CHAPTER TWO

To begin, it is important for you to know me and my background so you can better understand who I am and from where my thoughts are coming. My name is Larry Sands MacDonald ... the Sands is for my mother's maiden name. The MacDonald is Scottish but I am a mixture of Scottish, Irish, French, Dutch, and English. Of course I carry the best traits of each of these and none of the bad habits. My new nickname is Mr. Sandman."

I have adopted it in honor of the Chordettes, made famous on the Arthur Godfrey Show (television) and originally from Sheboygan. The second line in their hit song - "Mr Sandman" - is "Bring Me A Dream." This book is the dream - not "bring me a handsom lover" as in the original version but as in "Bring Me World Peace" as in my new version - Version II.

I wasn't born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, but I almost was. We moved here when I was four years old. I was born on the Fourth of July, l926, in St. Mary's Hospital in Ladysmith, Wisconsin exactly twenty years before Ronald Lawrence Kovic was born in the same hospital on July 4, 1946. (He wrote the book and movie "Born On The Fourth Of July".) (My mother's birthday, by the way, is another significant date, September 11.)

My doctor was Doc O'Connor and he rushed me along a little because he was the official starter at the county fairground horse races and I was running a little late. I have a small scar near my navel to show where the knife slipped.

I am a 1944 graduate and former school president of Sheboygan North High . Jinny Cole, who formed The Chordettes, sang on stage in my sucessful campaign. While at North, I lettered in football, basketball, track, and debate. I am a former Jaycee, former Y's Man (YMCA), an Eagle Scout, and the only surviving Life Deacon of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

As a Kiwanian since 1953 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America every Wednesday noon. We proudly fly the star-spangled Banner on a 65 foot pole in our back yard overlooking Lake Michigan, twenty-four hours a day (lighted at night). Under it, we now also fly the United People of the World flag.

We now have a "Peace Pole" in our front yard that proclaims "May Peace Prevail on Earth" in the six official UN languages plus German and Hmong (for Sheboygan). There are over 200,000 of these poles all over the world - and the more, the better.

My dad was a proud Marine during World War 1. Later he sold life insurance for a major life insurance company in Ladysmith until 1930 when I was four years old. Then we moved to Sheboygan where he became the District Manager and held that position until he semi-retired at age 55 in 1949. During retirement Dad and Mom made fifteen major trips all over the world. He died at age 87 in l980 and Mom died a year later, also at age 87.

They were super parents. My dad was a salesman and the first president of the Wisconsin Life Underwriters Association. My mom was an angel. Dad was a good provider and very active in his community. He was chairman of the third through seventh war bond drives in Sheboygan and each went over the top. He was one of the founders of the Sheboygan YMCA and President of the Community Fund. Mom was up at dawn and worked hard in her home until dark. She was a devout Christian and taught Sunday School all her life. Dad never missed a game in which I played and that meant football, basketball, and track. He always said he hoped he would die on the fifty yard line.

My only sister, Ardith, was two-and-a-half years older than I and died of cancer at age 46. She had her picture in the University of Wisconsin yearbook her senior year more than anyone else except the class president. She was very active on campus, especially around the Memorial Union. Ardith wrote me a postcard every day for two years while I was in the service. She left a loving husband and four wonderful children after having battled cancer for over five years. She became thin as a rail but her good friends had her playing bridge until the day before she died.

Sheboygan County has been famous for cheese, chairs, children and churches. The fine caring people of our community, through these churches, the Sheboygan Area United Way, the YMCA, and other charities, support many worthwhile causes.

The H. C. Prange Company department store chain (now Younkers) started here. Besides the Chordettes, we are also famous for ROAD AMERICA, Don McNeil, Jackie Mason, LPGA golf pro Martha Nause (now head golf coach at Kofi Annan's alma matter, Macalester College), Bill Schroeder (former Green Bay Packer), speedboat racing champion Mark Nemschoff (Nemschoff Sports is a top offshore race team having won four World Championships, two National Championships, and four World Endurance Speed Records), former Utah coach Ray Majerus, Kohler bathrooms, engines, and hospitality. We have plastics, knitting wear, toilet seats, foundries, woodstock, machinery manufacturing, orthodontics supplies, computer software, insurance, stainless steelware, air compressors, coffee filters, water filters and wholesale foods companies to name a few of our prominent businesses. We also have excellent schools including three fine colleges - Lakeland, University of Wisconsin - Sheboygan, and Lakeshore Technical College.

