He was born on a hot summer day in 1944 in Westview, Ohio. One of paternal twins. Westview was so small that the slums consisted of their house on Adam’s street. It doesn’t exist anymore. It disappeared under a bulldozer and is now the site of a housing development.

The house was almost at the end of the tar and gravel dead-end road, not much longer than some driveways. It was the fourth of five houses that lined one side of the street. The B&O tracks dominated the other. The proximity of the tracks would have made trains an integral part of his life even if his dad hadn’t worked for the railroad.

The house was old and worn and; other than electricity, without modern convenience. Water for washing clothes and people came from a cistern. Water for cooking and drinking came from a neighbours well.

Water from the cistern was drawn by a cast-iron bucket that in winter contained a rock that he and his brother used to break the ice. Drinking water came in a bright aluminium bucket so you could easily tell the difference.

Behind the house the land rolled through an apple orchard and then plunged 30 feet into the west branch of the Rocky River. It rose out of the river through a stone quarry and into a large woods that flowed for several miles into farm land ringed by the tract homes of the automobile factory workers.

The workers in the houses came home from WWII, settled down, bought homes, and had kids. They worked for Ford, Chevy, Cadillac, and like his dad, the railroad. They joined unions, attended church, tried to be good parents, and loved their country.

They raised the kids to believe in God, respect authority, do their homework, and mind the teacher. Personal responsibility was not an option. They were Protestants and Catholics that lived together and shared the American dream.

When the Korean War came some of them went back to war, but not many. Some of theirs sons went to war, but not many. Some of them learned about Communism, but not many.

They voted for Eisenhower because he won World War II. They voted for Kennedy because he was a Democrat and they trusted both of them. It would be the last time for more than twenty years that many of them would trust the President that much.