The PAR site was eventually sold to the Air Force who now man it and uses it to study the “Northern Lights” and also to catalog space junk that is floating around in orbit out in space. At any rate, it was time to leave. We had done our job and we were done.
IBM sent me on three separate trips to interview for another job. First, I went to Rhode Island where they were working on a small project that was supposed to last for 2 years. I ran into my old friend Ken Capolla from New Jersey. He said it was a good job and I would probably enjoy it, but it was back to the east coast (which I didn’t really want to do) and it meant we would have to move again in two years. I really wanted a more permanent location.
Next they sent me to Gaitherburg, Maryland which is just outside of Washington D.C. This was another military related job and it also was short term. I don’t remember what either of these two places really did, but I knew I didn’t want to go to another short term project. Karen and I were ready to settle down and stay in one place for awhile. After letting my manager at IBM know that, he next sent me to Rochester, MN
I interviewed with a guy named Bob Davis. He was manager over a group of programmers who were working on writing a new programing language. This language was to be used to write the operating system which would eventually run the System/38, a computer that IBM built in the 70’s and 80’s. The 38 then evolved into a computer called the AS/400 which was (and is) one of the most successful systems IBM has ever built. Rochester was exactly what I was looking for.
But, something happened which made me absolutely convinced that Rochester was the place to go. I’m superstitious that way, I guess, but I decided to take some time and check out the town. I wanted to see what kind of library they had and, in general, see what kind of place I would be moving to. I had no nowledge of Eyota at this time.
I was walking around downtown when I chanced to cross Broadway on my way to the library. I got half way across the street and there was this little old lady crossing the street coming the other way. She was having difficulty walking (as I do now). As she passed me, for some reason, she looked up at me and said, “Young man, would you mind helping me across the street?” Well, I naturally said yes. She took my arm and I walked her back the way I’d come to the other side of the street where I’d started. She said thank you and went on her way.
I felt like a Boy Scout. I had never been asked to do something like that before. It was really nothing. A small token that I could not get out of my mind. I felt that if this is the kind of people who live in Rochester, then this is where I want to live. I took it as a sign and went back to Cavalier to tell Karen we had a new home. As all of you know, we spent the next 18 years in the Rochester area.
Dad