By about October I left Eloy's band.

By the time Kathy and I got married on 23 November I had decided that I needed to focus on marriage and school. I had to work to support us so I left the MOB.

By spring of ‘68 we were tight on finances and the trumpet payments were a burden so I sold the trumpet and cleared the debt. For the first time in 10 years I was no longer playing…

I still loved military marches, especially Sousa, big band jazz, ensemble jazz…

In 1970 I made my first trip to New York City for a business conference. I had gotten a note from Nelson that he was playing at the Roseland Ballroom (famous place - Google it).

My hotel was about 4 or 5 blocks from the Roseland so I walked over there and sent my card in to the band. Nelson came out and we caught up. His graduate advisor at Pitt recognized that he was a talented trumpet player and that was where his heart was so he advised that Nelson leave Pitt and play professionally.