That Damn Groce: Turning a Slur to Respect and Other Life Lessons

Exiled to corporate obscurity for violating too many Bell System taboos, author Bill Groce's initiative and creativity helped him earn his way back to respect and meaningful contribution in the rapidly changing telephone industry of the 1960s and '70s. This work experience mirrored his evolution from feeling insecure in early childhood to realizing his skills and value as he progressed through high school and college and into the working world. In sharing stories of his childhood, coming of age, telephone industry career, and post-retirement activities and initiatives, Bill also reflects on his spiritual growth and highlights the many life lessons he's learned. From his birth in 1936 in the Asheville Sanatorium, in Candler, North Carolina, Bill's childhood is shaped by being "the preacher's son" whose family moves periodically due to the demands of his father's profession. Bill's nostalgic views of growing up in the Carolinas in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s are leavened with his acknowledgement of the tragedy of Old South segregation and the patriarchal subjugation of women-especially his own mother. He observed the impact of World War II and its unexpected influence on facilitating the cultural revolution that addressed both of those evils and contributed to these change efforts in his own way in both his corporate and personal life. Learning from experiences, both positive and negative, is too valuable an opportunity to pass up, yet many do. In a lighthearted way and with gently self-deprecating humor, Bill weaves these threads into a book that offers a personal and family history as well as valuable life lessons that he hopes will speed the learning process for the younger generations.