Norm's Photo Album

Norm's Photo Album
Now that I am in my 70s, I can look back over a lifetime and remember things from long ago.
Today, I got out some photo albums and found some pictures from far back in my past. I didn't remember that I even had some of them. I thought they were on my last computer that crashed rather than in photo albums in our closet.
Perhaps my brain crashed just like the last computer.

The two photos below are relatively recent.

(L-R) Frieda, Norm, Austin Bass (grandson),
Sarah Pike (granddaughter) holding Fisher Pike (great grandson),
Jeanne Bass (daughter).
Son George with wife Vicki.
They live near Nashville where George pursues his interest in music.
It would appear that George has escaped the family tendency for baldness.

The remaining photos are from further back in the past.
My brother Don has a great memory for details from the past.
I hope he will let me know more of the details surrounding the photos in this section.

The photo above was taken in July 1941 on the way to Canada at the Ausable Chasm. My mother's name was Sarah but she was always called Dolly. My father's name was Maurice but he was always known as Murray. I think my brother Don knocked out my front teeth. Most of the time my brother Don and I got along very well. He is four years older but now it's no longer an advantage for him. He lives with his daughter and three cats named Wimsey, Sumner, and Callahan.

The photo above was also taken in July 1941 at Val-Des-Bois and the caption says, "The first calf that Nip ever touched." When I was a kid, my nickname was Nip. I think that was because I bit a kid at school one day. One day I decided to run away from home. My parents asked Don to keep an eye on me so he accompanied me into the nearby woods. It got cold that night so my parents drove out to the woods and brought us home.

My parents wanted to encourage my meager music talent. I took violin lessons; my brother Don says my teacher's name was Sigmund Grosskopf. He says that at my only recital, the audience broke into laughter when I made goo-goo eyes instead of concentrating on the music score. Later on, I started pole vaulting in our front yard. I actually earned a track letter at high school by placing 3rd at the county track meet. My highest jump was 10 feet 3 inches. My brother Don ran cross-country in high school. Then he started smoking and quit running.

After high school, I took up more daring activities like riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I used to to travel between New Rochelle and Boston, sometimes in really bad weather. I consider it a miracle that I wasn't killed while riding that thing. When I moved to Florida, I took up sky diving and made over 600 jumps. I performed with the Air Circus doing stunt jumps and Frieda and I had a Sky Diving business for a while. I consider it a miracle that I wasn't killed while jumping out of airplanes.

I add this final photo since I was much better looking back in 1956 when I was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force.
I served as a navigation instructor at Ellington Air Force Base which is now the location of the Johnson Space Center.
I hope that my family members will enjoy these photos as well as some of my friends from recent days who have known me only as an old geezer.
Frieda didn't know me in the days when I was called "Nip" and had hair. Now that she has seen these photos, she can see that it's a miracle that I lived long enough for us to get together.

The two photos below are relatively recent.
(L-R) Frieda, Norm, Austin Bass (grandson), Sarah Pike (granddaughter) holding Fisher Pike (great grandson), Jeanne Bass (daughter).	Son George with wife Vicki. They live near Nashville where George pursues his interest in music. It would appear that George has escaped the family tendency for baldness.
The remaining photos are from further back in the past. My brother Don has a great memory for details from the past. I hope he will let me know more of the details surrounding the photos in this section.

The photo above was taken in July 1941 on the way to Canada at the Ausable Chasm. My mother's name was Sarah but she was always called Dolly. My father's name was Maurice but he was always known as Murray. I think my brother Don knocked out my front teeth.	Most of the time my brother Don and I got along very well. He is four years older but now it's no longer an advantage for him. He lives with his daughter and three cats named Wimsey, Sumner, and Callahan.

The photo above was also taken in July 1941 at Val-Des-Bois and the caption says, "The first calf that Nip ever touched." When I was a kid, my nickname was Nip. I think that was because I bit a kid at school one day.	One day I decided to run away from home. My parents asked Don to keep an eye on me so he accompanied me into the nearby woods. It got cold that night so my parents drove out to the woods and brought us home.

My parents wanted to encourage my meager music talent. I took violin lessons; my brother Don says my teacher's name was Sigmund Grosskopf. He says that at my only recital, the audience broke into laughter when I made goo-goo eyes instead of concentrating on the music score.	Later on, I started pole vaulting in our front yard. I actually earned a track letter at high school by placing 3rd at the county track meet. My highest jump was 10 feet 3 inches. My brother Don ran cross-country in high school. Then he started smoking and quit running.

After high school, I took up more daring activities like riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. I used to to travel between New Rochelle and Boston, sometimes in really bad weather. I consider it a miracle that I wasn't killed while riding that thing.	When I moved to Florida, I took up sky diving and made over 600 jumps. I performed with the Air Circus doing stunt jumps and Frieda and I had a Sky Diving business for a while. I consider it a miracle that I wasn't killed while jumping out of airplanes.
	I add this final photo since I was much better looking back in 1956 when I was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. I served as a navigation instructor at Ellington Air Force Base which is now the location of the Johnson Space Center. I hope that my family members will enjoy these photos as well as some of my friends from recent days who have known me only as an old geezer. Frieda didn't know me in the days when I was called "Nip" and had hair. Now that she has seen these photos, she can see that it's a miracle that I lived long enough for us to get together.