Since 1960:
1960-1965 Various jobs, dabbled with college coarses, Marine Reserves
Rationalized my future, decided I had better get busy.
Dropped everything, went to school for four years. Graduated with a BBA from U of Michigan.
CPA with Ernst & Ernst 1969-1977. Self-employed CPA 1978-present.
While at Michigan, met Marilyn and got married. After graduation, we moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL.
After three years we decided we were bored with Florida.
Marilyn had done her junior year abroad in France and wanted to travel to Europe together, so we quit our jobs, took our stuff to Michigan for storage, and took-off.
Traveled thoughout Europe for eight months.
Responded to an ad in the IHT, interviewed, and was offered a job in Paris, but it would have meant NY City eventually so didn't take the job.
Toward the end of the trip I wrote a letter to the partner at E&E asking if there was an opening on the west coast, preferably in Portland, OR. I gave a return address of the American Express office in Paris.
So it was the last day of the trip and we had returned our car to the rental agency in Paris. We walked over to the Am Ex office, and picked-up our mail. There was a letter from E&E. We sat down at a sidewalk cafe, that was opposite the Paris Opera, and opened the letter. The letter was from the partner in charge of the Portland, OR office. He happened to be a U of M grad and invited me to visit the office for an interview.
Visited the office and took the job.
That was thirty-seven years ago. By the way, we had never been to Oregon, but had been reading a lot of press about Oregon. The theme was visit but don't stay. We wanted mountains and got them.
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Since then, I have restored several vintage Europoean motor scooters from the 50s. A lot of travelling to Europe and around the US. Do an annual "rail cruise" in Switzerland. Current project is restoring a 1940s house in the Columbia River Gorge. Have lived in Lake Oswego, Oregon since 1973. We snow ski, garden and I play with model trains.
Most importantly, we raised Matt and David. They turned out to be pretty good guys.