Jean Scott's Frugal Vegas

At noon on January 18, 1949, Brad’s 17^th birthday, he walked out of his high school, where he had been impatiently marking time until his “real life” could begin.  He boarded a city bus going to downtown Connersville, and then took another bus to Richmond, Indiana where he entered a Marine Recruiting Office.   

 “I’m ready to see the world!” Continue reading →

Once Brad turned 13, he found better opportunities to increase his discretionary income, and therefore increase his gambling bankroll.  First he took on a paper route, and that $5 net profit a week made him “rich” beyond his dreams. Continue reading →

Unfortunately, Brad never did quite recover from his disappointment that school was not going to be all fun and games.  To make matters worse, he found reading was a struggle from the get-go, and his lack of reading skills seriously hindered progress all during his school years.  It wasn’t until he met me that he found out why he never did well at school.  I hadn’t known him a week until I realized he had dyslexia.  All those 45 years, Brad had known that he wasn’t “dumb,” as he was labeled by the teachers in an earlier era when they didn’t know how to diagnose or treat someone with a learning disability. Continue reading →

At age 6, Brad had a very traumatic experience connected with gambling. Continue reading →

Brad turned 79 last week and some of our friends were asking him how long he had been gambling.   That reminded me – again – of all the interesting stories he has told me about his past life before we met, many of them connected in some way with gambling.  So I have decided to share them here, off and on, under the title of “Brad’s Gambling Life.”  Today is Part 1. Continue reading →