Dan West:  

When I joined this site on a whim, years ago, I recall there was originally only three or four of us from 70 and it stayed that way for a long time. I never joined but occasionally noodled around on the site to see if a familiar name appeared. Now, pages of names. I remember a few with fondness, but admit for the most part; I just don't remember. I'm getting enough inquiries however that Ill put a picture up, and fill in a little of the story. A week after graduation I left for Navy boot camp, and spent the next six years on active duty. Learned a skill, saw a lot of the world, experienced some good things, and some Id give anything if I could forget. Afterwords I used skills from the Navy to get a start in telecommunications related information technology work. Ive spent most of my working life in the computer world; starting as a night shift computer operator at Service Merchandise in the late seventies, and ending recently as CIO and Vice President of a large health care company. Shunning college, Ive never had anything much more than my Stratford diploma. All things considered, I think I did ok. I consider myself semi-retired as I now work on a contract and consulting basis. I met my wife forty years ago in the Navy. She was in the Navy also, and we met on the little Aleutian island of Adak Alaska. Shes from a tough part of Chicago, can take care of herself, and was an early trailblazer; volunteering for military service where women were traditionally not allowed at that time, which brought her out to a very remote location like Adak. We have two sons, born in 1976 and 1978, the oldest an engineer at AT&T laboratories in Atlanta, the other a long haul truck driver (with his wife as a team) living in Las Vegas. Both sons wisely elected to learn from my stubborn bone head approach, and completed college. We see them occasionally and they are happy, healthy, and pursuing their dreams. My wife left her northern roots and adopted my southern lifestyle completely, never looking back (although she still turns her nose up at grits). She is the kind of mother kids dream of having, my steadfast devoted companion throughout, and remarkably she still loves me, and finds ways to show it. Forty years later, every morning I wake up, look over at her, and fall in love with her all over again. When I'm not working, we love old movies, walking our friendly neighborhood, spontaneous travel (spontaneous anything really), hiking, riding bikes, and we like to ...Expand for more