I just kept things running at the store. However, I became the Montgomery Ward Outlet Store Manager in November 1990. I had assumed that they would bring in someone else to run the store. However, this time it was different, Greg, who was in charge of all the Montgomery Ward outlet stores in the country, simply called me and told me I was going to take over as the new store manager. I knew the situation so well that it would be an easy transition. I would have to get a new appliance manager to work with Dave Mylnarski, who was the furniture manager. I had Larry Westlund take over as the Assistant Manager. It was an easy transition. Now I was getting paid for the work that I was already doing. I kept the same hours, but I knew that Dave or Larry could handle any situation, if I had to take off. I had to do more paperwork, but I still did the ads and handled customer problems. The Dale Hoffman plan of the early 1980s became a reality at the end of 1990. I was pleased and most of the people at the store were too. We would simply just keep rolling along. Have you ever taken over for someone that you were assisting?
Bill Kadlec died in November 1990
One day in November 1990, I got a phone call that our Montgomery Ward Store Manager, Bill Kadlec, had died of a heart attack. He was only 58 but got upset easily. I later found out that his wife found him dead in the shower that morning of November 18, 1990. He was my second Montgomery Ward Franklin Park Outlet Store Manager to die, since Dale Hoffman died in the early 1980s, while in his early sixties, a little more than five years earlier. I guess that this job was harder than it looked. I went to work and did all the normal things that I did as the assistant manager. Once again, I did not go to Bill Kadlec’s funeral (1932-1990). He grew up in Wisconsin but had no children. Margaret and I had socialized with him and his wife a couple of times. I did not realize that he had heart problems. It never occurred to me. However, he was easily irritated. I was sorry that his life was so short. Have you ever had your boss die?
The Gulf War of 1990-1991
The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a coalition of 42 countries led by the USA. The coalition’s efforts were in two phases. Operation Desert Shield marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991. Operation Desert Storm was from January 17 until February 28, 1991. On August 2, 1990, Iraq, governed by Saddam Hussein, invaded neighboring Kuwait. They occupied the country within two days. There had been a year-long dispute between the two countries about the price of oil and Kuwait’s way of drilling for oil. In early 1990, Saddam Hussein received the emir of Kuwait for a diplomatic visit, at a time when his country and Kuwait were in a dispute over oil prices, that led to Desert Storm. The invasion of Kuwait was met with immediate international condemnation, as Iraq announced its formal annexation of Kuwait. The UN demanded that Iraq immediately withdraw. They also imposed an embargo on all Iraq products. The UN Security Council issued an ultimatum to Iraq on November 29, 1990, expiring on January 15, 1991, to withdraw from Kuwait, with member-states thereafter empowered to use all necessary means to force withdrawal. On January 17, the coalition began aerial and naval bombardment of Iraq and Kuwait, which continued for five weeks. On February 24, 1991, the coalition launched a decisive ground assault liberating Kuwait and promptly advancing into Iraqi territory. The coalition halted its ground advance after one hundred hours and declared a ceasefire. This conflict introduced live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the American network CNN, especially Peter Arnet (1934-2025). It earned the nickname Video Game War, after the daily broadcast of images from cameras onboard American military aircraft. The following names have been used to describe the conflict itself. Gulf War and Persian Gulf War are the most common terms for the conflict used, especially the First Gulf War. Most of the coalition states used various names for their operations and the war’s operational phases. These are sometimes incorrectly used as the conflict’s overall name, especially the US Desert Storm. Hebert Norman Schwarzkopf, Junior (1934-2012) was the leader of the American troops who stormed into Kuwait. He became as famous as the CNN reporters. There were human casualties of this war, 13,488, but the coalition only had 292 killed. Kuwait lost about 420 dead. On the other hand, Iraq had somewhere between 20,000-50,000 people die in this war. Israel and Saudi Arabia had hundreds die or wounded. What do you remember about the first Gulf War?
My life in the 1990s
It was time to move on to the 1990s, the second part of my life from age 50 to the present. I was middle-aged. My daughter Joy would graduate from high school and college, as well as get married during this decade. In the 1990s, I would stop working at Montgomery Wards and become a college professor. Margaret would continue teaching at St. Lawrence O’Toole grade school. We, Margaret and I, would remain in our house in Matteson, Il. Thus, there would be some changes and also some things would stay the same. The end of the forty-year-old Cold War between the USSR and the USA meant that most people were looking for a peace dividend. If we were not spending money on weapons to defeat Communism, the Russians, and the Soviet bloc, would we not have some money to spend on other things? Yet it never seemed to materialize. The Bush years would lead to the Clinton years, and then back to the Bush years again. There was a moment of prosperity and stability in America again. However, I went through a lot of personal changes in my fifties. The high-tech computer was everywhere. You were either the high-tech crowd or the outsiders. What kind of computer expertise did you have in the 1990s?
