Jim Tabor:
CLASS OF 1980
Mt. Rainier High SchoolClass of 1980
Des moines, WA
Jim's Story
Life
I joined the Navy in March 1981, spent 2 years in electronics schools in Memphis TN, flight training in Pensacola Florida & survival training in Maine. Then it was off to Spain where I flew reconnaissance missions in jets from aircraft carriers (nothing else like a catapult launch - what an E Ticket ride!) and propeller aircraft from airfields around the Mediterranean, Middle East, Europe, Africa, etc. Very exciting!! I met "Liz Taylor" while I was home on leave in March'86 and we got married in Aug'87. We packed up her stuff and moved her to Spain with me where we had a beautiful 3 bedroom house on the beach - cheap rent. The first 4 years together we traveled around Europe and the Med before having our daughter, Jennifer, in December'91. She's beautiful of course (aren't all our kids:) with an incredible personality! After a total of 9 1/2 years in Spain, I got stationed at the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters in Norfolk VA, and we bought a house here in Virginia Beach. We have gotten totally spoiled on the bright sunny weather out here! Next came a couple different aircraft carriers, USS AMERICA and USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, where I spent the next 4 1/2 years making three 6-month deployments to the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. In December '99, I got orders to Naval Air Station Oceana. After 3 years on shore duty at Oceana, it was back to sea once again, this time on the aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON where I spent 16 months at sea, including another deployment to the Persian Gulf where we took part in IRAQI FREEDOM. And after 7 of those carrier deployments, I could finally say, "that was the last one!" In October '05 I transferred off the ship to begin my final shore duty tour, this time as the Admin Officer at Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Detachment in Norfolk VA. After 26 years in the Navy, I retired in March 2007 and began drawing that Navy retirement check. The Navy was a pretty good life. I had some unbelievable experiences, met some great people, and making it up the ranks to Senior Chief was pretty nice too (E-8, on a scale of E-1 to E-9). So, no complaints overall, although I spent a lot of time away from family due to the almo...Expand for more
st constant demands to deploy overseas for conflicts in Lebanon, Bosnia, Israel, Libya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Iraq, etc. After I retired, I spent a couple months visiting family in Seattle during the spring of '07, then later Liz & I went to Las Vegas for our 20 year anniversary. The gambling and extravagant hotels were way cool of course, but my highlight was driving a NASCAR stock car around Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 150mph - what a blast! After that, I pretty much lounged the summer away at the pool, went to concerts, etc - we called it "The Summer Of Jim!" Ha! (I got the best tan I've had in years!). After all that playing, I attended college at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and completed my Bachelor's Degree with a 4.0 GPA and Summa Cum Laude honors. Liz is a great wife & mother. She works full-time for the US Govt in Telecommunications, and her job has taken her to many of the same places I travelled to in the Navy, including England, Iceland, Italy, Guantanamo Bay Cuba, as well as Seattle, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Key West & Pensacola Florida, and a host of cities in the northeast. The time, attention and energy she gives her job and to Jennifer amazes me. And she even puts up with my addiction to cars & racing, whether driving, watching, or working on them. Jennifer just graduated high school (class of 2010) and what a relief that is! With the incredible amounts of homework we helped her with, Liz & I sometimes feel like we earned the grades along with Jenny :) She just completed registration and will begin college classes in late August. Our plans are to stay out here in Virginia Beach for a while. Its pretty nice here overall, almost always sunny (even if it gets cold in the winter, it stays sunny almost all the time). One downside is that I rarely get to see anyone from "the good old days" as trips to Seattle seem to get farther & farther apart. But out here we've added a lot onto our house & property so we'll probably enjoy it for a while. All in all, I've been pretty blessed all the way around. Hope all is well with everyone from Mt Rainier '80 - Jim
P.S.
Party at Slack's cabin! Rock out with your cock out!
-sorry, couldn't resist :)
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