Bill
Lewis
After
high school, I rapidly matriculated through USC, IVC and the University of New
Mexico, in that order, graduating with a BBA in Industrial Administration in early
1966. The only available employer at
the time of graduation seemed to be the U.S. Army where I spent the next two
years undergoing massive amounts of combat training. After thirteen months of intensive training in weapons and hand
to hand skills, they discovered that I could type 60 words per minute and I
spent the rest of my military career behind a typewriter.
Following my discharge in 1968, I went to work for S.S. Kresge (now K-Mart). I worked through the Christmas season in Albuquerque to be rewarded for the long hours by a transfer to Billings, Montana in the heart of winter. Thus ended my career in Retail Merchandising. I then sat down to determine what I should do with my life. Being unable to make that momentous decision, I decided to avoid the things I had learned to dislike. I knew from my retail experiences that I didn’t like working on weekends. I knew that I wanted to return to Southern California and work for a company that couldn’t transfer me to Billings, Montana in the winter. That left the banking industry. Back in those days (I didn’t recognize them as the “good ole days” at the time, but they were) we didn’t work on weekends and interstate banking was forbidden by the McFadden Act (since repealed). So, I went into the Management Training Program for United California Bank which begat First Interstate Bank which was gobbled up by Wells Fargo Bank which was acquired by Norwest Bank, but kept the name. I had departed back in 1982 and had become a Yankee Samurai for Sanwa Bank where I served as a Regional Vice President, Chief Credit Officer, Head of the Southern Commercial Branches, and Head of the International Division (seems like I couldn’t keep a job). Tiring of that after twelve years, I joined Eldorado Bank in Orange County as their Chief Credit Officer. After four years of reviewing every independent bank in Southern California and acquiring some and rejecting others, we sold Eldorado Bank to an interloper from New Hampshire. Since he failed to get non-compete Agreements from the Executives of the old Eldorado, I and two of my old compatriots formed a new bank in the Costa Mesa/Newport Beach area called PriVest Bank. We specialize in Private Banking and Wealth Management. Anyway that’s what is says on the door.
On
the personal front, I married the beautiful Dolores Cordaro, a poor but honest,
ethnic Sicilian (her sons have never forgiven her for not having closer ties to
La Cosa Nostra) in the early seventies.
We have a daughter Chris(tina), graduate of CalPoly Pomona, who is
married, has her own insurance agency and two sons, Nick (Dominic) aged 4 and
Jake aged 3 and a huge dog named Connor.
Our elder son Stephen is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania
(not Penn State) Wharton Business
School, who until recently has been making his way through various internet
companies. After three years of this
argosy, he has decided he should pursue gainful employment in a real job. So he now resides in my house and spends his
days on the computer seeking a CEO job at a Fortune Five Hundred company. Any of you who knows of such an available
position, your direction would be greatly appreciated. The baby of the family, Patrick, graduated
from the University of San Diego (not UCSD and not San Diego State) and is now
the manager of a LaborReady branch providing day laborers to a variety of
industries, primarily construction. He
spends most of his off time visiting with his girl friend, Jana, from San Diego
and getting his ride, a 1983 Ford F150 4WD with 35 inch tires and 6 inch lifts,
repaired.
Dolores
and I have lived in the San Dimas/Glendora area of California all of our
married lives. She works in Housing for
the City of San Dimas. We spend our
spare time doing things to our house.
My other hobby seems to be freeway driving as I work in Costa Mesa,
thirty eight miles south of home down the entire length of the 57 freeway,
through the Orange Crush on the Santa Ana Freeway (5) and out the Newport
Freeway (55) to South Coast Plaza. I
once figured out I had spent two years of my life on the freeway system of
Southern California, just getting to work.
Maybe Billings, Montana wouldn’t have been so bad.
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1. LIVING
ARRANGEMENT? Big House, one wife, two out of three children, one dog. Since all
kids are grown and have graduated from college, we bought a new house. Dolores
(wife of 27 years) said we needed a large house so the kids/grandkids could
come home when they wanted. It’s kinda like Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams.
