Jeffrey Niven:  

Having been born and raised in Southern California, it was amazing that I married my high school sweetheart from Newbury Park High School, went away to college, but returned to work and raise our own family in the Conejo Valley for another 32 years. I lived in Granda Hills until I was four, when my family moved to Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley around 1957. We lived there until moving to Thousand Oaks in 1963 when I was in the fifth grade. I attended Acacia Elementary School, was in the first graduating class from Redwood Jr. High, and attended TOHS where I graduated in the memorable class of 1971, the "Barbarians". (I will never understand how we ended up with that horrid name, but the high school staff made us keep it.) I thoroughly enjoyed high school especially Mr. Feller's drafting classes. The years from 1967 to 1971 were an interesting time to be a teenager. The Viet Nam was still raging and some of my friends were drafted. Like everyone else I registered for the draft and sat around the radio in 1971 listening for my draft number to be selected. I wonder what would have happened to me had my number not been in the 300's. With so many varied interests, I struggled with what to do with my life. My occupational interest test in high school suggested that I look into the military. My dad was a high school teacher in Reseda and I thought about teaching. Mr. Feller suggested that I take a job with Burroughs Corp. as a Draftsman. My scout leader suggested I go into dentistry. And I had always wanted to learn to fly. I also considered Mechanical Engineering, but with the winding down of the space program in the late 60's and seeing the fathers of many of my friends being laid off I decided to avoid the engineering profession. I was accepted to BYU in the fall of 1971 and enrolled in Pre-Dentistry as a freshman. With 7 kids in our family my parents were unable to help me financially except for my first semester. After that I got a job at a local bicycle shop in Provo to pay my way. It was a tough year for me, as I was homesick and missed my girl friend and family. I didn't make a lot of friends and spent most of my time studying and fixing bicycles. In August 1972 I left for a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was assigned to serve in the states of Ohio and West Virginia. This would prove to be a life changing experience for me, and I grew to love the area and the people there. I missed my family and my girl friend but they supported me with weekly letters and an occasional box of cookies. When I left to come home in 1974 I was excited to return to BYU and give it another try. Upon returning home, I renewed my friendship with my girl friend, Barbara, and decided to attend BYU together for Winter Semester 1975. I was still in Pre-Dentistry, but the Organic Chemistry and the Zoology classes were taking their toll on my endurance. Barbara and I became engaged to be married in March of that year and we were married in October of 1975. Barbara and I continued to attend BYU but I decided to change to Accounting and I set my sights on becoming a CPA. Although I like the math part of Accounting, it was still not what I wanted for a career and I floundered in the summer months of 1976, wondering what I should do with my life. By then Barbara was pregnant and I was working between 50 and 60 hours each week at a local McDonalds restaurant in Provo, in addition to a full academic load at BYU. One Saturday I was extremely discouraged with the burdens of being a husband and expectant father and the fact that I had attended BYU for over two years and was still undecided in my future career. Barbara was understandably concerned as well, and pushed hard for me to make a decision and stick with it. As I wondered alone around the BYU campus that hot Saturday afternoon, I entered the Clyde Engineering Building and was directed to one of the Mechanical Engineering professors. We discussed my interests and background and he was sure that I should go into Mechanical Engineering. I expressed my concerns about being laid off, but he simply told me that I would be able to get another job if that happened. And you know: He was right about that, too. When I was laid off the first time, in 1983, I had another offer in less than a week. Once I began my engineering classes, I was in heaven! Fortunately all the classes I had taken previously at BYU fit exactly into the Mechanical Engineering program and not a single class was wasted. I graduated with my BS degree in December 1978 and stayed to get my master's degree which was awarded to me in August 1979. At the time I left BYU it was a perfect time to be an engineering graduate. We were wined and dined and flown around the US by companies trying to fill their engineering needs. Salaries went up at least 10% each year, and recruiters struggled to remain competitive with each other. I received at least 6 offers for employment and chose my highest offer, which just so happened to be with Burroughs Corporation in Westlake Village, CA. The very place that Mr. Feller recommend I work for as a Draftsman back in 1971. Now eight years later, I was there working as an engineer. By this time, we had another little boy and I was happy to make more than minimum wage at McDonalds cooking hamburgers. We rented a house for a while until we were able to buy our first home in 1983, in Newbury Park. We would live in that community for 28 years. A third son was born in 1981 and a daughter in 19...Expand for more