My Career Turning Point

In my early teens, I thought I would become a pharmacist. I didn’t make that decision based on much knowledge of what a pharmacist did in their profession, but my image of a pharmacist was positive. When I entered a pharmacy as a young boy it was clean. The pharmacist was dressed in a white shirt and tie and clad in a distinctive white coat. It seemed to my young mind a dignified and admirable profession. I didn’t consider what it would take to become a pharmacist, except I did know it would require multiple college degrees. I went about my life thinking that’s what I wanted as my career.

Then an unexpected turning point came into my life. My cousin Don Manning was in his late teens and attending Newark College of Engineering. He had won a scholarship from General Electric. The terms of his scholarship required him to work at their small appliance design facility in Newark as an intern while attending school.

Cousin Don Manning

Don’s mother Helen was my mother’s sister. She was a widow and suffered from debilitating arthritis in her hips. Aunt Helen had great difficulty walking, requiring two canes to get around. Raising Don and his younger brother Fred, she faced a real struggle both physically and economically. Fortunately, she was blessed with the owner of the apartment building where they lived having compassion and understanding. He employed Aunt Helen as the apartment superintendent. With her mobility so severely compromised by her hip situation, her two boys did all physical activities required by the tasks of the superintendent. Aunt Helen managed the financial part of he job.

Aunt Helen Manning

Aunt Helen couldn’t drive either so she relied on her sons to get her around. From time to time Don or Fred would bring their mother to our house so the two sisters could visit.

On this particular turning point day, Don brought his mother to our home to visit my mother. While the sisters sat together on our back porch, my mother crocheting a baby sweater and Aunt Helen tatting a handkerchief, Don and I went to my upstairs bedroom to talk.

My upstairs bedroom was large, comprising most of the second floor of our small house. There was a small dormer at the front of the house where I had made a sitting area and library.  In the cozy nook of my library Don told me about his work at GE and the subject matter of his engineering classes.

He explained in great detail how he designed intricate components of toasters and miniature ovens and other small appliances. He described how the classes he had taken in college equipped him with the ability to design solutions to the mechanical and electrical issues he faced on the job. Along with the design concerns were the challenges of making the appliances function within cost guidelines and the numerous additional restrictions required. I sat there listening in utter fascination.

The more Don shared his education and work experience the more I wanted to become an engineer. My whole career focus changed that afternoon. It changed my plans for the course of study I chose when I went to high school the following year.

I eagerly shared my desire to become an engineer with my parents and that I wanted to attend college to get an engineering degree. I assumed my father was testing my sincerity and determination when in response he said, “We will send you to college, but we will buy you car when you graduate high school if you don’t.”

I guessed he figured that if I had the wisdom to turn down that tempting offer and was willing to sacrifice not having a car for four years; he was willing to make the sacrifice to send me to college. It didn’t take much thought for me to turn down the offer of a car.

I attended Garfield High School from September 1957 till I graduated in June 1961. I took what was called “College Preparatory” curriculum that was heavy on mathematics, science and English. I was blessed with some extraordinary teachers, how extraordinary they were I didn’t realize until I entered college and began a career in engineering.

Garfield High School

One of the most influential teachers was Mr. Sal Franzino, my chemistry teacher. Mr. Franzino earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Bucknell University, a college that possessed an excellent reputation in chemistry among other disciplines. What made Mr. Franzino so influential for me was his incessant “sales pitch” for Bucknell University. He had a teaching style that caused me and my fellow students to do a lot of research and a lot of writing. At the time it was not appreciated because it required long hours in the library researching chemistry and chemists. It took more hours writing the paper based on our library research that was due every week.

When I began considering what college to attend, I began with some very prestigious engineering institutions. I dreamed of attending Cal Tech in Pasadena California and MIT in Massachusetts. Then I thought of Ivy League schools and set my sights on Dartmouth in New Hampshire. I also considered Annapolis, the Naval Academy. When I came down to reality, I considered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy New York and, influenced by Mr. Franzino’s sales pitch, Bucknell University in Lewisburg Pennsylvania.

Mr. Franzino at the Blackboard

I was blessed at the time with a special mentor in my uncle Albert. Uncle Al, my mother’s brother, was a very successful builder and business man. In fact he built the house we lived in and all the houses in our immediate neighborhood. He was also an Elder in our church and I had great respect for him. Once when he came to serve in our congregation, I saw him come into the back of the church. As he passed by the offering box, he was distracted and his offering missed the slot and fell to the floor. I saw that the number on the bill was 100. As a very young boy in a family of modest financial means, I had never seen one of those before. But my thought was that one day I wanted to be able to offer $100.

Another characteristic of my uncle Al was that he knew how to reach people, especially children. When he came to our congregation to serve, usually about ten minutes or so into the sermon he would say, “Now children, if you will sit up nice and straight, I will tell you a story.”

