Jim Shapiro:
CLASS OF 1958
Ritenour High SchoolClass of 1958
Overland, MO
Ritenour Junior High SchoolClass of 1955
Overland, MO
Home Heights SchoolClass of 1952
St. louis, MO
Jim's Story
Well, I had my story up here and it disappeared. Maybe I had something in it that someone objected to, like the fact that I am a Christian, and they turned me in to Classmates police, and they removed it. So in this story I'll be sure not to say anything like that.
In my story I said, while I was unhappy about it at the time, I now felt blessed that the girl who promised to wait for me when I went into the army in 1962, didn't, because three years later I met a much nicer girl, who I married a year after that. We've been married 44 years. We have 2 daughters and 8 grand kids, ranging in ages from 5 years to 22. In my old story I said my good fortune of marrying my wife and ending up with a wonderful family instead of marrying the one who couldn't wait for me was, "God moving in mysterious ways," which, of course, I won't use in this story for fear of having someone objecting to that and having this story removed.
As you can see from my recently added "now" photo I've enjoyed a couple of skydiving experiences from 14,000 feet, free-falling 9000 feet, which was a blast. After the first one I was on a week long adrenaline high. My first two jumps were "tandem," with a pro jumper. My third is going to be a solo, which is more expensive because it requires lessons and two pros jumping with you in case you get busy enjoying the free-fall and forget to pull the ripcord. I'm putting that one off a bit because the last plane I jumped out of crashed on takeoff a couple of months later, killing 6 of the 8 jumpers on board. So I have to think about that added risk.
I'll end by saying that I'm a retired truck driver, and my wife, Diane, who is 6 years ...Expand for more
younger than me, still works full time as a office manager at a doctor's office, although she is considering retirement too.
Below is me answering the "story wizard" asking me to share a childhood memory I'll never forget.
When I was about 10 The Cardinals had a promotion where, before a game, we got to walk thru the dugout at old Sportsman's Park, and each player handed us a picture of himself. When you're 10, love baseball, and think ballplayers walk on water, that's about the greatest thing that could happen to you. Of course, after you grow up, you find out they're human, and sometimes even do bad things, (which was never printed about in the early '50s), but it was still a moment I'll never forget.
The "story wizard" just asked me to say how I hoped my friends remembered me. Well, not like I was in school. Very shy, and very much of a loner. I didn't even ask out a girl until after graduation. But I did aim high. My first date was with the best looking girl in school. But with her looks she didn't have time for someone too shy to talk to her, so after two dates it was goodbye Jim.
About a year after school I finally came out of my shell, and dated a lot of girls, fell in and out of love a few times, and finally met "the one," and settled down and got married at age 25, and started a family a year later.
Actually, being shy made me more determined to beat that problem, which I did for the most part, and for the rest of my adult life I've had many friends, and I find it easy to talk to people. All except for public speaking. That still scares me to death. I've done it a few times, did OK, lived thru it, but it's still my biggest fear.
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