Loomis, Steven, IC3

I believe that recognition goes hand and hand with development.

My early childhood seemed normal enough, I had an older sister and a few years after I was born my brother was born. But, when I was eight my parents separated and the next year, 1959, they had divorced. I won't go into the details of those years, but when I was 10, 1960, my mother put us on the curb with our all of our possession and we ended up in Wisconsin with my father and his new bride.

During my first year in Wisconsin we lived in the small town of Columbus. For some reason I was chosen for the male lead in the Christmas play as a leading town merchant. The prettiest girl in our class was the lead and by far the focus of the play. But, nonetheless, there I was the male lead and as the school year ended I was chosen to carry the American Flag in the Memorial Day Parade. Why? I don't know. But the recognition stuck with me like a badge of courage.

That summer we moved up the road ten miles to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Once again, I was the new guy in town. Then one day a music teacher arrived and by the end of the year she drafted several of us boys into a Boys Choir. I was one of those boys, and dreamed of being chosen for the Vienna Boys Choir, something that I had never even heard of before this young teacher entered the scene.

We toured locally, in our town and to nursing homes in our county. It was the early 1960's and much of what I remember were folk songs, The Lion Sleeps Tonight was a hit... and I did a solo in one of our numbers. Why me? I don't know. But it is still a fond memory.

The next year brought me to Junior High School, the death of President Kennedy and the arrival of the Beatles. In February 1964, days after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, my friend Harry and I joined the Jr. High Band in order to learn to play the drums. In the following years both of us became drummers in local garage bands, mine were "The EXISTS", and for a while we were regulars at dances at the local YMCA.

At the same time, the local Dairy Agent move in next door with all their kids. One of the first things they did was to start up a 4-H Club and I was one of the early members. I would be a member until I joined the Navy as the club's president (twice) and as a County Junior Leader. My projects included Electricity, Electronics, Small Engines, Photography and Woodworking. With that, I produced project entries at the County Fair in each category, won First Place Ribbons and County Awards for my Electricity, Photography and Woodworking and a Wisconsin State Fair First Place in Woodworking.

During High School I was just one of those kids. Our high school bussed in rural kids and so our school had nearly a thousand students and I was just one of them. My father was the Wisconsin/Minnesota Rep for Wolverine, the maker of Hush Puppies. Dad didn't like, or at least his clients didn't like, the Madison Avenue advertisements he was having to push, so... we did our own ads. We went to all the local TV stations... Madison, Milwaukee, La Crosse and Minneapolis to film our own ads.