Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
The Extraordinary Life of Jim Lynch
Jim Lynch's life journey unfolds like a living history book of post-WWII America. From his childhood in Brooklyn during wartime blackouts to his enlistment in the newly-formed Air Force at just 17, Lynch's story captures the spirit of a generation that shaped modern America.
The centerpiece of his military career reads like a Cold War thriller—a classified mission to the North Pole in the early 1950s. "It was like going to the moon," Lynch recalls, describing harrowing flights over Arctic ice, survival in 24-hour daylight, and the intense secrecy surrounding their operations. This remarkable chapter alone provides a rare glimpse into operations few Americans have ever experienced.
Lynch's path repeatedly intersected with pivotal historical moments. His service in President Kennedy's funeral Honor Guard offers an intimate perspective on national grief: "The tears were coming off this Marine's cheek like a faucet." These firsthand observations from someone who witnessed such profound American moments are both moving and historically significant.
After his military service, Lynch built a successful 42-year home improvement business while maintaining his connections to Washington's corridors of power. His management of a suite at Capitol Center arena brought him face-to-face with celebrities and dignitaries—from Billy Joel and George Michael to Saudi royalty and high-ranking government officials including Colin Powell. His stories about these encounters reveal the extraordinary connections possible in an ordinary American life.
Now at 92, Lynch continues his tradition of service through veteran honor guards and community involvement in Michigan. His parting wisdom resonates with timeless truth: "Take an opportunity when you get it... Don't let life pass you by." Listen and be inspired by a life that spans nearly a century of American transformation, told by someone who didn't just witness history—he lived it.
Today is Monday, september 22nd 2025. We're talking with Jim Lynch, who served in the United States Air Force. So good afternoon, jim, good afternoon. Thanks for having me out today. It's an honor, my honor as well. I really enjoyed lunch, by the way. Thank you for that. So we'll just get started pretty easy. When and where were you born?
Speaker 2:I was born in Brooklyn, new York, at Bay Ridge Hospital. Glenn, where were you born? I?
Speaker 1:was born in Brooklyn, new York, at Bay Ridge Hospital. Okay, and did you live in Brooklyn most of your life then, as a child anyway?
Speaker 2:Yes, I did, until I joined the Air Force on August 28, 1951.
Speaker 1:Okay, Well, let's talk a little bit about growing up. Did you have brothers and sisters? I have three sisters.
Speaker 2:We're all RNs throughout the years and I have a brother who also served in the Air Force. He's eight years younger than me. Okay, and where'd you kind of fall in the pecking order? I'm the middle one, two older and two younger.
Speaker 1:All right, so you fall in that middle child category, yeah, okay. Well, tell me a little bit about what it was like growing up with all your brothers and sisters in New York.
Speaker 2:It was. My father worked for the New Haven Railroad, but he actually didn't work on the trains, he worked on the tugboats. He was an engineer and they used to pull barges from New Jersey into New York Harbor, which is very busy and it was hard to get trains into. So many only so many slept and I would go on board the vessel with them sometimes and I had run of the tugboat up and down the river over to New Jersey.
Speaker 2:But once the war broke out, world War II, it was restricted, very tight security and we were not allowed on the boats anymore. And then, world War II, things were pretty different. Things were rationed and blackouts. You had to have all your lights out, you had to have blackout curtains and they had air-raid wardens. So it was really different. Living under World War II circumstances. Yeah, what about your mom? What did she do? My mom, yeah, was she a homemaker? She was a homemaker, but my father died of an accident early on, just at the start of the war. It had nothing to do with the war and my mother had a difficult time to keep us five kids together with the rationing and then the war, and financially it was very difficult. So we had a tough time for those years until Olga grown up and went on with our careers.
Speaker 1:Well, and so what was school like for you then?
Speaker 2:Well, I went to grade school and propial school and then I went to a vocational school in New York City and I decided to a vocational school in New York City and I decided to join the Air Force. I didn't really like New York it's so crowded and I didn't like running the subways, and so I joined the Air Force when I was 17, about 17 and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you graduated high school, though, and then went into the Air Force.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, talk to me a little bit about your decision to join the Air Force. Why the Air Force?
Speaker 2:Well, it was really a brand new service and it just sounded really interesting. A lot of people thought we were greyhound bus drivers with the uniform. I heard that a lot when I was first joined. But it was an honor. And going through basic training and the one thing that sticks in my mind is when we finally learned how to march and we stood there that evening late afternoon and we stood there and saluted the flag and I really felt like God, I'm part of a tremendous team here. It was such an honor and I remember it's vivid in my memory the honor of standing and saluting the United States flag. It was just a great honor.
Speaker 1:There's something about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there really is. You really feel very patriotic. I left basic training. I was at Sampson Air Force Base. It was an old Navy base upstate New York on Lake Seneca. It got very, very cold so we flew down on a private aircraft and we flew us down to Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, texas, and I went to aircraft mechanics school there and I was fascinated with that. One of the first airplanes I crawled through was a B-29, and I went up through the tunnel. It was a tunnel to get to the back section and I went in the tail gunner's section. It was all they'd have heavy green quilting fabric there as a padding and it was all bloodstained and I said, oh my God, some poor soul bought it and he was because nobody could rescue him Back in the tail gunner. But we worked on some jets and reciprocating engines B-25s, 26s and T-33s. So they left and were up to Kilmer, new Jersey, and we were there for almost a month waiting to go out.
Speaker 2:It was really tough and the barracks. I got there late one night and I was trying to find a bunk and there was only one bunk available. It was in a private room within the old World War II barracks and there was a tech sergeant there. He had been home on leave, emergency leave, and he was going back to Germany and I said can I use this bunk? Because he was a high-ranking NCO compared to me, one striper. So he said sure. So all the other bunks were full. So day after day we kept getting KP.
Speaker 2:It was really difficult and on an army base we were so busy and we were just filthy, dirty from working and every day KP. So a lot of the guys were annoyed by this. So they got a petition going. They're going to sign a petition and this tech sergeant gave me the best advice I've ever had in my life. He said don't sign that because it's like signing, it's like a mutiny. So I said I'm not going to sign this. Oh, you like this? No, I don't care. So anyway, the next day off to KP, we all go in Notice throughout the day, these guys disappearing. I got back to the barracks after KP. Every mattress was rolled up. There was not a personal item in that barracks except my bunk and that Texar. So I guess they were arrested, I mean court-martialed, for a mutiny.
