I interviewed my dad, Chris. My dad is a very important person to me, not only because he’s my dad but because he over all is an amazing person who went through a lot of things. Even through hard times, my dad was able to take care of himself, stay out of trouble, and push himself to where he is.

What is your name and where did you grow up?

My full name is Christian Abraham and I grew up primarily in Park Ridge Illinois. Well when i was firstborn, I lived in unincorporated Glenview, just North of um Golf Mill, and they didn’t actually build Golf Mill just yet, and after that mmm I think I was only maybe one or two and then we moved to the northwest side of Chicago, on a street called Bradley Place so we were not too far from the WGN studios in bozo. And then in kindergarten we move to the northwest side in the Portage Park neighborhood where I live in a Chicago bungalow till third-grade third grade I went from Chicago to Stamford Connecticut for six months and then the last couple months of the school year I lived with my cousins back on the northwest side and that's when I moved into Park Ridge right before fourth grade.

What was it like growing up with one parent?
Well, my dad passed away when I was in sixth grade and my mom remarried when I was a senior. That’s something I never really have given a lot of thought to, in recent memory, ummm, you know I’ve got fond memories of, of my dad, ummm it was just uh… you know after sixth grade he just wasn't there, you know and um my mom worked hard, we were all under the same roof. But, we always seemed to have a house full. My grandfather and grandmother lived with us for a while, my uncle John lived with us for a little while, my aunt Grace and uncle Al lived with us for a little while, so we always had a pretty full household. I think my uncles kinda, they all became surrogate fathers, filling in and um, we just went through life you know just going to school, studying, playing ball, having fun with my friends. I think then maybe I looked for umm, you know if I needed some type of a paternal advice I could turn to teachers or coaches or my uncles or my grandfather. I guess we just had to adjust or adapt to a new normal, and then you know when my mom remarried, I was graduating high school, I mean by then I was you know seventeen and a half years old, going off to college, I was pretty much doing my own thing so. I mean that changed, but I mean you know I happy for my mom and that she found somebody cause she shouldn't be alone. But uhh her husband, my stepfather, he was a good guy and no one can replace my father, but he was good for my mom.

When you attended Maine South High School where did teens hang out and where did you mostly hangout?
Well, believe it or not we used to hang out at the McDonald's at Milwaukee and Oakton because it was the only like McDonald's around, and across the street there used to be a ice cream place whose name I can't remember right now…. but it's the longer there I think it's a bank something. We would hang out there and get Sundaes and that. Let’s see other hangout places.... Ummmmmm I don't know those are probably like the top two besides hanging out at someone's house. Or, course I never did this but one of the one of the hangout places was called the 50 yard line club and that's where uh some of the football players would celebrate Saturday night after a victory in the darkness of the, of the football field until the cops showed up.. but I never did that (giggle).

What was life like In Park Ridge compared to now from what you can observe?
Hmmm... (Sigh) life in Park Ridge Back then...... well (long pause) that’s a very good question. I think ummm, well certainly were talking about the age before the internet and cell phones and all that, umm, I think that you know there was still you know plenty kids that were kinda wild but I don't think uh I don't think there was quite as many back then. I think that uh umm then, then again the uh you know the world I think was a lot, a little more simple in some ways uh a little less strict back then um now as time goes on you have a lot more families that are not quite traditional with you know the dad working and the mom at home so you know there's um I think that's a difference but thats just a difference in America but I think Park ridge is no exception. Um I think that the people that live here are still it's still pretty much about the same in terms of white people, middle class, upper middle class, um let's see other differences? I think the demographics are pretty much about you know about the same um... actually the school population now is smaller then when I was at Maine South the student body was about thirty two hundred, now it's about uh twenty five hundred, so that uh that's as difference as well.

What was Maine South football like for you and what major differences do you see today?
Well, I think that back then it was really just a one season sport and for example are summer camp was like two weeks of doing drills, lifting weights and then you'll then play uh like water polo for half an hour it's not, they didn't have the off-season program that they do now, or the big summer camps that they do now, so that's different. Back then the game was different as well as mostly not as much passing, umm I think, I think the skill players are pretty much the same mold, but linemen are sure a lot bigger then now then they were back then. I think our biggest guy was 230 pounds and he was what did my one friend say? he was not not buffed, Jonesy was not buff. But now you got guys that are you know 260, 270, 280 you know and they're pretty average. But back then and still now we still kick Niles norths ass in football, make sure you make a note of that (sorry I couldn't resist).

How did you pick Knox College?
Ummm how I pick Knox College…? It was, well back in high school they had the career resource center, and this is before computers but they had some type of device or machine and you just entered in certain criteria and then you would get a printout of the schools. So basically, what it came down to is I wanted a school in Illinois because back then they had the Illinois guaranteed student loan, which was a low interest at 5%, incase I needed that, uhh and then I wanted a school that had a football team, and a school that had a strong mass science department. for being pre med, and then, so then a number schools came up about a dozen or so, but then there are a few guys that went to Maine South, that went to Knox and they were older than me, but you know and I knew of them as upperclassman, but couple guys were on the basketball team, couple guys were on the football team and I talked to them and they really liked it and I went on and visited Knox and I was like, looks good enough to me! It pretty much had everything. I really didn’t want to go to a school that I didn't know anybody, so I didn't really hang out with those guys very much but the last criteria was that here were some familiar faces there and it was nice cause we would hitch rides back and fourth. That's that's pretty much how I picked Knox.

What made you decide to attend medical school?
Well, I first got interested ummm sophomore year of high school with health class and I thought this is pretty interesting learning about the human body and then that the science aspect of it and so the time I got around to college, my college didn’t have a pre-med major but looking into the course that required for med school that I just started taking those and uhh but I think um I guess to break it down in simple terms I felt it would be you know a good profession where you could make a decent living still in support your family and still umm work for the common good and make a difference and I'm still do the other things as far as you having a decent lifestyle which in most cases you know medicine provides that for the docs that are willing to work for it.

What was daily class like at medical school?
Well daily class in Medical school, the first year was like taking college classes, you're in a lecture hall, umm usually it’s all the med school kids. It almost was like an auditorium with the seating pitched like stadium seating and the professor would be up in front of a chalkboard, didn't have PowerPoint back then, and uh and the classes were I don't know 45 minutes hour-long the labs were longer, especially the anatomy labs, so, but most the classes were just like high school or college only longer and harder and a lot more material in the same amount of time.
Was paying for your own medical school a struggle?

Umm was it a struggle? Well yes and no. So college, I was fortunate enough to graduate college with no debt because I did get some, some, some grants but the other thing that helped me pay for college was my social security benefit which back then you could get until you were 21, umm I was eligible for that with my dad passing away , umm they’ve since changed it to age 18, but by getting into med school a year early, the social security benefits went a long way for paying my freshman, sophomore and junior years, sooo at least I was able start medical school with no debt. When I took out the loans for med school I just tried to take out the least amount possible with the lowest interest and then when it came to paying them back I just um, not that I'm some financial wizard, but I just paid off the highest interest ones first, and then ummm, at that time they changed the tax laws that the interest on the loans you couldn’t write them off but you could write off your interest on your home loan. So mom and I refinanced the house once or twice, and used that money to pay off the loans. So really it was just a matter of you know, living within our means and paying them off. It wasn't like you know we were living high on the hog making all kinds of money and spending all kinds of money it was just what we were used to and just like anything else, you pay your dues and then you're done. So it wasn’t a terrible hardship it was just something we had to do.