JMHS Class of ‘69 - 40th Reunion

I worked for Security Storage in Tyson’s (those babysh*t brown trucks!) during the summers while in college. It was sweaty, hard work but I made decent money (though, I can’t remember what it paid!). Talk about dementia!! I also got some overtime working office moves in DC. Those were great because we were in air conditioned buildings with little supervision. Unfortunately, the gravy train came to a halt when I moved to Richmond during my Junior year and became a Bank Teller. That landed me a Branch Manager’s position within a few years and I thought I was on top of the world. I found out that a laborer at an industrial construction worksite makes a little less than a Branch Manager in a Bank!! So I went for the big bucks and learned welding. The welding carried me through 20 years of employment and I held 27 certifications; I could weld everything except Titanium! I even developed a welding procedure for repairing brass impellars while at Virginia Power using aluminum bronze. Working the nukes was the worst because of Quality Assurance; when I was working next to a 5 Rem source and had to wait for someone to sign off on the weld, it got a little disconcerting!! Now I work evaluating Infrared cameras for the DoD. The lab at Fort Belvoir is the premiere facility in the world so it is prestigious, but a very small group knows about it, as you can imagine.

Can’t wait for the reunion activities! It is hard to believe it has been 40 years! Does this make us certifiable Old Farts?!?!?