Subject: Matt's 1996 report about Dad... Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 20:43:54 -0400 From: Fred Stluka Organization: Bristle Software, Inc. To: Neviska Family , "Neviska, Sami" , "Spicer, Larry and Chris" , "Spicer, Loretta" , "Stluka, Jerry" , "Stluka, Rosalie" , "Stluka, Carol" , "Stluka, Chris" , "Stluka, Monica" , "Brophy, Dave" , "Brophy, Mary Lou" , "Brophy, Matt" , "Brophy, Tom III" , "Brophy, Tom IV" , "Stluka, Frank" , References: 1 , 2 Family, Here is an electronic copy of Matt's main report for his "Family Ties" project about Grampy (Gene). It was included in the big 3-ring binder you may have seen at the funeral home or at the house. --Fred -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred Stluka -- mailto:fred@bristle.com -- http://bristle.com/~fred/ Bristle Software, Inc -- http://bristle.com -- "Glad to be of service!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Life of Gene Stluka By Matt Brophy Pr. 2 The Brophy family has lived in Pennsylvania for many years. My paternal ancestors are from Haverford, Pa. My maternal ancestors are from Ohio. I have chosen to do this report on my Maternal Grandfather. I picked him because we are very close with each other and I think it would be interesting to learn more about him. Gene Stluka was born at 12:44 PM on Sunday, May 8th, 1938 in St. Ann's Hospital in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. He was the first child of Emil T. Stluka (age 27) and Mildred J. (Haugen) Stluka (age 22). He had three siblings. one brother, Jerry Stluka, and two sisters, Rosalie and Mary Jane Stluka. His family lived in a small apartment at 1008 1/2 street in Lacrosse. In 1941, just before Gene's 3rd Birthday, His parents and him moved to Columbus, Ohio for his dad's new job as a design engineer at Jeffrey Manufacturing Co. Later that same year, they moved a few blocks down the street to a 1/2 double house on Norwich avenue to get away from the railroad tracks near their house. Later that same year on November 13th, Gene met his first sibling, Mary Jane. He remembers that his sister had almost no hair!! When Gene turned 4, his family moved into an even bigger house on Maynard Ave., right across the street from the school. In 2nd grade he got his first pair of glasses. He hated them! He used to put them on his neighbors fence when he left for school and pick them up on his way home. When Gene turned nine he got his first bike. It was a 26-inch red and white Schwinn. After about a month, he had already messed his bike up twice. Once he fell off it and his Dad fixed it, and the other time a Wonder Bread truck ran over it, but they paid for the repairs. He used his bike to ride all over Columbus until he would get a car. At age nine, he started working part-time. He delivered hand-bills for 35 cents-a-day. He also mowed lawns for 50 cents-a-day. When he was 10, his family moved to a more suburban neighborhood. Right away he signed up for a paper route getting $3.50 a week plus tips. At age 11 he switched to a bigger paper that paid $8.50 a week plus tips. In fifth grade Gene's principal, Sister Lucille, asked for him to be promoted to the sixth grade, skipping most of fifth grade. Soon Gene was back into the grass cutting business. He saved up $140 and bought himself a motor powered mower. Eventually he had 40 customers whose lawns he mowed every 1-2 weeks. He saved most of the money for college. When he graduated from Junior High, he chose to attend St. Charles High School. He took the scholarship test for both of the catholic high schools, and won full scholarships to both!!. He chose to attended St. Charles, because it had a reputation to be tougher. His class kept getting smaller over the years and by the time he was in his senior year, there were only 48 kids!! At age 13, when he started high school, he was still delivering papers and mowing lawns. He continued this until he was 14, when he got a job at a nearby deli. When he turned 16, he was old enough to drive and to work with machinery. His dad got him a summer job at Columbus Air Conditioning. He did this for 75 cents an hour, but moved to $1.40/hour later. After graduating from St. Charles, he worked another summer at Columbus air conditioning. He also used some of his money to buy himself a 1947 Hudson for $220. In the fall, he started college at Ohio St. University. He also got a job at Drake & Ford Engineers. He stayed there for part of his Freshman year and the summer that followed. In the summer of 1956, he was invited to spend a weekend at a college friend's house. His friend planned to hook him up with his sister, Carol Spicer, so they could