Joe Griffin:  

August 6, 2017 Well.. it's time for our 45th Reunion! Wow.. really? I've rejoined Classmates.com after an 8 year hiatus.. just for the occasion, for one year. I think we should all get together again, or as many as can come. Perhaps we might meet in a comfortable and informal setting. We don't necessarily have to plan a big, formal event... I'm in for whatever we might do.. Have a big, Grand event.. or otherwise meet in a park or at the beach, take over a restaurant or nightclub.. Here you go.. let's have a Class Cruise - now there's an idea - something relatively simple & fun.. We're all in our early sixties.. If we don't do it now, when will we? ----- I've read several of your profiles and I enjoy hearing about your lives since high school. Here's a brief snapshot of what I did.. Shortly after SHS, I joined the US Navy. I graduated from the US Navy Amphibious School in Little Creek, VA with a license to drive Amphibious Landing Craft. I worked at a Diving and Salvage operation in Little Creek, VA. I had visions of ultimately joining the US Navy Oceanographic Command. I had a great experience at Little Creek. Then we went on alert to potentially join the end of the war in Vietnam. What happened next changed my life forever. The short version is that one boat ran into another boat during intense training. I wasn't driving. I was thrown to a steel deck about 12' below by the collision. My knee, back and neck were seriously injured. That ended my US Navy career. ----- 1974 - Honorably discharged as a service disabled veteran. 1975 - Associate manufacturer's representative for a furniture factory in Tampa, FL. I called on retail furniture stores on the East Coast of Florida, selling upholstered living room furniture. 1983 - Began selling outdoor pool and patio furniture to furniture stores throughout Florida, as the factory rep. I sold to Busch Gardens in Tampa, along with several other big contract jobs, and got a taste for commercial sales. 1996 - Switched to full time commercial sales of outdoor furniture and umbrellas, factory dire...Expand for more