Sheboygan is also the BRATWURST CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! I was Chairman of our first Jaycee-sponsored Sheboygan Bratwurst Day in 1953 (visit their site) and it is still held on the first weekend in August each year. Our Johnsonville Sausage is distributed worldwide! Old Wisconsin and Miesfeld Sausages are also excellent and popular brands. There is nothing better than a charcoal grilled brat and a beer for backyard summer entertaining. In December 1998 even McDonalds began featuring Johnsonville brats!

Sheboygan is ideally located right on the shore of Lake Michigan. We have first class private and public yacht clubs and a beautiful large YMCA on our harbor. We are home port for Terry Kohler's famous sailboat, "EVOLUTION."

Our Wisconsin United Church of Christ brought the historical ship "AMISTAD" to the port of Sheboygan for a successful visit on July 16-18th, 2003.

On June 16, 1989, our Sheboygan Kiwanis Club successfully launched an annual festival called "KIWANIS LAKEFEST" on what would become a new thirteen million dollar waterfront called Harbour Center. With the help of the Sheboygan Press, the founder of this major festival was my partner and son-in-law, Mark Koepsell, then our Kiwanis Club President. Our whole club (50 members), our spouses, children, grandchildren, several other service clubs, and over two hundred other volunteers become involved. Local businesses are generous in their support. Lakefest has been held annually on the third weekend in August. Nationally known bands have played. So far admission has been free, but over $300,000.00 has been raised to benefit local charities.

The Economic Club of Sheboygan, which was formed in 1963, is one of the best known in the Midwest. We regularly attract the best speakers in the country in the field of economics. The year I was club president (1998-99), thanks to Jim Raffel who arranges our programs, we hosted Richard Curtin, Director of the Surveys Research Center, University of Michigan, Richard Hokinson, Chief Economist, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Larry Kudlow, Chief Economist, Bear & Sterns, and David Hale, Chief Economist, Kemper Financial Company. What a line up! (Download Brochure listings 40-years of outstanding speakers and leadership.)

The University of Wisconsin - Sheboygan County Foundation features an outdoor picnic on campus the second or third Wednesday of August each year called "Chicken and All That Jazz" which is very popular. We feature jazz music and lots of chicken, fresh roasted corn on the cob, and side dishes! Sheboygan is also proud of its Community Concert Series which brings in nationally famous musicians. We also have an excellent symphony orchestra, named for our city, which performs in the spectacular Stefanie H. Weill Center For The Performing Arts, the beautifully restored, historic Sheboygan Theatre.

Sheboygan has one or two huge fishing contests on Lake Michigan each mid-summer. We are fortunate to have an unlimited supply of fresh water from Lake Michigan and we have a large fleet of charter fishing boats with reasonable prices. For additional information call charter captain Bob Dumovich at 920 457-1331 or the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce at 920 457-9491.

Our Kohler American Club is the only five diamond resort hotel in the Midwest. It was built originally to house the early employees of the Kohler Company who were immigrants. Steeped in a heritage of European craftsmanship, they were eager to achieve success in their new country. The Kohler Company has grown to international stature with more than 20,000 associates worldwide. From potteries in Mexico and China, to showrooms in Japan and France, KOHLER ideas, craftsmanship and technology are at work today leading the way to more gracious living in plumbing products, exquisite furniture, engines and generators, hospitality and real estate.

Kohler's hospitality division includes Blackwolf Run golf course. Its Sports Core tennis club is among our nation's finest! The 53rd annual U. S. Women's Golf Open was held at Blackwolf Run in summer 1998. Also in 1998 the new Whistling Straits golf course opened six miles north of Sheboygan on the dunes of Lake Michigan. This course, conceived by Herb Kohler and designed by Pete Dye, is the ultimate in golf worldwide. No golf carts are allowed (except for disabled players) in the Scottish tradition. Every hole has a view of Lake Michigan and the terrain is similar to St. Andrew's, the world's first golf course. A destination for every golfer, the PGA Championship was played here August 9 to 15th, 2004! Over 300,000 visitors attended. This was the biggest golf tournament in the world and over 1,000 members of the media covered the event on the ground and from the air.

