Steppingstones to a Brighter Future

By Paul J. Volkmann

Anyone who knows me by now, is aware that I am not just known as Paul Volkmann, but various names based on my initials. For instance, people have called me "Pee Vee," "Mr. Pee Vee," or just plain "Peev." I have taken my name and come up with sayings or my own descriptions of words and called them "PeeVeeisms. Upon departing from the presence of a friend, I'll usually state, I'll see you next time I'm looking at you unless you see me first!" Another is, "You've never know what smooth is until you've been through the potholes of Pittsburgh." And third, "Weather is weather, whether you like it or not!"I am very conservative in my PeeVeeistic patterns of thinking. For example, I am 100% against abortion whether it is medicinal or by slaughtering children right out of the mother's womb. Abortion is murder in the first degree. Anyone who think it is the right of others to do so because it is impractical to have children will have to stand beford God and tell Him He was wrong in creating that gift for all mankind.My wife had a hard time getting pregnant. She even miscarried at work and worked through it. Three times she lost children. We were blessed to have Aaron and Kelsey.

From a very young age all the way to the late 70's, some type of illness was always knocking at my door. When I was born, the doctor was half asleep when he delivered me and as a result, I did not get enough oxygen to the brain. I ended up falling victim to epilepsy which I've had all my life. Through my childhood , I'd find myself being operated for tonsillectomy, appendectomy, a ruptured spleen and two hernias. All through my life I was in the hospital for something. Even in my late 70's, I was admitted to Latrobe Area Hospital any number of times, Greensburg Care Center for a month, and Oak Hill Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, also for a month. After I was discharged from there I was under the care of Bethlen Communities for approximately one year. In the last ten years or so, I had some bad falls resulting in 21 concussions.

Even though my life was filled with a lot of bumps ad bruises, I can't say my life was all that bad. I fell in love with my first girlfriend while working one summer at Bayside Lodge, Harborside, Maine. It was one of those summer romances that didn't last long. We made the best of each evening, laying on the sands of the Penobscot Bay, hugging, kissing, and gazing at the Northern Lights far out in the heavens above. My brother and I both worth there all summer long, not only doing maintenance work but serving lobster on shores every Saturday night. He wasn't as girl crazy as I was. Even after my wife died in 2018, I've still been on the search for someone who would be willing to date me, but to no avail.

In between my times of recuperating, the Lord showed me how to do pencil drawings which I made notecards out of Latrobe landmarks as well as photographic notecards displaying some of the pictures I've taken throughout the United States. The Holy Spirit also showed me how to make fishing lure jewelry. I sold all my merchandise either at the Latrobe Art Center and the Latrobe Farmers' Market. In addition, He also help me write six books, this the last of six. The first one I published was called Off the Wall Favorites, which told of one hundred favorite opinionated newspaper columns, Peeveeitry in Form of Versity, from the Sublime to the Ridiculous, my favorite poems, With Me Always, A Talk with Delbert, where i go into the woods and talk with ten animals about how they bring up their young, their animal friends, and the threats to their environment. The fifth book I wrote was one I polished that my mother wrote of her biography as she traveled with her father, a physician, between the Bronx in New York and a small town in Germany where he also had an office. My mother, wanted to learn to sing opera found herself being given lessons by Nazis. And this book, Steppingstones to a Brighter Future, Is my biography.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350915594

Paul J. Volkmann

Paul J. Volkmann, also known as Latrobe’s Paul Harvey, has worked to bring smiles to people’s faces and make them think for a decade through his weekly newspaper column, ‘Off the Wall.” A Roman Catholic by faith, Volkmann has never been afraid to let his spiritual convictions be shown. Not only is he a fisherman, but also a fisher of men. Pee Vee or Mr. Pee Vee, as he is called by many, first had his passion for writing sparked in the late 60’s, as editor for a college page at the Ashland Times Gazette, in Ashland, OH. Volkmann continues to write his “Off the Wall,” as well as an outdoor column, “Inside the Outdoors” for The Latrobe Bulletin (PA.) He also serves as vice president and newsletter editor for the Holy Family Church’s Holy Name Society. When not at his computer, Volkmann enjoys spending time with his wife, Teri, and their grown children, Kelsey and Aaron.

