Today I received a phone call from Captain USN Henry H.Harper. We were classmates at the Roman Catholic St. Edward’s High School in Austin, Texas. Unlike this boarder he was a day student and he was able to have a car and drive it to school.
Around 1960 when we were both in the 11th grade (grade 11 in Canadian lingo) I was a nerd before the term had been invented. We had school sock hops at the basketball gym (where I cleaned and treated the floor for Brother Hubert Koeppen, C.S.C.). I was an eternal wall flower. I did not know how to dance. If you didn’t dance you could not talk to the girls who came from St. Mary’s on the other side of Austin.
It seems that Henry Harper noticed this. He befriended me and arranged for me to accompany him on a double date that he arranged. He picked me up. His current girl was sitting in the front seat. In the back seat there was a girl I had never met before.
I was able to make out rather well and thus I almost became a man thanks to Henry Harper.
Thank you, Henry.
