When asked to write something for a “Spotlight” segment, I was told that it was to help the readers of Our Echo to get to know me better. You will understand of course, that my version is somewhat biased. If you asked my wife, you might get a different version.

I suppose one might say that I am a troublemaker. My mom always used to say that I was giving her trouble since before I was born. That was the truth. I did. First I tried to come out crosswise, but that didn’t work. The doctor turned me around and that might explain a lot because I then entered this world backwards.

My parents were living in Hamilton, New York when I was born, the home of Colgate University. I was actually born in Syracuse, New York because Mom went to be with her mom when time got close. When it looked like the time was near, my dad was called on the phone. He was about 50 miles away. I was born in 1933 so car travel was considerably slower than it is now.

In his great hurry to get to the hospital for my birth, Dad was given a speeding ticket. Later, when he appeared in court to answer the speeding ticket, he was asked by the judge to explain why he was going so fast. He explained the situation and the judge, so I have been told, dismissed the ticket and said, “Tell the cop to go to hell and give your wife my congratulations.” It is not known by me whether or not the judge knew my mother or my father personally.

From these rather unorthodox beginnings, my life has been along that vein ever since. Nothing about it has been “ordinary.”

When I was in the first grade, my route to and from school took me past a row of fraternity houses associated with Colgate University. Every winter the fraternities had a competition to see which one could construct the best snow sculpture. There was always some sort of valuable prize or trophy given for the winner.

At that time there was a popular comic strip character called Ferdinand the Bull. Ferdinand was a disgrace to the reputation of bulls because he was a lover, not a fighter. Also at that time my father had some stationery he used at the school with the heading, “Fred W. Wickert, BS Instructor.” The BS stood for Bachelor of Science. He had obtained his Masters Degree but did not want to waste the paper so he continued to use it. There was a joke going around declaring that the BS stood for "Bull S**t Instructor."

As his son, the bull part of it became attached to me also, and the Ferdinand was put with it so that I was known by some, including the members of one of those fraternity houses, as Ferdinand the Bull. They told me they were going to construct a snow sculpture of Ferdinand in my honor. They did indeed construct one of a bull, put a sign saying "Ferdinand" in front of it, and won the competition. I was very proud of that. A prize-winning sculpture in my honor. WOW!

On the advice of the doctor, my Dad gave up his teaching job and the family moved to a farm just outside of Syracuse. My parents already owned the farm and my maternal grandparents lived there. Here was a part of my life that was going to play a big role in shaping me.

In this new life, I began to learn about animals and life on a farm. At the age of eight I learned to drive a pair of mules and to milk cows and goats. These were also the years of WW II and ration books, blackouts, and practicing for air raids. These were years when Dad worked all night in a war factory and farmed in the daytime. These were the years I went to a one-room country school for two years before going to a city school in Syracuse. These were years when I began to learn things like how to use tools, how to build things, and how to take care of animals.

These were also the years that perhaps, just perhaps, the glimmer of learning to write began. As a farm boy with chores to do at home, I was deprived very much of the opportunity to play with the other children my age. Wanting to play, I did rather than come home as told. Each day I came home late, causing my parents a great deal of worry; of course, I made up a story as to why I was so late getting home. They were all fiction, but not very good ones for my parents always saw right through them. They punished me first for not coming home and then again for telling the lie.

Those were also the years my love of figure skating began. There was a country club called Drumlins nearby. We drew hay from their land adjacent to their golf course. They had an outdoor skating rink in the winter and I spent a lot of time watching figure skaters practice there. I also learned a lot about overcoming difficulty during those years. I came down with Polio and both of my legs were paralyzed from the waist down. I learned a lot about perseverance. I also learned about broken noses, broken ribs, stepping on rusty nails, and so on.

