From Then Till Now
In 1956, my Father and Mother ( Betty Early Louden ) met and were married. I came along in 1958, and then in 1963 my little brother William IV " Billy "came along. My mother being previously married also had a son " Dave " who grew up with us in our home. I never considered him a half brother but always my older " full " brother. Heck I never knew different because we were raised together since I was born as if we were from the same father. Actually, my father treated him no differently then he treated me or Billy. For a short time, until I was 5 we lived in several homes but settled at 608 N. Magnolia in Lansing, MI. This was my true childhood home. I really knew no other home as I was to young to remember the other places we had lived and the large part of my youth was spent living at this address. It was a very happy home and stable by all accounts. Middle class America is a great way to describe it as the neighborhood was filled with good moralistic hard working people. The neighborhood was also filled with kids my age and we had a ball growing up together. Many nights were spent playing kick the can, hide and seek and other games.
I attended the local neighborhood grade school and then spent one year at the local Junior High before my parents pulled me from all public schools because of the busing and racial discontent at the time ( 1968 riots, etc ). They entered me in a Catholic Junior High, Resurrection, where my life would be changed forever. There I was taken under the wing of a teacher by the name of Tom Jakovac. He also became my basketball and football coach in not only junior high but also high school as well. I was baptized into the Catholic religion ( my father had been Catholic since his childhood ) and Tom and his wife Mary Ellen became my Godparents. My high school years were filled with triumphs and a few set backs. Personally, I hated school. I couldn't stand the mundane atmosphere or the ongoing school work and therefore did little of it. But in sports I excelled. As quarterback for the football team I showed an amazing talent for running and throwing a football. My freshman year had to be my best as I had some amazing games. We had an awesome football team that was loaded with talent and as a result we had complete blowouts during our games recording scores of 35-0, 60-0 etc. Some of these teams simply could not compete with us. I was also elected class President and found I enjoyed politics, even at a young age. But sports and the student council could never overcome my complete disdain for school, boring classes and the work.
In 1975 I joined the Marine Corp and was sent off to MCRD in San Diego and later to California's Camp Pendleton for advanced infantry training. The base there was filled with tens of thousands of Vietnam refugees, all carrying God knows what kind of illnesses. Obviously I got one of their viruses near the end of my stay at Pendleton and I became sick like never before in my life. With a temperature of 104 I was whisked away by ambulance to the base hospital and given an injection of Penicillin. I never knew I had adverse effects to the drug but realized I had a problem afterwards when the Navy Doctor simply said " never take any penicillin ever again in your lifetime. I never recalled what happened because I was unconscious for two days after being injected with the stuff. But needless to say, it bothered the Marine Corp and they quickly handed me my honorable discharge and said " your on your way home son. Thank you for your service ". So I headed back to Michigan. Something happened during my illness and stay at the hospital ( a Doctor screw up ) and when I later went back to find out exactly what did occur the Marine Corp had mysteriously lost all of my medical records. Never the less, the Marine Corp was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I was proud to wear the uniform and proud to be called a Marine. They taught me discipline, respect for authority and how to overcome the adversity as well as the effects of pain. The later would prove very helpful while battling my disease.
I bounced from job to job, working mundane jobs as an 18 yr old until I landed a job as an EMT for an ambulance service in Grand Ledge and then later in Charlotte. That job quickly burnt me out as I never could tolerate drunks and idiots. It is said in the trade that 90 % of your calls are to 10 % of the population. The problem being that the 10 % of those people needed more then an ambulance. They needed substance abuse counselors, AA and family counseling services not to mention a good course on anger management. :) I left the job and went to work at a funeral home landing a position as an apprentice mortician. Now this job I loved. I had great co-workers and the customers never complained. I married the bosses daughter early the next year and after being accused of marrying her for the business ( which really set me on fire ) I left in a heartbeat to protect my honor and integrity. I quickly landed a job working for the local utility company, the Board of Water & Light, shoveling coal and working on a vacuum truck which cleaned out everything from coal conveyors to sewers. There I spent the remainder of my work life moving up through the company working different jobs along the way in power plants, water plants and the line department. I later would land the best job I would ever have and finally found my niche in life, marketing.
