Just a little history

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This section might be a little long as I am going to try to give you some of the highlights you would have learned if your father had ever changed his opinion.

Time line

Everything you see here can be confirmed with a little research. Just the facts and you can make up your own conclusions. Just a thought. Your cousin Taylor has unofficially been nominated to the position of family historian. She has all the information from my Ancestor.com account and has a lot of additional information.  She also has copies of some of the books I wrote. They are all out of print, but much of the information is still valid.

If you look at the Great Grandfather section, you will get an idea why I included this section. Your Great Grandfather wrote his memories on scraps of paper shortly before he passed away.

Born in Kansas City, MO January 13, 1947

Immediately moved to Phoenix, AZ where I went to Papago Elementary School through the 2nd grade. Don’t remember much but did ride my bike to Phoenix last year and took a couple of pictures. I posted them here in the Photo Memories section.

I remember getting one of the first TVs on the block. It had 2 channels which started broadcasting at 4:30PM in the afternoon and signed off at 9:00PM. I also remember when mom put it in the attic because we were spending too much time watching it. Exciting times.

Moved to Arlington, VA

Don’t remember much, but I do remember that it was a very old farm house. 2 stories with a basement you had to go outside to get in it. Right after we moved in, Mom, Jacque and I went to Boston for a few days while dad replaced all the floors in the house. They were pretty bad. In the back of the house, we put in a nice concrete patio that stretched around two big oak trees. He also put a long patio walkway behind the house connecting the patio.  On the side of the house there was a long field. My father used to teach us how to shoot a bow and arrow. Got pretty good too. We use a long bow. In reality, I never had an opportunity to shoot a compound bow. 

Back in the 1980’s, I had a business trip to DC and had the evening all to myself. I drove the rental car to the house and nobody was home. As I was about to leave, the guy across the street asked if he could help me. I told him that I used to live there, and my name was Cliff Philip. He said “no you’re not. Cliff Philip is a lot older”. Seems he lived there when we did and remembers us. After we had a glass of wine, the people came home. I knocked on the door and the man answered. His wife was asking him if he wanted her to call the cops. Then she said that If I had lived there, I would know the names etched in the porch concrete. I told her “Cliff, Fran, Jacque and Flip”. They let me in because only someone who lived there would know those names. We had a great tour of the house and I explained a few things like some of the old wallpaper inside the cupboards and a little trap door in the wall in the kitchen. I asked and they told me they paid $210,000 for the house and it was the cheapest in the neighborhood. I remember my father telling me he made a killing on the house when he paid $10,000 for it and sold it for $12,000. Times have changed. 

Looking at the google maps, it shows that a brand new modern looking house had been built in the old property. Looks funny. I just looked at Zillow and saw the "new" house at that address recently sold for $1.5m. Talk about wishing we still lived there.  

We went to the Northern Baptist church.  Loved that church and until we moved to New Jersey and started to attend a Methodist Church, I was inclined to become a Pastor. I guess things have changed over the years. 

I had my first job as a Newspaper Boy for the Northern Virginia Sun for the neighborhood.  Trust me when I say that a paper route on a bicycle in the Virginia winters is a little chilly. 

The street we lived on had a little slope on one direction. We were terrors in the winter time when we rode our sleighs down the hill. 

Down the street and around the corner, I would play with Jimmy Deans’ children. This was when he had his TV show and was just getting started with the sausage.  You would probably recognize the name of the breakfast sausage you enjoy.

One of the best things I can remember about Arlington was the field trips we took to Washington, DC, The Capital and all the historic sites around the area. What a great place to learn about our Nations history.

In the 5th grade, we moved to Ramsey, NJ

When dad was transferred for his work, we moved to the Ramsey Golf and Country Club area of Ramsey, NJ. We built the house and dad finished the basement himself. We even had a fireplace and a ping pong table in the basement. Dad had a personal remote to the black and white TV. He would hit me on the back of the head and tell me which channel to turn the TV to. Of course, there were only 4 channels. 

While we were living in Ramsey, they built a Drive-in Theater directly behind our house. We used to jump the fence and turn up the volume on the speakers near the fence and watch the movies while standing on chairs and boxes looking over the fence. The theater has long since been turned into a business park.

I graduated from Ramsey High School in 1965 after receiving a Varsity Letter in Basketball, Golf and Soccer. Wish I had spent that much time studying…. After my high school graduation ceremony, my car was packed and I immediately drove to York Harbor, Maine where I worked for the summer. It was an interesting job. I first started working at the Marshall House in York Harbor during the summer of 1964.

