We left Middletown CT on Halloween, October 31 1991. With myself in the lead, Bobbie following me and Michele bringing up the rear, our 3 car convoy headed west. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the late October sun was fast heading west also.
In order for the three of us to stay together, it was important that we travel only during daylight hours. That being the case, we made it only as far as Newburgh NY that first day. After we checked into our room (with Michele's cat as part of the crew), we headed out to the restaurant on foot. The restaurant was just off the driveway below the hill from our room. On our way there, Bobbie misstepprd, fell and twisted her ankle. She being in some pain, we skipped the restaurant and helped her back to our room and ate our dinner there. It seemed doubtful that she would be able to continue driving; but being the trooper that she is, the following morning she said "Let's go" and we continued on our way.
We made it to Akron Ohio at the end of that day and again the late October sun gave us trouble. In Akron, I-76 merges with other roads, as highways do in most cities. Although being careful to pay close attention to overhead signs, the sun was just on the edge of one of the signs. I missed reading it and realizing that I was on the wrong road, I got off the highway and pulled into a nearby gas station. Fortunately, the other two followed me, so we were still together. We got our bearings back and continued to I-71 for Columbus Ohio. Because of the lateness of the day, we called it a day before reaching Mansfield.
Our goal for the next day was to reach Springfield Illinois and spend the weekend with my daughter Claire and her family in Springfield. Claire, Steve and family had been transferred to Springfield and lived there for four years before returning back to CT. Our travel that day was for the most part uneventful. We did run into a heavy rainstorm in Indianapolis, but again, we were able to stay together. We arrived at the outskirts of Springfield as the sun was beginning to set. Fortunately, I had visited Claire earlier in the year and I was still quite familiar with the neighborhood. So, just as it was beginning to get dark, we pulled up to the house still all together. Meanwhile, my son Roger had driven up from North Carolina to spend some time with us while in Springfield. So, for that weekend, we enjoyed a rare, mini family reunion.
Up to this time, the weather had been perfect ( except for the rain in Indianapolis). Our plan was to next travel to Red Oak, Iowa to visitBobbie's home of her younger years. Unfortunately, a sudden change in weather from almost summer to almost winter occurred Sunday evening. With snow threatening in the Midwest states and temps dropping into the 20's, we decided to head south and continue the march to El Paso. Our trip that day, Monday, was to Saint Louis where we crossed the Mississippi at the arch about mid-morning, and on to Joplin MO for that night's rest. (Picture on the right with the grandkids was taken previously in Saint Louis.) The next day we followed the old Route 66 (made famous by Nat King Cole, now I-40) continuing to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
We had had no trouble finding accommodations for the night so far, but after leaving Amarillo, TX, the day started closing in on us, and we began looking for a place to spend the night. Every so often we would see signs for a motel, but upon leaving the highway to check them out, we discovered that all these motels were now closed down. Not much traffic, I guess. So we had to continue on to the next decent sized town that might have motels. Soon, it got very dark. I turned my blinking lights on so that Bobbie and Michele would know where I was. It was a moonless night. It was really dark and there was no external lighting from anywhere off road. Finally, about 9 o'clock, we arrived at Tucumcari, New Mexico. I pulled off the road at a gas station; Bobbie and Michele still behind me, and we saw restaurants and motels nearby. We had dinner and checked into a motel for the night.
While there were undoubtedly shorter routes that we could have taken, our plan was to take the Interstate roads so that in the event of auto problems, we wouldn't be stranded out in nowhere. The plan worked out fine. We were never separated, nor did we ever encounter car problems. On Wednesday morning we left Tucumcari on I-40, turned south at Albuquerque on I-25 and headed down the home stretch. We had lunch in Socorro and got into El Paso in time for dinner. Being familiar with the town, I knew where we would find decent motels.
The following day we checked with a realtor about homes for rent. They took us to two or three possible choices, and we chose a small three bedroom house in the foothill of Franklin mountain, overlooking Fort Bliss, the airport and the northeast part of the city. The next day we called the moving company, gave them our new address, and on Friday the familiar face of Frank and his Mayflower van pulled up to our door. All in all, a very efficient move.
3265 Mountain View Drive Christmas morning Looking West.
View looking North
View looking East
Looking East. That square building behind the tree is to be our next home.
Now that we were settled into our new home, the next priority was to find a job. I figured that with all my experiences in the computer field, finding a job would be rather easy. But I soon discovered that as difficult as it was in CT, it would not be any easier in TX.
I signed up with a couple of employment agencies, took their tests and waited. Bobbie and Michele were luckier than myself, they soon found jobswith Temporary Agencies. In the meantime, I contacted the local Barbershop singing group; the El Paso Border Chorders, to renew my hobby as a Barbershopper. I became a member of the Border Chorders and we enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the members and their wives. This was an extremely gregarious group and we enjoyed many friendships.
