After living in Wolcott with my parents for about a month, in September, 1967, we found an apartment in Bridgeport. This apartment was part of a project near the corner of North Street and Park Avenue. It was a hallway apartment that was suffocating in the summer heat. Eventually we found a better location at Texas Ave. near Beardsley Park.
The North and Park location was within a block of a branch of People's Savings bank (a future Bunker Ramo customer) , where I was able to get Bobbie a job. It was also near a church convent, where nuns ran a day care center. So they cared for Kurt during the day. My job still required me to travel quite a bit; as a matter of fact, we no sooner moved to Bridgeport than I was sent to Seattle and Portland Oregon for a month. Bobbie kept herself busy, and toured the Bridgeport area as often as she could. She soon got to know the Bridgeport area better than I.
However, the traveling became a bit too much for us, so I requested a transfer to People's Savings bank as a resident Customer rep. Their Bunker Ramo system was about ready for installation. I was granted the request and in May, 1968, I proceeded to set up a service depot in the basement of the main branch. My job was to service all the branches of Peoples during the set up phase and later, for daily maintenance. It was a nice set-up, being close to home.
Not too long after moving to Texas Ave., Michele was born at St. Vincent's Hospital on November 13, 1968.
My time at People's Savings Bank probably lasted until sometime in late 1969 because in early 1970 I was back working for Bill Folkerts in Service Engineering. That's when he called me into his office one day and asked if I would consider going to London and Paris for a two month period to help two of our service people there install some new equipment for Pan-Am Airways. He explained that if I were to stay for over a month, I would be allowed to take my family along. When I brought this up to Bobbie later that day, she was very enthusiastic about the prospect of such a trip. So naturally, the next day, I accepted.
I spent the next couple of months working with Peter Rahanian, our man in Paris, now in Stamford, getting acquainted with the project. Peter had been living in Paris for some time with the Air France - Bunker Ramo system that was now being phased out. His new assignment would be with Pan-Am, Paris. Our man in London was Bob Nieman, whom I wouldn't meet until I got there. Although the plan was for me to start work in Paris, I was informed that the equipment wasn't ready yet in Paris, so London was to be first stop.
On Monday, March 30, 1970, following a snow storm the day before, we boarded a limo for Kennedy airport. The TWA flight was an overnighter. We arrived at London's Heathrow airport sometime Tuesday morning. Bob Nieman met us at the airport and escorted us to the Westbury hotel in London's Mayfair district.
The Westbury was an older hotel, but fashionable (for London). However, the next day, Wednesday, Bobbie got sick on some food she ate, either on the plane, or at the hotel restaurant at dinner on Monday. She was sick enough that a doctor had to be called. She stayed in bed all day and of course, I stayed with her. On Thursday, she felt better, so I went to work with Bob at the Heathrow airport, where I would be working for the next two weeks. Bobbie was not pleased with the Westbury, so we booked a two bedroom suite at the Carlton Towers Hotel. The kids had their own room and we had ours. Not only were the rooms spacious and comfortable, but the restaurant was great; the Rib Room.
Bobbie, Kurt & Michele near Tower Bridge
The trio strolling by Westminster Abbey.
At Trafalger Square.
Windsor Castle
Aside from the Rib Room at the Carlton, our experiences with restaurants in London were not very memorable, except for one evening when we took part in a medieval style dinner at the Gore Hotel, where Bobbie was crowned as the Queen. Of course, we took the opportunities to visit the London Tower, Windsor Castle, Harrod's and many other places including the theater district where we saw a performance of HAIR. The hotel had a roster of chambermaids who moonlighted as baby sitters, giving us the opportunity to enjoy a night out by ourselves.On Sunday, April 12, we boarded a BEA flight for Paris. Pete Rahanian met us at the airport and took us to our hotel, the Hotel de Suède (The Swedish Hotel, I believe).
