{"id":257,"date":"2010-04-27T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/?p=257"},"modified":"2010-04-27T17:55:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T17:55:00","slug":"gene-ambo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/?p=257","title":{"rendered":"GENE AMBO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gene Ambo was one of the early regulars sailing on &#8220;Charisma&#8221;. The Charisma Crew held a reunion in Chicago two years ago. Gene was surely the life of the party.<br \/><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><b><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\"><u><em>Eugene Ambo,<o:p><\/o:p><\/em><\/u><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">A Remembrance of His Life, Age 82. He was known variously as Gene, Geno or Ambo and sometimes as \u201cThe Super Jap\u201d and thirty years ago on&nbsp;<\/span><st1:date day=\"29\" month=\"5\" year=\"1980\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">May 29, 1980<\/span><\/st1:date><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;he was one of the eleven persons who met at the offices of Kaufman and Ladd for the purpose, \u201c<i>To discuss the steps to establish a social Club to be named the Eastport Yacht Club.\u201d<\/i><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Gene Ambo was not from Eastport but then none of the founders of the EYC were from here.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>He was born in California of Japanese parents and although they were industrious farmers, the family was interned by the Federal Government shortly after the Japanese attack on&nbsp;<\/span><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Pearl Harbor<\/span><\/st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;in 1941.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>This did not deter the United States Government from drafting him into the army after the end of World War II.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>Gene served in the Army Air Corp which brought him to&nbsp;<\/span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Chicago<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>After his discharge from the Army, he stayed around&nbsp;<\/span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Chicago<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;and got involved in photography and eventually had a successful graphics and advertising business.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>There he got to racing sailboats on the&nbsp;<\/span><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Great Lakes<\/span><\/st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;and then on occasion on the East Coast and to&nbsp;<\/span><st1:state><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Florida<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:state><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;for the then popular SORC.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>He developed into a respected navigator and all around racing hand mostly on boats from the&nbsp;<\/span><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Great Lakes<\/span><\/st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>When in his mid-40\u2019s, Gene dropped out of the business world and got to managing ocean racing boats full time and this brought him often to<\/span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Annapolis<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;and Eastport.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>In the late 1970\u2019s he settled here and among other things he established Presto Photo, the first one-hour film processing shop in this area.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Gene was very active in the formative years of the EYC and was the first Entertainment Committee Chairman.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>The parties that he organized were large and consistent money makers in the early years of the club.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>He had an unusually good, if reckless, command of the English language.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>He came up with the name Spring Cotillion in place of the name BN Ball.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>When we asked him why Cotillion, he suggested that we look it up and we did and found it to be&nbsp;<i>\u201cAn elaborate dance marked by the giving of favors and the frequent changing of partners.\u201d&nbsp;<\/i>He continued to be active in ocean racing and was often the navigator for Jack King in MERRYTHOUGHT and she was a consistent winner.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">But then other interests call and he dropped out of the EYC and then he moved back to&nbsp;<\/span><st1:city><st1:place><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">Chicago<\/span><\/st1:place><\/st1:city><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">&nbsp;where he lived with his wife Milenka.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>Many of us were in contact with him by e-mail where he rather constantly entertained us.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>Gene Ambo and his wife Milenka did visit Eastport of the 20<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;and the 25<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;Anniversary of the founding of the Eastport Yacht Club.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>He was very pleased to have been a part of the creation of the YYC.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">It is our understanding that Gene is to make one more trip to Eastport but in a somewhat more compact form and more quite manner then usual and there is to be a Celebration of his Life and a spreading of ashes.<span>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>We will keep those persons who are interested aware of the developments.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;\">These observations were organized by Fred Hecklinger, Rob Ladd, Jeff Goldring and others of the original founders of the Eastport Yacht Club&nbsp;<i><span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><span>&nbsp;<\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gene Ambo was one of the early regulars sailing on &#8220;Charisma&#8221;. The Charisma Crew held a reunion in Chicago two years ago. Gene was surely the life of the party. Eugene Ambo, A Remembrance of His Life, Age 82. He was known variously as Gene, Geno or Ambo and sometimes as \u201cThe Super Jap\u201d and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/?p=257\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">GENE AMBO<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,326,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charisma","category-gene-ambo","category-sorc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}