Here's looking at you: Bob Aldrich

When Bob Aldrich handed me his business card identifying him as an ordained minister that performs beach weddings, I froze; when he added, “I’ve done about 42 weddings for Beach Wedding Services this year,” I reached for my nitroglycerin tablets;

Had Nancy, under the ruse of an interview, set me up to renew our vows? Naw, I told self; we’re not at the beach and every person she knows isn’t here; Safe for now.

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., raised in Stratford, Conn.., Bob was eight when his father died; “Dad was in the sales business, for himself, he initiated a tool company making tools for the airline industry, and he was in processed rubber; gaskets, seals, belts … and marble-ette, the first form of plastic, so he was pretty busy; he was at the peak of his business career when he passed away.”

When asked if he and his siblings, Mary Jane and Vern, got into mischief, Bob’s reply demonstrated their grasp of their father’s work ethic; “We were too busy working to get in trouble; I started cutting lawns when I was 11, when I was in high school, I managed a Sunoco Gas Station in Stratford, Connecticut and had three fellows in their 40’s working for me; I was 19 when  I convinced the president of the Bridgeport Gas Company to hire me to sell appliances, the next salesman, age wise, was 46,” he continued.

For more on this story, see the August 4 issue of the Navarre Press or subscribe online.