Ray Harper:  

January 28, 2021 After PHS, I spent one year at SUNY-Stony Brook, after which I was invited to take a break from college life. Seems that, at that time, computers weren't advanced enough to calculate a GPA that threatened to go into negative values. But, I sure enjoyed a year of the three P's..... Party, Poker and Puerile distractions. Shortly thereafter, Uncle Sam invited me to join HIS fraternity of manly activities and rather than leave it all up to him, I enlisted for an additional year so that I could lock in my field of training (electronics). After training, I put in 2 1/2 years working as an advisor on a small Italian Air Force base...sort of a working vacation. It was that experience that turned me into a life long Italophile. I love the people, I love the country, I love the history....and have returned a number of times over the years to revisit the old stomping grounds and reconnect with old friends. After the service, I returned to SUNY Stony Brook a bit more prepared to actually attend classes and wound up meeting my future wife, Stephanie, getting married (on Flag Day 1970), finishing first in my program and receiving a BS (needed plenty of it to get the degree but it was never Piled High and Deep enough to go all the way) degree in Linguistics. Then, on to University of Pennsylvania for a Masters program in Linguistics. After another year and a half, I finally came to my senses and realized I was not cut out to spend the rest of my life within the confines of ivy covered walls and decided to actually earn some money. The next 30 odd years (and I DO mean that in all of its interpretations) were spent in various business endeavors, large and small, raising a family and enjoying life. I retired in 2005 and, now that money ...Expand for more