Average Joe

These are the memoirs of an average Joe. Average Joe is a delightful book about the life and times of an average Joe, a member of the In-Between Generation (in between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers), raised by parents of the Greatest Generation, who lived through the Great Depression and World War II and wanted him to have a better life than they had, but didn’t give it to him on a silver platter. They taught him the virtues of hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. When he failed his first course in electrical engineering at Purdue, he didn’t go crying to his parents so that they would put pressure on the instructor to give him a passing grade nor did he give up his goal of earning a degree in electrical engineering. Instead, he determined his failure was due to his lack of the hands-on experience with electricity that many of his classmates had gained by going to vocational high schools. He confronted the problem head on, bought a do-it-yourself kit, built himself a Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter, which he also learned to use, and learned how to solder in the process. He went on to earn not only a B.S.E.E., but also an M.S.E.E. Joe carried the virtues instilled in him by his parents through his adult life. He had a successful career as an electrical engineer, survived losing his wife and faced raising his oldest five children as a single father, found a new soul mate, raised his sixth child, and was able to retire comfortably at the age of 54. Maybe Exceptional Joe would be a better title for his life story. by Michael J. Drapac 2/3/2017