Josh Rosen

I graduated from ODU with a geology degree in 1981. Then I went to Roanoke to save some money to move to Colorado and worked 3 jobs; at Julien's Shoes (sorry to say Julien passed away in February 2014 at 94), the scrap yard off Franklin Road, and Pennys at Tanglewood. I moved to Colorado in the spring of 1982 and got into the environmental field and it has been a great career for me. I traveled a lot and forgot to get married until I was 42. I have a wonderful wife, Karen, and two great boys, Lucas and Samuel, that are keeping me young. I have attended the 10, 20, and 30 year class reunions. Even though I have lived in Colorado a long time, I'll never forget growing up in Roanoke and what a great time that was. I love coming to Roanoke to visit.

Well, there were quite a few humerous and fond memories. Like the time Chuck Kroll (class of '76) and I acted out a play with our cats (I think they were cats; it was hard to tell after a while) from anatomy lab as puppets. Ms. Dechow was not amused. Other great memories were playing soccer on Sundays on the muddy field inside the track, all those nerdy chess matches during lunch, and all the fun times with Freddie, Dan, Tommy, Steve, and Tim. I think that Freddie, Alex, and I attended every Roanoke Valley Rebels home hockey game our junior year.

Since my kids are still in college, I have no plans to retire yet. When I do retire, I'll probably go on the old guys' snowboard tour or become a Bassmaster. Yeah, that's it.

So many choices. One time Dan Vella and I were driving around Roanoke county in my mom's '67 dart drinking vodka on an icy night. Slid off the road and ended up between a utility pole and the guy wire. We were dumb, but lucky.

Sledding with Chuck Kroll on the Blue Ridge Parkway south of town. We'd be going so fast, we'd have to crash to stop.

None of these things were my idea.