One day, one of the members, Lloyd Sheffield, and I were talking about what work I did. Lloyd was a lawyer from the East Side of town. He mentioned that one of his clients, had a software maintenance business and that he would talk to him about me. We soon got in touch with each other and discussed my background. I mentioned that I was familiar with a database program called R:BASE, (that I had briefly touched on at Society for Savings). He had a customer, Glowe-Peters, for whom he maintained a different database program, a software program called Clipper. But this customer also used R:BASE and neither he, nor Glowe-Peters had anyone trained to maintain that program. R:BASE was a company wide database program from the parent company in Ohio, while Clipper was for local use. He said he would talk to this customer about me. Within a few days I met Mr. Peters and was offered the job at $12.00 an hour. Far less than I was used to, but as good as I was able to get in the El Paso area. My familiarity with R:BASE was minimal at best, but soon I became very proficient in it. I also began to dabble in Clipper and eventually took over that task as well. I eventually took over all aspects of IT for Glowe-Peters, hardware, software and Novell networks. I also took on a new facet of the technology, Bar-Code. I installed and programmed a bar code system for product inventory and processing and also employee clocking in.
A funny thing happened on my way to the new job. I was there barely three weeks, when I suffered a heart attack. I felt the first signs on Saturday, but dismissed it as heartburn. On Sunday, March 22, 1992, the pains returned and by Sunday night I was in distress. Bobbie and Michele were about to leave for the mall, when I told them to take me to the hospital. We were bound for the Sierra Medical center downtown, when we passed the William Beaumont Army Hospital. I told her to take me in there, because I didn't think I would make it to Sierra. I think we made it in the nick of time. I was in real bad shape by then. The doctors and staff stabilized me and kept me there for a week. They considered choosing bypass surgery or balloons. They finally decided on bypass, so the following Sunday, I was transported to Sierra Medical Center and on Tuesday I underwent a quadruple bypass. Claire and Roger both showed up and spent a few days with us. That weekend I went home and was out of work for the next six weeks.
I figured that my job would be over by then, but I soon got a call from Glowe- Peters asking when I would be returning to work. I assured them that I would be back. So. everything worked out OK, but some serious damage had been done to my heart that I suffer from still, today. But in retrospect, it could have been worse; it's been fifteen years.(2007)
While Bobbie and I liked the El Paso area, Michele didn't. After about six months she left for Dallas to work for a previous employer as a Veterinarian tech. She's been in the Dallas area ever since. Bobbie found temporary jobs at various places and life was quite pleasant. My job grew in responsibilities and kept me busy. Bobbie and I would meet for lunch most every day and sometimes with some of the guys from the chorus. We enjoyed many parties and get-togethers with the chorus. All in all, a very friendly group. We enjoyed going to the various places in the Southwest such as, Alamogordo NM, Tucson AZ, Carlsbad Caverns, Silver City NM, etc. Once, Roger drove out and together with his son Roger, we visited the Grand Canyon.
After about a year, we discovered that our landlord was not making mortgage payments on our house. So we suspended making payments to him. He never got in touch with us, so for a few months we lived rent free. That is, until we received a letter from the VA informing us that we had 30 days to move out. However, we were able to make arrangements with them to pay VA directly and stay in the house for a few more months.
Just down the street from us was a larger, two story house that would be available in June. Two girls who owned the house were moving to Dallas and would be willing to either sell or rent the house to us. In the meantime, the VA told us that we would have to move out in April. So, in April we put our furniture in storage, and moved into a hotel suite on the west side. Though it had a kitchenette, it was rather small. But, we stayed there until June when the girls moved out and we went back to our old neighborhood. This house was just right for us.
From the outside, the house was rather strange looking; much like a cookie box. But inside, the house had a rather large kitchen, two bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. The living room was as tall as the house itself. It had one free standing wall that moved in and out with the blowing wind. We marveled that it never collapsed; at least not while we were there. There was also a two car garage, so that our cars were not out in the hot sun. In the back, facing Alabama St. there was a rather large back yard with a patio that gave us an excellent view of Fort Bliss, the airport and Mexico. We enjoyed sitting in the covered patio during thunderstorms, watching lightning strikes all over town. Occasionally we were able to watch as a 747 would ferry a space shuttle from California to Florida. Biggs field was an intermediate stop for this activity. We really enjoyed living there.
Looking west from the roof.
Patio view
View looking East towards Fort Bliss
Living room wall.
I flew back to CT on a couple of occasions, for graduations, weddings and such. In 1994, Mr. Peters retired and the Glowe-Hoover facility in Laredo, TX was merged with Glowe-Peters in El Paso, and Bill Hoover took over the operation in El Paso. We moved the company to a larger facility near the airport. Gradually, more and more of our functions were transferred to maquiladoras in Juarez, Mexico. The net result of this was that work at our plant was being reduced and so were my hours. Fortunately for me, I was receiving my pension from Society for Savings as well as Social Security checks each month. But still, it looked like it was a matter of time before I would be out of a job. I was now working every other day.
Towards the end of the year, 1994, I received a phone call from my brother, Fred in CT. He had just started a new business and was inquiring if I would be interested in joining him in that business. After discussing it with Bobbie, I agreed to check it out. I flew back to CT and spent a few days with him to see if it would be a worthwhile move for us. I concluded that it would be and after almost 5 years, it would be nice to back with family. So the decision was made to accept the offer. I flew back to El Paso and gave my two weeks notice.
