Albert's Life Story in Photos

My Life Timeline in Photos

Each year a photo.  Up to 1980, age 31.  

Here we go.

1949 - My parents rented an apartment in Vienna after the war.  That's where I was born. Here it is today.  

Salmannsdorfer Straße 66
Vienna, Austria [Google Maps]

1950 - I was one year old.  No neck and chubby. They called me "Berti." I had no idea what was coming.

Albert Kordesch, 1 year old.
Vienna, 1950

1951 - I had a big sister, Johanna, who took care of me in Vienna.  Everyone called her "Hanni."

Albert and Johanna
Vienna, 1950

1952 - My father Karl worked at the U. Vienna chemistry lab and bought a scooter.  We had fashionable winter coats and hats. Vienna gets cold.

Erna, Albert, Johanna, Karl Kordesch with his Lambretta Scooter,
Vienna, 1952

1953 - We embarked to New York because Karl got a job researching batteries with the US Army Signal Corps after the war.  The American food on the navy ship was strange.  Everybody threw up.

Albert and Johanna on the USNS General HF Hodges T-AP144,
Heading to New York City, March 1953

1953 - We lived in New Jersey near the Atlantic Ocean.  We found shells and horseshoe crabs. My jeans had suspenders.

Al "Berti" and Jo "Hanni" at Long Branch Beach, New Jersey, 1953

1954 - We loved going to the park.

Albert, Erna and Johanna in New Jersey, 1953

1954 - I got a little sister, Kitty.  We took her to the same park.  She wore diapers and cried.

Erna, Kitty and Albert,
Long Branch, New Jersey, 1953

1954 - We lived at Prospect Terrace Apartments. Our friends were fellow Austrians.  We spoke German.

Albert and Johanna,
375 N Bath Ave, Long Branch, New Jersey, 1954

1954 - Dad bought a Chevrolet.  He drove it to work at Fort Monmouth.  He took us camping.

Johanna, Albert and Erna
with Karl's 1949 Chevrolet Fleetline,
Long Branch, New Jersey, 1954

1954 - I graduated from Kindergarten at age 5.  I learned English by myself.

Albert's graduation from Kindergarten,
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic School,
Long Branch New Jersey, 1954

1954 - Jo and I got bikes for Christmas.

We had a black and white Motorola TV and we got bicycles for Christmas.
375 N Bath Ave, Long Branch, New Jersey, 1954

1954 - We learned to ride our bikes.  I had training wheels.

Albert and Johanna riding our new bicycles,
Long Branch, New Jersey, 1954

1955 - We rented a duplex at 1277 Edwards Ave, Lakewood, Ohio.  Dad bought a Nash Rambler.  I received my First Communion at St. James Catholic Church.  I was a true believer.

Albert's First Communion at St. James Church on Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, 1956

1956 - I was on a kids TV show in Cleveland, and my brother Marty was born that year. Karl worked at the Union Carbide Research Center in Parma, Ohio.

Al on TV in Cleveland, WEWS

1957 - My grandmother Bianca Böhm visited from Vienna and we took her to Niagara Falls.  She did not speak English.

Bianca, Johanna and Albert at Niagara Falls, 1957

1958 - We moved to Arthur Avenue and my dad built us a wooden clubhouse in our backyard.  My friends were Jewish, Irish and Scottish.

My neighborhood friends Steve Turocy, me, Billy Mahoney and Timothy Pascal, 
2060 Arthur Avenue, 1958

1959 - I always liked to climb rocks. I was 10.

Albert climbing rocks in Ohio
1959

1960 - I was in 6th grade at St. Clement's School. All our teachers were St Joseph Catholic nuns except Mrs. Jacques.  She taught us about biology and reproduction.

I was in the 6th Grade at St. Clement's Catholic School on Madison Avenue,
Lakewood, Ohio, 1959-60

1962 - I played football after school in 8th grade. I sometimes had lunch at Nello's house.  He was Italian.  I joined the school choir and we sang from the church balcony on Sundays.

Coach Bill Mason, Albert Kordesch (No. 31) With Nello Miraldi (65) and Jimmy Breiner (64) 
St Clement Football Team Lakewood Ohio, September 1962

1963 - It was my turn to attend high school in Vienna for one year, 9th grade, in German.  I lived in  Bianca's apartment with my uncle Peter's family.  I went to wonderful classical music concerts and struggled with Latin and algebra.

My all-boys high school, Gymnasium Stubenbastei,
Vienna, Austria [Google Maps]

1963 - I was not in the family photo that year. Karl had a camera with a timer and we developed black and white photos in his dark room in the basement.

Family photo without Albert.
Kitty, Marty, Erna, Jo, and Karl,
Lakewood, 1963

1963 - I went on a 2-week ski trip with my high school class, all boys.  We traveled 6 hours by train. There were no ski lifts.  We hiked up the mountain in deep fresh snow.

Al (right) on a High School Ski trip to Hohe Tauern, Austria 1964

1964 - I was a sophomore at St. Ignatius High School.  All boys.  Our teachers were Jesuit priests. Father Kirby taught physics class.  I read books about the invention of lasers and superconductors.

St Ignatius High School Yearbook Photo
Cleveland, Ohio, 1964

1965 - That's me in the backyard on Arthur Avenue. I was 16.  We listened to The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis, and the Beach Boys on the radio.  And of course Motown (The Supremes) and Bob Dylan. Top 100 Songs 1965

Albert at 2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood

1965 - My junior Year of high school.  I got my driver's license.  Dad let me use his car. I had a lot of friends.

