I was as primed as I could be for college. I had the confidence, the motivation and the commitment to do well. Throughout the first year I can recall getting home from classes at about 3:00 PM and secluding myself in the living room to study until 11:00 each night, with only a break for supper. No dates except on Friday and Saturday night and nothing serious. The college was on a tri-semester system at the time. I got a 3.2 the first semester, a 3.6 the second and a 3.8 the last. During that first year I learned much of what I had missed in high school. It was an excellent school that taught practical knowledge that fit my needs perfectly.

My name was published in the local newspaper when I was on the Dean’s list or the President’s list, my father bought me a watch after the first semester and remained very proud of my accomplishments throughout college.

In the spring, I applied to SUNY Oswego. This time they wanted to talk to me. It went well and they accepted me for the fall semester. I arrived a few days early, found an attic apartment with four other guys and settled in. I had been accepted in the industrial arts curriculum but after the first three days I realized that I didn't want to spend 22 hours of class time to receive 15 hours of credit. That curriculum held the least prestige at the college and I would have none of that. I wanted to join the math department, but the head of the department said I would have to prove my abilities first. I started the math major sequence but became disenchanted in my junior year. It was just too theoretical and seemed of little practical value. I eventually gyrated toward psychology, probably because of the professors, my success in the courses and my need to explain myself.

I did well but, became less grade oriented in the later years. In my junior year I decided on the psychology major and in my senior year formalized it.

I had learned the financial lesson from the army well. After the first semester in college, one of my roommates and I decided to buy a house trailer to live in. We found a four bedroom and the five of us moved in at the end of the semester. We charged the same $150 per semester that we had paid for the apartment, which covered the payments and the lot rental. My investment partner flunked out after the first year and I bought out his interest. We had some very good times in that trailer with no restrictions other than those that I imposed.

During the summer of 65, I met a girl named Margaret Dietz from near Albany that worked with my brother John, attended SUNY Albany and had been a contestant in the Miss NY State beauty pagent. We had a nice relationship that culminated with her visiting me in Oswego just before the blizzard of 66 which dumped 102 inches of snow in two days. We were snowed in the trailer for a week. We were almost 200 miles apart, so we finally went our own ways. I dated a number of women at Oswego. One of the first was Marilyn Papich from near Buffalo. For a while I thought she was the one. We eventually drifted apart. There were also two other girls (Mary and Fran) from the Utica area going to college in Oswego, one of which my brother Bill had dated, and finally Naneen Smith who had a passion for life and a carefree attitude that attracted me. We dated seriously for about two years before I graduated in June 1968.

With all of the women that I dated during this time of my life, I developed a strong relationship - both emotional and physical. I was never one for the one night stand or a casual relationship.

Throughout my college years I continued to see Gloria whenever I was home for breaks and in the summers. She came out to the college a few times, but we both tried to keep my college and home life separate. We both dated others while I was away, but reserved our time for each other while I was home. We had some great times and some difficult times during the years while I was in college. Our relationship grew stronger during that time, with an increasing committment to each other. By the middle of my senior year I knew that Gloria was the one I would marry. We cared for each other deeply, she was intelligent, had shown great compassion, was willing to stick with me through thick and thin, and had a great knack for agreeing with me when I knew I was right and disagreeing with me when I knew I was wrong. She fit my image of what a wife and mother should be in every way. On a trip home in January or February, I asked her to marry me.