Biography

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

I've met Fred and he knows I hide my devilishly good looks behind this gray
beard, but here are some things he doesn't know.  By the way did anyone else
notice that Fred started this thread AFTER he retired and has time to think
about this stuff???
 
I was a 1942 new years baby, possible the first of the year at the South
Side Hospital.  We lived in a little house near Warrington and Arlington
Avenues until I was 5 and we moved to the big house at Southern and Natchez
on the 40 Mt. Washington line.  My dad and granddad owned a Sunoco station
in Duquesne Heights, also on the 40 line, and I started school at St.
Mary's, you guessed it, on the 40 line.  I was very much a customer of the
PRCo but never a fan.  
 
One of my first lessons in life was that I didn't want to jump into the fray
at that gas station so after graduating from South Hills High School (the
one you can see in all those South Hills Junction photos) I joined the Air
Force.  Unfortunately I went to boot camp in Sept. 1960, yes that is when
the Pirates won the World Series - I can still remember the starting
line-up.  I was an aircraft mechanic in the Air Force where I learned my
second lesson; I didn't want to do physical work all my life.  When I got
out I got into the fledging computer business and never looked back.  I've
done just about everything imaginable with computers in 33 years with
Burroughs and Unisys Corporations (Burroughs and Sperry merged in About 1985
to form Unisys).  I enjoy programming most and right now I'm working into
building web pages where I get to use my favorite skills.
 
I am married for the second and last time (I don't remember the first except
that I have a 30 year old son).  We have a daughter in high school who keeps
us busy.  I'm probably one of the few parents around who can't wait for the
youngster to reach 16 and get a drivers license, then she can take herself.
I consider myself very lucky with my offspring, they seem to be happy and
have never given me any trouble.  I'm luckier yet finding this wife I have.
 
As far as being a rail fan, I'm not.  Although I grew up riding the
streetcars, and when I worked in town and lived in Bethel Park I rode the
Library car, I was never a fan.  More like a disgruntled patron.  My
recollection of riding the Library cars was the newspapers the motorman had
to stuff around the edge of the windshield to keep from freezing.  
I like to build models, I built HO trains when in High School but packed
them away when I went to the Air Force and never got them out again until
about 1 years ago when my mother convinced me to build a model of the big
old house.  The model railroad bug hit me again but I didn't have room in
the townhouse for a layout, but I did have room to fit streetcars, so that
is the direction I went.  I joined the East Penn Traction Club and got very
involved; I'm a past and future President.  It wasn't until I joined this
list that I really developed an interest in the PRCo and I supposed I went
overboard with it.  
 
Oh yes, no matter where I live I'm a Pittsburger for life and passionate
about the Stillers.
 
Bob Dietrich
 
 
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