COMPUTER MEMORIES, Chapter 06

AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY
I had only two complete years of High School, then received my diploma via a GED test while serving in the US Army in 1946-47. For a few months I attended Indiana University on the GI Bill, but I had to drop out because of problems with my eyes.

I had heard there was a class, not available to Freshmen, in the “IBM Room,” with the subject, “Introduction to IBM Equipment.” Using my experience in Akron as a wedge, I talked my way into the class, and learned a little about IBM Machines, enough to make me anxious to learn even more about them.

I determined that if I could get a job in an IBM Department somewhere, I would be in an office environment, but would not need to strain my eyes, as would be necessary in so many desk jobs. And as time went on, I found I was right.

My first "Letter to the Editor" was in the student newspaper at Indiana University. Something about the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the cheer leader squad at a football game. A few weeks later I was at some gathering where I was meeting some of the beautiful female cheerleaders. When the subject of that letter came up, and was discussed in anger, I knew there was no way I could deny that was my name, so I quietly disappeared before I got in trouble. After all, not all of the cheerleading squad were female.

A few months later, an article in the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine section, referenced the letter, but did not mention my name. In the years since, I have had about 170 letters, op-ed columns, interviews, and travel articles published in a variety of newspapers and magazines. None were of earth-shaking value.

IBM, CHICAGO
While I worked as a diesel engine repairman at International Harvester, I visited the IBM office in downtown Chicago, to see what I could find out. They followed a rule that they would not help anyone get a job with one of their customers, if that person already worked at any kind of a job, at another IBM customer, so they would not talk to me. I didn’t want to quit my job without some idea what this was all about, and before I found out anything, I was called back into the Army during the Korean war.

The main thing I remember about that visit, was that while walking through the stair well on about the 8th floor, two men were pushing an IBM machine of some kind past the stairs when one of the legs collapsed, and the machine tumbled down a flight of stairs. No one was hurt, and that didn’t discourage me at all.