Mike Greer:
CLASS OF 1969
Carter-Riverside High SchoolClass of 1969
Ft. worth, TX
Paris High SchoolClass of 1969
Paris, TX
Richardson Junior High SchoolClass of 1965
Richardson, TX
Crockett Middle SchoolClass of 1964
Paris, TX
First Ward Elementary SchoolClass of 1963
Paris, TX
Mike's Story
Who'd believe that it's been over 40 years since I sat in the CRHS Band Hall and played under Mr. Hoffman's direction. Or led the band on the field as Drum Major. Or sat in Mr. Sturgis' Physics and EA classes. My how the time flies! But enough whining about getting old!. On with the 'where I am, how I got here, and where I'm going'.
Where am I? I live in Rockwall, TX with the love of my life, Pat. She is a Drug and Alcohol Abuse Counselor and has been in private practice since she moved to Texas in the early '80s. We¿ve been married for 17 years and have 3 grown sons (by her previous marriage): Tim, Patrick, and John Langan. We enjoy going to the movies and out to dinner and CRUISIN'! We've been on several outstanding cruises, most notably a Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco cruise via the Panama Canal, 3 cruises to Alaska, and a trans-Atlantic cruise from Galveston to London.)
Tim (34) is just completing the set-up of his Chiropractor's practice in Austin. The love of HIS life, Sara, is also a Chiropractor and partner in the business. They met at Parker College of Chiropractic and married just after Tim graduated.
Patrick (32) is single, owns and operates a Wingstop restaurant, and lives in a really neat 'bachelor pad' in Downtown Dallas. His restaurant is really doing well, and we often go visit him there just to eat free!
John (30), who is also single, lives in Rowlett and is the warehouse manager at L-3 Communications, ComCept Division in Rockwall, which, by the way, is where I currently work, too! John is so consistent and mild-mannered, that I often refer to him as 'the one constant in an ever-changing universe!'
Regarding the non-human contingent of our household, we have one big-hearted, 75 lb. black Labrador we call 'Norman' (his official name is Schwarzkopf, which is german for 'black head'). He is really a big baby and sleeps with us at night (Pat and I find it hard to find space for ourselves!). The other is a 10-year old New Zealand Lorikeet who goes by 'Nino'. 'Nino' was raised from an egg by Tim when he was in the Air Force. (Tim originally named him 'Nina' which stuck until we had him sexed and had to change the name!). However, since then, he's been called other names like 'Steve' and just 'bird'. On occasion, he has taken on a mischievous behavior which has earned him the name 'Al' (short for 'Al Qaeda'!). This bird is exceptionally smart, speaks about 50 different words (some in phrases and often in context). He especially enjoys taking a bath in my hands when I¿m in the shower, or unbuttoning my shirt, crawling in, and going to sleep on my chest as I'm relaxing in my recliner.
How did I get here? After our CRHS graduation, I went to UTA, initially majoring in Mathematics, but wound up graduating with a BS in Physics (minor in Math) in December '73. It was here I got introduced to computers and programming, and found the REAL subject that I loved.
Ever since high school, I always wanted to work in the space program; but you know where that was going in '73 - nowhere! The Apollo flights were essentially over and the Shuttle hadn¿t really gotten started. However, thanks to the Arab oil embargo, I was snapped up in February '74 by Schlumberger Well Services in Dayton, TX (40 mi. NE of Houston), where I spent almost 3 years logging (i.e. taking electronic measurements) oil and gas wells. The work was hard and the hours were long (worked 9 days in a row on 24 hour call, followed by 3 days off), but the pay was great. But it jus...Expand for more
t wasn¿t what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life.
It was at this point that I saw an ad in the paper for a programming job for a company named E-Systems in Greenville, TX. When I accepted this position in November of 1976, I began a 33-year career in the Defense industry that is still on-going.
The first 23 years were spent at E-Systems in Greenville, where I climbed the ladder from Jr. Programmer to Sr. Programmer, to a Supervisor of Programmers, to a Systems Engineer, to a Systems Engineering Supervisor, Systems Engineering Manager, to a Systems Engineering Director. When I left 1n 1999, I had 285 Systems Engineers at our Greenville and Waco facilities reporting to me. At that time, Raytheon had purchased E-Systems, so I was officially a Raytheon employee.
My time at E-Systems was not only a time of significant professional growth, but I also got to travel extensively, all at company expense. In 1980, I got an all-expense-paid, 6-month field assignment in Israel, where I spent almost every weekend traveling throughout the Holy Land with its rich history. Other assignments, while not so long, have taken me to different cities in Germany, England, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and all over the U. S. (including Hawaii).
In October 1999, I got an opportunity to become a founding member of a small defense company known as ComCept, Inc. So I left my comfortable position at Raytheon and set up shop in our 10-person office, located in Rockwall, right on the beautiful shores of Lake Ray Hubbard. Our primary founder was an extremely bright entrepreneur, who had a vision that networking the U. S. reconnaissance assets could produce tremendous improvements in bottom-line performance. This concept, which we developed, tested, and proved, is now being fielded by the U. S. Air Force, soon to be followed by other services.
In 2002, ComCept, Inc. was purchased by L-3 Communications, which is my current employer. As you can imagine, over our 10-year history, we outgrew our little 10-person office, and our division of L-3 is now 211 people strong! Our founder's idea produced a company that has averaged an 85% compounded annual growth rate, and heck if we aren't still growing. We now occupy 3 buildings in the Rockwall Technology Park, and have a satellite office in Stafford, VA. My current position is Chief Technology Officer, one of the 4 Executive positions at our company.
Where am I going? Who knows? As you can see, my life has been a thrilling ride over the past 40 years. I have considered retiring several times, but why quit when you're having fun? My outlook on work is 'Life's too short to spend 1/3 of it miserable!' So as long as I continue to have fun at what I do, I'll probably continue coming to work. When it ceases to be fun, Pat and I will probably settle down and do some more cruising. I also still enjoy flying and maintain the currency of my Private Pilot's license. So occasionally I'll grab a Cessna-172 and some friends and do some sightseeing from the air.
I guess it's about time to wrap-up this saga before I put everyone to sleep. I can't say enough for my years at CRHS and the wonderful folks I came to know and love. I really intended to make the 40-year reunion, but, as you might suspect, I was away on travel at the time. So I'll make an extra effort to be at the 50-year reunion!
So for now, I'll just say GODSPEED to all my CRHS '69 classmates.
Mike Greer '69
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