Lucille and I are into our forty-eighth year of marriage. We have two sons, and a granddaughter from each.
I was born in Monticello, AR, 1936. My family moved to San Diego, CA in 1943. I finished high school in San Diego and entered the Air Force in 1954.
After basic training at Parks AFB, CA, I went to Lowry AFB, CO, and spent nine months attending radar fire control systems technical school. I was then assigned to 15th Fighter Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ. I was discharged in 1958, a Ssgt., and went to work for the CA ANG in Ontario, CA maintaining the same radar system and training the Air Guardsmen on the weapons system.
OCS was an experience. My first assignment following OCS was to Williams AFB, AZ. I returned to my Ontario ANG unit after a brief stay at Williams AFB. From 1965 to 1967 I had a two-year break in military service due to job relocations. I rejoined the Ontario ANG in 1967 as a weekender and remained in the ANG until 1975 when I entered the retired reserve with ten years enlisted and ten qualifying years of commissioned service.
I became a sworn peace officer with the California Highway Patrol in 1965, and was assigned to eastern Los Angeles and western San Bernardino County areas for five years. I transferred to the Northern California area of Auburn in 1971, and remained in the Placer County area of California until I retired in 1995 with twenty-nine years of state service.
The job as a peace officer had, and has, its moments. The era of the ’60s and ’70s was very challenging because of the civil unrest and the great increase in drug abuse in our society. I never had to shoot anyone, although there were many situations where that could have happened. I am fortunate to not have that memory. My twenty-nine years of law enforcement memories, mostly good, cover a wide range of emotions and experiences.
My wife and I live in the Auburn, CA area. We have no immediate plans. We would like to travel some more. I hope to correspond with some of the OCS classmates whose addresses I lost during moves.