Speaker 1:Definitely not a democracy, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:right had my attention, yeah, that was great advice that he gave you. So then we were in New Jersey and went over to the waterfront. We boarded a ship that Private Joseph Aldez, a troop ship, and we sailed up the North Atlantic and saw a lot of whales and porpoise and we pulled into St John's, Newfoundland, and we stayed there the night or done some chores there and then went over to the Navy base and we flew over to Ernest Harmon where I was assigned in Newfoundland, Spent a couple months there and then I volunteered and had an opportunity to go on a top secret mission to the North Pole and I said I'll go and it was fascinating. It was like going to the moon. It was 73 years to the moon. It was 73 years ago. So, yeah, Well, how did?
Speaker 1:so did they just say, hey, we have this top secret mission, who wants to go? I mean, how did they, how did how did the selection work for that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a line chief and a lot of guys. The Southerners really used to rib the guys from New York, you know, and and I had a real strong New York that Brooklyn twang. But I wouldn't let them get my goat and I just said, oh yeah, that's the way they all talk, they all talk funny and that's you know. Anyway, I just humored them. So he kind of got to like me and he said you want to go on this? It'd be interesting. So I said it's top secret. Okay, well, we had secret secret clearance. So off I went and I took no class A uniform, just fatigues and Arctic clothing. But then we had a special issue of kind of boots and gloves when you go past the Arctic Circle. So we stayed in a. The barracks looked like a refrigerator, plastic handle doors and it was very tight quarters and you only had 500 gallons of water per day because they had no plumbing underneath and you had to conserve on water because you didn't take five-minute showers. It's quick lathered up, hose off and that's it. And the water that you showered and brushed your teeth with that's the water that flushed the toilets and you had to pump the toilet. That's just the way it worked Wow. And the captain said who has a driver's license? I had a military, first driver's license I ever had in my life. And he said go up to Motorpool and check out the biggest truck they got. So I went up and got a stake body and I come back. He said okay, now you take all the guys to chow, you come back and you stay in the barracks. You restrict it because we're on standby as soon as we get communications to North Pole. We're going to fly in these prefab buildings. So I said it's chow time and we'd jump in the truck and I'd say, okay, it's time to go. And so, and Motor Pool kept calling and said bring that truck in for inspection. I said no. My captain said don't leave here, you better bring it out. We'd bring the truck back and we'd jump in, we'd off, go to North Pole and I'd take the key with me and I'd go right on up to them.
Speaker 2:We had trouble with the landing gear and they opened the door and there was a C-119 that has clamshell doors. So this is on the flight, a flight to Nord. Nord is the Danish word for north. So there was no equipment or anything, it was just little sheds for buildings. That's all they had right on the ice. So they opened the door and said you're going to have to bail out because we're loaded like we were. If they landed without the gear it would rip the belly out and we'd be killed.
Speaker 2:But I didn't like the idea. I was dress warming up, I didn't have a weapon of any kind Right, so we're circling around and he said who's the mechanic? I said I am. So it was seven of us. I didn't know the guys, but anyway, he said give me a hand.
Speaker 2:We had to cross these two lines. If you cross, thread them, I'm going to throw you out anyway. So better get it right then. Huh, so, so anyway, I did, uh, get it and he said hit the gear. Well, they, the gear, went down, but they didn't get a cure indication. So we, the gear was not very stable, we weren't sure. So they landed real high and the load shifted some and if it came all the way back it would have crushed us all. But they got it down and we landed right on the ice and we had a hand pump what fuel they had left, because we were almost out of fuel. And there's no when you go to Nord. There's no alternate or emergency stop. It's there and no place on the ice. So we managed to get some fuel in it and sent them on their way, and we spent about four or five days there out of food. All they had was pumpkin pie to eat, and I do still like pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1:So basically they couldn't fly you back just because of the condition of the aircraft, so they just left you there.
Speaker 2:Well, they were concerned that they could make it and they didn't want to lose seven more lives. Right, and they had a crew of pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and, I guess, a navigator. But it's hard to navigate. Seventy-three years ago at the North Pole, a magnetic compass just spins and the magnetic pole, I understand, is 200 miles from the actual pole and navigating is tough. And then the Russians kept sending radio signals to block our airways. So that's why we couldn't just say, oh, we're going to go today, because we had to know what the weather was, because we didn't have enough fuel to fly there, and say, oh, we can't land if we come back Because Thule Air Force Base, which was just built in 1952, was 1,000 miles away.
Speaker 2:And that was quite an experience. And there was no cameras allowed. I had a nice new Kodak Retina camera. I just bought no cameras, no pictures, no alcoholic of anything and never got paid. No haircuts, no one shaved, it was just. You had your parka. You noticed the fur on the parka. You would zip it up real tight and then you look through the fur that's to help the Eskimos come up with that and of course you get snow blind. And we were there during the light season. So when you go to chow hall you say, do I think it's morning or night, so I don't breakfast? So you serve breakfast and dinner whatever you felt like that's what you'd eat, so the sun never set right?
Speaker 1:No, it never set the whole time you were there. Not at all. What did they have you doing there? Pardon me, what did they have you doing there?
Speaker 2:Just manual work. You know, I said something. The guy that built Thule, he was a retired Navy commander and all I know his name was Blowtorch Morgan and he was a real creative guy. The story about him they dropped a bulldozer at one time when he was building Thule and it just the chute's, ripped and destroyed it. So anyway, they brought another one and enough parachutes to get down and he needed a spark plug for something and he made a spark plug out of a piece of broom handle and coat hanger and jammed it in there, got it to work. But he was a real creative guy. But he called all the shots. He was a civilian now but they brought him out of civilian and I said something about some food.
