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* As I’ve told you before, I have four brothers. All of them are very talented individuals on multiple levels. And they’re all entrepreneurs, even though a couple have “regular” jobs as well.
I’m not sure if I’ve told you much about my brother Doug. He’s the middle child, so he naturally took a lot of crud from his two older brothers growing up. He’s an amazingly smart investor. I remember him convincing my parents in the early 1980s to put money into MCI. He was 16 or 17 at the time.
Like all of us, Doug is a talented writer. All credit to our mother - a former public school teacher - for our technical skills. And, as I think I’ve said before, we get our natural story-telling talents from our paternal grandmother, Lucille, who is still alive and kicking and just as funny as ever.
Doug runs a blog about local government and politics in his town near Dallas, TX. His blog just won a newspaper readers poll for best blog in town.
I took Doug to a White Sox vs. Texas Rangers game a couple of months ago. We had Scout Section seats because of my Union League Club membership. They’re the best of the best, and that’s the way we wanted it. Afterwards, we went out for drinks with a bunch of Republican pals of mine. Doug is what you would call a rock-ribbed Texas Republican through and through. We had a blast, to say the least.
Anyway…
* The Question: Are you also proud of your siblings’ accomplishments? Examples?
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 11:50 am
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My sister has managed to be a stay-at-home mom and raise two great kids. That is exceedingly hard to do these days.
Comment by Old Shepherd Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:13 pm
I am one of three VanillaMen and one VanillaLady. My younger VanillaBrother was a state representative for over a decade. So, I guess you could say I am proud of him. While we always discussed political issues, he actually took responsibility for his views and then took public flak for his views. He was very popular within his district, and very unpopular outside of it. He loved making news and his notoriety made him well known in the state that has been his home for many decades. He was not an Illinois rep, btw. I am the only VanillaBrother who returned to Illinois after living in other parts of the world. This VanillaBrother is now a high paid national lobbyist, and just earned his Bachelor’s, because no one would believe he got where he is without one.
My older VanillaBrother is an entrepreneur and can do anything. He is a widower who raised his children on his own while operating a business on the East Coast. He can do anything, and has no schooling beyond high school - he just doesn’t need it either.
My VanillaSister is a genius, living in another Midwestern state. She runs the front office of a small utility company. She and I share organizational skills that appear to be unique and valuable in our work.
They, as well as I had, are living in other states that have lower taxes, better opportunities, and a higher quality of life, than where we were raised in Chicagoland. They return to Illinois only for business reasons and are glad they no longer live here. All my nieces and nephews grew up in other parts of the US.
After four generations of civic work, all of our decendants have all left Chicago for good. The Chicago firemen and policemen in our family left immediately after retiring. Even our cousins. What our great grandparents saw in Chicago, their offspring no longer see. They are now in Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Charlotte, New Hampshire and St. Petersburg.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:17 pm
My older brother runs a homeless services organization in D.C. Remember Michele Obama serving breakfast and the blog uproar about a homeless man with the a cell phone taking a picture of her? That is my brother’s organization. They do amazing work, helping thousands of chronically homeless individuals every year live lives with dignity. He has made that organization what it is while being a great dad and husband. Could not be prouder.
Comment by DS Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:20 pm
I am the 8th of 10 children so there are lots of overachieving siblings to choose from. Each of my siblings are exceptional in their own way from a brother who won his first Emmy at 28 for the “baseball bunch” featuring the now famous San Diego chicken to my youngest sibling who won Medical Marketer of the year while pregnant with twins, parenting a 2 year old, attending Northwestern Graduate school with a husband deployed in Iraq. Hard act to follow.
The sibling I am most proud of is Linda- who after a horrible accident is now a paraplegic. After her accident she was no longer able to continue her job as a union electrician. She was one of the first women in IBEW 150- no easy feat. She took it head on. She took her new circumstances head on- from dealing with people who have no true understanding of what being paralyzed means- to managers who have no skills. She created her own company and does phone customer support from her home. She lives completely independently and although she is entitled to social security disability, has not taken it because she believes she has skills to offer and is capable of working. That and she is one of the happiest genuine spirits I know.
Rich- thank you for providing the forum to recognize her. You rock.
Comment by Inish Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:27 pm
We are four sisters. I am proud of the personal and professional accomplishments of each of my three sisters, but even prouder of who they are. They serve as constant reminders of how to be graceful under pressure, steadfast in times of doubt and of how to choose joy as a way of being. I am a lucky girl indeed.
Comment by 10th Indy Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:28 pm
My sister went to med school despite a lot of flak from the family that she was going for the wrong reasons. She persevered and has become one of the best in her field in one of Ohio’s biggest cities. She really cares about her patients and would never agree to short her patients by rushing through appointments to meet quota. I am really proud of her!
