Rick Shupe

I finished college at Wichita State in 1966. Joined the Navy in 1967 and served 4 years as an electronics technician, including one year in Viet Nam. After my discharge in 1971, I went to work in restaurant management, primarily with Colonial Fountain and Grill in Wichita. Colonial went out of business in 1978, and I went to work as a district manager for a convenience store chain named Town & Country Markets, also in Wichita. The chain consisted of 63 stores and we had one in McPherson, although for the life of me I can't remember where it was. When that chain sold to Total Petroleum in 1985 I went to work as a district manager for another convenience store chain--Kerr-McGee. We also had a store in McPherson on West Kansas Ave. across the street from JD's Kwikburger (one of my favorite hangouts, by the way). Kerr-McGee sold out to Conoco in 1995 (is it me?) and I then went to work as operations manager for a tobacco retailer called Welcome Smokers. We also had a store in McPherson (seems to be a recurring theme) on West Kansas Ave. That lasted until 1999 when I went to work for Osco Drug in Wichita. My wife and I moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 2001 to follow a fantastic job opportunity for Debbie (she's a sharp one). Then in 2003, her employer wanted us to move to West Palm Beach, where nobody I know can afford to live. So we decided to move to Oklahoma City and start over (why not? I'm only 59 by then). I got a job with CVS Pharmacy as a photo lab supervisor in 2003 and am still there today working 40 hours a week. Debbie is an accountant for the National Reining Horse Association. It's an interesting job--she has met a few celebrities there like Lyle Lovett and William Shatner. We both like our jobs, but gee, you'd think a guy could retire someday!

Debbie and I both play golf, and belong to a club in Guthrie, OK. It's about 25 miles north of Edmond, where we live. We play every weekend (weather permitting). When we can't play golf, we enjoy going to casinos, where Debbie is the luckiest woman alive. Debbie has family in New Orleans, and her parents live at Grand Lake in Northeast OK., so we go there occasionally, especially holidays. I still root for the Jayhawks, and watch them play basketball whenever I can. Now that OKC has an NBA team, we never miss one of their games (on TV).

Keep from kicking it as long as I can.

I'm still mad about losing to Manhattan in the 1962 basketball regional final. We had already beaten them twice, for cryin out loud. Only loss of that season, too. You know what I'm talkin about, Mills. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. I loved my time in McPherson--in school and out.

You could name just about anyone in high school and I bet I have a memory that involves them.