Speaker 2:He said, just go chop some ice, we need some water, and I'd chop ice and put it in this old milk can. You had to be smaller to get in there and we'd put on a burner and a hot plate, yeah, and so there wasn't much to do but just stay warm and you didn't get a medal if you got frostbitten. No, you were government property and we learned a lot about you. Know how to stay healthy. I mean, just eat properly, you know, and no alcohol at all, and not even to be constipated, because that can affect. And you learned how to always keep your head covered and your hands, because people say, well, my head's not cold, well, your body will work to keep your head warm, so that can then send more heat to your hands and also oh, okay, so really cold weather survival?
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, how long were you?
Speaker 2:there. Well, I was in and out of Newfoundland, labrador and Greenland for two years. Okay, now we also got I'd have to go to mainland.
Speaker 2:Canada sometimes to fix an airplane. If American airplanes had a problem in Canada they wouldn't fix it, they would send for us. So they'd send me. So I got to know this Sergeant Yost, an old South Carolina man. He'd say go get your buddy electrician. Another guy from Brooklyn, he said go fix that airplane. So we'd go over and have to fix a C-54, and they were in no rush to fix it, it was like a country club. They even had a still on the base there, really. And I said, come on, we've got to get it. There was no hangar big enough for the airplane.
Speaker 2:So, and finally the weather. I said you know, lieutenant Reese, first lieutenant, I said I've got to get back. And he said no, no, no, relax. So anyway, we finally fixed it. I had a liquid like on the Hamilton hydraulic prop on number three engine and there was a mag drop on the little problem with it. So we fixed that and got back and the day we land my crew was on duty. I said, oh God, I'm going to have to work then. And he said I'm glad you hit with short-handed. So this lieutenant says to the sergeant does this man work for you? Yes, sir. He says well, he's done an exceptional job. If you could see him give him off today, he said okay, all.
Speaker 2:But then sometimes seaplanes in Labrador they had some air-sea rescues SA-16s, a twin-engine seaplane and they used to practice saltwater landings and sometimes they'd get in trouble and one of them got a prop stuck in reverse so all they could do was back up. So they sent us out by crash boat in the ocean and so they had to get back to the base to cover the base. So they left us on the seaplane and we were a few days getting that fixed and then getting back to my base and then my base was socked in so we floated around in the water all night bouncing around. Then we took on so much water because there's what they call venturis and we must have taxied or tried to take off for the 30 miles.
Speaker 2:Just wah, wah, wah. And finally the captain said I was a skinny little kid. Then he said get in. The head of the tail of the aircraft was where the latrine was the head and there was another hatch. He said get back in there. And I'm crawling this little space and the cables are cutting across my neck back and forth and they tried to get enough weight down to break that suction. They finally got off and got back.
Speaker 1:Stuffed you all the way in the back of that plane just to take off. Huh, yeah, yeah. So when you finished in that area, where did you go from there?
Speaker 2:I come back to Andrews Air Force Base in August of 54, and I had a year to finish up my hitch so they put me on transit maintenance and also one of our jobs was to take care of the historic aircraft that was President Roosevelt's Air Force One. They called it the Sacred Cow the Secret Service gave it that nickname, and also the Enola Gay. I used to go up and sit in the cockpit and I thought what was that like to punch that button? It was 150,000 people killed instantly, I think, and it was always a strange feeling. I come back one day and Tom says there's an oil leak on number two engine. Go fix it. So I brought an aero stand out there and it was a pushrod leak and I fixed it. And then General MacArthur's old B-17 was out there.
Speaker 2:The first jet bomber was a B-43, the strangest-looking aircraft, two different-sized engines in it. Really, yeah, never done much on it. We had to make sure they were tied down. There was no cats sometimes to get in there, birds to make nests. You had to make sure all the tie downs were good because you had them secured to the ground. There was a couple, there was a P-82, I think it was two F-51s put together and there was a couple of Navy aircraft over there and they were waiting.
Speaker 1:Don't see. Yes, yes, yeah. I can't even imagine seeing the Enola Gay. I mean, that would be to sit there where the pilot sat. That's incredible.
Speaker 2:I'd sit in the cockpit, and I think that was in 1954, the fall of 1954, and I think, oh my God, I didn't realize then how historical that was.
Speaker 2:But they dropped that bomb. That was the first bomb, and then the boxcar was the second B-29, and it dropped the second bomb, and the first one was Nagasaki, and then that's the one that they dropped the bomb. That was the second bomb and Hirohito still wasn't going to resign, right. So finally, they did have a third bomb, which I just reached. I have a picture of that. It was on the Internet and I guess they finally realized we don't need another third bomb. But they didn't want to hit Tokyo, I guess because it was such a yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a yeah.
Speaker 2:But they say it saved a million lives men, american lives. So but yeah, that was quite an experience.
Speaker 1:So you finished out your time in the Air Force at Andrews, yes. So what did you do when you got?
Speaker 2:out. I took a job in civilian life for about six months and then I heard about the National Guard hiring. So I went down to the Air National Guard and I signed up and I'd be paying the crew chief on F-86 Sabre jets North American made and I'd done that for a few years and then I went in and worked on inspections and then Now, was this all right there at Andrews still?
Speaker 1:Pardon me, was this right at Andrews still?
Speaker 2:At Andrews. Oh, yeah, okay okay.
Speaker 2:We'd go to a summer camp down at Travis Field in Georgia, savannah, georgia, back and forth, but I was full-time in uniform that whole time. Everybody thought I was military active duty, but they didn't understand. I said no, I just worked for the Guard. I was a civil service employee and then the weekend warrior, Working for the Guard in DC, we got called to active duty. I've been deputized with all the inaugurals every four years, so the different presidents that were served, I'd be walking a beat.
Speaker 2:And then President Kennedy's assassination. Of course I was in the Honor Guard for his funeral, which was such an honor. In fact 125 of us showed up and they said we only can have 90. And I said you can drop out, you'll still be paid. Nobody moved. So he said all right, from this rank over, you're out of here.
Speaker 2:So they just couldn't march. We didn't have room for them. We marched behind the Navy band and I've been in a lot of parades but never in a funeral. And a funeral is so different because it's such a slower cadence and you just can't forget for a moment. And the Navy band played magnificently. We didn't miss a beat or a sound, and the sound was bouncing off the buildings, it was like your head was inside of a stereo.
