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Profile Update Feb 2009 . . .
I had grand ideas of re-writing this entire thing but am realizing the amount of effort so decided to keep a running commentary instead.
Since our 50th reunion, our lives have been humming along. I am not sure I will ever come down from the high of that weekend. The next one I can attend will be the “55th” (now scheduled for 2010) and am so looking forward to that.
One unexpected event associated with our 50th was the return of my high school baseball glove. I thought my brother lost it while was in the Navy. It turns out that Anna Norris had it in her basement all that time! I now have it back in my “museum” after 50+ years.. Thank you, Anna.
Here in Florida, I have been active with church activities at one level or another; elder, deacon, board chair and most recently PR guy. With the advancements of both my age and technology, I stepped down from the PR post in favor of someone with more energy and maybe some training in the use of current media. Last month, I agreed to help out with the HUB, our monthly newsletter and being Lay Pastor assisting our 3 pastors mainly with hospital and home visits. I have been doing this for years anyway, but having an official and visible role in church life has given me reason to examine my heart again. It can be very scary depending on how honest I want to be with myself. On my best day, I am a sinner saved by grace.
That’s about it for now.
Below is the “history” included in the book Cookie and others compiled for our 50th reunion. I will update it with more current information soon.
I am really looking forward to seeing ya’ll in a few months. It makes me crazy to think it has been 50 years! I can close my eyes and still smell those carnations we wore for our graduation.
I came from a non-SDA home to attend LA because of two things. I became acquainted with several SDA kids from the Hood River area who went away to “academy” every fall. I didn’t know what that was, but I loved those kids and really missed them when they were away. And, I attended a camp meeting session where Ed Gammon promised that any student could work their way through school if they wanted to. I arrived on campus for my last two years of high school not knowing anything about this new idea of campus life. Back home, my social status was a minus ten on anyone’s scale, mainly because there was no money, unreliable transportation and we lived “way out there”. At LA, I could be involved in activities and most things happened right on campus. Thanks to all of you, I remember those two years as some of the best of my life. It was also my first exposure to the idea that wherever you go, you will always have dumb rules to put up with!
I joined the Navy immediately upon graduation, returning to civilian life in 1960. After that I worked in sawmills and logging in Northern California. During that time, I realized that I knew very few ex-loggers and decided it was time to make a change. I took a correspondence course in computer programming and made the huge career switch in 1969, moving back to Portland, working as a programmer and analyst at United Medical Laboratories.
In 1974, I accepted a job in Kettering, Ohio, first as a programmer and then as manager of the computer department at the hospital there. Until my retirement in 2001, I managed computer departments in hospitals for Adventist Health System in Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, California, Washington DC, New Jersey and Florida.
As with you, my life has had ups and downs, regrets and elation, hits and misses. A divorce in 1986. Four kids, 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, none of whom live close. A spiritual rebirth. Remarriage. Maranatha mission trips to foreign lands. Death of a sister and parents. News of LA classmates dying prematurely. Losing jobs and receiving unexpected promotions. Children who have seemingly forgotten God and some who love the Lord. It’s all there. My life is a testimony to a loving God who has guided me even when I did not know it or even care.
Florida is a long way from anywhere but that is where we ended up. We bought a motor home, which we try to use every month, mostly for weekends at nearby state parks. My wife still works so we can’t really say we are 100% retired. But I can do most of the yard work, housework and cooking so we can take life easier than when I was working. We are making the most of an economy class retirement.
My job now consists of volunteer work on several levels of church life and with our homeowners’ association and being everyone’s errand boy. I still enjoy art in any form as time allows.
Periodically, I have run into LA alumni, all of whom I am proud. I know this reunion is not going to be enough time to renew relationships as I would like, but I will take what I can get. I hope to see many of you in July and all of you for that splendid reunion in Heaven, not too long from now.
March 2009
Our son, Andrew was recently named CEO of his hospital in Moses Lake, WA. He has been Chief Nursing Officer for the last few years and has been working hard, getting his BS in Nursing and MA in business. We are proud of him.
And proud, too, of our Grandson, Nick, who graduated from Army Basic Training a couple weeks ago at Ft Jackson, near Columbia SC. His next duty station is at Ft Gordon near Augusta GA where he is taking comuter software development and support.
may 21,2015
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