He has also seen fit to allow me to have reasonably good health, for an 80 year old, and to still be with my wife, of almost 50 years. As of this moment, life is good, and I am looking forward to the new year.
Some that stand out and come to mind, Not positive of the years, I think, 1943, Mom and Dad and I took a trip to New York. I think I was Eleven years old. Our hotel was right on Times Square. Sometime during the evening, I decided to take the elevator down to the lobby and take a look outside at the crowd. I stepped out a little too far and got caught up in the gigantic crowd that was also walking around the square. At about the second or third block, I found a policeman, explained my predicament to him, and he graciously escorted me back to our hotel.
The next one that comes to mind was in 1945. My brother was still in the service stationed in Cuba, US Navy, submarine service. Again, Mom and Dad and I, along with his fiance, Rebecca Rhue, got on a train in Dayton, Ohio and headed South. We didn't venture out, but from our room window I could take in a lot of the activities going on. Miami was loaded with servicemen. I mainly remember the next morning, I had to make the orange juice run to a vendor outside, doing "fresh squeezed" and close to him was a bakery with freshly made donuts. I remember many bodies, sleeping in doorways, anywhere they could find room to stretch out after their evening of celebrating.
I spent a number of them working in Nevada, working in a casino, and as I recall, we were crowded, a lot of celebrating, but at the stroke of midnight we had to continue to concentrate on the game, otherwise we could lose a lot of money. I remember one particular one, working the Primmadonna, worked graveyard, went in at 3am, and everyone inside the club was crying. I did not know what had happened to cause this reaction. There had been a riot on South Virginia Street, dogs and police called in, a tear gas canister had gone through our front window and exploded, the club was full of tear gas. I cried most of the shift. It was not easy dealing craps with tears in your eyes and tears streaming down your face. I remember some of those slot machine players who had a system, wipe the eyes and pull the handle, they didn't miss a beat.
Happy New Year to ALL ................................
