Robert Wood
Honor Code SignatorySigned 2 Feb 2013 | 4,775 contributions | 249 thank-yous | 1,260 connections
I was born at a time when there was no colored T.V.'s, no cell phones, no computers, internet or gaming systems. We had a black and white T.V., a party line home phone (for those who don't know what that is, many neighbors shared a single phone line and when they picked up their phone to make a call and you were already on the phone they could listen to your conversation). You walked to school if you lived within a mile of the school otherwise you rode a bus because your dad worked and he drove the only car in the family to work. Your mom stayed at home and raised the kids.
In the summer you got a buzz cut haircut and played outside all day long. Living in the city opened the door for getting into trouble as you explored. Never anything serious, just boy stuff, like painting the neighbors back porch red while they were away.
My first job was delivering the newspaper for the neighboring town I lived in. Only one person in my neighborhood wanted the paper so my route was very short. At Christmas time the lady getting the paper gave me a $5 gift. That was more money than I made for the whole year delivering the paper.
The newspaper job was when I was nine years old and only lasted one year. I didn't work again until I was 15 years old. My second job consisted of cleaning out flower beds. The lady who hired me not only paid me for the work I did but she also feed me lunch. I thought, at the time, it was the best job ever. At 16 I got a job bagging groceries. The pay was $1.65 per hour but you had to pay Union dues. I didn't like that very much but the job was fun.
I played baseball for ten years, from Little League, Pony League, High School, American Legion and Class A County Ball. I was invited to two Major League tryouts, one by the Kansas City Royals and the other for the Pittsburg Pirates. I never went to either tryout.
After High School, I tried various jobs; a machine operator at two different factories, a commercial roofer and then the best job I ever had. I went to work at the community airport. There, I ended up learning all the jobs at the airport. I also learned how to fly a single engine aircraft. Plus, yearly the owner would fly a group of us guys to the experimental aircraft show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The people at the airport were the nicest group of people I ever knew.
One day while working at the airport a guy flew in and pulled his Cessna 172 airplane up to the gas pumps. I ran out to fuel his plane, clean his windshield and see if he needed anything else. This guy wasn't just anyone he was a State Trooper. After fueling his plane he suggested I go down to the local Patrol Post and apply for a job as a Trooper. I liked the idea so after work I did just that. Long story short, just nine months after getting married to my high school sweetheart, she moved back home with her parents and I went off to the Ohio Highway Patrol Academy in Columbus, Ohio. Four months later I was a Trooper assigned to the Patrol Post back in my home town. That sure made my wife happy.
During my 20 year career I worked the road in Northeast Ohio and then moved to Columbus and worked out of General Headquarters. There I managed to get promoted to Sergeant and while doing my daytime job my wife and I built an Amway business. We quickly went from Direct, Ruby, Pearl to Emerald. We built that business for 7 years and had a blast doing it.
In 1997 our daughter graduated High School and headed off to Purdue University. I retired from the Patrol and my wife and I headed off to Texas. After spending some time in Texas we moved to an island off the coast of South Carolina, Fripp Island. Shortly after moving to Fripp we were chased off the island by hurricane Dennis. A short six weeks later we were again fleeing the island because of hurricane Floyd. Having more fun than we could handle we decided to move back to Ohio as our dads were dealing with health issues.
More to come...
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Robert is 24 degrees from Zendaya Coleman, 28 degrees from Sting Sumner, 19 degrees from Josh Brolin, 23 degrees from Timothée Chalamet, 21 degrees from José Ferrer, 19 degrees from Frank Herbert, 18 degrees from Richard Jordan, 21 degrees from David Lynch, 19 degrees from Virginia Madsen, 23 degrees from Charlotte Rampling, 30 degrees from Patrick Stewart and 22 degrees from Denis Villeneuve on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Thanks for having a Big Heart and taking responsibility for Orphaned Profiles. You will want to read this After Adopting Orphans as it explains the special attention adopted profiles will sometimes need from their profile managers. You may also want to go through the new member help on How to manage your Watchlist.
Just came across Spiker-210. You might want to take a look. We ought to be able to do something with it.
We are retiring the "french_roots" G2G tag, so you will want to change it to "france". Please check this out: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/846021/french-roots-becomes-the-france-project
Isabelle
Just want to say Hi
Thanks for having a Big Heart and adopting Orphan Profiles. You will want to read this After Adopting Orphans to understand what to do next.
Fall is here in Wyoming too, and is my favorite time of the year, Winter being my most hated. Live in a rural area so I get cabin fever. It is beautiful up here, but things (towns) are so far away that I don't wander far from home during the winter months.
Do you miss South Carolina?
How are you doing? Everything going ok?