The Roman Wall
Trafalgar Square
Tower Gate
Roman Wall and Tower Bridge
Company policy was that, if an employee in a foreign country and on temporary duty is there for over two weeks, he is expected to find temporary living quarters within that time, and get off expenses and then be on per diem, which was about 12 or 15 dollars a day in 1970. Going to a different city reset the expense cycle, so we were still on expenses. Bill Folkerts had arranged to fly to Paris and spend some time with us and with B-R customers. Actually, the only time we spent with him was at a show and dinner at the Follies Bergère at the Moulin Rouge. An experience we all enjoyed very much, since he picked up the tab. The next day he flew back to Stamford. Actually, the facility at Orly airport was not yet ready, so I we had a few days to spend together and tour the area.Fortunately, since cars drive on the right side of the road in France, as in the U.S., I was able to rent a car for our travels. We visited the Louvres, where I had to carry Michele the whole while. That was very tiresome. Although she was only a year and a half, carrying her all day was difficult. Still, having a car, we were able to travel to the Versailles and Fontainebleau castles, which were very impressive. Again, I had to carry her as we toured the interior of the castles. On the weekend, we got into our little Renault and traveled to Normandy to visit the birthplace of the Côté family ancestor, Jean Côté. On our way to Mortagne (his birthplace), we drove through the village of Chartres, where we spent some time marveling at the magnificent Cathedral.
Palace at Fontainbleau
Kurt and Michele at Versailles
Fontainbleau
Montmarte Flea Market
Dentures, immediate fittingThe cathedral is located at the top of the curve of a horseshoe shaped courtyard. As we were leaving the cathedral, we saw that the locals were setting up an outdoor market all along the roadway. I had to back out and steer around all the kiosks that were being set up. We just barely got out before the roadway was completely closed off. We continued on and finally made it to Mortagne. Unfortunately, the only camera I had with me was a super 8 movie camera. So, I have no pictures of the quaint little village and it's
Coming into Chartres
Chartres Cathedral
Portal of Mortagne
Lower Normandy - Map of our trip.
rolling hills looking down into a deep valley; very picturesque. I was not able to find any references to the Côté family. It was getting late and Paris was about a three hour drive away, so I really didn't have too much time to look around. But, it was good to think that maybe, I was the first Côté to return to Mortagne since 1634; but then again, maybe not. The picture to the right is a drawing from 1657 of Mortagne, au-Perche; How it must have looked in 1634 when Jean Cote left the village for New France.
Unfortunately, Bobbie was not happy in Paris and wanted to return home. Having two kids to watch every day, not being able to speak the language while I was working at the airport was too much for her. So she booked a flight to California and left with the kids to visit her mother. The next day, I received word to return to London because of the lack of activity in Paris. Too bad, Bobbie did enjoy London. So on Tuesday, April 21, I returned to London. Since I hadn't spent but a week in Paris, I was still on expenses. By the following week end, I was bound for Paris again. On Sunday, April 26, I checked in to the Victoria Palace. I stayed there until Tuesday, May 12, when expenses terminated and per diem kicked in. My room at the Victoria Palace was 85 francs per day ($16.15 U.S.). From then on, my hotels were 9 francs per day (about $3.00 U.S.). Strange to think that in 1970 you could stay at a first class hotel for less than $20.00 a day, or a 2 room adjoining suite in London for $72.00 a day.
I moved around from one hotel to another ( none were very satisfying to my taste) until Tuesday, May 26. Fortunately, I was working at the airport every day and on week ends, I would walk around the city. Walking the streets in Paris or taking the Metro to different places was an enjoyable way to appreciate this charming city.While testing the newly installed facility, we noticed that at odd times, the screen display would distort and become unreadable. Solving this problem was difficult because it had no frequency of failure. sometimes the problem existed for an hour or more and at times, just a few minutes.
Our facility at Orly
Pete Rahanian and Linda from Pan Am
Our facilities room was located right off the tarmac with huge glass windows facing the tarmac area. Most of the time Venetian blinds covered the windows and gave us no view of the outside area. Then one day, for some reason, the blinds were opened and I could see airplane traffic on the tarmac. Sometimes a plane would be parked in front of our window and when it moved off, our screens would flutter. It turned out that whenever a plane was parked there, the screens would operate as normal. But when there was no plane there, our screens fluttered. Then I noticed a a rotating radar antenna off in the distance. As it revolved, the screen would flutter when pointed directly at us. When an aircraft was parked or passed in front of the window, everything was fine. Apparently the aircraft either blocked or absorbed the radar's energy. Problem solved, resolution was left to the Orly or Pan-Am personnel. Towards the end of May, the Orly facility was running pretty well and Bob Niemann, in London, was needing help, so it was good-bye Paris and Hello London again.