Speaker 2:And as we walked, marched towards the White House, they took the caisson up the driveway for the White House for Kennedy's last trip to the White House, and the Marines were standing with port arms that's where you hold your rifle, out in front of you, and they were shoulder to shoulder and I was on an outside rank, and you don't turn your head, of course, but I could turn my eyes and I looked over and I could hear in front of me. I heard a murmur, oh God, oh God. And I couldn't. Why are they saying oh God? And I saw this Marine. The tears were coming off his cheek like a faucet and it just comes out and said oh my God. And all the way down the line, as they would see it, they'd say oh God, oh God, oh God. Just saddest thing, it's just.
Speaker 2:I mean that's so vivid in my memory, people, it's so vivid in my memory.
Speaker 1:People loved John F Kennedy.
Speaker 2:The people really loved him. They did. They loved John F Kennedy? Yeah, he was, and of course he called me back to active duty for the Berlin crisis in 61 to 62. But that was, as I said, the photo lab come under my jurisdiction and his personal photographer was Wayne Sherwin, who I keep in contact with all these years and that's why he supplied me some of these pictures I showed you earlier from the funeral. But yeah, and it was cold. They said leave the overcoats on the bus. And it was cold that day. And they marched across the 14th Street Bridge and you're supposed to march across the bridge route step, and I could feel the bridge swaying, but it really was a really cold day. And when they went to a church in town I forgot the name of the church, a Catholic church. Of course. They had a mass and everybody, the dignitaries, all, walked in that funeral procession. They didn't ride limousines. And here we are standing at a parade rest and there's in front of me Charles de Gaulle, president of France, haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, ted Kennedy, sergeant Shriver, now President Johnson, and all of us. I said, oh my God, I've got to reach out and touch him. It was just part of such a historical moment. Yeah, it was really sad it was, and people sobbing.
Speaker 2:I worked my final years with the guard. I was in three years in maintenance control, so I was in charge of maintenance on a fighter squad and on the way home because I knew and I taxied around Air Force One many times. You know Kennedy and people. You'd see people stop their steering, holding their steering wheel, sobbing and tears coming to their eyes. But the one time when I was taxing around this, of course before his death I was taxing around and Andrews has two runways, parallel 1028s, the west and east, and I was in the taxiway between and holding short aircraft coming and going and I heard Air Force One say Andrews Tower, this is Air Force One, we're ready to taxi. And a young fellow at the tower I could tell he was young in his voice. He said you'll have to hold short, we have aircraft on final. And the pilot very calmly comes back. This negative Air Force One does not hold Roger, I understand, comes back. This negative Air Force One does not hold Roger, I understand. And he proceeded to taxi.
Speaker 1:He didn't know who he was talking to at first, did he?
Speaker 2:No no.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. So how long did you serve in the Air Guard? Ten years, okay, and all at Andrews Air Force Base.
Speaker 2:Yeah, although we traveled a lot I mean I've been out to McCord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis and out in the West Coast and Savannah, georgia, a couple to Alpena, michigan, wisconsin, folkfield. So yeah, I spent a lot of time. We spent a lot of time traveling, fixing airplanes and I once went to Lake Charles, louisiana.
Speaker 2:My airplane had nose gear collapse on a landing so I was out there to fix it and, being a security tight, a sack base, that was really tight and they had a couple of people changed in a booster pump and didn't disconnect the electric leads and had an explosion. I guess it must have killed them but blew the side of the airplane up. They had B-47s. They lost I think seven B-47s. Wow, and fuel and I don't know what the capacity was, thousands of gallons and fuel was running down like a river and they evacuated the base because they said there was some high-powered weaponry on it. Yeah, and when I was in the hangar when it first happened, the grates and the drain just popped up out of the explosion. The concussion was so powerful that must have been a little scary, it was to evacuate a base yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, you served your time. You did your active duty and your reserve time. So why did you leave the Air National Guard?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, my wife was home taking care of the children and we had some health problems with the kids and we were traveling all the time. We were just living out of a duffel bag. I might as well have been on active duty. It was just getting deputized for everything in the Civil Rights March when Martin Luther King made his famous speech. I have a Dream. I was in the middle of that and we were concerned. We didn't know what was going to happen what turned out to be a very beautiful and peaceful day. Yeah, there was a guy Norman Rockwell was his name, I think. He was a radical wacko and they thought he was going to create a lot of problems. So they just formed a big circle of guardsmen around him and wouldn't let him do anything. But it turned out. The biggest thing I had to do was treat a lady for first aid. First aid, she had passed out and scraped up her knee and she was fine, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. But we didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just never know and.
Speaker 2:I was, you know. It's just hard, you know, traveling all the time and trying to, and it's hard on the wife. A lot of marriages suffered, you know, because we've been called on so much. That's what I'm concerned about now. Things today, the guardsmen are going to just wear out, you know. You just can't keep hollering wolf Right.
Speaker 2:So where did you meet your wife? On a blind date. Oh well, tell me about this. At the barracks at Andrews Air Force Base. I had about three or four months to finish up my hitch and it was a roommate, jimmy Falgett. And Jimmy knew I had a car and he was dating this girl, mary Lou Perry. And he said you want to go on a blind date? And I said meet her sister, and that's Rosemarie. So I said okay, because I had a car. So we went to a drive-in theater or something and that's the love sparked and the rest is history.
Speaker 2:But Jimmy Falgett went off on an interesting trip. They were looking for two senior aircraft mechanics. The only two in the squadron was he and I. You had to be white, catholic, single, high school graduate, senior aircraft mechanic and you were going on a special mission to Spain to serve with the embassy, flying into South Africa and you got a civilian clothing allowance of $300. We're back in 1954. That was a piece of change. That's a lot of clothes. Plus you got a re-up bonus and I said I'm in love and I'm not going. So he went and I never heard from him. I'd love to know how that turned out.
Speaker 1:Wouldn't it be great to hear his story about that, wouldn't it? Yeah? So how long did you date before you decided to get married?
