What made it worse was that Daddy, age 62, not eligible (at that time) for Social Security, had to go look for a job and accept unemployment benefits.

Mom and dad had to sell the house we grew up in and move into an apartment.

The company refused to give him his pension - which he had paid into for all those years. Daddy, along with other executives at Falstaff, had to fight for his pension in court - it went all the way to the Supreme Court, and finally, 5 years later, after losing everything, Daddy won.

Now, this was back in the days when a Fortune 500 executive made way under $100,000 a year - my dad made $42,000 a year when he was fired back in 1975. Corporate executives were not the millionaires they are today.

Why am I talking about this? I don't know. Perhaps it explains my very deep distrust for corporations - they do not have their employee's best interests at heart.

Tears still come to my eyes when I think of the pain my mom and dad went through. He had worked his way up from nothing and then lost it all to the capriciousness of a nasty rich man.

Neither of my parents ever recovered from this - they found that many of their friends were really friends only because of Daddy's position. Mom developed a drinking problem, got over it, and then died suddenly of a cerebral hemmoraghe at age 69, when Andy was only 1 year old.

Perhaps this is a warning to all - don't put all your eggs in one basket, don't ever depend on a cold corporation to stand behind you - always keep a resume handy, and know who your true friends are.