This EMI (Electro Magnetic Interference) problem reminds me of another instance in Longview, Washington that occurred when in 1967 I was in Portland Oregon. I was made aware of a problem at one of our banks in Longview. The nature of the problem was that the system was crashing almost every afternoon around closing time. I drove up to Longview to investigate. The RTB (or controller) for the system was upstairs in an attic. So I went upstairs and sat by the RTB waiting for something to happen. If I recall properly, nothing happened that day, so I had to return on the next day. I hung a scope probe on a pin in the unit and waited for anything strange to happen. This time I did notice electric noise spikes on the scope. As I watched the spikes, I could hear ratcheting noises coming from downstairs. It turned out to be caused by a noisy (electrically noisy as well as loud) adding machine that was used at the end of the day to batch total check deposits for that day. Back then, adding machines were mechanical as well as electrical. Not all of their adding machines were noisy, so this particular one was not always the one being used. Problem solved, throw out and replace that particular adding machine.
Flying back to London, it was good to be back on expenses and back in a fine hotel and enjoying good meals again. Although restaurant fare in London left a lot to be desired, I had previously been acquainted with a chain of restaurants called "The Black Angus". This restaurant chain could be found around the town. They served American style prime rib and other steaks, so that's where I had most of my dinners. On June 4, my stay in Europe was over and I headed back home on a Pan Am 747 flight. While working in London and Paris for two months was an experience I will never forget, it was good to be back home.
The years 1970 to 1973 proved to be very busy years for me at Bunker-Ramo. The company moved to a new facility in Trumbull CT and soon after that, the Service Engineering department was dissolved. Many of my co-workers were laid off, some were transferred to other departments. I was transferred back to the test floor, where I started out, with Louis Santaniello as my boss again. However, the functions of Service Engineering were transferred to the test floor and I found myself as one of two people left to handle those functions. That meant that I would be busier than ever out in the field, not only with banking but with the multi-station products, which was the product installed in Europe.
When at the plant and not on the road, I designed and built a portable communications line monitor that I was able to take with me on road trips. With it I was able to connect to the computer's input communication line and display the data traffic coming in on a video monitor. This device solved a lot of timing and coding problems and allowed us to resolve problems very quickly and efficiently without the usual finger pointing between us and them. Eventually, the company began to produce these for all of our field offices.
In the meantime, we had moved to an apartment in Ansonia. We stayed there for a bit over a year, then later bought our first home ($19,000); a two bedroom condo in Naugatuck. This was one of our more memorable homes. Ourneighbors, for the most part, were very friendly and given to partying. We had a great time there. However, one day while I was in Tulsa Oklahoma at the Zebco fishing equipment company, I got a phone call at the Zebco plant from Bobbie. She was having problems with one of our neighbors involving her daughter and our daughter, Michele. I guess it had been building up for some time and she was near hysterical. I took the next flight home and changed my status to no-fly. I transferred to Peoples Savings Bank in Bridgeport where I opened a Bunker Ramo field office for the bank, servicing their branches.Condo in Naugatuck
One day I read in the Bridgeport paper an ad from a Hartford bank, Society for Savings, a Bunker-Ramo customer. They were looking for a systems engineer to set up an in-house service facility. They had already hired one of our guys from the B-R Hartford office and they were looking for a second one. Al Vitiello had previously sat in on one of my classes in Bridgeport concerning the banking system. I had students from all over the country attending my classes. Peoples Savings Bank graciously allowed me to use their facilities for my classes. Al had steered the ad to the Bridgeport paper so that I would see it. After a short interview with the Data department head, I was hired. Al and I began to set up the service facility. I had taken my line monitor with me and it proved invaluable in setting up the system. So, on April 30, 1973, I started a new career, one that would last almost 18 years.
Around that time, a more friendly atmosphere emerged between my new family and Therese.While the atmosphere was never hostile before, it was a bit strained. But gradually friendliness emerged that to me was unusual between divorced couples. We attended all family functions together. To that end, I credit both Therese and Bobbie. As for me, I embraced it.Bobbie, me and Therese
