Education
-1961-1967 Central School
-1967-1970 Nichols Junior High School
-1970-1974 Evanston Township High School
-1974-1975 stayed out of school for one year; had knee surgery
-1975-1976 University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, Agriculture major
-1975-1976 Triton Junior College, River Grove, Illinois, Graphic Arts program
-1976-1979 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, Printing major

I worked part time at Wegmans food store, Scottsville, New York (near Rochester) during college. I was bagger and a price changer on Thursday evenings.

I showed a Holstein cow in a dairy show at the University of Illinois. I was a member of the Dairy Science Club. I washed, groomed and trained her prior to the show.

My grades in junior high and early high school were not very good. After I became a Christian at the beginning of my Sophomore year, I made the honor roll every semester. Thank you Lord.

I took Spanish in 6th, 7th and 8th grades but never took a foreign language in high school.

I took all offered courses in printing at Evanston high School and then a special senior study program in printing was created just for me.

I was sent to Principal’s office 3 times; twice in junior high and once in high school.

Cars
Cars owned:
-1962 Black Ford Galaxy
-1966 Tan Mercury Comet
-1972 Gold Dodge Duster
-1982 Gray Dodge Aries
-1985 Blue Plymouth Voyager
-1992 Red Dodge Grand Caravan
-1996 Gray Ford E350 Econline Van
-1999 Blue Toyota Camry
-1990 Red Nissan Stanza
-1996 Tan Nissan Altima
-2001 White Chevrolet 2500 Van
-2004 White Dodge Sprinter
-2006 Blue Toyota Camry

I flunked my first driving road test but passed on the second try.

My car died several times while driving. Once in the third lane on Lake Shore Drive while on my way to work. Once on Clark Street in Chicago just after dropping off Sean at the Rainbow roller rink. Once in Rosemont on Touhy during rush hour.

When ‘Right on Red’ went into effect in Illinois several of us stayed up passed midnight and went out and started turning right on red at as many intersections as we could. My first was east from Ridge Avenue onto Greenleaf.

During one summer day in 1975, drove to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, with Ed Elsen. We drove 315 miles, water skied, had something to eat and drove back to Evanston.

I skitched (holding onto a car rear bumper while being pulled by the car on snow covered streets and roads) in Three Lakes, Wisconsin at 52 miles per hour.

1 speeding ticket-Shawano county, Wisconsin coming back from Three Lakes. I was going 25 miles per hour over limit.

My horn got stuck when using it on Chicago avenue one day in 1977. All I could do was raise both hands to show everyone it was out of my control. I pounded and pounded the horn until it shut off.

It was January 1, 1978. Kim and I were in Three Lakes for the holiday along with her family. We started driving back to Evanston but went a different route as we stopped by to visit Kim’s college roommate in the afternoon. We also were in a new car. New to us and new to the family but not newly manufactured. Dad Elsen couldn’t pass up the deal and wanted us to drive it home to see what we thought of his new bargain.

But there was one thing omitted in the conversation. The gas gauge didn’t work. We came to learn this as we headed home but it was too late. We stalled out on a highway going through Neenah, Wisconsin. Out of gas with nothing open on New Years day night. 8:30. It’s dark. It’s very cold and now I have to figure out what is open. Kim stayed with the car and I started to hike. I went to the nearest lit business. A bar. The few people starred as I came in to ask where the nearest open gas station was. ‘Not too close’ was their reply. So I ended up calling my aged relatives who had long gone to bed. Forty five minutes later, they arrived with a red gas can, overcoats over their pajamas looking very scared and self conscious. The gallon or so poured in was enough to get us to an open station and then on to home.

I have only been in one accident where I flipped over. It was a scary experience. It seemed to go in slow motion and you watch the event unfold before you and hear the sounds and then suddenly all is quiet.

It was 1968 and we were heading to Evanston after spending a weekend at the farm (where Mom was raised) in Wisconsin near Green Bay. I was with Mom, Ken, my cousin Brad and his mom who was driving. The three boys were in the back seat of the Dodge Dart when the right front tire blew out and we went into a skid. The four lane highway was separated with a grass median. We swung from one lane, then into the other and eventually ending upside down on the grass.

No one was hurt, just shook up emotionally. I tried to kick the back door window out but it was too hard. We rolled the window down and crawled out. The event was pretty scary but we were all okay. A Good Samaritan stopped and waited while the police and tow truck came and then he drove us to Milwaukee to take the train back to Evanston.

Work
In 1990, Kim and I were guests of Shima Seiki, a Japanese company known for its knitting systems. I was using the system for photo retouching on imagery used in print advertising. We were in Osaka, Wakayama and Tokyo during a week’s stay. One highlight was a 40 minute helicopter tour from Wakayama to Osaka.

Interesting work assignment and locations:
-John Deere in Moline, Illinois-Was on the team that engineered a world-wide company image database for all of Deere images. Set up an on-site facility for scanning and tagging images in Moline. This was in 1994. It is still in use today.

-Spiegel in Naperville, Illinois-developed a automated page creation system for creating Spiegel catalog pages. The project was out bid by RR Donnelley. This was in 1993.

-Marlboro cigarettes in Chicago, Illinois-Created an interactive CD-ROM for the world-wide distribution of Marlboro images to be used in advertising, bill boards and store displays. This was in 1997.

