Keith Martin

In many ways, my priorities have not changed since I last saw most of you. I always wanted a pretty big family, and now I have one by modern standards. I remain obsessed with music. But there's nothing like being present for the birth of one's child . . . and I've been fortunate enough to do that five times.

Job and personal milestones?: I attended Thiel College until 1976, running the radio station and the concert/dance/movie/speaker program, graduating with a BA in Psychology and Business, left to work on an MA in Humanistic Psychology at West Georgia College in Carrollton GA. While there, I met my first wife and embarked on a decade-long pattern of cocky self-destruction. Beginning in Carrollton, I worked at 6 different radio stations over the years (the last one being WXXP in Pittsburgh); spent 7 years administering dormitories at 5 different universities; taught school at a Douglasville GA psychoeducational center; was the first man in Georgia given permission to be present at a Caesarian birth; got a job as an Enumerator during the 1980 Census, eventually heading a 3-county region; finished my Masters (in Counseling) at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches TX; almost finished an MBA; started a Psych doctorate at the University of Delaware; received but didn't accept full scholarships/fellowships for doctorates at Georgia Tech, Florida State and the University of Texas; divorced and remarried 3 times; held several psychotherapist and psychologist positions; was Clinical Director of a social services agency for psychiatrically-disabled homeless people; began my still-existing online compact disc sales business; taught people how to drive school buses; worked at a landscaping company; managed a furniture warehouse; drove a freezer truck for Borden delivering ice cream to supermarkets and groceries stores all over East Texas; lived in Alaska for a year; served as president of a homeowners association for a 568-home Alpharetta (now Milton) GA subdivision; and performed the duties of a stay-at-home Dad for a total of 20 years. After a couple decades in agnostic limbo, I returned to my Christian faith in the early years of the new millennium. Looking for a permanent home in a small town far from big highways and prone to heavy snowfall, my 21-year wife Kristin and I moved our three kids to Greenville PA in 2003, adding daughter Holly Hannah 9 months later. We have now relocated to Westworth Village TX.

Life has been a challenging but ultimately wonderful thing. I'm happy to find a way to reconnect with fellow 1972 Hampton High graduates. I didn't arrive at Hampton until 1972, but I will never forget how I was welcomed with open arms by huge numbers of people, mostly those of the senior class. Just in recent years, I've finally realized that moving to Hampton was probably one of the 5 best things that ever happened to me. It was something I failed to adequately appreciate at the time, so I casually let myself lose touch with everyone. Always looking forward, and stubbornly refusing to question myself until I was about 35, I made the mistake of ignoring that Hampton was a perfect place for me -- and should have been a place for me to return to after finishing my degrees. Of course, it didn't cross my mind to do so, because I no longer had contact with any old friends to remind me!

Hmmm. I may have to think about this for awhile. My favorite Hampton story from my whole 5 months there? That's a lot of ground to cover. For now I'll just be superficial and blurt out several candidates:

1. Arriving at the bus stop my 2nd day of school at Hampton to discover that the only other boy at the stop was Bobby Selvaggio (soon to be a very good friend), and that we would be accompanied each day by 9 very pretty females!

2. Mistaking Denise Dailey for a teacher.

3. Senior skip days, a tradition that our class seriously abused. I specifically can never forget one very memorable trek to McConnells Mills.

4. Listening to THE WORST OF THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE in the Sutter family living room, consistently a friendly environment.

5. Garage band practices with Bobby, Jeff Houck and the Jamrom brothers.

6. My first visit to the Dead People Factory.

7. Sitting on the bench with Tom Jeremiah while Hampton slaughtered other basketball teams by as many as 30 points -- and at the same time feeling quite honored to be on the same team as such a well-oiled machine as were Jim, Bill, Dick, Lynn and Doug (with occasional assistance from Ken, Tom and others). To this day I've never seen such coordination between the boards.

8. Despite the specialness of sitting the bench, quitting the team so I could have the unique honor of playing Intramural basketball with Italo Vaccaro, a man who should have been given a spot on the Harlem Globetrotters for his ability to compete with comedic flair.

9. Losing a job at Kroger because I failed the personality test!

10. Various antics with Johnny Hatfield, Bob Needham and others following night shifts at Howard Johnson's.

But that's only the beginning of recounting the wonderfulness of just one semester and one summer in Hampton before starting college, and I'm sure I haven't mentioned even half the people who treated me as a friend during study hall, playing volleyball in gym class, matching wits in Santos' Poli Sci class, worshiping and partying at Young Life sessions, riding the bus near the cliff daily on Harts Run, learning various dives at the community pool, horseback riding with Barb Dahlberg, or 8-foot b-ball pick-up games at the elementary school on Middle Road.

Now that I think about it, picking JUST ONE favorite school story simply wouldn't be fair.