My dad bought this 8mm camera for me from Kodak’s company store. My first movie was of Rich Stim running around on Jones Beach with his dog. The movie was only 3 minutes long with no sound but by the end of it I was out in New Jersey riding around in Steve Emry’s green van. The last shot has Steve dropping me off at Stu Strumph’s parent’s apartment in Queens.
Norm was two years behind me in high school but he lived nearby and we were friends. I was in my freshman year at Indiana when I got a call from Norm’s mom. She told me Norm had run away and he was headed out to stay with me. I don’t remember how long that stay lasted but he did return after he had finished school and I had dropped out. I introduced him to Pamela. Her parents owned the Colonial Hotel in Indianapolis and her father drove a trailer down to Bloomington, parked it on a lot near the Monon railroad and rented it out to a bunch of Pam’s friends for $35. We pooled our money, heated the trailer with the electric stove and ran the electric meter upside down for half the month to keep the bill down.
Norm came back to Rochester to get married in his parents’ house and we all gathered here. Seems like only yesterday but Dave, Chuck and Sherry have all passed away.
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