The eyes of the world were on Sheboygan County and I hope that at least one pair discovered Mr. Sandman from Sheboygan and his dream, "The Way to World Peace." What a wonderful story it would be - "The Road to World Peace" starts in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and goes in all directions. Come and see "Mr. Sandman" and his Peace Pole at 225 Huron Avenue. Read his book on the Internet and head your own ship toward our common goal of world peace. Plans have begun for a Peace Pole Park at 3rd and Michigan in Sheboygan. We hope to dedicate it after this year's Fourth of July parade.

In the summer of 2003, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, The Bull, located on the site of the former Pinehurst Farm, opened in Sheboygan County. The addition of this course adds to Sheboygan County being the Midwest's premier golfing destination.

The Osthoff Resort and Conference Center on Elkhart Lake is a castle and a "must" to see! They are currently expanding. Some condominiums may still be available. Spend a week at the American Club, a week at The Osthoff and a week at our newest, Blue Harbor, and you will have quite a vacation in Sheboygan County!

Blue Harbor, a unique $57M resort hotel and conference center opened June 8, 2004 to rave reviews. It features one of Wisconsin's largest indoor water parks. Built on an isthmus of land created by the convergence of the Sheboygan River and Lake Michigan, Blue Harbor is an ideal spot for star gazers, (watch Venus, the famous "Eastern Star" hovering over Sheboygan and Lake Michigan) , honeymooners, and families. Be a wise man; come and see our star in the east.

Sheboygan is a one hour drive south from Green Bay and one hour drive north from Milwaukee. We are only a two-and-a-half hour drive north from Chicago's O'Hare airport on good highways. Sheboygan also has a fine airport. Our city has about 50,000 people and our county has about 100,000. We are in the heart of America's Dairyland. We are the Cheese Center of the World. We are blessed by having the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Milwaukee Bucks only one hour away. And, the 1999/2000 Rose Bowl Champions - the University of Wisconsin "Bucky Badgers" are just two hours away in Madison. Call our Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce at 920-457-9491 for a beautiful brochure on Sheboygan County and all its treasures. In April of 1997 Reader's Digest editors concluded that Sheboygan was the number one city in the USA in which to raise a family!!! In 2001, ePodunk titled Sheboygan the best hometown in Wisconsin (see story) and in 2002, Money Magazine recognized Sheboygan as a great place to retire, one of the top ten in the nation (see story).

The Wisconsin American Field Service student exchange program is one of the best in the world. My wife Darlene was the Area Representative for ten years through July 6, 1993. The Sheboygan Area Chapters had a 40th year reunion July 1 - 6, 1993 and over 80 former AFS students (plus some families and friends and relatives) from all over the world returned. This event was three years in the planning. The President of AFS-USA, Jennifer Froistad, was our main speaker at the final banquet at Lakeland College. All local and national political representatives of the Sheboygan area were invited plus President Clinton and his Cabinet members Donna Shalala and the late Les Aspin, who were from Wisconsin, as well as Wisconsin's Governor Thompson. Not all attended. In July of 2003, to celebrate 50 years of AFS in Sheboygan, another successful reunion was held in conjunction with Sheboygan's 4th of July and Sesquicentennial (150th year) celebration.

Old-timers may remember a song called "Mention My Name In Sheboygan... It's The Greatest Little Town In The World". Well, it is, and we have kept it a secret long enough. There is no finer place to live in the whole world! Reader's Digest agrees! Sheboygan county surely is a Shangri-La worth visiting, living in, and returning to!

In our Junior year at North High School (1943) our basketball team, on which I played, won the Fox River Valley Championship. In our Senior year the highlight was beating Central (now called South), our cross-town rivals, by 28 - 21 in football in a thrilling finish. In 1999, my grandson, Jason MacDonald, also started on a North High championship football team.

