Loren (Sam) Samuelson:  

From 1951 until August 1964, I lived in Chicago IL with my parents and two sisters, Carol and Nancy. The elementary schools I attended were Trumbull (1956-Kindergarten), Pierce (1957 & 1958), and finally Chappell (1959 thru 1964). I loved this time in my life and have great memories of the people I graduated with in 1964. But, to be honest, I don't remember everyones last name. Guess I'm just getting old! After moving from Chicago to Elk Grove Village IL. with my family in Aug, 1964, I enrolled at Forest View High School in Arlington Heigts, IL where I attended classes for the first two of my four HS years. I think this school was preparing me for the Army, which, thank God, I wasn't drafted into. When Elk Grove High School was built, I had to transfer, along with many of my friends from Forest View. It was great because we were the upper classmen for two years in a row. The first year they opened, there was no Senior Class. I really liked High School during those years, and sometimes wish I could re-live those happy days as well. After graduating from EGH in 1968, I attended Harper College for two years. I then got a call from Uncle Sam, but found out that I was not suitable for the Army under their current standards (high blood pressure, and back problems). I was fine with that. I sure had no desire to go to Vietnam! I think the high PB was due to the fact I got engaged to be married around that time! Single life for me ended for the next 17 years when on June 19th, 1971, I married Laura Kudsk, from Arlington Hts. IL. We lived in Elk Grove Village IL at the Eagles on Tonne until 1973. We then purchased our first new home in the town of Hanover Park IL. We lived there for 13 years. On May 26th, 1978 my daughter Christina was born. Chrissy is a joy, and would turn out to be our only child. Christina is married and the the mother of our four grandsons (Stephen, Ethan, Ryan and Nathan), and our only granddaughter (Mikayla) born on Dec 2nd, 2019. What a great Christmas Present. We moved from Hanover Park IL in 1986, to Elk Grove Village, IL., where we purchased our second home located at 100 Westgate, across the street from Busse Woods Forest Preserve. This 2nd home was built back in 1964 (if I recall). I always admired the style and construction of this custom built home. It was one of a kind. I recall seeing it every day when our school bus stopped at this house to pick up, and drop of students that lived in that house, and on that block. We lived in this Elk Grove home until 1989 when I got divorced from my first wife, Laura (I was the dumpee, not the dumper). I sold this house (by owner) which was fun. It was on the market for less than a month and we really made a lot of money on the sale. It was a very desireable home indeed, and the market was really good at the time. My buyers are still living in the home to this day. After my divorce, I moved to Schaumburg IL., where I purchased a townhouse in a community called Weathersfield (off of Plum Grove Road) At the time of the divorce, I didn't think I would like being single, and living alone, but it wasn't bad! My daughter spent the weekends with me, and we had lots of fun going to Great America, Movies, Church, etc.. together I think it took me almost 4 years before I started to date again. Guess I was nervous about going through the dating routine. I was introduced to my current wife, Eileen Schwab, in May, 1991 by one of my ex employees who said he felt we would be perfect for each other. He was right. After dating for about two years, we married in March, 1993. I sold my townhouse, and Eileen sold her house so we could purchase a lovely brand new home in Schaumburg IL together, where we remained until Sept. 2006. We really thought we would be living there forever, so we built an in ground pool in our backyard in the summer of 2002! That was a fun experience. Since my marriage to Eileen, we've traveled to England, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, East Africa, and most recently to the Hawaiian Islands and the Caribbean Islands. We're hoping to visit Spain and Italy in the near future, maybe on another cruise. If we're lucky, maybe next year. My career in Purchasing began with a company in Arlington Heights by the name of Amersham Searle Corp. (a Radioactive Chemical and Pharmaceutical Company). I worked there for 10 years (from 1969 to 1979) as their Purchasing Agent. I left Amersham in 1979 to work for a company in Elk Grove by the name of Harvstone Mfg. Co. (a Lighting Fixture Mfgr.). I was their Purchasing Manager for two years. After leaving Harvstone (who went out of business a couple of years after I left them), I continued my career in Purchasing at A.L.P. Lighting (a Lighting Components Mfgr.). I worked for them from April 1981 until October, 2005, as their Director of Purchasing. I also ran A.L.P’s HR Dept during my first 13 years with this company (they asked me to take over the HR Dept.(temporarily) in addition to my other responsibilities. It was supposed to only last for a few months)! During this time I was also in charge of Production Planning for our Molding, and Vacuum Metalizing Departments, which were located in Pennsauken, NJ. I'm glad I didn't have to move there, but it was a great place to visit. In July 2005 my wife's company, Intrado, asked her to transfer to Longmont CO to continue her career at their Corp. Facility. After about a month of discussions, and a lot of praying, we ac...Expand for more