After Leaving Pella in 1970 I was a school teacher for one year with salary of $5200. I left that profession to become a millionaire selling life insurance with Steve Danielson (my pledge father) made $3800 that year. But I decided I liked sales and then spent my entire career in sales. Ten years each with General Electric and ITT-Cannon (Cannon plugs for you military vets). And finished my career with Precision Interconnect for 20 years, selling surgical medical electronics and cables. It was quite a run with this little company – their annual sales were $4-5 MM when I started and when I retired in 2007 ( age 59 ) we were just under $360 MM – what a blast traveling all over the country helping this leading edge technology company grow in leaps and bounds.For each of these companies, I was the top salesperson in many peoples opinion ( mainly me and my children! )

Got married to Bonnie in 1979, a farm girl from Missouri. In 1986, ITT-Cannon transferred us to Fort Worth, TX. Have lived here since then. Our two sons, Larry and Jerrod were raised here and still live in the DFW area. We do not have grandkids yet – but our boys are married and working on it they say. In Sept. 2006 Bonnie passed away from a sudden death heart attack.
Remarried in 2009 to Maureen Paris – we had worked together at ITT-Cannon, and she moved from San Diego to Texas – she is my love and smart, beautiful, and a fantastic step-mother for our family.

In May of 2018 Maureen and I built a house in an active adult community about 15 miles north of Fort Worth called Robson Ranch-Denton ( you can Google it ). We have fallen in love with this community and the people here.

Maureen stays busy with her non-profit dog school, IDEA Service Dogs (you can Google this also), where for 10 years she has been training dogs and their disabled people. I am an executive in this organization – as I am VP of Poop Patrol. I stay busy with pickle ball 2 hours a day, and am on 4 softball teams, and golf once a week. A lot of social activities – concerts, card parties, and beer on the veranda, etc.!

When I think about my Phi Delta memories, I am overwhelmed with happy thoughts – too many for this memo. We will hash them all at the reunion I am sure. Had a great pledge class, largest to date at the time. Kidnapped Frank Pampeno and dropped him off in Spooner, Wisconsin. The 4-man room was ours Tom Heebink, Chuck Menke, and Bruce Fischer for a couple years.

The homecoming decorations – paneling the basement with barn wood (obtained secretly!), our parties at the house, keggers at the “The Pit “. Phil Lacqua rear-ending a black angus cow on the way back to Pella from the Pit. The Florida Fund legacy (started by those before us) the first year we took 15 or more brothers to visit Bob and Mary. And of course, our legacy of
“Mama Lacqua’s Spaghetti Dinners” – which continued for many years after we all left Pella. (Gosh -we all miss Phil so much). The daily tempo of life in the Phi Delt house – the sunroom, the TV room, all-nighters with Coke and Camel’s to get us through. The intramural rivalries – and Mario Bava’s Bombers. Looking forward to showing Maureen the old Phi Delta scrapbooks that are with Chuck Lau.

I can state unequivocally that the Phi Delts and Central College truly changed my life. I arrived as a hick pig farmer from Perry, and through meeting friends from all over the U.S. came to understand that the world is much more than Perry, Iowa and the Oscar Mayer pork plant where my dad wanted me to work.
I’ve had and still have a wonderful fulfilling life. Fortunately I have been able to acquire some toys in my golden years – I now have – my wig, my hearing aids, my cataracts, my false teeth, my oxygen generator, Knee brace, elbow brace, neck brace, my walker, and my penis pump,
all of which I have been able to accumulate on lay-away plans, Isn’t life grand.

In closing – a couple Phi Delt brothers have been able to visit here in Texas – and this is your invitation to make the trip at any time. Within the coming year I expect our daily email group to get here either one at a time or as stoic small groups, also wives will be accepted reluctantly. Do you hear me talking Todd, Peter, Scott, Tony, Mike and Chuck? Come to Texas and we’ll do BBQ and Margarita’s.