Autobiography. How relationships enhanced my life.

The Propinquity Effect

How Relationships Have Enhanced my LifeBy Art Schmitt

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Dr. Art Schmitt
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-0148-3

Contents

Dedication..........................................................................................xiiiIntroduction........................................................................................xvChapter One The Original Propinquity Story..........................................................1Chapter Two The Rodney Story........................................................................5Chapter Three The Eagle Scout Story.................................................................9Chapter Four Executive Officer, Navy Alcohol Rehabilitation and Training Center.....................15Chapter Five The Roy Shingledecker Story............................................................19Chapter Six The Denny Griffin Story.................................................................23Chapter Seven Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt Apollo 17..................................................25Chapter Eight Wes Westling Captain, Chaplain Corps US Navy..........................................31Chapter Nine Air Force Stories......................................................................35Chapter Ten Admiral Kevin Delaney...................................................................53Chapter Eleven Frank Dabney and Sons................................................................57Chapter Twelve The Dave Meleski Story...............................................................61Chapter Thirteen The Del Taco Story.................................................................67Chapter Fourteen Brief, Meaningful Associations.....................................................73Chapter Fifteen.....................................................................................79The Last Chapter....................................................................................87Epilogue Unknown Author.............................................................................93About the Author....................................................................................101

Chapter One

THE ORIGINAL PROPINQUITY STORY THE RON TURCO STORY

Having spent a wonderful twenty-two years in the navy as a naval aviator, I ventured out into the corporate world. Made a lot of money, met some great people. After having been downsized so many times, I told my wife, "We are going to sell the house and start our own business." I told her, "Even if we have to pick with the chickens, we are not going to get downsized again."

In 1988, we started Business Team Builders, Human Resources Management Consulting.

Through the propinquity effect, I was asked to become the director of the North West Pain Center, Portland, Oregon-one of the most difficult positions that I have undertaken. There were four woman department heads who did want to have a man run the place. At the department head meetings, the women would argue about whether the toilet seats should be left down in the unisex bathroom. I went to a department meeting for the psychiatrists and psychologists. They asked me why I was there. I said, "Not only am I the director of this center, but I have an Oregon license." They looked at me like I had three heads. I used to go up to the biofeedback lab at four o'clock and try to get unstressed.

Out of this difficult position, one of the most miraculous propinquity effect moments occurred. I met Dr. Ron Turco. He was a consultant to the center and had a private practice and was a forensic psychiatrist for the police department. Ron suggested that I become a vocational expert witness for Social Security. I said, "No way; I am not an expert on anything." Even though I had been doing personnel and human resources management for years, I didn't believe that I was an expert.

I applied to the Seattle office of Social Security and was accepted. There was no training program, so I found another expert witness and talked him into me sitting in on his hearings. He was kind enough to allow me to do it, even though it would cut into his time. I was scheduled, and I told my wife, "I am not going to do this. I am going to call in sick." That was some estimated 18,000 cases and twenty years-and a considerable amount of income-ago.

During the twenty years doing this, I have told my wife on numerous occasions that I had to find Ron and thank him. Finally, last month, I went on the web, and lo and behold, I found Dr. Ron Turco. I e-mailed him. Two months went by, and I picked up the phone, and it was Ron Turco.

We connected the dots after twenty years. He had written four books, and I had written four, so we swapped books. Closely Watched Shadows, his first book, is about his battle with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Ron suggested that I read this heavy book first. It was the story of how he functioned as a forensic psychiatrist. He was instrumental in solving at least three high-profile serial murders. This job for twenty-five years cost him dearly. The crimes and the crime scenes that he was exposed to caused him to suffer from PTSD.

I read the book with great interest because I am in treatment for PTSD caused by my three tours in Vietnam. Ron beat the demons of PTSD and lives in almost-retirement in Oregon. When I finished his book, I broke down and cried.

Forensic psychiatry led him and his colleagues to do psychological profiles of the murderers. With this skill, he wrote Kim Jong Il and the Korean Dilemma and The Architecture of Creativity: Profiles Behind the Mask. Ron wrote psychological profiles of Andrew Wyeth, Duke Ellington, Mark Rothko, Yukio Mishima, Helen Hardin, Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci.

He also wrote a fiction crime story, Walk East on Burnside, an excellent piece of work.

Having made this propinquity effect connection again, I was inspired to write this book.

The rest of the story: Ron has suggested several attorneys and crime fighters to assist my daughter in her quest to bring the murderers of my grandson, Josh, to justice.

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.

-Saint Thomas Aquinas

Chapter Two

THE RODNEY STORY

Rodney found me through a networking situation. He called and asked to meet with me. He had a proposition for me. He said he was from San Diego and was going to set up a computer learning center in Portland for minorities. Rodney himself was an African American about thirty-five years old. We met at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Portland.

He said that he had found a site and had met with a gentleman, Tom Boothe, a consultant with American State Bank. He told me where the site was and that his girlfriend lived in Portland and that she was a cosmetic salesperson. Rodney told me where she lived.

He wanted me to hire instructors, buy the equipment, and set up the school. He said that he would be back in town in a few weeks and I should present him with a proposal. Rodney said, and I quote, "Money is no object." He gave me his cell phone number.

I walked him out to the car, and sure enough, it was a late model Mercedes with California license plates. I drove over to where the school was going to be, and there was an older building that looked perfect for the school, and it had a "for sale" sign on it. I drove by the American State Bank,...