My sister was working there as a waitress and they needed a “Elevator Operator” for the summer. Not a bad job, but it did have a lot of ups and downs. The Marshall House was a resort hotel only open during the summer vacation season for some very rich people. The pay was great. We got $3.00 a day plus room and meals. Yes, I did say three dollars a day. The good part was that my worst day in tips was about $50 and my best day was over $150. Average that over the summer and it was very profitable.  Just imagine the tips I would have received if I were a Bell Hop.

While I was working in Maine, my parents moved to Rocky River, OH. (Just outside Cleveland). I had to call my father in his office so I could know where to meet him in New Jersey so we could drive to Ohio together and he could show me where “we” had moved. Of course this was temporary as I was about to go to college. After the summer, I went to college at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois.

This is where I met your grandmother. Actually, on the first day of school when we toured the college, we were in the library and my father was talking with this girl behind the counter helping people. He introduced us and WHO KNEW WE WOULD EVENTUALLY GET MARRIED?

Since it was a junior college, we did not have “majors” but I did take mostly Journalism and Math classes. In my second year, I was the Editor-in-Chief of the Lincolnian (student newspaper). I guess this is where I began my writing career. I’ll cover that a little later. When we moved to AZ, I threw away most of the books I wrote, but recently found a couple of them and will make sure you get copies.  Even though they are out of print and you will probably throw them away, I want you to have that option.

I joined the theater group and played in several productions. In 1967, I was inducted into Delta Psi Omega (National Honors Drama Fraternity). I guess this is where Ava gets her talent.

Believe it or not, I had my FIRST PIZZA in Lincoln. A place called la Fornos and damn it was good. 18 years old and never had a slice of pizza. 

After graduating from the Jr. College, I was drafted into the Army for Viet Nam. I did not want to go to Viet Nam so I enlisted in the Navy and it took 8 days before I reported to bootcamp. After bootcamp, I had several schools. These were not taken at the same time, but mostly covers my training in the Navy.

• Basic Electronics School in Memphis, TN 
• Aviation Electronics School in Memphis, TN
• Aerographer’s Mate school in Lakehurst, NJ
• Aerographer’s Mate Forecasting School in Lakehurst, NJ
• Aerographer’s Mate ASWEPS Forecasting School in Lakehurst, NJ (Anti-Submarine Warfare Environmental Prediction Service)

When I enlisted into the Navy, I made sure the Recruiter notated the contract to include a guarantee of Naval Aviation. Interesting part is that my records never reflected that i was color blind and that precluded my being an Aviation Electronics Mate. Fortunately, you didn't have to have color vision to be a meteorologist even though most of what we did was associated with color on a map. Go figure!

After Aerographer’s Mate school, I was transferred to the USS Northampton (CC-1) where I assigned to the Weather Office (ON Division).

The USS Northampton was an interesting assignment. It was the Presidential Cruiser and we (along with our sister ship, the USS Wright (CC-2) took 10-day alternate duty cruises and stayed as close to the President of The United States. President Nixon was the only one on-board and his briefing room was on the other side of the bulkhead for my office. I posted a picture of the Northampton with an arrow pointing to my office. The 5” gun was 8 feet from our back doors and yes, it was damn loud when it was fired. We had a lot of very dull missions but I must say that some of them got very intense and dangerous.

I was the division’s DCPO (Damage Control Petty Officer) and remember a fire on another ship tied up to the same pier in Norfolk. We got called out to help put it out.

Shortly after being promoted to E5 (2nd Class Petty Officer), your grandmother and I got married. We waited until I was promoted to PO2 because as a PO2, I would be making $256 per MONTH and as an E5, my “wife” would receive another $105 per month. We were rich! Two months later, we were transferred to Lakehurst, NJ again for the ASWEPS and Forecasting schools. ASWEPS stands for Anti-Submarine Warfare Environmental Prediction Service. Simply put, it was my job to determine the underwater sound propagation for SONAR and other tracking systems. We found a lot of "non-American" submarines in the Caribbean. That was the interesting part of my job but couldn't talk about it.  Go figure.

After school, I reported to Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station, Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. We lived in base housing. Both Melinda and Skip were born in Puerto Rico while we lived in this house. Roosevelt Roads was an interesting place. Since my father lived in St Thomas, VI, we were able to go over there for weekends on Navy aircraft when they flew on Mondays and Fridays. I was a member of Met-team-B and did a lot of work with the P-2 squadrons in the area. I flew a lot with the hurricane hunters when they were there and swam with the sharks during shark season. 

