True Stories
Memories, Musings, Odds and Ends
by
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""In the ninth grade at Saugerties High I liked all the subjects, but my favorite was General Science, taught by Mr. Woodman. I remember once I invented a perpetual motion machine and showed it to him. He was impressed and told me that he had done the same when he was a student in high school. He assured me that my machine would not work and patiently explained why it wouldn't. One time there was a science demonstration assembly; but you had to pay twenty-five cents. I knew better than to ask Mom for twenty-five cents; money was tight. So when the assembly started, I was in a study hall for students who didn't go. Mr. Woodman saw me there and came over. He knew how I loved science and he said, 'Charlie, why aren't you down in the assembly?' I said, 'I don't have the twenty-five cents.' A minute later he came back and laid a quarter on my desk. He said, 'You get down to that assembly.' "Teachers in those days, if you can believe it, weren't paid a lot. And many people, like us, did not have refrigerators; we had ice boxes. In the winter, chunks of ice would be harvested from the lakes and rivers to be delivered to homes. That summer we had moved to Saxton. When the iceman arrived I was surprised to see Mr. Woodman; it was his summer job. I told him I was going away to school and I wished he would be going there to teach. I have never forgotten his enthusiasm for science and his kindness to one of his eager students. I had many fine teachers over the years that I admire and appreciate. Mr. Woodman is one of them."
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About the Book
In True Stories: Memories, Musings, Odds and Ends, C.J. Ott tells of the first seven years of his childhood in New York City and the next seven years in the Saugerties area, a hundred miles north of the city. He recounts his experiences as a postulant, novice and scholastic in the Marianist religious order; four years of military service in the U.S. Air Force, and a twenty-five year career as a teacher and principal in Trotwood-Madison City Schools, by Dayton, Ohio. Along the way he recalls the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean and Viet Nam Wars, and the tumultuous '60s. The author is a lifelong student and, by his own admission, addicted to reading. The musings cover a broad range of topics from philosophy, economics, politics and religion, to the good life, the golden years, and death and dying. True Stories looks back over more than seventy-five years of living. It was written for family, friends and progeny, but others will find it a pleasure to read.
About the Author
C.J. Ott was born in Brooklyn in the year 1935. He studied for the priesthood, spent four years in the Air Force and twenty-five years as a teacher and principal. He now resides in Centerville, Ohio and is working on a utopian novel entitled The Cataclysm.