biography ******

I was born in Buffalo, NY on January 28, 1941 and I lived most of my younger years there. At 16 years old I moved to a small town called Seneca, which is a couple miles outside of Oil City, PA, with my parents. At age 17 I hitchhiked up to Buffalo and joined the Navy. I was sworn into the Navy February 27, 1958.

I flew into Chicago, IL and did my boot camp at Great Lakes. Nothing like jumping over snow mounds while marching around the parade field. After boot camp I was assigned to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC, waiting to go to electronics school. I never did make it to the electronics school.

After a "tough" year at Bolling (hated that swimming pool, food on a plate as opposed to a tin tray, 8 hour days, movie house on base, etc.) I was assigned to the Lloyd Thomas. Now I was about to learn what Navy life was really like.

I went on board the LT and was assigned to the aft deck force. I was supposed to become a Sonarman after spending some time on the deck force. Executive Officer Stanfield was going to assign me to Sonar because I had exceptionally high pitch hearing. The week before I was going to be assigned to Sonar I had hitchhiked home to PA. While on the NJ Turnpike a State Trooper picked me and another sailor up for hitchhiking and he dropped us off at the Shore Patrol in Philadelphia. They, in turn, took us to the bus station and told us to report back to our respective ships. Instead, we went home. When the reports came in from the SP Station I had to go to a Captains Mast and the end result was that I was not being moved into Sonar. The XO told me if I had come back that would have been my punishment. A few months later I become a Radarman.

While we were in FRAM II in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and, before my court martial, I met a girl in Jersey City, NJ by the name of Catherine Doran. We married in September, 1962, after I got out of the Navy. We had six children, 3 boys and 3 girls. I worked for Western Union (electronics), Lackawanna Railroad (hi-lo driver), and NY Maintenance (electrician) before I joined the Jersey City Police Department, May 9, 1966. I retired from the JCPD February 1, 1991, with the rank of Lieutenant.

In 1980 my first wife and I divorced. While working a second job at the Ideal Toy Company in Newark, NJ, I met my second wife, Rosa Silva. Rosa and I married August 20, 1983 and we are still happily married. Rosa had a son named John who I adopted in 1985.

Rosa and I live in Carteret, NJ, in a one-family home. We are both working and manage to do a lot of traveling. I have ten grandchildren and we see them quite often.

That's Me In 2000