Jerry, aka Paul J Strom, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Polly and Paul B, a WWII War Vet during the War.

Grandfather Charlie was a Barber in Lincoln and walked to work 1 mile there, a mile home for lunch and a mile home for dinner. Four miles a day, rain or snow, and it snows in Nebraska. He died at 96, was healthy, and knew the Lord and where he was to spend eternity, so he laid down and is spending eternity with Our Lord and Charlie Kirk.

My Dad’s Father, Nels, was a Banker and owned the hotel in Madison, Nebraska, known only as the suburb of Norfolk. the hotel served Grape Nuts and every morning there, I ate them, and most mornings to this day, if I eat Grape Nuts cereal. Norfolk is known as Johnny Carson’s birthplace and the County Seat, with a Horse Racing track and rodeos.

Another memorable family members was my cousin Bob, who went to NYU, was a Beatnik, who showed up at our doorstep in Glenview, IL in a beaver coat in July. He went back to Madison and 1800 acres of family farmland. Five years later Bob was presented “Young Farmer of the Year”. I still think of his Dad Les, smoking a pipe, knowing what he would think of our current affairs, giving a bad name to affairs, which needs no help.

My Dad went into the insurance business with Aetna, after WWI, so we moved from Hartford to Pittsburgh and then Chicago, where I went to Wheaton Academy. Later I will mention Gordy Hare wwhom I played football with . He was the QB, me the Split Receiver. In three years we won all of our games, except two.. We tied Harrison and lost to Wells, both public schools with 3,000 boys/men each. An accomplishment for a school of just 250 students total. My first game at Beloit College we lost 62-0. I should have stuck to baseball at Beloit.

While in Pittsburgh, I attended the YMCA Camp at Ligonier, PA. At age 11, I dove into the pool hit my head on the bottom hard enough to perforate both eardrums. I came out unscathed. Unlike Joni (pronounced Johnnie) Eareckson Tada, who dove into a lake and hit bottom, and severed her vertebrae. She has become, despite being wheelchair-bound, a great author, painter (with her teeth), and speaker for Christianevents, including those with Billy Graham . I’ve often wondered who got God’s best deal? Maybe it was her.

Sandy and I met while I was in college and she finishing high school at Glenbroook, in Glenview, N of Chicago. You could say it was an Arranged Marriage in that our parents knew each other first. We actually met at Roosevelt Pool, where we both worked but dated other people. The following year Sandy was at Bowling Green University and Mike Carlucci brought her to Beloit for the fraternity formals. I saw her and we spent the time outside of Saturday evening together and Mike took her back to Glenview on Sunday. Thanks Mike did the heavy lifting. Mike started the original Gay Bar on the East Side of the Loop and was very successful. Mike got the money; I got the girl. We heard Mike wore out several years later and dropped from site. No evidence in Beenverified, a search App, of anything after 1993. No obit or death notice.

Just gone.

After my graduation, I commuted back and forth to BGSU while working in Chicago and we were married in November of Sandy’s Jr. year. We stayed on weekends at the Lighthouse Motel in Maumee, Ohio. Recently I found some 20 cancelled checks, $7.28 for one night and $14.56 for two. The President of BGSU was kind enough to let her tranfer to Northwestern in Evanston to finish her senior year.

Jason followed, then the draft for Vietnam and then PJ.

We moved to Sarasota 44 years ago, lived on Siesta Key where we built and sold out the end of a condominium project called Midnight Cove II. We lived in five homes there. The boys wanted to move to Colorado, before he move, where we could ski, but Sandy’s parents and sisters lived on Florida’s East Coast so Sandy promised the guys a boat so we ended up win Midnight Cove II with a boat dock and an 18’ Renken, The Renken was a repo from the bank so she paid $800 or $1800. It probably had 10,000 hours on it when Jason traded it. It had sunk twice in two storms. Jason threw in sump pump, raised it, took off the cowling, sprayed WD 40 throughout and fired her up., both times.

We are happy to still have many local friends from Siesta sales. We are very active in two churches, the “Y” and dinners with friends. Sandy is in exercise classes. I play pickleball three times a week and swim or walk on off days.