Comment by Boyd of the lakes Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:40 pm
My little sister’s idea of a vacation is to spend a month volunteering at an orphanage in Lima, Peru. Her passion for the unfortunate and human rights is amazing.
I constantly look to her for inspiration.
Comment by Pre Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 12:44 pm
My older brother is a successful engineer who gets sent all over the place by his company to fix issues with processes and suppliers.
This all after dealing with some health stuff that if he was a woman would have made a great lifetime network movie.
Comment by OneMan Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:00 pm
My brother worked for the Cubs in a fairly senior position for about 10 years in the mid 1980s. I’ve sat in the front row, the best seats in the house, right off the Cubs dugout. So close to the action that when you’d tell your buddy “it looks like Dawson’s knee is bothering him,” Andre would turn to us and say “no, the knee is good man.”
Anytime, any game. The All Star game. The ‘89 playoffs, I was there, sitting next to the big shots.
Of course, it’s well known that the Cubs were cheap skates when it came to paying their employees. So when my brother had kids, he needed to find more lucrative employment. He moved on to a successful career in pharmaceutical sales.
So now I get free samlples of acne medicine. Cripes.
Plus I’m so spoiled, I can’t go back to the cheap seats. Who wants to sit in the grand stand after you’ve been in the front row?
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:03 pm
Assistant Managing Editor of Time Magazine, NY.
Editor in Chief Time Magazine Australia (started Time in Australia.
Editor in Chief, Time Magazine Far East. Published out of Hong Kong (Lived there 7 years).
Co Editor in Chief, Time Magazine Europe (London 2 years).
Taught English as a second language in Bejing.
Freelance writer and commentator.
Yeah. I’m fairly proud of my big brother.
Comment by Springfield Sceptic Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:13 pm
My brother into his thirties finally completed his undergrad degree and also went straight thru to law school and graduated. Also he went to law school as a newlywed and he went to law school out of state. He’s done a great job so far!
Comment by Levois Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:17 pm
My sister is a genetic researcher, working on vaccines and potential cures for a variety of diseases. I struggled to pass high school Biology. So yes, I’m as proud as can be of her!
Comment by Yes Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:19 pm
My brother recently married a girl from Columbia. (The country, not the state!) I am very proud of him! He rocks!
Comment by Don Kosin Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:22 pm
Sibling a:3.87 gpa at ivy league university working for wall street investment bank. 25.
sibling b:3.94 gpa at top 10 school working in europe at top consulting firm. 23.
proud.
Comment by shore Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:23 pm
I am from a family of 4 children. My sister has managed to survive a disastrous 1st marriage and raised her 4 children mostly on her own. One daughter served a tour in Iraq and is now in law school. Her son & his significant other are raising their daughter who has spina bifuda. My older brother successfully ran the “family business” for many years including being a chef extraordinaire before he, too, went thru severe personal trials. He has 4 wonderful children from his 1st marriage. My younger brother is the artistic one who had moved in art circles in New York for many years and now resides in California where he is, once again, moving back into art after losing his beloved wife to cancer. Her published memoirs are an inspiration to me. My younger brother has a kindness that comes from his gentle nature and devout Buddhism. His quiet strength in the face of the pain of losing his sweetie are part of what makes him so dear to me. That my older brother could come thru his personal hell while supporting his children leaves me in awe. My sister is just plain stubborn, a trait we share and try to soften with mixed success. I love them all.
Comment by dupage dan Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 1:45 pm
Yes, I am proud of their accomplishments. As others have mentioned their successes have not necessarily been monetary but successes none-the-less. My oldest brother lives in the deep south and with no education beyond a GED became Superintendent of the transmission side of a television station in one of Mississippi’s larger cities. He got his electronics training in the Air Force and self taught after that. He is retired now and is enjoying his many grandchildren.
The next in line is my sister who got her Master’s and teaches High School in Idaho and lives on a 30 acre mini-ranch. She and her husband drive cattle up into the mountains in the spring and bring them down in the fall. They are living their dream.
My younger siblings were twin brothers. One resides in the state of Washington and teaches, helps develop, tests, and debugs, MRI’s and Sonogram machines for a very large healthcare company. He went into the Military out of High School and got his electronics training there.
His brother was a Regional EMS coordinator in Illinois and has started his own business in assisting hospitals and EMS systems with disaster planning and preparation. He went to New Orleans after Katrina on his own to assist.
Comment by Irish Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 2:41 pm
My two older brothers and I have entirely different careers, but we recently discovered that we have the same primary role or perspective in each of our fields — strategic planning.
