George often reminded me of connections between family and friends. My parents were political animals. Mom was a wobbly; Dad was a New Deal Democrat. Mom put on a fantastic table.  I remember one she did as a fund raiser for Patrick Lucey in 1970. Patrick won. Dad was a story teller and held court in the local pubs. Between them they contributed to the emergence of the Democratic Party in Adams County, Wisconsin.

As a young lad, I played Canasta with my Grandmother and then Adams County Judge Charles "Charlie" Gilman. Mom was born and raised near the home place of Adlai Stevenson. At 10 years of age, I wrote Adlai a letter and received a handwritten reply. I was hooked. Adlai lost and Dwight Eisenhower appointed Ezra Taft Benson as Secretary of Agriculture. Talking over the Canasta table, Charlie offered that the Benson policy of squeezing small farmers out of the market was good for agriculture in the United States. I replied, "What do expect them to do, join the ranks of the unemployed?" Charlie wasn't very good at cards either.

Charlie was succeeded by fellow Republican Fulton J. Collipp. Fulton was a decent sort of chap, Wisconsin Republicans in those days remembered their roots as the party of Lincoln. Fulton has served Adams county for decades and age caught up with him and his health failed in 1971. That created a vacancy which was to be filled by appointment by the Governor.

Dad looked over the lot of lawyers in Adams County, all of them Republicans, and came up with the idea of converting one of them into a Democrat. Most of them had long standing ties into the Republican establishment of Adams County but one of them was a recent import - Raymond Gieringer. Ray was young, handsome, intelligent and had no obligations to repay. Dad met Ray and said, "Join the Adams County Democratic Party and I'll make you a judge". Dad calls Patrick, recently sworn in as Governor. Patrick remembers Mom's fund raising dinner. I called Mike Elconin, a friend from the Summer of '68 who was now an aide to Patrick.  Ray, now a Democrat, was appointed Adams County Judge.

George retells "the seven words you can never say on television" at Milwaukee Summerfest '72.  Milwaukee was politically liberal but socially conservative. Frank Zeidler was the last Socialist mayor of a major American city until 1960. George was busted but not before he was able to dispose of the substances which would have resulted in a more serious charge. George was defended by William "Bill" Coffey. Coffey was legendary as a defense attorney and dropping his name in the context of a disorderly conduct citation my Mom earned while defending a local pub dweller in a confrontation with the constabulary was sufficient to end the matter.

Bill calls two witnesses, one of them being Tom Schneider, an assistant District Attorney, who had attended Summerfest (everybody attended Summerfest). On the stand, Tom confirms that George had indeed recited his "Seven Words" story. Asked what happened next Tom said "Everybody laughed". The court room did too. Tom was the DA on duty the next day (a Saturday) when the case was dismissed.

Regular Milwaukee judges were less than enthusiastic about hearing the case and they handed it to a "reserve" judge - Ray Gieringer froom Adams County.  Ray noted the First Amendment and "laughter is not a disturbance". Asked about the case Ray said,"Jeepers, creepers, you can imagine. I tried to maintain as much dignity as I could under the circumstances."

Well put Ray and thanks to Mom, Dad, Patrick, Mike, Bill and Tom, you all made my life richer.