Comments:
We did a "reverse" retirement move geography-wise, moving from the Southeast after 20 years in Augusta, Georgia and Charlotte, NC to Northwest Montana and have our house just outside of Whitefish. We can see some snow-capped peaks in Glacier NP from our back window. My wife Jody grew up here and we always enjoyed our vacations in this area. Her father is in the VA home in this area so we can look in on him and also join the VA home for the many activities they have with the vets. We live an active life here with golfing, fishing, hiking, rafting and traveling. We are Montana all summer and come and go during the winter to warmer climates but it does feel good to get back and cross country ski, snowshoe or do a little ice fishing in the fresh air.
What path did I take to end up here?
After Schurz, I ventured East and graduated from Harvard College in 1964. Following graduation, I entered the Navy, beginning at the Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. Following commissioning, I was stationed on a ship in Little Creek, Virginia for 3 years. We deployed 8 months out of the year to Central and South America, homeporting out of the Canal Zone where we flew the American Flag and were a shadow for the activies of Fidel and Che in the Americas. To offset the warm weather of our normal deployments, we did get one trip to Iceland in March in the North Atlantic. Following sea duty, I extended for 2 more years at shore duty in Great Lakes, Ill. where I worked with the Reserve program. Upon release from active duty, I did remain active in the Reserves and retired from there in 1986.
On the Civilian front, I started work with Xerox in Chicago and was transferred to Rockford, Illinois. I then switched industries and started with Liberty Mutual Insurance in Des Plaines, Ill. After a couple of years with Liberty, I moved to Stevens Point, Wi with Sentry Insurance. During my time in the Navy, Liberty and Sentry, I became married and had 2 sons and also went through a divorce.
I married my current wife Jody in 1983 and we have been on an interesting journey ever since. We transferred to Boston with Sentry and really enjoyed living in New England. But after a couple of years, we took a jump to a small property-casualty insurance company in Augusta, Ga. owned by what is now ING. We spent over 5 years in Augusta and then consolidated the operations to Charlotte NC. I moved through various positions in the company and retired as the Southeast Regional Mgr in 2004. Of note, was that during the last 5 years of my work, we had been purchased by and were part of Liberty Mutual, where my insurance career began.
Jody had a successful career selling insurance with a very large agency in Charlotte from which she retired in 2005 after they were purchased by Wachovia. We enjoyed the Southeast, especially, the weather which allowed us to play golf 12 months of the year and the proximity to both mountains and ocean. We had some interesting trips with my 2 sons as we explored the area. One of the most memorable was when we camped out and paddled by canoe through the Okefenokee Swamp. We never saw so many alligators in our life. At least, we did not have to worry about snakes as they were all gator food. We also enjoyed the other areas of the SE such as Charleston, SC, Savannah, Kiawah, Hilton Head and Pinehurst and parts of Florida.
But things cannot go on forever and we said goodbye to our friends in the South and ventured to the Flathead Valley in Montana for new adventure in retirement. We still golf a lot and even golf on occasion during the winter in Polson, Mt, 55 miles south of us where the microclimate created by Flathead Lake against the mountains gives some balmy January and February days in the high 40's and sunny. The Lake is so large it doesn't freeze during the winter. But fishing can be really good here and across the border in British Columbia for different species of trout and every 2 years the local gang and I head to Seldovia, AK to replenish the halibut supply.
Both my sons are in the midwest, Brian is a civil engineer and lives with his wife Erica in Gurnee, Ill. and Peter teaches math and science at an Alternative HS in the Madison, Wi school system. They both enjoy visiting in Montana more than the Southeast so they try and get here during the summer time period for the outside activities.
All said, it has been a good life to now and we hope will continue in the future. The key being that the health and fitness hold as we get older so we can continue to be active and the stock markets get healthier to support our trips.
