• Thoughtpukes
• Archive 05-06
• About Chuck
• My Indiana
• My Interests and Recommendations

Me with Biff Henderson at the NBA Finals 2000

I did the first stage of my growing up, my Elementary School years, in Swayzee Indiana. A very small town located between Wabash, Marion and Kokomo Indiana. The next stage, my Junior High and High School years were spent on a small farm raising rabbits, chickens, and geese and for a season, a hog. This farm with a R.R. 3 Alexandria address was two miles north of Orestes Indiana and seven miles north and east of Frankton Indiana where I attended school.
The third stage began immediately after High School when I moved to Indianapolis to attend The John Herron School of Art, where I studied under the Graphic Arts Program. My first year of college I was awarded a Hoosier Scholarship for academic achievements during my junior and senior years at Frankton. I was also awarded a no money scholarship renewal the second year at Herron. The “no money” part took a lot of the luster off the whole scholarship renewal, and I took up work-study to help pay for some of my higher educating.
I became the work-study Photo Lab assistant my sophomore and junior years at Herron, which was very good for me and nurtured my love of photography. Half way through my junior year I left school to pursue a career in “employment!” I found that the need for food had started to cancel the need for higher learning. I never looked back and am still a strong believer in earning and eating today.

I worked several jobs in the photo industry, starting with driving film pick-up routes to Cincinnati Ohio and Effingham Illinois on alternate weekdays to running a Houston-Fearless cine machine processing film for Fox Photo. Then I moved on to processing and custom printing b&w and color photographs for Matrix then The Lab and finally Bass Photo over the next 6 years. For six months or so while still at The Lab just after my daughter was born I worked evenings at a K-Mart in their jewelry/camera department (my first retail camera sales position). From Bass I went into retail, I sold new cars at a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership before taking my knowledge of imaging to Montgomery Wards then to Roberts Distributors in 1988. I was the first buyer and assistant manager of the new Digital Imaging era at Roberts and have seen digital cameras go from fad to nearly supplanting film cameras altogether. I ran and maintained the Kodak Create-A-Print machine at Roberts for six years or so, then moved to Photoshop restoration and digital printing. In addition to those tasks I’ve always worked on the sales floor in the Photography department at Roberts.


I met Jenni Mason at Herron in 1979 and became good friends with her the next year when we both moved into apartments on the third floor of the “White House” directly across from the Herron Library-Gallery building. By 1981 we were dating, and we married in Springfield Tennessee on December 9th 1983. Our only child Meredith Anne was born on Indianapolis 500 Race day May 27th 1985. I gave up my tickets to the race when Jenni went into labor the day before. I was there for the whole labor and birthing process and was the first family member to meet Meredith in person.

On September 25th 2004 we saw Meredith marry David Hightshoe in the back yard of David’s mother’s house. Two months later to the day on Thanksgiving Meredith and David moved to Stuart Florida. Due to inclement weather that post-poned us all driving to Tennessee I did not get to have Thanksgiving dinner with the kids and the Mason clan. I being a retail person had to work the famous shopping day after Turkey day. Jenni did get to follow the kids to her homestead in Chapmansboro Tennessee for Thanksgiving Day and stayed there until the 30th, so I had four (sad) days of solitude to follow the departure of my baby and her husband. I had cream of mushroom soup for Thanksgiving (gee, thanks).

I have a great group of friends from work and from The Chatterbox Tavern on Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. I’ve been going there since 1994 and Jenni and I consider it our home away from home for friendship and fun. The Chatterbox is open 6 days a week and features Live Jazz every night. There are Chatterbox sanctioned outings such as Formula 1 races, Indianapolis Indians baseball games, Pacers basketball games, Chatterbowling and Chatterdining’s. There are St. Patrick’s Day, Dyngus Day and Christmas sing-a-longs. The Roberts gang, as we are called have become Christmas sing-a-long stalwarts. We have the 5 golden rings table reserved for us for the last 5 years now, long enough to become a bonifide Chatterbox Tradition.

I’ve been League bowling for four years at the Sport Bowl lanes now with my close friend and co-worker Rich Culy. We were first introduced to the Sport Bowl on one of the Chatterbowl outings and have gone full circle by having David Andrichik the proprietor of the “Box” on one of our 10 week mini-league teams this spring. I’m a recreational bowler at best, there for a good time more than an end of league pay-off (meaning: I’m not as good as I’d like to be). Last year Rich and I accompanied by another Chatterbox friend Joe went to Louisville Kentucky for the fourth annual Lebowskifest weekend. We stayed at Joe’s moms house in J-town, a suburb of Louisville. Went to the “My Morning Jacket” concert on Friday night and the fest and bowling alley on Saturday.

That’s just a little about me. Come back around from time to time and catch up with me here on my Thoughtpuke blog pages.


Chuck Pace©2005