The USA Invasion of Panama
The USA invasion of Panama began in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, and lasted a little over a month. The purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega. He was wanted by USA authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking. The operation, codenamed Operation Just Cause, concluded in late January 1990 with the surrender of Noriega. The Panama Defense Forces (PDF) were dissolved, and President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office. Noriega, who had longstanding ties to USA intelligence agencies, consolidated power to become Panama’s de facto dictator in the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, relations between Noriega and the USA began to deteriorate due to the fallout from the murder of Hugo Spadafora and the removal from office of President Nicolas Ardito Barletta. His criminal activities and association with other spy agencies came to light. In 1988 he was indicted by federal grand juries on several drug-related charges. Negotiations seeking his resignation, which began under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1989, Noriega annulled the results of the Panamanian general elections, which appeared to have been won by an opposition candidate Guillermo Endara. President Bush responded by reinforcing the USA garrison in the Canal Zone. Following the declaration of a state of war between Panama and the USA, passed by the Panamanian general assembly, as well as the lethal shooting of a Colombia-born USA Marine officer, Bush authorized the execution of the Panama invasion plan. On December 20, the USA invasion of Panama began. Panamanian forces were rapidly overwhelmed, although operations continued for several weeks. Endara was sworn in as president shortly after the start of the invasion. Noriega eluded capture for several days before seeking refuge in the Holy See diplomatic mission in Panama City. He surrendered on January 3, 1990, and was then flown to the USA, where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The Pentagon estimated that 516 Panamanians were killed during the invasion, including 314 soldiers and 202 civilians. A total of 23 USA soldiers and 3 USA civilians were killed. The United Nations General Assembly, the Organization of American States and the European Parliament condemned the invasion as a violation of international law. Meanwhile, the United States government cited a responsibility to protect American citizens residing in Panama, along with a need to enforce democracy and human rights, as rationale for the invasion. Some researchers have argued that it was the first major USA military action since 1945 not related to the Cold War, framing it as an early precursor to unilateral interventions in an emerging world order with an emphasis on public opinion, international legitimacy, operational execution, and regime change. Have you ever heard of General Manuel Noriega?
German unification in 1990
The big news of 1990 was the unification of Germany. Ever since the end of World War II in 1945, when Germany had been defeated, 55 years earlier, Germany had been divided into Democratic West Germany and Communist East Germany. German reunification also known as the expansion of the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD), was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on November 9, 1989 and culminated on October 3, 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of its re-established constituent federated states into the Federal Republic of Germany to form present-day Germany. This date was chosen as the customary German Unity Day. Since then, this has been celebrated each year as a national holiday. On the same date, East and West Berlin were also reunified into a single city, which eventually became the capital of Germany. The reunited state was not a successor state, but an enlarged continuation of the 1949–1990 West German state. The enlarged Federal Republic of Germany retained the West German seats. The term “German reunification” was given to the process of the German Democratic Republic joining the Federal Republic of Germany with full German sovereignty from the four Allied-occupied countries to distinguish it from the process of unification of most of the German states into the German Empire led by the Kingdom of Prussia that took place from 1866 to 1871. The two German states of East and West Germany, as well as the Four Powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for final German reunification. The 1990 treaty defined the official term as Deutsche Einheit (German unity). Some people have stated that the reunification could be classified as an annexation of the GDR by the FRG. On December 2, 1990, the German federal election was won by Helmut Kohl, who remained Chancellor of Germany until 1998. The two German states had already agreed to merge currency and economies on July 1, 1990. Now there is only one Germany, not two German states. Do you remember West Germany?
Other travels in the late 1980s
In 1987, the year that Joy graduated from grade school, we headed to the southeast for our summer vacation. We went through Kentucky to Savannah, Georgia. Then it was up the east coast to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit Fort Sumter in the bay and Myrtle Beach on the coast. Then we headed north to the revolutionary sites at Yorktown, Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Hampton, Virginia. We also saw the capital of the Confederacy at Richmond, Virginia, before we visited the Naval Academy at Annapolis, with a short visit to Washington, DC. In 1988, Joy went with the family of Katie Fote to Woodlock Pines, in the Pennsylvania Poconos. Then, Margaret and I picked her up, and went to visit my brother Jerry in New Jersey. Our days of big excursions were coming to an end. Joy was busy with band and her other high school friends. Pretty soon, it would be just Margaret and I. Thus, we took another trip to South Dakota to visit family and friends there. Do you like to travel by car?
Joy and the Marian Catholic Marching Band Championships
My daughter Joy went to Marian Catholic High School from 1987-1991, where she was in the Marching Band, beginning her freshman year. The Band was led by Greg Bimm, who was the band director for 46 years there, beginning in 1977 to 2023. During that time, the Marian Marching Band won 42 consecutive Illinois state championships, from 1980 to 2022. They never lost in any Catholic High School competitions. Marian Catholic has been the Bands of America Class AA National Champion 23 times of its 36 appearances, a record unmatched by any other high school band in the country. My daughter was there playing the flute and marching from 1987-1991, where they won the national championships three out of the four years, failing in their senior year. They played at the Pontiac Dome in Detroit and the Indianapolis Dome in Indianapolis. I was privileged to watch her be part of a national championship team as a 13-year-old freshman, and the following years. I never went to the state championships, since Margaret was more involved with that as a “Band Mom.” I had no idea that there was anything like a Marching Band Competition. I soon learned and became pretty good at telling between the good bands and the bad bands. It was fun being with other parents, who had more than one child in this Marian band over the years. Thus, Joy became quite a good flute player. She even played in symphonic bands. In her senior year, she was part of the DePaul All-Chicago High School symphony. She never was in a marching band in college. Nothing could compare to her high school experience. Have you ever been in a marching band?
