“It was a dark and stormy
night” when the second child was born to Edward and Erma Cotter, named Alvin
James. It was February 27, 1933. I was born in a farmhouse with my father as
midwife.
O’K’, the phrase “It was a dark and stormy night” is plagiarized
from
Victorian novelist
Edward
Bulwer-Lytton, the opening line of his novel PAUL
CLIFFORD. What follows is not fiction; it
will be about milestones in my life.
My mother
said I was a curious child, into everything. This curiosity led me to the
second major milestone in my life. I just had to go see what Dad was doing in a
field near the house. The result of my inspection was the amputation of my left
leg. Followed was a series of
operations, new artificial legs and with the last operation the year before
High school and the last artificial leg purchased with out insurance in 1969.
My parents purchased a new leg every three years. Was this all bad? No!, I
became an avid reader. My Dad and Mother who also enjoyed reading and
subscribed to several magazines. And I went to the library in Prescott Wisconsin,
my hometown. I recall reading the
“Country Gentleman” For hours and re reading them again and again. I was
“allowed” library privileges, because I was the Cotter kid with a limp. I had a
new leg every three years that was only the right length for one day. I recall
visiting the Case implement dealer and reading the Nebraska Tractor test book.
Did you know a1939 John Deere B produced 8-horse power per pound of fuel? I
did. A Farmall H would produce 10 horsepower per pound of fuel. But Dad bought
a John Deere B with a hand clutch so I could drive it. My mother was very
concerned about my education. She said I needed to prepare for a job where I
didn’t have to “work”.
The third
major milestone came after a lackluster High School experience and one year of
College at River Falls State College. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my
life. I wanted to farm! So I decided to get a “high paying” union job at the
packing plant in South Saint Paul and to make enough money so I could farm. I was
not hired; because I was a cripple. I was so dam mad I drove to Saint Paul and
started the next Monday at the American Hoist and Derrick as a Draftsman. I had
one semester of drafting at River Falls State College. After six months at the
American Hoist and Derrick, I moved to 3M.
After
three years at 3M, I was told that I had potential to be an Engineer! This was
a major milestone. Also 3M Engineering and personal department (HR) said they
would help me enroll in college and pay tuition. I started at the University of
Wisconsin majoring in mechanical engineering. While I was a twenty four year
old freshman, I probably wasn’t any more mature than the eighteen year olds, so
I fit into dorm life and was president of my Dorm in my sophomore year. The U
of W was clearly my fourth milestone! I graduated in 1962.
My fifth
milestone begun after graduation when I was offered an engineering job with
Eastman Kodak and a counter offer from 3M. I accepted the 3M offer, which took me to
Saint Paul Minnesota instead of Rochester New York. There I met Joan Donohoo my
future wife and life partner in future milestones of my life.
The next
milestone in my life was our moving to Hutchinson Minnesota with our now three
children, Kathleen, Constance and Andrew. The year was 1969. And the remarkable
part of the move to Hutchinson was not the decision to move to Hutchinson
verses California, but that Joan, a city girl, took to the small town as an
adventure and approached frustrations with humor.
And then the
move to a Farm! In the late summer of 1971 Joan was taking a bike ride in the
country. She saw a for sale sign on the south tip of Otter Lake. We had a
fantasy of someday building a home on “the lake”. The lake property was a part
of a 140-acre farm. On October 1 of 1971 Joan and Al owned lake property with
110 acres of cropland attached, crops to be harvested and 150 chickens. The
rest of this story is long, but to summarize, the home on the lake soon
escalated into fantasy of part time hobby farming, to full time farming
exploring new farming methods. The purchase of the farm was a major milestone
in my life!
Twenty
years after the farm purchase, I retired from 3M and started to fulfill the
fantasy as a full time farmer. This did not go as planned. I was recruited to
run for Parish Council and despite not attending on election Sunday and I still
won. Also as a chronic complainer about the
price of corn (a farming addiction), I got involved with county corn growers, soon
elected to state board as a director, Because of my science and engineering
background, I became involved in research on the national level. It soon became
apparent to me how big a gap in experience I had about the role of government.
At this point I thought of government as an organization who confiscated my
wages through taxes and issuing me speeding tickets. I soon become aware of
governments role in infrastructure and basic research. Two examples of infrastructure are the Erie
Canal and the issuance of land for building railroads and our Land Grant
College system. Was my involvement in
Corn growers a major milestone? Maybe
not, but it was a significant part of my educational life experience.
The final
milestone is Activities for Learning (AfL). AfL is a result of Joan’s study and
work developing the curriculum “Right Start Math” <
http://rightstartmath.com>. My role has
been many. First and foremost have been the support, encouragement and council
to Joan in the development of her method of teaching math to children. While
this role will continue, I have been able to help develop a company to publish
Joan’s work so children can “understand, apply and enjoy mathematics”. And I am still enjoying working on this
milestone!
