Tom Smith ('69*)

My wife Patty & I do not have any children, but we had several cats... (now down to just five) and believe me they can be just as demanding, At least we were spared the expenses of school and buying, clothes and such.

We strongly believe in responsible pet ownership. We had volunteered our time with the Humane Society and the Feral Cat Coalition. Help keep the spread of pet diseases down by having all your cats & dogs spayed or neutered!

Family Genealogy Website...I might post later...www.Ancestry.com

I know of several stories to add here...but one in particular I need to mention. Since my diving accident happened during the summer after my sophomore year, I was forced to spend most of my Junior year away from my classmates receiving much needed physical & occupational therapy in Portland and then later at the Benedictine Nursing Home. It was through this period that I remember getting many cards, letters, and visits from this same class that never forgot about me. With your love and support during those months you helped build up my physical and mental strength that has continued to help me persevere throughout these many long years. Do you guys remember the intercom system they set up for me from the Nursing Home to one of the classrooms at the high school? Even though I couldn’t always answer when asked something over the intercom, I could hear you guys interacting during the class period. It was almost like being there in person…sort of. Of course there were probably times you were talking to a disconnected unit from my side. Anyway, this connection to my classmates at this time was very helpful in brightening up my outlook on life and coping with my disability at that time. This is a very much belated thank you for all of you for being there for me and being my classmates.

Even though it’s been 50 some years now that we all have traveled our own pathways on this journey of life…we all shared an important leg of that journey…our high school years. I will continue to add other interesting moments here as I recall them from time to time.

My main interest during my early high school years was to go on to college and then into medical school for a professional career as a medical doctor. Of course, things do change in life...so my second interest turned out to be Business Administration.

’69-‘70
University of Portland (U of P), Portland
Liberal Arts

’70-‘71
Mt. Angel College, Mt. Angel, Oregon
Liberal Arts

’71-‘82
Portland State University (PSU), Portland, Oregon
B.S. in Business Administration & Finance Law

’95-‘96
Advanced Computer Science & Programming, PSU – Portland, Oregon

’72-‘82
College Work-Study – PSU, Portland, Oregon
Various University Jobs & Position
Advocate – Disability Rights & Issues

’82-‘85
Allnet Communications, Portland, Oregon
Marketing Representative

’85-‘88
Environmental Access Consulting, Portland, Oregon
Environmental Access Lift Co.
VP & General Manager

’88-‘92
Access Lift Co., Portland, Oregon
(Self-Employed) - President & CEO

’92-‘94
Multi-level Licensed Insurance Agent – Oregon/Washington
(Self-Employed) - Life & Health / General Lines.

’95-‘96
Advanced Computer Science & Programming, PSU – Portland, Oregon

’97-‘98
Microsoft Corporation, Beaverton, Oregon
Computer Program Analyst

’98-‘01
TJSmith Consulting – Portland, Oregon
(Self-Employed) - Computer & Graphics Design Consultant

’01-‘02
Nettel Global Communications Corp., Portland, Oregon
Software Development Manager, Design Consultant.

’02-‘06
The TaJ Group, Inc., Portland, Oregon
(Self-Employed) - President / CEO

’07-‘08
Trellis Earth Products, Inc., Portland, Oregon
Territory Field Manager.

’07-2015
EARTH-CENTRIC, LLC, Portland, Oregon
(Self-Employed) - General Manager

Lucky to have several opportunities for both pleasure & business to travel to the east coast and visit a lot of the great sites within New Your City and Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas.

Through our VoIP communications company, we were able to set up several satellite businesses in New Delhi, India and Conakry, Guinea (West Africa). If it wasn’t for my disability and the length of time for traveling to these locations, I would have loved experiencing first-hand these countries, the people, and their cultures. But instead, my business partner did this.

I was able to trace my genealogy lines from my ancestors who immigrated to the United States back to Europe, mainly Germany and surrounding areas. It's also amazing how much of our Family Trees are so inter-connected, especially to a lot of the "founding fathers" around the Mt. Angel area. You'd be surprised to find out how a lot of our fellow classmates' families are somehow interlinked through past family marriages.

Besides setting up and working on this website, I enjoy many different things including listening to music (all kinds except Rap & Country), Reading (fiction, non-fiction, classics to contemporary), Movies (most genres from old classics to contemporary both American and Foreign made), Genealogy research, Writing (short stories, children’s books, historical, and other), Playing games (cards, board, mind, and computer), and entertaining my cats (kids).

Unfortunately, I was late at our 40th class reunion. But I did get a chance to see a few of you and chat a bit. Since these events don't usually last very long and it's so hard to chat with everyone, I thought we should have our very own website so we all can share and reflect our lives with our fellow classmates. This site is not only for our classmates we graduated with, but all the other classmates that were in our same class from Freshman to Senior who have come and gone and which we lost track of.

Well...since it's been a while since our class has been able to keep up with our lives to each other...except for a few reunions from time to time...now we have a website to share things with others. I will try and follow up here and include a short history on my life ever since we graduated in 1969. Hopefully all of you fellow classmates will share your stories on you and your family's lives as well. Let me know if you have any questions and/or comments. if you have any other information to add about yourself or other classmates please pass it on.