"If you build it, they will come." So now we have two sons out of
three kids again living at home and Dolores watches our two grandsons (they belong
to the daughter who is not living with us) two to three days a week.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE
YOU READING NOW? SSN by Tom Clancy, A history of the Hudson Bay Company and a
Pictorial History of the Civil War. Just finished "The Corner of His
Eye."
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR
MOUSE PAD? Besides coffee rings, a rodent driving a MGTD up to a house with the
caption "After a Hard Day in the Rat Race It’s Nice to Come Home to Your
Mouse Pad."
4. FAVORITE BOARD
GAME? Trivial Pursuit, but no one will play with me any longer. They claim I
have memorized the cards.
5. FAVORITE
MAGAZINE? Do you suppose that saying Sunset instead of Playboy or Penthouse is
a commentary on aging?
6. a. FAVORITE
SMELLS? Vanilla.
7. b. LEAST
FAVORITE SMELLS? Chino when it rains. For those of you who don’t know Chino,
think of the stockyards in Imperial.
8. FAVORITE SOUND?
Rain on the roof.
9. WORST FEELING IN
THE WORLD? Having someone who owes me a lot of money telling me they cannot
pay.
10. WHAT IS THE
FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? I generally wake up
before the alarm when it is dark and my first thought is, "please let it
be 11:00PM."
11. FAVORITE COLOR?
Was green until the Army overdosed me on it. Probably now blue.
12. HOW MANY RINGS
BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? One at work. I don’t answer the phone at home.
13. FUTURE CHILD'S
NAME? Not a consideration.
14. WHAT IS MOST
IMPORTANT IN LIFE? A good wife and best friend to share all the good things
that have happened to us.
15. FAVORITE FOODS?
Avocados, red meat and ice cream. Not together. (having the right parents, I
have a cholesterol level under 160)
16. CHOCOLATE OR
VANILLA? Both boring without toppings, but I suppose vanilla.
17. DO YOU LIKE TO
DRIVE FAST? Yes, but cannot stand to be driven fast.
18. DO YOU SLEEP
WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Only when she’s had a lot to eat. Anyone who tells
Dolores that I said that is dead.
19. STORMS - COOL OR
SCARY? Cool.
20. WHAT TYPE WAS
YOUR FIRST CAR? 1953 Buick, but my father bought that one. First one I bought
for myself was a 1966 Triumph Spitfire.
21. IF YOU COULD
MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE? James Longstreet
22. FAVORITE
ALCOHOLIC DRINK? Beer.
23. WHAT IS YOUR
ZODIAC SIGN? Scorpio.
24. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS
OF BROCCOLI? Yes and anything else that is on my plate. We are of the
generation that saved all the starving children in China by cleaning our
plates.
25. IF YOU COULD
HAVE ANY JOB YOU WANTED WHAT WOULD IT BE? The degenerate recipient of an
absolutely massive spendthrift trust fund.
26. IF YOU COULD DYE
YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR? I have always been happy with my natural hair color. I
started life with platinum blonde hair and I am working my way back there.
27. EVER BEEN IN
LOVE? Yes.
28. IS THE GLASS HALF
EMPTY OR HALF FULL? I have always been irritated by those who do not fill my
glass all the way, so I refuse to answer this question on philosophical
grounds.
29. FAVORITE MOVIES?
Destry Rides Again (the James Stewart version), Terminator, Terminator 2 and
Die Hard.
30. DO YOU TYPE WITH
YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? Yes, but not the numbers. That was the second
semester and I only took one semester in my sophomore year. That course was the
single most important course I have ever taken. The second most important class
was a semester of drafting.
31. WHAT'S UNDER
YOUR BED? Some green paper for matting pictures, a plastic bag and some 22x28
sheets of white construction paper and a large construction paper template for
the bases of the tables in our bedroom.
32. WHAT IS YOUR
FAVORITE NUMBER? 34
33. FAVORITE SPORT
TO WATCH? Basketball. March Madness, in particular, so I will be incommunicado
for the next couple of weeks.
34. IF YOU COULD ASK
ANY QUESTION ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL IN GENERAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Why did it have to
end?
SEE YOU
IN OCTOBER