MY WESTBOUND GREYHOUND IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Today my sister gave me a timeless photo of the Greyhound I rode to college. It was 1962 and I was on my way to Saint Louis, MO. It was blind faith and a desire to be somebody that spurred me on. I had $800 in my pocket and a ticket to ride. My inspiration was Mr. Frank Cooke, a man my father's age.


From Worcester I traversed to Gotham then to Pennsylvania. Somebody advised me to take two dollar bills as they were scarce. Across West Virginia I recall being in Wheeling at 3:30 in the morning. Famed recording rocker, Little Eva's song "The Locomotion" was meaningful as I saw Eva in person singing at the Bancroft Hotel in 1961!


My journey took me over the Wabash River. Mr. Cooke graduated from Wabash College about 1938. Then onto Indiana to parts unknown. I was a stranger in distant lands... nobody to guide me. The unattractiveness of the Midwest did not ring my chimes. Homesickness ensured as classes began. "What have I done?" "I miss home...I miss my girlfriend!"


The Good Jesuits gave me some solace as did alcohol. Socially I gradually found my way... 1200 miles from Massachusetts! It wasn't easy.


My first ride in a jet came in December back to Worcester. Dad cried when he saw his boy! I was growing up... a little bit.


Returning to the Billiken Campus was problematic. My funds were down yet I continued to have fun. William N. Gross has proven to be a lifelong confidant. I sought work in the college bookstore and other places but I still wasn't confidence college was for me. I persevered.


Mother wrote regularly sending me a $5 bill with her handwritten letter. Now I thought about finding a Summer job back East. It worked: A job atop Mount Washington. It worked but I worked for one month then I quit. In returning home to North Brookfield, Mass. I worked, again, for Mr. Cooke and his Rolls Royce and optical enterprise.


Not knowing what to do, I returned to college. I was maturing, liking college better, and enjoying two professors in particular... one in Geography and one in U.S. History. I was gaining on my ambition and vision: to be a college graduate!


I saw men come and men go. This wasn't in my life's plan. So on February 7, 1965 I was handed a Sheepskin... my "ticket to ride."


Over my lifetime, being a college graduate had proven but one thing...I DIDN'T QUIT!  Working my way through college proves there's 'power in a made-up mind!'

Mount Washington Cog Railway

                                               
                                             Eads Bridge  St. Louis

And Leave The Driving To Us!