Speaker 2:Well, we met it was probably the fall of 54 at a little drive-in restaurant and it was just kind of coincidental I'd seen her there before. And then Jimmy Falgett introduced me, so that's how it all started, and then we were marriedt introduced me, so that's how it all started, and then we were married July 7th of 56, so about a year after we met.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, been married ever since.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've been married 69 years, wow, july 7th. Yeah, we have four children and 15 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So you keep busy these days then yeah, I see I'm a volunteer. I've been doing funerals now with an independent group in Florida in Marin County, Memorial Honor Guard, and I've done probably about 500 to 600 funerals over the last 10, 12 years. Wow, and I do them here with the VFW too. Okay, I've done Mel Tillis' funeral Honor Guard, of course, john F Kennedy's.
Speaker 2:I saw the pictures from the Mel Tillis yeah, which is interesting because I kind of grew up with his music, yeah, as a kid, so I remember that yeah he was interesting and in his obituary there was a pamphlet made up and his mom said that apparently the stuttering works on, I think, the left side of the brain and singing. That's why he wouldn't stutter and he would sing. Yeah, but he was a super guy. A lot of people in Ocala knew him and they kept saying I want to introduce you sometime. I've seen him in person at a Branson but I never chatted with him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and anyone kind of listening to this who's never heard of Mel Tillis, they should listen to an interview with him and then listen to him sing, because he had a beautiful singing voice. Oh, he did. He could really sing. Yeah, yeah yeah, so kind of going back a little bit. So you're married, you're having kids and it's just time to not be in the military anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, when I was in the military I started a home improvement business. She had a nephew or a cousin, I guess it was, and Jerry was in. He worked for a home improvement company in Washington DC and we bought our first house and he said do you want some storm windows? I said, yeah, I'd love to have some. So he hooked me up and I got some storm windows. I said, yeah, I'd love to house them. So he hooked me up and I got some storm windows and I had a neighbor up the street wanted some, said well, I said, jerry, you got to want some windows. Okay, so we sold him some windows and that started my company. He said, well, I don't want to be part of. He says, I'm moving to California with my dad, we're going to raise chinchillas. I said, okay. So I kind of got into windows and doors and I'd done that for, let's see, 62, 63, 64, 65.
Speaker 2:So about four years, almost five years, I was doing it part-time with the guard, so I sold a lot of the people within the guard and I started doing more major things.
Speaker 2:So Vietnam was breathing down my neck and it was tough on the wife taking care of children and health problems they had had some surgeries and so my time was up when I got out. Plus, the money was not very good. I mean I was making more money from my part-time businesses than I was from my full-time job. Yeah, so I think I was making $6,700 a year, military and civilian pay combined, and I was probably making $12,000 a year from my civilian I mean my company, general home company. And then over the years I stumbled into that work at the Capitol Center where the Washington Bullets now called the Wizards and the Capitals hockey team, and so I was there for 20 years and I did a lot of work. So I'd even done a job for Howard Hughes and AT&T Bell, atlantic World Bank, you know, remax Realty. So I used to decorate all the skyscrapers, deloitte, tuchin Ross, the largest accounting firm. That was really interesting.
Speaker 1:So your company would decorate those suites, the boxes, Wall paper, carpet and then I'd build cabinets.
Speaker 2:So I had cabinet makers that would make cabinets for me and then of course I did windows and doors and siding and if it was legal I would tackle it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why not, why not? And you ended up with a suite yourself right for a while. Yeah, for 20 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You got to meet a lot of interesting famous people through that, didn't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I did. I allowed B-104 during the they'd done a fundraiser. Anyway, I met a lot of stars that night or that day and so I set up a little booth and we used to this B-104 was broadcast. I think it was broadcast from New York, right there at the booth, you know it was neat.
Speaker 2:And then the DC-101, there was a guy by the name of Greaseman a lot of the young guys loved. I just thought he was amazing. He was a character, but anyway he'd come up and people just breaking their neck to get up there. So he was a good follower. And then some of them they would bring up different stars like Billy Joel would come up one night and I met him and he was really small I didn't know he was so short and he said you can ask me any question you want. He says just don't ask me about my voice because I've got a cold. He said I sound like Randy Dangerfield. No respect. And I cracked out, but he was really hilarious. And Lou Gossett came up one time and I was cooking up hot dogs. It was mid-concert, so he jumped in and he had hot dogs with us.
Speaker 1:He was just a down-to-earth guy. Wow, hot dogs with Lou Gossett yeah, Wow, that's something. Yeah, that's something. Did you meet? Like I was looking at your wall, you have a lot of famous people. I saw Jimmy Page. Was he in your suite at one time too?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, we had an awful lot of people and you made a lot of contacts, like once I was invited up to an auction through the Cap Center. It was down in Washington DC, that's when I met Jim Brady and then I bid on some an auction, so it was to be at on stage with Kate Nally's show. That was Jane Curtin and Susan St James. So my wife and I and my youngest daughter went up and we're right up on the stage at the old Ed Sullivan theater, not sitting in the seats, we're right on the stage. It took four hours to tape one taping of Kate and Ali and it goes quite on the set and it was just amazing to see it all transpired. Yeah, and the Ed Sullivan Theater is up on what? 54th Street, and so it was really kind of interesting to be there. And I met her afterwards. We had pictures with Jane Curtin, Susan Jane, jane, but yeah, a lot of stars would come up and then Prince Bendar used to use this guy. He liked security. They were worried about their children, you know, and never any picture of them and they always had his security people around him. But they would come up a lot of times to the suite. They liked that, and his wife, princess Haifa, and the princess called me when I. Princess Haifa called me and she says I want you to take my two daughters to meet George Michael. So it was a couple weeks before. Well, if you start something in motion, then so many people get involved and it falls flat. It never happens. So I waited until the night of the event. I called back and I said Prince Bendar, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia, his two daughters, princess Lula and Princess Nita, wanted to meet George Michael tonight. So they said okay, so I brought them backstage. They always sent one of their Interpol security guys and they go back into the private room and George Michael was so gracious, very nice, and the girls were shaking his hand and they were just like giddy little teenagers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and with that, one princess takes her jacket off. It's a denim jacket and I don't know if you've seen an airbrush. They had airbrushes and his portrait was on this airbrush and I've seen them in Mississippi one time. They sell for $2,000 to $3,000 back, then yeah, and Mississippi. One time they sell for $2,000 to $3,000 back, then yeah, and she takes it. Well, I want you to have my jacket. And George Mike says, well, I can't take that from you. She was so disappointed and I said, george, I'm sure if the princess wants you to have it, I would please ask you to take it. He said, oh you sure, jim, yeah, and he put it on his arm, thank you. She just smiled and she gave him that beautiful denim jacket. Wow, and he was so gracious, it was nice.
