After graduation from WJ I went to Montgomery College for a year then transferred to the University of Maryland . I was taking Electrical Engineering but the math was killing me. One of the classes I had to take was computer programming and I found my niche in life. I went back to Montgomery College and got a two year degree in Computer Science. In the summer of 1969 I took a trip to Ocean City for a week (on $20 including gas), where I met my future wife. I found out that she lived just around the block from my best friend (Doug Weiss) in Bethesda (close to WJ).


In 1970 I won the lottery (the only time) and was soon expecting to be drafted. Luckily my draft board was in Silver Spring and it was always getting trashed so they did not catch up with me till 1971. That year I got married, graduated from MC, and joined the Air Force, a very busy year. We lived in Biloxi MS for almost a year where I was in Tech School learning Radar Maintenance and during that time our daughter was born. I was then stationed in Statesboro GA (a small college town) at a small Radar site for three years. While in the Air Force I got to go to Austin TX. I was there when LBJ died. I also spent a few months in Maine (during the potato harvest).  I went to Thailand for 5 months during the last weeks of the war. While in Thailand my son was born at Bethesda Naval Medical Center . I got out of the AF in the summer of 1975 and moved back to Gaithersburg Md. We didn’t stay there long before we moved to the Chicago area and a job with Bell Labs.


We were only going to stay for a few years but were there for 13. At Bell Labs I programmed telephone switches. This is where I lost my 20/20 eye sight and hair but to make up for that I gained a few pounds. We bought our first house a year after we arrived and a second home 7 years later. I really enjoyed my job, but we hated the long cold dreary winters. On Jan 3^rd 1989 we packed up the two cars, the two kids, the two cats and moved from Chicago to Durham NC . When we left there was snow on the ground and it was 2 degrees. When we got to NC it was 50 degrees (the locals were complaining about the bitter cold weather), everything was green, and pansies were blooming. The cat escaped at the airport, the moving van broke down, but life was good (and the cat was recaptured).


I started work at Bell Northern Research programming Nortel telephone switches. While there I became a supervisor and then a Software Architect. I retired in June 2008 after working for 33 years in the telecom industry and surviving many downsizings. I really like knowing that whenever anyone makes a phone call they are more than likely executing some of my code.


We have lived in Durham in the same house for almost 20 years, the longest I have lived anywhere. We have 5 grandchildren, some live here and some in Maryland , so we make frequent trips back to visit them and my wife’s family. It’s always a shock to see how things have changed from 1966 (and the traffic just gets worse and worse). Nowadays I read a lot, mess on the computer, and help around the house.


When I was young, my Dad was in the Navy and we moved almost every three years, so I never made too many lasting friends. We moved to MD in 1963 when I started going to WJ. This is where I met a lot of good friends and I have a lot of fond memories of that time. I was at the 25^th reunion and hope to attend the 50^th and meet everyone again.