| Ray Roewert | |||
| On Snail List | Biography # 273 | email: roewert@GMAIL.COM | |
I was born just north of Chicago Illinois 1959. After a slightly offbeat childhood I was shanghaied by my parents and whisked away to Florida in 1972, where I still reside. After I graduated from high school I spend a few years floundering around trying to find some direction for my life. I'm still looking for that direction. In 1981 I began a career in law enforcement in the field of corrections, where I spent 25 years of my life. That was more of an eduction than can be had in any university. In 2006 I retired from that job and am now just enjoying life. I had used fountains pens at various points in my life, but being limited to cheap drug store cartridge pens which leaked and cracked with alarming frequency, I was never able to develop a bond with one. Until one fateful night when I saw a co-worker of mine using a nice black and gold fountain pen. I asked him about his pen and after showing it to me and allowing me to write with it he explained to me the benefits of good fountain pens. That pen was a Parker Sonnet. He also had a black and gold Sheaffer Prelude with him as well. Ultimately I ended up owning both of those pens and have been hooked ever since. 10 years later I find myself a user/collector of Sheaffer Snorkels, Sheaffer Imperials, and Parker 51s, as well as other vintage and modern pens. I can frequently be found trolling eBay in search of a pen that catches my eye. Early in my involvement with this hobby I discovered a news group on the Usenet dedicated to pen collection, and was fortunate enough to encounter Frank Dubiel. By chatting on-line with him I learned a few very basic things about repairing fountain pens. I later purchased his tome on the subject, affectionately known as ÒDa Book,Ó and took my skills to higher levels. While I'm not, and probably will never be, a repair person on the level of some of the better repairmen (and women), I can certainly hold my own and am able to deal with many different repair jobs. Finding pens in eBay at good prices and restoring them is now a favorite way to pass the time. In 2004 I met my wife, Becky, on Pentrace. After almost 18 months of exchanging e-mails, and numerous hours on the phone, Becky moved from Texas to Florida to be my wife. We are very happy and will always remember Pentrace as the place where we met. We both love our pens and spend countless hours talking about them, looking for them eBay, and just being pen nuts. Other interests (optional): Books and reading, philosophy, history, science, pipe smoking, Macintosh computers, jazz, tea, and sushi.
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