Speaker 1:That's just amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for 20 years this was your life then it really was, because I'd have to sublet it to help pay the bill. You know Right, and I wouldn't do individual tickets Corporations, I'd get like Pepsi-Cola one night. They were sponsoring this Kenny Rogers concert, so I said sure. So they said let's go backstage and meet Kenny Rogers. Okay. So we went backstage and met Kenny Rogers. He was real famous, with no autographs, posed for pictures and we're posing for pictures and he's Guys were jumping and putting hope fingers. I stopped fooling around. I didn't know it was the Oak Ridge boys. Oh no, the Oak Ridge boys were just horsing around us. I didn't even recognize them. Yeah, those guys are funny.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I didn't realize how funny. I saw them live and they're great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's amazing the stars that you see and run across. But it was interesting 20 years and it just got so costly. I just couldn't afford it anymore.
Speaker 1:And then this whole time you were running your home improvement business my own business.
Speaker 2:But I did a lot of work in the building for them, decorating for the wallpaper, and you learned all about carpeting, wallpaper and cabinets. And then it would branch out like the arenas have their tickets printed on a machine called a Boca. A Boca is a company and the way I understand it, they charge a nickel a ticket. They don't sell you the machine, they just rent it to you a nickel a ticket and they have a counter.
Speaker 2:So the ones that they had at the Capitol Center and they were overheating. They'd got new machines and they put them on the old stand. Well, they took the cowling off and the air wasn't getting, so they were overheating. So they said we need a new cabinet. So I said okay. So I went over and I worked with the people that worked with them. You know. I said where do you adjust them? How high, how far, how fast Do you need wheels? And they explained everything to me. And Do you have to know? You have a locket, because the cardstock, the printers, that's like money, because somebody could type up there.
Speaker 2:So I designed, I finally, and I called my camera guy We've got to work tonight, we work till midnight, make and I brought the prototype, brought it in. They said that's great, we need 52 of them, 52? So what held me up? I finally got them and Chicago was kind of the headquarters for hardware and I needed casters. Well, that's over 400, I mean 200 casters. So they finally got them and we shipped them. So I just kept delivering and they just kept and I'd done that for about two years. Wow, it's kind of funny the things you get into Right right.
Speaker 1:So you ran your business as well for 20 years. Is that how long you were in the?
Speaker 2:I had my business for 42 years, 42 years. I shut it down in August of 2004.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you were in the same area for 42 years then.
Speaker 2:Yes, the whole time In Southern Maryland, just outside of Washington DC. I moved to Southern Maryland but I kept the business going for 52 years, never declared a loss, never got big, just stayed small. Just the KISS principle keep it simple, stupid Right it seems to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right, absolutely yeah. So what did you do when you closed up shop?
Speaker 2:Well, we moved up to Michigan so we had a waterfront property and I think I paid $155. It was right on the Patuxent River. It was a good buy. I got a bargain on it and I sold it for $700. So we cleared about a half a million. And there was a tax where after age 62, you didn't have to pay capital gains, which really helped us to retire because I did have money set aside in IRAs.
Speaker 2:So I just shut the business down. I thanked General Holmes and that's it. Wow, when I selected the name, if a guy opens a business, well it's a Charlie Jones window company. Well, that's all Charlie Jones probably sells. And so I thought I'm going to branch into real estate. So General Home could have been real estate.
Speaker 2:So over the years I did sell fence, carpeting, windows, doors, shutters, siding, and then sometimes I get involved in a bullet who owned a company called. I'll think of it. Anyway, he was working on video conferencing so they needed a cabinet built. This guy had invented this system and they were bankrolling him. So I designed a cabinet for him. I got involved in it, so we had to apply for an international patent. It cost us $15,000. But anyway, I did that for a few years and we were going to go to a big conference up in New York and all of a sudden Abe pulled the plug and said I'm finished with it and it never went any further. But I was involved in building this video conference and we had a copy of Blueprints from back in 1929 from the patent office and some TV stuff and information all about television was back in 1929. I had no idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some of those ideas take a long time to you know you've got to be ready for them, right, yeah, absolutely so. You closed up shop, you sold your house and you moved. What brought you to Michigan?
Speaker 2:Well, my daughter went to law school here at Cooley Law School. Daughter went to law school here at Cooley Law School, okay, and she went to Towson University in Baltimore. And when she went to private school in Maryland anyway, lorain High School the nuns there had the conferencing for deciding what would be. And she would come home and said I think I'd like to be a paralegal. I said that's great, but why not just be a lawyer? Do you think I can? Sure you can Never.
Speaker 2:Sent, put her blinders on, went right through college, two and a half years, knocked out the four years, went to law school, became an attorney and then first passed the bar and then she found out the foot hospital in Jackson was looking for an attorney and she thought I'd be on staff. But no, they didn't have a legal department. Their premium, as I remember, was for insurance, jumped to $10 million a year and that was just going to break them because they grouped their hospital in with all the ones in Detroit which had much higher risk lawsuits and all. So they hired her and of course she had worked pre-bono for a while, so she knew about self-insuring. So she set up a corporation that came in Ireland and so she had them put $3 million in a reserve account and the biggest lawsuit they had was $50,000. So that first year, so the next year, so for three years they have $9 million plus interest. So they didn't have to pay any more insurance. Wow, and that saved them.
Speaker 1:Genius. Yeah, so you moved up here because of your daughter, we moved up here in August of 54.
Speaker 2:And we lived at a senior park up here just trying to find our way around 54. And we lived at a senior park up here just trying to find our way around, and we lived there for about 3 years and we knew this house was coming up. So it was August of 2004? 2004. Okay, 2004. And we lived there for 3 years and we found this and moved into this. We bought it in 07, october 07, so we were only here about a month and we took off to Florida and we came back and then we started working on it.