Dad returned to teaching and took a job in the Catskill Mountains in Gilboa, New York. There I began high school. I learned to play trombone and developed a singing voice. I became good enough that I was frequently asked to perform. I earned a number of trips with my singing and began professional voice coaching. I also became active in stage plays and in public speaking contests. Some of these required that you write your own speech. I excelled at it. I entered an American Legion oratorical contest. I had to write and deliver a twelve-minute speech on the Constitution. I won in my school, then won the county level and took third in the regional at the state capital. On some occasions when given writing an essay assignment in high school English class, I was praised for the level of writing I had done.

During the time I was in high school I worked on farms, worked for the state conservation department, and as kitchen help and later a camp counselor at the state Future Farmers camp. In my senior year in high school, our house burned from an explosion in the kerosene space heater. Dad built a new house and I helped with that for the summer after finishing high school, in addition to driving a farm pick-up milk route from 4:00 to 10:00 A.M.

I was always very interested in girls, played basketball and ran on the track and cross country teams. I suppose one could say I was boisterous, and I was frequently in trouble at school. That was due mostly to my big mouth. I just couldn’t keep it shut, and I still have problems with that.

At the end of that summer I went to Cornell University. I lasted a semester and a half and then went to my brother-in-law’s farm briefly before joining the Air Force. The Korean war was in full swing at the time. After basic training I went to Combat Air Police school, then to Washington, DC for a few months, and then overseas. I went to Japan briefly, then Okinawa, and finally to Korea. My first duty in Korea was to guard U.N. inspection teams. The war ended shortly after I got there but the shooting just slowed down. It didn’t really stop. After Korea I went to Japan, stationed in Tokyo. There I met my future bride, Kaneko (Tae) Takiguchi.

I spent twenty years in the Air Force, serving nearly half my career in Presidential Aircraft Security. I had a business on the side doing landscaping, carpentry, and painting as well as a moving and hauling business. After retiring from the Air Force I returned home and bought a house there. Tae and I became involved in raising and showing Cocker Spaniels, and Tae opened a dog grooming business in our home.

I had a business the first summer painting and repair work. In mid-November work dried up and I applied for the job as Chief of Police in a small town nearby. I was hired and worked in that job for five years. Sick of small town politics, I quit the job and worked for a combination trailer park and trucking company. Later I worked as a security guard, then as a carpenter for a small construction contractor. I worked as a ski lift attendant, ran a flea market business, and raised and sold vegetables.

Tae gave up her grooming business and we stopped raising and showing dogs. Then we became involved in taking care of developmentally disabled persons in our home for the state. We became interested in exotic birds and gathered a collection of them. Later, stray cats began showing up. We fed them and they kept coming and we kept adopting.

We lost our home to a flood in January of 1996, and subsequently bought another home a mile away but on much higher ground. We put up a large garage. Soon there were a lot of accommodations for the cats in the garage and our vehicles were left outside. We have fed all sorts of wildlife in addition to providing a home for the cats. We are big animal lovers.

I love people and animals, and seem to always be trying to help someone. I signed up for the Children’s Institute of Literature course, then later the Longridge Writers group course. I submitted a story to "Petwarmers e-zine" which they published immediately. It got a very big reaction. It is the story I have posted on Our Echo called “Midnight Visit.” The incident was a very powerful moment in my life. One of the Our Echo family read the story in Petwarmers and e-mailed me. I recognized her name as a well-known writer and was grateful to hear from her. We have developed a friendship and she has helped me a great deal with my writing. It seems this is a hobby of hers as I saw another spotlight writer mention her as their mentor also.

The "Midnight Visit" story was purchased twice by others for publishing, and there are more stories that have been published and are under contract to be published. I am 72 years old now. I know it is a little late to be getting started, but others have started late and done well.

I am inclined to be a little on the stubborn side, I have a deep faith in God, I love my country and will defend both with all I have. I love nature, enjoy taking pictures, despise bigotry, and am impatient with incompetence. I have no use for a liar or a thief and hate a child molester . I try to be a good Samaritan when I can. I have always had a problem with being overweight. I am especially attracted to oriental peoples. I am slow to anger, but frightening when I do get angry. I do not hold a grudge and find it extremely difficult to hate anyone.

Now, hopefully, you know me better.