Clevenger Hall Reunion

Remember me? Chuck McEwen? Yeah, me!

So I’m sitting in my office late one Friday afternoon when the phone rings. The voice at the other end says his name. It’s a name I recognize but there’s a disconnect. Who is this? I asked myself. Kevin Lauck? Through 18 years of hazy memories I start to remember. Oh yeah, I lived across the hall from him for two years.

One of the stupidest things I ever did was loose touch with the guys I got to know freshman/sophomore year on the second floor of Clevenger Hall. Fresh out of high school and with limited worldly experience, they taught me a lot.

After nearly twenty years, Kevin and I picked up from where we left off. We decided we had to touch base with some of those guys from Clevenger. Maybe even have a reunion of sorts. This letter is the result.

What’s going on? Give me a call or drop me a line. My home number is 859-803-8482. My personal e-mail is howard@howardmcewen.com.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

After graduation, I followed Alicia – remember her? – down to Dayton Ohio where she was going to grad school. After a brief stint selling TVs at a Circuit City, I got a job at Fidelity Investments. That sucked. After 6 years I took my 401(k) rollover, some securities licenses, and my large pair of balls and started my own investment firm. This was late 1999 – 6 months before the three year market slide known as the “tech bust”.

I survived. I have a smallish investment practice. I cater to middle-income, middle class families – mostly on Cincinnati’s Westside. It’s an underserved market that really appreciates mere competence.

During that time, a few letters to the editor turned into a writing business. I contribute to several newspapers and a couple magazines.

On the family side, I live in Bellevue, Kentucky, a small city directly across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. I married Alicia in 1995. We have two daughters – Dagny (10) and Harper (6). That’s it. Alicia has stayed home with the girls for the past 9 years or so but is pretty active in volunteer and civic organizations.