Book preview

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Copyright ©2023

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 979-8-35091-558-7 (softcover)

ISBN: 979-8-35091-559-4 (eBook)

Table of Contents

Introduction—Known by My Nicknames

Preface

Chapter 1—In the Beginning

Chapter 2—Private Schooling in God’s Country

Chapter 3—An Intermediate Step

Chapter 4—Collegiate Years

Chapter 5—Joined Galion Inquirer Staff

Idea Brings Changes

Live-in Girlfriend

Chapter 6—Called to Duty

Left the Newspaper

Chapter 7—Living with the Folks

Awakened by a Visitor

Aren’t Yourself

Chapter 8—Went into Business

Three Enterprises

Chapter 9—Joined Derry New Testament Church

Chapter 10—Always Wanted Children

Bunny Poople Partner Handbook

Chapter 11—Health Deteriorated

Hooks Stuck in Hand

Chapter 12—Likes, Dislikes, and Disappointments

Chapter 13—Inside the Outdoors Newspaper Columns

Owl . . . ch! My first Owl Attack!

Best Lures for Stocked Trout

From Questions to Answers

Brother’s Keepers

Swarmed to My Fence

Chapter 14—Off the Wall Favorites Newspaper Columns

Heartfelt

My Friend Ang

Despised Words

Means What?

Chapter 15—Poetry Favorites

Adage

Rabbit Abbott

Fate

Daily Prayer

Conclusion

Introduction

Known by My Nicknames

Very few of us go through life without a nickname or two. I remember walking into Dan Ritchey’s photographic studio, Photorama, in Galion, Ohio, where I would buy boxes of 500 sheets of photographic paper on which I would print pictures to sell to customers. When I looked down at my invoice, there it was written in bold print beside the word NAME, Mr. Pee Vee. That was in 1967. A number of months ago, we started 2023. People still can’t resist calling me by that name. I’ve even written stories asking individuals to call me by my formal name, Paul J. Volkmann, but I was told they are not changing their ways.

I decided, after all this time, that I was going to listen to my readers. In addition, I would expand my thinking using Pee Vee and form words using my nickname. I also built new words to form expressions that came to be known as PeeVeeisms. These single words or expressions were a product of my imagination or phrases I had heard someone else use that became part of my speech habits.

When visitors departed from my home, one of my PeeVeeisms went like this: I’ll see you next time I’m looking at you, unless you see me first! That saying had rubbed off on me after being told to me many times by an old friend. Many years ago, I was attending a concert at the Syria Mosque in Oakland (a part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Often, I would attend this concert hall to listen to gospel music featuring religious music and songs of praise.

One Sunday, I sat in the front row to the left of the auditorium next to a woman who was a real talker. As she rambled on, I didn’t stop her but was getting a little bored as she persisted in boasting about all she had done up to the present time. Momentarily stopping, she then blurted out, And I was an RN, and you know what that stands for, don’t you? It didn’t take long for me to come up with a PeeVeeism. Yes, I know what it stands for, I replied. Really nothing! Immediately, she became speechless. That little story has become one I’ve told to so many others who asked if I would give them an example of what a PeeVeeism actually is.

Here are some others:

Weather is weather, whether you like it or not!

"Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where the Son always shines!

When people departed from my presence, they had a habit of saying, Take care. My comeback phrase is, If I don’t take care, I’ll take UNICEF. Upon coming home from my local pharmacy, I attempted to open two pill bottles. When I couldn’t do so, I became frustrated, shouting out, I am really beside myself. I can’t get these bottles open! Then it occurred to me, there must be two of us living in this house, me, and another me.