Speaker 1:So some of the other things that we talked about, too, before the interview was that you were an honorary colonel. Was it in the National Guard?
Speaker 2:I got out of the Guard in 1966, early in 66, but I'd gotten to well. I used to help with the recruiting, so I had the Sky Suite so I would help. Let them have a party to honor some of these top recruiters. And Cal Franklin was a two-star general appointed by President Reagan. They were friends back in California, I guess when Reagan was governor. So anyway I got to know him and he asked me to serve on a committee ESGR, which stands for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and I did do that. So I served with them over 20 years.
Speaker 2:I was an ombudsman for the District of Columbia and helped guardsmen and reservists if they had a problem with their employer because of their military affiliation. So during that time he made me an honorary colonel in the Guard. So we were having lunch over at the armory and Ed Meese, the attorney general under Reagan, was sitting next to me and he pinned on my colonel's pin and I said, wow, the attorney general. So I asked him for a picture of him. He signed it for my daughter, who just was an attorney, so she's tickled, she's got it hanging her off. I've got quite a few nice pictures of her from different attorneys Sandra Day O'Connor. I got one signed from her. It was kind of neat, but he was very pleasant and he was an honorary general in the Guard.
Speaker 1:And so I served with him for a number of years. So through your work in the ESGR, though, you met a lot of different dignitaries, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you would. Well, you know, we'd go to different bases and they would roll out the red carpet for you. You'd meet the commanding general of different bases and all, and you'd get invited to an awful lot of banquets and dinners and luncheons and privy to a lot of affairs at the officers' clubs and all. It was very nice. And then the Marines might sometimes take in a beach assault in a landing. One time in Mississippi we'd come up right up on a beach and people out on the beach and what the heck? They thought it was an invasion or something Right, and I've got pictures of that. And then, of course, I knew a lot of the people on the general's airplane, so I knew these crew and a lot of times I'd ride in the cockpit in the engineer's seat. So it was kind of neat. But the trips were amazing and we went out and laid buoys with the Coast Guard on some of those trips and you've probably done some of these trips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the ESGR does the boss lift, is that? Yeah, that's the boss lift. Yeah, so that's where guardsmen can invite their supervisors or bosses to go see what they do.
Speaker 2:basically, and the objective is to take these CEOs and key people to show them the important role that the Guard and Reserve play in our national defense, because 54%, or 56% of our national defense comes from the Guard and Reserve. So we get more bang for the buck, right, and it's really a good system, you know, because you can activate your guard and poof you back up to strength.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how long did you stay with the ESGR? Are you still involved with that?
Speaker 2:I guess I'd done 20 years with them. Okay, all right. Yeah, many, many trips and I used to help with a lot of different things. I'd make a lot of different things. I'd make a lot. I'd shoot pictures of the whole event and then I'd make a nice display and they'd take them over to the Pentagon. Some of them were hanging up in the Pentagon and they'd show them because the picture's worth a thousand words. And I'd show some of the places we'd been and I've gotten some nice letters back from the general saying thanking me for how they appreciate him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's a couple of things I want to talk about too. So tell me about meeting President Reagan's secretary.
Speaker 2:I thought that was really interesting. Her name was Kathy Osborne. She lived in Clinton, maryland, as I remember, and she was my guest that night. That was the night we had when President Reagan went to Russia and toured around and he really enjoyed that and he invited them back to the United States, this entourage of people. One of them was General Boryatko, who worked on the peace negotiations, and he was my guest and spoke broken English, but anyway, kathy Osmond was there and she was standing at the bar and I said how about a signed picture from President Reagan for my daughter? She said sure, so I asked for my card and I gave her the card and Prita Roselle was the acting press secretary, because James Brady was shot but he still was alive and so anyway, he was active. So she handed the card to Peter and said Peter, take care of that. And he said, sure thing.
Speaker 2:And on the way out, mr Lynch, I'll be sure to get that picture out. And sure enough they did. And the envelope come from the White House. It says White House Washington, not the White House Washington DC, 1600, pennsylvania. It was just White House Washington. And my daughter was and her secretary said was there something from the White House and my daughter said, well, open it. Yeah, but it's from the White House. My daughter says, open it. So she opened it. It was a signed picture. I said, oh my God.
Speaker 1:That's incredible, incredible. And you met Colin Powell as well, didn't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, cal Franklin invited me to a black tie affair at the Library of Congress and I'd never been. I passed a number of times and the ceilings in the Library of Congress are painted like the Sistine Chapel in Rome and if anybody gets an opportunity they should see that it's just a gorgeous building. And so I stepped off the elevator and there's Cal Franklin standing there with Colin Powell. Jim, I'd like you to meet Colin Powell. So we had supper with Colin Powell, this dinner affair, and there was a fellow sitting next to me. I said what are you doing? He said I'm the governor of Tennessee, keith Grunquist. Anyway, he was not a real nice guy, he was very pleasant, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You said something to him, though, when he said he was the governor of Tennessee.
Speaker 2:I said it's a shame you can't do better. And we all had a couple of sasperillas, I guess, and he giggled a little bit and then laughed. He took it. It was just a good joke, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was fun, good joke, you know, yeah, it was fun, but yeah, that was very interesting. So you know, you've been in Michigan for gosh 21 years, then right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:We've been in this house. Here we're starting on our 18th year. It's the longest we've ever lived in any house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what have you been doing since you closed up shop and moved here?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm active with the Guard and the senior center here, eaton County Senior Center. They have a musical madness show every year and for 10 years straight I built the stage props for them and my wife is a line dance nut. She loves line dance so she would choreograph and perform on the stage. And whoever thought we'd be doing this and I did a few skits on the stage too thought we'd be doing this and I did a few skits on the stage too. I dressed up as a fat Elvis and then we do jailhouse rock. You know We've done a lot of silly things, but the show and the pictures are all I've got display pictures of all over the walls and the senior center. It was neat.
Speaker 1:So just keeping yourself busy then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then fishing in that lake out here, yeah, and it's good fishing and I just keep it up. You know, keep the beach a nice beach. I keep that up. And of course, with the VFW, you know I do that and I supply them a lot of pictures, I frame up a lot of things for them and they have them hanging in the hall when we did that funeral for Francis Flaherty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us a little bit about the funeral for.
