Earl Archibald Reinert, III was born on October 31, 1952 the third child of Earl A. Reinert, Jr. and Lucille M. (Brown) Reinert. His two older sisters, Loretta Marie and Beverly Jean doted on their baby brother. His first struggle was living, as he was born premature and quite small—a “pound of hamburger” his mom used to say. Compared to today’s standards, modern medicine was pretty antiquated in 1952, but “Little Earl” as he came to be known, was a fighter. At the age of two, his appendix burst, leaving him with even more scars. Little Earl loved to fish and camp-out with his Grandpa Brown. In the mornings, Grandpa would ask Earl how he wanted his eggs, and while Earl was describing fried eggs, sunny-side up, Grandpa would laugh all the while scrambling up a mess of eggs for the two of them. Mischief loved Little Earl, once causing him to smear Mom’s kitchen cupboards with Bosco. His fascination with the cartoon character, the Pink Panther, compelled him to paint the neighbor’s cat pink. When she escaped and ran into traffic on Ridge Road, she was killed. During his rebellious Jr. High school days, he would forgo the balanced school lunch and often go to Abbott’s Restaurant where he would indulge in a plate of French fries with ketchup. After all, how would his mom & dad know? That is, until, Dad walked into Abbott’s one day and asked his son, “How’s those French fries, boy?” Ahh, but that was all before he discovered Music.
Earl was fascinated watching his Uncle Jr. play steel guitar at family parties and would not stop pestering his parents until, at the age of 10, he started taking guitar lessons at the Hobart Harmony House. Two years later, his first band, “Me and the Other Guys”, was playing for private parties and school dances. The other members of the band were Harry Kenifel, Dan Culver and Brent Tarnow. They usually practiced at Brent’s house, since he was the drummer. The band was together about two years.
Earl’s first “real” job, was working at Main Drugs in Hobart, at the age of 14, doing general clean-up and errands. When he was 16, he got a job at the Rocket Drive-in, first as a dishwasher, later progressing to a cook. All this time, he continued lessons at H. H. H. Unlike many kids who picked up the guitar in the 60’s, Earl learned to read music, studying for six years with Wayne Gardner. He was well known and respected in the area and picked up jobs and made connections. One of those connections, Haldean Sturtridge, a drummer, turned into a life-long friend, even if he did take under-age Earl into lounges to play until the wee hours of the morning. It was also during this time that his beloved sister Loretta and his Grampa Brown both passed away.
Earl started teaching guitar at the age of 16, both at Hobart Harmony House and Glen Park Music in Gary. It was at Glen Park Music that he met another life-long friend, keyboardist Jim Jasper, and together with Keith Leach, they formed “The Jim Jasper Trio”. When they decided they needed a bass player, they found John Springman, and changed the name of the group to “The Swing Machine”. When John decided to leave the band in late 1973, the manager of Glen Park Music, “Mrs. M.”, suggested to Earl that her daughter would be perfect for John’s replacement, since she also sang and played the bass guitar. Gayle, who was tired of playing in lounges from 10 pm until 2 am, 3 or 4 days a week since the Powder Puffs broke up, felt this would be a good move and it meant a fresh start. It was then up to Earl to teach Gayle that there was more to music than rock & roll, if you wanted to play weddings, reunions, and banquets and make some decent money. The crash course to learn 40 or 50 songs in a couple weeks meant that Earl and Gayle spent many hours together, soon realizing that not only did they have so much in common, but they were attracted to each other.
But wait! WHAT ABOUT THE – THE – THE HEIGHT THING!?! Aw, Shucks! It’s only eight inches!! She would wear flat shoes – he could get those lifts for his shoes, you know – then the difference might be only FIVE inches!! Isn’t it funny how we often let traditions dictate our lives? The difference in a couple’s heights is never an issue, when the man is the taller one, but here was Gayle at 5’ 10 ½ inches, and Earl at 5’ 2 ½ !
They decided it did not matter, and after two or three dates, they found themselves asking each other, “Why are those people staring at us?” “Oh, yeah – I remember now!”
The Swing Machine was booked pretty solid into the summer of 1974, and Earl & Gayle picked their wedding date of August 17 from the few open Saturdays after she was to turn 21 in July. The wedding, at the First United Methodist Church in Hobart, was beautiful, with madrigals sung by the Northwest Indiana Chorale, of which Gayle was a member, directed by Alfred J. Fissinger. The reception, held at the newly-built Italian-American Benevolent Hall, was like no other, since the happy couple, clad in their wedding clothes, got onstage and played several songs for their family and friends. After a short honeymoon in romantic St. Louis, Missouri, the happy couple set up housekeeping in a converted garage on Independence Street in Merrillville, Indiana, paying a monthly rent of $130.00.
