gene krupa?

just a little bit of that calmness - from don and marianne

Happy Birthday Norm, Don and I have many happy memories that we share with your family. All the trips to visit when our families were young and Grandma would ride with us to your house and sometimes stay for a bit. Sometimes she would have been there and we would bring her home. Those were the good days. You were always so welcoming and took everything in stride when all the commotion was going on all around you. I often wished I could have just a little bit of that calmness. Our family often will bring up some memory and have a few laughs. They now share the sassy things they got into while us adults had our own time. We appreciate your kindness and your gentleness that seems to just make more sense than any other rational. We both have enjoyed our visits with you now that we are the seniors and have a lot of life experiences to share. Many are wonderful and it is so comforting to know that we can share some of the stressful and sad times with such good people that do not judge, but listen and understand. Our brief camping trips, which are new experiences for us, have been so much fun. All the fun times at all the family get-togethers and the sharing of laughs and memories is so special. We wish so many more happy and healthy years for you to enjoy all that you have earned. We love you, Don and Marianne

message from tarikua

Norm #2




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sing sing sing

When the decibel levels in the basement went off the charts, it was for one of two reasons: Elsie's Following was practicing, or Dad was listening to Benny Goodman.

the hair of his chinny chin chin

Every summer the Schwisters would pile into the station wagon and head west for a three-week camping vacation. During this all-too-brief respite from the real world, Dad would focus his energies and attention on the important work of growing a beard. Or a mustache. Or a goatee. . . whatever the whimsical mood of that year's trip suggested. The southwestern deserts and mesas called for a thin, sophisticated Zorro-esque mustache, as if saying, "Watch out. This man is suave, dangerous, and skilled in swordplay." For the Rockies, a full-on burly mountain-man beard was appropriate. He once returned from a tour of Civil War battlefields wearing Abraham Lincoln's square-cut beard and wise expression.

Mostly, though, the exact design and layout---dare I say architecture?---of the facial hair wasn't as important as the simple fact of actively growing something. And any spousal irritations generated by the annual beard project were really just whiskery icing on the cake. Mom would roll her eyes and complain about how prickly he was. Back home, vacation over, Dad would shave off the offending whiskers, and everything would be smooth again.

This all goes a long way toward explaining the Schwister boys' lifelong flirtation with ill-advised facial hair experiments.














In this relatively recent self-portrait, Norm models a classic Errol Flynn stash.

Breaker 1-9, Breaker 1-9

CB (citizen's band) radio jargon is a mix of the so-called “ten codes” commonly employed by police and fire departments, trucker slang, and ham radio terms. Those of you born after 1980 won’t recognize most of this jargon, except perhaps from reruns of ChiPs. But for the rest of you that are over twenty-five, who may, at one time, have wanted to be the Bandit, one of the Duke brothers, or even B.J. McKay (the TV trucker with the chimp sidekick), here's a trip down memory lane.

10-4: Message received and understood.
10-20: One’s location.
10-10: Negative (see also negatory)
10-12: Stand by.
10-22: Disregard.
10-42: Accident.
Smokey (or “Smokey Bear”): A police officer, usually a state cop or highway patrolman.
Local Yokel: A small-town officer or deputy sheriff; usually of limited ability and professionalism.
Got your ears on?: Are you on the air or monitoring this frequency?
Wrapper: An unmarked police car (see also plain wrapper).
Chicken coop: Weight or inspection station.
Flip-flop: Return trip.
Hammer: Accelerator pedal.
Hammer lane: Left, or passing, lane.
Handle: CB air name.
Backdoor: Behind your vehicle.
Front Door: Ahead.
Seatcover: Attractive woman in a passenger car.
Bear in the Air: Police helicopter.
Breaker (or simply, “Break”: Used to announce one’s presence on the frequency or to interrupt.
Comeback: Please acknowledge or repeat last transmission.
Evel Knievel: Motorcycle officer.
Feeding the Bears: Receiving a ticket.
Honeybear: Female police officer.
Landline: A hard-wired telephone.
Rachet-jaw: Someone who won’t shut up.
Copy: Receive.
Mercy: A stand-in for stronger language (see also mercy me/mercy sakes)

A CB radio was the cell-phone of its time, and the culture was analogous to the Internet in some ways. It was a medium that had been the province of a few professionals and hobbyists that exploded without warning into a national obsession, if only for a few years. And, just like the Internet, the yahoos took over almost immediately, by sheer strength of numbers.

Which brings us to our hero...

In the 1970's at the height of the CB craze, The Schwister family was living in Bloomer, Wisconsin. Norm was on the road frequently, traveling to Mid-Am plants and the division office in St. Paul. Norm joined the airwaves with a handle of "Bloomer Dropper" (A frozen drink involving peaches, pineapple, lemonade, and vodka - ya gotta love the 70's). I wonder what the truckers thought.

