Chapter 207A
4/23/2009
Ch 207A S.U. Men's Co-op #1 Terry Olmsted story
Forestry field days pulp throw, fly casing, log saw (w/ Jay Baumann). Web page prep.
BIO
Work:
as engineer, P.E.
NYSDOT 2yr highway design, construction
NYSDEC 31 yr basin engineer, water quality modeling
retired 6yr part time work, fiddle around
pertinent links: memoirs, videos, current hobby mustang hockey internet, web page, videos
married 37 yr, son 31 getting married this summer, daughter 25 on her own
living in Albany, NY ever since S.U.
Stories
old co-op stories: listening on the radio to Casius Clay beat Sonny Liston in Maine drinking margaritas and colt 45 smoking cigars and throwing up in the bathroom, watching Ski jump off our roof, watching Ski climb the tree in front of the dining room window, riding the chutie chute (the circular slide meant for a fire escape at the old hospital? across the street (with Ski). Suntanning on the roof. Recall converting our soda machine to dispense Carling Black Label shorties for a while. Did we have a wall pay phone in the hallway? Can't remember carring a key to the house, seemed to always be unlocked, but did lock back door sometimes. Guys in those rear rooms liked to sneak girls up the back steps (back when those things were forbidden). Don't ask about the front secret room. Had the hidden bar behind my fake fireplace panel. Endless discussions between Madonna and Buz (believe they just made things up spontaneously just for sake of argument ). Upstairs porch door blew open in winter, froze the overhead fire sprinkler system, setting off the large bell outside my door. The fireman knoced on my door awaking me- couldn't believe I slept thru it. LBJ on the black and white crude living room TV telling us we were winning the war. Panty raid crowds going by the house. Spring break water fights outside- cops with tear gas in front of Manny's where I bought my first Bass penny loafers from balding Manny with pipe. Just discovered the pretty redhead cashier with Hungarian accent was wife Lillian Slutzker (parents were killed at Auschwitz) giving $millions to SU. Stepping over DOW Chem & ROTC protestors across the street for job interview . Hilliard's Green Iguana. The brownout. The Blizzard of 66. Howie named me mole which Booner morphed into mouse. In the Army I was called bearman?
co-op contacts: I regularly meet up with Pete France an hour away. Ran into Tom White and Maryanne at a barber shop in Ft. Gordon, Georgia sometime during 1970. I was begining in advanced infantry training and he was a Captain at getting an early out from Pres Nixon (4/70-12/71). He was stationed stateside at Ft Gordon MP in computer assistance instruction/ national crime information data bases. Met my wife at Brodie Mt ski area in Mass '71 (actually the Blarney Room Bar). Then ran into Hank Bielawski couple years later at the same spot . He was on Ski Patrol and my name didn't come to him readily but he certainly knew me as mouse. Met at bar- was bouncer w/ broken arm breaking up fights, later stabbed in the back. 1975ish was on business trip and met Candy Madonna working at our regional office on Long Island. Had diner with her and Bruce and we flew his cessena type plane from Islip out over the forks of Long Island around Block Island- let me pilot a bit (which I am not). 1980ish walking down State Street in Albany ran into Bob Vitello. 1985ish ran into Ski at Schenectady tennis tournament as his son was a top highschool player. Ski had become a mechanical engineer for GE. Reconnected in 2005 for diner as he has been in Capital area for decades. 2002 was at the Orchard Tavern in Albany for a little luncheon party when a guy yells out to me at the bar, "Mouse, is that you". It was Don Boone working as facility engineer at the VA Hospital here. He had run into Jed Kennish at Cam Rahn Bay during the Vietnam war and spent time with Lt Mal Fordham (Army) near the Mekong River. Turns out he lived a couple miles from me. Was going to get together, but didn't and he went to Maryland. Mal had become an instructor at US Naval Academy, Annapolis Md living in Bowie. 2008 interviewed some Iraq peace protestors in Albany who knew of Buz Van Deusen's activities in Watertown.
recent decade stories: I visit SU on occasion, Co-op is gone New Sheraton Hotel there now. A big part of my DEC job was deterring water quality permit limits for municipal and industrial dischargers. Spent several years working on the City of Niagara Falls permit with it's 50 some major industrial inputs. Retiring from engineering I did a variety of part time jobs for 5 years but during last year haven't and just play hockey once a week winter and spring, going to summer camp in summer for hiking, kayaking, fishing.
want to say: I came to life growing up in Co-op when I was young and unafraid and dreams were made and used and wasted .The most harrowing part of my 40 year journey was being drafted into into the military Jan of '69. Got on the bus heading for Ft Dix arriving in the middle of the night having no idea what lie ahead. They were drafting Marines at the time, which would surely have put me on the front lines. Everything was uncertain and pot luck. But I lucked out! Lucky again to meet and marry a nice girl, have a decent home, family, health, and job. Enjoyed working for the public building roads and protecting the environment. I never really tried to be a "success" in fame or fortune but I feel very satisfied.
I'm really proud of my fellow co-opers. I was back then, and now even more as I see the difference they made in this world. I always valued the diversity that I experienced at SU and you can really see it amplified now. Really proud of (General) Jed, my frosh roommate and fellow summer camper. You can see his dedication and commitment. I very much disliked being in the military, am not a fan of many of the predicaments this country has gotten into, but you have to admire Jed's accomplishments.