Doug Uhren:
CLASS OF 1969
Fairview High SchoolClass of 1969
Fairview park, OH
Doug's Story
Still married to Cheryl and attended University of Michigan (BSE Civil Engineering and BSE Environmental Engineering -first one ever given out by U of M). My career as a Professional Civil Engineer included work in consulting and industry involving planning, design, and construction / operation of municipal and industrial water supply, waste treatment, landfill design and closure, and sewers and tunnels. Work took me all over the world and a number of my projects have won National Awards or have been the first of their kind in the World. I was fortunate to receive an Engineer of the Year award and National Technical Excellence award, and am one of 5 national experts in alternative sewers.
Education teaches you how to earn a living but not make money.....so I began investing in real estate and formed my own company as my retirement plan and retired at age 54. I have been making wine since 1968 and have won many competitions including runner up to the Grand Champion at the Ohio State Fair. My wine cellar now has about 300 bottles and 15 different types with another 150 bottles under fermentation.
My interest in music has continued and my old High School rock band has cut 7 band reunion CD's. You can hear some of the music tracks under Facebook page "Doug Uhren Band". We had a lot of fun recording multi tracks over a 3-day recording sessions. I built a recording studio at home and now record songs using Mixcraft 6 in that studio.
I have been blessed with helping to plant 3 different Christian Mission churches and am finishing up the manuscript of a Book called "Islam and the Bible" which compares and contrasts Qur'an and biblical beliefs from a Christian point of view that has already been approved for publishing.
My one son is a civil engineer/planner in Florida heading up Palm Beach County and my other ...Expand for more
son is an international Cigar Artist. You can find his work on mikeuhren.com. We have 5 grandchildren that we enjoy very much. My favorite quote is:"Don't tell me why you can't do it. Tell me how you are going to get it done". My hobby of stamp collecting has turned into a sideline business making me an EBay power seller. Yes, I am into prepping in a small way and have built water purification systems, a solar cooker/purifer, installed a 7.2 KW solar array and even have a drone that I buzz around the property. As one friend put it, "never a dull moment with Uhren". I have probably done the equivalent of at least 2 normal lifetimes and am working on my third right now.
The hardest part of retirement for me is that you can feel disconnected from society since you can sleep in, don't have to fight traffic, quibble with bosses, or meet any schedules. You don't realize just how much of your life revolved around "work" until you stop working. The other adjustment is being with your spouse full time day and night without the break of time away at work.
My last bit of advice comes directly from my cousin who retired from the Social Security administration "take SS as quick as you can for as long as you can" Don't listen to those that say keep working till you are 66 or 70 because you can get more per month. They are missing a very important point....you are still contributing to SS all the while you are waiting to get the bigger paycheck. In my case, the it would take 36 years to get the same amount of money out of SS if I had started at 66 rather than 62 (I would have to live to age 98). I can send the spreadsheet if you are interested. Just email me at duhrenATsbcglobalDOTnet. You can find me on facebook and linkedin so if you want to drop me a line, that will be fine. I would love to hear from you.
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