Jeno Koch Koch

Just passing through the Augie site and caught your name and a gusher of memories of that summer I lived with you and your family, the honda 50 or similar, you cuttin' grass and us, somehow having a ton of fun. Wishing you the best Lafe, Austin is a great place to be!

Greetings to All. I see a reunion scheduled soon and must admit, I would love to attend but will not be joining you for this epic event. Truly I hope it is a fantastic event for each of you that attend. Looking at the alumni roster, I ponder each recognized name and wonder how many of you, at first glance, I would recognize after so many years? Just viewing names brings a vast array of Augie memories to surface, from the smell of Old Main, to sports and proms, my many misdeeds including raiding the kitchen as a junior, friends and girlfriends, those who shared their homes with me on vacations and even a whole summer, Max on the golfcart, and of course the list goes on forever. Because Augie closed when I was to become a senior and could not live at home by court order, I moved to Grand Forks, ND, and lived with classmate Steve Scott and the Reverend Scott Family, and graduated from Red River High School in "72". I then went to Dynamy in Worcester, MA. for a year, attended American White Water School to become a professional whitewater guide (seasonal) which I did for 9 seasons primarily in Utah. Somewhere during a lot of that time I developed my culinary skils, I have numerous resume entries from all over the US but went on to become a corportate chef.I spent three years in the Caribbean, two on a luxury yacht as chef, then owned a restaurant in St. Thomas. Later as a corporate chef I did mostly
large functions, fundraisers, fed five presidents and did celebrity events. An injury required a career change, I sold insurance and got out, banking, and then estate planning and stock brokering. I got arrested in 1998, a company I worked for had a missing 19M dollars, the whole company got arrested. I lost everything then including my wife and child, tried suicide and failed. From riches to rags, jail time and worse, a job at Home Depot, and built a landscape business, and finally back to being a chef. I ended up on ships, travelled the world for ten years as a merchant marine, executive sous chef for NCL and provision master, then on to smaller vessels literally sailing the world. I am back on land now, have been since 2013, got sick last year with Castleman's Disease and currently on pre FDA drugs to fight it out, hence my not coming there. I am fine at times, and then not so fine, I am not proud of how I feel, ashamed is how I feel, no longer proud and stubborn. Anyway, I have rattled off far more than I planned but the more I looked at the alumni list, the more I just felt like sharing a bit, hope nobody went to sleep. I have a chance of surviving this disease but most likely have a year more to battle, no guarantees, but 2 out of 3 survive it. I know you have all got a ton I would warmly welcome hearing, deeply sorry I must miss it. If Dr. Dave Larson is still kicking around, that would warm my memory bank, I still tell stories about him, what an inspiration he was, and no, of course not the only one, there were too many to tell. ( Wondering if this is a "comment", guessing it is not, approaching a thesis)? Thanks for reading/listening and again....wishing the absolute best to each and everyone of you at the reunioun or not. (Missing Pastor Bob....always!)