beaulla's husband

i never really new his name or exactly what he did,as a job or the type of a person he might have been but she must have been quite a horrible wife to make him want to end his life. beaulla and her betrothed lived in the house directly straight across the street from my grandpa and grandma.someone told me when i was a child,"i think it was my grandma," he put a vacuum cleaner hose from the exhaust of his 59' ford to and through it's window. i don't think i ever saw him but by the looks of beaulla i'm certain he wasn't a male model. i never really knew beaulla, and i didn't ever want to know beaulla, she scared me, she reminded me of the witch on the wizard of oz that was after dorothy, beaulla's daughter though wasn't half bad, at least in the 1960's,"maybe by now she's grown a wart on her nose,with a single black hair growing out of it." whatever the case may be i just can't understand how a man could choose death over beaulla, or maybe i can. what a wuss.

since 1975

i woke up, started working for shelly company, a road paving company in thornville, i was driving a truck hauling asphalt or gravel attempting to earn money for school at cotc or osu in newark,it was really an interesting experience but nothing to write home about. i really wasn't to thrilled with the shelly company experience, staying in dumpy hotels, on the road, driving a hot truck, remember this was 1975 and trucks with air-conditioning were rare, the truck also only had a a.m. radio. but i did stay at my uncle bill's,and aunt marilyn's in cuyahoga falls for a month, that was interesting getting to party and know my cousin keith tuma. keith is now a college professor at miami u. in oxford,ohio. later i started at cotc\osu in newark, my grades weren't bad but i found out i just wasn't cut out for the academic life so i began working for my dad at the thornville elevator\hardware, i really only worked at the elevator, grandpa ran the hardware. i enjoyed working at the elevator, i've always enjoyed physical work.i really don't remember the exact date but my brother brad,steve poling,brad mauer and i took a trip we like to call "the bi-centenial trip of 1976," it was interesting. eventually i left the elevator for a while and my brother brad and i with several friends got an apartment on campus at osu, in columbus, everyone was going to osu except for me, i was working, at cuthbert's greenhouse(for not quite a full day), then at a store called "the union," it was horrible but an interesting experience, i met larry cohen there, he was an older(30), jewish guy from new york city, i remember he told me his sister went to woodstock(the music festival in 1968 or 69, attended by hippies and all), larry had a great since of humor and was really a nice guy, i have no idea what ever became of him. so the columbus experience was great but it only lasted three months and once again i was back in thornville, living at home and working at the elevator. one other thing i do remember about the columbus experience is i turned 19 years old while living there,19!betsy set me up on a blind date with linda hommrich, we fell in love(or maybe i did), and eventually got married. after getting married we moved to newark, to an apartment, then we bought a house, i was working at the elevator and she was working for state farm insurance we weren't rich but we weren't poor with our combined incomes and it was the seventies so the cost of liveing was alot lower. in the spring of 1979 we went with friends on vacation to florida, i thought it was going well but on the return trip(we drove), i got this feeling, a horrible feeling,empty, and when we returned she informed me she wanted a divorce, i was devastated. so eventually we split for good and i moved back to thornville, i was 22 years old. single and feeling alone and rejected during the day i worked at the elevator during the night i drank and chased women(sometimes i'd catch them), my friend ernie and i would also play alot of tennis, but following tennis we'd party at times we wouldn't even bother with the tennis we'd just party. when linda and i were married we had bought a new oldsmobile car a cutlas i think? i traded that car(i got custody in the divorce), and got a jeep renegade(new). the jeep's waranty hadn't even expired when i totalled it and me after drinking one night on september 9,1979. i woke three weeks later in osu hospital unable to walk and wondering,"what the hell did i do." in the hospital,"because of inactivity and being in an induced coma," i lost alot of weight and muscle, my parents later told me the dr's gave me a 4% chance of survival and that they needed to get me a burial plot. after the hospital i went to dodd hall, it's affiliated with the hosptital and is for rehabilatation, during my hospital and dodd hall stay i was constantly in the "twight light zone," i did make several good friends at dodd hall though, i have no idea whatever became of them?after i returned home(in a wheelchair), i began to excercise and i didn't quit for years, at this time brad was in portugal, bruce was going to college,betsy and barbie(bird) were home. i gained all my weight back and more, i was in good shape but i still couldn't walk, when attempting fine motor skills(eg.writting), i had attaxia a uncontrolable shakeing, i also have attaxia in my vocal chords which makes my speach slurred and me a horrible singer. it's a real bummer haveing the slurred speach because people,"at least at times," act like your not all that bright, but at times you can use this to your advantage. around 1982 brad was back from portugal, and i had done about all the nothing i could take, i along with brad and his live in girlfriend luisa(a portugese gal), left thornville for newark(9 miles north). we stayed one night with betsy and her husband then got an apartment. it was a nice apartment, and it was probably good for me to be more independent but i still was frustrated by not haveing a job. so after several months i found a job at the licking county board on mental redartation/and developemental disabilities(what a mouthfull), working in a group home as an advisor, it was an ok job, but barely. later after i'd been working for several years i met my current wife(gini), i new her name and loved her even before i met her.gini and i have been married now for 24 years, we have a son who's a marine and married with a child and another on the way,that makes gini and i grandparents, we also have a daughter, with feet like mine,2009. i'm 52 at the moment,being disabled is really not all that bad, i'd have to say the slurred speach is probably the worst part,when i speak,"at least at times," people assume things,"just like the elephant man." so life is swell, and i hope i make it to 85. good night.