Realizing that I would not be eligible for promotion for several years because of Time in Rank restrictions, number of people taking the First Class exam, I applied and was accepted for a new Rate called Legalman. While I was waiting for a new assignment, I was injured officiating a basketball game on base. I was medivacked to the Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Illinois where I underwent back surgery and rehabilitation. 

• Grammy packed up the house and moved us to Waukegan, Illinois. To help her out, 3 of my aunts had been visiting my father in St. Thomas, VI and came to help. It ended up that custody of Skip was transferred to Aunt Gert so she could take Skip to Chicago while Rebe packed up the house and took Melinda to Chicago (Waukegan). 

• After my recovery from the surgery, I was transferred to the Base’s JAG offices where I was assigned as the Legal Clerk to 4 Defense Attorneys. 

• While working for the JAG Corps, I was sent to a three more classes to be certified as a:

1. Court Reporter:  We didn't have the standard transcription equipment you might think of today. We had the Grey Closed Mic system where you repeated everything into a closed cone with a microphone inside. Then we had to transcribe the recordings later. I got to the point I could listen to the recording with one ear, type 105 words a minute and hold a conversation on the side. 
2. Para Legal: In addition to the recordings, I was assigned to the JAG Defense Office where I worked for 4 Defense Attorneys.
3. Interrogator: Since I was working for the defense attorneys, I was the first one in the office to interview "clients". This was really a very interesting school.

• After a couple of years, I was officially designated as “disabled” and was not allowed to continue military service and was discharged. 

After the Navy, I took a job as the Assistant Supervisor Trust Legal Service at the First National Bank of Chicago. That was probably the most boring job I have ever had. As such, I looked for another job and fell for a “get rich quick scam”. Ended up being a tough lesson to learn.

The “scam”, did, however, send me to seminars and helped me pass the test for certification by the Chicago Board of Trade. As a “Broker” my only job was to make random telephone calls to sell the firm’s services and products. I couldn’t wait to get away from that. This is one of the reasons why I don’t like telephone scam calls. Meanwhile, as a Broker, I taught a class for Risk Management for two semesters at Palatine Junior College.

We moved around a little in the Chicago area and then to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois where I took a job with RCA Service Company. After a little over a year, the local manager informed me that I was number 1 salesman in the region. He then mentioned that the sales of Telephonic Interconnect was transitioning to a “Hub” City approach and that the product was no longer going to be sold from the local offices. As it turned out, the top 5 salesmen could keep their jobs and move to one of the hub cities such as Chicago or St. Louis. We were also allowed to seek out and find lateral positions throughout the RCA umbrella. It took me 3 days before I managed to get an interview with RCA Government Communications Systems Division in Camden, NJ. After the interview and when I got home, I received a call making an offer to join their marketing team. Even though I did not have a 4-year college degree, I was told that all of the Navy’s training I had had helped me get the position. We moved to Washington Township, NJ and I worked in Camden, NJ.

My job at RCA was to market high technology to the US Defense Department. I traveled to Washington, DC constantly and probably visited most of the Defense facilities around the country discussing classified concepts and programs. Things were going well until Eaton Corporation purchased the Defense division from RCA and merged the two marketing departments. As the most junior member of the department, I was first to be let go but was joined by several others. It took me 3 days to accept a job offer from Cubic Defense Systems in San Diego. California here we come.

One of my Washington DC contacts was Senator Ted Kennedy. Most of the time we met at the Ambassadors Club at the Washington International Airport or some other bar/restaurant. He loved his drinks. Two interesting little stories:

1.  One day I was early for our meeting at the Ambassadors Club and was having a drink at the bar. I struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me when Ted Kennedy came in and sat down to my left. The lady, who had a paperback book, ripped a page from the book and asked me if I could have him sign (autograph) it for her. He did. Then she asked me for my autograph saying that if I knew Ted Kennedy I must be important too. Little did she know. 

2.  During another conversation with Ted, I was asking for information on other members of Congress and the Senate. When we got to the name "Joe Biden",  he told me to stay as far away from him as possible as he was the most EVIL man he had ever met.  Looking back I tend to agree.

Cubic was a surprisingly good company to work for and I enjoyed my job. That is until I was asked to approve an expenditure for $400,000 to a foreign country as a US Government research project. The day after I asked questions and brought the issue to the legal department, I was fired and escorted out of the building. Needless to say, I stopped by the NIS office at the Miramar Naval Station on my way home. To make a long story short, two top executives ending up making deals and received 15-year prison terms. However, as a whistle blower, I could not find a job in the industry so I had to make some big decisions. 