1966, Lakewood, Ohio

1966 - My senior Year of high school.  Senior prom, mixers and  football games.  Dating girls!  I had a summer job washing dishes.

Marty, Albert, Johanna, Kitty and Coco our dog,
2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, 1966

1967 - I played trumpet in the St. Ignatius High School Marching Band.  We marched in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Cleveland.  We played at all the other school's football games because  St. Ignatius didn't have a home football field.

Albert in uniform, St Ignatius High School Marching Band, 1967

1967 - High School yearbook photo.

Al Kordesch with trumpet, Senior Yearbook,
St Ignatius H.S., Cleveland Ohio, 1967

1968 - I left for Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  I studied physics and played trumpet in the Kiltie Marching Band.  I got angry and resentful when I found out my Catholic religion was a big scam.  My priest tried to molest me in his bedroom.  I protested against the war.  I  used punch cards to program the UNIVAC 1108 in Fortran.

Albert, my dad Karl Kordesch and Coco
2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood Ohio, 1968

1969 - In the summer I went on a canoe trip in Michigan with my best friends.  I drove my dad's car.

Al Kordesch, Jim Reiner, Russ Culler, Bob Kilo, and Denny Connors
Michigan, 1969.  Photo taken by Hieu Tran.
More photos here: CANOE TRIP

1970 -  Hitch-hiked home for Christmas.  

American B-52's bombed Cambodia under the Nixon administration.  Four students at Kent State University were shot protesting.  Anti-war songs were popular.  Dylan, Baez, Lennon.

Johanna, Erna, Marty, Albert, Kitty and Karl Kordesch
2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, Christmas 1970

1971 - Home again for Christmas.  I was 18 and the US military was now drafting young men by lottery.

Al and Kitty Kordesch 1971

1971 - I graduated from CMU with a B.S. in Physics.  I reported for duty to the Selective Service (military) and went for a physical exam in the federal building downtown Cleveland.  They inspected my anus.

Graduation from Carnegie Mellon University with a B.S. degree in Physics
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1971

1971 - I applied to the U.S. Peace Corps.  Vietnam was not for me.  War against humans is a terrible thing.  I knew that my parents suffered through the horror of WW2 in Europe. 

Apply to the U.S. Peace Corps, 1971

1971 - US Peace Corps - Four months of immersion language training in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.  Eye-opening experiences in a totally fascinating new country. Malays, Chinese and Indians living together.

US Peace Corps Language Training,
Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 1971

1972 - I taught physics in Malay at SDAD High School, Muar, Malaysia.  I was in charge of the boy's hostel.  I had all my daily meals in the boy's hostel canteen with 80 boys.  Tea break was at 4 pm.  At night they were all afraid of ghosts.

Al Kordesch at SMK Dato' Sri Amar DiRaja, Muar, Johor, Malaysia 1972

1973 - Al's high school physics class at SDAD.  There were no physics texts in the Malay language, but our school had a mimeograph (stencil) machine for assignments, labs and exams in Malay.  I started a camera club and we processed black and white photos in our darkroom.

SMK Dato' Sri Amar DiRaja, Muar, Johor, Malaysia 1973

1973 - SDAD High School graduation photo. The chemistry and biology teachers were from Indonesia.

Al Kordesch, seated, third from left
SMK Dato' Sri Amar DiRaja, Muar, Johor, Malaysia 1973

1974 - I bought a very old British motorcycle ($280).  Luckily I had experience working on car engines. British bikes had the gear shift on the right side.

Al and his Norton 350cc single cylinder motorcycle at SDAD High School
Muar, Johor, Malaysia 1974

1975 - I fell in love with lovely Sharon Chee whom I had met during our Penang language training course back in 1971.

Sharon Chee with Al at Port Dickson, Malaysia, 1975

1975 - After 3 years of teaching I traveled far and wide (in Malaysia) on my motorcycle.  Kuantan, Perlis, Mersing, Tasek Bera and Singapore.  I always wore a helmet, except in photos.

Al and his motorbike, Malaysia, 1975

1976 -  I married Sharon in Los Angeles.  I worked at the USC department of education. The department had 20 Malaysian MARA students.
I quit smoking.

Al and Sharon's wedding day,
Los Angeles County Courthouse, 1976

1976 - Another wedding celebration in Penang with Sharon's family.  Sharon had 4 brothers, 3 sisters and a lot of uncles, aunts and cousins.

Al Kordesch and Sharon Chee,
Wedding photo taken in Penang, 1976

1977 - I enrolled at Case Western Reserve  University, Cleveland, to study electronics. I liked being a teacher but teaching jobs were not available.  Electronics was mostly applied physics.

Sharon and Al in Cleveland, 1977

1978 - I learned about semiconductors while Sharon worked at Cleveland Trust Bank downtown.

Sharon and Al at 2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood Ohio 1978

1979 - I graduated with an MSEE degree and started work at Keithley Instruments in Solon, Ohio.  We made computer controlled semiconductor test instruments.  Keithley sent me to Tokyo, Munich, Paris, London, Boston, Edinburgh, Dallas, and San Jose.

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio [Google Maps]

1980 - Nick was born in Lakewood, Ohio.  I was 31.

Al, Nick and Sharon,
2060 Arthur Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, 1980

(To be continued)