School has just started for the new year (1953/54) and I have been in trouble since the beginning. I do not seem to be in the right frame of mind. Some how I am always in trouble. I have so many detention hours for stupid things that I am depressed. I finally get it together and work it all out and then I injure one of our classmates, doing something stupid again, right in front of the school. That was it. I talked my mother into letting me join the Army and did so, with a friend, in March of 1954.

Although the two of us went in on the buddy system the first thing they did was separate us as soon as we arrived at Fort Ord, near Carmel, California. There was an epidemic of some kind loose on the base and my friend died shortly after. I cried each night when the lights went out most of the first week. What had I done!

After completing 16 weeks of basic training doing wonderful things like learning to fire 30 caliber machine guns, bazookas, mortars and ending up on a 4 man 105mm recoilless rifle team I was transferred to Fort Jackson, South Carolina where I was stationed for about 9 months. I had an easy job and thought maybe things are looking up. Bingo, orders are cut shipping me to OH NO! KOREA as an infantryman. Luckily I had just completed clerk typist school with pretty good grades and I was shipped to Anchorage Alaska instead. I finished my 3 years enlistment there and was discharged in March of 1957.

The classmate picture is me accepting my discharge. A very happy day.

I worked at a number of odd jobs, one of which was at a gas station with Fred Roth, and ended up working as a trader in the over-the-counter market, which is now called NASDAQ, for about 15 years.

I left there and ended up as a supervisor of General Services for Chase Manhattan Bank, Los Angeles. Worked up to Assistant Manager, in charge of data processing, and left to begin a long career of automating medium size companies.

My wife Mickey and I have 5 sons and 1 granddaughter. Luckily all of our children live within 20 miles of our home in Santa Clarita, we still call it Canyon Country, where we are fortunate to have a 2 1/2 acre ranch.

My wife and I trade off running the office of our no 2 son Eric who owns and operates a paint and body shop here in town. We have prepared a great number of vehicles for television commercials and have a number of cars that consistently win awards at car shows.

I have become the local guru for 1965 and 1966 mustangs and am currently working on 3 customers cars at home and 4 cars for family members. All 65/66 Mustangs.

Thanks Carol, Terry and Denny for the opportunity to share my life with our other classmates, best wishes to everyone.