' CHICAGO IS MY KIND OF TOWN' sung by Frank Sinatra

In the Fall of 1965 I finished my training with Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. as a Claim representative. I drove my Company Car to Chicago Stipping in Buffalo and stayed with John Rich. Across Ohio and Indiana to "Chi-Town"..I was 23 years old.. full of "pis and vinegar"..


My assignment was Aetna Claims..PARK FOREST. Roland Hentschel and Don Rolfe were my superiors. Amazing how I got in sync with the Big City over-night. "Cook" lived in Suburban Chicago...paying $125 a month rent.I chose the low road with a room in Chigago Heights..Mrs. Leach..cheap rent. A geezer lived at the other end of my second floor room.


I loved the bigness of Chicago. I carried a lather satchel with my checkbook, legal pad and a smile.Three years in Saint Louis was great training for the BIG TIME.I was cocky and on my way. Hentschel said "Bob, Your live claim adjusting! " The challenges of working on the South Side did not scare me.


Gary and Hammond Indiana were tough. Our National Accounts saw big, big BIG Business. I settled Workmen's Compensation claims. I had my life threatened only once. " I have something under my wing ( a gun") if you do not pay my wife..claimed she had 'Glass in her coffee mug." Well, yess, I am a FAST TALKER..I am An Auctioneer.


My Boss said to DENY HER CLAIM! Her husband went wild. I blamed my Boss..DR..and promised them I would Call Home Office in the morning. Phew. I tipped my hat and slowly drove away! Unbelievable...I was faster than Cassias Clay.


My social life of a 23 year old was...normal LOL. I do not "kiss and tell."


Most weekends I drove down to Saint Louis! Amazing....hundreds of miles away. My friends were still there and I was rich with a salary of $5,600/year plus and expense account and a new 1965 Bel-Air.. blue...


More importantly a college friend Judy W. went to the Palmer House. Black Singer..Josh White remembered me from socializing with me at Mount Holyoke College earlier in the Fall. As I recall..Josh sat at our table and I fed him with Scotch on the rocks. In turn he sang 'JELLY JELLY.'.... this amused Judy and I.


Chigago is second only to New York City. I even visited the Museum of Science and Industry.. and then in February I received a notice to take my Pre-Industrial Physical.
The Vietnam War was brewing! My Boss...good guy dubbed it 'The Thunder and Lightening Test. IF you can hear thunder and see lightening..You are IN. Uncle Sam said "Here I am."


I didn't know what to do? Ambivalent.. wishy-washy. I decided to fly home to Bradley Field where my Mother, Rita Ida and my Grandmother met me.I still didn't know what to do. My friends ridiculed me when I joined the Marines destined for Quantico and Officer Training....to be continued..tomorrow.. sooner or layer. LOL