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LIFE & TIMES

 This could also be titled "Papa's Delicate Condition.

       As a youth, my father gave me a subscription to Popular Science as a birthday gift.  Shortly after the novelty of having mail delivered on a monthly basis with my name on it wore off I realized how interesting the magazine really was. There were current advances in science, "how to" articles, inventions, funny ads, and a kinda gruff old mechanic down at the Model Garage.  I lived in a working class neighborhood in Chicago at the time and somehow the small town feel of the series appealed to me.  My father was a "Gus" of sorts and seemed to be able to accomplish most anything. 

       I kept that subscription going all the way into my young adulthood, saving issues and re-reading favorite stories. Gus enticed me into working on cars which led to becoming a mechanic and then going on to teaching mechanics in high schools from North Dakota to Vermont and from Colorado to California.  Along the way my collection of Popular Science was lost.  Youth travels light or perhaps youth must learn value. 

       I finally got out of the teaching trade and became enamored with graphics and the computer.  My wife encouraged me to try working on a web page and after much cajoling I devised the Gus project and started it by researching Gus on the web. The only solid reference I came up with was Don Miller's site at arcpress.com.  He had beaten me on the Gus idea and had begun to compile and transcribe the monthly stories.  We corresponded and then I started the first part of the project - the gathering of the stories.

    Ebay proved to be both my salvation and curse.  The stories increased as my checking account diminished.  I began by scanning each story and each monthly cover and soon realized that the scans would take up too much space to just post, so, following Don Miller's lead, I started to transcribe stories into Word documents.  I am a two finger typist and they went sloooooooooow.  Around that time, my secretary, Mary Viramontes, volunteered to help.  Without Mary's efforts this project would have been short-lived.  Trooper that she was, Mary was typing in her spare time for 5 years.  Transcribing these stories isn't as easy as one might think.  At times the scans left an awful lot to be desired. We now have 100% of the 529 stories transcribed and posted and have gone through 6 major reviews in search of inacuracies or typos.  That hunt continues with the help of visitors to the site.  Step on up and meet Gus Wilson.  He's an amazing guy.