Milwaukee, SE, EC, NE Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

My Dad was a forester. He graduated with honors from NC State's forestry school. He wanted to be a forester from the time he was a young boy. He was however, not your typical forester. He was a genius. He had a better vocabulary than anyone I've ever known. He seemed somewhat out of place working in the woods. While in high school we lived in Northeast Florida about 30 miles due West of St. Augustine. We lived on a beautiful crystal clear, spring fed, sand bottom lake. Our home was about 10 miles East of Starke, Florida, where I went to high school. Dad loved his job and where we lived. Mom hated where we lived.

As happy as he was, he lacked the intellectual challenges which he needed.

At 60 years old, he signed up for an evening class at the high school in Starke. He so enjoyed the class and the entire thought process that he declared that he would sign up for the next evening class offered what ever it was. The next class was a real estate sales class.

Within one year of having completed the first class, he had made more money working part time selling real estate than he did in the past 10 years in total! He was making less than $13k per year and he made about $150,000 selling real estate working part time. He continued working part time selling real estate until he passed away. $150,000 was the least he ever made.

He owed all of his success late in life due to the FIRST evening class that he took: Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." This was a man who, on the surface, did not need the class. He made friends easily. He was a great communicator. He remembered the name of everyone he met. And yet, the class helped him become the person be the best that he could become.

Feel free to share the story. It is true.

Oh, after he retired, he was hired by the federal government to keep Cape Kennedy from washing away into the Atlantic Ocean. His solution was to introduce a grass indigenous to very hot climates in Africa. After the grass had rooted, he then had planted a "sand pine" which took root. The combination of a new grass and sand pine resulted in the formation of a stable soil which stopped the erosion which had put NASAs programs at risk.

Within his field he was well known. He had been President of the Society of American Foresters and listed in Who's Who in America.

He was a pretty smart guy made better by Dale Carnegie's course.