John Gates:  

Life Hi. Don't know where to start,so I guess after high school. I finished school at San Fernando. Thats hard to believe, that I finished high school I mean. Although I declined to go to Graduation I finaly went to school to get my deploma. At my moms urging. It seems she didn't believe it either. Anyhow I drifted from gas station job to gas sation job until I got a job offer I couldn't turn down. Actually I was drafted. I took basic training at Ft Ord and advanced training at Ft Leonard Wood. Then I got an all expences paid stay in South East Asia. Honest, I didn't kill any mothers or rape any babies.I swear. I did step on, and crush, the bigggest,ugliest beetle I've seen before or since. Can hardly be considered a war crime. After that I did 6 months at Ft Stewart, Ga. After an honorable discharge,hard to believe too, I came back home to Chatsworth. Met my wife of 30 yrs at my brothers wedding. We have 2 grown kids, a son James(Jimmy) and a Daughter Kathleen (Katie). Jimmy is married and Katie has gone out on her own. We have lived in Reseda, and in Northridge at the time of the earthquake. We moved to Simi Valley in 1999. Its really nice out here. I've Worked for the LA Dept of Water & Power for 29 yrs. I started as a heavy equipment operator, then a crane operator, and now I'm a fleet operations supervisor. ...Expand for more