-Kraft Foods in Glenview, Illinois-Oversaw an on-site facility within the Kraft photo studio. Kraft shot tabletop food images and passed them on to us for color correction, retouching, assembly, and proofing. This was between 1997 and 2001.

-Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, Wisconsin-Built an interactive CD-ROM for Harley. This contained press releases and photos of the new bike models for 1995. CDs were replicated and distributed to all Harley dealers and to many trade magazines. It was the first of its kind in the motorcycle industry but is very common today.

-Quartet and GBC, Skokie, Illinois-Built an interactive CD-ROM for Quartet and GBC (office and school equipment manufacturer) which distributed photos and associated text to office supply retailers like Staples and Office Depot. Very successful and innovative for the time. This was 1997 and 1998.

Things I’d like to do someday...
-Paddleboat ride on the Mississippi river
-Ride on the Hiawatha bike trail again
-Visit Yosemite, Mt. Rushmore, The Baseball Hall of Fame,
the Sequoia National Forest and the giant Redwoods

Updated, Spring, 2007

There are some things about me that you might be surprised to know. For you see, I am good at hiding things and not letting out certain information.

I am a living example of what I consider a miracle, or at least an amazing transformation. A good part of my life I have felt insecure, afraid of failure. Dumb. Incapable.

Are you surprised? Probably. I can hide this pretty well. I was always a marginal student. Especially in History and English. Maybe I have a mental block for these subjects. Maybe I panic too soon and that prevents me from absorbing information. I dare not reveal what I scored on my ACT and SAT exams during high school. It would be extremely embarrassing and shaming. I never took a foreign language during high school. I should have but I was too afraid of failure. Spanish was hard enough for me in Junior High. So, hey, I was Mr. Confident; the life-of-the-party, always goofing off, making people laugh.

But underneath that façade, I was scared that I was going to fail and then what would my family and friends think? Would I ever be accepted after that?

High school was hard but I made it. I didn’t want to consider was college. I had much anxiety about what to do in my life. What could I accomplish? What would I be good at? I am sure all high school students wonder about this to some extent. I was terrified of failing but felt paralyzed at times to do much about it. Feelings of inadequacy haunted me.

A reoccurring dream that I have had all through high school, college and many years after graduating is that I am back at school and I cannot do the homework or I fail tests and can't understand the lectures. Then panic sets in and that is usually when I waken. It is funny but also very unsettling. I am always relieved to know that it was just a dream.
Throughout my life, there have been some significant people who have believed in me. Despite all of my fears, they have believed in me. Some have known me well enough to know my fears. Others haven't. But all of these people have believed in me and it has made all of the difference.

The first was my Mother. Mom certainly believed in me. If you read my thoughts about Mom on this website, you will understand what she meant to me and how she believed in me. She provided great inspiration and motivation for me during those school days when I was failing. My grades may not have reflected it but my heart felt so.

Another believer in me was my high school printing teacher, Mr. Knox. He saw qualities and talents in my life and had a quiet, and strong means of drawing that out of me. He was the kind of teacher that you always wanted to do more for because his acknowledgment was highly motivational and inspiring. He always pressed me to do more and be better.

My brother Ken has always been a role model and mentor for me. He helped me to believe in myself, particularly during the painful year at the U of I. Fortunately for me, we were there together; I as a confused freshman in the School of Agriculture (?) He was getting his Masters in Math. Ken always saw me not for who I was but who I could become. He knew who I was but that didn't stop him from encouraging me to press on and use the talents I had rather than worrying about the ones I didn't have.

Kim has always been there, believing in me. She knows me. She knew what she was getting when she said yes to coming be my wife. She is not fooled. It has always been easy for me to know why I wanted to marry her. Why me though? But she believed in me then and continues to believe and lift me up. She often tells me that I can do it. This became particularly evident during the fifth year we were married and the same amount of time working for my current company, Schawk. One October evening we were having dinner at home and the phone rang. After a lengthy conversation with this unknown person, an offer was given to me to manage an electronic imaging department for a well known, high profile company downtown Chicago. This company was highly regarded for its color for national advertising work and clientele.

I was flattered but uncertain. I had confidence in what I was doing. But to be suddenly thrust into the spotlight as well as manage a brand new department where lives were depending on me and millions of dollars had been spent on electronic equipment? This was more than I could do.

Kim had other opinions though. She gently encouraged me, believed in me and told me that I was the one who could do it. She knew full well what she was saying and to who she was saying it. And she never doubted.
Certainly among those who had confidence in me were the two owners of the company just mentioned downtown. Bill Riggs and Don Kieffer owned Kieffer-Nolde and risked their reputation and millions of dollars on someone they really did not know. But their confidence and belief in me was very real and evident and it worked.

Certainly my present company, Schawk has leaders who believe in me and allow me the freedom to make decisions and go with what is best for the company.

So there it is. I still have these doubts and fears and insecurities. But I have had those who believed in me and who still believe in me provide great encouragement and motivation to press on. I think about those people and others who I did not mention quite a bit these days. Friends who were always there. Family who accepted me as I am instead of meeting some unwritten standard and goal.

Who were and are the people in your life who have believed in you? Especially during those times when you didn't believe in yourself? Do they know what they have meant to you and how they have affected your life? If you have never told them, do so. Don't go much longer without them knowing. It will make a big difference in both of your lives.