10-4 good buddy.

in the army now

True Love

I know a young lady who cries when she's sad

She cries when she's happy, and I bet when she's mad

She cried at her wedding, and honeymoon

I think that she felt that she married too soon

The tears they do flow at all kinds of stuff

But rarely they fall when things do get rough

Her father was stern, and mommy was too

So why she cries I will leave up to you

Will we change her I really can't say

But I sure do love her for being that way

birthday photo gallery

a sign

Waiting until the ripe age of 31 to marry, some might have suggested that Norm was commitment-challenged. I say he was just waiting for the sign that he’d met the right woman.

favorite brother

Happy Birthday to my "Favorite" Brother:

I have just spent the morning looking for pictures of you and found that, I think, you were usually the picture taker instead of the one having your picture taken.

I have lots of memories of our childhood and I know you do too, since we often discuss things that we did when we were growing up.

Here are a few:
Playing Monopoly one whole summer. I think you still owe me what you borrowed from me so we could keep playing.
Picking pigeons at a penny a piece.
Hunting for rats with Buddy and the time one ran up your pant leg.
Running for the bus on Sunday mornings to go to church. You kept watch by the road to see when the bus was up on North Ave and then you'd call for us to run.
Sunday visits after church with the cousins at Grandma & Grandpa's house. And playing Show with Aunt Loretta.
Cutting the lawn with a push mower and when the grass was long we both pushed it together.
Catching pollywogs in our pond and raising them in jars until they became frogs. Sleeping on the front porch in hot weather and Daddy carrying us inside before the sun came up. That was our air conditioning.

We sure had fun, didn't we?

Love, Your "Favorite" Sister

The Big Cheese

Norm....Congratulations and Happy Birthday......

I go pretty far back with Norm. I have been a supplier to Mid Am (DFA) for over 40 years. I should say before I begin my story, Norm was my favorite customer.....
About 1987 I bought a smallish boat that I rigged up for fishing on Lake Michigan. That first year I took several Mid Am plant managers (Clint Fall and Bob Hawley) fishing and we caught fish and had a great time. I then thought I was ready to ask the big boss to go on one of these trips. Well I asked and Norm said he would go. So Clint, Bob, Norm and I headed to Lake Michigan. I was a little nervous about having the 'Boss' along but everything was going OK. We drove over Friday night and the next morning we headed for the Lake. I looked at Norm and he's wearing a T shirt that says......"The Big Cheese". Nothing like adding more pressure to the situation. We got on the lake and started fishing. Usually early morning is the best time, but we fished and not a bite. Hour after hour we fished and nothing. I was really starting to sweat. No one warned me that customer fishing was so stressful. Anyway to make a long stressful story short, Norm finally got a big fish on his line. I knew that there were not going to be many fish caught on this trip, so I had to do everything possible to get the fish in the boat. It was a big King Salmon (well over 20 lbs) and he fought it for a long time. I might add Norm wasn't exactly the best big game fisherman I've ever seen. Well somehow we got the fish in the boat. We were able to catch a few more and we all had a great time. Norm said it was the biggest fish he ever caught. He took it home and I guess Mary figured out how to cook it and he told me it was delicious. I always wonder how my career would have ended up if that fish would have gotten away......Don Benson

cake & candles

october 17, 1931

The history books will note that Norman Schwister was born on October 17, 1931.

What else was happening on that day? It was a bad day for Al Capone, who was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to eleven years.

"Capone, looking like a head barber off to meet his best girl, stood in the corridor after the jury went out. He was smiling, but the smile seemed the equivalent of the quavery music of the whistler passing the graveyard.

The gang chief wore a very light green pinchback suit, tan shoes and mottled green tie. The vivid green draped on his 250-pound bulk made him stand out in the crowd like an elephant at an ants' convention."

Now that's journalism.

Other famous October 17 birthdays: Arthur Miller, Jimmy Breslin, Rita Hayworth, Evel Knievel, Eminem, and George Wendt---best known, of course, as Norm from "Cheers."

Click here for more fascinating October 17 history.

so it begins

Today, October 17, 2006, is Norm Schwister’s 75th birthday! To celebrate this major milestone in the life of our father, husband, brother, cousin, colleague, and friend, we’re launching this “75 Years in 75 Days” website.

For the next 75 days, we’ll be collecting stories, photos, and greetings from family and friends---anything you’d like to share with and about Norm---and posting them on the “75 Years in 75 Days” website. Your contributions will help us build an online collection of memories. It’ll be a multimedia birthday extravaganza!

Let the countdown begin. . .

73...74...75...

An apple a day keeps the birthdays away.
or so he hopes...

harmonica virgins sing happy birthday

Happy birthday from the latest incarnation of the Harmonica Virgins. And can you believe we did it in one take?