BOB POTVIN BLOGGER: ' HEY, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN!'

Thursday, January 21, 2016

' HEY, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN!'

It has now been ten years since I returned to my home "The Brookfields, MA." My worldly adventures, since 1962, saw my butt board a gray Greyhound Bus,for parts unknown: Saint Louis.It was a bold move for this young man of 20.I knew I had to fly my coop of parental shroud and security. I did it in blind faith with $800 saved from the employ of Frank Cooke, Inc. My summer saw me grinding a "reflecting mirror" of German Pyrex for a satellite!. At the same time I was Frank's grease monkey working on Springfield-Made Rolls Royce motor cars.

Missouri seemed flat and nothing like Massachusetts. It was hotter and more drab yet the Saint Louis tradition allowed me to begin learning the ropes of life.

At Clemens Hall Dormitory I met good friends. .Frank Tencza, W. Gross, W.Cook, J.Bryk and many more "Transfer Students." We were all new at dormitory life and attending the "Brain Factory" as Johnson aptly called it....I was 1,200 miles from North Brookfield with two dollars in my pocket. The redeeming factor to it all was my desire to be somebody and do something meaningful in life. It worked. I even got to Shake President Lyndon's hand in a crowd of 10,000 on a cold February day in 1964. I was first in line arriving 8 hours earlier. Boy, am I determined.

From 1962 to 1965 I was B.M.O.C. Even much bigger was my Campus-King Buddy, Atty. William N. Gross of Indianapolis. Everything I did and had in Saint Louis was borrowed...tuition money, Lou Marcus' car, everything only a little bit of cheating....I was my "band on the run!" The Good Jesuits of St. Louis taught me well as I earned a BS Degree "by hook or by crook." Then the Beatles emerged with thunder.

My life shifted into high gear with a 12 year career with the Big Aetna and an immersion into casualty claims as a claim rep. It was a natural fit at $5,600 a year salary and a spiffy new blue Chevrolet Bel Air four door and an expense account. I began soaring in my training for Life 101.From Worcester Claims to Park Forest, IL, I was on my way.I was shooting for the "Lead Dog" position until my Uncle Sam said ""Come here boy, I'm gonna cut your hair off!" But, before the U.S. Army and a tour in Vietnam, I served as a National Park Ranger.. Cape Cod..as you already know.

A degree and a discharge was difficult to beat.THEY HAD TO GIVE ME MY JOB BACK!. Better yet, I was trained and educated in the military medical menagerie : of zapping patients with broken bones. X-Ray..on my 60 MA Field unit.It wasn't fun, but it was safe. Enough for Vietnam..."The Hell Hole and Quagmire ......".

As an adjuster I began earning my reputation for fairness and action.: I delivered. Claimants, I guess, liked my style as well as my styles. Business suits from Lujon, Ware-Pratt, Shacks, the House of Doherty, The Casual Male, Stackpole, Moore and Tryon....all allowed me to "shine, as Pat McGee said over and over..Pat rated my work marks as "Outstanding."Others may have called me a trouble maker. Bullshit. "Look 'em in the eye'..some choke and get sweaty palms like Tito did.

Then came my first stage of rebellion against the system with a "three martini lunch" at Christo's in Bockton. I put certain management assholes in a cold sweat. I was off of life's radar for 5 hours. Absolutely nobody knew where I was...neither did I as I blindsided "Bob" with gin. Employee Howard Boyd came to my rescue.I do remember drinking my stupor off with water only to vomit in the claim manager's VW the next morning. Talk about immaturity. But I was young..32 maybe.

These chinks in my armor were revealing my quest for independence. Obviously Bob Potvin wanted to be his own boss. and I did I pulled it off.... Aetna trained me extremely well as did my Uncle Sam. Now, almost 40 years of going it alone as an entrepreneur wearing many, many hats, I delight in the present moment. Come with me as I keep writing and "delivering my BLOG into our Global Village - the Internet.....the best is yet to be. Thanks for reading... "My hair is gray, but not with age.. Nor grew it white in a single night.." But now I have no hair Say Hi to MAMA..c. 1992 Hey, it's good to be back home!