During my 21 years working at the BWL I also worked 14 of those as a part time employee for my father in law at the funeral home ( Palmer Bush and then Chapel in the Pines ). In all I worked over 500 funerals and assisted in the prep room on over 300 bodies. I loved the work because of the fine intricacies of the job, the demand on knowing your anatomy and the interest in body sciences. I also had a talent for some reason or another in restoration work of accident victims, making them presentable for their families. I believe the intricate skills I obtained came from a surgeon ( next door neighbor ) who taught me how to suture using fine stitching techniques. But the pay was horrible so I never made it a career. Still, I enjoyed working with the families and helping to ease their pain at their time of loss. That made the job very rewarding.
My true love and calling has always been working with people ( preferably the alive type ). I have always enjoyed the interaction with different people from different backgrounds and found that part of any job interesting. Because of this I took to marketing and public relations and enjoyed it's many challenges. I started my own Marketing and PR company " Talin Media Group " and applied my life experiences from being around businesses for years. I focused primarily on motorsport's and specifically stock car racing. What I found was I had an inner drive and talent for motorsport's marketing and therefore excelled. At the same time I also went trhough a very tough divorce. Any divorce is tough when kids were involved and my only hope was that in the end I would still have the respect and love from my children. Thankfully I succeeded in gaining their trust back as well as their love and support.
As my career in motorsport's started peeking, so did my career at the BWL ( Board of Water & Light ) and I was promoted to better positions where I finally arrived at my ultimate goal which was marketing in the energy sector. As my career at the BWL was flying high I found new opportunities at every turn and the more I applied myself the more driven I became. I achieved some tremendous milestones and for every accomplishment came an interpersonal satisfaction. I remarried and my new wife, an Australian ( yes we met through a friend on the internet ) started another stage in my life. As a newlywed with a great woman by my side, things were really great in life. She went to work for Lansing Catholic Central as a math teacher and my career continued to grow. Things were great, I was making a great deal of money in the stock market as well as our combined salaries which gave us a comfortable lifestyle. Then while on a business trip in Denver I became ill. I held on long enough to get through the meetings all week long and then returned home to Michigan, sick, dazed and confused as to why my brain function was becoming so bad. I couldn't remember anything, got lost while driving and just plain and simple was out of touch with life itself. I contacted a close friend who also was my family Doctor, Emory Rittenhouse and went in and seen him. He ran a battery of tests and found out I was suffering from a rare and incurable disease, Polycythemia Vera. After suffering a stroke and spending some time in a hospital bed I later recovered and realized I was not what I used to be. My brain function had diminished and I had a hard time keeping on track with simple items. My Oncologist then presented me with the order to retire. I applied for a disability pension, it was granted and I left my job in January of 2000. It basically ended a long journey in life and started a whole new chapter. Life as a new person and life as an individual I had to get to know all over again.
After my retirement we sold our home in Lansing and moved to Bristol, TN where property values were very cheap, the cost of living much lower and of course the weather more suitable to retirement versus the harsh cold winters of Michigan. Once there my time was spent battling this disease and subsequent strokes. For the next 6 years my life was presented with one challenge after another. I cannot count the times I wanted to give up, but someone, either my wife, her family, my family, my kids or a close friend would " energize " me and get me going again so I could fight onward.
While living in Bristol I found I had a deep love for the Mountain's, their beauty and the people who inhabited the area. Polite, slow paced, hospitable and friendly, the area proved to be just what the Doctor ordered for me. We purchased a home once owned by a popular Orthopedic Surgeon. 3,300 sq ft., 14 rooms, 2/3rds of an acre and a 4 car garage made our living there very comfortable and happy. We named it Mira Vista and began renovations to update the home. During this time we also purchased a rental house and moved my mom into it. When she became ill, she moved back to Michigan and we let the house sit vacant while we studied our options. Do we rent or sell ?. I then got this brain storm of selling our primary residence, Mira Vista , buying a new motorcoach and then hitting the road to see America. In the fall of 2005, that's exactly what we did and our rental home became a storage facility for all of our belongings. (You can read more about our travels by going to the travel page ). Since then we have lived life like vagabonds, living in this gorgeous coach and seeing new sites as we travel together. Life is good. :)
Click here to read about:
Chris' comments on his disease
Chris' comments on his strokes