Paul Savoie:  

Hi, My name is Paul Gerard Savoie 70yo Retired RN and retired USAF My life was kept private especially for the first 32 years mainly as a result of a speech impediment. I grew up the 8th child in a family of eleven in Pawtucket RI and moved to Williamstown MA in February 1969 after local law enforcement came to my home one night and told my parents I would end up in jail if they didn't (move). My life in Pawtucket was an especially lonely one with a friend every once in a while which usually lasted less than a month as I was unable to communicate very well. My parents had had 4 daughters then 4 sons and again 3 daughters and I was the youngest son in a family that valued independence and self=reliance. Most of us kept to ourselves and I was very much okay with that by staying off the radar of especially my parents. I quickly learned I was on my own and decided to explore the life I had been dealt. You see my parents were much too busy to get involved with each of the eleven and as the youngest son any intimate show of affection I received was from two of my four older sisters, however, that ended when they disappeared in marriage or religious life. That happened for me at eight years of age when my entrance into life on my own was harsh yet invigorating. I had developed by then a set of teeth that had a spur of tooth on my lower molar that rubbed against my tongue whenever I spoke so naturally speaking loudly and more than a few words at a time was uncomfortable. I'm sure a few people over the years wondered why my disposition remained rather even. Not being able to respond to others prevented me from pursing conversations. This all continued until the age of sixteen when we moved to Williamstown and my brother went off to the seminary, however, the spur would keep me company until the ripe old age of 52 when it broke off. My brother had kept me from realizing a good nights sleep for many years as his snoring was loud. My lack of sleep was probably the most life altering event that began when I was five and continued until he left home, my school grades were poor as I was trying to sleep in class My mother believed the problem would be resolved by more discipline but decided I was just a lazy boy who really needed to be prodded to succeed. Unfortunately, the possibility of sleep deprivation never came up and keeping my mouth closed was easy to do as my mother never wanted to listen to me. So my poor performance continued until the move to Williamstown. So it came to pass that life improved for me as Mt. Greylock Regional HS unlocked a friendlier, safer environment that was conducive to learning and helped me to feel less alienated. Meeting several classmates provided me the first opportunity to gradually become more social and that opened to me the personalities of many classmates and the wonder of the Berkshires. Much of my free time was spent traveling with my parents car exploring Vermont, Williamstown, NY, Lanesbourgh and Pittsfield. A job was offered to me at the Spring St. Gulf station, and that provided income. Friendship with several people helped me the most in understanding the perspectives and culture of the people of the Berkshire area. Ed Straub and I spent hours sparing with the Franciscan monks on religious philosophy and the power of will, a topic both of us relished. I couldn't comprehend his senseless loss at the time but much of that is now very well understood. The few people who engaged me as their friend through the eleventh and twelfth grades contributed to the success I experienced. Establishing goals and making long term plans in my life was contingent on fulfilling a military obligation first by enlisting in the Air Force. The AF helped me gain confidence and enabled me to understand the dysfunctional life I had thus lived. I hadn't planned on staying in the service after my four years, however, meeting someone and marrying her and then a son on the way changed all that. My next duty station after Elmendorf AFB AK was at Osan AB in South Korea My age was 22 and my life was about to take a ten year toll of disaster with poor decisions and a marriage that embodied culture shock with a Korean women and I did not grasp how different two people could be. This was due in large part to the language barrier as they understood very little English and me no Korean. I spent 3 years in S. Korea and left there with a wife and a son with another on the way. Living with a foreign national was very difficult with complications arising over child rearing and her desire to explore the new environment at Homestead AFB Florida, on a poor sergeants pay. Returning to an overseas assignment and stationed at Clark AB Philippines after two years in Florida made life a little easier but my marriage was having major problems. The inability to communicate continued to complicate the lives of us both as well as our children. She was a strong willed Korean women who had committed herself to improve her future and she had the determination to do so. It took me some time to realize this, as my own sense of individual motivation was clouded with radical ideas of how to proceed in life.. Some of my worst mistakes were made during this time with life in general but it aided in my understanding when my choices created greater obstacles. My wife would frequently fly back and forth to Korea leaving our boys with me. As we both expected that upon our return to the U.S, she would leave the boys and I and we would get divorced. During this tour I now focused on meeting someone who would be a good mother for the boys and a good wife. Late one night had me strolling on a side street having had another argument with my wife and looking for a little peace and quiet I visited a bar. As I sat there there walked into the bar area from the back room a young women with a pail and cloth to wipe down the tables. She came over to me and asked if I would give her a few coins for the jukebox as she wanted to hear a song by Eric Clapton and if I had an extra quarter she could use it to buy some chicken strips on a stick. As I gazed into her eyes I saw the same loneliness that had brought me there. She was very undernourished and probably weighted less than 85 lbs. As I learned some years later she had experienced the loss of her mother who died when she was four and she went to live with an angry but very knowledgeable grandmother who taught her how to cook and make many types of crafts until the age of eleven, Claudia's brothers and sister's had gone off to live with other relatives but with the death of her grandmother and no family willing to take her in she now ended up on the street's of Manila . She found a place by living with a poor family with a meager magazine business sleeping on the inside of the book stand at night on the unruly street...Expand for more