Alvin Rothe:
CLASS OF 1961
Baker Elementary SchoolClass of 1961
Birmingham, AL
University of Alabama at BirminghamClass of 1977
Birmingham, AL
Jefferson State Community CollegeClass of 1975
Birmingham, AL
University of Alabama - EngineeringClass of 1969
Tuscaloosa, AL
Ensley High SchoolClass of 1965
Birmingham, AL
Alvin's Story
Life
After high school I went to U of A for a couple of semesters then to Jeff. State. I lost my draft deferment so I joined the Navy in 1967. Spent 2 years in Key West on the Commander Key West Forces Staff, 2 years in Naples, Italy on the Commander Submarine Flotilla Eight Staff and 2 years on the U.S.S. Garcia (a destroyer escort). We did a Mediterranean cruise and got to go to a lot of interesting places: Barcelona, Spain; San Raphael, France; Turkey; Ibiza, Spain; Nice, France; Naples, Italy; Augusta Bay, Sicily; The Isle of Crete; and Athens, Greece.
After the Navy, I went to work for South Central Bell in Birmingham. I was at one time a lineman, a central office clerk, a supervising central office clerk and a Group Chief Operator in the Directory Assistance office in Center Point. While working at South Central Bell, I used ALL of my G.I. Bill benefits. I got an A.A. degree from Jefferson State Junior College and then a B.S. degree in Psychology from the University of Alabama - Birmingham. I bought a house and had my teeth worked on that the VA hospital. Believe me, I earned all those benefits and I intended to use them!
I got a rotational assignment to AT&T headquarters as a Staff Manager in Basking Ridge, NJ in 1978. I spent the next 6 years in Basking Ridge until the break-up of the Bell System in 1984. I wanted to stay with South Central Bell after the break-up but my old VP from South Central Bell offered me a job in Atlanta working for AT&T.
I had a mild heart attack at age 42; it was a real wake-up call. I changed my lifestyle and started saving as much money as I could. I was determined to retire at the earliest possible opportunity. That opportunity came in 1997! AT&T made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I retired at age 49. I took the next two years designing and preparing to build my own home on 5 acres we had purchased a few years earlier in the north Georgia mountains. I designed the house on my home computer and had the plans converted to full sized blueprints. My wife and I took two more years building the house. We installed every piece of sheet rock (this was no small house), every light fixture, plumbing fixture, trim, doors, windows, hardwood floors, etc. About the only thing we hired was the foundation, framing, roofing, rough plumbing & electrical, carpet installation and kitchen cabinet installation. I will post a photo of the house.
Now that the house is finished, I do a lot of volunteer work. I was a founding board member for the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and I am now President. I am was President of the local Master Gardener organization (affiliated with UGA county extension agent)in 2007; we do community education and landscape projects. I just finished 6 years as president of my communities homeowners association. I am most definitely a conservative and I do occasionally have to write a letter to the liberal editor of our local paper, the Pickens County Progress.
I took me three marriages to finally get it right. I have been married to my wife for 27 years now. Between us, we have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. We spend a lot of time spoiling the two that live nearest to us.
My sister and my brothers (all Ensley grads) still live in the Birmingham area. Since my father and then my mother passed away, I don't get over as often as I used to or should.
I have fond memories of growing up in Ensley and I sure would like to know what happened to all those friends I grew up with. So, if you know me how about signing my guestbook or shipping me a message.
School
In High School, I always thougt that Marilyn Krieger was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. I was so distressed to lean that Marilyn has passed away.
The teacher that inspired me most was a math teacher. I think her name was Mrs. Harris. and she had a wooden leg. Legend has it that a student once threatend here with termites? Anyone remember that story?