Joy grew into a young lady
Meanwhile, Joy, my daughter, was growing into a young lady. I remember she cried for my mother, her grandmother, when she died, as she was starting the seventh grade. I realized she was not a baby anymore. She survived all my trips, asking a few questions here and there. She had gone to Raygor pre-school, before she started first grade at St. Lawrence O’Toole. She made her First Communion and First Confession in second grade. I have a wonderful picture of her and my mother in our back yard in 1979, against a big tree. She did well in her classes. Margaret, as a teacher, was there if any problems came up. I tended not to be involved because I knew that Margaret had a better perception of what was going on at school. Joy broke her wrist playing basketball. She had some hip problems that seemed to go away as she got older. She was in junior high when my mother died. She used to visit with my mother and go shopping in thrift stores with her. She knew where Grandma hid her money in her apartment. She became one of five girls in eighth grade who took an Algebra class at Marian High School. She learned to play the flute. She always had some girl friends over from our Woodgate neighborhood. I still remember when I was asked to umpire a softball game between the faculty and the eighth graders. The faculty won and I was accused of helping them win by Joy’s eighth grade class. I never umpired another game. She was about to receive Confirmation as a seventh grader. I told her that the preferred way was between Baptism and Confirmation, before Communion. She reassured me that I was wrong, since everyone did it Baptism, Communion, and then Confirmation. Thus, all my work on Confirmation was not good enough to convince my daughter that Baptism and Confirmation were connected closely together. Only later when her husband Larry wanted to become a Catholic, did she realize that the RICA conversion of adults called for the order of Baptism, Confirmation, and Communion all at the Easter Vigil, together in that order. That of course was my little contribution to the universal Roman Catholic Church. Have you ever watched your children grow up?
My mother Rose Finnegan died in 1985 at the age of 79
In late August 1985, Margaret went over to visit my mother at Thornwood House in University Park, since we had not heard from her in a couple of days. When she got there, she found my mother laying on her couch unresponsive. I told her to call 911. She did, and called the priest from St. Lawrence O’Toole, Rev. Edward Cronin. He came and told her that my mother was dead. I began to feel bad that I had been so neglectful to her the last couple of weeks. My mother was gone at age 79. She had lived a good long life. My father had died at age 74, thirteen years earlier. She had been a widow for nearly fifteen years. As a little child, I thought that I could not get along without her. However, as I grew older, I knew that I would be able to live without her. She was kind, yet overbearing. She always defended me but demanded a lot from me. Both my parents were now dead, but I was just 46 years old. I began to think about all the people who had their parents die, who were younger than me, young people. I suddenly missed her. She had no long illness and no history of heart problems. She had suffered a sudden heart attack. She might have been dead a day or two before Margaret found her. Then we had to plan the funeral. We were going to have the funeral at St. Lawrence O’Toole, our parish, where Margaret taught in the grade school. Father Cronin at O’Toole helped us with these decisions. I remember going to the funeral home in Chicago Heights. I had to decide what kind of coffin we should get for my mother. We decided on Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood, because it was not far away. I called Jerry Mingin, my foster brother, in New Jersey. He flew out from New Jersey to be with us. My cousin, Mary Henry from the Bronx, was living in Naperville, Illinois, after having lived in Janesville, Wisconsin, for some years. She was a few years older than me. Her mother’s sister was married to my mother’s brother. I had a very pleasant time with her as we recalled the years in New York City where Aunt Kate, Mom’s sister, was so kind. I realized why she was called “Mary from the Bronx” because of her very pronounced Bronx accent. My other cousin John Finnegan flew in from Denver. My mother was born in 1906, the youngest of eight children. She came to the USA as an upstairs maid working for rich people in New York City. She married my father in 1931 at the age of 25. I was her only child that survived childbirth. The funeral home had a nice booklet about my mother, Rose Finnegan, and a holy card “In Remembrance,” with the prayer for peace of St. Francis. At the wake, there were ten people from Thornwood House, who knew my mother, but I did not know any of them. Many of Margaret’s fellow teachers and our neighbors were there. They took up a collection at Montgomery Ward for me and my mother. At the 10:00 AM Funeral Mass of Resurrection the next day, Father Cronin presided, as all the grade school children from St. Lawrence O’Toole were present, because Margaret was a teacher there and Joy was a junior high student. After Mass, we had the car procession to the cemetery where my mother was buried at Assumption Cemetery in Glenwood, IL, in Section 12, Block 36, Plot 7, Grave 1. We had a small reception luncheon afterwards. Do you remember the funeral of your mother?
