Danny Dorenkamp:  

Once upon a time in a city far, far away.......I was born!!! YEAH!!!! And there was much rejoicing!!!! When things settled down, in St Louis, life went on, and on, and on, and on.... And then....1967....I entered first grade at St. Catherine of Alexandria Grade School. And for the next eight years I was the perfect student and the perfect son!!! (OK! OK! not really...but I did make it through and graduated from 8th grade in 1975) And once again, there was much rejoicing!!!!! After the summer was over, I started my 4 years of high school at the Jesuit run St Louis University High School (SLUH). It was here that I met many of my friends I still have to this day. *At this time I would like to give a shout out to one of my good friends, Joe Finn, who owns the fine eating and drinking establishment, "Pat's Bar and Grill" located near Forest Park in St Louis. Should you ever find yourself passing through St Louis, please stop in for a cold one or two and tell him Danny sent you.* Upon graduation from SLUH in 1979, I found myself lacking any direction in life, so I decided to attend St Louis University, and started college in September of 1979. Having no direction, however, I quickly discovered the University would not allow you to continue attending classes with a GPA of less than 1.5, and three semesters later, I was removed from the student roster. I was at this time, however, quite proficient in frisbee, foosball, softball, pool, darts, and beer bongs... It was now January of 1981, and I was still determined to complete my college degree in whatever, so I enrolled at Florissant Valley Community College. I discovered they did not care what your GPA was as long as you paid your tuition. Which by the way, was quite less than the tuition at SLU. This was perfect for me since I was still living at home and had just received a huge $.50 per hour raise at the Taco Bell where I worked. The summer of 1981, I realized I could not afford to go to school during the week, party at night and on weekends with my friends, while working at Taco Bell 40 hrs. a week for slightly more than minimum wage. So I decided a change had to be made! I quit my job at Taco Bell and became a bagger at a National grocery store. The pay was higher and now I was a union member in the United Food and Commercial Worker's Union. My pay was increased and by living at home with my parents, I was still able to go to school part-time and continue partying with my friends at night and on the weekends! I continued on this road from the summer of 1981 thru November of 1985. However, 6 months after starting my job at the grocery store, I was promoted to the produce department, and my pay increased every year as well. I turned 24 in September of 1985 an...Expand for more