Henry E. (Gene) Brass:  

Here it is- Gene's authorized biography. By Gene. Okay. I was born at an early age in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (November, 1946), and grew up in the southern suburb of Mt Lebanon. Parents Carl F. and Mary Sue Brass. Educated well and fairly through ninth grade in Mt Lebanon Public Schools (Washington Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Mellon Jr. High, and Jefferson Jr. High). Purchasing Kennywood tickets for your school's "day" was always the highlight of the last day of school in June. Listened to Rege Cordic every morning on KDKA while delivering the Post-Gazette. He was like a one-man Monty Python troupe. 85 share morning drive in Pittsburgh. People say they remember where they were when they heard of men first walking on the moon? Well, I remember where I was when I heard that the Noodnicron had been mistaken for a Coke bottle and put in the machine, and Omicron was desperately trying to get her out with a stack of dimes. Dad had a case of Old Frothingslosh pale stale ale every Christmas, and we went to Syria Mosque one year to see the Miss Brickthrow pageant. (Not to special plead or anything, but these references are pretty specific to Pittsburghers.) Welcomed sister Muffie in 1955. Confirmed, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, circa 1958. The Pirates finally won the World Series in the fall of 1960 (something they hadn't done since, like, 1066; and the final game of which is commonly accorded the most exciting professional baseball game ever played), so, not wanting to press our luck, we moved to Pompano Beach, Florida, in June of 1961. Much mirth and merriment ensued. Tom Oare, cousin Woody Woodruff and I were acolytes at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, although we often wore surfer baggies under our cassocks. (6:30 Mass was our favorite, since we could sky out to the beach for the rest of the day.) I graduated from Pompano Beach Senior High School in June, 1964, and matriculated (sounds vaguely dirty, doesn't it?) at Emory University in fall, 1964, after going through hurricane Cleo. For reasons that still escape me, with a 2-S (student) draft deferment and honor roll grades, I left the warm nutrient broth of Emory in January, 1966, and joined Uncle Sam's Marines (I was the Student Who Went Out To the Cold). After a leisurely three months at Parris Island Spa and Resort, I was stationed at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, for electronics and radar training on the Hawk Missile System, and after that, two years at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station (Alpha Battery, 3rd LAAM Bn.) I served an abbreviated tour in Vietnam, Febuary to August, 1969 (Bravo Battery, 2nd LAAM Bn.), when Richard Nixon withdrew our unit in September, 1969, (Slow boat to San Diego, USS Tulare, LKA-112). Stopped in Japan (Sasebo and Nagasaki) for some professional-grade shopping before returning to the Land of the Big PX. ( In Nagasaki, the English-language Asian editions of Life Magazine were featuring something called Woodstock) Single guys bought Sony and Honda, the married ones Shalimar and Noritake. Finished out my Marine Corps career at Twenty-Nine Palms, California, released from active duty the day before Christmas, 1969. I enrolled at the University of Florida in January, 1970, and took a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Engineering in August, 1974 (after four years in the Marines, I was in no hurry to leave student life). Worked in mar...Expand for more