I entered this world in August of 1944 thanks to the love of Italian-American parents Fred & Josephine. Upon returning home from Europe, my father, a WW2 veteran, toiled as a day laborer, and my mother, a hard-working seamstress. They housed my older sister Jo-ann, our much younger brother Don, and me in a quiet suburb of Camden, NJ. Due to their financial position, our father’s side of the family (his dad, also a Fred, and his mom, another Josephine) wielded more influence in our daily lives. Mom insisted I go to college as I’d be the first on her side to do so. After getting good grades in high school, I attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. College became affordable thanks to parental sacrifices, summer jobs, and a partial State scholarship. A frivolous, wily liberal arts student, my fraternity shenanigans highlighted all four years. Any thoughts Fred & Josie had of raising a doctor or lawyer quickly faded. A “B.A. Degree” in Social Studies would be it.

Army ROTC funds helped cover college fees, and the “luck of the draw” sent me to South Korea as an infantry Lieutenant —thankfully, not South Vietnam. It was 1967 when the war raged. My dad’s brother and the first Frank Tamru (Frank D. Tamru) died in Italy weeks before WW2 ended in Europe in 1945. Having a second Frank Tamru die in S.E. Asia would be excessive. I agreed. Many ask how the nickname “Rue” came about. With five relatives and four fraternity brothers named “Frank,” some classmates decided “Rue” fit, spouting off they’d “rue the day” we met.

I did not disappoint them.