My Story - An Autobiography

by Jerry Gantar

"My Story - An Autobiography" captures a lifetime of personal memories and special moments. The urge to tell "My Story" originated while looking through an album of nearly forgotten photographs taken by my parents well over a half century ago. The fading black and white images conjured up memories of my years growing up in a close-knit community of immigrants located about 35 miles north of Chicago. Many of those immigrants worked in the local steel mill. My maternal grandfather was among them. My other immigrant grandfather, along with three of his five sons, sold and repaired shoes. "My Story" reconnects with my childhood. It revisits noteworthy events and milestones that helped shape my life - the times spent playing with cousins in our world of make-believe up in grandma's attic...surviving my first day of kindergarten...working with my father and uncles in their shoe store...facing the challenges of college...leaving close friends behind and moving to Massachusetts to begin a new job...meeting my life-partner for the first time...and becoming a grandfather, then watching our nine grandkids grow-up way too fast.