After I was shot at twice (bullet holes on the side of the trunk and the FBI took the bullets) while driving down Rt-15, I was offered Witness Protection but decided to stay and fight. Your dad spent some time with a friend named Joe Jones and his family. Aunt Melinda went to stay with one of her friends and Grammy and Uncle Sean went to stay with a friend of Grammys. I moved around and lived in my car for about a month. Then I was able to rent a room for a month or so before everyone moved back together after the threat was gone.

In and around San Diego, I did a lot of computer consulting and wrote a few computer related books (many under my own name and several as a ghost writer for other authors). Your dad probably threw any copy he had away. None of them were very popular anyway. It may surprise a lot of people, but I also helped a Missionary Pastor and his wife publish 8 books. I did all the editing, formatting, and graphics for two of them.   I do have a couple copies of some of the books and will make sure you received a copy of them after I die. Some friends have agreed to deliver them because I believe your parents would destroy them if they received them first. Graham and his wife were the parents of Steve Truscott, Sean’s instructor at Family Karate. I did a lot of Database Management for various companies around the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. All my programming background was in VBA using Microsoft products as the main platforms. 

After 9/11, I took a job with SCE in Security at SONGS (San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station) and am somewhat saddened to hear and see that it has been torn down. I had transferred to Operations and retired in December of 2012 just days before I had cancer surgery. Everything turned out just fine. After your Grammy retired in 2014, we moved to Green Valley, Arizona. At this point, we are still living there.

Some more interesting things: 

I assume that your father hasn’t told you much about many of these things, but I thought you just might be interested.

While in Puerto Rico, I trained and became a Certified Basketball Official. Mostly I worked intermural and high school games. After I was injured and was released by the doctors, I again officiated Basketball games around Chicago and Bloomington, Illinois. One of the college games I officiated was attended by President Elect Reagan. When one of the Secret Service Agents told me that he (President Elect Reagan) was attending the game and showed me his gun while asking “who is going to win?”. I told him the winner will have the most points.

Motorcycles

You may have also heard, but I was very active in the motorcycle community in Southern California. Some of those activities include:

• · MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) Instructor

• · 20+ years riding with and organizing Toys for Tots events

• · 20+ years raising money, riding, and organizing Ride For Kids events in LA and San Diego. Between Los Angeles and San Diego areas, we raised over $100,000,000. Of which, I probably raised over $100,000. 

• · 20+ years as a volunteer with the LAPD B2V (Baker to Vegas). 17 of those years as a Motor Advisor and 3 of those were Motor Coordinator for the entire event. The B2V is the largest Law Enforcement Athletic Event in the world

• · Member of GWRRA and past Chapter Officer

• · I have over 1,000,000 miles on a motorcycle and have been coast to coast 9 times. Your grandmother joined me on 3 of those trips. She is a real trooper. Most of the time we pulled a small camper trailer and camped on our trips.  One of those trips was when Bubba (your cousin Dustin) turned 12 and i rode from San Diego to Jacksonville, NC to ride him back to San Diego. 12 years old and rode on a motorcycle from coast to coast. My last motorcycle was a 2008 White GoldWing which your Uncle Scott bought from me after I began having some medical issues.

• . In the Photo section, there is a picture of me on a stage. We had a performance at the Hon-Dah Casino in Arizona and I was asked to introduce the Drill Teams and the Flags as they were brought in by the US Motorcycle Drill Team. US Flag, Marine Corps, Navy, Army, Airforce and Coast Guard. Afterwards, I helped introduce The Charlie Daniels Band for the concert. It was a really good concert with about 4,000 people watching.

Author

When I said I was proud of your father and how successful he has been in the computer industry I actually mean it. When I say he surpassed me a long time ago I mean it. I wrote 10 computer related books on VBA, MS Access, MS Excel, MS Word and Quattro.  Some of them were written as ghost writers for other authors. 

In addition, I helped 2 Missionaries edit and publish 8 Religious teaching books. Actually, 2 of them were their personal biographies. Two, in particular, I not only edited and formatted all the text, I generated all of the graphics in the books and took the cover photos. The cover of one of them (Here Comes The Bride - Part I) was taken of the hands of 2 of our Karate students. They wore their white uniforms and we put a sheet under their arms. Pretty cool picture.

I recently learned from a friend I used to work with that your parents installed a pool in the back yard. Outstanding. I will pray that you guys use it safely and have a great time. Did your father tell you he was on the High School Swim Team? He is a good swimmer.