Bob Wieland – I was born in Manhattan in 1941 to immigrant German parents who came to America in 1926 escaping the hardships there after WWI. When I was a year old, they purchased a home in Queens.

We grew up in the 50’s, the best of times in America. Great music, terrific public schools, low crime, and Elvis.

Our parents insisted that betterment was thru education; my sister became an RN while I worked in sales. They had little education but were rewarded through hard work which was imparted to us.

NYC had three baseball teams when there were 16 major league teams. I was a fanatical Brooklyn Dodger fan and attended 14 games at Ebbets Field from 1954 until 1957. I saw Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double. When they left for LA it was like someone close had died. I lost interest in baseball until the Mets returned National League Baseball to Queens in 1962. I attended the game when they clinched the pennant on September 24, 1969, the year of the “Miracle Mets.”

I attended a Technical HS and then entered CCNY school of Engineering. After two years I joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. I resumed my education attending night school while working days and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1967. I met my wonderful woman in 1961 and married her in 1964. We have two children, six grandchildren, and one “new” great granddaughter. We miss them, our small but close family.

In 1985 we purchased a condo in Surf City. We got acquainted with the area and that simplified the decision to relocate to Magnolia Greens in Leland, NC, in 2003.