Introduction
In early January, 1957, four years after the death of my father, the academic experience that had been offered to me at Le College Saint-Joseph, a boys high school run by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic teaching order, was rapidly coming to an end. Maybe, some people are just gifted with a love of learning, and I, fortunately, fell into that rare category. But is such an attribute a curse or a blessing? What happens to the enthusiastic student that finds no way to ever reach a satisfactory career direction?
Challenging Coursework taught in English and French
Courses in algebra, trigonometry, geometry, chemistry, physics, Latin, French and English literature plus others in American and world history, and, of course, religion had drenched my brain with anticipatory expectations regarding the future. What kind of occupation, job or career had this academic learning opened up for me? The pressing issue at that time centered on tomorrow. What ought I to do after graduation in June, 1957?
What about tomorrow and a decent life with family and a career?
In prior years, soon after the loss of my dad to a bleeding stomach ulcer and acute pneumonia in a hospital setting, distressing thoughts had run through my brain as possible ways of earning a modest living and raising a family in Lowell just as had done several male relatives in the previous generations. How had they managed?
But, maybe, I was cut out from a different cloth from these other men because their eventual career choices – there must be a better description – had left each and everyone of them up the creek, a day late and a dollar short, when financial success and personal job satisfaction were issues discussed at family gatherings. What advice might I hope to gather from these well-intentioned relatives given that their own options had been so severely restricted?
Advice and Guidance from Relatives on the Rocky Side of Life
The first obvious suggestion presented to me focused on my opening a family-style eatery, a greasy spoon of sorts, similar to that owned and operated by my Aunt Lida and Uncle Georges in a low rent, semi-industrial district of Lowell’s Acre. Another possibility was a starter job as a night watchman in a local, decaying textile mill building similar to the one that my Uncle Albert managed to hold for many distressing. poverty-laden years.
Then, of course, there was employment to be had working as an anthracite coal shoveler and steam locomotive engineer for the Boston and Maine Railroad. My cousin Claire’s husband, Mack, had already given me an introduction and a personal tour regarding this career opportunity. It is one, which I had quickly catalogued as a remote possibility, at best.
Finally, and much closer to home, there were always openings for young, new “mill rats” in several, remaining, textile factories in the city. This latter choice had been my father’s road to success – bare existence, actually – and one which he then had to supplement with three, additional, low-paying, part-time jobs to make ends meet. Children – a few or many – can easily drain the cupboards bare even when all expenses are made in strict moderation! His long, painful experience had certainly left an indelible mark on my consciousness.
A Favorite Retired Uncle, a U.S. Colonel, from West Point
Clearly after my high school days, local career pickings were rather sparse and often non-existent. Of course, there were immediate, entry-level opportunities in the Army, the Navy, the Marines and the Air Force, but I hesitated. My only experience with the military had happened through my Uncle Lucien, who had successfully reached a full colonel position in the Army after attending West Point Academy.
Also, his gracious, financial support and personal caring four years before had made my transition and that of my brother, Bob, and two sisters, Michelle and Denise, into semi-orphans much less stressful. Both Lucien and his wife, Antoinette, regularly included my mother and her four Bolduc waifs in all family visits to Lowell after their retirement to State College, Pennsylvania. Without this familial connection and monthly allocation of $25.00 added to the household budget, our family plight on Centerville’s Ludlam Street would have been much more challenging, indeed.
ICBMs Grace our Skies – New Fear but on a Mega-Scale
My tentative behavior as to which road to follow in the summer of 1957 might also have been caused by the consternation, fear and excitement, which came about that year when the Russians successfully launched their first intercontinental ballistic missile in August, 1957. For reference, see article listed below.
Suddenly, the USSR became a major contender in space technology and, six weeks later, in space communications. Their Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4 of that same year. In contrast, the USA was still struggling to even be considered a player in the field although we had also tested the Snark guided missile, which was capable of carrying a nuclear weapon into some enemy’s backyard.
If the Russians had launch vehicles powerful enough to lob an object into outer space, maybe, they might be capable of placing a thermonuclear weapon, AKA, a hydrogen bomb, into low-earth-orbit, LEO, around the planet. The USA might then be subject to a potential, nuclear blackmail. In spite of efforts made by President Eisenhower’s administration to calm down the broiling international temperatures, tensions between East and West were are the screaming level when I finally made my decision to study and learn much more physics and math over the coming decade.
A Career in Science, maybe?
In this way, I could, perhaps, best use my interest in science and mathematics working in a national defense organization, but that would require being accepted as a science student at the Lowell Technological Institute, LTI, now part of the U-Mass-Lowell system, in the coming fall semester.
Unfortunately, my memory serves me poorly as to the exact details, but the Marist Brothers at the Merrimack Street high school location contacted the Dean of Students at LTI speaking with great enthusiasm and support for me to be accepted in the September startup of the 1957 fall semester at the university.
I also recall meeting with the dean in his office, with my mother present, making the necessary financial arrangements for my receiving a modest scholarship award covering annual tuition and the costs of some textbooks. For a young lad with nothing but a nickel in his pocket, but some promise in his eyes, this situation was highly welcome.
All this heroic drama was set in motion with little fuss and fanfare. My official launch into modern-day science and technology happened beautifully much to my long-lasting satisfaction. The laws of Nature have much to say if only we will listen and learn.
Perhaps, the Eternal Fates had secretly arranged that mine would not be another human life lost as one more “mill rat” in Lowell’s famous waterpower, canal system.
(To be continued)
Reference: Russia tests an intercontinental ballistic missile – Aug 26, 1957
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/russia-tests-an-intercontinental-ballistic-missile