About alvie

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About Alvie:

I was born the runt of the litter of twin sisters 7 years older than me and one sister 5 years younger, and then in 1932 came I. We lived in a pump handle house where the toilet was a three holer in the back yard, Saturday meant a bath in a number 10 wash tub and Sunday meant go to meetin’, fried chicken and company. I survived birth by the merest of fractions only to contract some disease that left me bone skinny and still a baby.

Flunked first grade because of dyslexia that left me with unwanted glasses. The problem went unsolved and haunted me all my life.  

A rheumatic heart problem put me in bed for a year at age 13 and prevented me from sports and other strenuous activities. The rheumatic heart nailed me again at age 57 for a metallic heart valve.

I rarely made a grade above C but managed to graduate hi school. Graduated from Valparaiso tech and bounced about from job to job not finding what I wanted. Finally found my niche at the space center where I spent the last 35 years of my working career as a missile engineer at Kennedy Space Center.

During this time I read everything I could get my hands on from Homer to Omar Khayyam to Mitchner, Tolstoy, Plato, Gibbon and etc and wrote poems and short stories mostly for my own enjoyment. In the meantime raised 6 kids (none of them runts) and traveled to Ohio, Florida, California and Alaska.

As I write this my wife of 79 years awaits death with terminal cancer. All I can say about all of this is “if not me then who?” what a blessing to have lived and lived well.


Location:
United States
Primary occupation:
engineer
Dream occupation:
scientest
Hometown:
Gary, Indiana
Schools attended:
Gary Emerson, Valparaiso Tech, Brevard Jr Collage and Florida Technical Institute
I like:
Reading and writing
Favorite writers:
Homer, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Gibbon, Khayyam, Durant, Michner, Cellini, Poe and Rochefoucauld.
Favorite books:
The Aneid, The Iliad and The Odyssey and all of Michner’s books
Favorite music:
Golden Oldies
Favorite movies:
Gone With the Wind
Favorite TV shows:
Star Trek
Favorite quote:
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Pogo
Gender:
Male
Religion:
None in particular