Several memories stand out. I remember sitting in study hall when we heard that President Kennedy had been assisanited. I remember the two or three day boycott that some of us observed when the school was integrated. I remember being in a study hall that was right over the band practice room. When they were practicing the national anthem several of us got the idea to all stand up and put our hand over our hearts. We were up and down for the whole hour and the teacher was not to happy, but what could she say! Does anyone remember Miss Pace? She was kinda ditzy. One day some guys locked her out of study hall! She went and got Prinicpal Pennington. He came and gave us a ster...Expand for more
n talking to but after he went out the door and talked more with Miss Pace, the guys locked the door agian. She simply dragged up a chair and sat by the door until the end of the period. I remember the night some guys "borrowed" the Woodlawn "Colonel" and he showed up at the Ensley Armory after the basketball game! I remember the Big Nine dance at the Municipal Auditorium on Friday nights after the football games. Can you name the 9 schools? Here's a hint (E, W, B, G, JV, R, P, WE, JC) After the dance a bunch of us guys would walk down to Krystals and get 9 Krystals and a drink for $1. We had to wait until midnight to eat because a couple of the guys were Catholic. We would catch the last bus back to Ensley. One night we missed it and we walked all the way home!
Military
I joined the Navy in April of 1967. I went to Boot Camp at Great Lakes, IL and had a most unusual graduation. We were the first and only Battalion to graduate away from Great Lakes. The city of Chicago planned an event for July 8, 1967 at Soldier Field. It was billed as the "Mid-America Salute to the Flag". 10,000 sailors using red and blue ponchos (and white uniforms) made a giant "living flag". Our graduating Battalion marched around the field and then up to be the "flag pole". It was quite an event, I will post a photo.
After Boot, I went to Radioman "A" school in Norfolk, VA and then I was ordered to the Commander Key West Forces (ComKwestFor) Staff. The FBI interviewed all my neighbors and OK'd me for a Top Secret security clearance which was necessary because the walls of the Command Post that I worked at were classified Top Secret. We used those walls to brief the officers of ships that were sailing to Guantanamo Bay (GITMO). Sometimes we asked them to take photos of Cuban ships and installations.
One day in 1968, about 6 months after the USS Pueblo had been captured by the North Koreans; another one of our "spy ships" went dead in the water off the coast of Cuba. We immediately set up a scrambled phone line directly to the White House. The Secretary of Defense was on the other end of the line directing our activities. A Destroyer on the way to GITMO took the stricken vessel in tow, but could not make any headway against the strong winds. The ship got down to 1.4 miles from the coast. Other Destroyers and 2 submarines and many F-4 fighters were sent to defend the 2 ships. We were not going to let Castro capture those ships. I was asked to pull the operation plan for an invasion of Cuba out of the file cabinet for the Admiral to review with the SecDef. A submarine rescue vessel (USS Penguin) was ordered to sail out of Key West Harbor to take over the tow. The USS Penguin was a converted fleet tug and itÃÂs powerful engines were just what was need to tow the Muller out of harms way.
We also controlled the U-2 flights over Cuba. If Cuba detected the planes and locked on fire-control radar, we would abort the missions, but this rarely happened
My next assignment was on the staff of Commander Submarine Flotilla Eight stationed at the NATO Allied Forces Southern Europe base in Naples, Italy. At this duty station, my security clearance was upped to Top Secret, Cosmic, Atomal CRYPTO. This authorized me to work with NATO Nuclear Top Secret material. One afternoon, I manually encrypted a message from the King of Jordan to the President of the United States. The submarine service used WWII cypher machines for such super secret messages. The message had been delivered by messenger to, Commander, Allied Forces Southern Europe. A 4-star Admiral stood over my shoulder as the message was encrypted and sent. This message was asking President Nixon to intervene in the Jordan crisis. As a result of this request, we put all the air forces in Europe on 5 minute standby and much of the 6th fleet was ordered to sail for Jordan.
My last assignment was aboard the USS Garcia, DE-1040. The Garcia was a Destroyer Escort with a crew of about 225 and was armed with nuclear ASROC (anti-submarine rocket) missiles. During our Mediterranean cruise we had an interesting event. The Soviet Med. Fleet was leaving the area in a convoy. We were ordered to get photos of a new antenna that was purported to be on a particular ship. To do this we sailed right through the Soviet Fleet. We were all on deck waving to the Russian sailors and they were waving back. The Soviet Union lodged a formal complaint about our maneuvers to the Geneva Convention. I remember typing the Captains reply which was a lot of weasel wording since we had done exactly what the Soviets complained about!
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