Charles Rowden:  

I have resisted in doing this for some time - my belief is that when people start to look backwards it means that they are getting old. On the other hand, doing this has been on my mind for some time and maybe it is time to look backwards, see what has transpired, close it, and look forward. I started High School in San Antonio, Texas and moved to California in 1964, eventually graduating from Pioneer High in 1966. Still having friends from both schools, I have posted to both school sites. I have been told that I was the second youngest in our class and was 17 upon graduation. I was working at the Bun and Burger and had a dream of becoming an architect, big discrepancy between reality and the dream. The war was on, it was pre-lottery draft, and my father, a career Navy man, recommended that I go into the Navy on a minority cruise. I did, went to basic electronics and radar school and was assigned to the fleet on a repair ship. Did one tour to the Far East, saw a lot of that part of the world, was introduced to the wonderful electronics gear and cameras coming out of Japan which sparked my interests in both, made E-5 prior to discharge, and believe that I came back mentally and physically unscathed. Went to college on the GI Bill, starting at Mount Sac with an interest in mathematics and electronics, transferred to Cal Poly Pomona where I lucked into Chemical Engineering and took a degree in that discipline in 1974. I went to work for an Engineering and Construction firm in Southern California where I managed to stay for 35 years, first as a Process Engineer and later as a Project Engineer. Most of my projects were refinery ...Expand for more