Growing Up Fast, Poor, Cold, and Hungry

The title He Who Climbs a Tree and Hollers is a line taken from the little ditty "He who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers in a well is not as apt to get the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers." This is the incredible life story of John J. "Jack" Gargan, an ordinary guy who led an extraordinary life of adventure, involvement, and accomplishment. His long and productive life required four volumes to chronicle. It begins with a childhood of poverty and hardship during the Great Depression of the 1930s and culminates at age eighty-six with him and his young Thai wife in a daring flight for life from sadistic Thai gangsters. They fled with only the clothes on their backs, a small stash of silver coins, and a cocked and loaded.32 Colt revolver at their feet! In between volumes I and IV are involvements in business and politics, bringing him national and international fame and fortune. He counts such familiar icons as Ross Perot, Donald Trump, Jesse Ventura, Joan Rivers, and Jeb Bush among his circle of friends and acquaintances. It's been said that every person will have fifteen minutes of fame in their lifetime, but how many ordinary folks do you know of who can account for more than a dozen incidents of celebrity? These range from local to statewide, to national, to at least five worldwide celebrity experiences. Exposures range from being Time magazine's "Hero of the Week" to inclusion in his high school hall of fame to founding the world's largest and premier professional association for financial consultants. This is a rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags-again story like none other you have ever heard of!