Our high school teachers and coaches had a big influence on my life and philosophy... especially Bernice Scott in World History, Herbert "Doc" Houston in forensics, Clara Dahlman in German, Kathryn Prescott in Latin, Helen Herman and Art Mather in theater, John Hahn and "Bump" Jones in basketball, "Red" Peterson, "Doc" Griffiths, and Arden Wandrey in football, Howard Rich in track.

Three weeks following high school graduation I entered the Navy's V-12 pre-chaplin Officers Training program on July 1, 1944. Three semesters were at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin, where I included some religion courses, and three semesters were at Marquette in Milwaukee, a Jesuit school where I also took some religion courses. Later on I also studied the Lutheran Religion for six weeks.

At Lawrence as a freshman I lettered in basketball and track. At Marquette I went out for football, basketball, and track but lettered only in track (half mile). One proud moment was the day I scored the point that beat Notre Dame. I got a third in the half mile and we (Marquette) won by one point! My roommate at Marquette was Horace Edwards, one of the top blacks in the V-12 program in the nation. Another good Marquette friend was Rod Snider, whose philosophy then was "the best hours of the day are those spent resting in the sack."

After being discharged from the Navy at Great Lakes on July 1, 1946, that fall I entered the business school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. At six weeks exams I ended up in the infirmary with "Iritis" (an inflammation of the eye) and the doctor advised me to rest my eyes for a year. I dropped out of school and after Christmas I decided to work in the post war relief effort in Europe rather than just sit around for a year. Armed with letters of introduction from Dr. Wilford Evans of Sheboygan and Dr. Alfred Swan of Madison, nationally renowned ministers of my church, in January, 1947, I hitchhiked to New York City with my parents' reluctant consent and applied for a job with the Congregational Christian Service Committee. I was hired to work in New York City as their file clerk, errand boy, shipping clerk, and tour guide for visiting ministers. I reported to Dr. Edgar Chandler, Rev. Joe Howell, and Walt Williams who were three hard working, dedicated gentlemen.

The first thirty days I roomed at the Sloane House YMCA and then I was allowed to extend my stay there by playing on their basketball team against other Ys in the area. Eventually I located a free room in City Park Chapel, a mission church in old Brooklyn, just over the Manhattan Bridge. For my room I taught Sunday School and helped with their boys' club. (About 90 % black members and about 90% good kids.)

At the Service Committee I earned twenty-five dollars a week (1947). I ate at the Horn and Hardardt's Automats. For ten cents each I could get spinach, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans. The subway was five cents but I would walk if I could to save the nickel. For a real treat I would take the Staten Island Ferry on a round trip past the Statue of Liberty. [Five cents each way]. It was an interesting year in New York City but I never made it to Europe as I soon discovered I lacked skills that they needed there. On summer weekends I sold ice cream from a push cart in old Brooklyn. I made enough to buy a bicycle upon which I did my exploring of the area. At a church meeting I met a fascinating friend named Joe Pepenella. Joe was an artist and painted a picture for me of a full moon over Manhattan as we saw it one evening from the Staten Island Ferry. I still have and cherish this original work. He gave it to me as a going away present. (Click here to view.)

Early in December, 1947, I found a person to take my job and headed home to Sheboygan hitchhiking. After packing I finally got underway about midnight on Friday, December 12. I took the subway to the Holland Tunnel and vowed to wait until a driver offered me a ride at least as far as the Penn Turnpike. It took a long time. I made friends with the tollgate collector while I froze in 14-degree weather. He directed me to a restaurant for a hot cup of coffee about 2 AM and upon my return I decided to take the next offer of a ride no matter where the vehicle was going - as long as it was West!

