No Thaw

After being married a relatively short period of time (11 years) and having, during that time, helped manage a tanning and dyeing plant (converting sheepskin into mouton lamb), being a "travelin man" (sold dresses on the road), farmed, I traveled for a wholesale automobile auction and was selling cars. I arrived home one night and announced to my then wife that I had taken a job as a stockbroker. She broke down in tears (she could cry a river just looking at me). That poor woman's life's dream was to have a quiet, table top smooth life, and I was giving her none of that.

Her idea of "living" was slow suicide for me. After moving from Mason City, Never Live There, Iowa, I was making a damn good living pushing new and used cars out the door. I was one of the top 3 West Coast Pontiac salesmen with yearly earnings of some $25,000 per year in 1957 dollars ($195,191 in today's money). And I was giving it up, with a wife, four kids and a dog (A Sheltie) for a starting draw (against commissions) of $1,200,1957 dollars a month. Why?

Well we lived next door to a very smart guy who was a Security Analyst with Fireman's Fund and was investing personal money. He kept telling stories about his big stock market successes, and I thought "Shit, I'll never make 'real money' peddling cars." So I went looking for a brokerage firm who would hire a car salesman who didn't know a stock from a bond.

And I found one that hired me. I promptly went on a self education binge and developed into one of the top broker/salesman/security analysts in the US and made more money than I deserved. But even that didn't help the Ice Princess 's attitude towards me. She had developed an ingrained dislike of me. Being slow (but not stupid) it took me some 30 years to recognize her dislike. But I refused to accept it and continued to try to get her approval until she passed away.

She, while dieing in the hospital, gave my kids instructions for me, not to phone, come by or send flowers. And when she left this world for the next, I was not to be allowed to her memorial service. Wow…I just never ever made it with the Princess.