School Days

I’ve had a good education. In college I was a political science major, and I took some sociology.

My graduate work I did on my own; I didn’t ask my folks for any help. I did some work at Stanford University in the graduate school of business. It was not an easy time for me. I told my folks I was going to do it on my own. The problem was I ran out of money after the first two quarters.

I was living on campus in the dorm. I put an ad in the paper in the paper and a lady called me and told me that her husband was ill. They lived in Woodside just a few miles away from campus. They wanted someone from the school to come and live with them and get a room and board in exchange for four hours of gardening per week.

Well it was a no-brainer for me; I was out of money. I went and lived with them and did four hours a week and I also got a job at Ampex. That was worthwhile; I got a job in the accounting department. So I was able to finish without asking my folks for more help. They had done enough. I did it on my own. I wasn’t one of the star pupils but I graduated.

I was going to school full-time and working twenty hours a week during my last year. Then I was doing four hours of weeding per week for my room and board. It all worked, but not without some consequences. I got very thin and became ill and wound up in the hospital on campus. I tried to back off a little bit and it didn’t happen again.

Ampex did well. I bought some stock, not much, perhaps $400.00. Shirley Temple Black’s husband Charles was my boss’s boss.

And takes was looking for a guy who really wanted to be an accountant and I wasn’t sure that’s what I really wanted to be. When I got out of school I went into the service and got out and got myself stabilized.