Richard Gilliam:  

Life My son Rick is in the Navy serving on subs. He's over 21, earned his Dolphines on his first deployment which I had the pleasure to pin on him with his skipper during a Tiger cruise. He has made the Navy a career and continues to advance in rank and experience. He is supported by his wife, Kara. I am blessed with two grand daughters and a grand son. My daughter Renne is also over 21 and spent a year of her life in South Africa doing missionary work. She and I celebrated her 24th birthday in Humansdorp, South Africa during a visit. She brought the Love of/for God to the natives but helped to remove the bias and distrust created during the apartied era. Upon her return, Renne is working at the Youth Center here in Puyallup which provides a safe place for them to gather. I am VERY proud of both my kids. They are doing what they want to do and I believe that it is a great success for a single parent. My Job I am now retired. After 44 years, primarily in flight test on the aircraft and flight test systems. Used to work on first of a kind aircraft or aircraft systems/designs before they are certified for public/military use. No two days were the same and our goal is to make aircraft safer, better, economical and more comfortable for the flying public and our people in uniform. This job sometimes took me out of the country or into other States. College During my time at South Seattle Community College, I was working full time night shift plus overtime during the week and week ends and pulling a full credit load. The goal at first was to get the Federal license for Airframe and Power Plant ( A&P ) but once those goals were realised, it was a small jump to the Associate in Applied Science in Aeronautical Technology ( AAS ). What I remember about school is the thrill of learning new ideas and how little sleep was gotten. As I am older now, I don't believe that I'd do that again in the same way. Workplace Started working for the company right out of High School. Worked a year before the Dr...Expand for more