All the children snapped to attention anticipating another one of his memorable stories that had a profound spiritual lesson embedded within it. All the children loved him because he acknowledged us with respect and genuine interest.
At the urging of my mother, I visited with my uncle Al to get some guidance both naturally and spiritually regarding my college education. What college should I pursue? I came to him with a proposed list of schools and we discussed them one by one.

 Uncle Albert Stier

The first thing he focused on was the Naval Academy. He asked me, “Do you want to make the Navy your career?”

I said, “No, not really.”

In reality, I was ashamed to tell him why I put it down on my list. I considered it because of all the attention our high school alumni from Annapolis got when they showed up at school in their impressive uniforms. I know that wasn’t a valid reason but I deemed his answer to me very wise.

My uncle said, “I want you to think about this. If you go to Annapolis, about a third of the time you will be studying military classes to prepare for a naval career. If you go to another school, that time could be invested in more courses related to your engineering profession. I can get you an appointment to the academy, but you must make the decision.”

It didn’t take much with his offered wisdom to take Annapolis off my list.
He then suggested we look at the rest of my list to see if there was one of our churches in the town of each college. He hoped that I could attend church services each Sunday while at school. A few colleges were eliminated. But one school that had no church within the town and remained on the list was Bucknell. Lewisburg was the home of one of our members, an elderly lady who could not make the sixty mile drive south to the nearest church in Harrisburg. My uncle suggested we keep Bucknell on the list, because if I was accepted there, I could drive this lady to church on Sundays.

With the list of colleges to apply complete, I set out getting the application documents. The more I thought about the schools on my list, the more I thought about Bucknell. One day I asked my dad if he would drive me the 200 miles to Lewisburg so I could see the school first hand. That was not a reasonable request in his eyes. Long distance drives was not dad’s thing. So he said, “I’ll put you on a bus and you can go alone.”

Was this yet another test of my resolve? I had never taken a long distance bus trip alone before. But I was bound and determined to see for myself if Bucknell was the right place to go.

A few weeks later very early in the morning I boarded a bus in Newark. It travelled across the eastern coal country of Pennsylvania on that cool fall morning of my senior year. It was a six hour drive with numerous stops in little coal towns along the way. I arrived in Lewisburg at noon and stopped in a local shop near the bus depot for lunch.

After lunch, I headed out to find the school. I had a small map that I found in the university curriculum booklet I had received with my application material and used it as a guide. I walked through the quaint residential streets from the center of town toward the university, taking in the ambiance and dreaming what it would be like to live there for four years.

When I reached the university grounds I wandered around for a half hour or so. I must have looked bewildered because a coed stopped me and asked if I needed help. I explained the purpose of my visit and she offered to give me a tour of the campus.

We walked around for a few hours as she pointed out the various buildings and the subject matter each offered. The buildings were a mixture of very old and very new, giving the feeling of great tradition and advancing for the future.

Dana Engineering Building ~ Bucknell University

I thanked my host for being so gracious and informative and headed back to catch the five o’clock bus that would take me home.

The experience of the day sealed my decision that Bucknell would be my first choice.

I bought some snacks to take on the bus before I boarded at five o’clock that afternoon. Six hours later I arrived in Newark at Union Station where my Dad was waiting for me.

On the drive home I shared with him my enthusiasm about the school, but he did not show much of a reaction. I am sure that he was quite concerned as to how he would be able to finance my college tuition. The tuition at Bucknell was almost 60% of his gross annual income. Somehow, my mother would work her magic with finances to make Bucknell a possibility. I needed to get accepted there first.
As my applications to the other schools on my list reaped acceptances, I anxiously awaited a letter from Bucknell. When it finally arrived I was overjoyed to be accepted.

I received two scholarships at graduation that helped with the financing. My mother had a part time job in the high school cafeteria ever since I announced my desire to go to college. I also worked in the summers since I was sixteen. First I worked in a ladies’ garment factory for two years and then at the ice cream factory where my dad worked. I saved much of the money earned and applied it toward my education.

In September 1961, my dad borrowed roof racks for the car and bought me a large black steamer trunk. Filling the trunk with all I would need at school was exciting. Finally the day came to leave Garfield for Bucknell. We loaded the trunk on the roof carriers, the family got in the car and we headed off to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

Turning Point

Those brief hours in my room with my cousin Don sharing his enthusiasm for engineering was a major turning point for me because it changed my focus on the career I pursued. But turning points seldom are just singular in nature. They are followed by more turning points. The initiating one with Don was followed by the challenge of my father, influence of my chemistry teacher and the mentoring of Uncle Al. Each contributed a turning point that led to my college experience and pursuit of my engineering education. I am grateful to each person who contributed their part to the successive turning points and to God who employed them to affect each one at just the right time.

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