1956:

Jef Parker born on June 27th.

1950's to 1970's:

Jef spent most of his childhood years in foster and children's homes. He had few friends, but he did have comics. Dave Rogman's uncle worked at one of those homes, and he and Jef still remembered each other years later

January 1964: Jef buys Daredevil #1 at the newsstand.

As a teenager Jef frequented a store called "The Good Old Days" owned by Dale Manesis, which sold comics and other memorabilia. At The Good Old Days Jef met other young comic fans including Jerry Ordway, Mike Machlan, Al Vey, Henry Smith, Kevin Robinson, Mark Belich (who went on to start Nostalgia World), Randy Neu (Polaris Comics), and Dave Gorski (Excalibur Comics). Jef attended Bay View High School and entered UWM for a brief stint.

1970's to early 1980's:

Jef begins working for the city of Milwaukee as a "sanitation engineer" (i.e. garbage man).

Jef meets and marries Linda. Their three daughters, Jessica, Kelle, and Shannon Parker will all help out at the stores later.

Jef does some work for a new comic book shop, Excalibur Comics, owned by friend Dave Gorski.

1977:

Jef starts a comics show at the old Plankinton House with Ron Killian (Turning Page.) It later moves to the Eagles Club before finding a permanent home at Burnham Bowl.

1982 / 1983:

Young Kevin Zawicki finds his first real comic shop, Excalibur (after several trips to Chet's and The Variety Store).

Excalibur closes.

Kevin meets Jef the day Excalibur closes its doors (there was no electricity since the bill had gone unpaid). Jef writes down his name and phone number, along with those of anyone else who walked into the store. The beginning of the "notebook" package system.