Meanwhile, I was left with the apartment by myself and had to find a new roommate to help with the expenses. So that’s how I met Dennis Anthony (of South Carolina). He was my roommate for while then he moved out and I go new roommates in the new apartment, named Bradley Larson and Bradford Oesch (pronounced “ursh”). I then there was myself, Bradford Lewis. It was amusing when I got irritated one day because the phone kept ringing while I was trying to do something and answered the phone “Brad, Brad and Brad telephone answering service!”

Brad Larson was from Oregon, and Brad Oesch (who also worked in my office) was from Texas. While we lived here in 1977 Mom and Don Vogtman came to visit me. They drove all the way from Washington in Mom’s old car! I think that was before my trip to Oklahoma, which I took in July of 1977. Darlene was in Washington with Mom when I took that trip. That would also be my last time to see Dad again, but I did not know it at the time of course. Skip was still 7 years old and I would not see him again until he was 18!

In April of 1977 I went with some Navy friends, including Audrey Tisdale, to Sun State Roller Rink on Primrose Avenue. I saw art skating done on roller skates for the first time in my life. I was in awe! I did not know one could skate like this on ROLLER skates! It looked like ice-skating. I decided then that I was going to learn to do this.

I started going to the rink nearly everyday and soon I was skating backwards and learning specific skating techniques, such as the chassé, the progressive, the three-turn and more. I bought my own pair of skates for around $128.00 … which was a major investment at the time.

I think it was in the summer of ’77 that we three Brad’s all moved to from apartment C-22 to apartment A-21. I think it was while living here that I met Gwen Hall (age 16) and we became skating partners and began taking lessons for George Duffy, a very old, but knowledgeable skating instructor (or “Pro” as we called them). We also taught some classes during this time as we began to improve. I was at the rink nearly every day. My feet would be cover in blisters and I would be cover in bruises and scabs from the occasional fall. Gwen and I were determined to skate competition together, but everyone kept telling me that I was too old at age 19 to have much hope of doing well in competition. I would be competing against people who had been skating since they were very young; sometimes as young as 3-4 years old! But I was determined and Gwen and I practice diligently. Later that year we switched pros to Shirley Wilson. In January of 1978 we were ready to skate our very first competition. We traveled to

ORLANDO – Greentree Apartment Complex

It was now late July of 1978, (I was 20 years old) and I was going to have to move since I could not afford the apartment by myself. I had met a guy named Paul Elwell, an acquaintance of Dave Benton’s and also a Navy Dental Tech on base.  Paul and I became very good friends and when Dave moved out, Paul introduced me to his ex-roommate, Charles “Chuck” Welsh. Chuck was in need of a new roommate, so I moved in with him. Chuck was also in the Navy, but he was an E5 and much older than me (at age 24). On a side note; when Dave moved out (to Japan), he left me his stereo cabinet, which was part of my furniture for many years.

My new apartment complex was call Green Tree Apartments and my new address was 1987-C South Semoran Boulevard (which is hard to say if one has a lisp!).  My downstairs neighbors, Joyce (I forgot her last name) and Lisa Kendrick became very close friends. Joyce later married a guy named John (whose last name I also forget), and I kept in touch with them for about 10 years. Lisa later married and moved to Georgia, but I still keep in touch with her today. Lisa and I both loved to dance and even to classes and competed in a few local events for fun. She is still involved in dance today and I believe she has her own dance studio, but she teaches Middle Eastern Folk dance! … not at all like the Disco style dancing that we excelled at!

While living at Green Tree, I continue to stay in touch with Mike Alder, the guy who bought me a bus ticket in Utah. He sent me a copy of the Book of Mormons, which I think I still have today. I am not a Mormon, but I cherish that memento.

By March of 1979, now 21 years old, I was deep into my art skating and was no longer skating with Gwen Hall. My new partner was Debbie Moyer. Debbie’s father, Ed Moyer, owned Semoran Skateway in Casselberry, FL. Her brother, Doug, was a well known Skating Pro and he took Debbie and I on as students. It was in March that Debbie and I skated Intermediate Compulsory Dance in the Southern Regional Championships, which were held that year in Mobile, AL. We took a silver medal! That qualified us to skate in the National Championships, which were to be held in Texas later that year. It was also in March of 1979 that I decided that I should have my GED. I remember the morning that I drove to Winter Park to the Webster Adult Education Center. I had car problems on the way over; my gas pedal broke. I was a cloverleaf at the time and ended up having to fix the gas pedal with a pair of needle nosed pliers and a locknut cannibalized off of my roller skates. I did this while hanging upside down on the back of the driver’s seat with semi-trucks whizzing past! I was a harrowing experience.

Lee and Debby - 1979 Nationals

In late December Calisa came to Florida to visit me. I believe she turned 17 while she was there with me. The next summer my office moved from 1 North Orange to 525 Magnolia Avenue, located in the East-West Expressway Authority Building. It was now June of 1980 and we got a new “CETA” employee working in our office named Nikki E.. Nikki and I became very close friends and are still in touch today.