Brad Beachdell:  

I was born the youngest in a family of six children, all of whom attended Cleveland Elementary School in Dayton, Ohio. By the time I came along, we lived in the same house on John Glenn Rd (just south of Wayne Ave) for my entire K-12 education. Mom was actively involved in the PTA (prior to being diagnosed with Leukemia, when I was in the eighth grade) and Dad was a career employee of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company, retiring from there in about 1973. I believe my kindergarten teacher at Cleveland was a Ms. Finke. And then, for the numbered elementary school years, my teachers were as follows: Mrs. Newman for 1st, Ms. Simpson for 2nd, Ms. Lewis for 3rd, Mrs. Quick for 4th, Mrs. Grierson for 5th, Mrs. Hitch for 6th, Mrs. Crouse for 7th and Mrs. Michael for 8th. I became a traffic guard in sixth grade, which is also about the time I took on a Dayton Daily News paper route. I delivered newspapers seven days a week thru my sophomore year of high school, when I got a job as one of two clerks at the local Lehner's Drug Store, where my brother had worked before me. I remember it being a much-anticipated and really big deal getting my driver's license in February of my sophomore year. I was lucky enough to inherit my brother's car, a white 1963 Chevy Impala with red interior, which I immediately began tearing down to repaint. When I got done, it was a very bright and pretty white, but had the bumpy texture of an orange peel; and let me tell you, enamel paint does not rub (smooth) out easily - if only I had gone with lacquer. And being unable to readily obtain reattachment clips for my chrome strips, the "White Orange" traveled chromelessly naked for quite a while before I sold it "as is" to a guy who worked at an Atta Boy gas station on Wilmington Pike. Lesson learned: Plan your project in advance, and if an amateur painter, choose lacquer over enamel. Shortly after graduating from Belmont in 1973, I quit my job at the local drugstore, grew a beard and let my hair grow long. I embarked on a brief mission to educate the world that you can't tell a book by its cover, i.e. not all "long-haired, freaky people" (and I use the word freaky here loosely) are druggies and good-for-nothin's. I say brief mission because I found myself really more the student than the teacher, and accordingly abandoned my pursuit to alter others' perceptions after about two years. Lesson learned: Some degree of conformity is necessary to better simplify your journey. Also, shortly after high school graduation, I got a job in the warehouse at the Children's Palace located near the Salem Mall in Trotwood. Wanting to exercise my newfound freedom (no school and seemingly grown-up job), I acquired a motorcycle, and began using it to travel back-and-forth across town from my home in Belmont to work in the north end of town. Although I rode in all types of weather, I was very lucky and never had an accident (motorcycle, that is). Lesson learned: 1) Hide the longhairs in the warehouse, behind the scenes, and 2) Although fun, motorcycles are much more seasonal than the novice might suspect. (It gets downright cold if temp is much below 60. Rain's no fun, and you can forget it altogether if there's snow on the ground.) While working at Children's Palace, and being very much a fan (pun intended) of that "Blowin' In The Wind" feeling (borrowing verbiage from the song made...Expand for more