I was 8 years old when we moved to Richfield and Gary became my best friend at the new school and we
stayed close until I left for Fiji. Our birthdays are a day apart and we would celebrate together. We share so many memories. I think we spent equal time at each other's places even though they were over a mile apart. I preferred going to his house.
He had a large room in a finished attic that made me envious and in the basement he had an electric train (the engine spewed smoke) set complete with cowboys and Indians figures. We formed a "club" with Lee F. and I still recall
the time we dressed up in suit and tie, took the bus to downtown Mpls on our own and met his aunt for lunch in Dayton's. We bowled at basement
lanes on Hennipen. The club ended when Lee moved to Illinois.
We played basketball but most of the time we would pitch to each other. The reason I became a first baseman was because Gary lent me that glove
to use for Little League tryouts. We ended up on different teams but 3 years later we were
on the same Babe Ruth team and his father, Ernie, was our coach. In 1960 Gary stayed at my grandparents'
farm with me for a week and we had a great time. We also were in the same bowling league for many years and he is an excellent bowler.
We even sold hot dogs at the Met stadium in '63. I would give him a ride home after the night games and then we'd finish a bottle of Coke® while watching Johnny Carson.
I left for private high school, but we ended up hanging together for 4 years at University. A group of IT guys formed a band, The Poor Souls
and Gary played bass. He went on to become lawyer via William Mitchell and then at Lincoln, NE (clerk for the county back in MN) and in this world of so much change, he still lives in the same house 76 years on, only now it is with his wife, Joan. |