I hopped into the next car whose driver offered a ride, and halfway through the tunnel asked him how far he was going. He told me he was going about five miles! He let me off on the New Jersey turnpike about 3 AM in the near pitch dark with cars flying by at about 75 MPH. I thought I was going to freeze to death when finally about a half hour later a car whizzed by, then stopped and backed up. When they threw open the door to let this poor soul in I heard "Well, Larry MacDonald! What are you doing here?" Three Thirty A.M. on the sky drive in Jersey on a Friday night and someone knows me? A miracle! Here were two Navy V-12 classmates of mine who had stayed in the Navy...Paul Ebling and Leif Houkom! They had just done Manhattan and were on their way back to base about another five miles up the road. We stopped for coffee and some updating. Leif Houkom asked me if I remembered the girl I had introduced him to in Milwaukee...Jeanne Williams. I said "of course". "Well, we are getting married a week from today in Milwaukee at Reverend Wally Robertson's Westminster Presbyterian Church where you introduced us, and I would like you to be in the wedding party." I was.

After Christmas in Sheboygan I returned to Madison and finished school. During my stay in NY I had become more interested in the United Nations while guiding various ministers around the city. I had decided to get a business degree, study Russian, and make the UN a career. This I did. My goal was to sell the powers that be that we Human Beings were all created of "One Seed" by the same "Great Unknown Power" called by different names in different languages and religions. Since we were given brains to use, it did not make much sense to be fighting and killing each other and each other's innocent children on purpose or by plunder and blunder when we human beings have so many common enemies to fight together! (see axiom 12) This was going to be my life's purpose and a bit of a sales challenge! It was in February of 1948 after I went back to the University of Wisconsin at Madison that I met Darlene Busk of Afton and Lodi, Wisconsin. Darlene is third oldest of six children — first a boy and then five beautiful blondes.

Dar's dad was a sandlot baseball pitcher in his youth and was a telegrapher and depot agent for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. He homesteaded in Montana for two years and that land is still in the family. We are expecting oil to be discovered there any minute. Her mom was a pillar of her Methodist Church. Darlene was putting herself through school. She knew how to cook, sew, work hard, and she knew the value of money. She wasn't bad looking then and she isn't bad looking now! Most important... she seemed to like me.

That fall and the following fall I went out for football and spent a lot of time running the opposing teams' plays in practice and really enjoyed it, but didn't make the travel team. Johnny Coatta and a few others were my competition for quarterback. When the football season ended I went out for basketball but lasted only three days. I wanted to get a letter from my third school, but it wasn't to be!

While at Lawrence I had pledged Beta Theta Pi and transferred to the Madison chapter later. I retain many pleasant Beta memories. I also joined Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity at Lawrence after a friend had told me I had a "mellow" voice. (The dictionary defines mellow as "over-ripe, almost rotten.")

Following my graduation from the University of Wisconsin, on June 24, 1950, Darlene and I were married at the Wesley Methodist Student Center in Madison. We honeymooned at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison for one night and then moved into Slichter Hall couples dorm for the summer session. Dar still had a few credits to go and I couldn't get a job at the UN until September for the General Assembly meeting in NY. I took two International Relations courses and audited two Russian language courses.

In August of 1950 Dar and I found a ride to Ohio with relatives and took a bus on to New York, where on September l, 1950, I began my United Nations career at the bottom as a file clerk and later as a codifier in the Registry Department. George Heath from England was my supervisor while I served in "Staff Records" on the 36th floor of the Secretariat Building. George also was president of the Secretariat Stamp Club and got me started on my UN collection. I was there in 1951 when the UN issued their first stamps, and I invested $167.00 in "staff only" first day covers of the first issue. This was a fortune to me at the time. Later, through George, I acquired three of the number 4A "flag at half-mast" stamps which resulted from a printing error. Only 30 of these got out according to an article on the front page of the New York Times.

During our two-year stay at the UN our offices were first at Lake Success on Long Island and then were moved into the new Secretariat building on Manhattan. We also were fortunate enough to spend some months in Paris on the staff for the General Assembly Meeting there in 1951. Alex George, an Arab, was a close friend at the time. He was the one who explained to me what a bidet was. Joni, born April 25, 1951, was four months old when Darlene and I took her to see the sights of Paris for four and a half months.

Dar worked at the New York United Nations International School where among others, U.S. Ambassador Ralph Bunche's son attended classes. I took special pride also that the same two jovial Italian barbers who cut Secretary General Trygve Lie's hair also cut mine in the UN barber shop. Everyone is equal in a barber shop!