Earl continued his studies at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and could often be found carrying his string bass to Orchestra Hall on Michigan Avenue. He fell only a few credits short of his degree when he decided to drop his studies at Indiana University, N. W. when he added a third job (Kaplan’s Shoes) to his workload to try and save for a house.
Now that Gayle was no longer living with her Mom in Glen Park, Mom said the house was too big, and it was sold. The plan was to find a “mother-in-law” house, which would provide mom with a daughter & son-in-law nearby, but still allow the newly-weds their privacy. The perfect house was found on E. 78th Place in the (then) Merrillville subdivision of Green Acres. Mom paid for her third of the house as the down payment; Earl and Gayle made all the payments. All three of them worked to improve the house, enabling them to sell the house 2½ years later and return Mom’s money with interest.
After leaving HHH and Glen Park Music, Earl started giving guitar and bass lessons from the house in Green Acres, left Kaplan’s Shoes and became a life insurance agent for Western-Southern Life Ins. Co. Mom remarried in 1977 and eventually moved to Arizona. Earl and Gayle built a house in Hebron where they lived for 14 years. In 1991, they decided to move to Valparaiso.
“The Swing Machine” continued for several years, while Earl and Gayle also continued working their “regular” jobs. For recreation, they would go to movies, out to eat, or an occasional concert. Summer vacations were modest: renting a cabin on a lake in Michigan, Cedar Point in Ohio, or the very brief trip to New York for Jim Jasper’s marriage to Judy.
After the demise of “The Swing Machine”, their old friend Dean Sturtridge called Earl saying that he was playing drums with Tina Cosenza on cordovox and they needed a guitar player. Earl played several gigs with Tina and Dean, even getting Gayle in for a couple of jobs. When Tina decided to stop playing gigs and get married, Dean, Earl and Gayle started filling jobs as “Rainbow”. With the addition of Ray Grivetti on sax, clarinet and flute, the band played steadily until approximately 1995.
Meanwhile, friends and relatives all around them seemed to have no problem bringing little bundles of joy into the world, but the stork constantly flew over the Reinert house without stopping. In 1980, there was a glimmer of hope, but then came a devastating miscarriage. They decided to apply for adoption. After all, even though Roe v. Wade was the law of the land, there had to be a baby out there for them! After they were inspected, quizzed and relieved of the non-refundable $1,000 application fee, they were told to go home and not call the agency for five years. Five years.
F I V E Y E A R S.
Oh well; we’ll take it one month at a time. We know that God must have this all figured in His Master Plan.
To make a long story short, after scads of tests and two operations, Gayle found out on July 12, 1985 (her 32nd birthday) that she was again pregnant. Jonathan Earl Reinert was born on March 8, 1986 while his proud daddy grinned from ear to ear. The birth of Katherine Ardath Reinert on May 9, 1989 was just as special, since Earl was the first one to see her.
Around 1983, Earl decided to leave Western-Southern Life Ins. and take a job driving a route truck for Jay’s Potato Chips. He was able to be more active, as he had put on quite a few pounds during his days at W-S. Earl was a top salesman for Jay’s, mostly because his customers knew they could trust him, never feeling pressured. After 14 years at Jay’s, things started to “go south.” Between Jay’s middle management problems, salary cutbacks and cuts in commission, Earl was under tremendous stress, as his income had fallen sharply and Jay’s was pressuring its salespeople to visit their customers on Holidays, Saturdays and now Sundays. Earl was at very low time in his life, a time when his eternal optimism was almost non-existent. Of course, Gayle knew about the dip in income, since she was the one having to raid their savings every week just to pay the bills, but true to his nature, Earl kept the burden of the entire situation to himself for almost a year. One day, sitting in his Jay’s truck at one of his grocery stores, he was praying to God asking for His help and guidance. As if it was a sign from God, he suddenly heard Dean’s voice at the back of his truck. As they talked, Dean told Earl that Aramark, his employer, was looking to fill a position similar to Earl’s position at Jay’s, but the pay and benefits were much better, and he would have every Saturday and Sunday off. Earl applied for the job, gave his notice to Jay’s, worked through November 20 (Friday) for Jay’s, then started with Aramark on November 23 (Monday), 1998. For the next 6 ½ years, he was a stellar employee, with a good work record and was well thought of by his customers and co-workers. His last day of work was June 10, 2005, the Friday before his operation.
That brings us back to the beginning of this blog in June. There are many more memories, of course, but at least this much is written down. I felt I had to do this and tried to be as accurate as possible.
A man is measured in many ways, but I know when God calls him home, he will be the tallest in the line.