Speaker 2:Francis Flaherty. Francis Flaherty was an incident in the Navy during well before World War II. He was in Hawaii and the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and he was on board the Oklahoma battleship and he was below deck, had a flashlight and he helped to rescue because the lights were out from the explosion, being hit, torpedoed, so he rescued, they think, a couple hundred people, the way I heard it, and then there were still a couple hundred more below deck and the ship rolled over and I guess they were all drowned, and so he was given the Medal of Honor posthumously and they raised the ship up in 1943, as I remember, and they took the remains off and put them in a grave one of the bowls in Hawaii. And so then they took the ship out to sea and sunk it because it just was not salvageable, and over the years, with modern DNA testing they were identifying the remains and a police escort. About three years ago we were sitting up at the concert at the courthouse on a Thursday night right here in Charlotte and we saw them come and they had the remains. So the next day they had the funeral and of course we were with the honor guard and we were right in the midst of it. It was a huge turnout, hundreds and hundreds of people, motorcycle groups, and so we were right there in the center of it and with the flag, draped casket, and it was just such an honor and it was all over the TV and so I made up a nice display and it's hanging in the halls at the VFW. But we were honored to do that and that's the first time I did a funeral for a Medal of Honor recipient.
Speaker 2:The Medal of Honor started in Lincoln's time, in 1865 or before, and I think there's only been 2,500 to 3,000 Medal of Honors given, so it's a pretty small percentage. So it's an honor to have done a funeral for a Medal of honors given. So it's a pretty small percentage. So it's an honor to have done a funeral for a medal of honor recipient. All the guys that I've done funerals with have never done a medal of honor recipient, because we've done a lot in Bushnell, florida, which is a huge cemetery. It's over 500 acres and I don't know how many graves are there Wow, so you got to welcome him home and lay him to rest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, so you continue your life of service even though you're retired, and you're still working with the VFW and other organizations yeah. We've covered a lot in this interview over the last hour. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to share?
Speaker 2:Boy, you've come up with some really good questions. I'm sure I'll think of something after you leave and we separate. Everyone does, by the way, yeah, yeah, well, you know, I just think back as a boy. I was a Boy Scout and I loved camping as a boy. I was a Boy Scout and I loved camping as a kid and I'd go over to Staten Island, which they finally built that Verrazano Bridge. They said never could be done because the Verrazano Bridge is from the main support to the other. It's one mile, I clocked it. It's one mile over water. And when I grew up in New York they said they'd never be able to build a bridge. Well, never, say never. But then I'd go camping over there. It was just one of our loved Boy Scouts and I caddied a lot as a kid on a golf course. That was a good source of income. It was hard work but, yeah, and I worked a lot of different jobs, but I've been blessed really, because you know I grew up dirt, poor and struggling but we've made it.
Speaker 1:It's got to be a good feeling to think about that and to think about where you're at today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I felt very fortunate, you know, but I always felt like there's an opportunity, you know, take it. It might not come again, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, so a lot of what I've heard today cause we've spent some time together, um, and not just in this interview, but just in the time that I've spent with you, and you know, you say a lot of times, you know it just it just happened, it just sort of came together, or it was just dumb luck, or whatever. Um, do you think, though, that that all the everything happens for a reason, or? Or do you think, though, that that all the everything happens for a reason, or do you think it is just dumb luck?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm sure god must have a hand in it, you know. Yeah, I mean, I look back my mistakes I've made, but uh, I would. I, you know, as far as the service, I would do it again.
Speaker 2:I don't know why more young people don't you know, and uh, it really the first thing you notice when you go in, it's not you boys, you men. And I said men, wow, and I was so moved. But when I stood and saluted that flag of the United States and I said wow, I mean it makes me tear up. Just that moment was so powerful, you know, and I don't know if people never experience that, and I get so offended when I see somebody flying a flag upside down or desecrating the flag. We're so fortunate to have this wonderful country and the freedoms. I've been to so many other countries and seen the poverty and the sickness and the sorrow and the lack of, and I hear people complain yeah, this is rough, yeah, but you've got three cars, You've got a summer cottage, You've got all kind of insurance, You've got Social Security, I mean, and here you're complaining, here kids get great education. Just drive around Michigan and see how beautiful this state is. You know, yeah, Problems sure, we all have problems, but not like other countries. You saw some of the nitty-gritty about Russia and I see on YouTube a lot. Oh, my God, the lady's talking to the apartment. We haven't had heat here for six months, you know, I mean terrible. 65% of the people live in apartments and it's all government-owned.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I knew some people at the Cap Center. I went over to the Olympics or something someplace. Anyway, when I was in Hawaii, the Rolling Stones sent us to Hawaii on our wedding anniversary. I let them use the Sky Suite, the radio station, so they gave us a trip to Hawaii all expenses. Wow, how nice. It was wonderful and that was our 25th anniversary.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, I come back and I had some T-shirts what's that triathlon thing they have there to swim so far and so many miles? So I brought back some t-shirts. Well, they went nuts and I got to talk to this one girl. She says look what I brought back from Russia. It was a big piece of toilet paper. I said so what's that? She put it on the bulletin board. There were splinters of wood in the toilet paper. Russian toilet paper. Yeah, Russian toilet paper. What does that tell you? That's rough. Yeah, I mean some of the things. You go to a hotel. They have plenty of big cakes, of regular hard lye soap and all, but they don't have any facial soap Oversupply and this and that.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. I have a question at the end of an interview, and that is is for someone listening to this years from now, when neither one of us are still here what, what word of advice would you give to people or what would you want them to take away from the way you've lived your life?
Speaker 2:take an opportunity when you get it, you know, and go for the gusto and just, if you think you can't do something, you probably can't. If you think you can, you do something. You probably can't. If you think you can, you probably will. But go for the gusto and don't let life pass you by. I mean, no matter how old you are. I'm 92 years old and I enjoy life to the fullest. And why not? And people say, well, I don't want to live that long. Wrong, I enjoy life. This is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Well, great Well, thanks for sharing your afternoon with me.
