CHAP. 2 Trials and Tribulations

I had my first sexual encounter with someone that I wasn’t particularly interested in, only because she was wild and aggressive, and I was young and not thinking clearly.  She later said that she had gotten pregnant and that we had to get married, this was during a time when marriage was assumed under such circumstances; before I could recover from the shock we were receiving wedding gifts.  I really didn’t want to get married, but how could I tell anyone without creating a commotion.  I knew we had gone too far and couldn’t turn back, and I was determined to make the best of an uncomfortable situation, as it turned out she wasn’t pregnant.

We got an apartment in the city on the 2^nd floor, and we fought constantly, extra tension was added when she decided to have her father move in with us because he was getting divorced.  We moved several times and each time she managed to have several male friends visiting the apartment while I was at work.  As we moved to the town of Affton, into a new apartment, she tells me she is pregnant. Our daughter Diana Michelle was born in 1965, by this time the only thing that I cherished was our little girl. I spent a lot time bowling, rather than go home.

She had one male friend that would follow us, whenever we moved, to continue their relationship, I later found out that they had contracted a venereal disease, but I was protected.  She had told someone that I was Catholic and didn’t believe in divorce, she was wrong. Finally, after one too many arguments, I asked her, why didn’t she just call her boyfriend and leave.  Before I knew it he arrived and she packed her bags and left with Diana, who was about 6 months old.

The next day I came home from work and things were missing, soon after I was contacted by the local department stores informing me that I owed large sums of money, on things I had never purchased. I received so many bills from the department stores a banker gave me a loan, which then took me three years to pay off.

She and her friend were planning on moving to California, but before leaving she called and asked me if I wanted Diana, because she couldn’t take care of her.  Of course I said yes and went by her mother’s house to ask her to go with me for support, and so she knew what I was doing.  I was anxious to retrieve my daughter, but at 24 I had no idea what I was going to do. I tried my parents and was turned away. However my sister was married, with kids of her own, and said she would help out; so I paid her for letting Diana stay with them. After a couple of months her husband told me that I needed to take Diana with me.

My cousin said that she would take care of Diana and I could move upstairs with my younger brother, who I had gotten a job at Jaccards as a training diamond setter, but it was going to cost me. It was not the most comfortable feeling sharing a room with my brother and jumping at every command of my cousin, (“you better do this or take your daughter with you”).  In the mean time I had a car accident while drinking and lost my license, which put more pressure on me because now I was dependent on my brother. This went on for two years when my cousin said, “If you don’t like it then leave”.

So I did. I moved to Brentwood when Diana was two years old, with no car, and took the bus to work every day.  I met a lady who was the head of a day care, and although Diana was considered too young, said she could see I seriously needed help and would make an exception for us. I made sure that I was always there on time to pick her up.  What an experience raising a daughter, walking to the store carrying her, and then walking back 4 to 5 blocks carrying groceries and my baby girl.  On top of that cooking for both of us, cleaning, washing clothes, changing sheets during the night (because of the bed wetting), I couldn’t imagine how women did it all the time.  This forced me to grow up and take responsibility for my life, and it provided Diana with a secure environment.

I never even considered having women spend the night or even inviting them over, it was just the two of us.  When she was a little older I would have a lady over to watch Diana while I went bowling on Friday nights, (what a relief to get out once in a while).  Sometimes I had to take a cab but as life had it I was blessed to have someone pick me up and drive me home.

A couple of years later I met a lady who was in the jewelry business, after months of seeing each other I told her that I was divorced and had a little girl she seemed anxious to meet my daughter. Afterwards she told her family about us, once they were over the shock of knowing that I had a daughter they invited us over. Diana became a hit with the family as we spent the weekends over at her parents’ house and going to church on Sunday.  I was so excited that we belonged somewhere with people who cared.  I was married in June of 1969 to Linda, I felt God had blessed the family. Although Linda couldn’t have children, we had a built-in family, I already had a daughter and things were looking up.

We all got along except for the mother, who was controlling and argumentative.  The husband was a big man with a fun personality, and loved Diana as his one and only granddaughter.

Linda decided that she wanted to adopt Diana. Diana’s biological mother came back from California to contest the adoption, but the judge ruled in our favor after talking to my daughter.  That was the first case of a mother losing the birthright of a daughter: see Neustaedter vs. Neustaedter in the law books entered as giving birth to Diana.

I had a plan, not only to buy the Jaccards’ shop, and move it and the craftsmen onto new premises so we could operate freely doing work for other stores.  The plan was to develop a retail location that we could support giving the craftsmen top billing.  I involved Ken (my former teacher), a diamond setter and a store manager.  Everyone was on board, I even suggested giving all the craftsmen part of the action.  We met a couple of times with a Jaccards’ attorney who had flown in from Texas to meet with us. I found out from the manager that they were negotiating with the diamond setter, only if he would eliminate Ken and me.  I told the diamond setter that I had heard about the plan and we were out.

He felt, and said, that this was the opportunity of a lifetime and he was moving forward keeping the shop under the Jaccards’ roof.  I believed, and told him, that he was making a big mistake.  Jaccards’ controlled the work and was sending everything out to outside jewelers. One by one the Jaccards’ jewelers left, due to lack of work. Within a year and a half he no longer had a job. That’s how I found myself in a business relationship with Ken.

Linda’s father helped us build a jewelry store in the Arcade Building on the 6^th floor with my partner Ken.  The company was called Metro-70 and we were doing engraving for companies throughout the mid-west. I spent hours working at the store, and taking work home; I worked 7 days a week and late nights.

Things couldn’t be better, I thought, in 1973 my partner decided to quit and go a different direction, now it was up to me to continue the business with a new partner, my wife Linda.  The 1^st month we took in $3600 and I spent $3000 buying a small package of diamonds, Linda upset with me but I was on a mission on building a retail business and investing in something I knew and believed in, because I was willing to work the hours. The fear of failure was a driving force, along with the desire to get ahead, causing me to sacrifice time with the family.  I continued investing money into gold and diamonds.

A couple from Clayton wanted a custom wedding band, the Clayton jeweler that they went to told them that there was only one guy that could carve the band that they wanted and gave me a call. He asked if I would consider doing the job, I was glad I said yes, because the couple was so nice that I decided from that day forward that I was going to work with the public.

We grew to the point that I started advertising on KMOX, with a football player, and later moved to the 1^st floor of the same building. How exciting, my wife on the other hand didn’t like the idea of moving or advertising, once it began to pay dividends she changed her mind.  We were now associating with football, baseball, and hockey players we were also on T.V., and radio. We were truly blessed; that was in 1994 and we grew to almost ½ million in sales.  We had hockey tickets with two of the football players, had season football tickets, going out with some of the players after the games.  I was involved with the Arnold Elks, we building a new house in Oakville, and later upgraded to a larger home with a swimming pool.