The older of my two brothers is a U of Chicago doctoral grad who taught at Harvard for 10 years, and is a nationally respected expert in “moral development”, a terrible name for age appropriate education. He has spent the last few years as a consultant on education grants, and insists on being included when the grant is developed to make sure that the anticipated actions and outcomes are measureable. He’s the education brother.
My middle brother is the business sector whiz. After getting his combined MS and BS at Carnegie Mellon, he got his doctorate at Stanford. He was head of planning and research for Sprint, and while as the non-banker at Chase in NY helped that company from going bankrupt by redesigning banking to be profit based on fees rather than interest and services. (Yes, you can blame him for all the crap you experience in banks these days — the Chase model became the national norm.)
I’m the government service brother, although my strategic planning is through my lobbying and mentoring. We’re each proud of each other, and probably closer now than we were growing up. I’m not sure that my brothers ever really undersatnd what I did as a lobbyist until fairly recently, when our aged mother re-retired to Springfield. They both come here a lot now, and we have more time to spend together and share what is going on in our lives. I’m the only one not retired, so I have more stuff to mutter about.
Comment by Capitol View Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 2:43 pm
Bro #2 was on the pro bass fishing circuit after graduating from SIU. He now teaches computer networking.
Bro #3 (UIC grad) owns a small farm in Indiana and is the executive director of a non-profit that acquires land and manages the land as natural areas.
Bro #4 got a PhD in physics from UIC and decided to go to LA to pursue comedy. Started in stand-up and now he’s writing (and a little acting).
Bro #5 is a nuclear power instructor for the Navy.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 2:57 pm
My sisters and I are as different as can be but I am immensely proud of each of them in their own way.
My youngest sister is a full time student but she is also a full time nanny for a 9 year old girl. I have been proud to watch my sister help raise this young girl and be a positive role model for her in her life.
I am proud of my other sister for her ability to live life without fear. My sister takes risks and does not care what people think about here. She recently lived and studied in New Zealand for six months, something my other sister and I never would have had the courage to do on our own.
Comment by Anon Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 2:58 pm
My brother is great. My sister is a slug. And so it goes……
Comment by Anon Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 3:03 pm
As a teenager my brother and a group of his buddies “cowjacked” a (ceramic?)”cow on a trailer” that was parked outside of a beef restaurant. The place was like a 70’s version of Arbys.
They hooked the trailer up to a hitch on a Camaro and deposited it into a nearby Forest Preserve Lake. Two days later the front page of the local paper had a very amusing photo of the “cow” in question being head first in the lake.
The local constabulary was furious and promised to catch the “perps”. Nearly forty years later…….the criminal mastermind behind the crime is still at large.
A shining moment in our family history.
Comment by IrishPirate Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 3:14 pm
I’m the youngest of five. My siblings greatest gift was resisting the obvious temptation they all had to murder me up until I got bigger than them at about the age of 14.
It was touch-and-go at times. One less mouth to feed. You could see it in their eyes. On the farm, there’s death a thousand ways. No questions asked.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 3:30 pm
I am the youngest of two girls. My sister is a 3rd grade school teacher and I am proud to say that she just got her masters degree and is looking at more schooling. She calls me daily to ask about how to handle situations she has with a boy in her class that has autism and I am glad that she takes my advice and uses them. She is always wanting to learn more and she is doing it with passion. Yes she is a teacher with passion and that is a diamond in the rough.
Comment by Boscobud Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 3:39 pm
My kid brother was always a genius. He started out small…like the time he removed the cover from the sewer and then came at me thumbs in ears waving his fingers up and down “Nananana Boo Boo!” and got me to chase him. He lept over and INTO THE SEWAGE I WENT! His friends loved hanging out and torturing his only sibling.
Now he is a supervisor for a ulility company in Indiana. He is also an inventor with several successful patents (all safety related for utility companies). He works part time as a consultant for a manufacturing company that has purchased some of his inventions. He travels to Australia, South Africa. Best of all he is a loving husband (24 years) and a phenominal INVOLVED father to my niece and two nephews. He and his wife recently built the house of their dreams. He is talking about building a house for me and my husband. If that happens, we might retire there. He does not brag, and if he knew I was bragging on him, I would get “the look.” My brother has a hysterical sense of humor. He still likes to pull gags. We like hanging with him and his family. I’m a stickler for punishment - thats probably why I work in Illinois Politics! As we get older, laughing like we do when we are together, we might want to buy stock in Depends.
Comment by Say WHAT? Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 3:46 pm
One brother is a lieutenant on a fire department and one is an up-and-coming corporate titan. They have both married well and have great kids.
I don’t see them that much as they live in different states. They both make me proud and serve as a tribute to my folks.
Comment by Jake from Elwood Thursday, Sep 24, 09 @ 4:46 pm