Kenneth Reger is studying an antiques and collectibles guide in the reference section of the Sedona Public Library when ambushed by this reporter and the Sedona Red Rock News photographer, Michele Bradley, for the week’s @random column.
In his library bag are books — one by Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker titled “Breaking Free” and another by Stephen Marks titled “Confessions of a Political Hit Man: the dark side of American politics,” — two of three or four non-fiction books that he plans to read this week.
Kenneth Reger is studying an antiques and collectibles guide in the reference section of the Sedona Public Library when ambushed by this reporter and the Sedona Red Rock News photographer, Michele Bradley, for the week’s @random column.
In his library bag are books — one by Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker titled “Breaking Free” and another by Stephen Marks titled “Confessions of a Political Hit Man: the dark side of American politics,” — two of three or four non-fiction books that he plans to read this week.
Today he’s researching prices and conditions prior to putting a collection of comic books on eBay.
“My son’s been carrying them around since the 1960s, so I brought a few back with me to see how they’ll sell,” Reger said.
This isn’t his first experience selling a large quantity of items online and he’s aware of some of the problems that can crop up.
“When shipments go wrong, it can be a hell of a mess,” Reger said.
The eBay entrepreneur describes himself as a “Michigander,” growing up in Ottawa Lake, near Toledo, Ohio.
After graduating from the University of Toledo as a math major in 1949, he married his wife, Lois, and began working at Sears on a job that didn’t last long.
Relatives in Tucson lured the couple west, and Reger put his math skills to work programming computers for the government at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista.
“I was a pioneer of sorts, working on an IBM 700 series; it used Assembler language and took up a whole room,” Reger said.
From there he transferred to the Chrysler missile division, running programs for the company’s American Redstone and Jupiter rocket simulations, plotting trajectories.
After one more job switch, he landed at the Budd Company in Detroit, working in a management position that suited him well enough to spend 17 years. He then retired in 1983 from its Gary, Ind., plant.
The prospect of golf and warm weather beckoned the computer expert and his wife back to Arizona where they lived in Sun Lakes, spending plenty of time on the greens at the Cottonwood Country Club.
However, the opportunity to work on his own for the first time in his life was enticing, and Reger spent 10 years self-employed, buying used golf clubs at garage sales and then re-selling them.
“Ping putters were always a good find,” Reger said. “Everyone wanted them.”
Working in the pro shop at the club not only helped his wallet, it got his handicap down to a best-ever of 12, though he said no thanks were due the Ping putters.
Going to garage sales got to be a Saturday morning habit, and somehow he transitioned into making mosaics out of materials he found on his weekly hunt.
“I made sundials, tables, window frames, mirrors — whatever I could find,” Reger said. “Mosaic garden turtles were the highlight of it all — they always sold out at the Sun Lakes craft sales.”
After his son bought an investment property two years ago in the Village of Oak Creek, the Regers moved into the property and are maintaining it until their son is ready to retire.
“Right now, we’re just winging it,” Reger said.
Susan Johnson can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 129, or e-mail sjohnson@larsonnewspapers.com
