In 1959, I went with my brother and a few of his classmates, and another gal who was a year older than I, to a country club near Chicago, Illinois to work as waitresses and busboys for this posh rich Jewish club. The gal who was older than the rest of us had worked there previously so knew her way around a bit, and she was also going to a church school, Moody College, in Chicago.
I had spent time working as a waitress in the small restaurants in my hometown, but I had never had formal training in course type meals. This was a club for multimillionaires, and it was an exclusive and posh club. Only non Jewish people were supposed to be allowed to work there, but another young gal who came from Ohio also was Jewish but did not let them know it. She advised me then not to judge all Jews by this group of people who held membership in this club.
The club was known for its management being associated with the mob. The manager was supposed to be betrothed to the daughter of one of the most notorious gangsters in Chicago. Whether any of that gossip is true or not is something I can only wonder about now but we swallowed it hook, line, and sinker when we were there.
It turned out to be a great turning point for me in my life.
It is also the place where I believe that I met up with JFK for the first time in my life, as I did see him again later twice when he ran for the presidency.
I gained insights into how the truly rich live, play, and cavort as I spent the entire summer there working after I finally learned my way around the place.
Forest Tucker played in the Music Man that summer, and the songs filled the club at noon during lunch hour, and a song that always sticks with me to this day is Til There Was You. There was love all around but I never heard it singing, I never heard it at all, til there was you....I loved that song.
Forest Tucker came to the club with a 16 year old girl accompanied by her mother. She was his girlfriend...hahahaha....
I am sure now that he was probably banging both of them, but at any rate, I was asked if I wanted to serve him, so I did. He called me "BABY" which I absolutely hated.
Later, then, another man came who had not been a club regular, and he was called Perry Goldberg. He asked for me also, since I had a reputation for being fast on my feet. I wonder now...I don't believe any of it any longer, but that is due to thinking it through now that it is past history.
He had a gorgeous woman who they said is his wife. She had the most beautiful face in the world, a blonde, but the biggest legs, piano legs, and she was the type who was submissive to him. He would talk aloud about his "whores" who were in downtown Chicago, and at the time we had thought this gorgeous woman was his wife. I now wonder about it all.
But I began to listen to him and to watch him. He looked just like John Kennedy, who I had seen during the 56 election when he had run for vice-president but was defeated by Estes KeFauver...I had watched Kennedy on t.v. then and could see him going up the ladder of success, a lot like a description of Julius Caesar in the play when he is described that way. I always associate the two together.
One day I passed Perry as he was walking out of the dining room and I stared at him and he stared at me, and I recognized that he is John Kennedy then in his looks, and I could see that it was him, and he knew it. He looked at me as hard and long as I looked at him. He knew I knew.
He never returned. That was the last time I saw him until he made an appearance at Michigan State University.
I believe now that he had been playing the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind when he sat there with this gorgeous chick at his side, pretending to be his wife.
I saw him again in Flint, Michigan, as at that time I was a fan of his, not yet connecting him to Perry Goldberg at all. I had forgotten about it at the time I went to see him give his speech. Surprisingly enough, I was more impressed with the speech that Walter Reuther gave than that of Kennedy. Reuther was a fantastic speaker.
I did vote for him. Later, when I am at Cortez High School in Glendale School District, I am teaching guess what? Julius Caesar, naturally. I can never forget it. I made all my students (tenth graders) memorize Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears speech.
Kennedy has often been compared to Julius Caesar in that they were both assassinated.
Now these are the facts. My student number at Michigan State University is 300276.
Kennedy is riding in a car with the plates 300 on them. The gun at the FBI that Oswald used is tagged with 276 on it. Does that sound like a setup? You bet your sweet bippie it does.
So, I also found a plaque at Dallas Love with the time of day when he was shot...that was a different time zone from where I was in Arizona at that time.
But the time of day matches my social security number perfectly as well.
Could things be so contrived more than to point the finger to the match being made to me?
At Kent State University, the sorority that gave me the match book is Delta Gamma. I won't say more about it now...except that is the house with the anchor! and lifsaver!
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