As you suggested Larry I was able to get the totally dead battery to
take a charge using an old fashioned, not fully automatic charger.
Thanks for the suggestion!

Also, I picked up one of those 1.5A bricks you suggested. The one I
found was a Schumacher Model WM-1562A. About $15. Similar to the one
you suggested except it's rectangular, and has a 6/12V switch. The
switch is useless to me, but oh well. All the other features are
exactly as you mentioned.
Thanks again!