Darlene and I lived in the UN housing project called Parkway Village on Long Island near Flushing where on one sunny Sunday we counted thirty-two nationalities of kids playing as friends together on the playground. Two of our best friends were Laura and Reggie Bruce who lived next door. He was an officer in the Legal Department of the UN and traveled frequently on missions. They were just friendly black neighbors when we first met them but became wonderful Human Beings and close friends when we got to know them. Our other best friends in NY were Ron and Ellie Robb whom we met at the Flushing Methodist Church. They more recently named our Sheboygan home "MacDonald's Hotel."

During my two years at the UN as a General Services level employee I applied for 32 bulletin board promotion notices at the Professional level with no success. Most jobs were filled before they were posted. Bruce Steadman, a personnel officer of high rank at the UN, gave me some advice. "If you, as an unskilled U.S. citizen want to break through into the professional level, the best way is to leave the UN and find something the UN needs and can't find anywhere else in the world, and then come back with it." (I did.) The geographical distribution of staff that prevailed at the professional level dictated that if they could fill a job with someone other than a U.S. citizen they had to, because they were already over the USA quota.

I recall a day when I was looking through the annual UN base budget for the UN headquarters. About the same time, three Army bombers blew over during a Texas windstorm and were destroyed. When I read that the cost to replace those three bombers was greater than the whole annual UN base budget, I wondered...Look how little we are spending on our offense compared to what we are spending on our defense when it comes to our goal of world peace!

If you really think about it - Are all the U.S. citizens the good guys and all the Russians the bad guys? Are all the Israelis the good guys and all the Palestinians the bad guys? Are all the Bosnians the good guys and all the Serbs the bad guys? NO! The good US citizens, the good Russians, the good Israelis, the good Palestinians, the good Bosnians, the good Serbs, etc. are the good guys! It is time we figured this out and we GOOD GUYS got together! Let's do what it takes and do it cautiously, persistently, effectively, legitimately, and peacefully, but let us, each one, persevere on the road to world peace working through our present leaders.

So I left the UN on Bruce Steadman's advice — to return one day. We moved to "Shangri-La" (Sheboygan). Since September 1, 1952, while working on these thoughts and this book, I have sold life insurance and annuities for AXA-Equitable Life, one of the largest and best life insurance companies in the world. I have earned the CLU and ChFC degrees and have had as many as twelve agents in my district. Now, with my office and computer in my home and a new national service center in operation in Charlotte, NC, I don't ever plan to retire. I have a son-in-law in the business, Mark Koepsell, and a partner, Bob Thomack.

As a member of the Sheboygan Y's Men's Club (YMCA) I helped start the "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" program in Sheboygan and in our first year (1952), we collected the most of any city in the nation (Read letter from UNICEF). The program still goes on here.

Darlene and I have four wonderful married children each with super spouses...Joni MacDonald (Raye Kanzenbach), Janet (Mark) Koepsell, Scott (Regina) MacDonald, and Lori (Steve) Martin. We also have five grandchildren...Laura (Kanzenbach) Verrips, Christy, Kendel, and Jacob Koepsell, and Jason MacDonald, who are our pride and joy!

Kendel, age 15, nearly died while on a family vacation in Florida in January 1997 from some unknown illness and toxic shock but prayers from all over the world, some very skilled doctors and nurses at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, a Lear jet air ambulance and medical team, an "ECMO" machine, and more very skilled doctors and nurses at Children's Health Care of Atlanta (formerly Egleston Children's Hospital), brought her back to life, but that is another whole story yet to be written. She is fine now! But what she and we all went through and the fact that she survived would make a GREAT book! It was truly a miracle of prayers!

Because we have been active in the American Field Service Student Exchange program and the People to People program we also have an extended "family" of former foreign students (and three teachers) who lived with us for a school year and now live in Argentina, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, China, Peru, and Thailand. We love them all! There are good people all over the world. Don't let anyone tell you differently! We don't have to get rid of "the bad people in the world"... we only have to eliminate the bad in people in our world. NO HUMAN BEING WAS EVER BORN BAD!