Triumphs & Trials of an Organ Builder
Who Charts the Course (continued)
My parents, wanting the best for me, decided to send me away to Allentown Prep School.
My father's factory was located in Allentown, Pennsylvania; conveniently, my sister lived there with her husband who worked for my father at the factory.
I stayed at her home while I went through the Prep School and then on to Muhlenberg College.
I believe my parents hoped thatsending me to Allentown would get me to settle down into a more traditional path and devote my time to schooling.
Well, I settled down in Allentown all right, but the forces at play inside me constantly put me at odds with my parents' desire for me to get a standard education.
I kept delving into radio (which eventually led me into the world of organs and the generation of musical tones).
I was captivated by what was then an obscure field.
I didn't know at the time that radio would soon blossom into the fabulous world of electronics, and that I would be playing a role in it.
As for my academic education, I kept it up for a few years but without great enthusiasm.
Then one day in February, 1937, 1 was struck down with appendix-related peritonitis.
In those days, as I believe it is even today, peritonitis is very serious indeed.
I was at death's door, a subject I paid little attention to before that time.
Fortunately, I was able to walk out of the hospital a month later back on the road to health but a lot "older".
A few months later, I left college.
I would forever more chart my own course.
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