It was in the year of 1956, that my parents and I left our home in Hildesheim, in what was then West Germany, and emmigrated to the United States. In the middle of the night, or so it seemed, our ship arrived in New York harbor and my parents got me up to see the statue of liberty.

We were processed and then rode by a Union Pacific rail car to Portland, Oregon.

My father worked on the railroad for a brief time, and then worked for Western Foundary until his retirement. My mother, initially worked in the Multnomah Hotel for a time and did housekeeping work at different times to earn additional money. During the course of my family's early years we were to only move one time, though we lived briefly in an apartment near the Lloyd Center, we moved to what is essentially now the Albina District and then subsequently to the Powellhurst area of southeast Portland, where I ultimately attended and graduated from David Douglas High School.