I recall many years ago, an individual told me about his misfortune as he drove home from the city of Pittsburgh. Telling me his story, he stated, While operating my car, traveling about fifty-five miles per hour, one of my wheels fell into a pothole, damaging the tire and causing it to flatten. Since then, I have used the PeeVeeism that goes like this: You don’t know what smooth sailing is until you’ve been through the potholes of Pittsburgh!"

When people ask me how I am, I usually state the following:

I’m fit as a fiddle, but not strung out!

Fantabulous, or/and, Suplendous!

When I had a grand mal epileptic seizure in front of Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, passing out and hitting my head on Walnut Street, I lay there for several minutes, unconscious. Upon gaining consciousness, I looked up and saw a motorist stop and a woman getting out of the passenger side door. Right away, she stated, Can I call you an ambulance? to which I replied, Gee, no one has ever called me that before!

I used to ride my bicycle a lot around Latrobe before getting my scooter. Instead of calling my two-wheeler my bike, it became known as my PeeVeehicle. I have since transferred the name to my scooter.

After watching the homecare specialists from formerly Bethlen Communities clean my kitchen floor with soap and water, I came up with another PeeVeeism that described their action. I called it Doing the Mop! One of my PeeVeeistic approaches to setting a goal is stick-to-itiveness. After one has set a goal of positive nature, look to the future as having a brighter side and not full of negativity. Incorporate hope as part of one’s incentive. Then pray to the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Mary, and all the saints who will take your petitions to God. Remember, the only person who will let you down is you. Realize that if something happened in your life that caused you to step back, you can reverse your thinking. What occurred was a stepping stone to a completely renewed lifestyle in the future. Think of God as your strength provider. Pray fervently, and He will never let you down. When I need to describe something I’ve never heard before, I’ll explain to the readers my way of thinking, which I’ll describe as PeeVeeistic. For example, I will tell my listeners I am a staunch conservative. My philosophy of life opposes those who call themselves liberals. I am a strong believer that partial-birth abortion, as well as medical abortion used to kill a live fetus in and out of a mother’s uterus, is murder in the first degree. Not only do these practices go against God’s Word, but anyone who believes pro-abortion or pro-choice is perfectly acceptable does not side with a PeeVeeistical philosophical thought process. Instead, I am an advocator of PRO-LIFE, one who believes in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Anyone who loves pornography does not agree with a PeeVeeistical philosophical thought process. The exposure of flesh should be between a married couple in the confines of one’s home; those parts of their body that normally would be covered by clothing in public view are not what the Holy Spirit would desire any of God’s children to do. If one thinks it is ok to do this, his ways are not godly, but those of the devil.

Over time, I took on nicknames that were given to me by friends. While in high school, I used to hang out with a friend who had a pink lemonade stand. Many times, I’d go down to his house and we’d sit together selling that pink refreshment. It didn’t take long for all my classmates to call me Pinky or just Pink. About fifteen years ago, I went to a high school reunion. No sooner did I enter through the front door of the Oakmont Country Club where the event was being held, did a classmate cheerfully greet me by proclaiming Hi ya, Pink! I was impressed that he remembered my nickname!

When my mother was alive, she always addressed her salutation to me as, Dear Son One, as I was the first male offspring born to my parents. My brother probably would have been called, Son Two. Both my mother and I had a sense of humor. When I called her on the phone, that was usually the beginning of my introduction. It would go like this. Hi, Mom, this is Son One. I’d even sign my letters to her as Bea’s Son One. I used different names when I sent emails to my friends. Wanting to be creative and original, recipients would get Paul, PJV, pjv, j., v., pj. p., Paul J. Volkmann, Paul Johannes Volkmann, Paul Johannes Volkmann II, Mr. V, Paulsion, Mr. Paul, and Preacher Vee. For a period of time, I used to stick to a vegan diet. I became known as Veggie Vee."

Having my tackle shop here in Latrobe known as Pee Vee’s Fishing Lures and Tackle, I gained the reputation as The Fishing Expert of ‘Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.’ Only by writing a