July 10, 2026
In the summer of 1955, I was 11 years old and we were living in St. Louis Park. My mother signed me up for bible camp. I have no recollection of where it was other than it was “up north”. I got so home sick, that an older couple was enlisted to drive me to Upsala and my Godfather, Ralph Johnson, drove me the rest of the way back home to 1620 Colorado Avenue in his brand-new Chevy. I turned 12 at the end of August.
The next summer Ma sent me packing once again and this time I remember packing a carton of Pall Malls so that I could make money selling packs of cigarettes to other campers. This was the beginning of my “delinquent years”.
I left this part off my resume when I applied for this job at MPR in August of 1999. If I make it to October 28th, it will be 27 years of helping folks to “get the word out”.
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” Henry David Thoreau
Category : General 