“How did you decide on becoming an architect?” a colleague asked me not so long ago, Back then, I hadn’t given my rocky path to the profession much thought. “It was a voyage of discovery,” I would have to reply today. I learned that discovering its scope and then restoring …
“Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty!” Grandpa’s advice appeared in a mid-1930s Chicago Herald-Examiner series, If I were twenty-one… Since many will seek new careers as America recovers from the pandemic, this is advice any young man or woman should follow today. A self-made man My grandfather, Frank …
An engineer on horseback, my grandfather rode his horse over a hundred miles home from western Montana to meet his newborn daughter. Frank J. Herlihy, civil engineer, designed and supervised construction of rail bridges for the Milwaukee Road. In 1913 he got news several days after the fact of the …
Mom and Dad spent a virtual Christmas in December 1944 through their frequent letters. To avoid infecting others with the rampant corona virus, many of us in America will again have to forego our traditional holiday visits with distant sons, daughters and grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Front line workers …
Many people still refuse to wear a mask in public during the pandemic. Without others’ respect for public health and CDC guidelines, senior citizens, including my wife and I, feel like hostages to the deadly virus. The scourge has already altered our free society and robust economy beyond recognition. Support …
It’s important today, when we have bullies at the highest levels of government–spreading fear and distrust and discrediting our loyal troops–to remember why we go to war: to fight the bullies. With a wife and two children, my dad nonetheless enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II to …
On August 14, 2020, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Japan’s surrender, ending World War II. My dad, Private First Class Ben Green, a seasoned ad man who had assumed management by default of Armed Forces Radio Station WXLI, Guam, slapped the news on the air a 3:58 PM …
An architect’s dream trip to Europe I made in 1959 came to mind, as forced confinement stimulated my urge to record my memoirs. The extended pandemic and the new travel ban Europe has imposed on the U.S. are making me nostalgic for the days when such a trip was easy, …
An architectural elite: the Bauhaus Did you ever wonder why so much of twentieth century architecture looks the same? In fact, its stripped steel and glass look was hard to ignore – it was rising all around us in the major cities. It started when the 1930s German architect Walter …
My writer’s journey began with letters I wrote home from college. Yes, we had long distance telephone service in those early times, but the good stuff — detailed descriptions of my doings, parental advice and our deepest feelings — were best expressed in those long, thoughtful ramblings, often written late …