double-date. Gene arrived there on Friday night, but Carol was at a friends house for the night and had to work all day on Saturday. Saturday night, Gene and Larry and some of Larry's friends went to and amusement park. When they got home around 2 AM, Carol was already asleep. The first time he saw her was when they were waiting to use the bathroom on Sunday morning. He remembers thinking "Suddenly I thought I was in heaven face-to-face with an angel." The next day, Gene and Carol and Larry and His girlfriend, Lynn, went on a picnic. It was pouring rain so they all just sat in the car and talked. Larry and Lynn got a ride home with another buddy of theirs, so Gene and Carol were all alone. They talked for a while, and when it was getting dark, they decided to go home. When Carol said yes to go on a second date, Gene drove up to Cleveland. He arrived and they went for a walk. The next day, they went swimming with some friends. That night they went to a dance. When they drove home, Gene told her that he would be leaving to join the Marine Corps Reserves. He also asked her to marry him. She laughed. They saw each other many times that summer. Every time, Gene asked her again. She never answered him. In October, Gene left for Boot Camp. After 1 week, they got their first mail call. Gene got something. It was a picture of Carol and a piece of paper with one word on it in 3-inch tall letters. YES!!! When boot camp was over, he went back to Drake & Ford full time before college, and part time during. Two years later, he was married to Carol. One year after that, they had their first baby. They named her Mary Lou. 15 Months later, Frederick Paul was born. During this time, Gene and a friend had started a car repair shop in an old 3 car garage with apartments next to it. Gene and his family lived in one and his friend lived in the other. Later, he took a job full time at Ranco Inc. He would arrange his schedule so he could work and take his classes. He had classes from 8:00 AM to noon and worked from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM. He did his homework from 4:00 AM to 7:45 AM. In November 1961, their third child was born. They named her Regina Marie. In June 1963, Gene graduated from OSU. Gene then got a job in Lynn, Massachusetts with General Electric. He moved there alone to start work, but Carol stayed home to give birth to Thomas Emil. This was a scary time because they lost a baby through a miscarriage in 1962. In August 1963, they all moved to Great Neck Massachusetts. Finally they were all together again. Later, in June 1964, his wife gave birth to their 5th baby, Martin Francis. A few weeks later, they moved to a 2-floor, 12 room, 2 bathroom house. They lived on the second floor, and rented the other floor to another family for $20 a week. In 1965 they lost a second child because of a miscarriage. Carol almost died too. In 1967-1968, they had two more babies, Jeffrey Mark and Christopher John. In December 1970, Gene and his family sold their Ipswich house and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, so Gene could start a new job. In early February, they gave birth to their 8th child, Monica Ann. Now there were 10 people in the family. Gene, Carol, Mary Lou, Fred, Gina, Tom, Frank, Jeff, Chris, and Monica. With so many kids, Gene got a little sick of them. He used to march around the house saying "I hate kids!", jokingly. In 1972, his mother died at the age of 56. In March 1973, he started a new job at GE. He was to design an engine for an air craft. This worked out well. Later In 1979, Gene and his family moved to Haverford, PA. About a year later, He was promoted to President of GE. He stayed in this job for 2 1/2 years until August 1982, when he got a new job at Florig Equipment company. He was very successful in this job. In late 1990, he was let go. He started a new job at Stainless Enterprises. In 1994, a new president was hired and he let Gene go. After that, the whole company dive-bombed. Customers were furious!. The company lost almost 1 million dollars in 1994. Since 1994, Gene and a friend have been trying to buy a company. He has had some mortgage problems and must move, but now that I have done my family ties, I have learned a lot about Gene Stluka. I have found out that he was always joking around and teasing his kids, just to be funny. For example, he would tell my mom that she was too expensive, and he couldn't afford to keep her because of her braces and contac lenses. He has always liked to laugh and make jokes and he still does. I feel very proud to be blessed with a grandfather with such talent and I look forward to spending a lot of time with him.